The Tolle Lege Summer Institute owes its origin to the initiative of Fr. Damian Ference, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Cleveland and a professor of philosophy at Borromeo Seminary, the college seminary of the Diocese of Cleveland. Fr. Damian’s vision was to provide teens with a Catholic, intellectual foundation for their faith before they set out into their college years and later their professional lives. He received support for his idea from the diocese and the seminary, and in the summer of 2011 work was begun to establish the Tolle Lege Summer Institute at Borromeo Seminary. With the help of seminary faculty, staff, and students, and under the direction of Fr. Damian, the first two sessions of the Tolle Lege Summer Institute were held in the summer of 2012 on the campus of Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio. Twenty-four teenagers from all around the diocese participated in the weeklong camp during two different sessions in the last two weeks of June. The teenagers represented 17 different parishes in the Diocese of Cleveland, seven different Catholic high schools, and multiple public schools in the Cleveland area. 2016 marked the fifth year of operation for the institute. After five years the program boasts 151 alumni from 42 different parishes and 54 high schools.
What is "Tolle Lege"?
Our name, Tolle Lege, comes from the noted Catholic bishop and philosopher of the 4th century, St. Augustine. In his classic text, the Confessions, Augustine tells of the divine call he received to a conversion of life entirely to the service of God. St. Augustine heard the voice of a child telling him, “Tolle lege,” or, “Take up and read,” and immediately St. Augustine picked up a copy of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans to read. From that point he was baptized and he committed himself to a life lived for God, becoming a priest and ultimately a bishop and one of the most renowned Christian thinkers.
Our name, Tolle Lege, comes from the noted Catholic bishop and philosopher of the 4th century, St. Augustine. In his classic text, the Confessions, Augustine tells of the divine call he received to a conversion of life entirely to the service of God. St. Augustine heard the voice of a child telling him, “Tolle lege,” or, “Take up and read,” and immediately St. Augustine picked up a copy of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans to read. From that point he was baptized and he committed himself to a life lived for God, becoming a priest and ultimately a bishop and one of the most renowned Christian thinkers.
Why the Peacock Feather?
The peacock has been an important symbol for Christians since the early church. Ancient pagans believed that the flesh of the peacock was incorruptible, so early Christians built on that symbolism and understood the peacock to be a sign of immortality, because of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. The male peacock is also a symbol of the Transfiguration of Christ, for when he displays his beautiful tail feathers, it is reminiscent of Christ showing his glorified body to Peter, James and John on the mountain. Finally, the unofficial patron of TOLLE LEGE is Flannery O’Connor. (Saint Augustine is our official patron.) O’Connor lived on a 544 acre farm in Milledgeville, Georgia which she namedAndalusia. She raised over 40 peacocks on that farm and even wrote an essay entitled “The King of the Birds.” In addition to understanding the peacock as a symbol for Christ, she also thought that the “eyes” on the peacock’s feathers symbolized the all-seeing eyes of the Church. In O’Connor’s short story entitled, “The Displaced Person,” the peacock plays a prominent role as a symbol of both Christ and his Church. At TOLLE LEGE, we could have made the peacock our symbol, but we found the single peacock feather to be more provocative.
The peacock has been an important symbol for Christians since the early church. Ancient pagans believed that the flesh of the peacock was incorruptible, so early Christians built on that symbolism and understood the peacock to be a sign of immortality, because of Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. The male peacock is also a symbol of the Transfiguration of Christ, for when he displays his beautiful tail feathers, it is reminiscent of Christ showing his glorified body to Peter, James and John on the mountain. Finally, the unofficial patron of TOLLE LEGE is Flannery O’Connor. (Saint Augustine is our official patron.) O’Connor lived on a 544 acre farm in Milledgeville, Georgia which she namedAndalusia. She raised over 40 peacocks on that farm and even wrote an essay entitled “The King of the Birds.” In addition to understanding the peacock as a symbol for Christ, she also thought that the “eyes” on the peacock’s feathers symbolized the all-seeing eyes of the Church. In O’Connor’s short story entitled, “The Displaced Person,” the peacock plays a prominent role as a symbol of both Christ and his Church. At TOLLE LEGE, we could have made the peacock our symbol, but we found the single peacock feather to be more provocative.
The Tolle Lege Brackets
The TL Brackets are an essential and iconic part of the Tolle Lege legacy. Beside their connection with the intellectual life as one of the most useful tools in our note-taking repertoire, bracketing points further to a way of living: philosophical living. This more abstract kind of bracketing entails the picking out, or focusing in on some particular experience. We identify the object of our experience, in its manner of experience, but separated from the experiencing itself. We place brackets around the way we heard the song, the song itself, and in so doing we take a step back from the act of listening. We remove ourselves from the act of experiencing in order to reflect more deeply on the bracketed reality-the object of our experience. This way of looking at the world allows us to encounter the splendor of reality in a way missed by the mere having of experiences. This way of living is the philosophic life and it is an integral part of the life lived at Tolle Lege Camp.
The TL Brackets are an essential and iconic part of the Tolle Lege legacy. Beside their connection with the intellectual life as one of the most useful tools in our note-taking repertoire, bracketing points further to a way of living: philosophical living. This more abstract kind of bracketing entails the picking out, or focusing in on some particular experience. We identify the object of our experience, in its manner of experience, but separated from the experiencing itself. We place brackets around the way we heard the song, the song itself, and in so doing we take a step back from the act of listening. We remove ourselves from the act of experiencing in order to reflect more deeply on the bracketed reality-the object of our experience. This way of looking at the world allows us to encounter the splendor of reality in a way missed by the mere having of experiences. This way of living is the philosophic life and it is an integral part of the life lived at Tolle Lege Camp.