Gregorian University

Pontifica Universitas Gregoriana

Motto	Religioni et Bonis Artibus (Latin: "For Religion and Culture")
Established	1551
Type	Private, Catholic, Jesuit, Pontifical
Location	Rome, Italy, but partially extraterritorial of the Holy See
Website	http://www.unigre.it

Pontifical Gregorian University (Italian: Pontificia Università Gregoriana) is a pontifical university located in Rome, Italy. Heir of the Roman College, the Gregorian University is one of the oldest universities in the world today, and was the first Jesuit University in the world, being founded by St Ignatius of Loyola over 450 years ago. Containing faculties and institutes of various disciplines of the humanities, the Gregorian has one of the largest theology departments in the world, with over 1600 students from over 130 countries.

The Pontifical Gregorian University.

History

St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), with financial patronage from Cardinal St. Francis Borgia founded a "school of grammar, humanity, and Christian doctrine" on February 18, 1551 in a house at the base of the Capitoline Hill. With a small library connected to it, this school was called the Collegio Romano (Roman College). Within the first year, due to the number of students, the site was transferred to a larger facility behind the church of San Stefano del Cacco. After only two years of existence, the Roman College already counted 250 alumni.

St. Ignatius of Loyola founded the Roman College in 1551.

In January of 1556, Pope Paul IV gave the College the faculty to confer academic degrees in theology and philosophy, thereby raising the school to the rank of university. During the following two decades, due once again to an increased number of students, the university changed seats twice. During this period, a chair in moral philosophy was added, and a chair in Arabic was added to the already existing chairs in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. With the university counting more than a thousand pupils at this point, Pope Gregory XIII wished to give it a more suitable headquarters. Expropriating two blocks near the Via del Corso, the architect Bartolomeo Ammannati was commissioned to design a grand new edifice for the institute, which was inaugurated in 1584, in what became known as the Piazza Collegio Romano, across from the Doria Pamphilj Palace. For his huge sponsorship of the Roman College, Gregory XIII became known as it's "founder and father," and from that point the school acquired the title of the "Gregorian University."

The university in its new space was able to augment the number of disciplines that were taught. New chairs of Church history and liturgy were added. At this time the university also assumed a great prestige in the fields of mathematics, physics, and astronomy. The discoveries which lead to the foundation of the calendar currently in use the world over (the so called "Gregorian calendar" since it was established by Gregory XIII) were made by the Jesuit Christopher Clavius, a professor of the university at the time. The illustrious Jesuit mathematician, physicist, and inventor Athanasius Kircher also taught at the university during this period. Not long after assuming its new headquarters, the student body increased to over two thousand. The university chapel, no longer able to hold such a large number of students, was rebuilt as the Church of Sant' Ignazio between 1626 and 1650, becoming one of the major baroque churches of the area.

In 1773, following the suppression of the Society of Jesus, the university was giving over to diocesan clergy or Rome, but after their refoundation, it was once again given back to Jesuits on May 17, 1824 by Pope Leo XII.

The previous site of the Gregorian University, now a public high school.

The current site of the Gregorian University with the Ammannati-designed façade.

Following the takeover of the Rome by revolutionary army of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1870, the new Italian government confiscated the property of the university, which forced the university to transfer once again, this time to the Palazzo Borromeo on the Via del Seminario. It was at this point that Pope Pius IX permitted the school to assume the title of "Pontifical University." With the difficult situation after Rome's takeover, the academic endeavors of the university were dramtically affected. Due to a lack of space the university had to drop all faculties except for theology and philosophy. The number of students had dropped dramatically as well because of the dislocation, so that in 1875, no more than 250 students were numbered. However, the university was able to gradually build itself up again. In 1876, the Faculty of Canon Law was transferred from the University of Rome La Sapienza to the Gregorian, and the university was gradually able to reassume the teaching many disciplines.

