The story
The first Bishop of Manchester, Denis Mary Bradley, invited the Benedictine monks of St. Mary's Abbey in Newark, New Jersey, to form a college and preparatory school in his diocese. The monks who came to Manchester from St. Mary's were primarily of German descent, as Manchester was heavily populated with French Canadian and Irish immigrant mill workers, and Bradley was unable to find another suitable group that would not stir up ethnic tensions.
The monks, who there founded Saint Anselm Abbey, started the nearby college as New England's third Catholic institution of higher learning. On August 1, 1889, the New Hampshire legislature approved the incorporation of the Order of Saint Benedict of New Hampshire "for religious and charitable purposes, for the education of youth, for establishing churches and conducting services therein." This marked the founding of Saint Anselm College. A six-year curriculum in philosophy and theology was developed. In 1895, the New Hampshire legislature granted Saint Anselm College the right to bestow standard academic degrees upon its graduates.
The Saint Anselm Abbey's shield was designed by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose of Harvard University. It incorporates the personal coat of Anselm of Canterbury and the first seal of New Hampshire. In 1927, by a monastic vote, the shield design was incorporated as the official shield of Saint Anselm Abbey and the college. The drops in each quadrant represent the three drops of blood on Anselm's coat of arms, and the sheaf of five arrows is taken from the first shield of New Hampshire, representing the state's five original counties. Hence, the Abbey Shield has been interpreted as Saint Anselm of New Hampshire.
One goal of the early college was to be a self-sufficient institution. The college had a farm of over 100 acres (0.40 km2), complete with chickens, pigs, and cows. It also had a full vegetable garden, which extended from the lawn of Alumni Hall to the current parking lot between Joan of Arc Hall and Davison Hall. Due to the hard work of the monks and several lay members from the local community, the college was agriculturally independent of the local community. Bonaventure Ostendarp founded the Studio of Christian Art in 1893 to sell paintings to Catholic churches throughout the region. The current Raphael House of the Courts dormitories was the original art studio for the monks, built in 1895.
The Benedictines who established Saint Anselm College also founded a preparatory school. It was a prestigious boarding school for elite men from around New England. In 1935, the monks closed the preparatory school to save money for the college's expansion. A notable alumnus of Saint Anselm Preparatory was Connecticut senator Thomas J. Dodd.
In 1942, Saint Anselm College became one of the institutions the War Department selected for training Army Aviation cadets. Thousands of young men were sent there for training and education before entering World War II. Cadets trained on large open fields directly behind the later Coffee Shop. The US government paid the college for training the cadets, and after the war, the college acquired two prefabricated government buildings that have been transformed into the modern-day coffee shop and pub. During the war, several members of the monastic community served as Army chaplains; their names are inscribed on a monument in front of Alumni Hall dedicated to all graduates who have served in the armed forces.
Since the 1950s, the college has played a role in the New Hampshire presidential primary, and has served as a stage for many future presidents, candidates, and supporters.
During the tumultuous 1960s, Saint Anselm College had no major disturbances or riots on campus despite bomb threats called into campus, often from parties outside the college. Placidus Riley, OSB, led the college through these challenging times. Despite the backlash against the US military on college campuses nationwide, the presence of a National Guard armory did not result in any major problems. But in May 1970, final exams were made optional as students showed support for the students of Kent State after the shootings. Students, faculty, and members of the monastic community held prayer services and rallies on campus after the shootings.
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The Institute of Saint Anselm Studies was founded in 2000, and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics was founded in 2001.
In 2013, Steven DiSalvo, the former president of Marian University, was named the 10th president of Saint Anselm. DiSalvo replaced Jonathan DeFelice after 24 years of service. DeFelice was the longest-serving college president in New Hampshire. In 2019, Joseph A. Favazza began his tenure as Saint Anselm’s 11th president.
The monks of Saint Anselm Abbey had the primary responsibility of the day-to-day operation of the college until 2009, when many of those responsibilities were given to a 20-member board of trustees. A decade later, the monks sued the board over concerns about the college maintaining its Catholic identity. The lawsuit was settled the next year with an agreement that gave the monks responsibility for the college's mission and vision, with the board in charge of routine operations.
From Wikipedia’s article on Saint Anselm College, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5