Enrollment climbed from 120 in 1909 to over 1,000 during the 1960s. During the tenure of Aniceto Fernández as Master of the Order of Preachers (1962–1974) and the rectorate of Raymond Sigmond (1961–1964) Pope John XXIII visited the "Angelicum" on 7 March 1963, the feast of the University's patron Saint Thomas Aquinas and with the "motu proprio" "Dominicanus Ordo", raised the "Angelicum" to the rank of pontifical university. Thereafter it would be known as the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the City ().