Saint Paul Seminary is the diocesan

minor seminary A minor seminary or high school seminary is a secondary day or boarding school created for the specific purpose of enrolling teenage boys who have expressed interest in becoming Priesthood (Catholic Church), Catholic priests. They are generally ...

for the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh The Diocese of Pittsburgh () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in Western Pennsylvania in the United States. It was established on August 11, 1843. The diocese is a suffragan diocese of the Archdi ...

. It is located in

East Carnegie East Carnegie is a neighborhood located in the West End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, adjacent to the neighborhood of Oakwood. It is a "natural area" with large tracts of wooded land. Most of East Carnegie uses a post office zip ...

, a neighborhood of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It shares a campus with the diocese's pastoral center. The seminary is not a degree-granting institution; seminarians in their collegiate or pre-theological studies attend classes at

Franciscan University of Steubenville Franciscan University of Steubenville is a Private university, private Third Order Regular of St. Francis of Penance, Franciscan university in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. As of fall 2023, the university enrolled 3,750 students in 40 under ...

History

Previous diocesan seminaries

Bishop Michael O'Connor founded Pittsburgh's first diocesan seminary in 1844, the first year of his episcopate. St. Michael Seminary was located in Pittsburgh's

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

neighborhood. It was briefly discontinued for four years (1851–1856), operated for a year in Cambria County, and was finally reestablished in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Glenwood. The seminary definitively closed in 1876 with the tumultuous creation of the Diocese of Allegheny out of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. After 1876, Pittsburgh's diocesan seminarians received instruction at Saint Vincent Seminary in Latrobe.''Catholic Pittsburgh's One Hundred Years'', p. 147 Seminarians during the episcopacy of Hugh C. Boyle, from 1926 to 1945, were allowed to commute to

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( ; also known as Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a Private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of ...

from home. Bishop John F. Dearden, however, ended that practice. Until the creation of Saint Paul's, Pittsburgh seminarians would attend classes at other minor seminaries in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Establishment of Saint Paul's

Saint Paul Seminary occupies the grounds and buildings of the former Saint Paul Orphanage. The campus began its connection with the Pittsburgh diocese with the establishment of the orphanage there on May 27, 1900, on "a plateau at Idlewood between Crafton and Carnegie." The orphanage operated until August 1965, when its operations were combined with those of Holy Family Institute in

Emsworth Emsworth is a town in the Borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, on the south coast of England near the border with West Sussex. It lies at the north end of an arm of Chichester Harbour, a large and shallow inlet from the English Channe ...

. In September 1965, Bishop John Wright founded St. Paul Seminary as a minor, or "transitional," seminary on the same site. Pittsburgh bishop David Zubik sold the diocesan bishop's mansion in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

in favor of a simpler apartment on the seminary's campus in 2007.

Auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

emeritus William J. Winter is also in residence.

Leadership

The following priests have served as rectors of Saint Paul's Seminary since its founding in 1965: Three former rectors,

Edward Burns Edward Fitzgerald Burns (born January 29, 1968) is an American actor and filmmaker. He rose to fame with '' The Brothers McMullen'' (1995), his low-budget independent film that became successful worldwide. His other film appearances include '' ...

, David Bonnar, and

Donald Wuerl Donald William Wuerl (born November 12, 1940) is an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Washington from 2006 to 2018. He previously served as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle (1986 to 1987) and Bishop of Pit ...

have been raised to the order of

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, and

was raised to

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the

Archdiocese of Washington In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

. # Rev. Msgr. Donald W. Kraus (1965–1981) # Rev. Donald W. Wuerl (1981–1985) # Rev. Theodore A. Rutkowski (1985–1986) # Rev. Msgr. William M. Ogrodowski (1986–1990) # Rev. Charles S. Bober (1990–1993) # Rev. Joseph J. Kleppner (1993–1996) # Rev. Edward J. Burns (1996–1997) ''(first term)'' # Rev. David J. Bonnar (1997–2002) # Rev. James A. Wehner (2002–2008) # Rev. Msgr. Edward J. Burns (2008–2009) ''(second term)'' # Rev. Dennis P. Yurochko (2009–2011) # Rev. Joseph M. Mele (2011–2014) # Rev. Brian J. Welding (2014–2017) # Rev. Thomas A. Sparacino (2017–present) The current rector is the Very Rev. Thomas A Sparacino.

References

External links