<P> The Society of Mary (the Marianists) had operated a boys' school in San Antonio Texas since 1852 . In 1927, as St. Mary's College it began conferring bachelor's degrees . The school became coeducational in 1963 . St. Mary's University is now a nationally recognized liberal arts institution with a diverse student population of nearly 4,000 of all faiths and backgrounds . St. Mary's University School of Law, opened in 1927 in the Bexar County Courthouse as the San Antonio School of Law, became a school of St. Mary's University in 1934 . It is the oldest Catholic law school in the Southwest . </P> <P> Established in 1955 . </P> <P> The proposal to create a national Catholic university in America reflected the rising size and influence of the nation's Catholic population and also an ambitious vision of the Church's role in American life during the 19th century . </P> <P> In 1882 Bishop John Lancaster Spalding went to Rome to obtain Pope Leo XIII's support for the University and persuaded family friend Mary Gwendoline Caldwell to pledge $300,000 to establish it . On March 7, 1889, the Pope issued the encyclical "Magni Nobis", granting the university its charter and establishing its mission as the instruction of Catholicism and human nature together at the graduate level . By developing new leaders and new knowledge, the University would strengthen and enrich Catholicism in the United States . Many of the founders of the CUA held a vision that included both a sense of the Church's special role in United States and also a conviction that scientific and humanistic research, informed by the Faith, would only strengthen the Church . They sought to develop an institution like a national university that would promote the Faith in a context of religious freedom, spiritual pluralism, and intellectual rigor . </P>

Who is known for developing the catholic school system in america