JOSEPHINUM, THE PONTIFICAL COLLEGE

The Pontifical College Josephinum was officially founded by Rev. John Joseph Jessing (1836–1899) on Sept. 1, 1888 in Columbus, Ohio. He established it as a bilingual German-English institution to prepare candidates for the priesthood who would serve the growing German-American immigrant population in the United States. In 1875 Jessing had opened an orphanage for boys in Pomeroy, Ohio, where he was pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church from 1870 until 1877, at which time he and the orphanage moved to Columbus, the state's capitol. By means of appeals in the German-language newpaper Ohio Waisenfreund ("Orphan's Friend"), first published on May 2, 1873, Jessing raised funds first for the orphans, then later for needy students when the seminary was founded in 1888. With each passing year, classes were added with the result that by the time of Jessing's death in 1899 a faculty of philosophy and theology complemented the first six years of classical studies. All costs associated with the training of seminarians were provided by the bilingual (German and English) institution. The name "Josephinum" dates back to the May 5, 1886 edition of the Ohio Waisenfreund where it appeared as another name for "St. Joseph's Orphan Home."

Jessing was born in Münster, Germany. After combat service in the Westphalian Artillery (1864–1866), he immigrated to the United States in 1867 where he entered Mt. St. Mary's Seminary, Cincinnati, in 1868. Upon ordination to the priesthood in 1870 for the diocese of Columbus, he was immediately appointed pastor in Pomeroy. Both his newspaper and seminary were inspired by his objective to sustain the language and Catholic faith of fellow German-speaking immigrants in the United States. Monsignor Jessing created a domestic prelate in 1896, and saw the first class of six men ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1899, shortly before his death (Nov. 2).

In an effort to ensure the ethnic and missionary character of the Josephinum, Jessing initially offered the title to the institution and its future direction to the Deutsch-Americanischer Priester-Verein (German-American Priests' Association), founded in St. Louis in 1887. Failing to secure their patronage, Jessing entered into negotiations with the Holy See. The Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith accepted his proposal and designated the Josephinum a pontifical institution on Dec. 12, 1892. In the original constitutions accepted by Rome, the apostolic delegate in the United States (now the apostolic nuncio) was named the ordinary of the Pontifical College Josephinum and was given the task of assigning the priests ordained there to various U.S. dioceses. This provision was later changed, and since the 1960s all students are affiliated with particular dioceses or religious communities into which they are incardinated upon ordination.

The orphanage division was closed in 1932, followed by the high school in 1967. After more than a century, the Josephinum, is the only pontifical college in the United States, under the direct supervision of the Holy See's Congregation for Catholic Education, and was accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in 1970, and by the Higher Learning Commission in 1976. The Josephinum maintains its missionary spirit, but its emphasis on German-language ministry has given way to a program of formation for service among Spanish-speaking peoples in the United States. The student body, about a hundred in 2000, includes candidates from Ugandan and Burmese dioceses. The full-time faculty, made up of diocesan and religious priests, religious women and laity, numbers more than thirty.

Bibliography: l. j. fick, The Jessing Legacy, (Columbus, OH 1988). r. p. clooney, ed., The Spirit of John Joseph Jessing: Priest, Orphan's Friend, Visionary (Columbus, OH 1999).

[j. f. garneau]