The Catholic University of Lublin was founded in 1918. It is the oldest university in Lublin and one of the oldest in Poland. It was founded by the Polish Episcopate on the initiative of Rev. Idzi Radziszewski, who was also the first rector of the University. KUL has been entrusted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Its maxim is " Deo et Patriae" - "For God and Fatherland".The first inauguration of the academic year took place on December 8, 1918, in the major seminary in Lublin - the provisional headquarters of the University. 399 young people began their studies in four faculties - Theology, Canon Law and Moral Sciences, Law and Socioeconomic Sciences, and the Humanities. In 1921 the University received its own building, the so-called Swietokrzyskie Barracks, an edifice of the Dominican Fathers of the Monastic Observance. The administration of the University made an attempt to have State rights granted to the University. In 1928 Parliament bestowed civil legal status upon the University. By means of the Parliamentary act of 1933, KUL became entitled to bestow the title of Master and five years later (April 9, 1938) it acquired the full rights of a state university, that is of conferring doctorates and professorships in all its faculties.Material means were ensured by donations and funds from dioceses, support from Friends of the University of Lublin Society established in 1922 (as of 1928 the Friends of KUL Society), from incomes from the Potulicka Foundation (estates near Bydgoszcz, a gift from the countess Aniela Potulicka) and collections carried out biannually (since 1930) in all Polish churches.