Voto Esame

The results were supposed to be available by the end of May, but it took me until the first week of July to muster sufficient courage to write a letter (in my marginal Italian) to the Segretario dello Studium nella Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi asking him the results of the final examination I took on March 16 at the conclusion of my course on the theology, history, and current process of canonization. He sent me an email this morning to inform me that I did indeed pass. In fact, I received a perfect score (“Il voto massimo 10/10”). After all that anxiety, that’s quite a relief!

It was a good course, and I did learn quite a lot. I realized after the first few lectures that I would be able to follow about 90% of what was being said – and the same for reading the textbook. But the challenge involved in studying for having to take a written exam began to unnerve me at the end! Some of my classmates opted for the April sitting of the exam in order t have a whole extra month to study! Obviously, I couldn’t hang out in Rome an extra month (Much as I might have liked to finish Lent – and the Lenten stations – in Rome). So I sat for the March exam, with some trepidation. As I remarked at the time, the only thing more undignified than having to study for a written exam at my age was actually having to take one – more than 25 years after the last written course exam I had ever had to endure! Having been a student on an off for enough years and having also taught at a university for another four years, I am convinced that exams test memorization and organization-of-information skills more than real knowledge.

Be that as it may, I can now not only claim to know my stuff, but I will soon also have a certified Roman document to attest to that. A nice conclusion to an overall wonderful experience of Church!