Lentorama 2022: It Happened on Easter

Day 25: Catholics get an American university that isn't Notre Dame

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops first discussed establishing an official Catholic university in the US in 1866. They adopted the name for the institution, The Catholic University of America, in 1885. Which doesn't seem like a name that would take 19 years to come up with. In any case, the first US bishop sent over to ask for papal approval to found the school went to Rome in 1882. But it wasn't until April 10, 1887, that the pope sent a letter that formally granted his approval to the school. The university incorporated that year, laid the cornerstone for its first building the following year (President Cleveland was in attendance), and opened for business in 1889.

The school was originally focused on graduate study in the areas traditional to pontifical universities: philosophy, theology, and canon law. The school opened an undergraduate division in 1904, and took on a law school in 1954. Today the school has just over 5300 students, and is located in a section of Washington DC that earned the nickname "Little Rome" as there are over 60 Catholic institutions in the area.

Notable alumni include actors Chris and Susan Sarandon, John Slattery, and Jon Voight; New York governor Kathy Hochul; and what seems like at least half of the current American cardinals.