Ecclesiastical Colleges

ECCLESIASTICAL COLLEGES. - Institutions located in Rome and willed by the Roman pontiffs, where young men of various nationalities, aspiring to the priesthood, are sent by their bishops to attend courses in philosophy and theology under the authority and tutelage of the Pontifical See itself, and then return to their homeland to strengthen there, together with the Catholic religion, their union with the Papacy.

I. NORTH AMERICAN, PONTIFICAL

Founded by Pius IX and formally opened on 8 Dec. 1859, it is a seminary for students coming from the United States of America who are preparing for the priesthood. It can house 150 students and was declared a Pontifical college by Leo XIII on 25 Oct. 1884.

The students attend the Gregorian University. About a thousand former students of the seminary are currently living, for the most part in the United States, among them the four American cardinals, Dougherty, Mooney, Stritch and Spellman. Closed since June 1940, it was renovated and reopened on 14 Sept. 1948. On 26 July 1948, the current Pontiff had transferred the right of ownership of the section of the college, which is at Palazzo Orsini on via dell'Umiltà, from the Congregation of Propaganda to the American bishops. Martine G. O'Connor

II. ARMENIAN, PONTIFICAL

Two attempts at foundation made by Gregory XIII in the 16th century and by some Armenian merchants in the 17th century came to nothing. The Armenian students were together with the others in the Urban College of Propaganda. Once again Pius IX failed to carry out the idea, newly proposed in 1867 by a synod of Armenian bishops. Finally Leo XIII, by the brief Benigna hominum Parens (1 March 1883), erected the college in its present seat at via S. Nicola da Tolentino 17. Recently a new building has been constructed. The college is entrusted to the secular clergy. Its rules were confirmed by the S. Congregazione Orientale in 1929. The students attend the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina

III. BEDA, PONTIFICAL

Founded by Leo XIII, the Pontifical Beda College is unique of its kind and receives and prepares for the priesthood those who have had the vocation at an advanced age. The minimum age limit for admission is 24 years. Every profession is represented there, and many of its students may have belonged to other Churches before obtaining the gift of the faith in the Catholic one.

At its beginning the Pontifical Beda College had its seat in the venerable English College at via Monserrato 45, in Rome; but for about 35 years it has had its own seat at via S. Nicola da Tolentino 67. The college has room for 54 students. In the constitutions given by the S. Congregazione degli studi a special short course is included for those who cannot attend other universities. Among those who have come out of the Pontifical Beda College and have distinguished it with their name, mention should be made of: Archbishop David Mathew, writer and apostolic legate in Africa, Fr. Vernon Johnson, a well-known preacher, and Msgr. George L. Smith, who, in his time, had been a promising figure of the United States bar. Carlo Duchemin

IV. BELGIAN, PONTIFICAL

In 1843 the rector of the national church of St. Julian of the Belgians, Monsignor Aerts, had the idea of founding in Rome an ecclesiastical college for young men chosen from the seminaries of the 6 dioceses of Belgium. The idea was welcomed by the bishops and encouraged by the apostolic nuncio in Brussels, Monsignor Gioacchino Pecci (later Leo XIII).

In 1846 the convent of Sts. Joachim and Anne, belonging to the Spanish Trinitarians, was purchased on the via del Quirinale, and in the same year Monsignor Aerts, as first rector, presented the first students to Pope Gregory XVI. Among the former students are counted: Monsignor Kerkhofs, bishop of Liège, Monsignor Charne, bishop of Namur, Monsignor Delanotte, Monsignor Himmer, bishop of Tournai; in March 1949 the rector Monsignor de Fürstenberg was appointed apostolic delegate in Japan. Giuseppe De Vroede

V. CANADIAN, PONTIFICAL

In 1886 Cardinal Howard, protector of the Sulpicians, entrusted to Msgr. Colin, superior of the seminary of Montréal, the work of founding the Canadian college, desired by the bishops of Canada, on Via Quattro Fontane. Cardinal Howard himself blessed the first stone on 24 February 1887. On 11 November 1888 the first 12 students entered. Since then the college has welcomed and formed in the spirit of the Roman Church more than 700 priests, of whom 40 have become bishops, and the majority have distinguished themselves in their respective dioceses, both in teaching and in the care of souls. The college was awarded the title of pontifical on 6 May 1932. At present 45 priests, belonging to 15 different dioceses, attend the courses of the various Roman universities. Paolo Emilio Léger

