St. Francis and St. Clare's journeys to understanding and knowing God was a search and discovery process filled with personal interactions with other individuals. The ministry of St. Francis was also a very personal, human one. Rather than retreat solely to a life of contemplation and prayer like many of his peers, St. Francis combined a life of intense prayer and ministry, traveling on the roads and preaching the gospel to ordinary people, especially the poor. He also founded a new religious order that is today one of the most popular in the world.

The Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg are the modern legacies of this 800 year-old tradition of this evangelical spirituality. They are part of a worldwide community of over one million vowed and secular Franciscan men and women who live and pray with us and around us. In 1851 they began an educational endeavor—the foundational seed of Marian College—as a way to fulfill the mission and requirement to provide education to the community.

Four of the universal values given to them by their Franciscan heritage are the values that the Marian College community strives to live by each day.

• dignity of the individual
• peace and justice
• reconciliation
• responsible stewardship

We view education as a journey of a lifetime and, in the same way that St. Francis did, we believe it is a personal journey full of human interactions and relationships.

Marian College is a special place. As a student, it is a place to learn about who you really are and become the person you've always wanted to be. As a teacher, you participate in an excellent academic environment where teaching and learning excellence merges with deeper values to create a challenging process of intellectual, spiritual, moral, and social development.

Our identity as a Catholic and Franciscan college is ever present and visible in the fabric of the educational philosophy and operation of the college. It guides the way faculty, administration, staff, and students relate to one another and how visitors are welcomed to campus.

It guides what courses are offered, and the mode and purpose of the teaching and learning that occurs in the classroom.

It guides the activities and tone of campus life, and most importantly, it guides the college's journey into a remarkable future.