page_title: Sophia University
section_title: Early History
hierarchical_section_title: Sophia University / History of the University / Early History
caption_attribution_description: English: A photograph of William H O'Connell during his tenure as rector of the North American College in Rome (1895–1901)
context_page_description: Sophia University, is considered one of the top private research universities in Japan. According to the Times Higher Education, Sophia, 2020 Japan University Rankings, and is placed in the 3rd position among all private universities in Japan
  . Founded by the Roman Catholic religious order of the Society of Jesus in 1913, the University has grown from its 3 original academic departments of Philosophy, German Literature, and Commerce to 9 undergraduate Faculties and 10 Graduate Schools, with over 13,900 students in total.
  Ever since Sophia was established, the University has been a leader in the internationalisation of Japanese universities. It had been conducting classes both in English and Japanese, and welcoming students from abroad from China, Korea, and even from Europe. Soon afterward, Sophia gained national repute as the leading institution in globalisation, foreign languages, and literature in Japan.
context_section_description: The origins of Sophia University could be traced to 1549 when Saint Francis Xavier, a prominent member and co-founder of the Society of Jesus, arrived in Japan to spread Christianity. In his letters to his fellow Jesuits, he had expressed hopes of establishing a university in Japan.
  During the so-called Kirishitan period of Japanese history, the Catholic Church had been responsible for establishing and administering educational institutions in Japan called Collegios and Seminarios, serving as bridges between the East and West. 
  The establishment of the University only began to take place more than 400 years from St. Francis Xavier's arrival in Japan. In 1903, three Jesuit priests from Europe came to Japan to continue the missionary work of the Church and to help establish Sophia University. One of the founders, Fr. Joseph Dahlmann, SJ from Germany, who had come to Japan via India, had listened to the requests of Catholics in the country, who expressed their desires to construct a Catholic university to serve as the cultural and spiritual base of the Church's missionary operations in Japan.
  Fr. Dahlmann heeded the requests and sent a proposal to the then-Bishop of Rome, Pope Pius X, at the Holy See in Rome.
  Dahlmann was then granted a private audience with the Pope in 1905 regarding the request. The Pius X promised to assign the Society of Jesus to create and administer a Catholic university in Japan. In Dahlmann's Latin memoirs regarding the encounter with the His Holiness, he recounted that the Pope spoke as follows: "Habebitis collegium in Japonica, magnam universitatem (in English: "You (plural) will have in Japan a college that is a great university".).
  On that same year, the then-Bishop of Portland, Maine in the United States, William H. O'Connell, was appointed by the Pope to serve as a special ambassador of the Vatican to Emperor Meiji in Japan. O'Connell was also tasked to survey the situation in Japan. When he was granted an audience with Emperor Meiji, he had ascertained the education policy directions of the Japanese Education Ministry, and reported to officials at the Holy See regarding the possible establishment of a Catholic university in Japan.
  At the 25th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in held in Rome in September 1906, Pius X issued a formal written statement to the Jesuits to establish a Catholic university in Japan. Thus, the delegates at the Congregation voted unanimously in favour of the Pope's commands, and the first concrete steps were taken to prepare a university institution in the East.
caption: William H. O'Connell had been appointed as a special ambassador of the Vatican to Japan.
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