Through the zeal of John Baptist Vives, one of its consulting prelates,
the Sacred Congregation came into possession of the necessary property
and the buildings which are now occupied by offices attached to
Propaganda and by a college for the education of missionaries destined to
carry out its principal aim in evangelizing the nations. The immediate
successor of Gregory XV. was the celebrated Urban VIII., a member of the
illustrious Barberini family. This great Pontiff earnestly resumed the
work of his predecessor in the matter of the Sacred Congregation of the
Propaganda Fide. To him, Monsgr. John Baptist Vives, acting, as Moroni
tells us, under the direction of his own confessor, Michael Ghislieri,
of the Order of Theatines, offered his place in the Piazza di Spagna.
This residence previously belonged to Cardinal Ferratini, from whom the
street called _Via Fratina_, which at present leads directly from the
Corso to the Propaganda, takes its name. Urban VIII. gladly accepted the
offer; and with further aid from Vives, established the famous college to
which he gave his own name—a name it bears to this day—COLLEGIO URBANO
DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. Moroni thus speaks of this gift:—“Matters progressed
so far that Monsignor Vives decided to devote all he had to this purpose
(the foundation of the college), and he employed Father Ghislieri to
draw up a plan for changing his palace into such a college. With these
admirable sentiments the Prelate Vives made an offer of the Palace to
Urban VIII. (_Barberini_). This illustrious Pontiff being animated with
the liveliest interest for the augmentation of the Catholic religion
and for the greater glory of God, approved of the gift of the good
Prelate, and with the authority of the Bull ‘_Immortalis Dei_’ given on
the Kalends of August, 1627, canonically instituted in the same palace
an Apostolic College or Seminary for youths of every nation who should
be promoted to orders after one year, and afterwards to the Priesthood,
and he placed the College under the invocation and patronage of SS. Peter
and Paul. He put it moreover under the protection of the Apostolic See,
and under the rule and laws which he and his successors should be pleased
to make for its government. He assigned to it perpetually the oblation
of the well-deserving Vives, consisting of one hundred and three places
on the mountain and other estates, yielding yearly about seven hundred
scudi in rent, besides other revenues which that Prelate left it at
death. On the principal façade of the building was placed the following
inscription:—
“COLLEGIUM DE PROPAGANDA FIDE PER UNIVERSUM ORBEM.
“And afterwards the same Urban VIII. caused to be substituted for this
another, which was placed beneath his own arms, and still subsists, and
which runs as follows:—
“COLLEGIUM URBANUM DE PROPAGANDA FIDE.”
The palace of Monsignor Vives was greatly improved by Urban VIII.,
who employed the celebrated Bernini to construct the offices of
the _Computisteria_, or finance department, on the ground floor;
the _Segretaria_, or business portion, on the first floor; and the
_Stamperia_, or printing office, on the upper floor. Alexander VII., the
next successor but one of Urban VIII., carried the buildings on towards
the Church of St. Andrea dei Frati. He also built the beautiful College
Chapel in the form in which it is to be found to-day. He employed in
both works the rival of Bernini, Francesco Borromini. Leo XII. removed
the printing offices to the ground floor, at the end of the building;
and in the part where these were placed before, he formed apartments for
the Cardinal Prefect, so that the latter might be always on the spot for
watching over the many important interests of the Congregation. On the
highest story were also provided the apartments of the Secretary of the
Propaganda, and the famous Museum connected with the Institution.
