On Saturday, October 21, the Astrophilic Group of Montelupo Fiorentino presented the Rector Fr. Mark Lewis S.J. with the certificate and plaque of asteroid 14659 dedicated to the “Gregoriana.” During the meeting, which took place at the Vatican Specola, the Rector thanked the Astrophilic Group, recalling the pedagogical tradition of the Roman College, which “encouraged mathematics, geography, astronomy, physics and the fine arts” and expressed itself in figures such as Cristoforo Clavius, Athanasius Kircher, Ruggero Boscovich and Angelo Secchi.

“St. Ignatius wanted the Roman College to serve as a model for the whole Society of Jesus, and the symbiosis between the humanities and the sciences became a kind of rule observed in all Jesuit-run colleges and universities,” concluded Fr. Lewis. “The Pontifical Gregorian University, as the continuation of the Roman College, today feels the responsibility to carry on this long pedagogical tradition in which the humanities and the ecclesiastical sciences converge but in which a focus on the natural sciences has always been present as well. So this naming of the asteroid is also for us an acknowledgement of our commitment to this field and an incentive to keep alive the attention to all the sciences that we have cultivated in our tradition.”

Pictured, from left: Irene Magni, Fabrizio Bernardi, Alessio Squilloni, Fr. Mark Lewis SJ, Maura Tombelli,
Fr. Gabriele Gionti SJ (vice-director of the Vatican Specola), Simone Londi (deputy mayor of Montelupo).