The first issue of the magazine Gregorianum, which is not the oldest magazine of the Pontifical Gregorian University (Periodica, the magazine of Canon Law, was founded in 1911), was published in January 1920. This happened ten years before the University took possession of its new building in Piazza della Pilotta (the concordat between the Italian State and the Italian Church dated 11 February 1929) and was still located in Via del Seminario where it was installed after the fall (in 1870) of the Papal State and the transformation of Rome into capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The transfer of the Gregorian from Via del Seminario to Piazza della Pilotta did not in any way affect the appearance of the magazine. The authors who are published at the beginning of the magazine are mainly professors at the Gregorian, some are elsewhere but in any case they are members of the Society of Jesus. The first person in charge of the magazine, Giuseppe Filograssi, S.I., exegete and prefect of studies at the Gregorian, was sent almost immediately, in September 1920, to Mondragone, near Frascati, as rector of the college; Domenico Palermo Lazzarini, S.I. replaced him; Filograssi then offered, once back in Gregorian, numerous articles at Gregorianum, among other things on the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin (in the 1954/3 issue, the magazine publishes an interesting study of his philosophy and theology at the Gregorian from 1824 onwards).

Writers who are exceptions to the rule of belonging to the Company are rare: Artur Landgraf (medievalist theologian, who was to become bishop), the first, starting in 1928, was the only one for years; the female presence of Anneliese Maier, historian of medieval thought in physics, only emerged in 1946. In the following years the number of non-Jesuit professors increased, but not much more, since the number of Jesuit professors at the Gregorian decreased in proportion to the number of students at the University, thus increasing the number of non-Jesuit professors.

The structure of the first issue is the one that will become globally traditional in the following years: first of all the articles, followed by the "Notes", the reviews and the "Scientific News"; at the beginning of 1921, however, a fifth section called Elenchus bibliographicus is added and, in the middle of the same year, a sixth one, Conspectus bibliographici, commonly called "Bulletin".  A word on these last three sections. The "Scientific News" recounts university life, particularly but not exclusively in the Gregorian; for example, issue 1921/3 announces the creation of the University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, describing its essential structures; on the Gregorian, we will see in issue 1920/1 a description of new courses of "magisterium" in the faculty of theology, as well as the announcement of the creation of an "Institute of Philosophical and Religious Culture for the Laity" - an original creation, which will become a model in Italy for the many future Institutes of Religious Sciences; the "News" also sometimes commemorate the recently missed professors of the University. The column will disappear with the war of '40-'45, even if it will still be regularly remembered by some deceased professors. The Elenchus mentions from 1921, without comment, the recent books of fundamental theology, dogmatics and morals written according to the scholastic mentality; it should not be confused with the list of books received (Accepta Opera) by the magazine (this list, placed at the end of each issue, is not even indicated in the cover index). The Elenchus column will quickly disappear, after the first issue of 1928 - the idea of such a column was, in fact, objectively too narrow.

Conspectus, on the other hand, allows us to broaden the scope of interest of the journal; this section, which is truly precious, intends to determine the status quaestionis of some problematic, theological or philosophical: the fecundity of this section cannot be concealed for the deepening of the points under discussion. The Conspectus are not a duplication of the reviews, in fact if a book is present in one of these sections it will not normally be found in the other. A review considers a book as an entity in itself; the Conspectus, placing it in a whole, shows its relative importance in a living discussion - which stimulates discussion and deepening of reflection. In the early years of the magazine, there were more or less forty books distributed between the re-censuses and the Conspectus. There will be Conspectus or similar sections, for example in philosophy of science or patristic, until the '60s. Then the concept developed in the Conspectus will be taken from time to time by some "Note" of the magazine.

You will notice that, on the first page of the first year's issues, the titles of the magazine's structure are in Italian, as is the general presentation of the magazine: on the second cover the title of the magazine is specified verbatim as a Rivista trimestrale di studi teologici e filosofici. Texts are certainly published in other languages (Latin and Italian in the first issue and then other European languages) depending on the opportunities and the mother tongue of the authors. However, Latin will become a fundamental language the following year: the explanation of the title will become Commentarii de re theologica et philosophica, "Articoli" Articuli, "Notizie" Chronica etc.; the explicit reason for this change lies in the fact that Latin is the language of the works of theology and philosophy of the School. As for the legal editor of the publication (to be distinguished from the editor of the journal, whose name is not published before 1959 - the legal director is responsible before the law of the Italian State, and therefore necessarily of Italian nationality, when the editor may be of another origin), which was said in 1920 "Gerente Responsabile", is appointed in 1921 Sponsor (then Curator sponsor since 1924/4, but again, in 1950/1, Direttore Responsabile, in Italian). It goes without saying, however, that although Latin was privileged during the first years of the magazine, the texts were published in the different European languages; but it also goes without saying that, passing the need to do theology and philosophy in the scholastic way, the importance of Latin will diminish greatly. Latin was abandoned as the language of presentation of the journal in 1969/1, from now on the explanation Commentari de re theologicae et philosophicae will be abandoned and the instructions for the subscription will be printed in Italian and English.