Pontifical College

American  

noun

1. the chief body of priests in ancient Rome.

---

Pontifical College British  

noun

1. a major theological college under the direct control of the Roman Curia

2. the council of priests, being the chief hieratic body of the Church

---

Example Sentences

After completing his religious training at St. Joseph Seminary in Louisiana and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio, he was ordained in 1961.

From Washington Post

After graduation in 1953, he studied for two years at St. Joseph Seminary in St. Benedict, La., and from 1955 to 1961 at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio.

From New York Times

The new film screened to 300 Jesuit priests at a pontifical college, an event that suggests that the church has moved past the blacklash that surrounded The Last Temptation of Christ.

From Time

The American director, who is said to have considered joining the priesthood when he was a young man, met the pope a day after his new film, Silence, about Portuguese Jesuits in 17th-century Japan, was shown to an audience of 300 Jesuit priests at a pontifical college.

From The Guardian

The former student at Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, admitted that he wrote sexually explicit emails in which he described his desire to assault children, from infants up to the age of 4. 

From Los Angeles Times