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Saint Francis University is a four-year, coeducational Catholic liberal arts university in Loretto, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1847 and conducted under the tradition of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. The university is situated on 600 acres (2.4 km²) in the forests and farmland of Loretto.
[edit] History
The John F. Kennedy Center
Saint Francis College was established in 1847 by six Franciscan Friars from Ireland. In 2001 Saint Francis finally attained the status of University, though widely critized as lacking in the graduate programs necessary for the University status. The University was one of the first Catholic Universities in the United States and the first Franciscan college in the nation. Although it originally only admitted males, it became one of the first Catholic Universities to become co-educational. Loretto is the site of the first English-language Roman Catholic Church established west of the Allegheny Front, in what is now the United States, by Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin in 1799. The student population of the university is approxiametely 1500 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. The president of the university is Fr. Gabriel Zeis, TOR. At Fr. Zeis' induction ceremony, he told all in attendance that the university was created on that spot in Loretto because that was the location the Friars' donkey died as they were making their journey through the wilderness.[citation needed]
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Coordinates: 40°30′21.87″N, 78°38′23.66″W
