History

Early History

The Diocese of St. Louis was established in 1826 in the upper half of the Louisiana Purchase territory.  The first bishop, Bishop Joseph Rosati, C.M., had the seminary students of his new diocese share the facilities of the Vincentian Fathers at St. Mary of the Barrens Seminary, the first seminary west of the Mississippi River, in Perryville, MO.  In 1842, the diocesan Major Seminary acquired an identity of its own when Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick (in 1847, named Archbishop) transferred his seminarians to a Vincentian house in St. Louis.  In 1858 the Archdiocesan Seminary was transferred to St. Vincent’s College in Cape Girardeau, MO, with the hopes of establishing a regional seminary there, but with the outbreak of the Civil War, this dream went unrealized.  Although no major battles of the war took place in Cape Girardeau, there were enough military maneuvers to cause concern.  Enrollment dropped, and Archbishop Kenrick began to send his seminarians to other locations.

In 1893, Archbishop John Kain presided at the re-opening of the philosophy and theology departments of the Archdiocesan Seminary.  The new Seminary, located at 19th Street and Cass Avenue in St. Louis, was the first to bear the name Kenrick Seminary.  By 1915 a new seminary was needed, and Archbishop John Glennon (in 1946, Cardinal Glennon) opened a new Kenrick Seminary on Kenrick Road in what is now called the city of Shrewsbury.  The College Seminary moved to a location on Washington Avenue. 

In 1931, the first St. Louis Preparatory Seminary opened at 5200 Glennon Drive at the present site of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.  The facility housed the last two years of high school and four years of college.  (The first two years of high school were at Cathedral Latin School on Washington Avenue.)  In 1947, Archbishop Joseph Ritter (in 1961, Cardinal Ritter) closed Cathedral Latin School and established six-year programs in two Archdiocesan seminaries.  St. Louis Preparatory Seminary thus comprised four years of high school and two years of college, while Kenrick comprised two years of college and four years of theology.

In 1957, Archbishop Ritter opened a seminary high school on the same grounds of Kenrick and Prep.  Simultaneously, he effected a division of the Archdiocesan Seminary system into three separate institutions.  The new St. Louis Preparatory Seminary was a four-year high school.  The old Prep on Glennon Drive became a four-year college to be known as Cardinal Glennon College, fully accredited in 1961.  Kenrick Seminary continued as a four-year theologate.

Recent History

In 1987, Archbishop John May made the determination to consolidate the seminary system of the Archdiocese.  Kenrick Seminary moved from its location on Kenrick Road to the Cardinal Glennon College building on Glennon Drive, the present Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.  Kenrick School of Theology retained its status as a freestanding school of theology.  The College closed its freestanding undergraduate program of philosophy and established a collaborative model program in conjunction with St. Louis University.  Cardinal Glennon College seminarians attend the majority of classes at St. Louis University and reside at the seminary for human, spiritual, and pastoral formation.

In 2007, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke announced a change in the program of study and formation for college and pre-theology seminarians.  At the beginning of the 2007-2008 academic year, all philosophy and undergraduate theology classes will be taught at Cardinal Glennon College of Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.   A collaborative agreement will continue whereby, under ordinary circumstances, the first two years of study for a college seminarian will focus upon general classes of a liberal arts curriculum (history, literature, mathematics and natural science, social and behavioral sciences, foreign languages, communication skills and the fine arts) at Saint Louis University, as described in the Program of Priestly Formation, Fifth Edition, 2006, of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  The final two years of intellectual formation will focus upon the study of philosophy, taught at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, which will award the Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy after successful completion of the program. 

The Archdiocese of St. Louis has a rich history of educating men in formation for the priesthood.  Cardinal Glennon College Seminary continues that tradition of providing an environment of spiritual, intellectual and personal development for the young man who is discerning a call to the priesthood of Jesus Christ.