Dr. Pia de Solenni, '93
Winner of the 2001 Award of the Pontifical Academies
Alumni Profile -- (Spring 2002 Newsletter)
It's the kind of thing they said that only an American woman
can get away with." Pia de Solenni (class of '93) recounted
her reaction on hearing her name announced as the winner of
the Pontifical Prize of the Academies last November. "It
was all so surreal to me. It didn't seem like it was happening
to me, but to someone else. You just don't think of yourself
getting an award from the Holy Father."
Against standard protocols, on receiving the award, she asked
Pope John Paul II to autograph a copy of her dissertation.
He did so, graciously, even if others were a little amused.
Later in the week, the Pope's theologian, with a grin, asked
for her autograph on his copy of the dissertation.
In the future, de Solenni may have more autographs to sign.
Already her dissertation - an analysis of feminist theories
and a developing of an integral feminism in light of St. Thomas
Aquinas' philosophy - has sold-out in Dissertationes,
a limited publication of the Pontifical University of the
Holy Cross in Rome, where she received her doctorate in sacred
theology, summa cum laude.
Now, the University of Valencia in Spain intends to publish
it in Spanish through a Spanish publishing house; the College
of the Holy Cross in Rome, will republish it in English, with
a possible Italian translation. And speaking invitations are
starting to roll in. The $27,000 grant that came with the
award was also well-received.
All of this attention, most notably in the international
Catholic press (and with headlines blaring, "American
Woman Wins Pontifical Prize"), has come as a surprise
to the 29-year-old native of Crescent City, California. She
knew the subject of feminism had been overlooked in expositions
of Thomistic theology, and her aim certainly was to fill a
hole in that void. But she never anticipated the wide-spread
interest that would ensue.
"If people are interested in understanding how St. Thomas
would understand woman as an 'image of God,' that's
a good thing," she said. "I'm perfectly grateful
to help recover the proper notion of woman according to traditional
Church teaching."
Unlike what passes for feminism in modern parlance, true
feminism, she explains, respects woman's essential identity
as an image of God and understands that a woman's differences
from man are constructive and complimentary.
"As a result of many feminist theories, woman begins
to be considered an atomistic individual, an individual without
relations to others. Yet, we see that in every aspect of our
life - for both men and women - we need others. Our happiness
relates intimately to our relations with others because we
come to know ourselves and others, including God, through
these relations.
The Christian tradition has shown us that the feminine vocation
is lived out in countless ways - look at the women saints.
You can't put it in a box and say that a woman should do x,
y and z. True feminism concerns itself more with how a woman
exists, rather than the jobs that she can do. Whatever she
does, she does as a woman, not as a genderless creature. The
same is obviously true for a man."
Her interest in Thomism came, not surprisingly, from her
undergraduate studies at Thomas Aquinas College. But as a
public high school student from a northern California coastal
town, she had mixed interest in attending the College initially.
She was attracted to the curriculum only, and attended because
her father said it was the only College he'd help pay for.
Soon after she arrived, she realized the program was for her.
"During my freshman year, I knew I wanted to study theology.
When you see the unity of truth, you want to pursue the highest
truth, which is theology." She took a year off after
graduation to teach and decided to pursue theology studies
in Rome.
Often the lone woman in classes of mostly priests and seminarians,
she was careful to respect the boundaries.
"Being one of the only women there, I was a little nervous
at first," she said. "But you get used to it and
people were generally gracious. As a woman, it was important
for me to be aware of my role there, that I was not a seminarian,
that I was not a priest, that I had no thought whatsoever
of becoming one. The only real downside was that everyone
noticed when I missed a class."
One of the most difficult things she found getting used to
was the educational program there. "I was really spoiled
at TAC," she said. "I went into these graduate programs
thinking that we'd be reading from primary source material,
that we'd be able to ask questions during class, and that
all my fellow students would be prepared." Not so. "But
I was, in any case, able to deepen my studies in St. Thomas,
thanks to the openness of Santa Croce and several excellent
professors I had there who encouraged me and who became my
mentors." Four priest professors she cited in particular:
Rev. Robert A. Gahl, Jr., Rev. Stephen Brock, Rev. Luke Dempsey,
O.P., and the famed Vatican Latinist, Rev. Reginal Foster.
In addition to the doctorate in theology, she also earned
a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in theology at
the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the Angelicum) and
a licentiate in theology summa cum laude from Santa
Croce. She also had almost five years of Latin under Fr. Foster.
(She is fluent in Italian and Spanish, proficient in Latin
and French.)
Six years in Rome brought her four encounters with the Holy
Father: i.e., when he attended a Saturday rosary for university
students throughout the world at which she read a short Gospel
text; second, when she was permitted to attend one of his
private Masses; the third, when she received the award, which
was followed by a private audience the next day.
"Before I went to the award ceremony, I had all these
people telling me, 'If you get to talk to him, tell
him this!' or 'tell him that!' So I summed it up and
told him that an entire JP II generation thanks him and prays
for him. She gave him a published article she had written
on fatherhood and a copy of her dissertation. The next day
at the private audience, when the Pope's secretary, Bishop
Dziwisz, introduced her, the Holy Father took her face in
his hands, smiled, and said, "I remember you!"
Attending the private audience with her were family and friends,
including Vicky (nee Wallace) Norton (class of '93),
who had first joined her in Rome for graduate studies, and
Elizabeth (nee Johnson) Gallagher (class of '92),
who had studied there as well. Knowing the Holy Father's love
for children, they both brought their infants and small children.
Six years in Rome made Pia realize just how American she
really was and how much European life had to offer. "They
know how to relax there. They put beauty and family at the
center of life. The food is simple, but it's all good - only
the best wines, only the best cheeses are served. Art, culture,
history - they're all around you, and people of all ages take
an interest in them. Where in America would you see a line
of young people waiting to get into a museum? Unfortunately,
Italy is now becoming more American in these things."
"I was awestruck by the sense of history there. Every
piece of the city witnesses some aspect of the Church, favorable
or not. You participate in liturgies at the Vatican and see
people from all over the world. And they're all united in
one thing. You come to appreciate the universal Church in
a phenomenal way. And you also put the problems of our own
time into perspective."
She also acquired an enormous appreciation for Pope John
Paul II, having worked as a copy editor at the Vatican's official
newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. "Until you see
all the meetings he is attending, all the places he is traveling,
all the publications he is issuing, you can't quite comprehend
how amazing his schedule really is. He reads constantly. I
know of a priest whose job is to get the pope a book whenever
he wants it - imagine that for a job!-- and the pope keeps
him busy. By sheer volume of activity, you can't do the things
he does unless you have an incredible spiritual life, which
he does."
Since returning to the United States last year, she has continued
scholastic activity and has a number of works in progress,
including a book she is co-authoring with Fr. C. John McCloskey
III, Director of the Catholic Information Center, which reexamines
the basis for coeducation. She has been asked to write a book
on the theology of woman to be used for a course in Rome.
She also has been a regular columnist for the National
Catholic Register.
Recently, she became a Policy Analyst at the Family Research
Council in Washington, D.C., where she works on a wide range
of prolife issues. She moderated a panel on women's health
and the culture of life this month, and is participating in
a comprehensive policy initiative on building a culture of
life.
In short, expect to see more of her. And if you do, don't
hesitate to hand her one of her works and ask for her autograph.
She'd get the joke.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Spring 2001
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