History
The college was established in Rome by Pope Urban VIII. 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;[2] by the Bull “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. On May 5, 1634 he laid the foundation stone of the college church.[2]
Italians were not admitted to the college, except from areas of missionary work - Valtellina and the diocese of Como. From the outset, students were drawn from the Balkans, Northern Europe and the Middle East.[3] 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. In the first half of the nineteenth century the College had as its spiritual director Saint Vincent Pallotti and among its students, at different times, were Saints Oliver Plunkett and John Henry Newman.[2][4]
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.[2]
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.[2]
In 1798, following the disruption surrounding the creation of the Roman Republic and the Napoleonic Wars, the college was closed and some of the students were received by the Lazarists at Montecitorio.[5] 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.[5]
In 1925 the Cardinal Prefect, Willem Marinus van Rossum (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. 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.[1]
