In September 1929, the seminary received a second charter, this time from the Holy See. Cardinal Mundelein obtained from the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities the authority to grant the international academic degrees of the Holy See. In 1934 the Ecclesiastical Faculty of Theology at Mundelein was honored with a permanent grant of this authority. The seminary became the first American institution to be honored as a pontifical theological faculty under the Apostolic Constitution. The seminal liturgical leader and Catholic Action chaplain Msgr. Reynold Henry Hillenbrand served as rector of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary from 1936-1944.