First Priests Trained in Russia to be Ordained
After 82 years the first Catholic priests to have been trained in Russia will be ordained on Pentecost. The ceremony will be held in St Petersburg on 23 May. This is an historic moment for the universal Church. Until a few years ago, such news would have been absolutely impossible. Today it is a reality.
For Queen of the Apostles Major Seminary, which opened in Moscow on 1 September 1993 and moved to its old site in St Petersburg in 1995, the ordination of these first priests is a great joy.
The five young men were ordained deacons on 31 May 1998, also on Pentecost. Each of these five new priests, as well as each of the over 60 seminarians, has a touching story to tell about his vocation. Here are two of them.
Among the new priests there is one young man who a few years ago took paper and pen and wrote to the Pope. He wanted to know more about Catholicism because he could no longer believe the official lies. Mons. Antonini, rector of the seminary, was informed and contacted this young man, who is now to become a priest.
A second story. Russian television broadcast a programme about one of John Paul II's apostolic visits. A boy from Moscow, whose knowledge of Christianity was limited to what he had been taught in the regime's schools, was fascinated by the Pope's witness. He said to himself: "If he travels around the world to talk about the love of Christ, I must find out who this Christ really is". He met Mons. Antonini. He was converted and entered the seminary.
The major seminary and the Catholic cathedral in St Petersburg are located in one of the four buildings returned in part for worship out of the 50 or so which belonged to the Catholic Church in St Petersburg before the revolution. They include eight of the "main" churches and 10 parish churches.
In Moscow only one building has been returned. It should be explained that during the communist persecution Our Lady of Lourdes in St Petersburg and St Louis of the French in Moscow were never definitively closed or confiscated because they were under the protection of France.
The seminary in St Petersburg was officially recognized as an institute for advanced studies by the Ministry of Higher Education on 29 March 1996. In February 1998, the Holy See declared it an interdiocesan seminary for all of European and Asian Russia. It is in the process of being affiliated with the Pontifical Lateran University.
About 60 students, mostly from Russia but also from other former Soviet republics (Kazakhstan, Moldova, Georgia, Belarus), live and study in this seminary, only the top floor of which has been returned. The rest of the building is still owned by a bank and various firms.
This situation makes living conditions difficult and prevents this university-level institution from expanding, making it impossible at the moment to open the library to the public or to offer theology courses.
The seminary only survives thanks to the donations of Christians, especially in Europe, but also from around the world. Distinguished guests and groups of visitors come from all the continents to visit this institution, the only one of its kind in Russia and an impoverished but effective witness to freedom of conscience.
At the moment the teaching staff includes Russian teachers mostly from the Orthodox Church, Italians, Frenchmen, Argentinians, Americans, Poles, Czechs and so on. Each year teachers from various European universities come here to give courses.
The first Catholic seminary in St Petersburg was opened at the Jesuit College in 1801. Until then the Academy of Vilnius had been functioning since 1579.
In 1842 it was transferred at the tsar's orders from Vilnius to St Petersburg.
The present-day seminary was opened in 1877 in the premises it now occupies, but in 1918 the seminary building was temporarily confiscated to make room for a military hospital. The professors withdrew to Lublin where they helped found the famous Catholic university.
However, the temporary closure soon proved definitive. The authorities did not allow the seminary to be reopened and so it remained closed from 1918 to 1993. On Easter Sunday 1993, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Apostolic Administrator of European Russia, announced his intention to reopen the seminary. The decision was received with joy and trepidation by the Catholic community. On 29 June the decree of its foundation was signed by John Paul II, and on 14 July Archbishop Kondrusiewicz was deeply moved when he received the Pope's gift of a chalice and monstrance for the future seminary chapel.
It was officially opened on 1 September 1993. The rector is Mons. Bernardo Antonini, a priest of Verona. In Moscow there was no building available, so the seminary was set up in premises which had been returned to Immaculate Conception Church. For two years the seminary's community lived in shacks. In the summer of 1995 the Government returned to the Catholic Church part of the third floor of the seminary in St Petersburg. So, on 12 October the seminary returned to its former home. Its official reopening was celebrated on 10 December. Since then there has been a series of historic events. On 9 November 1996 it welcomed the statue of Our Lady of Fatima on pilgrimage in Russia. The Cathedral of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin, which is also the seminary's church and had been closed since 1929, was reopened for worship on 16 February 1997 and was reconsecrated on 24 May 1998.
The seminary has hosted important meetings: from 21 to 23 May 1998 the International Congress on the Family was held there. It was also there that on 31 May 1998 the first Catholic deacons trained in Russia since 1917 were ordained.
The building which houses the seminary in St Petersburg thus has great value. In 1848 the Jesuit College bought the poet Derzhavin's house on the banks of the Fontanka canal along with the adjacent land.
The college moved to this house in 1853, and from 1870 to 1873 the Catholic church was built and gradually enlarged. At that time, the building complex included today's seminary, along with the cathedral and the Bishop's house with the college, surrounded by a large park. The final project included two supplementary wings on each side of the church.
Before the revolution, the church could hold 1,200 people and the faithful in the parish numbered about 15,800.
The seminary building and the Bishop's residence were confiscated in 1918. In 1922 worship in the church was "temporarily" forbidden.
By a decree of 6 June, the church was "liquidated" once and for all and given to various organizations for their use (business firms, jewellers, a bank, offices, etc.).
In 1995 the church was finally returned, although it had been severely damaged. Two storeys had been built, the side chapels had become cement cavities, the frescoes destroyed. It needed complete restoration. Part of the top floor of the seminary was returned. The seminarians themselves, together with the workmen, removed tons of rubble.
People are now waiting for the rest of the building to be returned. In addition to seminary expansion, it would also be possible to open a pastoral coordination centre for all of European Russia, a Catholic secondary school, a library and study centre, all of which have already been planned.
This item 1015 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
