This past spring, Academy of the Holy Cross Theology Department Chair Dr. Matthew Newell traveled to Rome to participate in a historic international conference marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The conference, Nicaea 2025: Context, Event, & Reception, took place April 2–5, 2025, and was hosted collaboratively by the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum, located within the Vatican, and the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in central Rome.

The event brought together leading scholars of early Christianity from around the world. Among the keynote speakers were Rowan Williams, patristic scholar and former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lewis Ayres, one of today’s most influential theologians.

Dr. Newell presented a paper titled “Gregory of Nyssa as Touchstone for Magisterial Development” during a panel session.

“It was a high honor to present alongside some of the finest scholars of early Christianity,” Dr. Newell said. “I learned so much by listening to the other papers. Everything from theological debates to the fascinating history of controversies about setting the date of Easter.”

Because the conference coincided with the Academy’s spring break, Dr. Newell began his journey a week earlier, taking the opportunity to visit Milan, Venice, and Rome before the academic sessions began. These travels became a pilgrimage. An experience of professional enrichment intertwined with spiritual renewal.

In Milan, he visited the Basilica of St. Ambrose, venerating the relics of Ambrose along with the martyrs Protasius and Gervasius. At the Duomo of Milan, he prayed before the relics of St. Charles Borromeo. A day trip to Pavia took him to San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, where the relics of St. Augustine and Boethius rest. In Venice, he visited the Basilica of St. Mark, home to the relics of the Evangelist.

Rome offered opportunities to revisit sacred sites with new eyes, nearly two decades after his first student visit. Dr. Newell toured the Vatican necropolis to pray at the tomb of St. Peter, visited the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, and explored the Catacombs of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way. There, through persistence and prayer, he was granted special permission to venerate the relics of St. Philip Neri.

This pilgrimage unfolded within a unique spiritual moment: Pope Francis had declared 2025 a Jubilee Year. Passing through the Holy Doors of St. Peter’s Basilica and St. Paul Outside the Walls, Dr. Newell prayed for the students, faculty, and future of the Academy of the Holy Cross.

“Visiting the relics of Augustine and Ambrose was especially meaningful, since I had recently taught Augustine’s Confessions to our seniors,” Dr. Newell reflected. “To stand at their resting places, while recalling those lessons, was profoundly moving.”

While the conference itself was centered on early Christianity rather than the subjects Dr. Newell currently teaches — moral philosophy and Catholic social teaching — he sees deep value in bridging academic research and classroom instruction.

“Just as professors in the sciences publish work that may not directly overlap with their introductory courses, theology teachers benefit from engaging scholarship at the highest level,” he explained. “Doing so prevents teaching from becoming stale, challenges me to grow, and connects our students to the wider intellectual tradition of the Church.”

Even beyond the lecture halls, Dr. Newell found a reminder of Holy Cross in Rome itself. At the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, a mosaic near the crucifix bears the words Spes Unica — Our Only Hope — the very motto of the Academy.

For Dr. Newell, the trip was both a professional milestone and a deeply personal journey of faith. It connected his scholarly work, his classroom teaching, and his spiritual life in unexpected ways.

“I am not an extensive international traveler, so to walk again through Rome nearly 20 years after first coming as a student, this time as a Catholic and a teacher, was profoundly meaningful. It reminded me how our vocations grow and shift, and how God draws those threads together in His own time.”

With new insights from leading scholars, cherished memories of pilgrimage, and prayers offered for the Academy at the tombs of the saints, Dr. Newell returned to Holy Cross renewed in both scholarship and spirit.