SEMINARY
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SEMINARY
number of youths, in a college to be chosen by the
bishop for that purpose; poor dioceses may combine,
large dioceses may have more than one seminary. (2) In
these institutions are to be received boj's who are at
least twelve years of age, can read and write passably,
and by their good disposition give hope that thej' will
persevere in the service of the Church; children of
the poor are to be preferred. (3) Besides the elements
of a hberal education [as then understood], the stu-
dents are to be given professional knowledge to enable
them to preach, to conduct Divine worship, and to ad-
minister the sacraments. (4) Seminaries are to be sup-
ported by a tax on the income of bishoprics, chapters,
abbeys, and other benefices. (5) In the government of
the seminary, the bishop is to be assisted by two com-
missions of priests, one for spiritual, the other for tem-
p>oral matters.
So well did the Fathers of Trent understand the im- portance of the decree, so much did they expect from it, that they congratulated one another, and several declared that, had the council done nothing else, this would be more than sufficient reward of all their la- bours. An historian of the council. Cardinal Palla- vicini, does not hesitate to caU the institution of sem- inaries the most important reform enacted by the council.
F. Execution of the Decree of Trent in various Conn- tries. — To provide for the carrying out of this im- portant decree, Pius IV forthwith instituted a com- mission of cardinals. The following year (April, 1564), he decreed the foundation of the Roman Sem- inary, which was opened in Feb., 1565, and which for more than three centuries has been a nursery of priests, bishops, cardinals, and popes. St. Charles Borromeo, Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, who had taken a leading part in the work of the Council of Trent, was also mo.st zealous and successful in enfor- cing its decisions. For his large diocese ho established three seminaries: one of them furnished a complete course of ecclesiastical studies; in another, a shorter course was provided, especially for those destined to country parishes; the third was for priests who needed to make up the deficiencies of previous training. For these institutions St. Charles drew up a set of regula- tions, which have been ever since an inspiration and a model for all founders of seminaries. In other parts of Italy the decree of Trent was gradually put into effect, so that the smallest of the three hundred dio- ceses had its own complete seminary, including both collegiate and theological departments.
In Germany, w'ar and the progress of heresy were serious ob.stacles to the carrying out of the decree of Trent; still seminaries were founfled at Eichstadt (1564), Munster (1610), and Prague (1631).
In Portugal the Venerable Bartholomew of the Martyrs, Archbishop of Braga, established a seminary a few months after the close of the Council of Trent.
Various attempts by PVench bishops ended in fail- ure, until St. Vincent de Paul and Father OVwr opened seminaries in Paris (1642), and helped to establish them elsewhere in France. A feature of these semi- naries and, it is claimed, one of the causes of their suc- cess was the separation of theological students from those who were studying the classics, of the theo- logical from the preparatory seminary. In Paris the students of St-8ulpice usually followed lectures at the Sorbonne; srjme courses given at the seminary com- pleted their intellectual training, while meditation, spiritual conferences, etc. provided for their moral and religious formation. In other places, especially when there was no university, a complete course of in- struction was organized in the seminary itself. As tli'TC was no Church law reouiring students to spend a fixed time in the seminary Dcfore ordination, and as the powers of the bishops were hampered by existing customs, some of the clergy, previous to the Vrench Revolution, were not trained in these institutions.
In England and Ireland persecution prevented the
foundation of seminaries; before the French Revolu-
tion priests for the English mission were trained at the
English College of Douai. Irish aspirants to the
priesthood, leaving Ireland at the peril of their lives,
went to the colleges founded for them in Paris, Lou-
vain, and Salamanca by Irish exiles and other gen-
erous benefactors, to prepare for a life of self-sacri-
fice often ending in martyrdom.
G. Aitempls at Secularization. — Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the Emperor Joseph II at- tempted to bring the education of the clergy in Aus- tria, Northern Italy, and the Netherlands under the control of the State. Students were forbidden by law to frequent the German College in Rome; episcopal seminaries were suppressed, and in their place central seminaries were founded at Vienna, Budapest, Pavia, Freiburg, and Louvain, in which all clerical students were forced to receive their education under the con- trol not of the bishops but of the state. Professors and text books were chosen by state officials, who also regulated the discipline. Against this usurpation, protests came not only from the Holy See and the bishops, but also from the people; at Louvain the cen- tral seminary was burned to the ground. The scheme had to be abandoned, and the successor of Joseph II allowed the bishops to possess and rule their own seminaries.
The tendency to interference, however, remained, and has since show-n itself in various German states. In the early years of the nineteenth century the policy of secularization was adopted by the Bavarian Gov- ernment. Protestants or Free-thinkers were ap- pointed teachers in the faculty of theology and the seminaries; regulations were drawn up for the choice of superiors, discipline, plan of studies, examinations, admission, and dismissal of students. After a long conflict a concordat was signed in 1817, by which the rights of bishops to erect and control seminaries were recognized. The same struggle occurred in other German states. The conflict became specially acute in 1873, when the Prussian Government in the fa- mous May Laws issued a scheme which prescribed a regular course in a gymnasium, three years theology at a state university, and then examination before state inspectors, as essential conditions of appointment to any ecclesiastical position. Education in seminaries might be accepted as equivalent if the bishops sub- mitted the rules to the State for approval. As they refused to comply, the seminaries of Treves, Gnesen- Posen, Strasburg, and others were closed. Negotia- tions between the Government and the Holy See were opened after the election of Leo XIII. Among the points on which the Church could never yield, the pope laid stress upon the rights of bishops to have seminaries and to control the education of the clergy. The more vexatious measures were abolished, and har- mony was restored between Church and State.
H. Present Conditions in Germany. — At present nearly all ecclesiastical students make their college course in a public gymnasium, together with lay stu- dents. VoT the teaching of theology and spiritual for- mation there are two systems. The first consists of a course of three years in one of the faculties of theology, in the State universities of Bonn, Breslau, Freiburg, Munich, Munster, Tubingen, or Wiirzburg. The ap- pointment of processors in these faculties is made by the Government but with the approval of the bishops, who can moreover forbid their students to attend the lectures of obje(;tionahle teachers. While at the uni- versity the students usually live together in nKonvictus under one or two priests, but they enjoy about as much liberty as lay students. After completing their course they spend a year or eighteen months in a prac- tical seminary (priesterseminar) , to learn ceremonies, ascetic and pastoral theology, and thus prepare im- mediately for ordination. F'or this system, which
