Seminary priests were

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priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

who were trained in

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seminaries A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

or houses of study on the

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after the introduction of laws forbidding Roman Catholicism in Britain. Such Seminaries included that at Douay, from 1568, and others at

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from 1579,

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from 1589,

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from 1592, St Omer (later at

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and Liège) from 1593, and Lisbon from 1628. The English College at Douai was transferred to

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during the years 1578–1593. The term "seminary priest" distinguishes these men especially from those trained at an earlier period in England. In particular, those ordained in the time of

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are often called "

Marian Priests Marian Priests is a term is applied to those Roman Catholicism in England and Wales, English Roman Catholic priests who were ordained in or before the reign of the Catholic Mary I of England, Queen Mary (1553–1558) and who survived into the reign ...

". These latter priests and others ordained at a still earlier period were not "seminary priests" in any sense because in the

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of their day the system of training priests in seminaries had not yet been introduced. The institution of seminaries followed the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described ...

. The first of the seminary priests to die for his faith was Saint Cuthbert Mayne and for this he is sometimes referred to by the title of "protomartyr of the seminary priests".

References

Catholic ecclesiastical titles History of Catholicism in England Catholic Church in England and Wales {{RC-stub

See also

References