VI. CAPRANICENSE, ALMO

It took its name from Cardinal Domenico Capranica, who founded it at Christmas 1456, establishing by a legal deed of 5 January 1457 all his possessions as its endowment. When he died shortly afterwards (August 1458), his brother Angelo took charge of the new foundation, which began its activity in the following years. Although there is evidence of some other earlier foundation, the Sapientia Firmana, or Collegium Capranicense as it was later called, is the first institution of its kind established in Rome. The founder himself dictated its constitutions, wishing it to be open to poor students, Romans by birth (reserving places for young men from Fermo, which was his diocese), aspiring to the ecclesiastical state, so that they might study theology and canon law at the University of Rome. He assigned them his palace at S. Maria in Aquiro and his library, rich in two thousand volumes, and entrusted its legal guardianship to the three guardians and custodians of the Archconfraternity of the Savior at the Sancta Sanctorum of the Lateran and to the conservators of the City. They had the duty of overseeing its administration and discipline and the right to approve the appointment of the rector, which was made annually by the students themselves. These had to be between 15 and 35 years of age, already prepared for study, live in the college, wear the clerical habit, receive the sacred Orders within three years and obtain the doctorate within the seven years of residence granted to them. In the 16th century they numbered 31. The college, through various vicissitudes and changes in its regulations, lasted until 1798, when it was closed under the Roman Republic. It was reopened in 1807 by Pius VII, who reserved the appointment of the rector to the Pope. The students attend the Gregorian University and perform liturgical service in the Liberian basilica; and besides those established by the foundation, boarders of every nation may be housed there. Benedict XV belonged to the college and, for a short time, Pius XII as well, along with numerous prelates and cardinals.

Renata Orazi Ausenda

VII. ETHIOPIAN, PONTIFICAL

When in 1481 an Ethiopian delegation arrived in Rome, Pope Sixtus IV entrusted to the Ethiopian monks the ancient church of S. Stefano behind the apse of the basilica of St. Peter. From then on it was called S. Stefano dei Mori.

In the adjoining building monks from Ethiopia settled, among whom Tesfa Sjon (v.) was famous, and pilgrims from those lands were received. In 1731 the building, having from time to time become almost empty, was also assigned to the Copts. The lack of inhabitants continued until 1816. Then the Ethiopian monk Giorgio Galabadda was named rector of the college. But at his death (1845) the Discalced Trinitarians installed themselves in the building and remained there until 1919. Fr. Camillo Beccari (v.) S. I. begged Benedict XV to dedicate the house to the education of the Ethiopian secular clergy, which was done first provisionally from 1919 and then permanently, when Pius XI had a new palace built in the Vatican gardens in place of the old demolished hospice, and by the constitution Curis ac laboribus of 12 Feb. 1930 made it a pontifical college subject to his vicar general for the Vatican and entrusted to the Capuchins of the Eritrean mission. The students attend the college of Propaganda.

5 (1911), pp. 1-36; Mauro da Leonessa, S. Stefano Maggiore degli Abissini e le relazioni romano-etiapiche, Vatican City 1929.

VIII. GERMANICO-UNGARICO, PONTIFICIO

Founded by Pope Julius III, on the initiative and under the care of St. Ignatius of Loyola, on 31 Aug. 1552, for the formation of priests zealous and faithful to the Church for Germany and for the neighboring countries struck by heresy. The constitutions dictated by St. Ignatius himself became a model for the reform of priestly education and for the establishment of seminaries decreed by the Council of Trent.

In 1574 Gregory XIII donated to the college the palace and church of S. Apollinare, which was its residence for almost 200 years, and subsequently, especially through the efforts of St. Peter Canisius, granted it other rich endowments. In 1580 it was united with the Hungarian college (with the church of S. Stefano Rotondo). The selection of students in the countries of origin was handled by the nuncios; for a long time nobles were preferred in order to bring back to the Catholic Church through them the Chapters almost completely invaded by heresy. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus the C. too was closed in 1798, but later reopened at the house of the Gesù in 1818. During the First World War it moved to Innsbruck. The present seat, Via S. Nicola da Tolentino 13, is a large modern construction (1940-44); the church still under construction on a design by the architect B. M. Apolloni Ghetti will be dedicated to St. Peter Canisius.

