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Athenaeum of Ohio

Motto	Proficere sapientia aetate et gratia
Motto in English	To advance in wisdom, age and grace
Type	Private seminary
Established	1829; 196 years ago (1829)
Accreditation	HLC, ATS
Affiliation	Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Rector	Anthony R. Brausch
Academic staff	26 full-time, 13 part-time
Students	225
Undergraduates	99
Location	Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Website	www.athenaeum.edu

The Athenaeum of Ohio – Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West, originally St. Francis Xavier Seminary, is a Catholic seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the third-oldest Catholic seminary in the United States and was established by Edward Fenwick, the first Bishop of Cincinnati, in 1829 along with The Athenaeum (later Xavier University and St. Xavier High School), which opened in 1831 in downtown Cincinnati.

The Athenaeum of Ohio is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.

History

St. Francis Xavier Seminary

In 1829, Bishop Fenwick founded St. Francis Xavier Seminary in the former Christ Church in Cincinnati. Two years later, he established the Athenaeum to educate lay students. In 1840, the Jesuits took over operation of the Athenaeum and renamed it St. Xavier College.

Mount St. Mary's of the West

On October 2, 1851, a new seminary building was dedicated by Archbishop John Baptist Purcell in Price Hill, Cincinnati and the seminary was renamed Mount St. Mary's of the West. The new name was selected in honor of Mount St. Mary's of the East in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where Purcell had been rector. In 1879, the seminary closed for eight years due to financial difficulty. When it reopened, Purcell decided to create a separate preparatory school, St. Gregory's Seminary, which was opened in Mount Washington in 1890.

In 1906, Archbishop Henry K. Moeller had a mission to build a new cathedral, archbishop's residence, and seminary in Cincinnati. The next year, the archbishop accepted a donation of 16 acres (6 ha) in Norwood, some eight miles north of downtown Cincinnati. Groundbreaking on the seminary did not occur until 1921, with dedication in 1923.

Athenaeum of Ohio: Mount St. Mary's Seminary

In 1925, Archbishop John T. McNicholas developed a unified agency to coordinate all educational work in the diocese. This new organization was incorporated under the laws of Ohio as the Athenaeum of Ohio in March 1928. The incorporation restored the name of the early college and seminary, founded by Bishop Fenwick in 1829. The Athenaeum of Ohio was chartered to grant degrees for Mount St. Mary's of the West and St. Gregory seminaries, a teachers’ college and a graduate school of science, the Institutum Divi Thomae.

Mount St. Mary's of the West moved to the St. Gregory location in 1981 after the St. Gregory's Seminary was forced to close due to declining enrollment in 1980. The Norwood site now houses Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, a retreat facility, for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

In October 2019, Mount St. Mary's Seminary & School of Theology opened a new residence building, Fenwick Hall at the Mount Washington campus. The building also has meeting and classrooms to host ongoing or secondary formation throughout the summer months.

Alumni

• Francis William Howard - Bishop of Covington
• John Luers - Bishop of Fort Wayne
• Nicholas Chrysostom Matz - Bishop of Denver
• M. Henrietta Reilly, mathematician, and one of the few women to study and later teach there under a special program for Catholic sisters in the Cincinnati region.
• Michael William Warfel - Bishop of Great Falls–Billings
• Earl Kenneth Fernandes - Bishop of Columbus

