Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary is a Roman Catholic

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

Wynnewood, Pennsylvania Wynnewood is a suburban unincorporated community, located west of Philadelphia, straddling Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The community was named in 1691 for Dr. ...

, 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 Charles Borromeo ( it, Carlo Borromeo; la, Carolus Borromeus; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was the Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584 and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation combat ...

, an Italian saint from the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

. As of April 2022, Auxiliary Bishop Timothy C. Senior was president of Saint Charles. The campus is in the municipality of

Lower Merion Township Lower Merion Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Philadelphia Main Line. The township's name originates with the county of Merioneth in north Wales. Merioneth is an English-language transcription of the ...

History

St. Charles was founded in June 1832 by Bishop

Francis Kenrick Francis Patrick Kenrick (December 3, 1796 or 1797 – July 8, 1863) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the third Bishop of the Diocese of Philadelphia (1842–1851) and the sixth Archbishop of the Archdiocese o ...

in his home on Fifth Street in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. On April 13, 1838, it was chartered by the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

to grant

academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including unde ...

s. Saint Charles later moved to a building on the corner of Fifth and Prune Streets, then to the rectory of Saint Mary's Parish on Fourth Street. It then moved to a facility on the corner of Eighteenth and Race Streets in Philadelphia. In 1863, then Bishop James F. Wood made the first of three property purchases to create a new Saint Charles campus in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia. In September, 1871, the preparatory college and theology divisions were reunited in Overbrook. In December, 1875, Archbishop Wood dedicated the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception on the campus. Later archbishops of Philadelphia have initiated improvements on the Saint Charles campus. * Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan began the construction of the Memorial Library Building * Archbishop Edmond Prendergast oversaw the building of a student residence hall. * Cardinal Dennis Dougherty sponsored the construction of the college building. * Cardinal John O'Hara added an indoor swimming pool. * Cardinal

John Krol John Joseph Krol (October 26, 1910 – March 3, 1996) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1961 to 1988, having previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland (195 ...

in 1971 build a residence hall and multi-purpose building dedicated to

John Vianney John Vianney (born Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney; 8 May 1786 – 4 August 1859), venerated as Saint John Vianney, was a French Catholic priest who is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and as the patron saint of parish priests. He is of ...

, a 19th century French saint. In 2005, the Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua Research Center was established at the Ryan Memorial Library. The building was completely renovated in the process. The buildings that make up the current Theology Division. along with the Ryan Memorial Library. stand at the western end of campus. The College Seminary is located at the eastern end. For an eleven-year period, the preparatory division of the seminary was located at

Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania Glen Riddle is an unincorporated community in Middletown Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Glen Riddle is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 452 and Parkmount Road/Glen Riddle Road north of the Chester Creek ...

. The preparatory program was equivalent to the junior and senior years of and four years of

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

. The high school program was discontinued in 1968. In 1999, an alumnus praised Saint Charles for its liturgical conservatism compared to some other US seminaries. Cardinal

Anthony Bevilacqua Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua (June 17, 1923 – January 31, 2012) was an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania from 1988 to 2003. Bevilacqua previously served as ...

, a former archbishop of Philadelphia, lived at Saint Charles in his retirement. Both

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger visited Saint Charles, and

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

stayed there during his 2015 visit to

. In 2019, Saint Charles sold its Wynnewood property to Main Line Health. Saint Charles was planning to move by 2025 to a new campus at

Gwynedd Mercy University Gwynedd Mercy University (GMercyU) is a private Roman Catholic university in Lower Gwynedd Township, Pennsylvania. It occupies a campus in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Gwynedd Mercy University was founded in 1948, as Gwynedd-Mercy College ...

in Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania.

Academics

St. Charles is accredited by the

Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...

and the

Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) is an organization of seminaries and other graduate schools of theology. ATS has its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History It was founded in 1918. The assoc ...

