“The Jesuit education seeks excellence in its teaching, in personal
reflections and in research, offering its students a harmonious synthesis
between to know man and in the light of faith, according to its proper methods
of every discipline in which every discipline studied wants to deepen the
mystery of God which reveals to oneself and its ways of salvation being realized
in Christ, in the realty of Man, the history and the church.” While placing
before the assembly the annual report of the past year the Major Rector of
Gregorian University Fr Gianfranco Ghirlanda SJ, said.
The inauguration of 455th academic year of the Gregorian University began with a
solemn mass of the Holy Spirit at the Church of St. Ignatius, Rome. Jesuit Fr
Ghirlanda, who presided over the Eucharist said, “guided by the spirit of
Ignatius, it searches to apply a pedagogy based on a personal relation between
the teacher and the student, offering everyone accompaniment to the growth of
proper personality which is liberal and responsible”.
The Pontifical Gregorian University was founded by St Ignatius of Loyola, and St
Francis Borgia in 1553 with the faculties granted by Pope Julius III in 1552.
The real university structure was constituted by Paul IV with Motu Proprio of
January 17th 1556, confirmed by St Pius V in 1566.
In 1582, it received endowments and a new building from Gregorio XIII, from whom
it has taken the name “Gregorian”, until then it was called as “Collegio
Romano”. After the restoration of the Society of Jesus, Pope Leo XII in 1824
returned the University to the Jesuits. In 1876, Canon law Faculty was erected
and in 1924 Superior School of Latin was founded. In 1928, preserving the
autonomy, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Institute for the
Oriental Studies was merged with the Gregorian University and in 1932 it erected
the Faculty of Ecclesiastical History and Missiology.
In 1955, faculty of Philosophy was canonically established, and the Institute of
Social Sciences was given the faculty to confer correspondent academic degrees
and in 1972 was recognized as a Faculty. In 1958, the Pontifical Congregation
for the Catholic Education approved the Institute of Spirituality in the Faculty
of Theology. In 1971 the Institute of Psychology was started.
In 2002 the Centre Cardinal Bea was founded for the Jewish Studies, and replaced
the "Ratisbonne Pontifical Institute - Centre Chrétien Pontificate of d’Etudes
Juives, Saint-Pierre de Sion-Ratisbonnie."
The Pontifical Biblical Institute was founded by Saint Pius X, on 7th May 1909,
and in 1932, Pius XI enlarged it with the setting up a Faculty of Ancient East
Studies. The Pontifical Oriental Institute was founded on 15th October 1917 by
Pope Benedict XV, which in 1920 obtained the faculty to confer academic degrees
in "Scientis Ecclesiasticis Orientalibus". In 1971 the Faculty of Oriental
cannon law was erected which was earlier part of the Faculty of Canon law at the
Gregorian University. Since 1993 the Major Chancellor of the Pontifical Oriental
Institute is the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
This year has been a very special year to the Society of Jesus with the
celebration of three jubilees, 450 death anniversary of St Ignatius of Loyola,
the founder of the Jesuits, 500th birth anniversaries of Saint Francis Xavier
and Bl. Peter Faber, two more founding fathers of the Society of Jesus. This
year Gregorian has begun a new faculty called “the Faculty of History and of
Cultural Goods of the Church”, which will help to study deeper the history of
the church and its cultural goods.
The academic year of 2004-05, the Gregorian University had 2907 students, of
which 1158 (39%) come from Western Europe; 558 (19%) from Latin America; 367
(13%) from Africa; 326 (11%) from Eastern Europe; 321 (11%) from Asia; 162 (6%)
from North America; 15 (1%) from Oceania. Out of which 868 (30%) are Diocesan
Priests; 471 (16%) Diocesan seminarians; 352 (12%) religious priests; 310 (11%)
lay men; 308 (11%) lay women; 302 (10%) Nuns; 296 (10%) religious in formation.
In this 44% of the students study Theology, 10% Philosophy, 8% History, 8%
Sociology, 6% spirituality, 5% Canon Law, 4% Religious sciences, 3% Psychology,
2% Missiology, 2% Beni Culturali (Cultural Goods), and other centres include
1.1% of the students. From 01 October 2004 to 30 June 2005 128 students defended
their Doctoral thesis’s.
As an Ecclesiastical University, the Gregorian Pontifical University has been
doing a magnificent service in forming the church leaders for today. The
students and professors coming from different parts of the world add a special
significance to the universality of the Catholic Church and make its services
more credible. And the internationality of Jesuit formation and their
involvement in various fields of church and society gives a special driving
force to its students to face the problems of today by integrating faith and
reason.