The Original Decree

Museums are places of beauty and of history.  We would rarely think to save the mortgage to our paid-off homes or the certificate from completing a professional course, but these are the very items which help us to understand the cultural and social history of a people.  

At the top of the stairs in Feehan library is an unassuming little display case. In this case is kept the original decree giving the University of Saint Mary of the Lake the privilege of granting degrees in Sacred Theology.  USML was the first seminary in the United States to receive this decree under the Apostolic Constitution “Deus Scientiarum Dominus.”

Today, USML has granted hundreds of degrees, sending forth not only priests into the world but also qualified laypersons to promulgate the Word of God.