. It consists of four divisions: * College Seminary * Theological Seminary * School of Theological Studies * School of

Diaconal A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

Formation Candidates for the Catholic priesthood pursue a five-year

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

curriculum (which includes a spiritual year), followed by a four-year curriculum within the Theological Seminary. St. Charles offers the following degrees: *

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...

Enrollment

At the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, Saint Charles added 27 male students. The total enrollment of 156 seminarians was studying for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, 12 partner dioceses, and six religious orders. Saint Charles's partner dioceses include: *

Diocese of Allentown The Diocese of Allentown ( la, Diœcesis Alanpolitana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church, located in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The Diocese of Allentow ...

* Diocese of Arlington * Diocese of Bridgeport * Diocese of Greensburg * Diocese of Harrisburg *

Diocese of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leices ...

Diocese of Raleigh The Diocese of Raleigh is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church that covers the eastern half of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan A ...

* Diocese of Trenton * Diocese of Mymensingh in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Diocese of Steubenville The Diocese of Steubenville ( la, Dioecesis Steubenvicensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church covering thirteen counties in southeastern Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the Un ...

* Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia *

Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA The Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA (formally the Military Ordinariate of Archdiocese for the Military Services of the United States) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese that provides the Catholic Church's pa ...

Archdiocese of Colombo The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Colombo ( la, Archidioecesis Columbensis in Taprobane) is a Latin Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, whose ecclesiastical province covers all Sri Lanka plus the Maldives (which are ...

in Sri Lanka The partner religious congregations and orders include: *

Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy The Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives ( la, Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede Redemptionis Captivorum, abbreviated O. de M.), also known as the Mercedarians, is a Catholic mendicant order es ...

Vincentians Vincentian can refer to: *A citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *A person from Saint Vincent (island), the largest island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *A member of one of the orders or societies in the Vincentian Family, both Roman ...

Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in United Kingdom, Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their religious habit, habit), is a religious order of canon ...

Sodalitium Christianae Vitae Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), or Sodalitium of Christian Life is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right, according to the Code of Canon Law which governs the Latin Rite branch of the Catholic Church. It was founded in Lima, Peru, ...

* Oratory of Saint Philip Neri * Congregation of the Oratory *

Society of the Catholic Apostolate The Pallottines officially named the Society of the Catholic Apostolate ( la, Societas Apostolatus Catholici), abbreviated SAC is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right for men in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1835 by the Roman C ...

List of rectors

Notable alumni

Bishops

Edward Joseph Adams Edward Joseph Adams (born August 24, 1944) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1976. He was the apostolic nuncio to Great Britain from 2017 to 2020 and held earlier ...

Thaddeus Amat y Brusi Thaddeus Amat y Brusi C.M., or in Spanish Tadeu Amat y Brusi ( ca, Tadeu Amat i Brusi; December 31, 1811 – May 12, 1878) was a Spanish Roman Catholic cleric who became the first Bishop of Los Angeles, in California. Early life Amat was born ...

* Edward Barron * Eusebius J. Beltran *

Herbert Bevard Herbert Armstrong Bevard (born February 24, 1946) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the bishop of the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also call ...

Caspar Henry Borgess Caspar Henry Borgess (August 1, 1826 – May 3, 1890) was a German-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the second Bishop of Detroit, serving from 1871 to 1887. Biography Early life Borgess was born on August 1, 1826, in the villa ...

Michael Joseph Bransfield Michael Joseph Bransfield (born September 8, 1943) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church. Bransfield served as Bishop (Catholic Church), bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, Diocese of Wheeli ...

* Francis Brennan *

Michael Francis Burbidge Michael Francis Burbidge (born June 16, 1957) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the bishop of the Diocese of Arlington in Virginia since 2016. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Philad ...

* Joseph R. Cistone * Edward Peter Cullen * Louis A. DeSimone * Francis X. DiLorenzo *

Michael Domenec Michael Domenec, DD, C.M. ( ca, Miquel Domènech i Veciana; 1816–1878) full name Miquel Joan Josep Domènech i Veciana, was a Spanish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Pennsyl ...

