Bellarmine University

Bellarmine College was opened on October 3, 1950, under the sponsorship of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville and with the special assistance of the Conventual Franciscan Fathers. It followed third in a proud line of diocesan institutions of higher learning founded by this diocese, the oldest in inland America. The earlier predecessors were St. Joseph's College in Bardstown (1820-1889), which was closed in the 1860's by the tumult of the Civil War, and St. Mary's College near Lebanon begun in 1821, which functioned as a liberal arts college until 1929 and exclusively as a seminary until 1975. Bellarmine University is a vibrant community of educational excellence and ethical awareness that consistently ranks among the nation's best colleges and universities. Our students pursue an education based in the liberal arts – and in the distinguished, inclusive Catholic tradition of educational excellence, the oldest and most rewarding in the western world. It is a lifelong education, worthy of the university's namesake, Saint Robert Bellarmine, and of his invitation to each of us to learn and live in veritatis amore in the love of all that is beautiful, true and good in life.