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St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
	Entrance to the former Overbrook campus.
Motto	"Exiit qui seminat" ; The sower went forth to sow
Type	Seminary ; Private
Established	June 1832
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic Church
Rector	Keith J. Chylinski
Location	Ambler, Pennsylvania, United States; 40°12′05.9″N 75°13′59.6″W / 40.201639°N 75.233222°W
Website	www.scs.edu

Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary is a Roman Catholic seminary at 1400 Evans Road in Ambler, Pennsylvania, that is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The oldest Catholic institution of higher learning in the Philadelphia region, the school is named after Charles Borromeo, an Italian saint from the Counter-Reformation.^[1]

In August 2024 the seminary moved from its former site in Overbrook to a new campus in the municipality of Lower Gwynedd Township.^[2]

History

St. Charles was founded in June 1832 by Bishop Francis Kenrick in his home on Fifth Street in Philadelphia. On April 13, 1838, it was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to grant academic degrees.^[3] Saint Charles later moved to a building on the corner of Fifth and Prune Streets, then to the rectory of Saint Mary's Parish on Fourth Street. It then moved to a facility on the corner of Eighteenth and Race Streets in Philadelphia.^[4]

In 1863, then Bishop James F. Wood made the first of three property purchases to create a new Saint Charles campus in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia. In September, 1871, the preparatory college and theology divisions were reunited in Overbrook. In December, 1875, Archbishop Wood dedicated the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception on the campus. Later archbishops of Philadelphia have initiated improvements on the Saint Charles campus.

Archbishop Patrick J. Ryan began the construction of the Memorial Library Building
Archbishop Edmond Prendergast oversaw the building of a student residence hall.
Cardinal Dennis Dougherty sponsored the construction of the college building.
Cardinal John O'Hara added an indoor swimming pool.
Cardinal John Krol in 1971 build a residence hall and multi-purpose building dedicated to John Vianney, a 19th-century French saint.

In 2005, the Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua Research Center was established at the Ryan Memorial Library. The building was completely renovated in the process. The buildings that make up the current Theology Division. along with the Ryan Memorial Library. stand at the western end of campus. The College Seminary is located at the eastern end.

For an eleven-year period, the preparatory division of the seminary was located at Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania. The preparatory program was equivalent to the junior and senior years of and four years of college. The high school program was discontinued in 1968. In 1999, an alumnus praised Saint Charles for its liturgical reverence compared to some other US seminaries.^[5] Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, a former archbishop of Philadelphia, lived at Saint Charles in his retirement. Both Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger visited Saint Charles, and Pope Francis stayed there during his 2015 visit to Philadelphia.^[6]^[7]

In 2019, Saint Charles sold its Wynnewood property to Main Line Health. On May 23, 2024, workers moved the historic white cross overlooking the Ben Franklin Parkway at Logan Square, initially erected in honor of Pope John Paul II's 1979 visit to Philadelphia, to the Malvern Retreat House.^[8] Saint Charles moved in August 2024 to its new campus adjacent to Gwynedd Mercy University in Lower Gwynedd, Pennsylvania.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Academics

St. Charles is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. It consists of four divisions:

College Seminary
Theological Seminary
School of Theological Studies
School of Diaconal Formation

In accordance with the Program for Priestly Formation (PPF)[1], the formation program for candidates for the Catholic priesthood complete four stages throughout their time in seminary:

Propaedeutic
Discipleship
Configuration
Vocational Synthesis

Following the propaedeutic stage, a four-year liberal arts curriculum is offered in the college seminary, or a two-year program for those seminarians who have previously earned a bachelor's degree. Both programs are focused in philosophy. This is followed by a four-year curriculum within the Theological Seminary. St. Charles offers the following degrees:

Enrollment

At the start of the 2023–2024 academic year, Saint Charles added 36 new seminarians. The total enrollment of 147 seminarians was studying for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, 12 partner dioceses, and three religious orders. Saint Charles's partner dioceses include:^[12]

The partner religious congregations and orders include:

Vincentians
Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, Norbertines of Daylesford Abbey
Oratory of Saint Philip Neri

List of rectors

Name	Dates served
Francis Patrick Kenrick	1832–1835
Peter Richard Kenrick	1835–1837
Edward Barron	1837–1839
Michael O'Connor	1839–1841
Mariano Maller	1841–1847
John B. Tornatore	1847–1848
Thaddeus Amat y Brusi	1848–1852
John B. Tornatore	1852–1853
William O'Hara	1853–1861
Maurice A. Walsh	1861–1864
James O’Connor	1864–1872
James Andrew Corcoran	1872–1873
Charles P. O’Connor	1873–1879
William Kieran	1879–1886
John Edmund Fitzmaurice	1886–1898
Patrick J. Garvey	1898–1908
Henry T. Drumgoole	1908–1920
Edmond John Fitzmaurice	1920–1925
Joseph M. Corrigan	1925–1936
Vincent L. Burns (1891–1960)	1936–1946
Francis James Furey	1946–1958
John P. Connery	1958–1966
Thomas Welsh	1966–1974
Vincent L. Burns (1926–1997)	1974–1985
Francis X. DiLorenzo	1985–1988
Daniel A. Murray	1988–1994
James Molloy	1994–1999
Michael Francis Burbidge	1999–2004
Joseph G. Prior	2004–2010
Shaun Mahoney	2010–2012
Timothy C. Senior	2012–2022
Keith J. Chylinski	2022–present