Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary,
Overbrook
www.scs.edu
Spiritual Year
Introduction
Following the call of the 2016 Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis1, for a
“propaedeutic stage” as “necessary and mandatory” (Introduction, §3), the Spiritual Year
of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary is a preparatory phase of formation for seminarians
intended to precede core philosophical studies. The Spiritual Year offers formation
intentionally in a smaller community setting to provide “a solid basis for the spiritual life
and to nurture a greater self-awareness for personal growth" (Ratio, #59).
Key goals of the Spiritual Year include the opportunity for the seminarian to enter deeply
into solitude so as to solidify his self-knowledge of his vocational calling, and to
profoundly affect the seminarian’s interiority with the heart of Christ.
Utilizing all dimensions of priestly formation—human, intellectual, pastoral, and
spiritual—this one-year program strives for a life-experience which will allow the
seminarian to “find God in all things.” The “stillness” of the year—freed from academic
grades—aims at fostering a monasticism of the heart to remain with the candidate through
ordination and throughout priestly life.
1Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis—The Gift of the Priestly Vocation. Vatican City:
L’Osservatore Romano, 8 December 2016.
Spiritual Formation
Since “spiritual formation is personal union with Christ, which is born of, and nourished
in a particular way by prolonged, silent prayer,” a holy hour with exposition of the
Blessed Sacrament occurs each morning, with a weekly group lectio divina discussion
(Ratio, #102).
The celebration of the Mass occurs in the middle of the day as a reminder of its centrality.
The Hours of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer are prayed in common.
Conferences on the Blessed Mother aim to allow the seminarian to realize Mary’s role in
forming a priestly heart after her Son. The rosary and stations of the cross are prayed
regularly in community. A pilgrimage is made in both the Fall and Spring semesters.
• Seminarians are prepared for both preached
and directed retreats. The year culminates
with a 30-day Ignatian Exercises retreat.
• The seminarian is required to have a regular
spiritual director, meeting frequently to
process personal prayer and relationship with
God.
• As a means of separating from the noise of
the world, the Spiritual Year includes a
media fast. Phones, television, computers,
popular media and other electronic devices
are not used Monday through Friday. All day
Saturday, the media fast is lifted. On
Sundays, a modified media fast is practiced.
Intellectual Formation
Methods of Prayer
Ignatian Discernment
Priestly Identity
Celibacy
Liturgy of the Hours
Salvation History
Theology of the Body
Christian Anthropology
Marian Conferences
Communication skills
Vatican II Documents
Psychology
Emphasizing the need for a “sufficiently broad knowledge
of the doctrine of the faith,” (Ratio, #156) and that
“relationship with the Word of God holds a prominent
place” (Ratio, #103), the core courses of Scripture,
Catechism, and Spirituality & Spiritual Classics, meet
once and every week. A central assignment is a complete
reading of both the Bible and the Catechism. The
Formative Relational Topics and Spiritual Formation
courses include the following topics:
Core Courses
• Scripture
• Catechism
• Spirituality &
Spiritual Classics
Grades are not assigned; however, classroom participation and one synthetic essay per
semester will be used to gauge the student’s ability to integrate coursework with prayer.
Pastoral Formation
As a way of cultivating “missionary zeal,” and “practicing his spiritual fatherhood
fruitfully,” each seminarian embarks on a month-long immersion program which begins
the second semester (Ratio, #33). Seminarians are sent forth in pairs to travel simply,
and serve the poor. This experience provides a concrete shedding away from materiality
which can so easily mask the interior. In addition, during the normal course of the year,
one afternoon per week is spent in field education.
Human Formation
Solid human formation requires all those characteristics that enable the candidate to be a
“man of communion,” who has a “basic human and spiritual serenity” (Ratio, #41). The
Spiritual Year promotes being a gift to others through communal living in a distinct
house. Seminarians experience opportunities for genuine Christian etiquette, courtesy,
and the need to accept the responsibility of maintaining good order and cleanliness.
Various human formation talks include the following: community living, recreation &
leisure, communication techniques, the role of silence in our lives, and Christian man-
hood with St. Joseph as model.
Through both a regular work hour and house job, each seminarian is afforded the
opportunity to serve the community, working with different Spiritual Year seminarians
on a rotating basis, which is one way “meant to overcome all kinds of individualism, and
to foster the sincere gift of self” (Ratio, #63).
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary offers the opportunity for seminarians to grow through
counseling. Seminarians are free to receive accompaniment in their formation by
approaching the resident priest-counselor in the internal forum. The director of the
Spiritual Year accompanies the seminarian as his formation advisor in the external forum.
Pattern of Life The daily schedule for the Spiritual Year is focused on
providing ample time for prayer and active reflection.
Interior time is the opportunity for the seminarian to
choose among studying, reading, prayer and
constructive communal conversation.
• Afternoons will always include time for
recreation.
• Evenings will vary from a communal movie
(Sunday evenings), to group lectio divina, to
recreation time.
• No workshops take place on Saturdays. This is a
day for “recreation.” The seminarian is free after
morning Mass for the whole day until evening,
with the goal of spending this leisure day in a
productive way for human growth.
• On Wednesdays, the Spiritual Year seminarians
will join the greater St. Charles Seminary
community for Mass and dinner.
• Fridays are communal adventure days. Communal
activities range from a shrine visit, to a museum,
to a picnic, to a nature hike. Opportunities to
experience both history and the arts are also
included in the Friday outings throughout the
year.
Eucharistic adoration through the night happens from
Saturday night into Sunday morning, whereby the
seminarian receives one hour to enter into the hopeful
expectation of the Resurrection each week in deep
communion with the Blessed Mother.
6:15—7:30am Eucharistic,
Adoration,
Morning Prayer,
& Benediction.
7:30am Breakfast
8:00—9:30am Interior Time:
Reading &
Studying
9:30—11:30am Class
11:45am Mass
12:30pm Lunch
1:00pm Work Hour
2:00pm Recreation/
Free Time
5:30pm Evening Prayer
5:45pm Dinner
6:40pm Rosary
7—9:00pm Discretionary
Time, Varies by
Day
9:00pm Night Prayer
Grand Silence
General Calendar
Late August
Early October
November 1 - 3
November 4
Mid-November
Late November
Late December
Early January
February
March - April
Spring
Early May
Mid-May - June
Opening Day
Three-day Preached Retreat
Forty Hours at St. Charles Seminary Main Campus
Patronal Feast Day—St. Charles Borromeo
Fall Pilgrimage (day-trip)
Thanksgiving Break
Fall Synthetic Essay and Christmas Break
Return from Christmas Break & depart for Immersion Program
Return from Immersion Program / Five-Day Directed Retreat
Holy Week and Easter Break
Spring Pilgrimage
Spring Synthetic Essay
30-day Ignatian Exercises Retreat
To maintain the integrity of the Spiritual Year program, enrollment is
limited. For more information please contact:
Reverend Christopher Cooke
(484) 344-5796
Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary
Overbook 100 East Wynnewood Road
Wynnewood, PA 19096
www.scs.edu
Front cover: Depiction of the Holy Spirit, by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, in the apse of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
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