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The Master of Sacred Theology (Latin : Sacrae Theologiae Magister; abbreviated STM) is a graduate-level, North American, academic degree in theology equivalent to ThM requiring two semesters of full time study. The Roman Catholic degree of Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) typically requires four semesters. An honorary title of STM is also awarded within the Dominican Order.
One must normally have a Master of Divinity or Master of Arts degree in a theological field before being admitted to study for the STM. The STM typically is designed to enhance a student's academic credentials for entrance to a doctoral program.
STM degrees are typically awarded after having completed twenty-four hours of study at the master's level beyond that required for the first theological degree. In some programs this degree may be awarded solely on the basis of taught academic courses. However, many STM programs require or permit the student to write a thesis as a part of the degree requirements. The thesis is especially helpful for those individuals who wish to use the STM to further their qualifications for doctoral study and who did not complete a thesis as a part of the first professional degree. Some seminaries will also credit part of the work done for the STM towards a student moving on to the Doctor of Philosophy in theology degree once the STM has been awarded.
In Roman Catholic universities with pontifical charters, the equivalent is the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL), the intermediate degree between the STB (bachelor's) and STD (doctorate). The STL is an additional two years of study beyond that required for the STB, often requiring comprehensive exams and a thesis. However, McGill University's graduate school of religious studies, considered partly a Catholic school of theology, offers the academic STM similar to the Protestant one.
In addition, the title Sacrae Theologiae Magister (STM) or Master of Sacred Theology is also the name given to an honorary title bestowed by the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers (Dominicans) on its most distinguished scholars. Thus it is a "master's degree" in the most ancient sense and thus can be likened to an honorary doctorate conferred only upon Dominicans who are already scholars of theology. The recipient must be a full-time professor for ten years and have published books and articles of international scholarly repute. The initial nomination is made by the friar's own province (local district) and then must be approved by the intellectual commission of the Generalate in Rome. The final decision is then made, after review, by the Master of this order and his council. The regalia of the STM is a four-finned black biretta today usually trimmed with scarlet, and a ring, which may be set with an amethyst. [1] [2] The STM has the perpetual right to the title "very reverend". The Dominican archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, was famous for refusing to use DD (Doctor of Divinity) after his name; he insisted on using STM because it was the more distinguished academic title. [2] His STD, of course, is a yet more distinguished title than either DD or STM as the STD is an earned degree and not an honorary one.
The other degrees in use in the Dominican Order
STL may refer to:
A Doctor of Divinity is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divinity schools.
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Master of Theology is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a PhD program or as a stand-alone terminal degree depending on one's particular educational background and institution of study. In North America, the Th.M. typically requires at least three years of prerequisite graduate study for entrance into the program, typically a Master of Divinity or equivalent.
The Doctor of Sacred Theology, also sometimes known as Professor of Sacred Theology, is the final theological degree in the pontifical university system of the Catholic Church, being the ecclesiastical equivalent of the academic Doctor of Theology (ThD) degree.
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The Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology, not to be confused with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology, is the first of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology which are conferred by a number of pontifical faculties around the world.
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Licentiate of Canon Law is the title of an advanced graduate degree with canonical effects in the Roman Catholic Church offered by pontifical universities and ecclesiastical faculties of canon law. Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a licence. The licentiate of canon law is the ordinary way for forming future canonists, according to Veritatis gaudium.
The Gloria L. and Charles I. Clough School of Theology and Ministry (CSTM) is a Jesuit school of graduate theology at Boston College. It is an ecclesiastical faculty of theology that trains men and women, both lay and religious, for scholarship and service, especially within the Catholic Church.
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Ambrose MacDermott OP, STM, was an Irish Roman Catholic bishop. From Boyle Co. Roscommon the son of Cornelius MacDermott. He was educated at the Dominican monastery at Tulsk in Roscommon where he joined the dominicans in 1667 and continued his studies in Spain He lectured in theology in Spain, and in Rome at the college of Saints Sixtus and Clemente in Rome serving as prior from 1686 to 1689. Conferred with a STP – Sacrae theologiae praesentatus in 1699, and he was awarded a Master of Sacred Theology (STM) in 1701. He was nominated to the see of Elphin by that Catholic Stuart King James III, and he served as the Bishop of Elphin from 1707 to 1717.
Fidel Villarroel was a Spanish historian, writer, filipinologist, biographer, political commentator, Master Theologian of the Dominican Order, and member of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. A recipient of the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, he is the former Archivist, Spanish Department Director, Prefect of Libraries, and professor at the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas. He had also served as secretary to the Apostolic Nunciature for 32 years(1959–1991), and is currently an academic director of the prestigious Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española, the local branch of the renowned Real Academia Española based in Madrid, Spain, and part of the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española.
There are three kinds of Seminaries in India: