The Pontifical College Josephinum is a four-year, Roman Catholic liberal arts college and graduate school of theology founded by Monsignor Joseph Jessing in 1888 and located in Columbus, Ohio, USA. The seminary prepares its students to become priests in the Roman Catholic Church. Students come from U.S. dioceses that do not have their own seminaries, as well as dioceses from around the world. The Josephinum was granted pontifical status in 1892 by Pope Leo XIII, recognizing her unique mission of forming priests for the international Church. The seminary's vision, as set forth by its Rector... and Board of Trustees, is: "Forming Renaissance Priests: Spiritual Fathers for the New Evangelization." 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.
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