Venegono Inferiore, Seminary and Theological Faculty of. — A modest comune in the province of Varese, brought to prominence in Italy and abroad since 1927, when the Church of Milan built there, as a tribute to Pius XI, an important structure (v. SEMINARIO), serving as a common seat for the lyceum seminary, transferred from Monza, and for the theological seminary, moved from the ancient seat built by St. Charles himself in Milan.
The students of the two seminaries together number about five hundred. The lyceum department is equipped with an experimental laboratory for chemistry and physics, a mineralogical and zoological museum, and maintains the regular operation of two highly modern observatories, one meteorological and the other seismographic. The main library, supplemented by special libraries for students of both departments, contains approximately 80,000 volumes, including several incunabula, and receives, in exchange or by subscription, over two hundred national and foreign journals. The Pontifical Faculty of Theology of Milan is housed in the theological department. Founded by Gregory XIII in 1580 at the request of St. Charles, suppressed by Maria Theresa of Austria in 1774 for political and hegemonic reasons, it was reestablished by Leo XIII in 1892 at the request of the Archbishop of Milan, L. Nazzari di Calabria, and opened to theologians from all the seminaries of Lombardy. Among its students and professors are illustrious names such as cardinals (Maffi, Minoretti, Ruffini) and prelates (Orsenigo, Cazzani, Tredici, Bernareggi, etc.). To meet the requirements of the constitution *Deus scientiarum*, it was initially thought to coordinate or integrate the Theological Faculty with the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, which could have given it broader development and scope; but this project, which has so far failed for various reasons, remains only a possibility for the future. Confined within the seminary, the Theological Faculty was therefore compelled, in its new statutes approved by Pius XI in 1938, to reconcile two aims, if not opposing, certainly very different: the aim of a faculty, which is to train scholars, and the aim of a diocesan seminary, however large it may be, which is to provide professional training for shepherds for the care of souls. To this dual purpose, the curriculum of studies, in the new statutes, was divided into two periods; the first, lasting four years, although having most of its chairs distinct from those of the seminary courses, has a predominantly institutional character and concludes with the "license"; the second, lasting two years, has a monographic character and is obligatorily attended by those who intend to obtain the "degree." This resulted in the Theological Faculty of V. having six courses. Since 1902, the College of Professors of the Faculty has taken on the editing and direction of the journal *La scuola cattolica* (v.).
