The University of Navarra honored Domingo Ramos-Lissón, professor of theology at School , an expert in Patrology and Ancient Church History, subjects he has been researching and teaching in Pamplona since 1971.

The Dean of Theology, Francisco Varo, pointed out in his speech of the act of homage to Professor Ramos-Lissón that "his research work on the writings of the Fathers of the Church is very important for the new evangelization in which the Church of today is engaged. Hence, his contribution, besides being of the first magnitude, has a direct impact on one of the great tasks of our time". He also emphasized that "his intense research activity is attested by the more than eighty titles of books and articles published in specialized magazines".

The Dean of Theology recalled with pleasure the contribution of Professor Domingo Ramos to the development of the high school of Church History, based at the University of Navarra, which he directed between 1990 and 1996. "At that stage, the publication of the 'yearbook de Historia de la Iglesia' began. Its programs of study, chronicles, interviews and reviews offer not only an excellent showcase of the historical research carried out at the School, but also precious information of international scope on the scientific activity in this historical field."

The truth of Christ offered by the Fathers of the Church

The honoree himself noted in his words of gratitude that he has tried to "communicate foreign knowledge and present the truth of Christ, as the Fathers of the Church have offered it to us. This has allowed me to enter into dialogue with some exceptional men, both because they have been witnesses of divine revelation and because they have shown us a holiness of life that endorses the truth proclaimed by them.

He made reference letter to his extensive hours of work in the Library Services of the University of Navarra, an advisory work that has occupied him for many years: "Books, especially old ones, treasure multiple values, which are only discovered as such to those who become familiar with them. For this reason, it is the duty of a librarian in a university to teach students to value the books that enquiry. This activity has also given me the opportunity to collaborate, with my grain of sand, in the exciting work of training of the scholars who frequent our Library Services. It can be said without exaggeration that, among the books, I meeting like a fish in water".

For his part, Professor José Orlandis said that behind the books of the honoree "a clear catechetical concern can be seen, since they are aimed at a very wide public, which he tries to bring closer to the reality of the first three centuries of Christianity, that is, the time of the persecutions".

For Manuel Casado, Vice President of the University of Navarra, "in Professor Ramos-Lissón history, Patristics and ecclesiastical writers are living life, not bookish erudition. For Don Domingo, to save the Fathers and Christian writers is to use them without regard for our salvation, that is, to bring them to us, making them contemporary, injecting them with a new pulse with the blood of our veins, with our circumstances and our problems".

Professor Elisabeth Reinhardt, who presented him with a tribute book containing scientific articles on the history of the Church written by his close colleagues, also spoke. Forty-three authors contributed to this volume, graduate 'Tempus implendi promissa', including two Italians, four Germans, a Frenchwoman, a Slovenian and an American.