Skip to main content
cursillo

cursillo

1 9.9
A short religious retreat to help people renew their faith
  • noun
  • /kərˈsiːjoʊ/
  • Jargon
: cursillo
  • Every summer, the church organizes a cursillo to help attendees deepen their faith.
  • cursillo movement

Examples

  • Ana attended a cursillo last weekend to reflect on her spiritual journey.

  • Participants can experience spiritual growth during the cursillo held at the retreat center.

  • The cursillo movement, as it is known in the United States, began in Spain in the 1950s and spread quickly throughout Latin America.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Rene and Carmen are a married Peruvian couple active in the cursillo movement.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Daniel Levine and David Stoll describe the cursillos as part of a larger effort by the Catholic Church "designed to insulate the faithful from ideological and political contamination...

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

retreat
vscursillo
49 6.0

A time away from normal life for quiet prayer or study

is a short structured course for spiritual renewal mainly within Christianity

Surface Forms

cursillo singular
cursillos plural

Etymology

Cursillo comes from the Spanish curso ('course') plus the ending -illo ('little'), and that goes back to the Latin cursus ('run'). So a cursillo is literally a 'little course', which is why it means a short retreat for spiritual renewal.