St. John Vianney Seminary

St. John Vianney Seminary

St. John Vianney Seminary as seen from the Upper Quad at the University of St. Thomas
Motto	Men in Christ. Men of the Church. Men for Others.
Type	Private, Diocesan Seminary
Established	1968
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic
President	Archbishop Bernard Hebda
Vice-president	Very Rev. Michael Becker
Rector	Very Rev. Michael Becker
Students	135
Address	2110 Selby Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, United States
Campus	Suburban
Sponsoring diocese	Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
Nickname	SJV
Mascot	Lobster
Affiliations	ATS
Website	www.vianney.net

St. John Vianney Seminary (often referred by its initials of SJV) is a Roman Catholic college seminary located on the campus of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. The seminary's mission is "to provide basic training today for tomorrow's Catholic priests." Seminarians undergo a four-year program of spiritual conferences and individual spiritual direction in order to help them grow strong in their Catholic faith and vocational discernment. The major seminary affiliated with it, the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity, is on the other side of the campus of the University of St. Thomas.

The seminary was founded in 1968. Before the current building was built, the seminary spent several years in Loras Hall, then Brady Hall on the University of St. Thomas campus. The current rector of the seminary is the Very Rev. Michael Becker. Fr. Becker was appointed rector in 2010 by Archbishop John Nienstedt.

As of 2013, the seminary is the largest college seminary in the United States with over 130 seminarians and 27 sponsoring dioceses. The seminarians at SJV represent about 10% of all college seminarians in the United States.

Since its founding, over 400 alumni have been ordained to the Catholic priesthood.

The seminary has had eight rectors since its founding.

St. John Vianney Seminary is present on the University of St. Thomas campus in many ways.

Last Chance Mass is an outreach offered by the seminary to the students of the University of St. Thomas and the surrounding community. Every Sunday night at 9pm, Mass is offered in the SJV chapel to the general public by Fr. Michael Becker, with refreshments following. It was originally for the football players of the University of St. Thomas.

When Coach Glenn Caruso took over the University of St. Thomas football team in 2008, he approached the men at the seminary and asked them to come and cheer on the Tommies at football games, as not many people attended them due to their losing record. Since then, the men of SJV have been some of the most active fans for the football team, attending every home game. A subgroup of the seminarians, called "Caruso's Crew", dress up as hard hat workers and paint on faux moustaches. The crew carry large tools made of cardboard and duct tape (a hammer, saw, wrench, and lunch box). This group has been known to travel hundreds of miles to attend away games. Each year's Caruso's Crew is chosen by the previous year's crew.