About Casa Santa Maria

Casa Santa Maria dell’Umiltà is the graduate department of the Pontifical North American College.  It serves as a house of continuing formation and residence for diocesan priests from the United States assigned by their bishops to pursue higher studies in Rome.  Currently, its residents come from 32 American dioceses.  They are served by three priests, assisted by a staff of dedicated religious Sisters and lay personnel.

Situated in the heart of historic Rome, the Casa occupies a 17th-century monastery granted by Pope Pius IX in 1859 to the nascent North American College.  Endowed with a cloister, two interior gardens, and a splendid baroque chapel, it provides a quiet respite from the busy life of the surrounding city.  From the Casa, it is a short walking distance to the Gregorian and Angelicum universities, and an easy bus ride to other Roman universities and institutes.

At the Casa, student-priests find a prayerful, scholarly, and fraternal atmosphere in which to carry out their particular mission of service to the Church.  The Casa Santa Maria library and the Randal Riede library on the College’s Janiculum campus provide extensive resources in the fields of theology and canon law.  Casa community life is characterized by regular personal and community prayer, mutual support, and a joyful spirit of priestly camaraderie that enhances the serious academic pursuits of the residents.

Msgr. William V. Millea
Director