It is based in Lima, Peru, and is the second oldest seminary in the Americas after that of Bogotá, having been founded on December 7, 1591, by then Archbishop Turibius of Mongrovejo.

The seminary was founded on December 7, 1591, by Archbishop Toribio de Mogrovejo seeking to instruct future priests of Lima.

[5] On June 28, 1679 (73 years after the death of the founding archbishop of the Seminary) Pope Innocent XI, through the Laudeamus Bulla, proclaimed the beatification of Toribio de Mogrovejo.

In 1813, Archbishop Bartolomé María de las Heras [es], wishing to give the Seminary the extension it lacked to comfortably contain a greater number of students and establish the same curriculum adopted at the Convictorio de San Carlos, bought the house next to it with his own income and expanded the building, commissioning the work to the priest Matías Maestro [es].

[2][6] In the middle of the 20th century, for the widening of the Abancay street, these cloisters were cut and the Seminary moved to its new location in the district of Magdalena Vieja.