The History of Mater Ecclesiae College
In 1614, the Society of Jesus established a house of studies for English Jesuits in Louvain for the study of philosophy and theology known as St John’s. As a foundation of the Society of Jesus, this College was recognised as having the ability to admit members of the Society to degrees in those subjects.
The College subsequently moved to Liege and thence to St Mary’s Hall, Stonyhurst. In 1840 the newly founded University of London granted the College the right to prepare its students for external degrees of the University. From 1848, the Faculty of Theology was re-located to St Beuno’s, near St Asaph in North Wales. In 1926 the Faculties were reunited at Heythrop in Oxfordshire as a Collegium Maximum, and at this time acquired the name ‘Heythrop College’. Following the codification of canon law relating to Universities by Pope Pius XI in his Apostolic Constitution, Deus Scientiarum Dominus (1931), the College was placed under the patronage of St Robert Bellarmine and the right of its two faculties of philosophy and theology to confer various Ecclesiastical degrees on its Jesuit students, up to and including the doctorate, were confirmed by Decree of the Holy See in 1932.
After a formal request by the British Jesuit Province and the Hierarchy, by Decree dated 24 November 1964, the Faculties of the College were raised and erected as a Pontifical Athenaeum by the name of the ‘Heythrop Faculties of Theology and Philosophy’ or ‘Athenaeum Heythropense Studiorum Ecclesiasticorum’ with the right to confer degrees on students from any part of the world. The inauguration ceremony was held on 15 June 1965, and His Eminence John Cardinal Heenan was installed as Chancellor of the College by the Apostolic Delegate to Great Britain in the name of Pope Paul VI.
On 25 July 1968, the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities approved the search for affiliating the College with a state university, provided it was approved by the local Bishops Conference. In February 1969, a formal application was made by the Rector of Heythrop College to the Senate of the University of London for Heythrop College to be received as a constituent college of the University. This request was agreed and the College joined the University in September 1970. The Athenaeum became part of a civilly incorporated College by Royal Charter of 11 March 1971, which recognised the civil College’s unique relationship with the Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus. In 1972, Cardinal Heenan, as Archbishop of Westminster and Chancellor of the Ecclesiastical faculties, was appointed charitable Visitor of the civilly incorporated Heythrop College.
After that time, the Ecclesiastical faculties were de facto suspended while the College focused on providing courses leading to the civil degrees of the University of London. On the Feast of St Robert Bellarmine 2014, the Heythrop Faculties of Theology and Philosophy, also to be known as the ‘Bellarmine Institute’, were re-activated in accordance with the provisions of Apostolic Constitution, Sapientia Christiana (1979) as a distinct institute within Heythrop College, which itself came under the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution, Ex corde Ecclesiae (1990).
On 31st January 2019, Heythrop College ceased to be a college of the University of London. By a Decree of the Congregation for Catholic Education dated 17 July 2019, issued at the request of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, the Faculties of Theology and Philosophy were transferred from Heythrop College to St Mary’s University in Twickenham, constituting a College therein, named Mater Ecclesiae College, under the provisions of Apostolic Constitution, Veritatis Gaudium (2017). The same Decree provided that the Ecclesiastical faculties no longer depend on the Society of Jesus, but on the Bishops’ Conference, with the Archbishop of Westminster once again as ex-officio Chancellor.
Mater Ecclesiae College is called to make a rich contribution to the intellectual and spiritual life of the Church in this country. Its programmes of study enable men and women, lay and clerical, to study together to deepen their understanding of the mysteries of faith in Jesus Christ and to contribute to the Church’s missionary outreach by communicating these truths. The College ultimately aims to provide courses leading to ecclesiastical degrees at the Baccalaureate, Licentiate and Doctoral levels in Theology, Philosophy and Canon Law.
Since its founding, the College has awarded the Baccalaureate in Theology (STB), and students have studied for this degree in association with the BA in Theological Studies from St Mary’s University. The first graduations took place in 2022. Most of the College’s recent students have been seminarians, training for the priesthood at Allen Hall or St John’s Seminary, Wonersh. However, in October 2025, the College’s Governing Body formally recognised the one-year intensive CertHE in Philosophy awarded by St Mary’s University as satisfying the philosophical requirements for entry into the STB programme, thereby opening a manageable way for lay students to access the STB. In September 2025, pending approval of the Plan of Studies, the Dicastery for Culture and Education formally approved the Statutes of the College for a period of five years ad experimentum. .
In summer 2026, the College welcomed the new Patriarch Lubomyr Husar Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in London as a participating seminary. In September 2027, the College will inaugurate a Licence in Dogmatic Theology (STL), in association with an MTh programme of St Mary’s University, and plans are underway to establish a faculty of Canon Law and a Licence in Canon Law (JCL), also. The College is thus steadily expanding its activities and offerings.