Saint Anselm College

Saint Anselm College is a private Benedictine liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1888, it is the third-oldest Catholic college in New England. Named for Saint Anselm of Canterbury, the college continues to have a fully functioning and independent Benedictine abbey attached to it, Saint Anselm Abbey. As of 2017, its enrollment was approximately 2,000. The college's academic curriculum requires several philosophy and theology courses as well as the "Conversatio" program. Since the 1950s, the college has played a role in the "first in the nation" New Hampshire primary, and has served as a stage for many future presidents, candidates, and supporters. History 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 that came to Manchester from Saint Mary's were primarily of German descent. This is due to the fact that Manchester was heavily populated with French Canadian and Irish immigrant mill workers, and Bradley was unable to find a suitable religious community that would not stir up ethnic tensions.