The Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio Minor Seminary is a junior high & high school seminary (grades 7-12) for young men who feel that they are called to the Catholic priesthood. The school was founded by the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) in September 2008.
Our minor seminary was begun in recognition of the fact that there were essentially no schools in the entire United States (or anywhere else in the English-speaking Western World, for that matter) that were focused on giving a sound Catholic intellectual and moral formation to young men called to the priesthood, while simultaneously fostering their Divine vocation. Simply put, boys who felt called to the priesthood simply had to wait until they finished their studies at their local high school before they could begin active preparation for the priesthood. More than that, they were usually forced to remain in an environment (in school, in their neighborhoods, etc.) that was, all too often, hostile to the idea of the priesthood and even to the Catholic faith itself. We decided to embrace the beautiful tradition within the Church of establishing a minor seminary where these boys would be encouraged in their vocation during the crucial years of adolescence—a period which on one hand is filled with spiritual dangers, and which on the other hand can also be the most fruitful time in a man's life, as he grows in wisdom and the knowledge of God.
Basic Information
The Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio Minor Seminary first opened its doors in September of 2008—that is, for the beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year—with 10 students from all over the USA: Arizona, California, New York, and Pennsylvania, as well as Canada and the Dominican Republic. The school has six grade levels: grades 7-12, encompassing junior-high and high school. We are located on the grounds of
Saints Peter and Paul, a beautiful and thriving parish in Mankato, Minnesota. Our program is funded through the generosity of private benefactors, and so all students who are accepted have very low tuition costs (and no one is turned away because of an inability to pay). This low cost ensures that all qualified students have the opportunity to attend the school. We believe that there is nothing more precious than a priestly vocation, and want to do everything possible to help young men called to the priesthood to discern their vocation and to preserve it.
Our high school seminary has a special agreement with the
Mother of Divine Grace School, and we base our formation program on their curriculum. Mother of Divine Grace is an independent Catholic school based in California with a classical liberal arts curriculum—it is primarily organized as a home-schooling program, and also works with small independent schools such as ours. The Mother of Divine Grace program has the advantage of offering a well-developed and fully accredited* curriculum that is entirely in conformity with Catholic teaching, while at the same time providing our school with the flexibility necessary with our unique student body—thus we can offer standard high school courses like American & European history, geometry, and biology, while also incorporating more advanced Catholic theology, Church history, Latin or Greek, and other classes particular to the formation of our students. The minor seminary's faculty works with each student on an individual basis according to their particular needs, prior academic formation and grade level. Therefore, most courses are based around independent study and reading in coordination with their teacher, although, of course, there are some classes (for example, language classes) that are taught in a regular classroom setting.
*
Because our program of studies is accredited through Mother of Divine Grace School, students who discern that they do not have a priestly vocation and/or wish to change schools or apply to college can have their coursework from the minor seminary recognized by other high schools and universities.
Our minor seminary wants to ensure that our students are formed not only academically and spiritually, but also affectively; that is, that they are given the opportunity to develop into happy and healthy—as well as holy—men. The students are involved in our parish (Ss. Peter & Paul) in various ways—as altar servers and choir members, as well as interacting with the other youth from the area by taking part in the CYO basketball league and the local Boy Scout troop, among other things. Everyone works together in household chores like cleaning the house (and, of course, their own room!), washing dishes, and doing laundry, but we also spend time in recreation together—playing sports and board games, going on field trips, and even going ice fishing (it gets cold in Minnesota!).
Perhaps most importantly for our community life, we also spend a lot of time praying together: every day we attend Holy Mass, pray the Rosary, and spend time in adoration of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Of course, we also recognize the importance of maintaining close relationships with family, and so our students are encouraged to stay in close touch with their families throughout the academic year, not to mention the 3-week vacation at Christmas, the 2-week Easter break, and summer vacation! The bottom line is that we seek to form our minor seminarians intellectually, spiritually and emotionally, so that they will be good and holy priests, conformed to the image of Christ, who is the High Priest and perfect model not only for all priests, but for all those who aspire to the priesthood.
To see the daily schedule for the minor seminary, click here.
Who is Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio?
As the patron of our minor seminary, we have chosen Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio, a 14 year boy old martyred on February 10th, 1928 during the Mexican revolution, and who was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. We chose Blessed Jose because he personifies—even at a young age—the zeal for Christ and love for the Church that we desire to foster in all of our minor seminarians. His love gave him the strength to resist psychological pressures to renounce his faith, to rekindle the wavering faith of men much older than himself, and even to endure torture. Jose felt that God was calling him to the priesthood (just like many other teenage boys), and although he was called to give his life for Christ before he could ever become a priest, or even enter the seminary, we confidently place our trust in his intercession for the perseverance and the holiness of all the young men in our minor seminary. Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio, pray for us!
If you would like to know more about the life and martyrdom of Blessed Jose,
click here.
