page_title: Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas
section_title: Medieval origin (1222): the Santa Sabina studium conventuale
hierarchical_section_title: Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas / History / Medieval origin (1222): the Santa Sabina studium conventuale
context_page_description: The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, also known as the Angelicum in honor of its patron the Doctor Angelicus Thomas Aquinas, is a pontifical university located in the historic center of Rome, Italy. The Angelicum is administered by the Dominican Order and is the order's central locus of Thomist theology and philosophy.
  The Angelicum is coeducational and offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in theology, philosophy, canon law, and social sciences, as well as certificates and diplomas in related areas. Courses are offered in Italian and for some programs in English. The Angelicum is staffed by clergy and laity and serves both religious and lay students from around the world.
context_section_description: Saint Dominic established priories focused on study and preaching that became the Order's first studia generalia, at the Parisian convent of St. Jacques in 1217, at Bologna in 1218, at Palencia and Montpellier in 1220, and at Oxford before his death in 1221.  By 1219 Pope Honorius III had invited Dominic and companions to take up residence at the ancient Roman basilica of Santa Sabina, which they did by early 1220.  In May 1220 at Bologna the Order's first General Chapter mandated that each convent of the Order maintain a studium. The official foundation of the Dominican studium conventuale at Rome, which would grow into the Angelicum, occurred with the legal transfer of the Santa Sabina complex from Pope Honorius III to the Order of Preachers on 5 June 1222.
  St. Hyacinth of Poland and companions Bl. Ceslaus, Herman of Germany, and Henry of Moravia were among the first to study at the studium of Santa Sabina where "sacred studies flourished".
  From its beginning the Santa Sabina studium played the special role of frequently providing papal theologians from among its members.  Since its institution in 1218 the office of Master of the Sacred Palace has always been entrusted to a Friar of the Order of Preachers.  In 1218 Saint Dominic was appointed as the first Master of the Sacred Palace by Pope Honorius III. In 1246 Pope Innocent IV appointed Annibaldo degli Annibaldi (c. 1220 – 1272) third Master of the Sacred Palace after Saint Dominic and Bartolomeo di Breganze.  Annibaldi had completed his initial studies at the Santa Sabina studium conventuale and was later sent to the studium generale at Paris.  Aquinas dedicated to Annibaldi the Catena aurea, which he wrote during his regency at the Santa Sabina studium beginning in 1265.
caption: Dominican Order shield