8 Schlienger, and Dugan. Since, however, there are not a sufficient number of professors, the Bishop will lend a hand by allowing certain seminarians to assist Ours in teaching as long as will be necessary.�27 By the end of September, eight Jesuits arrived in Cincinnati. They fixed up the school building. They changed the name of the church to St. Francis Xavier Church. The school became St. Francis Xavier College, in order to more clearly reflect its Jesuit character. St. Xavier was now called a college. In 1840, this word meant something very different from what we understand the word college to mean today. Today a U.S. college begins after high school and often embraces a four year program culminating in a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Back then, a college (collegium in Latin), meant a European-style school offering a six year classical course that integrated primary, secondary, and post-secondary classes. Student ages ranged from age 6 to 18. Those under 12 were placed in a preparatory or primary department. At about 12, the six year classical education program ensued. The first three years (called humanities) were roughly the equivalent to today’s high school, and the second three years (poetry, rhetoric and philosophy) would be closer to current American college programs. Upon the successful completion of this six-year program, a student would receive a Bachelor of Arts degree (diploma). Less than three percent of the students remained long enough to graduate.28 All registered students at St. Xavier College (no matter what their age) were called college students.29 [No separate high school diplomas were issued or awarded until 1916.] The faculty was predominately Jesuit; but there were always lay teachers at the school. In the first year, a layman named Mr. William Gilmartin taught Rhetoric and English Literature (until at least
1843). In the fall of 1841, Mr. John B. Stallo joined the faculty as professor of German Literature (18411847). He stayed at St. Xavier for six years. In addition, three to five diocesan seminarians also helped teach. As far as the early curriculum, Mr. Karl Hauck (a history teacher at St. X from 1962-1999), describes the classical program and the new business program inaugurated by Fr. Elet in the fall of 1841 in this way: Each student was admitted to [the college] at the level of his competency. Those in the Classical program studied Latin and Greek, Poetry, Rhetoric, Chemistry, Botany, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology [called Mental Philosophy], and Moral Philosophy [called Ethics]. Additional courses [Spanish or German] could be taken without charge. In the spring of the first year, 1841, German Literature and Bookkeeping courses were added to the curriculum as evening courses for people who worked during the day. That fall, a four year Business (Mercantile) course was introduced, including courses in the English and French Languages, Writing, Geography, History, Mathematics, and