Secret Catholic Colleges

We all know that Notre Dame’s a Catholic school, right? 

Same goes with anything with a name like Sacred Heart, Assumption, Holy Cross, Incarnate Word …

And you can usually count on any place named after a saint – St. John’s, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas, St. Norbert …

Did you know, though, that Georgetown’s a Catholic school? How about Boston College?

Whoops, wrong one

Now, if you’re a Catholic, or a big sports fan, or both, you probably did. Here’s a few, though, that might stump even you.

Saint-Adjacent

These are pretty clever. Instead of calling your school St. Catherine, try Siena instead. Instead of St. Aloysius, how about Gonzaga? St. Francis Xavier? Nah, Loyola!

Villanova – after St. Thomas of Villanova, a major advocate for the poor

LaSalle – after St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle, founder of the Christian Brothers

Seton Hall – after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first saint born in the US

Chaminade – after St. Guillaume-Joseph Cahminade, founder of the Marianists

Iona – from Iona Island, in Scotland, a famous center of Gaelic monasticism in the Middle Ages

I also own a castle

Marquette – after Pere Marquette, an early Jesuit missionary to – and explorer of – the Midwest

DePaul – after St. Vincent De Paul, another advocate for the poor

Bellarmine – after St. Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit, cardinal, and doctor of the church 

Canisius – after St. Peter Canisius, a Dutch educator and early Jesuit

They’re the Golden Griffins

No Connection

As for these, there doesn’t seem to be any Catholic tie at all. And for a lot of them, it might just be a case of because it was available.

Manhattan – it’s actually in the Bronx

Providence (RI) 

Stonehill (MA) – from the name of the estate of the Ames family, who donated it to the church

Dayton – originally St. Mary’s College; changed when the school became a university, and “to reflect its close connection with the city of Dayton as well as to claim an American identity for its Catholic students” 

Niagara – originally The College and Seminary of Our Lady of Angels … maybe so it wouldn’t get confused with UCLA?

Fairfield (CT) – in the town of Fairfield; originally Fairfield Univ. of Robert Bellarmine (see above)

Fordham (NY) – founded as St. John’s College; changed to the town in which it was located

Creighton (NE) – after benefactor, businessman Edward Creighton

He built the first transcontinental telegraph

Seattle (WA) – the second college in Seattle after the Univ. of Washington 

San Francisco – originally St. Ignatius College; changed when the school became a university 

Santa Clara (CA) – heck, the city’s named after a saint anyway, right?

Portland (OR) – formerly a Methodist college, taken over by the Catholic church after it was abandoned (but without ever changing the name)

Dallas – originally Holy Trinity College

San Diego – founded in 1949

St. Louis – hey, this city’s named after a saint too

They’re called the Billikens
(whatever that is)