Medieval and Renaissance Studies Symposium Will Be March 31

03/23/2023

The year 2023 marks both the 70th anniversary of Saint Louis University's Vatican Film Library and the 30th anniversary of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

On Friday, March 31, the University community is invited to celebrate these milestones at a symposium contemplating "Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the Modern University." The symposium will run from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with keynote talks and panels taking place at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. A closing reception is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. All events will take place on the second floor of Pius XII Memorial Library.

Guest speakers are:

• Margot Fassler, Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Music History and Liturgy Emerita at the University of Notre Dame, who will speak at 10:30 a.m on "Celebrating Interdisciplinarity with Hildegard of Bingen"
• Alexander Nagel, Craig Hugh Smith Professor of Fine Arts at New York University, who will speak at 4:15 p.m.  on "The Unsettlement of Worlds"

Both are premier scholars of the medieval and Renaissance worlds and culture. A panel of SLU faculty and staff, featuring Claire Gilbert, Ph.D.; Atria Larson, Ph.D.;  Tom Madden, Ph.D.; Steve Schoenig, SJ; Gregory Pass, Jennifer Lowe, and Lea Frost, will take place at 2 p.m., reflecting on the histories and futures of the CMRS and VFL.

Connected to this symposium is a new exhibit on display through July in the second floor of Pius XII Memorial Library. "A Tradition of Excellence: Celebrating the Anniversaries of the Anniversaries of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (30 Years) and Vatican Film Library (70 Years) at Saint Louis University" is now open.

The exhibit tells the story of how the VFL was founded in the early 1950s through a project to microfilm tens of thousands of manuscripts housed at the Vatican Library in Rome, how our main library was built in order to house the riches of the Vatican Film Library, and how the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies was established to build on and continue a strong and distinctive tradition in the field at Saint Louis University, with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The symposium and the exhibit are sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the University Libraries and Museums, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and the Departments of English, History, Philosophy, and Theological Studies.

For more information, contact Teresa Harvey, administrative assistant for the CMRS, at teresa.harvey@slu.edu.