St. Vincent's Seminary in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, is a former seminary of the

Congregation of the Mission The Congregation of the Mission (), abbreviated CM and commonly called the Vincentians or Lazarists, is a Catholic Church, Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Vincent de Paul. It is associated with the Vin ...

, established to train priests for the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...

History

The Vincentians arrived in the United States in 1816, among the first groups of Catholic clergy to serve in the then-

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

territory of the United States. Their first foundation was in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. One goal of the Congregation since its founding has been the training of clergy, both for themselves and for the local diocese, at their own expense when necessary. Thus, after the establishment of an independent

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for the United States in 1835, the growing number of local bishops in the country began to request their help in running seminaries they had founded but did not have the means, either financially or in terms of manpower, to operate. In this way, members of the Congregation arrived in Philadelphia in 1841 at the invitation of

Francis Patrick Kenrick Francis Patrick Kenrick (December 3, 1796 or 1797 – July 8, 1863) was an Irish-born Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Philadelphia (1842–1851) and Archbishop of Baltimore (1851–1863). Kenrick grew up in Ireland, where he received ...

, the Bishop of Philadelphia, to run St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. A part of Kenrick's invitation had been the offer to allow a house of formation for the Congregation to be opened in the diocese. The Vincentians served there until the appointment of the Superior of the school, Thaddeus Amat y Brusi, as the first Bishop of Los Angeles in 1852. At that point, dealing with their own shortage of personnel, and also being dissatisfied with the organization of the school under the bishop, they decided to withdraw from the seminary. In 1851 the Congregation had acquired land in Germantown Township, then still a rural suburb of Philadelphia, which was to become the center of their operations on the Eastern seaboard, and there opened the Parish of St. Vincent de Paul. In 1868 it was decided to move the formation program for new members of the Congregation from

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to Germantown. This included both the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

and the scholasticate (the college-level facility), which came to become known as St. Vincent Seminary, which were established adjacent to the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

. It then operated for over a century at the location.

Current status

Due to the dwindling numbers of students, the seminary was closed as an educational institution during the late 20th century. The building has been converted to a care facility for the aged members of the Eastern

of the Congregation, as well as serving as the headquarters of the province.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Vincent's Seminary, Germantown, Pennsylvania Vincentian schools Educational institutions established in 1868 1868 establishments in Pennsylvania Seminaries and theological colleges in Pennsylvania Former theological colleges in the United States