The Pontifical Roman Seminary (Pontifical Major Roman Seminary) is the diocesan major seminary in Rome, Italy located at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

The Council of Trent in its 23rd session decreed the establishment of diocesan seminaries. Pope Pius IV decided to set a good example, and on 1 February 1565, the Roman Seminary was solemnly opened with 60 students. The rules were drawn up by Diego Lainez, General of the Society of Jesus, and to this order Pius IV entrusted the management of the college. ^[1]

Students attended lectures in the College Romano. The residence was changed several times before 1608, when they settled in the Palazzo Borromeo in the Via del Seminario (now 'Collegio Bellarmino', a residence for Jesuit priests, students at the Gregorian University). Each year, at Pentecost, a student delivered a discourse on the Holy Ghost in the papal chapel.^[1]

After the suppression of the Society of Jesus, in 1773, the seminary was installed in the Collegio Romano of the Jesuits. After the changes in 1798 the number of the students, generally about 100, came down to 9. Pope Pius VII restored the seminary which continued to occupy the Collegio Romano until 1824, when Pope Leo XII returned this building to the Jesuits and transferred the seminary to the Palazzo di Sant'Apollinare, formerly occupied by the Collegio Germanico; the seminary, however, retained its own schools comprising a classical course, and a faculty of philosophy and theology, to which in 1856 a course of canon law was added. The direction of the seminary and, as a rule, the chairs were reserved to the secular clergy. After the departure of the Jesuits in 1848 the seminary again removed to the Collegio Romano.^[1]

The Collegio Cerasoli with four burses for students of the Diocese of Bergamo endowed by Cardinal Cerasoli, is connected with the seminary. The students take part in the ceremonies in the church of the Seminario Pio.

By order of Pope Pius X, a new building for the seminary was constructed near the Lateran Basilica.

Gregory XV, Clement IX, Innocent XIII, Clement XII, and John XXIII received part of their formation in this seminary.

On 28 October 1958, the election of Angelo Roncalli, a former pupil of the Roman Seminary, as Pope John XXIII was a source of joy for the seminary community. John XXIII expressed his appreciation and support for the Seminary by visiting it on 27 November 1958, just one month after his election as Pope.

In 2013 the enrollment was seventy seminarians.^[2] The course of study is six years. The first two years correspond to philosophy studies oriented to self-understanding and discernment, and to understanding the self and the vocation. In the third year the seminarian takes the formal decision to enter Orders. In the remaining three years (lectorate, acolythate, diaconate) the role of the pastor is gradually emphasized.Twice a week students paticipate in pastoral activities in Rome in parishes, hospitals, prisons, and centers of assistance.^[3]

The patroness of the Pontifical Major Roman Seminary is the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Madonna della Fiducia. Pope John Paul II started the custom of the Pope's visit to the seminary on her feast day, the last Saturday before Lent.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Roman Colleges". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

• Pontificio Seminario Romano Maggiore
• Pope Benedict XVI, Lectio Divina at the Pontifical Major Roman Seminary, 8 February 2013

More information on the Seminary (Pontificio Seminario Romano Maggiore) and its history is available at its website in Italian @ http://www.seminarioromano.it/ and in English translation @ http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.seminarioromano.it/&ei=W9AAT4X2L8HX0QGdspC5Ag