Columbus history: Why is the world's only pontifical seminary outside Italy in Ohio?

Linda Deitch
·2 min read
The Josephinum, a liberal arts college and Roman Catholic seminary, trains priests to serve in dioceses around the world.
The Josephinum, a liberal arts college and Roman Catholic seminary, trains priests to serve in dioceses around the world.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The first mass at the new site of the Pontifical College Josephinum, off Route 23 just north of Worthington, was held 90 years ago this week in 1931.

The liberal arts college and Roman Catholic seminary is the only pontifical seminary in the world outside Italy, with “pontifical” meaning it is under the direct governance of the Holy See, or Vatican.

But why is it located in Ohio, and why so far north of Columbus? Let's start at the beginning.

Monsignor John Joseph Jessing, the Josephinum’s founder.
Monsignor John Joseph Jessing, the Josephinum’s founder.

The college was founded by Monsignor John Joseph Jessing, a German war veteran who came to the United States and received his priesthood education in Cincinnati. He first opened St. Joseph's Orphanage in Pomeroy and later moved it to Columbus at 18th and Main streets.

Some of the orphans wanted to study for the priesthood, so he opted to open a seminary there in 1888, when 23 students enrolled for several years of primary, secondary, collegiate and seminarian training at the “Collegium Josephinum.”

Pope Leo XIII granted the institution the honor of pontifical status, and in 1899, the first class of six seminarians out of the original 23 was ordained to the priesthood, just five months before Jessing died.

This postcard shows the original Josephinum campus in Downtown Columbus at 18th and Main streets (then called “Friend Street”).
This postcard shows the original Josephinum campus in Downtown Columbus at 18th and Main streets (then called “Friend Street”).

A couple of decades later, its leaders started looking for a rural parcel of land away from city life. They also sought relief from cramped quarters due to increasing enrollment and lack of affordable land for expansion.

In 1924, William Duffy, a generous farmer, sold 120 acres of his land to the Josephinum for $1 plus the cost of the property tax. The site was 14 miles from the original seminary and offered wide-open spaces, wooded lots, ravines and running streams.

The academic structure then evolved to four years of high school, four years of college and four years of theology/seminary. The high school closed in 1967.

Today, there are two divisions: an undergraduate College of Liberal Arts and a graduate School of Theology. There are 43 students and 3,900 living alumni. The Josephinum's Tour Day, a free, yearly event, is next scheduled for April 30, 2022; register at tours@pcj.edu.

Contributor Linda Deitch was a Dispatch librarian for 25 years.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Catholic priests train at Josephinum for posts around world