Um dia no seminário
Routine at the Seminary
06:00
Get up
When the alarm sounds in the seminary hallways, it is 6 a.m., and each seminarian has 25 minutes to make a brief offering of their day to their Creator, wash, dress, and go to the chapel.
06:25
Prayer - Lauds - Mass
Since the life of a priest is to unite God and humanity, seminarians, future priests, should earnestly strive to orient their entire being towards God. Therefore, the day begins with half an hour of private prayer, followed by Lauds, the praise of the Lord God.
07:15
Mass - Thanksgiving
The community Mass is sung on second-class feast days and on the first Fridays of the month, and solemnly celebrated on first-class feast days. During this time, the seminary priests celebrate their private Mass in the different oratories of the house.
08:00
Breakfast
The nourishment of the soul is followed by the nourishment of the body, which is indispensable for the good health of the seminarians. “Mens sana in corpore sano” – a healthy mind in a healthy body – as the saying goes. In order to maintain the remembrance that follows Holy Communion, breakfast is taken in silence between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m.
08:40 - 12:00
Classes
The first classes begin at 8:40 a.m. and last 45 minutes each. They are divided into cycles: one year of spirituality, a two-year cycle of philosophy followed by four years of theology. The training is dense and diverse: philosophy, theology, exegesis, liturgy, Church history, canon law, Latin, Greek, etc.
12:15 - 12:30
Sixth Hour
At midday, the community gathers again to recite the Office of Sext and the Angelus in the seminary chapel.
12:30
Lunch
Lunch, like all other meals, is normally taken in silence, except on Sundays and holidays, and on Wednesdays at noon. The silence lasts until the beginning of dessert, while the reader of the week performs their duty, reading aloud to the community a book or article chosen by a professor.
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Recreation
The hour following lunch is a time of relaxation during which the seminarians take the opportunity to go for a walk and chat, read, or play table football or table tennis.
2:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Study
After an optional half-hour nap, the afternoon is usually reserved for personal study or some classes. Depending on the day of the week and the year of study, seminarians will work in their rooms, go to the library, or take a language course (first Latin, then Greek, and finally Hebrew).
This study time is interrupted at 4 PM for a quarter-hour fraternal snack.
18:30
Eve
When the day's work ends at 6:00 PM, the first-year seminarians go to the chapel for more personal meditation on their priestly vocation. It is a moment of silence and surrender, face to face with God in prayer. At 6:30 PM, all the seminarians gather again to sing Vespers in communion with the whole Church. On Wednesdays, the singing of Vespers is replaced by the recitation of the Rosary.
7:00 PM
To have lunch
Just like lunch, dinner is served in silence, punctuated by the reading of a saint's life.
7:30 PM
Recreation
A new recreational period precedes, twice a week, a spiritual conference given either
either by one of the priests from the seminary, or by a priest visiting Wigratzbad.
20:10
Complete and the
great silence of the night
At 8:15 p.m. (or 8:45 p.m. on conference nights), the entire seminary gathers to sing and pray to God.
To confess the offenses of the day and to give thanks once again for all the blessings received. That is the office.
Compline marks the end of the day and the beginning of the great silence of the night. It is a final moment.
privileged to entrust to God and Our Lady, in the calm and darkness of the night, the intentions
from our hearts.
Thus ends the seminarian's day, with praise to God, the only True Good.