The Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide () was established in 1627 for the purpose of training missionaries to spread

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

around the world (the Latin term "''de propaganda fide''" means “for the propagation of the faith”).

History

The college was established in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII ( la, Urbanus VIII; it, Urbano 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 po ...

. In a brief on January 27, 1624 he ordered the investment of money and the acquisition of the palazzo Ferratini in the

Piazza di Spagna Piazza di Spagna ("Spanish Square"), at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, is one of the most famous squares in Rome, Italy. It owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, the seat of the Embassy of Spain to the Holy See. There is also the famed Colum ...

; by the

Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

“Immortalis Dei Filius” on 1 August 1627, the college was established. One of the greatest benefactors of the new college was Urban VIII’s brother, Cardinal Antonio Barberini. In September 1633 he bought all the houses and gardens between the College building and the Church of

Sant'Andrea delle Fratte Sant'Andrea delle Fratte ("Saint Andrew of the Thickets") is a 17th-century basilica church in Rome, Italy, dedicated to St. Andrew. The Cardinal Priest of the ''Titulus S. Andreae Apostoli de Hortis'' is Ennio Antonelli. History The current chu ...

. On May 5, 1634 he laid the foundation stone of the college church. Italians were not admitted to the college, except from areas of missionary work -

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; rm, Vuclina (); lmo, Valtelina or ; german: Veltlin; it, Valtellina) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Toda ...

and the

diocese of Como The Diocese of Como ( la, Dioecesis Comensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in northern Italy. It was established in the Fourth Century. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of ...

. From the outset, students were drawn from the Balkans, Northern Europe and the Middle East. The college prepared them for taking holy orders, after which they were to return to their homelands as missionaries. Between 1633 and 1703 a total of 451 students attended the college. Of these, 48 were Armenian, 42 Dutch, 34 Dalmatian, 33 Greek, 25 Syrian, 25 Valtellinese, 22 German, 17 Indian, 10 Ethiopian, 8 Persian and one from

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

. In the first half of the nineteenth century the College had as its spiritual director Saint

Vincent Pallotti Vincent Pallotti (21 April 1795 – 22 January 1850) was an Italian ecclesiastic and a saint. Born in Rome, he was the founder of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate later to be known as the "Pious Society of Missions" (the Pallottines). The ...

and among its students, at different times, were Saints

Oliver Plunkett Oliver Plunkett (or Oliver Plunket) ( ga, Oilibhéar Pluincéid), (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland who was the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 and c ...

and

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

.Tuninetti, Luca F., "The 'Happy Months' of Newman at the College of Propaganda in Rome (1846–1847)", ''The Newman Review'', August 4, 2021
/ref> On 27 June 1641 a further Bull of Urban VIII abolished the college’s autonomous administration and brought it directly under the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. The effectiveness of the training was difficult to judge. In 1660 it became a requirement for all missionaries within Europe to send an annual letter back to the college - for those outside Europe, every other year sufficed. From these letters it can be ascertained that of the 51 seminarists between 1633 and 16&3, 27 had become missionaries, while the remaining 24 had died, abandoned their mission or simply disappeared. In 1798, following the disruption surrounding the creation of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...

and the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, the college was closed and some of the students were received by the

Lazarists , logo = , image = Vincentians.png , abbreviation = CM , nickname = Vincentians, Paules, Lazarites, Lazarists, Lazarians , established = , founder = Vincent de Paul , fou ...

Montecitorio The Palazzo Montecitorio () is a palace in Rome and the seat of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian Parliament. History The palace's name derives from the slight hill on which it is built, which was claimed to be the ''Mons ...

. This arrangement lasted until 1809, when even this last remnant of the college was suppressed. In 1814, however, some of the Propaganda students were again received by the Lazarists, and in 1817 the Urbaniana was reopened. From 1836 until 1848, it operated under the direction of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. In 1925 the Cardinal Prefect,

Willem Marinus van Rossum Willem Marinus van Rossum, C.Ss.R. (3 September 1854 – 30 August 1932) was a Dutch prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a cardinal in 1911, led the Apostolic Penitentiary from 1915 to 1918, and served as Prefect of the Congr ...

(1854-1932) purchased the hospital of Santa Maria della Pietà on the Gianicolo Hill, and the seminarians transferred to this site, their current residence, on 2 November 1926. In the meantime, Van Rossum also began the construction of the

Pontifical Urban University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian,; it, Pontificia Università Urbaniana. is a pontifical university under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People ...

. After the teaching functions moved to the new university, the college building has continued to serve as the residence for the seminarians, which was inaugurated by Pope Pius XI on 24 April 1931.

Current arrangements

The Collegio Urbano comes under the direct authority of the

Dicastery for Evangelization The Dicastery for Evangelization is a department (dicastery) of the Roman Curia. It was created on 5 June 2022 through the merger of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peopl ...

. The most recent change to the statutes of the College were made in 2001 by Cardinal

Crescenzio Sepe Crescenzio Sepe (born 2 June 1943) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Naples from 2006 to 2020. He served in the Roman Curia as Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples from 2001 to 200 ...

. The new regulations were approved on 11 November 2006 by Cardinal

Ivan Dias Ivan Cornelius Dias (14 April 1936 – 19 June 2017) was an Indian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples from 2006 to 2011, Archbishop of Bombay from 1996 to 2006, and befo ...

