Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/762

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SEMIDOUBLE


094


SEMINARY


salem, his friend Silvanus of Tarsus, and even St. Hilary, but they were unable to obtain their ends. Basil," Silvanus, and Eleusius, therefore, went as envoys to Constantinople, where a council was held (360j which followed Rimini in condemning ofioiovffioi together with oyuooiJtrioj, and allowed S/xoios alone, without addition. This new phrase was the invention of Acacius of Ca-sarea, who now deserted the ex- tremer .\rians and became leader of the new "Homoean" party. He procured the exile of Mace- donius, Eleusius, Basil, Eustathius, Silvanus, Cyril, and others.

Constantius died at the end of 361. Under Julian the exiles returned. Basil was probably dead. Macedonius organized a party which confessed the Son to be Kard iriura S/ioios, while it declared the Holy Ghost to be the minister and ser\'ant of the Father, and a creature. Eleusius joined him, and so did Eustathius for a time. This remnant of the Semi- arian party held synods at Zele and elsewhere. The accession of Jovian, who was orthodox, induced the versatile Acacius, with Meletius of Antioch and twentj'-five bishops, to accept the Nicene formula, adding an exi^lanation that the Nicene Fathers meant by ofioova-ios merclj^ S/xows /car' ova-Lav. Thus Acacius had taken up the original formula of the Semi- arians. In 365 the Macedonians assembled at Lampsacus under the presidency of Eleusius, and condemned the Councils of Ariminum and Antioch (360), asserting again the likeness in substance. But the threats of the Arian emperor Valens caused Eleusius to sign an .Arian creed at Nicomedia in 366. He returned to his diocese full of remorse, and begged for the election of another bishop; but his diocesans refused to let him resign. The West was at peace imder Valentinian, so the Semiarians sent envoys to that emperor and to the pope to get help. Liberius refused to see them until they presented him with a confession of faith which included the Nicene formula. He seems to have been unaware that the party now rejected the Divinity of the Holy Ghost; but this was perhaps not true of the envoys Eustathius and Silvanus. On the return of the legates, the docu- ments they brought were received with great joy by a sjTiod at Tyana, which embraced the Nicene faith. But another synod in Caria still refused the homoousion. For the rest of the history of the sect, who are now to be called Macedonians, see Pnecmatomachi.

In addition to bibliography under Arianism and Eusebius op Nicomedia, Bishop, see articles Basilius of Ancyra, Eleusius, Eustathius ofSebaste by Venables in Diet .Christ. Biug.; Lichten- BTElN, Eusebius von Nikomedien (Halle, 1903); Looks, Eusta- thius von Sebaste und die Chronologie der Basilius-Briefe (Halle, 1898).

John Chapman.

Semidouble (Semiduplex). See Feasts, Ec- clesiastical.

Seminary, Ecclesiastical. — ^I. Terminology. — The word seminary (Fr. semiruiire, Ger. Seminar) is sometimes us(id, especially in Germany, to designate a group of university students devoted to a special line of work. The same word is often applied in England and the United States to young ladies' acaidemies, Protestant or Catholic. When qualified by the word cccleHinMiail, it is reserved to schools instituted, in accordance with a decree of the Council of Trent, for the training of the Catholic diocesan clergy. It differs therefore from the novitiate and the scholasticate where members of religious orders receive their spiritual and intellectual formation. In the ecclesiastical seminary both go together. Hence, a faculty of theology in a university is not a seminary; neither is the word to be applied to the German Kon- viclus, where eccleBiastical students live together while attending lectures of the faculty of theology in the State universities.


An ecclesiastical seminary is diocesan, interdiocesan, provincial, or pontifical, according as it is under the control of the bishop of the diocese, of several bishops who send there their students, of all the bishops of an ecclesiastical province, or of the Holj' See. A semi- nary which receives students from several provinces or from dioceses in various parts of the country is called a central, or a national, seminary.

A theological seminary {grand seminaire) provides courses in Holy Scripture, philosophy, theology etc., and gives young men immediate preparation for ordi- nation. A preparatory seminary {]Mit seminaire) gives only a collegiate course as a preparation for entrance into the theological seminary. The word seminary when used alone designates either a theolog- ical seminary or a seminary including both the col- legiate and the theological courses.

In this connexion it should be noted tnat the name "college" is sometimes given to institutions which offer no collegiate courses in the usual sense of the term, but receive only ecclesiastics who intend to study philosoph}^ and theology. Su(!h are All Hal- lows College, Drumcondra, Ireland, the Irish col- leges on the Continent, and the various national col- leges in Rome (see respective articles). These are in reality seminaries as regards both instruction and disciphne. On the other hand there are seminaries which provide undergraduate courses as preparatory to philosophy and theology, thus combining in one institution the work of the petit seminaire and that of the grand seminaire.

II. Purpose of Seminary Education. — A semi- nary is a school in which priests are trained. A priest is the representative of Christ among men: his mission is to carrj'^ on Christ's work for the salvation of souls; in Christ's name and by His power, he teaches men what they ought to believe and what they ought to do: he forgives sins, and offers in sacrifice the Body and Blood of Christ. He is another Christ {sacerdos alter Chris(us). His training, therefore, must be in harmony with this high office and consequently different in many ways from the preparation for secular professions. He must possess not only a lib- eral education, but also professional knowledge, and moreover, like an army or navy officer, he needs to ac- quire the manners and personal habits becoming his calling. To teach candidates for the priesthood what a priest ought to know and to make them what a priest ought to be is the purpose of seminary education; to this twofold end everything in the form of studies and discipline must be directed.

III. Life in the Seminary. — When a boy of in- telligence and piety shows an inclination to become a priest, he is scmt after gradual ion from the grammar or high school to pursue a classical course, either in a preparatory seminary or in a Cathohc mixed college where lay as well as ecclesiastical students receive a classical education. This course, successfully com- pleted, prepares him for admission into the theological seminary. The year opens with a retreat of eight or ten days, during which by meditations, conferences, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, recitation of the office, consultations with his spiritual director, his mind and heart are brought under the influence of the great truths of religion, so as to make him realize and feel the importance of his seminary training. Then begins the ordinary routine of the seminary, inter- rupted only by a short recess, usually at the end of the first term, and by the retreats which precede the Christmas and Trinity ordinations. The receptions of Holy orders are the greatest and the most joyful events of the year, for they keep before the mind of the student the goal of all his efforts, the priesthood. During the scholastic year, a day of each week is set apart for a holiday: the morning is devoted to recrea- tion, or to some favourite study; in the afternoon there is usually a walk, and at times the students visit hos-