Saint Francis University

The female dormitories

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.

History

The John F. Kennedy Center

Saint Francis University was established in 1847 by six Franciscan Friars from Ireland. 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.

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DeGol Field

Athletics

The SFU sport teams — all named the St. Francis University Red Flash — wear red and white colors and compete in the Northeast Conference of the NCAA (Division 1). The campus football stadium prior to 2005 was known as the Pine Bowl due to its close proximity to pine trees. In 2005, the field changed to a synthetic surface and was renamed to DeGol Field. The Stokes Athletics Center wher they play basketball and other indoor sports is named for Maurice Stokes who recently enterd the Basketball Hall of Fame. The basketball cort ic called DeGol Arena.

Stokes Athletics Center

Notable alumni

• Charles M. Schwab -- industrialist
• Maurice Stokes- Basketball player (Basketball Hall of Fame)
• Joy Thoma -- Senior Vice President, MasterCard International

External links

• Official website