More than 200 graduates from 15 states helped celebrate 100 years of seminary formation at Nazareth Hall — and then St. John Vianney College Seminary — in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
They gathered for Mass Aug. 4, presided by Bishop Emeritus Richard Pates, a 1965 Nazareth Hall graduate who served as SJV’s third rector from 1981 to 1987. Father Jonathan Kelly, current SJV rector, delivered the homily. He reflected on inheriting a healthy and vibrant college seminary in 2021 in St. Paul, when Archbishop Bernard Hebda appointed him as the ninth rector.
“There is such a strong foundation of those who have gone before us,” Father Kelly said. “We simply want to reconnect our loyal but somewhat untapped group of alumni with St. John Vianney and with each other.”
More than 600 SJV alumni serve as priests today. Fifty-five clergy alumni — including four bishops, four former rectors and four priests — celebrating more than 60 years of priesthood joined the congregation for Mass and a parking lot pig roast.
The event included a tour of a 20,000-square-foot addition to the seminary completed this summer, including a renovated chapel, priest residence spaces, guest rooms, interactive classroom and spaces for woodcarving, music practice, exercise and leisure.
