The PUC-SP was founded in 1946 from the union of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of St. Benedict (founded in 1908) and the Law Faculty Paulista. Aggregate them, but with independent financial administrative structures, were four other church institutions. Time of the Catholic University of São Paulo, whose mission was to form Catholic leaders and the children of the São Paulo elite. In the late 1960s, the PUC-SP begins to develop what would be its essence: the academic quality linked to social concern. In 1969, the University created the first course organized graduate of the country. In 1971, another daring academic proposal: the emergence of the Basic Cycle of Human Sciences. Academically, the institution went to work as a real university to evaluate and consider inseparable teaching, research and extension.