Among the students, up to today about 7000, there were the pope (Gregory XV), 29 cardinals, 57 archbishops, 330 bishops and other ecclesiastical personalities of great importance (for example, Cardinal Hergenröther, J. M. Scheeben, Carl Sonnenschein, the archbishop Steinach); 50 students died as martyrs for the faith, among whom two were beatified (Marcus Crisinus and Robert Johnson); a symbol of this spirit of martyrdom is also the red color of the cassock (with black cincture). At present the community, which has suffered grave losses because of the war, numbers 80 students (full number about 120). The direction is entrusted to the fathers of the Society of Jesus. Generally the students study philosophy and theology for 7 years at the Gregorian University.

Giacomo Maturi

IX. GREEK, PONTIFICAL

Gregory XIII, with the bull In Apostolicae Sedis specula of 13 January 1576, erected the college in its present seat at via del Babuino 149, next to which he had the church of S. Atanasio built. It was Cardinal Santoro, the college's first protector, who in 1583 gave it its first rules and in 1591 entrusted it to the Society of Jesus with the consent of Gregory XIV. The students were Greeks, but also Slavs, Albanians, Romanians and Melkites.

From 1602 the Jesuits no longer governed the college, and its protector, Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani, called in as collaborators a Somascan and some Dominicans. In 1621, at the request of the leading Greeks resident in Rome, Gregory XV again entrusted the governance of the college to the Jesuits, who held it until the suppression of their Order (1773). In this period there were illustrious men educated at the college, such as Allaeci, Arcudio and Comnenos Papadopolis. Urban VIII gave definitive rules in 1624 which remained in force for almost 300 years. From 1773 the college passed under the immediate dependence of Propaganda. But in 1803 it was closed because of financial straits and reopened for only 10 students in 1835. The settlement with Austria of the properties of the ancient Armenian-Ruthenian college of Lviv somewhat relieved the finances of the Greek one. This was reopened in 1845 with 8 students, almost all Ruthenians. In the direction of the college, the secular clergy were succeeded for a time from 1886 by the Resurrectionists and from 1890 again by the Jesuits. When later Leo XIII in 1896 erected a college specifically for the Ruthenians, to be entrusted to the Society of Jesus, he called the Benedictines to the Greek college, and they took possession of it in 1897. Today it is cared for by the Belgian Benedictine Congregation. The latest redaction of the new rules is that of 1923. The students, among whom Albanians and Melkites are also counted, attend the schools of the Angelicum.

Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina

X. ENGLISH, VENERABLE

Its earliest origins go back to the 14th century. Because of the influx of English pilgrims to Rome in 1300 and 1350, a hospice was in fact founded in 1362 on via Monserrato. The hospice flourished until the 17th century, and had a church dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity and to St. Thomas of Canterbury, which was consecrated in 1445. Among its officiants were men of great name, and Cardinal Pole was its guardian from 1538 to 1544. During the reign of Elizabeth (1553-1605) the institution declined, until Dr. Allen (later cardinal) and Owen Lewis (afterwards bishop of Cassano) persuaded Gregory XIII to transform it into a seminary for the English mission. The bull of foundation is dated 23 April 1579; but an attempt had already been made previously with a few students, lodged in private houses near St. Peter's in 1576.

Despite some internal discord between Welsh and English, between friends and opponents of the Jesuit direction, the college prospered, its reputation spread, and it had the glory of giving to the Church 41 martyrs, among whom were the Bl. Ralph Sharwin (1581), the Bl. Henri Walpole, the Bl. Robert Southwell (1595), the Bl. John Wall and the Bl. David Lewis (1679).

From 1579 it was under the direction of the Jesuits, among whom Fr. Agazzari and Fr. Vitelleschi must be remembered. From 1598 the rectors were always English, among them Fr. Robert Persons (1595-1610). Among its guests were several Protestants, such as Milton (1638) and John Evelyn. In 1685 the college was rebuilt and the church restored by its protector Cardinal Howard, who added the chapel of the sodality. In 1773, following the suppression of the Jesuits, the college was placed under the direction of Italian secular priests. When in 1798 the Napoleonic troops invaded Rome and plundered the building, ruining the church, there were only 10 students.

In 1818 the college was reopened with 10 students, among them the future Cardinal Wiseman, under the rectorship of Dr. Gradwell, an English secular priest. English secular priests were all his successors. Among these are remembered the already mentioned Cardinal Wiseman (1828-40), Hinsley (1917-30), and the apostolic delegate for Great Britain, Msgr. G. Godfrey (1930-39).

