Saint Paul Seminary

Last updated
Saint Paul Seminary
Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity.jpg
Saint Mary's Chapel at Saint Paul Seminary
Motto
Joyful, Catholic leaders. Thriving parishes, families and communities.
TypeSeminary
Established1894 (1894)
Religious affiliation
 Catholic Church
Academic affiliations
 ATS
President Bernard Hebda
Rector
Location
Saint Paul, Minnesota
,
U.S.

44°56′25″N93°11′48″W / 44.9403°N 93.1966°W / 44.9403; -93.1966
Colors     Navy and gold
Website saintpaulseminary.org

The Saint Paul Seminary (SPS) is a Catholic major seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. A part of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, SPS prepares men to enter the priesthood and permanent diaconate, and educates lay men and women on Catholic theology.

Contents

SPS sits adjacent to the south campus of the University of St. Thomas. Since its creation in 1894, over 3,000 seminarians from SPS have been ordained priests. Thirty-three of these priests were consecrated as bishops, including three archbishops. One SPS alumnus, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, is a candidate for canonization.

History

Early history

After the opening of St. John's College in 1867, most minor seminarians for the Diocese of Saint Paul were educated there or at other seminary institutions in the United States or in Europe. However, Thomas Grace hoped that eventually a dedicated college for the diocese would be founded, and in November 1866 purchased forty acres on the shores of Lake Johanna with the hope it would eventually become a seminary. [1]

Grace's successor, John Ireland, took office in June 1884, and in December of that same year announced plans to build a seminary for the diocese, which would become the College of St. Thomas. The fledgling college was not unique among Catholic institutions of its time in that it functioned as a sort of combination theological seminary, minor seminary, junior college, high school, and junior high school. [1] The land at Lake Johanna would eventually become Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary. The College of Saint Thomas was established in 1885.

There was a desire for a dedicated theologate seminary, and plans for a major seminary to be established on the land kitty-corner to the College were formed. Ireland's primary benefactor for this project was James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway. Hill was a Protestant, but his wife Mary Hill was a devout Catholic. In honor of his wife, James Hill donated $500,000 to create SPS. [2]

The campus of the Saint Paul Seminary was designed by architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed the Minnesota State Capitol. The six original buildings were constructed to look like a train depot (the SPS administration building), a steam engine (gymnasium and physical plant), box cars (Cretin, Grace (though constructed in 1913), and Loras halls), a refectory, and a roundhouse (school building). The campus was completed in 1894. The dormitory row (Loras, Cretin, and Grace halls) at SPS was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 as a historic district, but the listing was never finalized. [3]

The dedication ceremony for the Saint Paul Seminary was attended by the apostolic delegate to the United States, Archbishop Francesco Satolli, four other archbishops, ten bishops, and over four hundred priests. The Pontifical Mass was attended by 20,000 people all told. The Mass was celebrated outdoors, with an altar constructed up against the administration building.

When it opened in 1894, SPS had sixty-five seminarians. By 1900, enrollment had risen to 110 seminarians from all over the Midwest and as far away as San Francisco, California.

John Ireland's deep involvement with the Catholic University of America led to an affiliation that allowed any graduate of SPS to present himself for a baccelaureate degree from CUA. [4] : 98 

Ireland then began the second phase of the SPS project; erecting St. Mary's Chapel. Its decoration was quite plain to begin with until Archbishop Austin Dowling undertook a remodeling of the interior in the 1920s. [4] : 113  It was dedicated on May 4, 1905 by Bishop Joseph Cotter of Winona; Bishop James McGolrick of Duluth celebrated the Pontifical Mass, and Bishop Thomas O'Gorman of Sioux Falls preached. [4]

The unexpected deaths of Cotter and Bishop John Shanley of Fargo and the resignation of Bishop John Stariha of Lead, all in 1909, prompted a crisis of the episcopate in the Upper Midwest. In addition, the Diocese of Crookston and Diocese of Bismarck were established. As such, there were five sees that required bishops. With the additional assignment of an axuliary bishop for Saint Paul, six priests required episcopal consecration. That consecration took place at St. Mary's Chapel on May 19, 1910. Approximately 1,000 people filled the chapel that day for the ceremony. [4] : 114 