Dennis Joseph Dougherty Dennis Joseph Dougherty (August 16, 1865 – May 31, 1951) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1918 until his death in 1951, and was made a cardinal in 1921. He was Philadelphia's longes ...

* Michael J. Fitzgerald * Edmond Fitzmaurice * John T. Folda * John Patrick Foley * Ronald William Gainer *

Joseph Anthony Galante Joseph Anthony Galante (July 2, 1938 – May 25, 2019) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Camden in New Jersey from 2004 to 2013. He previously held several positions as a bishop in Tex ...

* Gregory W. Gordon * James Green * Edward Hughes *

Francis Edward Hyland Francis Edward Hyland (October 9, 1901 – January 31, 1968) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of what was then the Diocese of Atlanta in Georgia from 1956 to 1961. He previously served as an auxiliary ...

William Henry Keeler William Henry Keeler (March 4, 1931 – March 23, 2017) was an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1989 to 2007 and was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 1994. He previously serv ...

Peter Richard Kenrick Peter Richard Kenrick (August 17, 1806 – March 4, 1896) was Bishop of St. Louis, Missouri, and the first Catholic archbishop west of the Mississippi River. Early life and ordination Peter Richard Kenrick was born in Dublin on August 17, 180 ...

Joseph Edward Kurtz Joseph Edward Kurtz (born August 18, 1946) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Louisville in Kentucky from 2007 to 2022. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Kn ...

* Hugh L. Lamb *

George L. Leech George Leo Leech (May 21, 1890 – March 12, 1985) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from 1935 to 1971. Biography Early life George Leech was born on May 21, 1890, in ...

Martin Nicholas Lohmuller Martin Nicholas Lohmuller (August 21, 1919 – January 24, 2017) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia from 1970 to 1994. At the time of his death, he was the oldest American Cath ...

* Stephen LoweInstalled 13 February 2015
"Bishop Stephen Marmion Lowe", ''Catholic Hierarchy''
(Retrieved 27 November 2014) * Robert P. Maginnis * Joseph Francis Martino *

Joseph P. McFadden Joseph Patrick McFadden (May 22, 1947 – May 2, 2013) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Formerly an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he was installed as Roma ...

Eugene J. McGuinness Eugene Joseph McGuinness (September 6, 1889 – December 27, 1957) was an American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Raleigh (1937–44) and Bishop of Oklahoma City-Tulsa (1948–57). Biography Early life and e ...

* John J. McIntyre *

Joseph Mark McShea Joseph Mark McShea (February 22, 1907 – November 28, 1991) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Allentown in Pennsylvania from 1961 to 1983. Biography Early life Joseph McShea w ...

* James O'Connor * John Joseph O'Connor *

Michael O'Connor Michael O'Connor may refer to: Politicians * Michael O'Connor (Australian politician) (1865–1940), Australian politician * Michael O'Connor (Wisconsin politician) (1856–1925), Wisconsin State Assemblyman * Michael J. O'Connor (politici ...

* Joseph A. Pepe * Nelson J. Perez *

Edmond Francis Prendergast Edmond Francis Prendergast (May 3, 1843 – February 26, 1918) was an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the third Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1911 until his death in 1918. Biography Edmond Prendergast was born in Clonm ...

* Kevin C. Rhoades *

Stephen V. Ryan Stephen Vincent Ryan, Congregation of the Mission, C.M. (January 1, 1825 – April 10, 1896) was a Canadian-born American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Congregation of the Mission, he served as Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffal ...

Francis B. Schulte Francis Bible Schulte, O.H.S. (December 23, 1926 – January 17, 2016) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans in Louisiana from 1989 to 2002. Schulte previously served ...

* Timothy C. Senior * Daniel E. Thomas * David B. Thompson *

Thomas Jerome Welsh Thomas Jerome Welsh (December 20, 1921 – February 19, 2009) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Arlington in Virginia (1974–1983) and as bishop of the Diocese of Allentown in Pennsylv ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia 1832 establishments in Pennsylvania