In 1883, Father Bernardino Dal Vago da Portogruaro (1869–1889), Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, proposed the construction of a new academic college:
So that the [Franciscan] Order will, in due course, be lit by very learned men and well versed in individual academic subjects and each province will be glorious and benefit from these professors and teachers.[3]
Construction of the university began in 1884 and the institution was opened 6 years later in 1890 by Luigi Canali (1889–1897).
To obtain legal recognition from the Italian state, the university was founded as a Missionary College attached to the Roman Curia and the Propaganda Fide. Though this allowed the university to open and operate, missionary work was not the original aim of the university and its academic leaders were keen to secure recognition for the institution in its own right. The process was delayed first by World War I and then by the publication, by Pope Pius XI, of the Deus Scientiarum Dominus, which dictated new rules for academic study. Finally, on 17 May 1933, the Congregation of Seminaries and Universities issued a decree granting the university the right to issue academic qualifications.[4]
In 1926 the college inaugurated a philosophical-theological review entitled Antoniarum.[5]
On 14 June 1938, the institution was granted the right to use the title Pontifical by Pope Pius XI. On 11 January 2005, Pope John Paul II granted the University the right to use the Pontifical University title.[6]