From the beginning until 1773 the students attended the Roman College; from that year until 1793 they had their own school. From 1819 to 1824 they returned to the Roman College, which in that year was given back to the Jesuits; afterwards, until 1859, they attended the Apollinare. From that date to the present they have been pupils of the Roman College and of the Gregorian University. Their greatest academic triumph was marked by Cardinal Wiseman in 1824. The tradition of the college is to unite a just patriotic sentiment with fidelity to the Holy See, and the aim proposed to its students is to be like their glorious martyrs, true Englishmen and integral Catholics. The conversion of England is the object of their particular desire. The new church was built in 1866-88.

XI. IRISH, PONTIFICAL

The anti-Catholic laws of the English sovereigns of the 16th and 17th centuries, having made ecclesiastical education impossible in Ireland, led to the founding of various colleges for Irish clerics in the Catholic nations of Europe. In 1625 the Irish bishops asked Pope Urban VIII to found an Irish college in Rome. The petition was granted in 1628 by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, protector of Ireland, who, at the urging of the Franciscan Father Luke Wadding, founded at his own expense a college for Irish clerics. The first residence was in a building facing the church of St. Isidore. Its direction was entrusted to the Irish Franciscan fathers of that church.

After the death of Cardinal Ludovisi, the government of the Irish college passed to the Society of Jesus, which retained it until 1772. From that year until 1798 its rector was Abbot Luigi Cuccagni. From 1639 until 1798, the year in which the Irish college was suppressed by the Napoleonic invaders, the residence was in via degli Ibenesi. When it was rebuilt in 1826, it occupied the buildings near S. Lucia dei Giunasi, whence it was transferred in 1858 to S. Agata in Suburra. In 1926 it settled in its present home, near the church of the SS. Quattro. Since 1826 the superiors have been chosen from the diocesan clergy of Ireland. The students attend the schools of the Lateran Athenaeum. Worthy of special mention among the former students are: the martyr Oliver Plunket (v.), beatified in 1920; Abbot Columba Marmion, O. S. B.; Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran, the first cardinal to be created in Australia, author of several historical works.

Dionisio Mac Daid

XII. LITHUANIAN "ST. CASIMIR"

The Lithuanian college, whose erection was decided on 11 Oct. 1945 by the bishops of Lithuania in exile, under the presidency of the metropolitan Giuseppe Skvireckas, archbishop of Kaunas, opened on 1 Nov. 1946, with 38 students, in the building at via Casalmonferrato no. 20, donated by A. Briska, parish priest of the archdiocese of Chicago; Pius XII canonically erected it on 1 May 1948 under the protection of St. Casimir. The students attend the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Lateran Athenaeum.

Ladislao Tulaba

XIII. MARONITE, PONTIFICAL

Gregory XIII founded in 1581 a hospice to lodge pilgrims from Lebanon, with its seat on the present via dei Maroniti in the Trevi district. Later, on 11 July 1584, that hospice by virtue of the bull Humana sic ferunt became a college for seminarians and by the protector Cardinal Caraffa was entrusted to the Jesuits, who governed it until their suppression in 1773. It then had to endure sad conditions and economic hardships that closed its doors for decades.

The ancient building was then bought in 1866 by the Polish college. Finally Leo XIII, acceding to the requests and the financial collaboration of the Maronite episcopate, re-established the ancient foundation in the new seat at via Porta Pinciana 18. The same rules as those of the college of Propaganda were adopted. Benedict XV confirmed the custom that had become established, namely that the Rector should belong to the Roman secular clergy. Pius XI, however, at the entreaties of the Maronite episcopate, entrusted the college once again to the Society of Jesus. From the eve of the Second World War until now (1949) the college has remained closed. The students attended the schools of the Pontifical Gregorian University (v. MARONITI).

Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina

XIV. NEPOMUCENE, PONTIFICAL

This college, formerly called the Bohemian College, because it was limited to the four dioceses of the kingdom of Bohemia, owes its existence to the munificence of Leo XIII, who, seconded by the then bishop of Budejovice, Franz of the princes of Schönborn (later archbishop of Prague), established in 1884

a first nucleus of students, at the institute of the Anima, and then at the Lombard college at S. Carlo al Corso.

