King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the Beda College as part of their state visit to the Vatican. The King met many Cardinals and Ambassadors gathered at the College and spoke warmly with staff and students. He planted an Orange Tree in the garden.
Canon Marcus made a welcome speech before the King, with these words:
Your Majesty
It is a great honour to welcome you as Rector of this house, a small piece of Vatican territory which is also British. We are a community of priestly formation for the Pontifical Beda College and for the Scots College. We train men for sacred ministry from Britain and from many places around the world, especially from the Commonwealth.
There have been many ‘firsts’ today and your presence here represents a first visit of a reigning Monarch to one of our seminaries in modern times.
In your visit here we feel a deeper unity in ourselves, bringing both our country and our faith closer together in harmony – it means so much. Thankyou for fostering unity today, forged in prayer.
Our gift to you is a carved statue of St Bede the Venerable, the patron of our college, the only English Doctor of the Church (that is until next Saturday when John Henry Newman will be proclaimed Doctor). From out of the first millennium, St Bede reminds us of our deeper unity and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But first I invite you to unveil the plaque which will forever commemorate this happy day.