Seminary restructuring

Prior to the founding of Saint John Vianney Seminary, students received their education in a "6-6" plan at Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary and the Saint Paul Seminary. In 1959, Archbishop William Brady ordered a feasibility study for a "4-4-4" plan for priestly formation: four years of study at Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary, four years of study at the College of Saint Thomas, and four years of study at the Saint Paul Seminary. [5] : 256  This plan was overwhelmingly supported. However, due to declining enrollment after the Second Vatican Council, by 1967 the "4-4-4" plan seemed no longer feasible and there was a stronger desire to create a college seminary at the University of St. Thomas and close Nazareth Hall. [5] : 259  Saint John Vianney Seminary was founded in 1968, and Nazareth Hall was closed in 1971, thereby moving to a "4-4" plan with no high school seminary.

While the Saint Paul Seminary and University of St. Thomas both were owned by the archdiocese and were next to each, they operated separately. In 1980, rector William Baumgartner began to think that collaboration between the two institutions could have some great benefit. [4] : 276  Bishop Kinney of Saint Cloud suggested a merger in 1981. [4] : 279  From 1983 to 1987, there was much discussion and politics attempting to determine what such a union should look like. [4] : 279  Finally, in 1987, an agreement was made. Under the agreement, Saint Paul Seminary built new administration and dormitory buildings and sold the most of its land and buildings to St. Thomas, including Loras, Grace, and Cretin residence halls and the Binz refectory. The Ireland library building was included in the sale, but the books remained the property of Saint Paul Seminary. The reorganization allowed SPS increased resources for formation of seminarians to priests. The new School of Divinity provided graduate level course in theology for lay people who wished to assume leadership roles in their parishes and schools. The School of Divinity remained under the jurisdiction of SPS.

St. Mary's Chapel was also renovated at that time. [4] : 331–332 

Contemporary history

In 2005, Aloysius R. Callaghan was appointed rector of SPS. During his tenure as rector, Saint Paul Seminary greatly increased its enrollment and programs.

On January 1, 2019, Joseph Taphorn succeeded Callaghan as Saint Paul Seminary rector. [6] Under Taphorn, resturcturing to allow for the implementation of a propadeutic year began.

Campus

Academic buildings

The Archbishop Ireland Memorial Library is the theological library of SPS with over 110,000 volumes. The library is integrated into the University of St. Thomas library system so that non-seminary students are able to use its resources as well. Classes are held in the Brady Educational Center, which also houses the undergraduate music department of the University of St. Thomas.

Residence and administration buildings

Loras, Grace, and Cretin halls were the original SPS residence buildings; they were sold to the University of St. Thomas during the seminary/university affiliation agreement. Ground was broken on the current residence and administration buildings in 1988, and they were completed in 1989.

Seminarians in the propadeutic program live in a former convent several blocks off-campus.

St. Mary's Chapel

Chapel from Summit Avenue Saint Paul Seminary chapel.jpg
Chapel from Summit Avenue

The center of Ireland's vision for SPS, was the chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The cornerstone of the chapel was laid during a Pontifical Mass on July 2, 1901, the fiftieth anniversary of Bishop Joseph Crétin's arrival in the new diocese. [4] Though envisioned in 1891, the chapel was only completed by architect Clarence H. Johnston, Sr., who completed the last of Hill's ambitious building project, in an Italian Romanesque style. St. Mary's chapel was officially consecrated by Bishop Cotter on May 24, 1905, in another Pontifical High Mass celebrated by Bishop McGolrick. Under Archbishop Austin Dowling, the interior of the chapel was finished in the 1920s.

Bishop Fulton Sheen, in his autobiography A Treasure in Clay, talks about how his love for a daily Holy Hour was started at St. Mary's Chapel.

The chapel was renovated in 1988, as part of the construction of the new SPS building, with a new design by Frank Kacmarcik which included reversing the interior of the chapel, removing the statues from the side altars, and removing or updating many components of the interior decoration. [4]

Chapel interior SPSSOD St. Mary's Chapel interior.jpg
Chapel interior

Presently, the interior of the chapel has begun to be redecorated when the original Stations of the Cross were restored to the chapel, a statue of Our Lady of Confidence (Madonna della Fiducia) was installed and dedicated in a side-altar niche, and a relic of Mother Teresa of Calcutta was placed for veneration in the chapel. All of the new additions were done under the direction of rector Aloysius Callaghan.

