Administration

Initially started as the Diocesan Seminary of Mangalore, the Seminary became an Interdiocesan Institution when the Mangalore diocese was bifurcated into Mangalore and Calicut dioceses in 1923.When the Seminary celebrated its centenary, not of its establishment, but of its reorganisation under the Jesuits, the then Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr Pedro Arrupe of holy memory, visited the Seminary on 11th January 1980, and, on that occasion uttered these prophetic words: “We are aware that the goal or future of our work for the seminaries is to be achieved under the direction of the Bishops and of the secular clergy, because, as the Council says, if it is possible, it is good to have Bishops and secular clergy forming the secular priests who obviously know what they require.”
Moved with this desire to facilitate the assumption by the diocesan clergy of their rightful role in the formation of the diocesan seminarians, the Karnataka Jesuit Province through their Superior General, requested the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples to be relieved of the administrative responsibility of the Seminary. By its Decree dated 15th July 1992, the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples authorized the transfer of administration of the Seminary from the Society of Jesus to the Interdiocesan (Mangalore & Calicut) Board of Administration with effect from 1st June 1995. First of June 1995 has gone down as a great event in the history of St Joseph’s Interdiocesan Seminary. On that day the Society of Jesus who had carefully looked after the formation of the Students to priesthood for 116 years, handed over the administration to the diocesan clergy of Mangalore and Calicut. With the creation of Kannur Diocese in the year 1999, the Bishop of Kannur also was made the Member of the Board of Administration. With the creation of Udupi Diocese in the year 2012, the Bishop of Udupi also was made the Member of the Board of Administration. Another milestone in the history of our Seminary was the completion of 125 years of its existence on the 11th January 2004. Now we march forward with the greater commitment and determination towards the formation of future priests.