Latin Patriarch Beit Jala Seminary

About the Seminary

The Latin Patriarchal Seminary has welcomed and formed candidates to become diocesan priests in the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and in other dioceses for over a century and a half. Patriarch Giuseppe Valerga founded the Seminary in December 1852 with a truly Catholic vision: to form local Arab Christians and young men coming from abroad to be diocesan priests for the Patriarchal Diocese of Jerusalem. Because of the circumstances the seminary was transferred to Beit Jala on September 7th, 1857. Since July 7, 1936, it has maintained its principal base of operation there.

Life in the seminary has been enriched throughout the years by the care and selfless dedication of religious sisters: the Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo (1921-1929), the Sisters of Saint Dorothy from Vicenza (1929 to 1980), the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy (2008-2013), and now the Servants of the Lord and Our Lady of Matara.

Currently the clergy and staff of the seminary are entrusted with both the minor and the major Seminary. The minor Seminary brings together young people, from all regions of the diocese, who are interested in exploring a vocation to the priesthood. Students in grades 9 through 12 are given a traditional academic formation and are gradually introduced to a life centered on prayer, community and discernment. The rigorous academics in the minor Seminary, along with the spiritual and human formation which the seminarians receive, prepares them to enter the major Seminary or to pursue other studies.

Adopt-a-Seminarian

The Latin Seminary in Beit Jala educates, trains, and forms men to serve as priests for the Roman Catholic community of the Holy Land. The Adopt-A-Seminarian program provides sponsorships of individual men in their journey to ordination. By committing $5000 per year for four years of major seminary formation, the sponsor (an individual or small group) not only gifts the Holy Land with a priest but establishes a personal relationship with a young man who is devoting his life to the people of God in a unique way in a very difficult part of the world.

Formation in the major Seminary is more than just a course of study; rather it is a journey through several distinct stages of development through which the seminarian immerses himself in the spiritual and communal practices which are essential to the Catholic priesthood. Through liturgy, prayer, teaching, and community life, the seminarians learn to live in God’s presence.

The seminary has been affiliated with the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome since May 3, 1967. This affiliation enables the students who complete the program to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Theology. In 2010 the seminary was officially recognized as an Institution of Higher Learning by the Palestinian Ministry of Education; this entails that the Bachelor’s degree awarded to the seminarians is officially recognized by the State of Palestine. The curriculum in the major Seminary comprises a propaedeutic year for spiritual formation, discernment and the study of the French language, two years of philosophy, one year in Saint Joseph’s Seminary (New York), three years of theological studies, a year of pastoral experience and one year for preparation to ordination.

The programs of study and of formation are based on the Ratio Fundamentalis (2017), the Apostolic Exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis, the Ordo of the Pontifical Lateran University, and the Ratio Studiorum of the Seminary which was updated in 2016 and published in the General Academic Calendar. Courses are taught in Arabic, English and French.

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By committing $5000 per year for four years of major seminary formation, the sponsor (an individual or small group) not only gifts the Holy Land with a priest but establishes a personal relationship with a young man who is devoting his life to the people of God in a unique way in a very difficult part of the world.

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Adopt a Seminarian