St Joseph's College was founded in 1880 by Bishop Bernard O'Reilly to be the Seminary serving the North West of England. The college was formally opened in 1883 and was situated in Walthew Park, the geographic centre of the Diocese of Liverpool.
The first Junior Seminary of the Diocese was founded at St Edward's College in 1842 as a Catholic 'classical and commercial school' under the direction of the secular clergy and was established in Domingo House, a mansion in Everton. Its President for the next forty years was to be Monsignor Provost John Henry Fisher. When the junior seminarians moved to St Joseph's in 1920 the school was taken over by the Christian Brothers and continues to this day and now serves as the Liverpool Cathedral Choir School. In recognition of the heritage owed to St Edward's College one of the two chapels at Upholland was consecrated as the St Edward the Confessor Chapel.
St. Joseph’s was one of two main seminaries serving the north of England. St Jo's served the northwest, Ushaw College the northeast. For many years, each of these institutions housed both a junior and a senior seminary. The junior seminaries provided a secondary education in a semi-monastic environment to boys aged 11–18 who wished to pursue the priesthood, while the senior seminaries trained adult candidates (mostly aged between 18 and 24) in philosophy and theology as they prepared for the priesthood. A detailed account of daily life in the junior seminary at St Jo's during the 1960s was published in 2012. This account also explores the reasons why the Church's traditional form of seminary training may have predisposed certain priests to molest children, which was one of the key findings of a major investigation conducted on behalf of American bishops into the causes of the sexual abuse crisis within the US Catholic Church.
Although it flourished until the 1960s, the rapidly changing social climate in that decade led to a sharp drop in enrolment. In the early 1970s, the northern bishops decided to consolidate the activities of St Jo's and Ushaw; from 1972 all junior seminarians in the north attended St Jo's, and from 1975 all senior seminarians attended Ushaw. Even as the sole junior seminary for the north of England, however, St Jo's continued to suffer a decline in enrolment, and by the 1980s was no longer a traditional seminary but a "boarding school for boys considering a vocation". In 1986 the total number of students was down to 82, of whom only 54 were Church students, and it was no longer viable to educate them on the premises. From 1987 the remaining students attended St. John Rigby College in nearby Orrell for their schooling, an arrangement that continued until the very last of these students left St Jo's in 1992.
visited with Ridds jo and my good wife
possibly one of my favorite things ive done for a long while, seen plenty of reports but nothing beats actually seeing it in bricks and mortar, my pictures are not the best but we kind of went back to basic with more time exploring and less time lugging gear around and standing behind a camera, for me that was much more enjoyable.
while up on the roof the bell rang out, made us stop in our tracks, lesson here dont fiddle about with the clock mechanism
The first Junior Seminary of the Diocese was founded at St Edward's College in 1842 as a Catholic 'classical and commercial school' under the direction of the secular clergy and was established in Domingo House, a mansion in Everton. Its President for the next forty years was to be Monsignor Provost John Henry Fisher. When the junior seminarians moved to St Joseph's in 1920 the school was taken over by the Christian Brothers and continues to this day and now serves as the Liverpool Cathedral Choir School. In recognition of the heritage owed to St Edward's College one of the two chapels at Upholland was consecrated as the St Edward the Confessor Chapel.
St. Joseph’s was one of two main seminaries serving the north of England. St Jo's served the northwest, Ushaw College the northeast. For many years, each of these institutions housed both a junior and a senior seminary. The junior seminaries provided a secondary education in a semi-monastic environment to boys aged 11–18 who wished to pursue the priesthood, while the senior seminaries trained adult candidates (mostly aged between 18 and 24) in philosophy and theology as they prepared for the priesthood. A detailed account of daily life in the junior seminary at St Jo's during the 1960s was published in 2012. This account also explores the reasons why the Church's traditional form of seminary training may have predisposed certain priests to molest children, which was one of the key findings of a major investigation conducted on behalf of American bishops into the causes of the sexual abuse crisis within the US Catholic Church.
Although it flourished until the 1960s, the rapidly changing social climate in that decade led to a sharp drop in enrolment. In the early 1970s, the northern bishops decided to consolidate the activities of St Jo's and Ushaw; from 1972 all junior seminarians in the north attended St Jo's, and from 1975 all senior seminarians attended Ushaw. Even as the sole junior seminary for the north of England, however, St Jo's continued to suffer a decline in enrolment, and by the 1980s was no longer a traditional seminary but a "boarding school for boys considering a vocation". In 1986 the total number of students was down to 82, of whom only 54 were Church students, and it was no longer viable to educate them on the premises. From 1987 the remaining students attended St. John Rigby College in nearby Orrell for their schooling, an arrangement that continued until the very last of these students left St Jo's in 1992.
visited with Ridds jo and my good wife
possibly one of my favorite things ive done for a long while, seen plenty of reports but nothing beats actually seeing it in bricks and mortar, my pictures are not the best but we kind of went back to basic with more time exploring and less time lugging gear around and standing behind a camera, for me that was much more enjoyable.
while up on the roof the bell rang out, made us stop in our tracks, lesson here dont fiddle about with the clock mechanism
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