Is a High School Seminary Really a Good Idea?
In a word, yes! Minor seminaries are something with a long and venerable tradition. Why? Because the Church has always recognized that God calls whom He wills
when He wills. This often means that those who are called to the priesthood first hear that call in their adolescence or even childhood. In fact, because boys are usually not struggling with the weight of past sins in the way many adult men are, they are even more sensitive to divine grace and thus better able to hear God's call. The Church has always recognized this fact, and has also always understood that boys who are called to the priesthood need an environment that will help nourish and encourage their vocation. Adolescence is perhaps the most crucial period of development in a person—not only physically, mentally, and socially, but also morally and spiritually—and as a result there is no point in one’s life when it is more important to be educated in accord with one’s vocation.
One can point to many aspects of the tradition of the Church as examples of this, but perhaps the most telling arguments can be found in the lives of the saints. Here are a few examples:
*St. Aloysius Gonzaga –17 when he entered the novitiate (he had spent 3 years trying to convince his family to let him enter, and had made a private vow of chastity when he was only 9!)
*St. Dominic Savio – 12 years old when he began studying for the priesthood (with St. John Bosco)
*Blessed Pope John XXIII – 12 years old when he entered the minor seminary
*St. Leopold Mandic – 16 year old when he entered the minor seminary
*St. Maximillian Kolbe – 13 years old when he entered the minor seminary
*St. Pio of Pietrelcina – 15 years old when he entered the novitiate
*Pope St. Pius X – 11 years old when he began instruction with a priest in his town, and 15 when he entered the minor seminary
This list could go on and on, but certainly the above examples are enough to get the point across!
There has never been a saint in the history of the Church who did not agree that the priesthood is the highest vocation to which God can call a young man–it is an incredible grace, and also an awesome responsibility. Sometimes people think that if a young man has a genuine vocation to the priesthood, he should do everything he can think of to "test" it: go out into the world, date for a while, finish college, work a secular job for a while–the more the better, according to that school of thought. But this is a terrible mistake. We know that God calls everyone to holiness, and yet not everyone is a saint! This is because people are easily led astray, and often lose sight of God's will in their lives. This is no less true for those who are called to the priesthood, and so if a boy or a young man feels that God has given him this beautiful vocation, he should not think "How can I delay this?", but rather "How can I guard and protect this marvelous gift that God has given me?" Think what the Church might have lost, think how many souls could have been lost, if St. Pio of Pietrelcina or St. Maximillian Kolbe had decided (or been told by their parents) to date for a few years, and then think about the seminary when they were 21!
Pastores Dabo Vobis (Pope John Paul II)
The following is an excerpt of Pope John Paul II's letter,
"Pastores Dabo Vobis", on the formation of priests. We certainly can't explain the importance of minor seminaries better than John Paul the Great did right here!
The Minor Seminary and Other Forms of Fostering Vocations
As long experience shows, a priestly vocation tends to show itself in the preadolescent years or in the earliest years of youth. Even in people who decide to enter the seminary later on it is not infrequent to find that God's call had been perceived much earlier. The Church's history gives constant witness of calls which the Lord directs to people of tender age. St. Thomas, for example, explains Jesus' special love for St. John the Apostle "because of his tender age" and draws the following conclusion: "This explains that God loves in a special way those who give themselves to his service from their earliest youth."(In Iohannem Evangelistam Expositio, c. 21, lect. V, 2.)
The Church looks after these seeds of vocations sown in the hearts of children by means of the institution of minor seminaries, providing a careful though preliminary discernment and accompaniment. In a number of parts of the world, these seminaries continue to carry out a valuable educational work, the aim of which is to protect and develop the seeds of a priestly vocation so that the students may more easily recognize it and be in a better position to respond to it. The educational goal of such seminaries tends to favor in a timely and gradual way the human, cultural and spiritual formation which will lead the young person to embark on the path of the major seminary with an adequate and solid foundation. "To be prepared to follow Christ the Redeemer with generous souls and pure hearts": This is the purpose of the minor seminary as indicated by the Council in the decree Optatam Totius, which thus outlines its educational aspect: The students "under the fatherly supervision of the superiors - the parents too playing their appropriate part - should lead lives suited to the age, mentality and development of young people. Their way of life should be fully in keeping with the standards of sound psychology and should include suitable experience of the ordinary affairs of daily life and contact with their own families."(Optatum Totius, §3)
Some of our students and faculty with their bishop (emeritus)—Bishop Bernard Harrington—at the Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse. Bishop Harrington himself entered a minor seminary when he was 12 years old.
For more information about the application process, click here!
If you would like to contact us to find out more about the IVE's minor seminary, or would like to receive an application package, please e-mail us
here.
Created on 09/04/2008 08:55 AM by Admin
Updated on 03/30/2010 10:36 AM by Admin
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