Seminary

[1] The English word is taken from Latin: seminarium, translated as 'seed-bed', an image taken from the Council of Trent document Cum adolescentium aetas, 'Since the age of adolescence' which called for the first modern seminaries.

The establishment of seminaries in modern times resulted from Roman Catholic reforms of the Counter-Reformation after the Council of Trent.

[3] These Tridentine seminaries placed great emphasis on spiritual formation and personal discipline as well as the study, first of philosophy as a base, and, then, as the final crown, theology.

[5] In the United States, Protestant institutions also widely adopted the term 'seminary' for independent graduate schools (separate from a university) to train their ministers.

General guidelines for seminary formation are set out in the governing document as of 2016 is Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, 1992's Pastores dabo vobis, and the Code of Canon Law.

Often a diocese might be attached to or affiliated with a larger Catholic college or university so that the larger college and its faculty provides more general education in history or theology while the seminary focuses on topics specific to the needs of future priests, such as training in canon law, the sacraments, and preaching, or specific to the particular order or diocese.

These colleges usually award degrees to seminarians and priests pursuing further education and specializing in specific fields such as Scripture, hagiography, moral theology, or Canon Law, among countless others.

As outlined by the Ratio, Catholic seminary formation is composed of four major components, or dimensions: human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral.

The human dimension focuses on the seminarian's ability to relate to others, show etiquette, and care for himself (in what he eats, frequency of exercise, healthcare, etc.).

DTS has campuses in Dallas, Houston, and Washington, D.C., as well as extension sites in Atlanta, Austin, San Antonio, Nashville, Northwest Arkansas, Europe, and Guatemala, and a multilingual online education program.