"Little Rome" in Brookland

franciscan brother walks across campus in his habit

Immerse Yourself in a Neighborhood One Step from Rome

Walk around Catholic University's campus and you can’t help but notice religious sisters and clergy of many different orders and traditions. Dominican sisters in their white and black habits play frisbee on our University lawns. Brown-robed franciscans listen intently during class lectures alongside other undergraduates. The presence of Catholic priests, sisters, and seminarians in great numbers on campus has been a defining characteristic of the University since its founding.

The establishment of University in 1887 in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C., attracted many other Catholic institutions to the surrounding area. Religious orders established seminaries, houses of study, monasteries, and other ministries in the neighborhood so their members could attend classes at Catholic University. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception — the largest Roman Catholic church in North America — was built beside Catholic University’s campus. The trend continued as more and more Catholic orders and institutions moved into Brookland to form a vibrant surrounding Catholic community, one that still continues today, and has earned it the nickname of “Little Rome.”

Catholic orders and institutions that have made their home in Brookland — many of which remain to this day, include:

The Paulist Fathers, who established St. Paul’s College in 1914
Theological College, founded by the Society of St. Sulpice in 1917
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, begun in 1920
St. Anselm’s Abbey, built in 1924
The Scholasticate of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception
Capuchin College of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family
The Little Sisters of the Poor
St. Joseph’s Seminary of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
The Monastery of the Holy Cross
The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration
The Order of Carmelites
The Sisters of Notre Dame
The Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará
The Institute of the Incarnate Word
The Missionaries of Charity
The Chancery of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA
The Dominican House of Studies
The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia
Saint John Paul II Seminary of the Archdiocese of Washington
The Saint John Paul II National Shrine

Additionally, and with great honor, Catholic University’s campus has been visited by three popes (Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis) — the only University in the United States with this distinction.

Our Campus Ministry is run by Dominican priests, which means they can regularly be found ministering to and chatting with our students.

Religious sisters can be found throughout our campus, many of whom are students or professors at Catholic University.

Theological College is Catholic University's seminary. Its presence means you'll often see groups of seminarians walking to class together on our campus.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is our next door neighbor. Each year, we hold our Mass of the Holy Spirit, Mass of St. Thomas Aquinas, Baccalaureate Mass, and other events inside this beautiful church.

Catholic University is the only university in the United States to have been visited by three popes. Pope John Paul II visited in 1979, Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, and Pope Francis in 2015.

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