On Sat., May 18, 507 members of the class of 2024, undergraduate and graduate students, gathered on the Alumni quad with faculty, staff, monks, family, and friends to celebrate their achievements during Saint Anselm College’s 131st commencement exercises. 

Saint Anselm College was founded in 1889 by the Benedictine monks of St. Mary's Abbey of Newark, New Jersey, in response to the invitation by Bishop Denis M. Bradley, the first bishop of Manchester, N.H. A six-year classical course, with curricula in philosophical and theological studies, was organized and opened to qualified students.

The Order of Saint Benedict of New Hampshire, our founding religious order, received its official charter from the State of New Hampshire on August 1, 1889. With the support of Manchester’s first diocesan bishop, Bishop Dennis Bradley, the Benedictine founders began the construction of the beautiful academic institution, known today as “Saint Anselm College.”  Our founders appropriately chose Saint Anselm of Canterbury, an English saint and medieval scholar, as the college’s patron.