After the First World War, Pope Benedict XV and later Pope Pius XI worked to create a new site for the university that would be better suited to its needs, since it was still operating out of the Palazzo Borromeo. Pope Benedict was able to acquire an area at the base of the Quirinal Hill, adjacent to another school under the Jesuits, the Pontifical Biblical Institute. Benedict's successor, Pope Pius XI, laid the first stone of the new seat of the university on December 27, 1924. Designed by the architect Giulio Barluzzi in the neoclassical style, the new edifice complete by 1930.

After assuming its new location the university continued to expand, both in the number of faculties and disciplines taught, as well as in its geophraphic site. Today the Gregorian University includes 6 faculties and 4 institutes, and is located in 4 palazzo in the area around Piazza della Pilotta.

Today, the university has about 3,000 students, from more than 130 countries. The majority of the students at the Gregorian are priests, seminarians, and members of religious orders. The majority of the professors are of the Jesuit order. However in recent years, there has been a higher representation of laity in both the faculty and student body.

Since the Gregorian is a pontifical university, the Holy See accredits its curriculum, and its degrees have full effects in canon law.

Illustrious students and professors

Among the Gregorian's illustrious students are 14 popes, including

• Pope Gregory XV
• Pope Urban VIII
• Pope Innocent X
• Pope Clement XI
• Pope Leo XIII
• Pope Pius XII
• Pope Paul VI
• Pope John Paul I

Other illustrious students include 20 saints and 39 beatified, among them

• Saint Robert Bellarmine
• Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
• Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Other famous alumni and professors include

• Jesuit mathematician and astronomer Paul Guldin
• The "father of aeronautics," Jesuit Francesco Lana de Terzi who studied under the renowned Jesuit professor Athanasius Kircher
• 20th century Jesuit philosopher-theologian and economist Bernard Lonergan
• Inventor of hyperbolic functions, Jesuit Vincenzo Riccati
• Niccolò Zucchi, Jesuit inventor of the concave reflecting telescope
• Salvadoran Archbishop and martyr Óscar Romero
• "The last Rennaisance man" Athanasius Kircher
• Jesuit Christopher Clavius, inventor of the Gregorian calendar
• Physicist and mathematician Roger Boscovich
• Reginald Foster, world Latin expert, who taught at the Gregorian until 2006

The vast majority of the Church's leading experts and members of the College of Cardinals hail from the Gregorian.

Faculties

• Theology
• Canon Law
• Philosophy
• History and Cultural Patrimony of the Church
• Missiology
• Social Sciences

Institutes

• Spirituality
• Psychology
• Religious Sciences
• Religion and Culture

Other programs of study

• Social Communications
• Jewish studies
• Laikos

Library

The Gregorian University has an extensive library, consisting in nearly 900,000 volumes, particularly noteworthy in areas of theology, philosophy, culture, and literature. The library was founded together with the Roman College by St Ignatius Loyola. In 1872, however, the library's 45,000 volumes, mauscripts, and archives were confiscated by the new Italian state, were dispersed and partially expropriated by the Vittorio Emanuele II National Library of Rome.

Since 1928, the library has been located on the university's new campus. The majority of the library's collection (820,000 volumes)is housed in a 6-floor tower adjacent to the Palazzo Centrale. An additional 60,000 volumes are housed in any of the six reading rooms, which together can accommodate seats for up to 400 students.

The library's reserve contains many ancient and precious books, as well as many rare editions, including 80 16th century books.

Extraterritoriality

According to article 16 of Lateran Treaty, signed in 1929 between the Italian government and the Holy See, the Gregorian University enjoys a certain level of extraterritoriality. According to the treaty, Italy can never subject the university to "charges or to expropriation for reasons of public utility, save by previous agreement with the Holy See." It is also exempt from all Italian tax, and is included among those Roman buildings for which the Holy See has the right to deal "as it may deem fit, without obtaining the authorization or consent of the Italian governmental, provincial, or communal authority."

Gregorian Consortium

The Greogorian University is one of three member instutes that make up the Gregorian Consortium, the other two institutions being the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute. The Consortium was created under Pope Pius XI in 1928.

External links

• The Pontifical Gregorian University Official Site (in Italian)
• The PUG Library (link to library's English page)

Credits

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