LATROBE, PA – Dr. Lucas Briola, C’13, associate professor of theology at Saint Vincent College, recently presented two papers on distinctive topics in international settings.
Earlier this year, the Benedictine monks of Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary invited Briola to give the plenary address for their yearly Liturgical Formation Days. Briola’s internationally recognized work on the 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ led to this invitation. The theme of the year was “garden” in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the encyclical and the 800th anniversary of the Canticle of the Sun of Saint Francis.
Briola pre-recorded a lecture titled “The Garden as Temple: Liturgical Insights from Laudato Si’,” which Hungarian Catholic educators, ecclesial ministers and monks watched and discussed on Aug. 11 at Pannonhalma. The paper aimed to help bridge Briola’s academic research with the everyday life of the Catholic Church.
Briola was later invited to present a paper on Nov. 8 via Zoom at a conference at Fu Jen University in Taiwan. Titled “The Twenty-First International Conference on the History of Cultural Exchange: Memory, Boundaries, and Belief – A Century of Glory at Fu Jen University,” the conference brought together an international mix of scholars, including another Saint Vincent monk-scholar, Br. Nicholas Koss, O.S.B., P’61, C'66, S’70.
Briola’s presentation featured the life and work of George Barry O’Toole, an oblate of Saint Vincent Archabbey and one of the founders of Fu Jen University in its original location in Beijing, China. The conference in part celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of Fu Jen University by Saint Vincent monks, which was later reconstituted in Taiwan in 1961.
While very different in scope, Briola explained that both presentations demonstrated the global reach of Saint Vincent’s educational mission.
“Both through history and through the generosity of the Stephans Family, Saint Vincent has had a longstanding exchange program with Pannonhalma Archabbey,” Briola said. “Likewise, 100 years ago, Saint Vincent led efforts to originally establish Fu Jen in China and maintains strong ties to its Taiwanese instantiation to this day. I am honored to serve this unique, global and thoroughly Benedictine legacy. It is that unique mission of Saint Vincent that can enrich the lives of our students and set them apart.”
Briola holds a doctorate in systematic theology from the Catholic University of America. His most recent book, “The Eucharistic Vision of Laudato Si’: Praise, Conversion, and Integral Ecology,” was published in 2023 by The Catholic University of America Press.
