Our History
Established in 1951
In 1951 the Missionaries of the Precious Blood established an educational outpost in Northwest Indiana. They served a community like their patron St. Joseph: selfless, hardworking, and devoted to family. In church basements and empty storefronts, they educated the sons and daughters of millworkers and first-generation college students. Offering the Calumet Region’s first bachelor’s degree, the College changed lives. Providing access to education, the College grew. A move to Whiting accommodated expansion. In 1973, Standard Oil donated the building that currently serves as our 6-story “vertical campus.” During these early years, the College’s visionary mission was defined: to serve the Calumet Region by offering a quality education in the Catholic tradition.
In keeping with the Catholic tradition, we place high value on the dignity of every person. In addition to gaining knowledge and skill, our students learn to respect themselves and others. They learn to serve. Our graduates become alumni who make a daily difference in the community. They positively influence the fields of education, business, law enforcement, and the professions. They serve as artists and social workers, leaders of banking and industry. This dedicated family of alumni is the College’s legacy and future.
With our roots deep in the Calumet Region, the College continues to grow. We carry on the tradition of serving a diverse student population, changing lives through education. Master’s degrees and accelerated programs remove time and space barriers for our adult students. Innovative education programs assist professionals transition to teaching. An athletic program, established in 1999, swelled the College’s traditionally-aged academic population. Across the curriculum, our social justice emphasis fosters ethical behavior and civic engagement. We actively serve our neighbors with thousands of volunteer hours a year. We share our gifts with the less fortunate, providing books to the school-aged victims of Hurricane Katrina and adopting a Guatemalan village. Through academics and outreach, the College’s mission extends far beyond the classroom.
Religious Affiliation
CCSJ is a Catholic college sponsored by the United States Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood (C.PP.S.). CCSJ offers a quality education in the Catholic tradition: It is open to students of all faiths.
Official Congregation title: CONGREGATIO MISSIONARIORUM PRETIOSISSIMI SANGUINIS DOMINI NOSTRI JESU CHRISTI
(Congregation of Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Abbreviated as: C.PP.S.
Popular title: Missionaries of the Precious Blood
Founder: Saint Gaspar del Bufalo
North American Provinces of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood Priests and Brothers
United States Province
431 E. Second St.
Dayton, OH 45402-1764
Phone: (973) 228-6224
Atlantic Province
13313 Niagara Pkwy
Niagara Falls, Ontario L2E 6S6
Phone: 905-382-1118
Fax: 905-382-1119
The year of Gaspar’s birth, 1786, saw many struggles in Europe; governments dying, and the Church struggling against the reign of Napoleon.
Gaspar’s early life was marked by sickness. In his teen years, he showed a great interest and concern for the poor, the sick and the imprisoned. He visited the hospitals and the gatherings of the poor people in the open markets. He took an avid interest in the social problems of the times.
Gaspar refused to take the oath of loyalty to Napoleon and was exiled. During this time his devotion to the Precious Blood–the source of life and healing–became stronger. Eventually he came back to Rome and was called upon by Pope Pius VII to reach out to a particularly dangerous area south of Rome. This area was under the siege of gangs of terrorists. Attempts to restore order by the French government and the Papal authorities failed. Gaspar and his missionaries went, unarmed, and restored order to the region.
On August 15, 1815, Gaspar founded the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. This new community was not bound by vows, but by the “bond of charity.” The small group began preaching missions and retreats to bring the life-blood of Jesus to a “dying” people and a frustrated clergy. The concern for the poor and neglected of society was never to be forgotten.
Gaspar’s dream–to bring an awareness of the life-giving power of the Precious blood of Jesus–had begun. That life-giving dream still continues to be lived out by the members of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.
Gaspar died on December 28, 1837 and was canonized on June 12, 1954. His feast day is celebrated on October 21.
From the Missionaries of the Precious Blood Inquiry Handbook.