Divisions

Priestly formation

As of the 2022-2023 academic year, SPS had 82 seminarians in formation for the priesthood, representing 16 dioceses and religious communities. These students were spread across the propaedeutic, pre-theology, and theology programs. [7]

Seminarians participate in a wide variety of activities, including choir, schola, theatre, and sports. In the past, SPS had a theatre program going back as far as 1939. [8] The program appears to have died out in the late 1960s. In 2013, seminarians revived the theatre program and have put on various plays and musicals, many of them originals, since then. While most of the productions have only been put on by seminarians from SPS, Saint John Vianney College Seminary has been invited to join some of them as well.

Each year in October, Saint John Vianney College Seminary (playing as the "JAXX") and SPS (playing as the "Sons of Thunder") play each other in a flag football game called the "Rectors' Bowl." SPS has won twelve of the nineteen Rectors' Bowls. In the spring, there is a priest/seminarian basketball tournament where Saint John Vianney College Seminary and the SPS face-off, and the winner of that match plays a team consisting of priests from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Seminarians regularly play frisbee, basketball, and other sports together. They also regularly participate in other seminary tournaments such as the Conception Seminary soccer & volleyball tournament.

Academic Programs

Saint Paul Seminary offers three masters degrees. The Master of Divinity is for seminary students pursuing priesthood. The Master of Arts in Theology degree is a two-year, 36 credit program focused on academic theology. While students of the MAT program are primarily laypeople, it can also be taken by seminarians alongside their M.Div. degree. [9] SPS also has a Master of Arts in Pastoral Leadership (MAPL) program, which is also 36 credits.

Institutes

Saint Paul Seminary has five institutes for clerical and lay formation. In 2023, the Institute for Diaconate Formation had 33 men in formation for the permanent diaconate, the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute had 2,200 a two-year, non-degree faith formation program, 30 students in the Institute for Catholic School Leadership, and 867 participants in the Institute for Ongoing Clergy Formation. [7] The Institute for Catholic Theological Formation is for the further education of scholars and theologians. [10]

Notable faculty

Some notable past and present faculty members of SPS include:

Notable alumni

History of rectors

Sponsoring dioceses and religious orders

Updated as of 2022.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Joseph's Seminary and College</span> Major seminary of the Archdiocese of New York

St. Joseph's Seminary and College, sometimes referred to as Dunwoodie after the Dunwoodie neighborhood of Yonkers, New York in which it is located, is the major seminary of the Archdiocese of New York. Since 2012, it has also been the major seminary for the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis</span> Archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Minnesota, United States

The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is led by an archbishop who administers the archdiocese from the cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The archbishop has both a cathedral and co-cathedral: the mother church – the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Saint Paul, and the co-cathedral, the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Saint Mary of the Lake</span> Catholic seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, US

The University of Saint Mary of the Lake (USML) is a private Roman Catholic seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. It is the principal seminary and school of theology for the formation of priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois. USML was chartered by the Illinois General Assembly in 1844. USML is often referred to by the name of its graduate program, Mundelein Seminary. Its compound name is University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austin Dowling</span> American prelate

Daniel Austin Dowling was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the second archbishop of what was then the Archdiocese of Saint Paul in Minnesota from 1919 until his death.

St. Patrick's Seminary and University (STPSU) in Menlo Park, California, is a Roman Catholic undergraduate and graduate seminary whose primary mission is the formation of priests for dioceses in California and the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Byrne (archbishop of Dubuque)</span> American prelate of the Catholic Church (1908–1996)

James Joseph Byrne was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Dubuque from 1962 to 1983, having previously served as Auxiliary Bishop of St. Paul (1947–1956) and Bishop of Boise (1956–1962).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami</span> Roman Catholic archdiocese at Miami, Florida, United States

The Archdiocese of Miami is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in South Florida in the United States. It is the metropolitan see for the Ecclesiastical Province of Miami, which covers all of Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint John's Seminary (Massachusetts)</span>

Saint John's Seminary, located in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, is a Catholic major seminary sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The current rector is Fr. Stephen E. Salocks.

