The first Jesuit university

I saw today that Mark Goodacre, professor of New Testament studies at Duke, is blogging his trip to Rome, where he will be participating in the SBL International Meeting taking place at Pontifical Gregorian University. Mark has some interesting reflections and photos too :)

Here's a little about the university from Wikipedia ....

Pontifical Gregorian University (Italian: Pontificia Università Gregoriana) (also known as the Gregorianum) is a pontifical university located in Rome, Italy. Heir of the Roman College founded by St Ignatius of Loyola over 450 years ago, the Gregorian University was the first Jesuit University. 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.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit order) established a "School of Grammar, Humanity, and Christian Doctrine, Free." On February 18, 1551 in a house at the base of the Capitoline Hill. St. Francis Borgia, the vice-king of Catalonia (who became a Jesuit himself) provided financial patronage. 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 .......



You can visit the university's web page here.