Notes

1. "Directory - Athenaeum of Ohio".
2. Felix Winternitz & Sacha DeVroomen Bellman (2007). Insiders' Guide to Cincinnati. Globe Pequot. p. 357. ISBN 9780762741809. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
3. ^ "History of the Athenaeum of Ohio", Mount St. Mary's Seminary
4. Mitchell, Madeline. "Archdiocese of Cincinnati unveils $12 million building to meet demands of rising seminary enrollment", Cincinnati Enquirer, October 3, 2019
5. The Catholic Encyclopedia and its Makers. The Encyclopedia Press. 1917. p. 80 – via archive.org.
6. Alerding, H. J., The Diocese of Fort Wayne, 1857-September 22, 1907, Fort Wayne: The Archer Printing Co. 1907, p. 30
7. Noel, Thomas J. "Matz: The Builder Bishop (1889-1917)". Colorado Catholicism. Archived from the original on 2008-08-29.
8. Green, Judy; LaDuke, Jeanne, eds. (2009). Pioneering Women in American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhDs. Washington, DC: American Mathematical Society. p. 277. ISBN 9780821843765.
9. "Bishop Michael W. Warfel". The Diocese of Great Falls-Billings.
10. Catholic Diocese of Columbus (2022). Bishop Fernandes Ordination Vespers And Mass Program. p. 5.

References

• Hussey, M. Edmund (1979). A History of the Seminaries of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, 1829-1979. Norwood, Ohio: Mt. St. Mary's Seminary of the West. OCLC 4706367.
• The Athenaeum of Ohio Catalog 2008-2010. Cincinnati: Mt. St. Mary's Seminary of the West. 2008.

External links

• Official website

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v t e Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati
v t e Ordinaries of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Bishop Edward Fenwick Archbishops John Baptist Purcell William Henry Elder Henry K. Moeller John T. McNicholas Karl Joseph Alter Paul Francis Leibold Joseph Bernardin Daniel Edward Pilarczyk Dennis Marion Schnurr Catholicism portal
v t e Churches in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Cathedral Cathedral Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains Parishes Cincinnati Church of the Annunciation Immaculata Church Old St. Mary's Church St. Aloysius on the Ohio St. Francis De Sales Church Saint Francis Seraph Church St. Francis Xavier Church St. Lawrence Church St. Pius X Church St. Rose Church Dayton Holy Cross Church Sacred Heart Church St. Adalbert Church St. Mary's Church Springfield St. Joseph's Church St. Raphael's Church Other Immaculate Conception Church, Botkins St. Aloysius Church, Carthagena Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Cassella Immaculate Conception Church, Celina Precious Blood Church, Chickasaw Our Lady of Victory Church, Delhi Township St. Joseph's Church, Egypt Holy Family Church, Frenchtown St. John's Church, Fryburg St. Patrick's Church, Glynwood St. John the Baptist Church, Maria Stein Sacred Heart Church, McCartyville St. Michael's Church, Mechanicsburg St. Augustine's Church, Minster St. Louis Church, North Star St. Nicholas Church, Osgood St. Anthony's Church, Padua St. Remy's Church, Russia St. Henry's Church, St. Henry Holy Rosary Church, St. Marys St. Rose's Church, St. Rose St. Sebastian's Church, Sebastian St. Joseph's Church, Wapakoneta Former parishes All Saints Church, Cincinnati Holy Trinity Church, Cincinnati St. Augustine Church, Cincinnati St. George's Church, Cincinnati St. Michael the Archangel Church, Cincinnati St. Paul Church, Cincinnati St. Philomena's Church, Cincinnati St. Patrick's Church, St. Patrick Shrine Shrine of the Holy Relics
v t e Education in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Higher education Chatfield College University of Dayton Edgecliff College Mount St. Joseph University Xavier University Seminary Athenaeum of Ohio – Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West High schools Cincinnati DePaul Cristo Rey High School Elder High School La Salle High School Mercy McAuley High School Archbishop McNicholas High School Purcell Marian High School Seton High School St. Ursula Academy St. Xavier High School Summit Country Day School Ursuline Academy Dayton Carroll High School Chaminade Julienne High School Other Archbishop Alter High School, Kettering Father Stephen T. Badin High School, Hamilton Catholic Central School, Springfield Bishop Fenwick High School, Franklin Lehman Catholic High School, Sidney Moeller High School, Kenwood Mount Notre Dame High School, Reading Royalmont Academy, Mason Roger Bacon High School, St. Bernard St. Rita School for the Deaf, Evendale
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