Originally established as an all-boys Catholic school, Privatgymnasium St. Dymphna (formerly known as the Ignatian College of St. Dymphna) was established in 1858 as means to cultivate the talents of young, but troubled, youth. Jesuit educators started by taking over an old, yet otherwise abandoned, Baroque monastery situated outside of Vienna and converted it into a boarding school. Victims of wars, survivors of tragic accidents, and orphans were often taken in as students as a means to help them heal from whatever afflicted them, as well as give them a quality education. By the mid-1880s, the rising popularity of psychological analysis led to the college begin admitting more psychologically troubled students and hiring interested professionals who would offer to study and help treat their students alongside their schooling. Soon after, it was decided that the college take in female students as well, creating one of the first co-ed elite boarding schools in Europe. The school functioned like this for quite some time, with hundreds of wealthy families coming from all over Europe to seek treatment for their children. Due to increasing demands, St. Dymphna's began to incorporate higher education into the curriculum at the turn of the century, with courses in Latin, German, and English being taught to cover the wide variety of students.