Cultural Affairs Bureau organizes two lectures at St. Joseph’s Seminary next Saturday
In order to allow the public to have better understanding of the St. Joseph’s Seminary and the history of development of the Catholicism in Macao, as well as to enjoy the Seminary’s valuable collections, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has worked with the St. Joseph’s Seminary and the Diocese de Macau to establish the “Treasure of Sacred Art of St. Joseph’s Seminary” at the St. Joseph’s Seminary located at Rua do Seminário, which will be officially inaugurated on 8 October. Aiming to deepen the public’s understanding of the history of Catholicism in Macao, IC will organize two lectures at the auditorium of the Seminary in the morning of the inauguration day, all interested parties are welcome to register for participation. Both lectures will be held at St. Joseph’s Seminary’s Auditorium. The first lecture, titled “The First University of the Far East in Macau : The Commitment of the Jesuits to Higher Education in Asia”, will be held from 10am to 11am and will be conducted in English by the Macau Ricci Institute Director, Stephan Rothlin, S.J. Stephan Rothlin, S.J was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1959, and obtained a PhD in Ethics in 1991. From 1992 to 2005 he was a professor or director in several universities and higher education institutions. Between 2005 and 2013, he was the Secretary General of the Centre for International Business Ethics in Beijing and Chairman of the Association of International Business Ethics in Hong Kong. The lecture will introduce the main elements of Macao’s higher education offered by the Jesuits and it will explore the policies of higher education pursued by the Jesuits in terms of the development characteristics of China. The second lecture, titled “Contributions of St. Joseph’s Seminary on Music in the 20th Century”, will be held from 11:30am and 12:30pm, and will be conducted in Cantonese by Dai Dingcheng, Professor of the School of Arts of the Macao Polytechnic Institute. Dai Dingcheng was a professor and director of several universities in China and had English and Chinese publications of monographs and articles on music. In 2013, he was awarded the “Medal of Merit – Culture” by the MSAR Government for his contribution in local music culture. The lecture will focus on the formation of a rare but prosperous condition of Macao’s catholic music in the Chinese region during the 20th century under the unique foundation and traditional background of rich history in Catholic music. The original works of the Seminary’s composers at the time, such as F. Maberini, Guiherme Schmid S.D.B. and Áureo Castro, among others, become the important cultural heritage of the Seminary today. The Seminary’s early professional composers and professors, such as Doming Lam and Lau Chi Meng, have also composed numerous liturgical choral works, taking Macao’s liturgical catholic music to a high state in the history. No interpreting service is provided in both lectures. Admission is free. Seats are limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. For reservations and enquiries, please contact Mr. Wu or Ms. Leong, through the tel. no. 8394 1206 or 8394 1218, during office hours.