The College of the Neophytes, in Italian Collegio dei Neofiti ( or ) was a Roman Catholic college in Rome founded in 1577 by

Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII (, , born Ugo Boncompagni; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for commissioning and being the namesake ...

for education of young men, in an institution for converts from Judaism and Islam that itself been started in 1543 by Pope

Paul III Pope Paul III (; ; born Alessandro Farnese; 29 February 1468 – 10 November 1549) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era follo ...

Neophyte A neophyte is a recent initiate or convert to a subject or belief. Neophyte may also refer to: Science * Neophyte (botany), a plant species recently introduced to an area As a proper noun Arts and entertainment * Neophyte, a character class ...

in this context generally means converts from Judaism, and ''neofito'' was often appended to Italian surnames to indicate a convert. From 1634 the College was adjacent to the church of

Santa Maria ai Monti Santa Maria dei Monti (also known as Madonna dei Monti or Santa Maria ai Monti) is a cardinalatial titular church, located at 41 Via della Madonna dei Monti, at the intersection with Via dei Serpenti, in the rione Monti of Rome, Italy. The churc ...

. The first head of the ''Collegio dei Neofiti'' was

Giulio Antonio Santoro Giulio Antonio Santoro (1580 – 28 September 1638) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Cosenza (1624–1638).

(1532–1602), a powerful and authoritative supporter of Gregory XIII, and judge of the

Holy Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic judicial procedure where the ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various medieval and reformation-era state-organized tribunals ...

. The purpose of the Collegio, in the plan of the Inquisition, was to train the ''neofiti'', or "new Christians," to convert their fellows.

The Palazzo dei Neofiti

From 1634 the College had a permanent home " at the Madonna de Monti," where cardinal

Antonio Barberini Antonio Barberini (5 August 1607 – 3 August 1671) was an Italian people, Italian Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims, Archbishop of Reims, military leader, patron of the arts a ...

, brother of

Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

, had constructed a new building, the ''Palazzo dei Neofiti,'' for the college. Barberini also had the last

catechumen Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

s from S. Giovanni transferred to the new institution. Notable teachers at the college during this period included

Giulio Bartolocci Giulio Bartolocci (1 April 1613 – 19 October 1687) was an Italian Cistercian Hebrew scholar and author of the four-volume ''Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica.'' Life He was born at Celleno and became the a pupil of a baptized Jew, Giovanni Bat ...

(1613–1687) a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Hebraist, and author of the ''Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica'' or "Great Rabbinical Library." From 1713 the Collegio was allocated away from its original purpose of training missionaries to become a charitable institution, under the ''Pii Operai,'' or "Holy Workers." It is from this period that the title ''Pia'' "Holy" is appended, though the title ''Pia'' was not always formally attached, and Papal bullae record subventions to the "poor of the House of the Neophytes." Like many charitable institutions music played a part in the education and life of the school but only two Latin graduation

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s survive from the 17th Century. The college closed in 1886, and is now mainly remembered for having given its name to

Targum Neofiti Targum Neofiti (or Targum Neophyti) is the largest of the western or Israeli Targumim on the Torah. The name derives from the ecclesiastical Latin word Neophyte (a new convert to a religion, in Greek ''neophutos)'' because the owners of the earlies ...

, when that manuscript passed to the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

. The Palazzo can be viewed from the air on various tourist websitesView from the air, Rome Tourist Board website
/ref> and it is currently occupied by offices of the

Roma Tre University Roma Tre University () is an Italian public research university in Rome, Italy. All its offices and departments are located in the Ostiense district area. Founded in 1992 by the Ministry of Public Education, under the request of several prof ...

References

{{coord missing, Italy History of Rome Pope Gregory XIII Universities and colleges in Rome Educational institutions disestablished in 1886