Besides the gift of the site and the Palace, Monsignor Vives provided
also ten places in the College for students destined to carry the
Gospel wherever the Sacred Congregation might send them. Almost at the
same time with this gift, came another valuable donation from Cardinal
Antonio Barberini, the brother of Urban VIII. This was the perpetual
foundation of twelve places for as many students, who should be taken
in the proportion of two from each one of the Persian, Georgian,
Coptic, Nestorian, Jacobite, and Melchite rites or nations. The zealous
Cardinal, elevated the number of students to three of each nation, soon
afterwards, making eighteen in all, of his own foundation. And from that
to this, these far-off peoples have been supplied with a constant stream
of well-educated pastors from the centre of Christendom by the zeal of
this good Prince of the Church, who was in his lifetime also one of the
Cardinals attached to the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda. His
zeal did not finish here. Before his death, Moroni tells us, that he
founded thirteen places in the Urban College for the nations of Ethiopia,
Abyssinia, and Brackmania. Wise regulations were in all cases laid down
for the giving of these places, and for the discharge of the obligations
of those who profited by them. Urban VIII. attached this College
perpetually to the Sacred Congregation of the Propaganda, and Innocent X.
increased it by the funds and the _alumni_ of a small Maronite College
previously established in Bologna. So the College continued to advance
in its sphere of Church utility; and with it arose and progressed
institutions necessary for its own work and for the work of the Sacred
Congregation, which, with prudence and zeal, continued to direct the
whole of the missionary responsibility of the Holy See from the days of
Gregory XV. to those of Leo XIII.
I will here quote for you a remarkable document furnished me by Monsignor
Conrado, the present, erudite, zealous, and greatly beloved Rector of the
Propaganda College. It is interesting, and manifests the sources from
which the educational funds of the College were derived. Translated from
the original Italian, it is as follows:—
NOTICE OF THE URBAN COLLEGE,
TAKEN FROM THE ARCHIVES OF THE PROPAGANDA.
Before commencing to speak of the institution of the Urban
College, from whence have gone forth so many personages
illustrious for the profundity of their knowledge, for the
sanctity of their lives, and for their zeal for religion,
it is necessary to give an idea of the origin of the Sacred
Congregation destined for the propagation of the Faith.
Because, however divided one from the other, these two pious
establishments were in the beginning, the College owes its
existence, certainly, to the Sacred Congregation. The immortal
Gregory XV., called to the consideration of the duties of the
supreme authority of the Church, saw amongst the very first
that of carrying the Gospel light amidst the darkness of the
Gentiles, that of uniting in the bond of charity those who
lived disjoined from it, and that of bringing back to the
true belief those who found themselves immersed in error; he,
therefore, in the second year of his pontificate, instituted
this Sacred Congregation, to which he confided the propagation
of the Faith throughout the universe. It was composed of
thirteen Cardinals, two Prelates, and one religious _della
Scala_. The Cardinals met together for the first time on the
6th of December, 1622. In this first meeting the Cardinal
Ludovisi having mentioned the motive of its creation, asked his
colleagues to manifest openly their sentiments regarding the
best manner of propagating the Faith. It was resolved that all
the Nuncios of the Holy See should be written to, in order that
they should send information regarding the state of religion in
the provinces and kingdoms committed to them; also, that the
heads of Religious Orders should receive instructions to send
accounts of the state of the missions conducted by them amongst
heretics and infidels. And first of all it was resolved that
the Bishop of Cozentino should be written to for the papers
which he held in charge regarding the propagation of the Faith
in the time of Clement VIII.
The Bull of the erection, the revenues necessary, the purchase
of a palace which should be an asylum for the converted, the
residence for the _alumni_ destined for the service of the
missions, and the material foundation of the Congregation
itself, were also matters of deliberation in that first
session. Monsignor Vives of Valencia in Spain, Ambassador of
Isabella, the illustrious Infanta of Spain and Governor of
the Belgian Provinces, a personage of singular piety, offered
for the purposes of the Congregation the Ferratina Palace,
where even at present the most eminent Cardinals meet to
decide upon religious questions which arise in different parts
of the world. On the 4th of February following, the second
Congregation was held. The principal things then considered
were the faculties, the relations to be made to the Pope after
each Congregation, and the manner by which a revenue might be
created for that pious establishment. Amongst other projects
the Cardinal of Saint Susannah proposed the application of
the Cardinal’s rings. This project was pleasing to all, and
the Pope by inserting it in his Bull approved of it, and it
still subsists. The same Gregory, at the canonization of Saint
Ignatius and Saint Isidore, gave two thousand five hundred
golden crowns; also when he prescribed that the Congregation
should meet once a month before the Pope he offered ten
thousand scudi. Nor did this limit his pious liberality, since
other acts are found of his munificence.
