St. Bonaventure University

St. Bonaventure University is located in Cattaraugus County in western New York. The university was established by the Franciscan Brothers in 1858 and is a private, Catholic university, located near Olean, New York. It has roughly 2,750 students. The current president is Sister Margaret Carney OSF, the 20th president and the first sister religious to hold the position. Its sports teams, called the Bonnies, play NCAA Division I sports in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

History

The university was founded by Utica financier Nicholas Devereux, one of the first to gain land grants in newly surveyed Cattaraugus County from the Holland Land Company. Devereux founded the town of Allegany on the grant, hoping to build a new city. A great city needed religious instruction, so Devereux approached John Timon, the bishop of Buffalo, for assistance. The two invited the Franciscan order to Western New York, and a small group under Father Pamfilo da Magliano OFM arrived in 1856. This was the first group of Franciscan brothers to settle in the United States. The school graduated its first class in 1858. St. Bonaventure's College was granted university status by New York State in 1967. The largest dormitory on campus, the infamous Devereux Hall, is named for the founder.

Related Topics:
Utica - Nicholas Devereux - Holland Land Company - Allegany - John Timon - Franciscan order - Father Pamfilo da Magliano OFM - United States - Devereux Hall

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Once one of the nation's most prominent Catholic colleges, St. Bonaventure ran into financial difficulties in the 1990s, to the point when it almost declared bankruptcy in 1994. Since then, the school has been put on a more solid financial footing and has seen record growth and campus improvements in the past five years.

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Thomas Merton taught English at St. Bonaventure for a year just at the start of World War II. It was at the school that Merton finally gave into his vocation and decided to join the Trappists. He entered the monastery in Kentucky in 1941. An unusual botanical phenomenon on a mountain in view of campus, where the trees have fallen and left a clearing in the shape of a heart, is linked to Merton in campus myth. Students call it "Merton's Heart" and say Merton visited the place often.

Related Topics:
Thomas Merton - World War II - Trappists - Monastery - Kentucky

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St. Bonaventure is strongly identified with the Western New York region. A notable proportion of the student body are from the Buffalo and Rochester metro areas, and references to Buffalo and Rochester -- and their Catholic high schools -- are common even among students not from those areas.

Related Topics:
Western New York - Buffalo - Rochester

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