But in 1890 the Pontiff donated a seat on via Sistina; he endowed the college with sufficient financial means, erected it as a pontifical college with the apostolic letter Vicarium of 1 Jan. 1890, arranging that it should receive up to 30 students from the four dioceses of Bohemia: Prague, Hradec Králové, Budejovice, Litomerice, of the two nationalities, Czech and German, and that they should continue to attend the Athenaeum of Propaganda Fide. The statutes, inspired by those of the college of Propaganda Fide, adapted to the particular needs of the new college, were approved by Card. Rampolla, secretary of State, on 15 May 1893. The first rector was Msgr. Lorenzelli, later nuncio in Paris and cardinal, for more than 20 years, having as his collaborator, as vice-rector, Msgr. Francesco Zapletal, later titular bishop of Salona and auxiliary of the archbishop of Prague. After 1893 Msgr. Hais, bishop of Hradec Králové, donated to the college a villa at Trevi in Umbria, for the summer holidays. In May 1915, because of the First World War, the students left Rome, continuing their studies at the theological faculty of the Charles University of Prague. In 1919, once the new Czechoslovak Republic was constituted, comprising, besides Bohemia, also Moravia and Slovakia, the college was extended to all 12 dioceses of the Republic itself. The seat having become too small, Pope Pius XI in 1927 donated the land for the construction of the new seat on via Concordia. Since 1928-29 the students have attended the Lateran Athenaeum. The new statutes were approved with the apostolic letter Ubi primum on 23 Apr. 1930 and from then on the college took the name Nepomucene, in honor of the martyr St. John Nepomucene. In 1931 Pius XI donated the villa Maria, near the sanctuary of the Madonna of Montenero (Livorno). Because of the detachment of the Sudetenland from the Czechoslovak Republic, annexed to Germany on 28 Sept. 1938, the students of German nationality, belonging to the Sudetenland, by order of Pope Pius XI on 26 Oct. 1938 were transferred to the German college. During the great war of 1939-45 the college remained open, but from 1941 the students of Czech nationality could no longer return to their homeland: nor could new students come to Rome. In the following Nov. the college resumed its life, since as many as 31 new students arrived from the reborn Republic: now all the dioceses are represented according to the importance of the dioceses themselves. Among the former students are many bishops and in particular the lamented Card. Carlo Kaspar, archbishop of Prague. At present the students number 42: 25 of Czech nationality and 17 of Slovak nationality. Ferdinando Roveda

XV. DUTCH PIUS XI, PONTIFICAL

Founded on 26 Oct. 1930, built by the first rector Msgr. Bernardo Eras, it houses only young Dutch priests, who come to Rome to perfect their ecclesiastical studies. Since 1931 it has received 55 students, to attend the Angelicum, the Gregorian, the institutes Utriusque iuris, the Biblical, the Oriental, of Sacred Music, of Christian Archaeology. One former student is a bishop, 3 are university professors, many are teachers in Dutch major seminaries.

It also serves as a cultural-religious center of the Dutch colony in Rome. Giuseppe Damen

XVI. PIUS BRAZILIAN, PONTIFICAL

Located in Rome on the via Aurelia, it was inaugurated on 3 April 1934 for the religious and scientific formation of young Brazilian clerics, who since the 19th century had been educated at the Pio Latino Americano college; but with the increase in the number of dioceses in Brazil their number grew, and since their language differed from that of the other nations of Latin America, Pope Pius XI decided to separate the Brazilian students, gathering them into a separate college.

Thus the bishops of Brazil, led by Mons. B. Aloisi Masella, then apostolic nuncio in Brazil, now a cardinal, and by Cardinal Sebastiano da Silva Leme, archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, founded the new college, whose first stone was laid on 27 October 1924. Its direction was entrusted to the Jesuits, and the young men attend the academic courses of the Gregorian University.

XVII. PIUS LATIN AMERICAN, PONTIFICAL

Founded in 1858 on the initiative of Msgr. Ignacio Eyzaguirre, a Chilean, blessed by Pius IX, who wished it to be called Pio after his own name and to be entrusted to the Society of Jesus; it began its life at S. Andrea della Valle, later moving to the Minerva and to S. Andrea del Quirinale, until its present seat was built on via G. Belli in 1877, through the tireless work of Fr. Santinelli.

