CATHOLIC SEMINARIES. The name seminary is generally applied to institutions where candidates for the diocesan priesthood in the Catholic Church receive their spiritual and intellectual training. Preparatory departments (Petite Seminaire) are sometimes found in the same building, hut the term is generally applied in the United States to those institutions which admit only those applicants who have com pleted the collegiate course.
Saint Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Md., was the first American Catholic seminary. It was founded at the request of Bishop Carroll, who secured from Father Emery in 1791 four priests of the Society of Saint Sulpice, which had been established in Paris by Father Olier in 1642 for the express purpose of training young men for the priesthood. For many years it was the only institution of its kind in the United States, and consequently it supplied to the ranks of the clergy the vast majority of native trained priests. At present there are about 250 semi narians at Saint Mary's. In 1805 it was raised by the Maryland legislature to the rank of a university.
In Saint Charles Theological Seminary, Over brook, Pa., the aspirants to the priesthood for the archdiocese of Philadelphia are trained. In 1835 Bishop Kenrick placed five ecclesiastical students under the care of his brother, Rev. Peter Kenrick, in a little house on the corner of Fifth and Prune (now Locust street), Phila delphia. This was the humble beginning of the present magnificent establishment. A prepara tory department was begun in 1859 at Glen Rid dle over which the present Bishop Shanahan of Harrisburg presided for nine years. This instit tution passed out of existence when, in 1871, the students to the number of 128 took possession of the present building at Overbrook, which had been erected by Bishop Wood. For the maintenance of this institution the Catholics of Philadelphia contribute annually about 1.35,000. There are approximately 100 seminarists at Overbrook, 15 professors and a library of 25,000 volumes.
Saint Joseph's Seminary, the theological seminary for the archdiocese of New York, is located at Valentine Hill, near Dunwoodie, a station on the Putnam division of the N. Y. C. Railroad, and within the city limits of Yonkers. It was founded by the late Archbishop Corrigan and constructed at a cost of nearly $1,000. It was opened in September 1896 and was at first under the direction of the Sulpicians. The full course of study comprises six years, two of which are devoted to philosophy, the remaining four to theology. The faculty com prises 13 regular professors and a few instruct ors, and the students (who are not admitted until they have completed a classical college course) number abou. 161, nearly all from the archdiocese of New York. This institution has taken the place of the old provincial seminary of Saint Joseph, at Troy, N. Y.
Mount Saint Mary's Theological Seminary, Emmetsburg, Md., wa3 founded in 1808by Rev. Du Bois during the episcopate of Bishop Carroll of Baltimore, and in the following year 16 young aspirants to holy orders were brought hither from Pigeon Hill, Pa. In 1810 the col
lege had 40 pupils, and as a more commodious building had been erected, the founder gave to Mrs. Seton the log house, which thus became the cradle of the great community of the Sisters of Charity in the United States. United to the seminary is the college department, wherein regular classical and scientific studies are pur sued. There are 18 regular professors, several assistant teachers and over 352 students.
Saint Paul Seminary, Groveland Park, Minn., together with the College of Saint Thomas, Merriam Park, was founded by Most Rev. John Ireland, the present archbishop of Saint Paul. They are the result of the generosity of J. J. Hill, late president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, are located within a few miles of the city, have maintained a high grade of scholar ship from the beginning and are directly affili ated with the Catholic University in Washing ton. At present there are 131 students and 12 professors in the seminary proper; in the college 368 students and 17 professors.
Niagara University (formerly Seminary of Our Lady of Angels), founded by Rev. John Lynch of the Congregation of the Mission, a community organized by Saint Vincent de Paul in France in 1625. Father Lynch, the first presi dent, who afterward became the first archbishop of Toronto, in 1856 opened an institution on the lake shore near Buffalo, but finding the place not quite suited for the purpose, he removed in 1857 fo the present site on the New York bank of the Niagara River, about four miles north of the great cataract. The university owns 300 acres; numbers about 200 students, 60 of whom are in the seminary, and has a faculty of 20. Its library contains 13,000 volumes. The grounds and buildings have a value of over $500,000. The institution was incorporated under the title of the College and Seminary of Our Lady of Angels by an act of the legislature of the State. of New York in 1863, and in 1883 it was erected into a university with full powers and authority under the present title of Niagara University, by the regents of the State of New York.
Saint John's Ecclesiastical Seminary for the Boston archdiocese, located at Brighton, a charming suburb, and now under direction of diocesan clergy, was placed by its founder, Archbishop Williams, under the direction of Sulpician Fathers, assisted here, as in Baltimore and New York, by professors taken from the ranks of the diocesan clergy. In the two depart ments, philosophical and theological, there are 12 professors and 100 students.
There are about 85 seminaries in the United States, wherein 4,000 diocesan students and members of religious communities are trained for the priesthood. In Europe two institutions are maintained by the American bishops for the training of American students, the Amen i can College in Rome, and another at Louvain.