The Bishops of Christendom also received impulses to collect
alms for the promotion of this holy work in the Lenten times.
A certain obligation, it appears, arose, since by reason of
the pious contributions, great acquirements were made for the
work. In consequence, regulations were drawn up regarding the
administration. Two Cardinals, with the Cardinal’s Secretary,
were elected every year to superintend the temporal interests
of the Congregation. Finally, there was besides instituted a
special judge, an agent, and a notary. Matters thus progressed
until, on the 8th July, Gregory XV. passed to a better life.
The Cardinal Barberini succeeded him, and took the name of
Urban VIII. On the 4th September the first Congregation
was held under the new Pontiff. Urban VIII. by his Bull,
_Immortalis_, ordained the erection of the Congregation on the
1st of August, 1627. The spirit of the Bull is as follows:—The
holy Pontiff first mentions the grave burden which he feels
in the government of the Universal Church. He mentions the
supplication of Monsigr. Vives, by which the intended College
is reduced to some form, and by which the latter gives his
palace and all its annexes, together with all the rest of his
goods, with the reserve of the use only during his natural
life. He institutes the College on the condition that if it
does not become a reality during his own pontificate; it
should obtain it in that of his successors. He speaks of the
instance of Monsigr. Vives, and the confirmation accorded
with the condition expressed in the instrument. He then
institutes after the acceptation of the donation, after the
confirmation of the conditions, and after the making good of
any defects, the Pontifical College or Apostolic Seminary,
under the invocation of SS. Peter and Paul, by the name of
the Urban College, for the defence and Propagation of the
Faith, called the Propaganda. (By the form of the Bull, _Ne
nova_, of the 13th of March, 1640, it is forbidden to every
college or seminary to take that designation.) He orders that
the _alumni_ from the secular state can be taken from every
nation. They should be of sound maxims, of pure morals, and of
sound piety. They should serve throughout their whole lives,
encounter dangers, sufferings, and, if need be, martyrdom. He
assigns the dotation for the maintenance of the econome, of
the rector, of the masters, and of the students, deputing as
administrators three Canons of the three patriarchal basilicas,
at the death of whom he reserves to himself the nomination of
their successors, to be taken from that basilica to which the
deceased belonged. He accords to these ample faculties to elect
and remove rectors, economes, officials, and masters; to make
rules and give orders conformable to the canons and apostolic
constitutions; to change these, to correct them and interpret
them. He exempts all the individuals of the College from every
jurisdiction of the vicar, senator, conservator, and rector of
studies, as well as from whatsoever tax whether of land or sea.
He takes the college under his own immediate protection and
awards to it every privilege conceded to the German, English
or Greek Colleges. He inhibits any one from molesting either
the college or the officials. He wishes that no one should
regard as defective, fight against, suspend, call in judgment
for vice of nullity or intention, whomsoever should be there
found residing, and declares null all that which could be
attempted, knowingly or unknowingly, against his constitution.
He orders the Bishops of Ostia, the Vicar, and the Auditor of
the Apostolic Camera to execute this Bull, so that no one under
whatsoever pretext could molest it. He threatens censures and
the secular arm against its contraveners. He finally terminates
his Bull with the most ample derogatory forms.
The College remained divided from the Sacred Congregation
until 1641. But on the 16th of May of that year the same Urban
VIII. gave another Bull—_Romanus Pontifex_. In this he revoked
and annulled the faculties given to the three Canons of the
Patriarchal basilicas. He unites the College to the Sacred
Congregation, but leaving the administration, government and
direction of it to the Cardinal of St. Onefrius “having taken
counsel, as we hope,” says the Bull, “with the Congregation of
the before-mentioned Cardinals, and with the approbation of the
Roman Pontiff in affairs of greater importance.”