Blackfriars, Oxford

Blackfriars Hall
Blazon: Gyronny sable and argent, a cross flory counterchanged.
University	University of Oxford
Location	St Giles', Oxford
Coordinates	51°45′22″N 1°15′37″W / 51.756121°N 1.260206°W / 51.756121; -1.260206Coordinates: 51°45′22″N 1°15′37″W / 51.756121°N 1.260206°W / 51.756121; -1.260206
Latin name	Aula Fratrum Praedicatorum
Established	1221 (re-established as religious house, 1921; as a hall, 1994)
Named for	The black cappa of the Dominican Friars
Sister college	None
Regent	Simon Gaine
Undergraduates	8
Postgraduates	21
Website	www.bfriars.ox.ac.uk
Map
Location in Oxford city centre

Blackfriars, Oxford is a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford. Blackfriars houses three distinct institutions: the Priory of the Holy Spirit, the religious house of the friars, whose current prior is Very Rev David Goodill OP; Blackfriars Studium, the centre of theological studies of the English Province of the Dominican Friars (although it numbers members of other orders and lay people among its students and lecturers); and Blackfriars Hall, one of the constituent educational institutions of the University of Oxford. The current Regent of both the Hall and Studium is Very Rev Dr Simon Gaine OP. The name "Blackfriars" is commonly used to denote a house of the Dominican Friars in England, a reference to the black-colored "cappa", which is part of their habit.

Blackfriars Hall is a Permanent Private Hall, meaning that it is owned and governed by an outside institution (in this case, the English Province of the Order of Preachers) and not by its fellows.

Located in central Oxford on St Giles', its neighbours include St John's College, Oxford, St Cross College, Oxford and the Ashmolean Museum. Blackfriars Hall is a centre for the study of theology and philosophy informed by the intellectual tradition of St Thomas Aquinas. It admits men and women of any faith for Oxford undergraduate degrees in theology schools, PPE and for a wide range of postgraduate degrees.

Blackfriars' history is well documented, largely as a result of the hall being part of an international fraternity of scholarship, which was able to monitor and document its fortunes, even during times of the hall's collapse.

The Dominicans arrived in Oxford on 15 August 1221, at the instruction of Saint Dominic himself, little more than a week after the friar's death. As such, the hall is heir to the oldest tradition of teaching in Oxford, a tradition that precedes both the aularian houses that would characterise the next century and the collegiate houses that would characterise the rest of the University of Oxford's history.