Roman College

Roman College
Native name Italian: Collegio Romano
The facade of the Roman College
Type	Built as Jesuit (Roman Catholic) College
Location	Piazza del Collegio Romano, Pigna District, Rome, Italy
Established	1551; 466 years ago (1551)
Founder	Society of Jesus (Jesuits)
Built	1582-1584
Built for	Home for Roman College
Original use	Seminary and university
Current use	Public high school, Cultural Center, Parish church
Architect	Bartolomeo Ammannati

The Roman College (Italian: Collegio Romano) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 17 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (1534). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school through university level. It moved to several different locations to accommodate its growing student population. With the patronage of Pope Gregory XIII, from 1582 to 1584 the final seat of the Roman College was built near the center of Rome's most historic Pigna district, on what today is called Piazza del Collegio Romano. The college, renamed Gregorian University in 1584 after its benefactor, remained at this location for 286 years until the Capture of Rome in 1870.

Since then the Gregorian University has occupied new quarters, but the buildings on this full square block memorialize the early commitment of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to education. With the burgeoning student population the Jesuits in 1626 replaced the chapel of the Annunziata with the church of St. Ignatius on the premises. In 1787 the college added an observatory that became preeminent. With the Capture of Rome in 1870, the building was taken over by the Italian government. Currently, its eastern wing houses the headquarters of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture (with entrance on Via del Collegio Romano) and the wing that overlooks the square is home to the high school Ennio Quirino Visconti.

The first university founded by the Jesuits was the College of Messina in 1548. Then in 1551, to make up for the shortage of public schools in Rome and to provide for better training of both religious and secular clergy during the Counter-Reformation period, the Roman College was founded, open only to men. The funding came from Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía. He had been a professed member of the Society of Jesus since 1548 but secretly; he retained his rank while attending to his obligations and settling his children. In 1551 the Collegio Romano was a small, rented building at the base of the Capitoline Hill, on today's Piazza d'Aracoeli. Jesuit Fr. Polanco wrote of teaching Latin and Greek and later Hebrew: "Christian doctrine is taught. Above the door of the school a sign says: a free school of grammar, humanism, and Christian doctrine." Jesuits were the first pupils: Edmond Auger (French), Emmanuel Gomez (Portuguese), John Egnazi (Florence), and Emerio de Bonis (Mantua). Within its first year the building could not accommodate the influx of students and Ignatius sought a larger facility. Without leaving the center of Rome, in September 1551 he rented a building on Via del Gesù behind the ancient church of Santo Stefano del Cacco. This second home of the Roman College was called the House of Frangipani after the famous family which owned it. The building was later demolished. This then was the second home of the Roman College.