College of Philosophy and Theology
of the Polish Province of Dominicans

The College is an institute of higher studies and a place of intellectual formation of candidates for the priesthood. Studies at the College are characterized by a special fidelity to the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, while maintaining openness and great respect for other theological traditions. The specificity of Dominican studies was and remains the attachment of great importance to philosophy and to dogmatic theology, understood as a form of disinterested contemplation of God’s mysteries.

The beginnings of the College date back to the first decade of the 14th century, when in 1304, the General Chapter of the Order of Preachers, meeting in Toulouse, erected the Studium Generale of the Polish Province of Dominicans with its seat in Kraków. In the decades following its erection, the structures of the Kraków Studium were shaped and the infrastructure necessary for its operation was created, including the foundation of a specialist library in 1403. In 1580, the Kraków Studium Generale obtained the so-called Bologna privileges, which testifies to its high level and the significant number of students. In the 19th century, due to the policies of the occupier, the Kraków Dominican college lost its status as a Studium Generale. It was not re-established until 4 December 1950 by the then General of the Dominican Order, Fr. Manuel Suárez OP.

In the light of current church and state law, the College of Philosophy and Theology of the Polish Province of Dominicans is an institute of higher studies within the meaning of the apostolic constitution Veritatis gaudium and an ecclesiastical higher education institution within the meaning of the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Episcopal Conference on the legal status of higher education institutions established and run by the Catholic Church of 1 July 1999. Currently, the College is affiliated with the Collegium Bobolanum of the Catholic Academy in Warsaw.

In recent years, in addition to the Dominicans, brothers from the Discalced Carmelites, Benedictines, Resurrectionists, Hospitallers and Camaldolese have also studied or are studying at the College.