The seminarist is a boy invited by God to abandon the life’s vanities to retire to a place of spiritual formation called Seminary. This is the field in which the Divine Teacher spreads the good seed, in order that the boys could gather it and make it flourish in the garden of their spirit.

Expert teachers, selected by the Bishop apt to this aim follow the seminarist. They form themselves in theological formation through the Bible, the Holy Scripture, the Gospel and the personal directive given by their spiritual Guide.

I am writing this article because the Lord has granted me the possibility of living among many of them in the Institute I erected, where I enjoyed guiding them each day till their Priesthood.

For that purpose, I think it is my duty to make one notice that the seminarists in seminaries, many times, lack human formation. They lack kindness, good example of life, conversations about edifying arguments and particularly the order that is the fundamental virtue to live together well and to prepare to the Priesthood or in a private life or in a communal one. The communal life is generally the religious one, whereas the private one is diocesan, which is however characterised by similar features like spending the days and working together for brothers.

The teacher has to be able to change the boy into a humble one, docile, trusted in God’s will in the great as well as in the little things. He must guarantee the dormitory is put in order and not dirty, and the personal and common wardrobe likewise. He has to instruct a great deal, and patiently teach him how to make his bed, how to change the sheets, and order to take the windows open for long in order that bad smells could not lurk in the rooms. The good smell of a place anticipates the interior purity, as well as the order and the cleanness of clothes and shoes. The churches, the chapels then, must be tidiest and scented, including the flowerpots and the holy paraments.  

Be the educator a valid coordinator and assign the boys the daily duties like: cleaning the bathroom; gardening, in which one can learn how to gather dry leaves patiently.

The way the seminarist uses to answer the orders and advises, denotes if he has vocation and which virtues he is granted of.

During the period of training there are skills and arts to learn, for, also a Priest is a man. He can many times happen to stay alone and, as it just occurred, gets discouraged and mutters at whom who formed him improperly and did not teach him the necessary things of each day. 

It is certain that the educator must first learn and afterwards teach.

How sweet entering into a seminary and smell the odour of clean is! It could be thought there are fervours people aiming at perfection in that community.

In my communities, I attempted to arrange a room for a tailor’s with some of the seminarists more capable to perform this skill. It is said that man is not apt to sew, but I experienced this is not absolutely true. Obviously, in case there is no woman in a seminary, there would be the necessity of one who could teach how to manage the laundry and the tailor’s room. In a few days, the young and clever boys will learn accurately. It will be necessary only to buy a sewing machine. How nice to do all things inside the proper family is; how familiarity, how gladness: the companions knocking at the door with ripped trousers, and those who come back with the ironed ones.

Afterwards, the kitchen: it could be a useful thing to have in a kitchen those boys more inclined at keeping all in order and informing about what it lacks: food and tools. The boys usually enter into a kitchen incapable of doing anything, but in a very short time, they become more skilful. I can really attest they, many times, cook better than women do.

All these little tasks pertain to human formation and are essential for a future priest, so that a poor man could not be ordered priest; a man who studied too much but who practically is able to do nothing. Who is not good at working will be hardly capable of obeying and organise for the Parish and charitable organisations he will be given. The work is a great artisan of man.

If there is the time for rest, there must be the time for work as well; otherwise, when that Priest will preach, he will not touch the souls’ hearts. His words will be magniloquent; at the pulpit, there will appear a man of science, but since he has little humility, his admonishes go in one ear and out the other.

I am writing these words because I feel bound to. Many of the Priests I formed, as a Foundress, have opened many missionary houses in different countries, and there, before starting preaching began working, repairing even the chapels, the churches and also the Bishop’s house. While working, they were praying.

In the formation, the prayer must occupy the first place, I would say it must come before the study itself. Without prayer and silence, even the simplest notions are not learnt; one cannot advance in the way of spirit; he remains, instead, a poor marionette who thinks he’s somebody; he is nothing but nullity. Silence ennobles the spirit, makes someone fall in love with Christ and His virtues, and restores the souls’ thirst.

A good Spiritual Direction and a frequent Confession are suggested.

The seminarist must be in the condition of maintaining a community life also when he becomes a Priest, with his companions; however, to reach this condition, he must be prepared during his previous religious formation. If he is well formed, he himself will ask the Bishop to let him stay in community with other priests.

It is extraordinary going into a parish community and seeing a Priest with a small kitchen apron while choking the soup: “I must be in a hurry as they are waiting for me in the confessional”; one while sweeping the stairs, another repairing a wire twist, and so on… How lovely! In the seminary they learnt everything!

This is a useful means to attract vocations to the Priesthood. On the other hand, when one observes a priest who is sad, unwilling, and incapable of doing something, 

The Priest is always one of us. He is not the man who lives only on spirit; he remains a man. Moreover Jesus lived with His Apostles; he agreeably stayed with the fishermen. The Priest must be the one who helps man in all his necessities, even in the material ones. Therewith he is loved from the people, his parishioners, and he does not feel alone, but he is happy of the choice of his state, and calls the young to loose the world and become an Alter Christus.