圖說：北平輔仁大門
輔仁大學1925年創建於北京，是天主教羅馬教廷委託本篤會（Ordo Sancti Benedicti, OSB）在華設立的第一所教廷大學。11930年代，全球經濟大蕭條；教廷因原來負責主辦的本篤會財務困頓，難以為繼，乃轉請聖言會（Societas Verbi Divini, SVD）於1933年接辦。其後，輔仁大學的發展歷八年抗戰而不輟。1949年中華民國政府播遷臺灣，輔仁被中華人民共和國政府接管；1952年再被併入北京師範大學，校名撤銷。至此，輔仁在中國大陸的歷史告一段落。
1「羅馬教廷在1924年六月二十七日發布敕令，確定北京的天主教大學為一所教廷大學，並且賦予聖文森的總院長全權，以聘用教授、制定學術計畫。」──ASVA: Roman Documents, June 27, 1924 (Protocol N. 2244-24). “The Catholic University of Peking, along with the French Jesuit universities in Shanghai and Tientsin, was one of three Catholic universities in China, but the only one with pontifical status. The Holy See made a strategic decision in 1921 to support the establishment of an American rather than a French institution in China. Part of the reason for this was the perception in Rome that the United States was in a better position to provide the resources for a pontifical Chinese Catholic university than was France, which still suffered from the devastation of the First World War.” 轉引自Jerome Oetegen 著，張琰譯，《北京輔仁大學創辦史：美國本篤會在中國（1923-1933）》（臺北：輔仁大學出版社，2001），頁20、46。
...