NIMEGA, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF. — A favored residence of Charlemagne and an ancient center of Carolingian culture, N. is the seat of the Dutch Catholic University, which bears the name Carolina University (Kaizer Karel Universiteit).
It was founded in 1923, by virtue of the law of 22 May 1905 on the freedom of higher education, by the society “S. Radbodo,” which had set itself, as early as 1905, the goal of establishing a Catholic university. In the meantime, the process began with the establishment of two independent chairs (of philosophy, and of Christian linguistics and archaeology) at the State University of Utrecht; then, once the necessary funds had been collected, the Carolina University was created at N., with three faculties, as the government required in order to grant authorization and recognize the validity of the degrees: theology, law, philosophy and letters. Approval by the Holy See was obtained on 19 June 1923, and the solemn inauguration took place on 17 October 1923. The first rector was the renowned philologist Mons. Giuseppe Schrijnen (d. 25 January 1938).
In 1951 the faculty of medicine was added, and it is hoped that the faculty of mathematical and natural sciences will soon follow. The economic life of the institution is assured by contributions from the State and the municipality of N., and by the generosity of the faithful, while its scientific life is sustained by its many institutes or seminars, all equipped with their own specialized library; particularly important are those of Semitic languages and classical philology, and the “Contardo Ferrini legal circle.” The patrons of the University are s. Thomas Aquinas and s. Peter Canisius, who was born in N. The theological faculty has a distinctive character: it admits only those who have already regularly completed the two-year philosophical course and the four-year theological course, in accordance with the CIC (can. 1365). Its courses are therefore organized into various sections or cycles, according to the preferred specialization: formerly, three (dogmatic-historical, biblical, moral); now, six (dogmatic theology, moral theology, Sacred Scripture, history, comparative religions, missiology). In accordance with the Faculty’s own statutes, adapted to the apostolic constitution Deus scientiarum Dominus and approved on 29 June 1938 by the S. Congregation of Studies, the baccalaureate may be obtained after the first academic year, the licentiate after the second, and the doctorate after the third. The diplomas are recognized as equivalent to those of the social universities.