Under the splendor of autumnal sunshine and blue skies, the newly opened St. Charles Borromeo Seminary was dedicated and blessed by Archbishop Nelson Pérez, the 14th Bishop and 10th Archbishop of Philadelphia, and Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio of the United States, on Saturday, October 12.
Built on the grounds of Gwynedd-Mercy University in Ambler, 12 miles northwest of Philadelphia, this history-rich seminary begins a new chapter with a beautifully designed and crafted campus now home to the seminary and residential buildings.
The new location marks the sixth one for the seminary, which was founded in the middle of Andrew Jackson’s presidency (the seventh President of the United States) in 1832 by Bishop Patrick Kenrick, the third bishop of Philadelphia. Originally housed in Old City Philadelphia near Independence Hall, the seminary was moved just after the Civil War to Overbrook along the Main Line near Villanova University, which was a rural area 150 years ago.
Bishop Timothy Senior, the 12th Bishop of Harrisburg, was the former rector of St. Charles from 2012 -2022 while serving as an Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia before being appointed by Pope Francis in April 2023 to shepherd the Diocese Harrisburg. Bishop Senior was in attendance for the dedication. The initial planning for the new seminary began 12 years ago under Bishop Senior’s rectorship, and the extensive fund raising, construction plans and building of the new Lower Gwynedd Campus began under his leadership.
In his remarks prior to the Rite of Sprinkling, His Eminence Cardinal Pierre told the more than 400 gathered in a large tent next to the seminary, “It is my honor to represent the Holy Father here today. It is so good to be with you today.”
“You seminarians are taking a risk in your vocations. We are celebrating that risk today,” the cardinal said. “The Holy Father encourages us to take risks, and this new seminary is a risk. May God bless you all in taking this risk.”
Cardinal Pierre gifted Archbishop Pérez and the current rector, Bishop Keith Chylinski, Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia, two large photographs of Pope Francis to be hung in the seminary.
The Archbishop noted that this is a “very historic day” in the 193-year existence of the seminary. Today, more than 140 seminarians from 15 dioceses worldwide are in formation at the school, with more than half hailing from the archdiocese. The Diocese of Harrisburg currently has seven men studying there for the priesthood.
“God will do what God will do in the end,” Archbishop Pérez said in his remarks. “God is going to do through us what he wants to do…. Today is a great joy and a great gift for the Archdiocese and the dioceses that send their men here…. In spite of us, the Kingdom, His kingdom, always grows.”
While the seminary has every new technological advance available to utilize and teach effectively, it also has a great feeling of the old in the modern surroundings. Taken from the Overbrook campus’ Immaculate Conception Chapel are the stained-glass windows that, when struck by late afternoon light, create a kaleidoscopic play of light and color as light pours through the centuries-old glass. In addition, the vintage solid walnut pews came from the old Saint Martin of Tours Chapel of the old seminary. And gracing the entrance in the sacred worship spaces is the donated six-foot crucifix that Frances Anthony Drexel, the father of St. Katharine Drexel, gave to the seminary in 1902.
When you enter the Student Life Center of the new seminary, you are greeted by a life-size sculpture of St. Charles Borromeo in the lobby, which too was taken from the old seminary. Finally, the famous “old chapel bell” which, since 1871, has been used to summon seminarians to all liturgical events and is used in the time-honored tradition of “clapping out” seminarians to be ordained priests as they leave the seminary, was also moved into the new bell tower that is the center of the new seminary building’s exterior.
St. Charles Borromeo was born in 1538 in Italy to a prominent family and is the patron saint of priests and seminarians. He is credited with starting the seminary system of training priests as a response to the Protestant Reformation more than 500 years ago. His uncle, Cardinal Angelo Medici, was elected as Pope Pius IV on Christmas Day 1559. In 1564, Pope Pius IV appointed his nephew as Archbishop of Milan, Italy – an office he held until his death in 1584.
(Photos by Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness.)
By Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness
