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On Monday, August 24, 2026, the monastic and Seminary communities gathered in the Abbey church for the annual to begin the 2026-2027 academic year at �ֲ���ý Seminary.

This year’s Mass of the Holy Spirit coincided with the feast of St. Bartholomew, one of the Twelve Apostles. In his homily, Abbot Jeremy Driscoll, OSB, noted St. Bartholomew’s presence at the Lord’s Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, a fitting connection for a community gathered to pray “for the descent of the Holy Spirit on the whole Hilltop community and on the efforts of our Seminary.” Reflecting on John’s Gospel where Jesus promises Nathanael, i.e., Bartholomew, that he will see “the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51), Abbot Jeremy said that “our school year will be rooted in coming to know Jesus more and more, with the angels of God ascending and descending on him.”

After the Mass, the monastic and Seminary communities gathered in the Abbey church again for the Archbishop Dwyer Inaugural Address. Fr. Jeff Eirvin, President-Rector, welcomed everyone and led the invocation, praying that “as we begin this 138^th year as a school of the Lord’s service, we ask you [Father] to guide us with your light, showing us joy, wisdom and beauty in all your creation.”

Deacon Shawn Keough, PhD, the Seminary’s academic dean, introduced this year’s speaker, Dr. Anna Lesiuk-Cummings, the Chair of Humanities and Languages in the Seminary’s College of Liberal Arts. Originally from Poland, Dr. Lesiuk-Cummings first studied at the University of Warsaw and earned her master’s degree in Italian philology, summa cum laude. She then studied at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, earning an advanced master’s degree in medieval and Renaissance studies. At the University of Oregon, she earned her PhD in Romance languages and wrote her dissertation on Renaissance travel literature in French, Spanish and Italian. A faculty member at �ֲ���ý Seminary since 2011, Dr. Lesiuk-Cummings has taught the Seminary’s entire Spanish, Latin and Humanities curriculum.

In her Inaugural Address, titled “A Poet and a Mountain; or, Why the Humanities Matter,” Dr. Lesiuk-Cummings told the story of the Italian poet Petrarch, traditionally considered the father of Renaissance humanism, and his climb of Mont Ventoux in Provence, France, on April 26, 1336. In his letter describing the climb, Petrarch said that he climbed the mountain simply for pleasure and to enjoy the view from the summit, perhaps one of the first documented cases of mountain climbing for pleasure since antiquity.

Petrarch’s initial failed attempts to climb Mont Ventoux by seeking an easier path rather than the harder, vertical ascent caused him to reflect on the ascent involved in the spiritual life: “The life we call blessed is located on a high peak. A narrow way, they say, leads up to it. Many hilltops intervene, and we must proceed from virtue to virtue with exalted steps.” After recounting Petrarch’s ascent in detail, Dr. Lesiuk-Cummings paused and asked: “Why am I telling you this story of a 14^th-century poet, an aspiring mountaineer? The simplest answer is for the same reason Petrarch climbed Mont Ventoux: because it is there . . . It is an invitation to share a moment of existential reflection with a fellow traveler who, though distant in time, is not that different from us. It is an invitation to be human together.”

In the second part of her address, Dr. Lesiuk-Cummings approached the question of humanism from a historical and philological perspective. In Renaissance humanism, she said that “the study of the humanities was not viewed as something you do, a set of tasks or hoops to jump through or credits to earn in order to graduate, for that matter, but rather as something that is done to you, that acts on the very fabric of your identity as a human being.” In a word of encouragement to the Seminary students, especially those who will study the humanities this year, Dr. Lesiuk-Cummings said that “there is so much more to human experience when, through the study of the humanities, one acquires the ability and the habit of not merely looking but seeing and understanding.”

Watch the of the Mass of the Holy Spirit and Inaugural Address and view photos on .

�ֲ���ý Seminary, an apostolate of the Benedictine monks of �ֲ���ý, is a school whose primary purpose is the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation of men for the Roman Catholic priesthood. The Seminary is comprised of a College of Liberal Arts and a Graduate School of Theology, which also offers theological education to qualified laymen and women. The Seminary’s programs adhere to the norms established by the Holy See and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as stated in the Program of Priestly Formation.

—Ethan Alano