. At present the college has been led by don Armando Nugnes, of the

diocese of Aversa The Diocese of Aversa ( la, Dioecesis Aversana) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Campania, southern Italy, created in 1053. It is situated in the ''Terra di Lavoro'' (Liburia), seven miles north of Naples, and eight miles south of C ...

. As of 2022 the Collegio Urbano had 158 students from various parts of Asia and Africa; none of the seminarists are from Italy. To be admitted to the college, candidates must be recommended by a bishop and are required to have an understanding of Italian. The first stage of training for the priesthood lasts five or six years, during which the seminarists study philosophy and theology as well as languages. In some cases a period of licentiate lasting two or three years is required before ordination takes place.

Alumni

William Augustine Williams William Augustine Williams (also William Augustine Willyams/Willyms or Gullielmus Williams; May 26, 1836 — May 21, 1901) was an African-American linguist, librarian, Catholic seminarian, and public figure. He was the first openly African-Americ ...

(first openly

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Catholic seminarian) * Venerable Fr

Augustus Tolton John Augustus Tolton (April 1, 1854 – July 9, 1897), baptized Augustine Tolton, was the first Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be Black. (The Healy brothers, who preceded him, all passed for White.) Tolton was ordaine ...

(first openly African-America priest)

Rectors

The following is a chronological list of rectors of the college. # Giuseppe Matraia (1605–1610) # Juan Bautista Vives (1610–1632) # Sebastiano Pietroardi (1632–1637) # Domenico Cerroni (1637–1641) # Marco Romano (1641–1646) # Cosimo Riccardo Accolti (1646–1648) # Vincenzo Greco (1648–1650) # Sebastiano Panaceni (1651–1654) # Giuseppe Cruciani (1654–1655) # Annibale Saletti (1655–1658) # Michele Columera (1658–1662) # Andrea Bonvicini (1662–1696) # Giulio Cesare de Rossi (1696–1708) # Nicola Castelli (1708–1710) # Guido Della Porta (1710–1719) # Teodoro Moriconi (1719–1731) # Francesco Sosio Tramontana (1731–1744) # Domenico della Rocca (1744–December 1744) # Ildefonso Tarditi (December 1744–1771) # Paolo Lazzarini (1771–1776) # Bernardino Ficoroni (1776–1777) # Giovanni Battista Canonici (1777–1793) # Filippo Biagioli (1793–1818) # Raimondo Serdominici (1818–1830) # Carlo Augusto Conte di Reisac (1830–1836) # Liberio Figari (1836–1840) #

Giovanni Antonio Grassi Giovanni Antonio Grassi (anglicized as John Anthony Grassi; 10 September 1775 – 12 December 1849) was an Italian Catholic priest and Jesuit who led many academic and religious institutions in Europe and the United States, including Georgeto ...

(1840–1842) # Giovanni Batta Dessi (1842–1844) # Massimiliano Rillo (1844–1846) # Antonio Bresciani (1846–1848) # Paolo Cullen (1848–1849) # Filippo Tancioni (1849–1869) # Loreto Iacovacci (1869–1872) # Gustavo Corrado (1872–1889) # Filippo M. Camassei (1889–1904) #

Giovanni Bonzano Giovanni Vincenzo Cardinal Bonzano PIME (27 September 1867 – 26 November 1927) was an Italian Cardinal (Catholicism), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Nunciature of the Holy See in Washington DC, Apostolic Delegate to Uni ...

(1904–1912) #

Bartolomeo Cattaneo Bartolomeo Cattaneo (26 September 1866 – 14 May 1943) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He became an archbishop in 1917 and was Apostolic Delegate to Australia from 1917 to 1933. ...

(1912–1917) #

Paolo Giobbe Paolo Giobbe (10 January 1880 – 14 August 1972) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Papal Datary in the Roman Curia from 1959 to 1968, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. Biography Giobbe was born in Rome ...

(1917–1925) # Torquato Dini (1925–1934) #

Pietro Parente Pietro Parente (16 February 1891 in Casalnuovo Monterotaro, Italy – 29 December 1986 in Vatican City) was a long-serving theologian in the Holy Office of the Roman Catholic Church, and was made a cardinal on 26 June 1967. At his peak he w ...

(1934–1938) #

Lorenzo Maria Balconi Lorenzo Maria Balconi (4 August 1878 – 10 April 1969) was an Italian archbishop of the Catholic Church, missionary, and writer. Early life Lorenzo Maria Balconi was born on 4 August 1878 in Milan. He entered the Pontifical Institute for Fo ...

(1938–1939) # Domenico Brizi (1939–1945) # Carlo Cavallera (1945–1947) # Felice Cenci (1947–1970) # Pellegrino Ronchi (1970–1977) # Natalino Fumagalli (1977–1985) # Angelo Lazzarotto (1985–1990) # Carlo Tei (1990–1991) # Francesco Pavese (1991–2002) # Fidel Gonzales Fernandez (2002–2005) # Fernando Domingues (2005–2013) # Vincenzo Viva (2013–2021) # Armando Nugnes (2021-present)

References

{{Holy See Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide Catholic education 1627 establishments in Italy Organisations based in Rome Universities and colleges in Rome 17th-century Catholicism 1627 establishments in the Papal States

History

Current arrangements

Alumni

Rectors

See also

References