Sacred Heart Major Seminary is a private Roman Catholic seminary in Detroit, Michigan. It is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Detroit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro</span> Archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Carlos Seminary</span> Roman Catholic archdiocesan seminary in Makati, Philippines

The Royal and Conciliar San Carlos Seminary is the archdiocesan seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila. It was established in the year 1702, by decree of King Philip V of Spain. At present, the institution houses seminarians belonging to various dioceses in Luzon, particularly from the Metro Manila region.

Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) Seminary is a Roman Catholic college seminary for men in Winona, Minnesota, in the United States that is sponsored by the Diocese of Winona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint John Vianney Seminary (Denver)</span> Catholic seminary in Denver

Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary is a Catholic seminary in Denver, Colorado, dedicated to Saint John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. It is located at 1300 South Steele Street in the Cory-Merrill neighborhood of Denver, on the campus of the St. John Paul II Center for the New Evangelization. Founded in 1999, St. John Vianney is run by the Archdiocese of Denver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John's Seminary, Wonersh</span> Church in Surrey, UK

St John's Seminary was a Roman Catholic seminary located at Wonersh near Guildford in Surrey, in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, United Kingdom. St John's was the principal seminary for the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton and the Archdiocese of Southwark, and other dioceses to a greater or lesser extent, including Diocese of Plymouth, Portsmouth, East Anglia, Clifton, Menevia, the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the newly founded Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Charles Borromeo Seminary</span>

Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, that is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in the Philadelphia region, the school is named after Charles Borromeo, an Italian saint from the Counter-Reformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint John Vianney Seminary (Minnesota)</span> Catholic seminary in Minnesota

St. John Vianney Seminary (SJV) is one of the largest Catholic college seminaries in the United States, located on the campus of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Representing 20 diocese throughout the nation, approximately 100 men are in formation annually. Established in 1968, SJV nurtures the seeds of a priestly vocation, preparing young men for major seminary through integral formation and discipleship in Christian character, a traditional Catholic program of spiritual growth, and a formative liberal arts education. The major seminary affiliated with SJV, the Saint Paul Seminary, is on the other side of the campus of the University of St. Thomas. Over 600 alumni had been ordained to the Catholic priesthood, including five who would go on to be bishops - one of whom, Blase J. Cupich, is a cardinal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary</span> Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana

Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary is a Catholic college seminary located in Indianapolis, Indiana, within the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The seminary takes its name from Bishop Simon Bruté, first bishop of the Diocese of Vinncennes, who came to Vincennes, Indiana, from Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 1834. Bishop Simon Bruté Seminary has provided college-level seminary formation since 2004. Seminarians from eight dioceses across the Midwestern United States reside at the seminary and take classes at Marian University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Charles Borromeo Seminary</span> Roman catholic seminary school in Košice, Slovakia

St Charles Borromeo Seminary is the Roman Catholic Major Seminary of the Archdiocese of Košice in Košice, Slovakia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary</span> High school seminary in the United States

Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary was a high school seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, serving the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. It was founded in 1923 by Archbishop Austin Dowling and was closed in 1971, being replaced by Saint John Vianney Seminary. The campus is now the site of the University of Northwestern – St. Paul.

References

  1. 1 2 Connors, Joseph (1986). Journey Toward Fulfillment : A History of the College of St. Thomas. Saint Paul, Minnesota: University of St. Thomas. pp. 4, 9. ISBN   9996232182.
  2. ↑ "History". The Seminaries of Saint Paul. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  3. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Athens, Mary Christine (2013). To Work for the Whole People: John Ireland's Seminary in St. Paul. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN   9780809105458.
  5. 1 2 Athens, Mary Christine (2013). To Work for the Whole People: John Ireland's Seminary in St. Paul. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN   9780809105458.
  6. ↑ "Home".
  7. 1 2 "The Saint Paul Seminary Annual Report 2021-22" (PDF). The Saint Paul Seminary Annual Report 2021-22. Dec 3, 2022.
  8. ↑ Hedman, Paul. "A Chronology of Productions of SPS Theatre" (PDF). SPS Theatre. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  9. ↑ "Master of Arts in Theology". The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  10. ↑ "Institute for Catholic Theological Formation". Saint Paul Seminary. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.