St Francis
Victoria’s first seminary was established in 1849. Six seminarians were taken into the household of Bishop James Alipius Goold, first Bishop of Melbourne. They studied in an unused classroom at St Francis’, Victoria’s oldest Catholic church and Melbourne’s first cathedral.
St Francis’ Church, Melbourne, 1854.
Tinted lithograph drawn by artist Edmund Thomas (1827-1867). Lithographer D. James. State Library of Victoria Collection
St Patrick’s
In 1854 Bishop Goold moved to the site of St Patrick’s Cathedral in East Melbourne. The seminary followed in 1860. In 1864, the seminary and its associated grammar school were entrusted to the care of the Jesuits. In 1889, the seminary was closed, and Victoria’s seminarians all moved to St Patrick’s College in Manly, NSW (as depeicted in the banner photo).
Corpus Christi College: Australia’s oldest seminary
Thirty-three years passed before the Victorian Province would again train its own priests. Corpus Christi College was founded by Archbishop Daniel Mannix on Christmas Day, 1922. This makes it the oldest seminary still operating in Australia, which still keeps its original name.