St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary

St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary

St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro, Iloilo City - the first Institution of higher learning in Western Visayas.
Latin: Sancti Vincentii Ferrer Seminarium
Former names	Seminario-Colegio de San Vicente Ferrer
Motto	Humanum esse per scientiam et rationem ad fidem.
Motto in English	Being human through knowledge and reason that leads to faith.
Established	1869
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Location	Jaro, Iloilo City, Iloilo, Philippines
Campus	Urban

The Saint Vincent Ferrer Seminary, also known as San Vicente Ferrer Seminary, was founded in 1869 and is the first institution of higher education in the Western Visayas. It is the fifth oldest and the last seminary that was established during the Spanish colonial period.

On May 27, 1865 Pope Pius IX in the Bull of Erection, "QUI AB INITIO", of the Diocese of Jaro, insisted that the new bishop should found and organize a seminary as soon as possible. The Archbishop of Manila, Most Rev. Gregorio Meliton Martinez carried the decree into effect, on October 10, 1867. At the time Most Rev. Mariano Cuartero, O.P., the appointment First Bishop of Jaro, was still in Spain acting as General Procurator of the Dominican Order. He received episcopal ordination at the Dominican Seminary of Ocania, Spain, on November 1867, was able to take possession of his Diocese only on April 25, 1868. The new Bishop founded the Diocesan Seminary where he could train good pastors for the different parishes, which at that time were almost entirely under the spiritual administration of the Augustinians Friars, who were then regarded as the Fathers of Faith in Panay.

On April 2, 1868, Bishop Cuartero arrived in Manila together with five Vincentian priests, three Brothers and sixteen Daughters of Charity. Having taken possession of the Diocese, Bishop Cuartero began his work immediately of enlarging the parish of "La Candelaria" to be his cathedral church, the adaptation of the convento to be his residence and the foundation of the Diocesan Seminary on December 1869.

The Vicentian Fathers, upon the request of Bishop Cuartero, came to Jaro to organize and direct the Diocesan Seminary. The first Vincentian Fathers who took the direction of the Seminary of Jaro was made of three priests: Fr. Ildefonso Moral, Rector, one of the greatest figures in the early history of the Vincentians in the Philippines; Fr. Aniceto Gonzales, who directed the construction of the Seminary building and later, succeeded Fr. Moral as Rector; and the newly ordained priest, Fr. Juan Miralda. Before the end of 1870, two young priests, Fr. Juan Jayme and Fr. Rufino Martin and a brother of Francisco Lopez joined the community. A year later Fr. Joaquin Jayme replaced his brother Juan who, was transferred to the Seminary of Cebu. At the death of Fr. Martin in 1873, Fr. Juan Jayme took over his work. Those were the founders of the Seminario Metropolitano de San Vicente Ferrer.

Who were the first seminarians is another question worth answering but this was partly unanswered because of the fire of 1906 which raced the Seminary building and its records into ashes. It was known, however, that some of the first Seminarians of Jaro had transferred to Cebu like the two "habitatis." They are so called because being students of Moral Theology, they already donned to the sotana. They were Basilio Albar and Silvestre Apura, who were ordained priests in Jaro in 1873 and 1874 respectively.