Join the Confessions Alive! marathon reading of St. Augustine’s well-known work, hosted by Falvey Memorial Library, in partnership with the Villanova University Classical Studies Program, the Office for Mission and Ministry, and the Villanova Center for Liberal Education. The day-long public reading will begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010, in Falvey Memorial Library’s first floor lounge.

University President Rev. Peter Donohue, O.S.A., will commence the reading at 9 a.m. It will continue until midnight, with refreshments available to participants throughout the day.

“St. Augustine’s Confessions is a milestone in the history of autobiography.  It is a narrative, not just theology. Hearing it aloud is helpful,” explains Outreach librarian and theology professor Darren Poley.  “Events of this kind encourage people to understand great works of literature and truly do make ancient texts more accessible.”

Students and members of the University community may participate by reading a portion of the text aloud or just stopping in to listen. Additionally, a slide show of images and a reading guide created by the Classical Studies Program will be made available to assist participants in contextualizing the reading.

“Confessions Alive! is the result of wonderfully collaborative, cross-disciplinary outreach and partnership on Villanova’s campus,” notes Professor Poley. “It is co-curricular, but more importantly, it is an event for the entire community, put together by several divisions of the University, which honors its charism as an Augustinian institution of higher learning.”

Falvey Memorial Library, Professor Poley continues, makes a natural home for an event of this kind. “The Library is by its very nature the interdisciplinary cross-roads for the campus. Falvey is delighted to support and host these events because they promote reading and thoughtful conversation, which is at the heart of the scholarly enterprise. Confessions Alive! is important because we see a public engagement with ideas as key.”

The event is free and open to the public and is part of Villanova’s celebration of Augustinian Heritage Month. It is approved for Augustine and Culture Seminar (ACS) co-curricular event credit.

Confessions Alive! marks the third year in a proposed four-year cycle of community readings of classical texts. Previous years featured readings of the Odyssey and the Iliad.