The Pontifical College Josephinum is a four-year liberal arts college and graduate school of theology founded by Monsignor Joseph Jessing in 1888 and located in Columbus, Ohio, USA. It is a seminary that prepares students to become priests in the Roman Catholic Church. The institution trains candidates for the priesthood for U.S. dioceses that do not have their own seminaries, as well as dioceses around the world.
Founded in 1888, the Josephinum was the religious vocational outgrowth of an orphanage and orphan's industries, founded by Msgr. Joseph Jessing, in the early 1870s and relocated to Columbus. In 1888, Jessing founded the Collegium Josephinum, as it was then known. It was granted pontifical college status in 1892 by Pope Leo XIII and renamed to its current name, thus becoming, and remaining, the only pontifical seminary in the Western Hemisphere.
In the early 1870s, inspired by the orphanage work of Father Jessing, when four older boys indicated a desire to serve the Church as Roman Catholic priests, Father Jessing advertised in his German-language newspaper that he would be willing to sponsor two boys who wished to become priests but who lacked the financial means to do so. Jessing accepted twenty-three of the more than forty applicants who replied, and the first academic classes began on September 1, 1888. Originally his new seminary was called the Collegium Josephinum and was located in downtown Columbus.
As those first students progressed through the seminary program, the institution initially provided six years of primary education ("minor seminary," four years of high school and two years of college/pre-theology) and six years of secondary seminary education ("major seminary," another two years of college/pre-theology and four years of theology/ seminary). Father Jessing lived to see the first class of six seminarians ordained to the priesthood in June 1899 but he died less than six months later.
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| Percent of Students International: | 10% |
| On-Campus Housing Available: | Yes |
| Percent of Students Living On-Campus: | 146% |
| Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: | Yes |
| Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) | Expenses | ||
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 14,000 | ||
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 635 | ||
| Financial Aid | Avg. Amount Received | % of Students Receiving Aid | |
Federal Grants: |
$ 525 | 18% | |
State and Local Grants: |
$ 1,002 | 18% | |
Any Aid: |
45% |
| Application Fee: | $ 25.00 |
| Formal Demonstration of Competencies: | Not Required |
| High School Diploma or Equivalent: | Not Required |
| High School GPA: | Required |
| High School Rank: | Not Required |
| High School Record: | Required |
| Recommendations: | Required |
| TOEFL: | Required |
| Test Scores: | Recommended |
