St. Charles Seminary is a former American

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

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

, founded by the

Missionaries of the Precious Blood The Missionaries of the Precious Blood () is a Catholic community of priests and brothers. The society was founded by Saint Gaspar del Bufalo in 1815. The name "Missionaries of the Precious Blood" is a shortened English translation of the La ...

in 1861 in

Carthagena, Ohio Carthagena ( ) is an unincorporated community in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. Established by African Americans, it was home to an agricultural and industrial boarding school for African American and Indian orphans. It is located at and h ...

. The seminary closed in 1969 and is now a retirement center for clergy and lay people. The seminary, chapel, and five other buildings were added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979.

History

The first buildings on the site of Saint Charles Seminary were the former buildings of the

Emlen Institution Emlen Institution for the Benefit of Children of African and Indian Descent was an agricultural and industrial boarding school for African American and Native American Children in the United States. It was established in a bequest by Samuel Powe ...

, a boarding school for African-American and Native American youth funded from a bequest from Samuel Powers Emlen Jr., a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

. The institute sold its Ohio property and moved to Solebury in 1857. The Missionaries of the Precious Blood had arrived in Ohio in 1844 to begin serving German-speaking settlers living there. In 1861 they purchased 200 acres of land and the former Emlen Institute to serve as a seminary for the candidates to their

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of Religious institute (Catholic), religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from Religious order (Catholic), religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – i ...

, which they then placed under the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of St.

Charles Borromeo Charles Borromeo (; ; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate who served as Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. He was made a Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal in 156 ...

. The current seminary building was constructed over a six-year period in the 1920s. It is a three-story building with a 371-foot frontage, flanked by two 140-foot wings. The chapel was built by the sons of Ohio steepled-church designer Anton De Curtins. The seminary closed in 1969 as a consequence of declining enrollment. Theology students for the congregation now study at

Catholic Theological Union Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was formed in Hyde Park as a union of schools from three Catholic religious institutes and has since been sponsored by 23 institu ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Present day

In order to accommodate the retiring priests and Religious Brothers of the congregation, the former seminary was converted into the St. Charles Center, a retirement home for them. As this need peaked in 1980s and 1990s, the center became converted into a senior living center for lay people as well.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Charles Seminary Catholic Church in Ohio Defunct Catholic seminaries in the United States Seminaries and theological colleges in Ohio 1861 establishments in Ohio Universities and colleges established in 1861 Educational institutions disestablished in 1969 Defunct Catholic universities and colleges in the United States Defunct private universities and colleges in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Mercer County, Ohio Housing for the elderly in the United States Missionaries of the Precious Blood