Pius IX donated to the college a suburban villa (Maffei) for the weekly holiday. In 1925 the summer residence was built at Montenero near Livorno. It received the title of pontifical from Pius X. More than 2000 students, come from the republics of Latin America, have received their education in this college, attending the courses of the Gregorian and the affiliated institutes, earning academic degrees, distinguishing themselves in their homelands, while many of them rose to the supreme ranks of the ecclesiastical hierarchy: 6 cardinals and about 200 archbishops and bishops. Many others have distinguished themselves as writers, preachers, organizers of Catholic Action, directors of souls, founders and professors in public universities: about 100 embraced the religious life. The good that Latin America has derived from this providential institute is immense and is continually expanding.

XVIII. PIUS ROMANIAN, PONTIFICAL

At the request of the Romanian episcopate, Pius XI founded the Romanian College on the slopes of the Janiculum on 12 May 1930. It is entrusted to the secular clergy. The students attend the schools of the College of Propaganda.

XIX. POLISH, PONTIFICAL

Founded in Rome to make it possible for the Polish clergy to pursue ecclesiastical studies in the center of Catholicism and thus to help consolidate in Poland the Catholic spirit, which was gravely threatened.

This idea, suggested by Bogdan Jański to the first Resurrectionist fathers in Paris, was in 1850, at their request, proposed by Montalembert and accepted by Pope Pius IX; but owing to various difficulties it could be realized only in 1868, with funds collected among Poles at home and abroad. The Pope appointed Fr. Semenenko as its first rector, took the college under his special protection, and honored it with the title of pontifical. It had various locations. Since 1936 it has been in Piazza Remuria. In 1947-48 it was restored and enlarged with substantial help from Polish Americans. In 1938 the direction of the college passed, at the wish of the Polish episcopate and by decision of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries, from the Resurrectionists to the secular clergy, and on Feb. 11, 1949, under the direction of the Jesuits. Among its former students are counted 3 cardinals, 18 bishops, and many professors of ecclesiastical sciences in the seminaries and universities of Poland. The students attend the courses of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

Wladimiro Konopka

XX. PORTUGUESE, PONTIFICAL

Founded by Leo XIII on 20 Oct. 1900. It receives priest and cleric students, chosen from among the best of the dioceses of Portugal, both on the continent and overseas. Its seat is at via Banco di S. Spirito no. 12, and it can accommodate 45 students. At present it has 31, among them 5 Indians (Goa) and 2 Angolans (Portuguese West Africa).

They attend the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music. The students trained in Rome are generally appointed to the teaching of the ecclesiastical sciences in their respective dioceses and also work in the various bodies of Catholic Action. Among the former students of the Portuguese college are counted one cardinal and 12 bishops.

Gioacchino Carreira

XXI. RUSSIAN OF ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS, PONTIFICAL

Founded by Pius XI near the church of St. Anthony Abbot on the Esquiline in 1929, it was entrusted to the Jesuits. The students, destined for the apostolate among the Russians, attend the schools of the Pontifical Gregorian University.

XXII. RUTHENIAN OF ST. JOSAPHAT, PONTIFICAL

Leo XIII founded on 18 Dec. 1897, with the letters Paternum benevolentiam, a college specifically for the Ruthenians or Ukrainians, who until then had for centuries been guests of the Greek college.

The new building, arranged near the church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, received the first students, at first directed by the Jesuits, until in 1904 the latter were replaced by the Basilians. Given the growing number of students, Pius XI in 1930 had a new building erected on the Janiculum dedicated to St. Josaphat, the current seat of the college. The students attend the classrooms of the college of Propaganda.

Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina

XXIII. OF PRIESTS FOR ITALIAN EMIGRATION

Founded on 13 March 1914, opened on 6 January 1920, to assist Italian emigrants; it has its seat on via della Scrofa, in the premises of the former Pius Seminary, founded by Pius IX.

XXIV. OF ST. JEROME OF THE ILLYRIANS

Established by Pope Leo XIII on August 1, 1901, with the brief Slavorum gentem. The said Pontiff, suppressing the hospice and the Chapter of the same name, founded the ecclesiastical college for the higher education of the Croatian clergy under the name Collegium Hieronymianum pro Croatica gente, changed on March 7, 1902, to Collegium Hieronymianum Illyricorum.

The purpose of the college is advanced studies in subjects related to theological studies, such as philosophy, biblical sciences, Oriental studies, canon law, Church history, Christian archaeology, archival science, missiology, sacred music, sacred art, etc.

