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Patrick Francis Healy (408 hits)

Patrick Francis Healy SJ (February 27, 1834 – January 10, 1910) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was an influential president of Georgetown University, becoming known as its "second founder". The university's flagship building, Healy Hall, bears his name. Though he considered himself and was largely accepted as White, Healy was posthumously recognized as the first Black American to become a Jesuit, earn a PhD, and become the president of a predominantly White university.

Healy was born in Georgia to a family that produced many Catholic leaders. His mother was one-eighth Black and his father was a White Irish emigrant. Under Georgia law, Healy's father technically owned his wife and children as slaves.

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Posted By: Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
Wednesday, July 26th 2023 at 4:57PM
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Healy and his siblings were sent north by their father to be educated at the College of the Holy Cross, and Healy continued his higher education at the Catholic University of Louvain, where he received his doctorate in philosophy in 1864. He returned to America and started as the chair of philosophy at Georgetown University.

Thursday, July 27th 2023 at 9:44PM
Dea. Ron Gray Sr.

Healy was elected president of Georgetown University in 1873 and appointed rector the following year. Seeking to transform the institution into a modern university, he oversaw a period of extensive growth. He increased the prominence of the sciences, raised the standards of the School of Medicine, and oversaw a rapid expansion of the Law School.
Saturday, July 29th 2023 at 9:23AM
Dea. Ron Gray Sr.