Nicholas Congiato

Who was Nicholas Congiato?

The Reverend Nicholas Congiato, S.J. was born in Cagliari, Sardinia and entered the Society of Jesus, an order of the Roman Catholic Church, when he was fourteen years of age. After his initial education, he went to Turin, Italy, for advanced studies in philosophy. Fr. Congiato then became Vice-President of the College of Nobles in Turin and held a similar position at the Jesuit College in Fribourg, a city in Switzerland.

In 1847 he was sent to America, where he led St. Joseph's College in Bardstown, Kentucky, ministered to Indian missions in the Rocky Mountains, and, in 1854, came to California to take over as Superior General of the Jesuit Missions of California and Oregon.

Fr. Congiato became the second president of two different Jesuit colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon the death of Fr. John Nobili in 1856, he assumed the presidency of Santa Clara College. His tenure in Santa Clara, saw the construction of the first chapel, renovations of the theatre and gymnasium, and the establishment of the Philhistorian and Philalethic Debating Societies. During that time, a swimming pond was also added. Afterwards, Fr, Congiato succeeded Fr. Anthony Maraschi as president of Saint Ignatius College in San Francisco in 1862, serving two separate terms and presiding over Saint Ignatius' expansion in downtown San Francisco.