C.PP.S. Collection at Specker Library
Calumet College of St. Joseph grew from humble origins. In 1951, Saint Joseph’s College of Renssselaer, Indiana opened an extension in Lake County, Indiana known as the Calumet Center, conducting most of its courses in borrowed classrooms provided by Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond and St. John the Baptist Church in Whiting. In 1960, the Board of Control authorized the expansion of this two-year extension into a full four-year college. The College became the first institution in the Calumet region to offer a baccalaureate degree. In the summer of 1971, the college was renamed Saint Joseph’s Calumet College. It was officially separated from Saint Joseph’s College in 1973, and moved into its present facilities in 1976. The institution was known as Calumet College from 1973 through 1986. Then, in 1987, it was renamed Calumet College of Saint Joseph to re-identitfy its Catholic and academic heritage. Throughout all its changes, Calumet College of Saint Joseph has been sponsored by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood (C.PP.S.).
Located in the Special-Reserve Collection of the Specker Memorial Library, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood Collection contains books and periodicals related to the Order. The collection also contains several editions of the letters, as well as biographies of Saint Gaspar Del Bufalo, the founder of the Society of the Precious Blood.
The following bibliography represents a core collection of materials dealing with and written by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Librarians at CCSJ’s Specker Library would be happy to help you find more information about the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.
Brunner, Francis de Sales.Four Historical Booklets Regarding the American Province of the Most Precious Blood. Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1957.
A translation from the original German.
Conti, Beniamino, Romano Altobelli, and Michele Colagiovanni.The Charisma of Saint Gaspar.
Trans. John Molloy, Emil Schuwey, and William Volk. n.p., [1977?]
CPPS Today. Dayton:The Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter 1996.
Dirksen, Aloys H. “New Testament Concept of Metanoia.” Diss. Catholic U of America, 1932.
Esser, Gilbert F.Three Founders C.PP.S.Dayton: n.p., 1963.
Fischer, Barry, comp.Strokes of the Pen: Extracts from the letters of St. Gaspar del Bufalo
Written in the Years 1824 to 1825. Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1991.
Kaiser, Edwin G.The Everlasting Covenant: Theology of the Precious Blood. Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1968.
—.The Precious Blood in Our Spirituality: Reflections on Contemporary Redemptive Thought. Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1978.
—.A Precious Blood Reader.Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1983.
Kalmanek, Edward J.The Mystery of Faith. Dayton: Messenger Press, 1963.
Knapke, Paul J.History of the American Province of the Society of the Precious Blood. 2 vols. Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1958.
Krull, Vigilius H.The Blessed Virgin Mary. Chicago: M.A. Donohoe, 1927.
Letters of St. Gaspar Del Bufalo. Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1985.
English translation of the Anastatic edition of theLettere di S.Gaspare Del Bufaloby the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood, Italian Province, Rome, 1968.
Libero, Giuseppe de. S. Gaspare Del Bufalo. Rome:Curia Generalizia della Congregazione del PREZ.MQ Sangue, 1954.
Link, Paul.For God and Country. 2 vols. Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1988.
Pollack, Andrew J.The Blood of Christ in Christian Greek Literature til the Year 444 A.D.
Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1956.
Proceedings of the Precious Blood Study Week. Rensselaer: [Saint Joseph’s College].
First Precious Blood Study Week, August 6-8, 1957.
Second Precious Blood Study Week, August 2-4, 1960.
Third Precious Blood Study Week, June 10-14, 1968.
Rey, Amilcare.Gaspare Del Bufalo. 2 vols. Roma: Edizioni Primavera Missionaria, [1950?].
Robbins, Charles J.The American/Cincinnati Province of the Society of the Precious Blood: A Chronological Account 1843 to 1984. Carthagena: Messenger Press, 1956.
Robbins, Charles J.Brothers of C.PP.S. Chronology. Carthagena: Messenger Press, [1988].
Rohling, Joseph Henry. “The Blood of Christ in Christian Latin Literature before the Year 1000.” Diss. Catholic U of America, 1932.
Siebeneck, Robert.The Blood of Jesus. Carthagena: [Missionaries of the Precious Blood], n.d.
Teolis, Anthony N.The Saint Gaspar Story. Carthagena: Messenger Press, [1986?].
