The Colegio Máximo de San José (
English: ''Maximum College of St. Joseph'') is a
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
religious college in
San Miguel, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
studied there during his youth.
History
In 1920, the Jesuits acquired land in the town of San Miguel, in the Province of Buenos Aires. They bought a terrain of 36 hectares.
Began the construction of what in 1931 was inaugurated as the Colegio Máximo de San José, a house of formation of regional scope, with the faculties of Philosophy and Theology, and with Argentine, Chilean, Uruguayan and Paraguayan religious students. The terms "''Colegio máximo''" ("Maximum College") is an internal standard in the
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...
for schools of philosophy and theology, the most important studies in a Jesuit's career. The degrees of philosophy and theology have civil value since 1967 and 1968.
As from 1967, the faculties of Philosophy and Theology of San Miguel were integrated to the
Universidad del Salvador and, thus, their degrees have, in addition to the ecclesiastical one, a civil and national value.
In 1975 the Society of Jesus left the Universidad del Salvador. However, the faculties of Philosophy and Theology of San Miguel, by special agreement with the new authorities of the university, continued to be integrated and to grant degrees with civil value.
The Colegio Máximo de San José operated in San Miguel until 2017, when it returned to Córdoba, after 250 years, with the two ecclesiastical faculties, and integrated the structure of the
Catholic University of Córdoba, now also open to "civil" students, and with its specialized historical library, the Library of the Colegio Máximo de la Compañía de Jesús, today called
Biblioteca Colegio Máximo de San Miguel.
In popular culture
The Colegio, which was attended by Jorge Mario Bergoglio (the future
Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
), is portrayed in the 2019
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
biographical film ''
The Two Popes.''
See also
*
List of Jesuit sites
This list includes past and present buildings, facilities and institutions associated with the Society of Jesus. In each country, sites are listed in chronological order of start of Jesuit association.
Nearly all these sites have be ...
*
Biblioteca del Colegio Máximo de San Miguel
* Piana, J. y Sartori, F. (2012). ''1610 : el Colegio Máximo de la Compañía de Jesús en Córdoba. La construcción de un falso histórico.'' 1a. ed. Córdoba: EDUCC.
ISBN 978-987-626-1890
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colegio Maximo de San Jose
Jesuit universities and colleges
Universities in Buenos Aires Province
San Miguel Partido
University and college buildings completed in 1932
1932 establishments in Argentina