HISTORY

St. Paul’s Seminary was founded on 8th June 1921 by the Most Rev. Dr. Augustine Faisandier S.J., the then Bishop of Tiruchirappalli, with the view of forming candidates to priesthood for the Diocese of Tiruchirappalli, which then comprised the territory of the present-day Dioceses of Tiruchirappalli, Thoothukudi, Madurai, Palayamkottai, Sivagangai, and Dindigul. It has adopted as its motto the words of the Apostle Paul, “Set apart for the Gospel of Christ” (Rom 1:1). Prior to 1921, the seminarians for the Diocese of Tiruchirappalli were sent to the seminaries in Mangaluru (India) and Kandy (Sri Lanka). But vocations had gradually increased and the additional places needed were not available in the abovementioned seminaries. In the meantime, the Apostolic Letter of Pope Benedict XV, Maximum Illud (1919), had highlighted the need for the formation of truly indigenous clergy in the mission territories. In the light of this Apostolic Letter, it became clear that the abovementioned seminaries, situated in areas that were linguistically and socio-culturally quite different, could not provide the adequate formation for priestly ministry in Tamil Nadu. It is primarily due to these considerations that St. Paul’s Seminary, Tiruchirappalli, came to be established. The Seminary opened with 24 students on 8th June 1921 at Pandamangalam village in a house owned by St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli. It was staffed by the Jesuits of the Madurai Mission. In October the same year, it was shifted to its present site near the Head Post Office, Tiruchirappalli. In 1922, it was accorded canonical status. In 1938, it was made the Provincial Seminary for the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Madurai and its suffragan Dioceses of Tiruchirappalli and Thoothukudi, and in 1963, the Diocese of Kottar was also added. To these were added the Dioceses of Palayamkottai and Sivagangai on their bifurcation from the Archdiocese of Madurai in 1973 and 1987 respectively. To these were also added the Diocese of Dindigul on its bifurcation from

the Diocese of Tiruchirappalli in 2003 and the Diocese of Kuzhithurai on its bifurcation from the Diocese of Kottar in 2014. In the meantime, the Seminary began admitting students from other dioceses of Tamil Nadu, other regions of India, Sri Lanka and from some men religious congregations. From 1991, religious sisters and lay students were also enrolled as full-time students. On 4th December 1975, the theology section of the Seminary was affiliated to the Pontifical Urban University, Rome, thereby enabling the students to obtain Baccalaureate in Theology. Due to the opening of Christ Hall Seminary, Karumathur, on 13th July 1970, by His Grace Justin Diraviam, the then Archbishop of Madurai, for the study of Philosophy at De La Salle College, Karumathur—now Arul Anandar College—in March 1984, the philosophy section of St. Paul’s Seminary was closed down and phased out to Christ Hall Seminary. Initially, Christ Hall Seminary, which is a Provincial Seminary belonging to Madurai Ecclesiastical Province, was receiving seminarians from all the Dioceses of Tamil Nadu and even from the Dioceses of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and North Indian States. All these seminarians were going to the abovementioned college for their philosophical studies. However, in response to the recommendation made by the Apostolic Visitators from the Holy See in the year 1999 to start an autonomous Philosophate, in June 2006, a new Philosophate was started at Christ Hall Seminary itself, and in June 2015, the Philosophate of Christ Hall Seminary has again been integrated as part of St. Paul’s Seminary, Tiruchirappalli. On 29th March 1978, after 57 years of dedicated service, the Jesuits of the province of Madurai handed over the administration of the Seminary to the Bishops of the Madurai Ecclesiastical Province. Some Jesuits of the Madurai province, however, continued to serve on the staff of the Seminary along with diocesan priests until 2002. Over the years, the campus of the Seminary has emerged with many new buildings to provide academic facilities and accommodation for the increasing number of students and staff. Just before the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Seminary in January 1971, class rooms, a large number

of single rooms, refectory, infirmary, community chapel etc., were newly constructed. The former chapel was converted into a three-floor library along with a spacious reading room. Another large reading room was added in 1985. Over the years, the library has gathered a copious collection of books and reviews mostly in English, Tamil, and other languages numbering 73360 (as on 30th April 2021) volumes in various branches of Theology, Philosophy, and other sciences. From 1977, the Seminary has also been publishing Marai Aruvi, a Tamil theological quarterly in collaboration with the other major seminaries of the region. From 1994 up to 2018, a Tamil quarterly by name Aruvi, containing reflections on the daily readings of the Bible, was being published, to enable the faithful to reflect profoundly the Word of God in today’s context. The reason for closing it down was an increase of similar publications in the region. From 1996, Vaiharai a theological quarterly in English is also being published to pursue contextual and experience- based theological reflections on Indian realities. From 2006, Vaiharai comes out now as a biannual journal. On the occasion of the Platinum Jubilee (1921-1996), a post-graduate programme of studies leading to Licentiate in Theology was started and the academic section of the Seminary was promoted by the Congregation for Catholic Education on 8th February 1997 with the Decree No. 280/ 96 as an Institute of Theology—now known as “St. Paul’s Institute of Theology”—with its own Statutes, and received aggregation from the Pontifical Urban University, Rome. On 31st May 2005, the cessation of the aggregation to the Pontifical Urban University was obtained with the view of aggregation to St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bengaluru. The required aggregation with St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute was granted with effect from 23rd July 2009 onwards. Now, in view of making the First Cycle of Theology, comprising of two-year philosophical programme and three-year theological programme, as instructed by Veritatis Gaudium, Art. 74, the Philosophate

of Christ Hall Seminary that was earlier integrated as part of St. Paul’s Seminary in June 2015, is amalgamated with St. Paul’s Institute of Theology from June 2018 onwards. To mark the centenary celebration of the Seminary, at the Institute started online diploma course in Theology in view of educating the Laity, especially the lay evangelizers, the Religious Brothers and the Religious Sisters.The new statutes of St. Paul’s Institute of Theology as per Veritatis Gaudium was approved donec aliter provideatur on August 22, 2022 by the Congregation for the Catholic Education (Prot. No.: 463/2022). In addition, the request of the Board of Administration of St. Paul’s Institute of Theology to upgrade the Institute into autonomous ecclesiastical faculty in view of the Centenary of St. Paul’s Seminary was accepted by the same Congregation on August 22, 2022 (Prot. No.: 642-643/2022; 97-2021; 66-2020). Now the administration of the Institute is working on the requirements put forth by the same Congregation. To facilitate this process, the aggregation of the Institute with St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bengaluru, was renewed by the same Congregation donec aliter provideatur on August 22, 2022 (Prot. No.: 463/2022). Now both the entities – St. Paul’s Seminary and St. Paul’s Institute of Theology – function as independent units, however, both in full conformity with the directives of their respective Congregations—the former with the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the latter with the Congregation for Catholic Education—and both under the authority of the Bishops of Madurai Ecclesiastical Province. Until May 2023, the Seminary / Institute has formed 2032 priests of whom 1,797 were resident students at St Paul’s Seminary. From among the alumni of St. Paul’s Seminary, 25 have been ordained Bishops. The Institute has served the following number of candidates to obtain their academic degrees: B.Th. – 1054, of whom 53 are religious sisters and 19 are lay persons, and L.Th. – 43.