On 29th January 1962 in Rome, the Venerable English Collge, the oldest English insitution abroad, clebrated its sixth centenary. Although itself a 16th century foundation, established in 1579 to train priests for the English Mission, the College has direct continuity with the Hospice of St Thomas, established on the site in Via di Monserrato in 1362 to cater for English pilgrims in Rome. The College was created out of the buildings and church of the Hospice; indeed, Pope Gregory XII's Bull of Foundation provides for their reversion to this use should the College ever be dissolved. It has been said of this part of Rome that it 'is forever England' - Cardinal Wiseman, on his arrival at the College in 1818, wrote: 'One felt at once at home ... it was English ground, a part of the fatherland, a restored inheritance'.
To mark the sexcentenary in 1962, the student at the English College in Rome produced a special edition of the house magazine, The Venerabile, which looked in depth at the early history of the institution from the foundation in 1362 to the transformation into the English College in 1579. Long out of print this volume provided an invaluable introduction to the study of the English community in Rome during this early period, so a facsimile edition, with a new introduction by a leading scholar, Dr Margaret Harvey, should be especially welcome. The story of the English Hospice and the foundation of the College is part of the heritage of all Catholics in England and Wales.