In 1939 the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith sent an official instruction advising New Zealand to establish a minor seminary.
A year later the issue was raised again when the Apostolic Delegate visited Holy Cross College and suggested the establishment of a minor seminary on the same site.
[3] The seminary was opened in February 1947 by Archbishop Panico[2] the Apostolic Delegate, who came over from Sydney, and with members of the New Zealand hierarchy and the Prime Minister Peter Fraser in attendance.
[4] Their arrival (with the Apostolic Delegate[1]) in New Zealand was dramatic as their ship, MS Wanganella, went aground on Barrett Reef at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, and they had to be rescued.
[4] One student described the best things about the seminary in 1958–59 as: "superb sporting facilities – footy fields, tennis courts, a fullsize billiards table and a room around it straight out of Empire clubland, cricket pitches, running track, gardening even – the three square meals a day cooked by the nuns, the scholastic brio, the great library, the mateship of minds directed to the single purpose of serving God, the sublime plain chant of Mass";[5] and he described Easter as: "Midnight Mass for one-and-three-quarter-hours.
[7] On Friday 12 July 2019 fire destroyed about thirty percent of the building with news reports that the chapel and the two wings survived.