Under the entrance portico are two statues c. 1910 by sculptor Cesare Aureli (1843-1923) of St Albert the Great on the left and St. Thomas Aquinas on the right. The base of the statue of Aquinas bears an inscription attributed to Pope Pius XI, "Sanctus Thomas Doctor angelicus hic tamquam domi suae habitat," (Saint Thomas the Angelic Doctor dwells here as in his own house), a paraphrase of the papal encyclical "Studiorum ducem" that singles out the "Angelicum" as the preeminent Thomistic center of learning: "ante omnia Pontificium Collegium Angelicum, ubi Thomam tamquam domi suae habitare dixeris".