Aminor seminaryorhigh school seminaryis a secondary day orboarding schoolcreated for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becomingCatholic priests.They are generallyCatholicinstitutions, and designed to prepare boys both academically and spiritually for vocations to the priesthood andreligiouslife. They emerged in cultures and societies where literacy was not universal, and the minor seminary was seen as a means to prepare younger boys in literacy for later entry into the majorseminary.

Maria Assumpta Seminary[1]– high school (minor) and college seminary of theDiocese of Cabanatuan,Philippines.
The students atSacred Heart Apostolic Schoolpraying theStations of the CrossonGood Friday,2009
TelšiaiDiocese Minor seminary inLithuania

The minor seminary is no longer very familiar in the developed world. The1917 Code of Canon Lawdescribed the purpose of minor seminaries as: "to take care especially to protect from the contagion of the world, to train in piety, to imbue with the rudiments of literary studies, and to foster in them the seed of a divine vocation". Suitable boys were encouraged to graduate to a major seminary, where they would continue their tertiary studies for the priesthood.

The program of priestly formation of theUSCCBrefers to them as "high school seminaries" rather than minor seminaries.[1]

Today,college seminaries,wherephilosophyis studied, are often called minor seminaries even though they are for those who have completedhigh school.[2]

Extant minor seminaries

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Countries with Minor Seminaries (blue) and have existed in the past (red)

Canada

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East Timor

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Ghana

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  • St Teresa's Minor Seminary[3]

India

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Indonesia

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Pakistan

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Philippines

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Poland

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United States

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Uganda

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Vietnam

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References

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  1. ^Program of Priestly Formation - 5th Edition
  2. ^"St. Joseph House of Formation residences undergoing renovations".Catholic Diocese of Wichita.2019-05-31.Retrieved2019-08-04.
  3. ^"St. Teresa's Minor Seminary".
  4. ^"St. Joseph Minor Seminary".www.minorseminary.org.Retrieved2024-06-19.