Summer School and Interreligious Leadership Seminar
SAINTS: HISTORICAL REALITY
AND SPIRITUAL LEGACY
July 6-15 2026
Assisi, Italy
PROGRAM
REGISTER NOW
Assisi, Italy
Location
ASSISI, ITALY
peta@elijah-interfaith.org
Speakers
Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Founder and Director of The Elijah Interfaith Institute
Peta Jones Pellach
Director of Educational Activities, Elijah Interfaith Institute
Prof. Vincent Cornell
Emory University
Bishop Domenico Sorrentino
Bishop of Assisi
Prof. Jeffery Long
Elisabethtown College
Prof. Volker Leppin
Yale Divinity School
Prof. Catherine Cornille
Professor of Comparative Theology, Boston College
Prof. Nikky Singh
Colby College
Bishop Felice Accrocca
Bishop of Assisi
Fr. Dr. Francis Tiso
Catholic Priest and scholar of Buddhism
Program
Day 1
06 Jul 2026
Day 2
07 Jul 2026
Day 3
08 Jul 2026
Day 4
09 Jul 2026
Day 5
10 Jul 2026
Day 6
11 Jul 2026
Day 7
12 Jul 2026
Day 8
13 Jul 2026
Day 9
14 Jul 2026
Day 10
15 Jul 2026
11:00 - 13:00
Introductions
Introduction to each other, to Elliah, Global House, Summer school
13:00
Panel: Are saints a universal phenomenon?
Terminology and phenomenology in a comparative context.
Prof. Catherine Cornille
Prof. Volker Leppin
Prof. Jeffery Long
Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Peta Jones Pellach
Prof. Vincent Cornell
17:00
“Gendered” sainthood
Prof. Catherine Cornille
18:45
09:30
Panel:
Question 1: How important is having a historical understanding of the saint?
Question 2: Is being interreligious a trait of the saint?
Question 2: Is being interreligious a trait of the saint?
Prof. Catherine Cornille
Prof. Volker Leppin
Prof. Jeffery Long
Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein
Peta Jones Pellach
Prof. Vincent Cornell
11:45
Introducing “Religious Genius”
Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein
13:30 - 15:30
15:30 - 16:30
Chevruta study:
Texts / quotes on sainthood / religious genius from various perspectives
16:30
16:45 - 18:45
What is historically unique about St. Francis?
Prof. Volker Leppin
09:00
09:15
Bibliodrama
Some excerpts from the life of St Francis
10:30 - 12:30
The changing image of Saint Francis
Prof. Volker Leppin
12:30 - 14:30
15:00
Visit to Santa Chiara and to Basilica of San Francesco
Session at Sacro Convento
Meeting with Bishop Felice Accrocca: the tension between the historical and later Francis. (Italian with translation)
Vespers at Sacro Convento
Meeting with Bishop Felice Accrocca: the tension between the historical and later Francis. (Italian with translation)
Vespers at Sacro Convento
09:30
Meditation led by Jeffrey Long
Prof. Jeffery Long
09:45 - 13:00
Ramakrishna and Sarada Devi as Hindu phenomena, against his time and its legacy
The meaning of Ramakrishna for interreligious relations
Prof. Jeffery Long
13:00 - 15:00
Panel discussion: Saints, identity and nationalism
Prof. Volker Leppin
Prof. Jeffery Long
Prof. Vincent Cornell
Peta Jones Pellach
Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein
16:30 - 16:45
16:45 - 18:15
18:15
Panel discussion: The saint as peacemaker
Do saints bring something unique to the task of peace making?
Prof. Volker Leppin
Prof. Jeffery Long
Prof. Vincent Cornell
Peta Jones Pellach
Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein
10:15 - 13:00
Rav Kook
Historical context, particularity and profile.
Jewish theology of religion and the contribution of Rav Kook.
Jewish theology of religion and the contribution of Rav Kook.
Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein
13:00 - 16:00
16:00 - 18:00
Textual Reading
Introduction to Song of Songs and introduction to Shabbat
“Shabbat”
[Shabbat for Jewish participants]
Afternoon: visit to Foligno, visit to St. Angela of Foligno
Prof. Catherine Cornille
12:00
Chevruta: “The ideal of sainthood articulated from within”
Readings from all traditions, followed by group discussion.
13:00
15:00 - 18:00
Saints in Islam, a typology:
Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī (d. 1465) and Abū Yi‘zzā Yalannūr (d. 1177)
Prof. Vincent Cornell
10:15 - 12:30
12:30 - 15:00
16:30
16:45
The person of Guru Nanak and his “sainthood”
Prof. Nikky Singh
18:45
20:30
09:30
11:15
11:30
The argument against saints
Chavruta on texts from various traditions
13:00
14:30
Panel discussion of anti-saint voices within traditions
What is the price of sainthood; what are checks and balances? What is the cost/benefit analysis?
16:00
16:15
The “pro” argument: Panel of Elijah leaders
How saints inspire world religious leaders today
20:00
Discussion: The vision of the future offered by saints
How do saints inspire us?
09:30
THE SAINTS OF ASSISI
What does Francis mean to the world today? What is the significance of Assisi (personal reflections)?
Bishop Domenico Sorrentino
11:00
New Saints: the case of Carlo Acutis
Bishop Domenico Sorrentino
12:45
14:30
Personal essay writing:
“What have saints taught me? How have I been enriched by the testimony of encountering saints?”
