St. Joseph’s University opens in Philadelphia, 1851

On the morning of September 15, 1851, according to tradition, some three dozen boys trooped down the narrow Willing’s Alley in Philadelphia, just a few blocks from Independence Hall, for the opening day of Saint Joseph’s College. The college took its name from the parish church of Saint Joseph’s, a structure that stood at right angles to the college building, in the rear of a small courtyard. Opening day began with a Mass of the Holy Ghost (later known as the Mass of the Holy Spirit), already a tradition in Jesuit schools, where the boys recited the Veni Creator. At 2:00 that afternoon they reported to class. This first day was the fulfillment of many years of sincere hopes and thwarted plans to open a Jesuit college in the City of Brotherly Love. It was also the beginning of a long struggle to keep the tiny school alive, until more fortunate circumstances allowed Saint Joseph’s to flourish and eventually to become a university with thousands of students, hundreds of faculty, and scores of programs. Whether struggling just to maintain itself or thriving during better times, five intertwined and shifting forces have shaped the contours of Saint Joseph’s College and then of Saint Joseph’s University. These have been the fortunes of Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs, the Society of Jesus, the Roman Catholic Church, the overall development of American higher education, and a welter of external events during fifteen decades of national and world history….

(from the university website)