Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/769

 SEMINARY

701

SEMINARY

Country

Diocese

Name

Place

In charge of

4

2;S

United States

Detroit

Sts. Cyril and Methodius's Seminary St. Joseph's Preparatory Senainary. . St. Thomas's Seminarj-

Orchard Lake.... Grand Rapids. . . Hartford

St. Meinrad

St.Meinrad

Kansas City

South Orange....

Diocesan priests

Benedictines

Diocesan priests! '.'.'.'.

Benedictines.. .'.'.'.'.'. Diocesan priests

Obi. Mary Immac

Benedictines

T P P

T P P

T

P T T

104

■97

71 100 18

Grand Rapids

Hartford

" "

Indianapolis

Kansas City

Newark

St. Meinrad's Ecclesiastical Sem. (Polish)

" "

St. Meinrad's College



St. John's Catholic Seminary

Immaculate Conception Theological

44

St. Vincent's Seminary (Seton Hall).

Rochester

Rochester

San Antonio

Belmont

233 80

San Antonio

North Carolina

San Antonio Theological Seminary. .

17

C. Obligation of Seminary Training. — A stu- dent could obtain all the knowledge necessary for a priest by following classes in a college and lectures in a university, without living in the seminary; but since the Council of Trent, the sovereign pontiffs and the bishops have constantly endeavoured to have candi- dates for the priesthood .spend some time in a semin- ary so as to acquire, along with knowledge, habits of piety and self-di.scipline. They have felt that the purpose of the Tridentine Decree would be defeated if residence in the seminary were left to the option of the students. It is the desire of the Holy See, based on the Council of Trent and repeatedly expressed, es- pecially by Leo XIII and Pius X, that future priests be trained from early years apart from lay students. The same idea is enforced by the third Plenary Coun- cil of Baltimore, when it declares that the custom which obtains in some parts of the country of having aspirants to the priesthood take their classical course in a mixed college is not in perfect harmony with the mind of the Church, and when it urges the foundation of a preparatory seminary in every diocese or at least in every province (nos. 139, 153). Where this decree cannot be carried out, colleges receiving young men who study for the priesthood mu.st strictly observe the regulations prescribed for preparatory seminaries, relating to discipline, religious in.struction, and the programme of studies (ibid., no. 153). With still greater insistence does the Church demand residence in a seminary from the students of theology, even if they follow the lectures of a Catholic university. Thus Pius X has ordered all ecclesiastical students in Rome to live in one of the colleges established for them; a similar instru(tion has been issued for the ecclesiastical students at Fribourg. The Council of Baltimore required all aspirants to the priesthood to go through the six years of training prescribed for all American seminaries (no. 155). The bishop can dis- pense in rare cases, and for grave reasons.

D. External Government of Scmiunries. — All mat- ters referring to seminaries are under the supreme direction of the Consistorial Congregation in Rome. Diocesan seminaries are controlled by the bishop, who appoints and removes professors, determines in detail the regulations to be followed, and watches over the temporal administration, studies, disci- pline, and piety. Nothing of importance can be done without his advice and consent; to him belongs the final decision on the admission and dismissal of students, as well as on their call to orders. In pro- vincial or interdiocesan seminaries this power is vested in the board of interested bi.shops. For diocesan seminaries, the bishop is bound by the common law of the Church to seek, though not bound to follow, in matters of temporal administration the advice of a commission composed of two canons of the cathedral (one cho.sen by himself, the other by the chapter) and of two other priests of the episcopal city, one chosen also by the bishop, the other by the clergy. For

spiritual matters the advice of two canons chosen by the bishop is likewise necessary. In the United States the bishop must have in the management of his semin- ary at least one adviser for spiritual matters, and an- other for temporal matters; both are chosen by himself with the advice of the diocesan consultors (Council of Baltimore, no. 180).

Although no te.xt of ecclesiastical law forbids the bishop to entrust the direction of his seminary to a re- ligious order or congregation, this cannot be done without the approval of the Holy See; for the bishop has no power to give up for himself and his successors the right to appoint the rector and teachers; neither can he set aside the law of the Council of Trent, re- quiring the advice of consultors in the management of the seminaries, while religious congregations in taking charge of a seminary assume the appointment of the faculty, and in governing it do not admit the inter- ference of a diocesan commission. Se\eral religious orders or societies, however (Eudists, Lazarists, Ma- rists, Oratorians, Sulpicians), have a general permission from the Holy See to accept the seminaries entrusted to them. A contract between the bishop and the society determines the conditions under which the seminary is accepted and must be governed (Council of Baltimore, no. 180).

E. Internal Administration of Seminaries. — Two systems prevail. In one the management of the seminary is in the hands of the rector, who alone under the bi.shop governs the seminary, calls to orders, ad- mits and dismisses the students; a treasurer has full charge of temporal matters, while to a spiritual di- rector is entrusted the formation of the students in piety. The professors are merely teachers.

In the other system, all the professors have a share in the administration of the seminary; and all im- portant matters are decided by a vote of the faculty. The professors are spiritual directors and confessors of the students. Of course, they have no voice in the faculty meetings when one of their penitents is con- cerned. A Decree of the Holy Office (5 July, 1899) forbids superiors of seminaries and colleges in Rome to hear the confessions of their students. With the special organization of those colleges, such a practice could easily interfere with the liberty which the Church assures to all in the sacred tribunal. Although this decree has not been officially extended beyond those colleges, its spirit should be observed in others similarly organized.

F. Admission and Dismissal of Students. — "Let those be received", says the Council of Trent, "who having been born in lawful wedlock, have at least attained their twelfth year, are able to read and write passably, and whose naturally good di.sposition gives token that they will always continue in the ser- vice of the Church. " It is the wish of the council that the children of the poor should be preferred. To-day an ordinary grammar school instruction is required for admission into the preparatory seminaries. As