2010 Catalog cover - The Athenaeum Of Ohio

Introduction to The Athenaeum of Ohio
General Information
Mission
The Athenaeum of Ohio, the graduate school of
theology sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Cincinnati, prepares people to serve the
church effectively as priests, deacons and lay
ministers.
This mission is achieved through the three divisions
of the Athenaeum of Ohio: Mount St. Mary’s
Seminary of the West, the Lay Pastoral Ministry
Program and the Special Studies Division.
History
The long and rich history of The Athenaeum of
Ohio was inaugurated on May 11, 1829. On that
day, Edward D. Fenwick, the first bishop of
Cincinnati, opened the Seminary of St. Francis
Xavier next to the Cathedral in downtown
Cincinnati. On opening day, there was an enrollment
of ten students, four in the theology course
and six in the classics course.
The City of Cincinnati was growing rapidly at that
time and the small school also began to grow so
quickly that the bishop soon decided to erect a
separate college building for the theology students.
In October of 1831 the new college opened under
the name of the Athenaeum. The college continued
under this name until the Jesuit Fathers took control
of its operations and renamed it St. Francis Xavier
College. In 1839 the Seminary of St. Francis
Xavier was separated from the Athenaeum and
was moved to the town of St. Martin, Brown
County, Ohio.
After that, the seminary experienced many changes
of location and staff, until 1851 when the seminary
was renamed Mount St. Mary’s of the West and
was located in new buildings in the Price Hill section
of Cincinnati, where it remained for over fifty years.
At that time the seminary consisted of two years of
college and a course in theology.
The name of the Athenaeum was finally revived in
1928 when Archbishop McNicholas gathered
5