What exactly does it mean to be a seminarian? Obviously, most people know that a seminarian is a man preparing for the priesthood, but what does preparing for priesthood actually look like? Does it mean prayer and studies all day? And if not, what else does a seminarian do?
Can he play sports or watch TV? And how about seminary rules—can he leave seminary property anytime he chooses? Can he own his own car, eat out watch movies, talk to girls or be friends with other students? And above all, why does a man even want to be in the seminary—can he just not find a girlfriend?
My name is Shaun Haggerty, and I am a senior at St. Thomas from Sisseton, South Dakota, preparing for priesthood at the St. John Vianney Seminary, and I hope to answer some of these questions by giving a little summary of my typical day at the seminary.
As most would expect, I start each day off with prayer. Every morning at 5:30 a.m., I faithfully toll out of bed and put on my dress pants and collar shirt—in accord with the dress code—then go downstairs to make a Holy Hour to the chapel at 6:00 a.m. At 7:00 a.m., one of the four priests, who live at the seminary, will celebrate Mass with Morning Prayer for all 77 of us seminarians, during which we receive the body of Christ!
After Mass, we all hit the main campus, and do a lot of stuff that other university students do like go to classes, eat at the Café, check our mail, exercise, study, watch a bit of TV, check e-mail or take a nap. The classes that I take as a seminarian are philosophy courses, because as a priest one has to know how to clearly explain things to the faithful. I also take many Catholic Studies courses, for obvious reasons.
When I am tired of classes and it’s time to eat, I usually eat at the Café in Murray Herrick and sit by anyone—seminarians or other students, including girls. Then, when I need to work off what I ate, I usually go for a run along the river of play basketball with some of the other seminarians or students. Lastly, when it’s time to study, I like to go to the O’Shaughnessy Library, where I spend about 20-to-30 hours a week studying. All seminarians spend quite a bit of time studying, as we are all required to maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher.
During the day, I can go wherever I need to go, because, yes, I can own a car. However, by 4:45 p.m., I need to be back to the seminary to pray Evening Prayer with all the other seminarians, and by 5:00 p.m. I am eating dinner in Murray Herrick. After dinner, I might visit a nursing home, do my seminary cleaning duty, “bathroom,” work at the receptionist desk, or go to seminary meetings, of which there are many. Lastly, we have curfew at 11:00 p.m. However, usually everyone has lights out by 10:30 p.m.; I am always in bed sleeping by 10:00 p.m., so I can get back up at 5:30 a.m. and start it all over again the next day.
A seminarian’s life is a very busy one. He hardly ever has a minute to waste. One might ask why a young man would want to commit to such a way of life? What is the reasoning? Christ! Growing up, I never wanted to be a priest; I had always envisioned myself being married with about five or six kids, but as I finished my first year of college and dated quite a few different girls, I saw that there was more to life than just what I wanted, but rather what Christ wanted.
Christ is the reason for a man to become a seminarian. A seminarian’s life is centered on Christ, and it is only for Christ that he acts. If you really want to understand a seminarian, look at Christ.
Lastly, I invite all the St. Thomas students as well as their family and friends to come and visit the St. John Vianney Seminary and meet your priests of tomorrow, committed to Christ. Come any Thursday evening for Solemn Benediction and Holy Mass at 7:00 p.m., with fellowship afterwards. We have all kinds of visitors every Thursday evening, so don’t be shy. We are right here on campus just northwest of Ireland Hall. Also, if you really have an itch to see what a seminary looks like inside and out, come for a tour from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Comments
Post new comment