FIRST EDITION OF THE RATZINGER PRIZE

Manlio Simonetti was born in Rome on 2^nd May 1926. In June 1947 he graduated Classical Letters at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He is professor of Christian Ancient Literature at the University of Cagliari from 1959, professor of History of Christianity at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” from November 1969, and Professor emeritus in the same University from 2001. From 1970, he is professor at the Augustinian Patristic Institute of Rome. Member of the academy Accademia dei Lincei, from 1977, he is member of the Pontifical Academy of Archaeology, the Société des Bollandistes, the Società Romana di Storia Patria, the Academy of Science, Letters and Arts of Naples. Among his books there are: the critical edition of the Opera by Rufinus of Aquileia CCL XX (1061); the critical edition of Cyprianus ad Donatum, ad Demetrianum; de mortalitate, de opere et eleemosynis, de zelo et livore CCL IIIa (1976); “Gnostic texts in Greek and Latin” (1993); Saint Augustine De doctrina Christiana (1994), Origen “Homilies on the Song of Songs” (1998), Gregory The Great, “Dialogues” (two volumes), Flavius Josephus “Antiquities of the Jews”, books XII-XX, from Alexander the Great to Nero (2002).

He also wrote monographs and articles: Studi sull'innologia popolare cristiana dei primi secoli, (1952); Studi agiografici, (1955); Studi sull'arianesimo, (1965); La crisi ariana, (1975); Studi sulla cristologia del II e III secolo, (1993); Storia della letteratura cristiana antica, (1999) and many others. During his precocious career - he became extraordinary in 1959 at 31 years old- the activity of Prof. Manlio Simonetti was concentrated on cultural management because he was director of important scientific book collections (La Biblioteca patristica, la Corona Patrum) and editorial initiatives (as, for example: L’Enciclopedia dei Papi, by Treccani publishing company). He is also President of the Unione Accademica Nazionale.

Olegario González de Cardedal was born on 2^nd October 1924 in Lastra del Cano (Ávila). He studied in Arenas de San Pedro (Ávila) and he was ordained priest on 21^st February 1959. Then he studied History, Philosophy and Theology at the Universities of Munich, Oxford and Washington. He is Full Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca and Head of the Chair “Domingo de Soto” of the same University. He was also member of the International Theological Commission (1969-1979). He was the Director of the theology courses of the Universidad Complutense (Escorial) and founder and director of the Escuela de Teologia K. Rahner-H.U. von Balthasar of the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (Santander). He is also an ordinary member of the Spanish Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas (Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences) in Madrid.

Among his many publications on systematic theology there are: Misterio trinitario y existencia humana. Estudio histórico-teológico en torno a San Buenaventura (Madrid 1965), Jesús de Nazaret. Aproximación a la cristología (Madrid 1975-1993); Dios (Salamanca 2004); Fundamentos de cristología I-II (Madrid 2005-2006). Other books are: El poder y la conciencia. Rostros personales frente a poderes anónimos (Madrid 1985); España por pensar. Ciudadanía hispánica y confesión católica (Salamanca 1986); Cuatro poetas desde la otra ladera: Unamuno, Jean Paul Richter, A. Machado, Oscar Wilde (Madrid 1996).

Prof. P. Maximilian Heim, O.Cist. was born in Kronach, Bavaria, in 1961. He entered the Cistercian monastery in Heiligenkreuz, Austria, in 1983 and was ordained priest in 1988. During the same year he founded the German priory of Bochum-Stiepel. In 1996 he became first teacher of the novices in Heiligenkreuz and then prior. In 2004 he was nominated prior in Bochum-Stiepel. On 10^th February 2011 he was elected Abbot of the monastery of Heiligenkreuz. From 1996 onwards he continued studying, with the aim to attend a Ph.D. with Prof. Dr. Bernhard Körner at the Institute of Moral Theology and Dogmatics of the University of Graz and he graduated in 2004 with a thesis on Joseph Ratzinger’s theology, whose title was “Joseph Ratzinger - Esistenza ecclesiale e teologia esistenziale, orientamenti ecclesiologici fondamentali nel quadro delle richieste di ‘Lumen gentium’” (Frankfurt am Main, 2004). In 2005 a new edition of his thesis was published with a preface by Joseph Ratzinger (at that time Cardinal Ratzinger) and in 2007 it was published in English language with the title “Life in the Church and Living Theology”. In 2009, he was named to the Scientific Council of the Pope Benedict XVI Institute in Regensburg, and since then has been a consultant for the publication of the Opera Omnia of Joseph Ratzinger.