Salesian Pontifical University
pontifical university
The Salesian Pontifical University (Italian: Università Pontificia Salesiana; Latin: Pontificia Studiorum Universitas Salesiana) is a pontifical university in Italy run by the Salesians of Don Bosco. It has three campuses, one in Rome, one in Turin, and one in Jerusalem. The Salesian Pontifical University is an ordinary member of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, the European Federation of Catholic Universities, the European University Association and the International Association of Universities.
History
The university began with the founding of the Foglizzo Canavese theological studentate in 1904, which in 1923 moved to Turin. The university was canonically erected by the Congregation for Catholic Education with the decree of 3 May 1940 (Prot. N. 265/40) with the official title Pontificio Ateneo Salesiano (Latin for 'Salesian Pontificial Athenaeum'). During the Second World War students and teachers were transferred to the Salesian house in Bagnolo Piemonte.
In 1958 the Salesian Pontifical Athenaeum moved to Rome. On 24 May 1973, Pope Paul VI approved its new title Pontificia Studiorum Universitas Salesiana (Salesian Pontifical University) with the motu proprio Magisterium vitae. On 8 December 1986, a Department of Youth Pastoral and Catechetics was constituted by an agreement between the Faculties of Theology and Sciences of Education.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Salesian Pontifical University” is pontifical university. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Salesian, Pontifical and University, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “pontifical university” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q543289. VIAF identifies the subject as 132336266. The Library of Congress control number is n50069927. Authority coordinates are 41.960, 12.521. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1904, 1923, 1940 and 1958.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Salesian Pontifical University”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Salesian Pontifical University primary sources, Salesian Pontifical University archive and Salesian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Salesian Pontifical University”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Salesian Pontifical University” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.