Overview

Welcome to the website of Saint Patrick’s College Maynooth. Those of you who are embarking upon your first visit to our seminary website you are especially welcome.

Rooted in the apostolic community gathered around Jesus Christ, the Seminary seeks to form future priests who will hand on the life and joy of the Gospel and the tradition of the Church’s faith in the mission of the new evangelisation well into the future. It is important to recognise that “to live in a seminary which is a school of the gospel, means to follow Christ as the apostles did” (Saint John Paul II).

The seminary is more than a building; it is a community of formation. Indeed, “one does not become a priest on one’s own. The community of disciples is essential, the fellowship of those who desire to serve the greater Church” (Pope Benedict XVI).

In Ireland today those who minister as priests are invited to collaborate with members of the lay faithful who are co-responsible in the service of the kingdom. It is essential that “they be offered formation in the proper understanding of the participation of the lay faithful in the exercise of the sacred ministry.” (National Directory for. Catechesis in Ireland, Share the Good News).

The, goal of priestly formation in St Patrick’s National Seminary is to form other-centred men of prayer and wisdom, after the heart of Christ, who possess the necessary interpersonal skills so that they can truly “be shepherds living with the smell of the sheep” (Pope Francis). The life of the priest is essentially a life of service. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us “the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood. It is directed at the unfolding of the baptismal grace of all Christians.”

It is to this work of priestly formation, in fidelity to the Gospel and the teaching of the Church, that St Patrick’s National Seminary is dedicated.