Roman Colleges
The colleges are halls of residence in which the students follow the usual seminary exercises of piety, study in private, and review the subjects treated in class.
The Roman colleges, in addition to the obvious advantages for study which Rome offers, allow the students to have a different experience of university life from that of their respective countries.
With this end in view, various popes have encouraged the founding of colleges in which young men of the same nationality might reside and at the same time profit from the opportunities that the city affords.
The Pontificio Collegio Urbano "De Propaganda Fide" (Urban College) was established in Rome in 1622 in order to train missionaries to be sent around the world.
In April 2015, thirteen seminarians of the Syro-Malabar Church received minor orders: the subdiaconate and diaconate from Joseph Pallikaparampil, Bishop emeritus of Palai, India.
The first community was made up of 12 students, some already priests and other clerics in holy orders, who attended the various institutions of higher education, in particular Apollinaris and the Gregorian.
The PSL was relocated to its present location overlooking the square in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, in the Esquilino area, in 1965 and blessed by Paul VI.
It was established in 1844 through the initiative of Aerts, who was aided by the papal nuncio in Belgium, Gioacchino Pecci (later to become Pope Leo XIII), and the Belgian bishops.
The Croatian College in Rome (Pontificio Collegio Di san Giralmo) was established in 1863 by Pope Pius IX to prepare priests for Dalmatia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Slavonia, and was located in the Illyrian hospice near the Church of S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni; but after a few years no more students were received.
In 1900, Leo XIII reorganized the Illyrian hospice and decided to form a college of priests of the above-mentioned provinces, who would attend to the services in the church and at the same time pursue ecclesiastical studies.
In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV granted those pilgrims, most of whom were monks, Santo Stefano degli Abissini with the outlying building just behind the apse of St. Peter's Basilica.
Because of the small number of students it could lodge and partly because the site was very damp and unhealthy, Pope Pius XI decided to build a new and larger house for them.
He chose the location in the middle of the Vatican garden, indicating the spot where he ordered the construction of the new college, and on 31 May 1929 in the presence of 12 cardinals and several prelates the laying of the foundation stone took place.
The Ethiopian clergy were represented by Abba Kidanemariam Kassa, Apostolic pro-Vicar of Eritrea, who later was consecrated bishop in the chapel of the newly built College.
It was formally established as an institution with pontifical rights by Pope John XXIII on June 29, 1961, through the papal bull Sancta Mater Ecclesia.
[2] Disaffected conservative seminarians from the French Seminary formed the core of the Catholic traditionalist group the Society of Saint Pius X.
In January 1574, Pope Gregory XIII granted the Palazzo di Sant'Apollinare in the Piazza Navona to the Jesuits as the seat of the Germanic College.
Residents pursue their studies for two years officiate at the adjacent Church of Santa Maria della Pietà in Camposanto dei Teutonici.
They devoted themselves chiefly to canon law with a view to employing their knowledge in the service of their respective dioceses; and they receive living and tuition gratis.
The Maronite College in Rome (Pontificio Collegio dei Maroniti) was founded by Gregory XIII in 1584, and had its first site near the Church of S. Maria della Ficoccia near the Piazza di Trevi.
In 1866 a college was finally opened due to the efforts of the Congregation of the Resurrection, which raised the first funds to which Princess Odelscalchi, Pius IX, and others contributed later.
The current rector is José Manuel Garcia Cordeiro, who is a Consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and a professor at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute at Rome's Sant’Anselmo.
The Spanish College in Rome (Pontificio Collegio Spagnuolo de San José) was founded in 1892 through the initiative of Leo XIII, the generosity of the episcopacy, and the royal family for seminarians from Spain.
[21] The Pontifical North American College (Pontificio Collegio Americano del Nord) was founded in 1859 by Pope Pius IX in a former Dominican and Visitation Convent, the Casa Santa Maria, located in the historic center of Rome near the Trevi Fountain.
After World War II, the Seminary Division of college was moved to a new campus on the Janiculum Hill overlooking Vatican City.
The Ukrainian College of Saint Josaphat in Rome (Collegio di San Giosafat Ucraino) was created for seminarians from Ukraine.
The project was definitively approved by the same Pontiff on 9 November, and was inaugurated on 4th December of the same year, the feast day of St. John Damascene according the Byzantine Calendar.
It serves as both a house of formation for Benedictines, but also as a residence for over one hundred monks from around forty countries, religious, diocesan priests, and lay people.
The Collegio Apostolico Leoniano owes its origin to P. Valentini, a Lazarist, who, aided by a pious lady, received in a private house the students who could not otherwise gain admittance to the other colleges.
The Pontificio Seminario Pio or Pius Seminary, was situated in the Palazzo di S. Apollinare, and was intended for seminarians from all regions of Italy.
