The Roman College () was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (1540). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school through university level. It moved to several different locations to accommodate its growing student population. With the patronage of Pope Gregory XIII, from 1582 to 1584 the final seat of the Roman College was built near the center of Rome's most historic Pigna district, on what today is called Piazza del Collegio Romano. The college remained at this location for 286 years until the Capture of Rome in 1870. In 1873, the remaining philosophical and theological faculties of the Roman College formed the Gregorian University, named after the benefactor of the College in the sixteenth century and thus establishing the link with the previous institution.