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 Our University can be described in many ways. In recent years, Duquesne has been identified as one of the best values in higher education, while rising to become one of the top ten Catholic universities in the nation. The remarkable progress Duquesne has achieved over the span of 125 years might have astounded our founders, who began this great enterprise in rented rooms over a bakery in uptown Pittsburgh. They were Catholic priests and brothers of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit known as the Spiritans founded in France in 1703. Driven out of Germany by the oppressive regime of Otto von Bismarck, these exiles chose their home in Pittsburgh, then the steel manufacturing capital of the world. The city was darkened by smoke in the day and lit by the fiery glow of the mills at night. Duquesne's founders came not in spite of these conditions, but because of them. They came to serve the masses of immigrants who flooded the city in search of new life. The bishop of Pittsburgh prayed for a religious congregation to provide education for the city’s uncounted children. His hopes were fulfilled in the Spiritans. The newcomers were joined by other Spiritans from Ireland, who brought with them an established reputation for educational excellence. Our founders who toiled through those desperate days would probably not recognize our beautiful, bustling campus today or our sparkling, progressive city. Yet, at the heart of Duquesne they would discover something very familiar to them. The Spirit who answered the cry of the poor in 1878 is the same Spirit who gives life to the University today. We are more than buildings or people. We are more than honors and awards. |
