The Pontifical French Seminary (La. ''Pontificium Seminarium Gallicum'', Fr.: ''Séminaire Pontifical Français'', It. ''Pontificio'' ''Seminario Francese'') is a

Roman College The Roman College (, ) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school through university level and moved to seve ...

dedicated to training French-speaking

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priests.

History

In 1853 the French bishops held the Council of La Rochelle, where they proposed a plan for a French Seminary in Rome to train priests strongly attached to the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

and able to counteract Gallican ideas. They successfully petitioned

Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

to approve this idea. The seminary opened in 1853 with 12 students under the direction of Lamurien of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, an order which was in charge of the college until 2009. Its first site was the old Irish college near

Trajan's Forum Trajan's Forum (; ) was the last of the Imperial fora to be constructed in ancient Rome. The architect Apollodorus of Damascus oversaw its construction. History This forum was built on the order of the emperor Trajan with the spoils of war f ...

. In 1856 Pius IX assigned to the seminary the Church of Santa Chiara with what had been the adjoining Poor Clare convent, founded in 1560 by St. Charles Borromeo on the ruins of the baths of Agrippa. After the new Italian government evicted the College of Saint Thomas from the convent of

Santa Maria sopra Minerva Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the major Church (building), churches of the Order of Preachers (also known as the Dominicans) in Rome, Italy. The church's name derives from the fact that the first Christian church structure on the site was b ...

in 1873, the College was able to continue after the French seminary's Rector

Tommaso Maria Zigliara Tommaso Maria Zigliara, OP (29 October 1833 – 11 May 1893) was a Corsican priest of the Catholic Church, a member of the Dominicans, a theologian, philosopher and a cardinal. Early life Zigliara was born on 29 October 1833 at Bonifacio a sea ...

offered refuge at the Pontifical French Seminary.Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15759a.htm Accessed 5-24-2011 Santa Chiara was rebuilt on the plan of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires in Paris, in 1883 the monastery was entirely remodeled to suit its present purpose. Leo XIII declared it a

pontifical A pontifical () is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy Orders. While the ...

seminary in 1902. As of the early 1900s there were between 100 and 120 seminarians. Henri Le Floch was the rector in the early 20th century until the late 1920s. Le Floch's support of

Action Française ''Action Française'' (, AF; ) is a French far-right monarchist and nationalist political movement. The name was also given to a journal associated with the movement, '' L'Action Française'', sold by its own youth organization, the Camelot ...

led to his removal at the request of the French government. One of Le Floch's students was Archbishop

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dakar, Archbishop of Dakar from 1955 to 1962. He was a major inf ...

, the founder of the traditionalist Roman Catholic

Society of Saint Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX; ("Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X"), FSSPX) is a canonically irregular traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre was a leading traditionalis ...

, and he attributed his conservatism to the time he spent in the seminary. The first priests belonging to the Society of Saint Pius X were from the French Seminary. In 2009, management of the seminary was transferred from the Spiritans to the Bishops' Conference of France.

College life

Most of the studies are conducted at the

Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyola, and included all ...

. The students are made up both of seminarians and existing priests pursuing further study. The seminary is located in the Via di Santa Chiara. Non-French students are also admitted.

Notable alumni

* Cardinal Louis-Nazaire Bégin, Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of Canada * Archbishop

, Founder of the

* Cardinal Joseph-Charles Lefèbvre,

Archbishop of Bourges In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

* Cardinal Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, Archbishop of Paris * Cardinal Léon-Etienne Duval, Archbishop of Algiers * Cardinal Gabriel-Marie Garrone, Prefect of the

Congregation for Catholic Education The Congregation for Catholic Education (Institutes of Study) () was the pontifical congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for: universities, faculties, institutes and higher schools of study, either ecclesial or non-ecclesiastical depende ...

* Cardinal Alexis-Armand Charost, Archbishop of Rennes * Archbishop Alain Paul Lebeaupin, Apostolic Nuncio to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Paulin Martin Jean-Pierre-Paulin MartinSometimes referred to as Jean P.P. Martin. (20 July 1840 at Lacam-d'Ourcet, Lot – 14 January 1890 at Amélie-les-Bains, Pyrénées-Orientales), often referred to as Abbé Paulin Martin, or simply Abbé Martin or ...

, Biblical scholar * Venerable Leon Dehon, founder of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart

References

;Attribution {{Coord, 41.8977, N, 12.4773, E, source:wikidata, display=title French Catholic Church in France Educational institutions established in 1853 1853 establishments in the Papal States