The last class of Jesús María Bañales on Thursday, April 28 was not exactly this, a class, but rather a review of his 45 years of work in the classrooms of the University of Navarra and a thank you to all that this master of Latin has learned while teaching them, both in the School of Philosophy and Letters as well as in the Canon Law. His fellow professors, students, and family members accompanied the first doctor in Philology Classics of the University of Navarra in classroom 1 of School of Ecclesiastical Studies, which was completely full.

In his exhibition, Professor Bañales said he had "two opposite feelings: that of joy for having reached the goal of retirement and that of nostalgia for what I have left behind". In addition to teaching Latin and doing so with patience, he has a reputation among his students for instilling in them discipline. He lamented the very scarce presence of Latin and Greek in the School of Philosophy and Letters, in civil service examination to the wishes of St. Josemaría.

 

 

He explained that during the thirteen years that he has taught teaching Latin at School of Canon Law "I have been fulfilled as a teacher; I have found an extraordinary atmosphere, and attention, both with the students and with the teachers, has been and is very familiar". And he joked that he had had to adapt himself "to the clerical students, who come with different knowledge, perhaps only because of the obedience due to their bishops", but he did not know if they were also eager to learn Latin. "They have needed a lot of patience in having me as a teacher during the three years of their licentiate degree in Canon Law.

To try to instill in them that illusion that perhaps they lacked at entrance and to explain Latin Grammar to them, he thought it appropriate to give them examples that were close to the subject they were studying, so he devoted himself to "read and examine carefully" the 1752 canons that constitute the Code of Canon Law. From that study was born the publication, in 2015, of the book "The Latin language of the Code of Canon Law", which "I published with the encouragement of Professor Jorge Otaduy".

He wondered what he had contributed to the University, or rather what he would be remembered for. He appealed to the aforementioned discipline and his fondness for "vaquillas" and "jotas navarras", "I will hardly be remembered as a professor, or at most I will be remembered as a heterodox professor. I have learned a lot from the students; I have had them from the five continents, some of those who have passed through those classrooms are now bishops, professors, judicial vicars, parish priests". Seneca already said: "Men learn while they teach".

He concluded by thanking God for his stay at the University of Navarra "to God, who through the mediation of St. Josemaría St. Josemaría founded it; to the Mother of Fair Lovecampusto my parents, who brought me here to study; to Don Juan Antonio Paniagua, at that time, University Secretary of the University, who guided me towards programs of study of Philosophy and Letters; to this School, which formed me; to the extinct department of Philology Clásica, with Don Francisco Sanmartí, who accepted me as professor teaching assistant, and Doña Carmen Castillo, who did the same as attachment; to the School of Canon Law, to the School of Theology, to my family, wife and children, and to all the people in the offices and services without whom nothing at the University would work".

At the end, he was presented with a commemorative plaque and the eighth edition in Spanish of the Code of Canon Law, which Professor Bañales said he did not have, as he had always used the Italian version.