The said college, for political reasons, was not opened under Leo XIII, but under the pontificate of Pius X, in 1911, and was again closed in 1915, because of the First World War. Reopened in 1924, it works according to the aims assigned to it by its founder. Up to the whole of 1948 it has had 102 students, of whom 2 were bishops, 11 university professors, 29 teachers in secondary schools, 17 at the central diocesan departments and others in the care of souls.

The college's property, which consisted of six houses in the vicinity of the Augusteum, was recently (1937-39) transformed into a single building, its current seat (piazza Augusto Imperatore and via Tomacelli). The previous seat was in via di Ripetta.

Admitted to enter the college are the Croatian priests of 17 dioceses, of which 16 belong to the Yugoslav F.N.R., namely: 11 to the Republic of Croatia, 3 to the National Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 to the National Republic of Montenegro, and the other is the diocese of Trieste.

Giorgio Magirec

XXV. OF ST. MARY OF THE LAKE: v. CHICAGO.

XXVI. OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE

In order to give the native clergy of the missions the possibility of perfecting themselves in ecclesiastical studies, Propaganda established on Jan. 18, 1947, on the Janiculum, the college of St. Peter the Apostle, which is intended to be the completion of the Urban College of Propaganda Fide. The direction of the college is entrusted to the fathers of the Society of the Divine Word. Its students attend the various Roman universities.

Saverio Paventi

XXVII. SCOTTISH, PONTIFICAL

After the Reformation, Catholics were excluded from Scottish schools and universities and, consequently, could no longer be educated in their own country. To remedy this lack, Scottish colleges were opened in Europe. Following those of Douai and Paris, the Scottish college in Rome was founded in 1600 by Pope Clement VIII, who endowed it with revenues including those of the ancient Scottish Hospice in Rome.

The college initially occupied a house located opposite S. Maria di Costantinopoli on via del Tritone, but in 1604 the Pope donated to the college a house on via Quattro Fontane, on the site of the present building. The church of S. Andrea degli Scozzesi, which serves as the college's chapel, was built in 1645. Nine years later, the college acquired a country house and a vineyard at Marino.

Like the medieval colleges, the Scottish one did not have the sole purpose of education for the priesthood. But in 1616, because of the scarcity of missionaries for Scotland, Pope Paul V, who as cardinal had been protector of the Scottish college, decided that in the future it should provide exclusively for the formation of priests for the Scottish mission. After its foundation the college was under the governance of the pope's datary. In 1615 it was placed under the direction of the Society of Jesus. Until 1671 the office of rector was held by Scottish Jesuits. Subsequently many of the rectors were Italian Jesuits or secular priests, until 1800, when Paul Macpherson became rector. From then on all the rectors have been Scottish secular priests. Since its foundation the college has sent a constant stream of priests to Scotland, except for the two periods in which it remained closed, from 1798 to 1820 because of the French invasion, and from 1940 to 1946 because of the war. At present the college has 40 students who attend the Gregorian University, the Biblical Institute and the Pontifical School of Sacred Music.
XXVIII. SPANISH, PONTIFICAL. — The Spanish College of St. Joseph was founded on 1 April 1892 by the servant of God Fr. Manuel Domingo y Sol. It was confirmed by Pope Leo XIII with his letter to Episcopus Hispaniae of 25 October 1893 and obtained the title of pontifical on 16 December 1904 from Pope Pius X.

Its permanent seat is the Palazzo Altemps, on Via S. Apollinare, granted in perpetuity by Leo XIII. The number of students soon reached a hundred, which is still the ordinary number today.

The college's great glory are its 105 victims of the Spanish revolution of 1936-39; the two cardinals, one patriarch, two archbishops and 26 bishops. The students for the most part attend the schools of the Pontifical Gregorian University, but there is no lack of students in the Pontifical Biblical Institute, in the Oriental Institute and in those of Sacred Music, of Christian Archaeology, of the Lateran Athenaeum, etc.

XXIX. TEUTONIC, AT S. MARIA DELL'ANIMA

It was founded by apostolic brief of 10 March 1859 for the formation of priests needed for the diocesan curias of Austria and Germany (study of canon law, work in the Holy Congregations, etc.).

It can receive 30 priests, who follow courses at the various pontifical universities. One of the priests, under the direction of the rector, is charged with the religious and moral care of German-speaking Catholics in Rome and its surroundings. Former students of the college include Cardinals Faulhaber, Bertram, Hartmann, Nagl, Missia, bishops and professors (Grabmann, Haberl, Commer, Schell, Schmidlin).

