Villanova University - Belle Air Yearbook (Villanova, PA)

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Although expansion of its very nature involves the new, the process itself is old to Villanova, as old as the college itself. Neither the men who founded it nor their successors ever intended that Villanova should stand still with the present. For over a century they have consistently worked that they might outreach the present by building for the future. To guide themselves they built their college around an eternal core, the core of Catholicity. Villanova first expandod by building a college chapel in 1844. The dominant position of the spiritual again appeared through the physical with the erection in 1887 of the twin-spired chapel familiar to us today. Its worn steps symbolize that enduring faith which throughout all change has been, is, and always will be the strength of Villanova.

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VILLANOVA 1 H 4 1 THo Rudolph Home purehoted in 1841 o» o part of the original Belle Air Estate constituted Villanovo's most impressive physical asset until the erection of the College Building in 1848. During the eo'ly years college life at Villanovo revolved about this former residence, for it served os mona- stery, college, and chapel. Just a little over one hundred years ago. on the Feost of St. Augustine, on Augustinion priest celebrated Moss to inouguarate the foundation of a new Catholic College and to ask God to shed his blessing upon the project. There were no college buildings then; there was. properly speaking, no campus. Villonova consisted of the former Belle Air Estate—a home .a barn,'and ex- tensive farmland. There were but ten students and six professors. These were the humble beginnings of the modern educational institution which stands today. The story of its progress reflects the history of our nation and of the Augustinion Order which, through the years, has contributed to that notion a constant flow of loyal, well- educated Americans. Villanovo first opened its doors to students in September. 1843. Almost from the outset it was to feel the tremors, large and small, which periodically passed through the nation. Scarcely a year ofter its inception on intense spirit of anti-Catholicism gripped the area and finally, in 1846. resulted in demonstrations which forced the new college to terminate all classes. These outbursts hod sufficiently subsided by September of the some year, however, to permit the resumption of normal ocodemic life on the campus. The college started anew with an increased enrollment of 24 students and o faculty augmented by the arrival of three Augustinion priests from Italy. When on March 10. 1848 the Governor signed An act to Incorporate the Augustinion College the legal right of Villanovo to operate as a college was secured. Though then firmly established, Villanovo was soon to undergo a new series of shocks which would ogam force it to suspend activities. The panic of 1857. the subsequent depression, and the Civil War broke upon the country with such a force as to disrupt oil normal pursuits. Villanovo closed, and remained closed until 1865 when it was once again able to take up its aca- demic duties. With the construction of the gymnasium in 1869 the first signs of prosperity ond expansion began to appear. This promise of things to come was continued by the presentation of the first college catalogue in 1871. The catalogue described the college, its aims, ond the courses offered. The curriculum ot that time consisted of three years of preparatory work and four years of Liberal Arts. It was during this same period that the Villonova Alumni Association was formed. In 1863. the Augustinion Fathers began the erection of a chapel large enough in design to meet the demands of both the present and the future. The edifice was com- pleted four yeors later ond has since become a symbol of all that is Villanovan.