Nijmegen, Catholic University of

NIJMEGEN, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF. - A favoured residence of Charlemagne and an ancient centre of Carolingian culture, Nijmegen 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 freedom of higher education, by the society "St. Radboud", which had proposed the establishment of a Catholic university since 1905. Meanwhile a beginning was made by erecting two free chairs (of philosophy, and of linguistics and Christian archaeology) at the State University of Utrecht; then, once the necessary funds had been collected, the Carolina University was created at Nijmegen, with three faculties, as the government required in order to grant authorization and recognize the validity of degrees: theology, law, philosophy and letters. The approval of the Holy See was obtained on 19 June 1923, and the solemn inauguration took place on 17 Oct. 1923. The first rector was the well-known philologist Monsignor Giuseppe Schrijnen (d. 25 Jan. 1938).

In 1951 the faculty of medicine was added, and that of mathematical and natural sciences is hoped to be next. The economic life is assured by the contribution of the State and of the municipality of Nijmegen and by the generosity of the faithful, while the scientific life is nourished by the many institutes or seminars, all endowed with their own specialized library; particularly important are those of Semitic languages and of classical philology, and the "Contardo Ferrini juridical circle". The patrons of the University are St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Peter Canisius, who was born at Nijmegen. The theological faculty has a special character, admitting 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). Thus its courses are organized in various sections or cycles, according to the specialization preferred: once, three (dogmatic-historical, biblical, moral); now, six (dogmatic, moral, Sacred Scripture, history, comparative religions, missiology). In accordance with the Faculty's own statutes, conformed to the apostolic constitution Deus scientiarum Dominus and approved on 29 June 1938 by the S. Congr. of Studies, the baccalaureate may be obtained after the first academic year, the licentiate after the second, the doctorate after the third. The diplomas are equivalent to those of the state Universities.

Igino Cecchetti