Luigi Hudal

XXX. TEUTONIC, AT S. MARIA IN CAMPO SANTO

Founded by Pius IX on 21 Nov. 1876 with the brief Pietatis monumenta, for priests originating from the territories of the former Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.

Under the wise direction of its first rector Antonio De Waal it soon took on a happy growth that was interrupted only during the First World War. Cultivating by preference the study of sacred archaeology and ecclesiastical history, its members for the most part set out on an academic career and became renowned professors and writers, among them A. H. L. Hensen, J. Wilpert, J. P. Kirsch, A. Gauchie, J. Schlecht, J. Schnitzer, S. Merkle, R. Stapper, J. Sickenberger, G. Pleilschifter, F. Wieland, E. Göller, M. Besson, J. Sauer, J. Schmidlin, N. Hilling, J. Wittig, F. J. Dölger, E. Krebs, F. X. Seppelt, P. Styger, Th. Klauser, H. Jedin. In its seat it hosts the Roman institute of the Görres society, with which it collaborates for the scholarly edition of the acts of the Council of Trent. It possesses a rich library specialized in the two aforementioned theological disciplines, and a museum of Christian antiquities (v. CAMPO SANTO TEUTONICO, MUSEO del), inscriptions, sarcophagi, architectural fragments, collections of lamps, sacred furnishings, pontifical seals. Antonio De Waal founded, in 1887, the journal Römische Quartalschrift (v.). On Saturdays it holds its « sabatine », evening lectures of a scholarly character.

Ermanno Maria, Stöckle

XXXI. URBAN OF PROPAGANDA FIDE

Canonically erected by Pope Urban VIII with the bull Immortalis Dei Filius of 1 August 1627. Its initiator and founder was Giovanni Batt. Vives (b. at Valencia in 1542, d. at Rome in 1632), who benefited from the encouragement and counsel of St. John Leonardi, founder of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God, and of Fr. Michele Ghisleri, a Theatine. After overcoming many difficulties, in 1625 he succeeded in obtaining possession of the palace of the late Cardinal Ferratini, situated in the piazza Trinità dei Monti, today the piazza di Spagna, which, by notarial deed of 1 June 1626, he donated, together with other properties of his, to Urban VIII, so that in it might be received students "ex omni gente et natione, mittendorum per Summum Pontificem in universum terrarum orbem ad tuendam propagandamque catholicam fidem". The papal bull of erection subjected the new college to the Holy See, entrusted it to the supervision of three canons of the three patriarchal basilicas of Rome, and endowed it with its own schools with the faculty of conferring degrees in philosophy and theology.

Cardinal Antonio Barberini, brother of Urban VIII, appointed prefect of Propaganda in 1632, bought the small houses and gardens adjacent to the palace and on that area had a new building constructed, which was annexed to the college. He further founded new scholarships and placed the college under the dependence of the S. Congregation of Propaganda, which in 1633 had moved into the same Palazzo Ferratini, and called the Theatines to its direction (1641). In 1646 the direction was entrusted to secular priests; it then passed toward the end of the 17th century to the Priests of the Mission, who held it for a short time (1711), to be taken up again by the secular clergy almost uninterruptedly until 1836, when it was given to the Jesuits (1836-48), and then returned until our own days into the hands of the secular clergy.

The French Revolution declared it closed in 1798, forcing the students to repatriate and imprisoning at Castel S. Angelo about 10 who had not obeyed the order to repatriate. From 1803 to 1809 the college had its temporary seat in the house of the Priests of the Mission at Montecitorio. In 1809 Napoleon suppressed it. In 1817 it was definitively reopened.

In 1925 the S. Congregation of Propaganda acquired a vast expanse of land on the Janiculum, where it had built the new seat of the college, inaugurated and blessed personally by Pope Pius XI on 24 April 1931. Young men coming from the most opposite regions, representing the five parts of the world and the various rites of the Catholic religion, of the most diverse colors, of the most disparate languages, are here prepared to become "heralds of the Great King". From its origins to 1949, about 7,000 were the young men educated in the college, among them 5 cardinals, a host of patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, vicars and apostolic prefects, men of science, martyrs of the faith, benefactors and civilizers of peoples.

Pompeo Borgna