St. lsidore's College, the oldest lrish foundation in Rome, was founded by Luke Wadding (1588-1657), in 1625. A native of Waterford, Wadding left lreland for Portugal on the death of his parents in 1602 and joined the Franciscans in 1604. He arrived in Rome in December 1618 as theological advisor to a Spanish delegation sent by Philip lii to Pope Paul V. The Pope, however, refused the king of Spain's request to have the doctrine of the lmmaculate Conception solemnly defined. Despite the delegation's failure, Wadding remained in Rame for the rest of his life. In 1625 he offered to take aver St. lsidore's, an abandoned, unfinished and debt-ridden Spanish Franciscan friary, and turn it into a college for training young lrish Franciscans. Such training was no longer possible at home because of the destruction of the religious houses during the Elizabethan Conquest.
By 1630 Wadding, with the help of wealthy benefactors, had succeeded in clearing the accumulateci debts, completing the unfinished church and greatly enlarging the originai friary. St. lsidore's is renowned for the library and archive assembled by Wadding when he was writing the history of the Franciscan arder. To this day it is an indispensable tool for scholars of early Franciscan history. Encouraged by his friend, the distinguished art historian Giovan Pietro Bellori (1613-1696), Wadding employed gifted artists such as Carlo Maratti (1625- 1713) to beautify the church. The stunning frescos in the Aula, painted by Fra Emanuele da Como (1625-1713) in 1671/2 commemorate the contribution of lrish Franciscans to the development of the doctrine of the lmmaculate Conception.
