Pontifical Teutonic Institute Santa Maria dell' Anima
The Pontifical Teutonic Institute Santa Maria dell' Anima is located in the vicinity of Piazza Navona. Associated with the likewise named church, It became the German national and religious centre in Rome. It is a residential college for priests who study at one of the Pontifical Athenaeums for advanced studies or work in the Roman Curia. The current rector is Michael Max who stems from the archdiocese of Salzburg. Background S. Maria dell' Anima, the German national church and hospice in Rome, received its name, according to tradition, from the picture of Our Lady which forms its coat of arms (the Blessed Virgin between two souls). It was founded as early as 1350, as a hospice for German pilgrims on the occasion of the Jubilee of 1350. It was erected on its present site in 1386, when Johannes (Jan) Peters of Dodrecht, officer of the Papal Guard, and his wife Katharina bought three houses and turned them into a private hospice for pilgrims. History A confraternity in aid of the suffering souls in purgatory was soon after formed. Dietrich of Nieheim was an energetic promoter of the new foundation, to such an extent that after Peters he deserves to be