North American College Turns 150

The formal opening of the North American College took place on this day in the Via dell’Umiltà in a former Dominican-Visitation convent dating back to 1598. The American bishops had been sending students to Rome since 1790, and Blessed Pope Pius IX wanted them to establish a national college such as other nationalities had (e.g., the German College, the Scots College, etc.) The idea behind the college was to strengthen the theological education of the clergy and bind American Catholics more closely to the Holy See. In 1859, twelve students from eight dioceses were enrolled, including a grandson of St. Elizabeth Seton and a future Archbishop of New York. The college was dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. Seminarians wear a distinctive cassock that includes the colors red, white, and blue.