SEMINARY
697
SEMINARY
haa many strong advocates, the following advantages
are pointed out: it develops intellectual and moral
initiative, accustoms the students to live in the world,
and gives them the prestige of a university education.
Its opponents insist : That it is not in harmony with the
decree of Trent and the subsequent instructions of the
Holy See, urging bishops to estabhsh seminaries ad
menlem concilii Tridenlini, where candidates for the
priesthood may receive the special education proper
to their calling; that, the university professors being
irremovable, the bishops have not sufficient control
over the orthodoxy of their teaching ; that instruction
obtained in those faculties lacks unity and co-ordina-
tion, some essential points being overlooked, while un-
due importance is at times attached to matters of little
practical utility for the majority of the clergy; that
the spiritual training, neglected in the universities,
cannot be obtained in the few months spent at the
practical seminary.
There are regular Tridentine seminaries at Eich- stadt, Fulda, Mainz, Metz, and Trier, in which pro- fessional instruction and spiritual formation go to- gether. Recently a compromise between the univer- sity and the seminary systems of clerical training has been effected in Strasburg.
J. Recent Developments and Present Conditions in other Countries. — (1) France. — The Revolution swept away the seminaries and the faculty of theology of the Sorbonne where the leaders of the French clergy had been trained. As soon as liberty was restored, one of the first cares of the bishops was to re-establish their seminaries. On account of the lack of thor- oughly competent teachers in many places and the urgent need of priests everywhere, only a minimum of knowledge could be exacted. Nor had the short- lived faculty of theology established by the State at the Sorbonne much influence in raising the general standard of clerical studios. During the last thirty years, however, the Catholic institutes of Paris, Lyons, Toulouse, Lille, and Angers have done much to train teachers for theological seminaries, as well as for the petits seminaires. The latter are usually open to all who seek a liberal education, whether they in- tend to become priests or not; hence, they do not realize the Tridentine ideal. As a result of the Sepa- ration Law, the seminaries, even those built by pri- vate contributions of Catholics, hav(> been confiscated by the State. In spite of financial difficult ics ;uid the faUing-off in the number of students, dioc:\san semina- ries are maintained, some with less than a score of students. As to preparatory seminaries, whereas for- merly there were several in most dioceses, their num- ber is considerably reduced.
(2) England. — The English College at Douai, sup- pressed by the French Revolution, was replaced in England by St. Edmund's, Ushaw, and Oscott. These provided a complete cour.se of clerical educa- tion, including collegiate and theological studies; none, however, was a .seminary in the strict sense of the Council of Trent, for they received lay as well as ec- clesiastical students. In the provincial councils of Westminster, the bishops advocated the separation of clerical from lay students as the only remedy against worldliness; they decreed that the foundation of sem- inaries for the exclusive education of the clergy would contribute powerfully to the increase of religion, and finally they pledged themselves to establish such sem- inaries. Cardinal Manning founded a separate sem- inary for the theological students of the Archdiocese of Westminster, and regarded this as the great work of his life. Other bishops followed this example. A seminary in full harmony with the Council of Trent, i. e. exclusively for ecclesiastical students, and des- tined to provide a complete course of preparation for the priesthood was opened for the Diocese of South- wark. Cardinal Vaughan, who succeeded Cardinal Man-
ning in 1893, had long been of opinion that separate
diocesan seminaries were not opportune in England.
He advocated a central seminary for the southern
dioceses, in which by combining their resources in
men and money the bishops could provide excellent
teachers, a good library, the emulation which comes
with increased number of students, and the stability
which would be secured, if the control of one bishop
were replaced by that of a board of all the bishops in-
terested. These views being freely expressed in "The
Tablet" (London), Dr. Bourne, the future successor
of Cardinal Vaughan at Westminster, then rector of
the Southwark Seminary, set forth in the same peri-
odical the reasons for separate diocesan seminaries,
i. e. the authority of the Council of Trent and of the
provincial councils of Westminster, the possibility of
giving in most dioceses the elementary yet solid in-
struction needed for the ministry, and of sending some
of the most gifted students to some foreign Catholic
university where they would receive higher instruction
than could be provided in a central seminary in Eng-
land. Cardinal Vaughan having secured the appro-
bation and encouragement of Leo XIII for his proj-
ect determined, together with four other bishops, to
send his theological students to Oscott, which thus,
from being the diocesan seminary of Birmingham, be-
came in 1897 a central seminary for six dioceses. No
change, however, was made in the faculty, and the
administration continued in the main to be diocesan.
Shortly after the cardinal's death, a theological sem-
inary for the Archdiocese of Westminster was opened
in connexion with St. Edmund's College.
(3) Ireland. — Irish colleges on the Continent, which harboured about five hundred students, having been closed by the Revolution, it became necessary to pro- vide in Ireland for the training of the clergy. A col- lege opened at Carlow in 1793 was soon closed through fear of Government prosecution. Re-estabHshed later, it now gives a complete course of ecclesiastical train- ing. The foundation of a Catholic college being made legal by an Act of Parliament, Maynooth was opened in 1795 with forty students. It has rapidly developed, especially during the last years of the nine- teenth century. The missionary college of All Hal- lows was founded in 1842, and placed in 1892 under the direction of the Vincentians; it has sent hundreds of priests to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. Besides these and other institutions, most of the dioceses have their pre- paratory seminaries. There are also some Irish stu- dents at Salamanca and at Rome. The Irish College in Paris has been closed in consequence of the Separa- tion Laws in France.
(4) Canada. — The Jesuits established a college at Quebec in 1637. Bishop Laval founded a theological seminary in 1663 and in 1668 a preparatory seminary, the students of which followed the classes of the Jesuit College. When the latter was suppressed after the English conquest, the preparatory seminary be- came a mixed college. In 1852 the seminary and col- lege of Quebec were raised to the rank of a university, with the title of Laval in honour of the founder. At Montreal a college was founded by the Sulpicians in 1767, a separate theological department was estab- hshed in 1840, and the seminary of philosophy in 1847. More recently theological seminaries have been opened at Ottawa by the Oblates and at Halifax by the Eudists, and one is being erected at Toronto. Until recently, in several dioceses of Canada, candidates for the priesthood received their training not in seminaries, but in mixed colleges where, after finishing their clas- sical course, they read theology, whilst discharging the duties of prefect or teacher. Upon the advice of the Congregation of the Propaganda, the Provincial Council of Montreal (1895) decreed that ecclesiastics studying for the priesthood in colleges can only be prefects and not teachers; it also decreed that before
