On the St. Charles Seminary website, you can read about their upcoming anniversary celebration, commemorating 150 years at what they call the Overbrook Campus (it’s actually in Wynnewood).
On the same website, you can also read about the recent purchase by St. Charles of 15 acres of space on the northern border of Gwynedd Mercy University’s campus, that will facilitate the Seminary’s move to Gwynedd Valley.
For many long-time Main Line residents, Catholics, and Non-Catholics alike, just the idea of “The Seminary” not being where it’s always been, is going to be a little bit disorienting.
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary moved to its current location in 1871.
A local newspaper, as the seminary’s website notes, called the property “Wood’s Folly.” In 1869, Arch Bishop Wood purchased the 75 acres of land for $42,000. The bishop’s judgment was called into question because the property was considered too far out in the country to be of any practical use.
The Seminary is huge.
75 acres – That is 3,267,000 square feet. There are 19 buildings on the property, divided into “sub-campuses” known as the Lower Side, and the Upper Side.
The Lower Side buildings were completed in 1875, and include St. Martin’s Chapel. The Upper Side was completed in 1928.
Five Popes have visited St. Charles Seminary.
Three of them (Cardinal Pacell, who became Pope Pius XII, Cardinal Montini who became Pope Paul VI, and Cardinal Ratzinger who became Pope Benedict XVI), visited before they were named to the Papacy.
Pope John Paul II visited the Seminary in 1979 (he also made two prior visits as Cardinal Wojtyla), and Pope Francis came to the Seminary (and spent the night there!) in 2015.
The Seminary is for Sale – March 7, 2013
On March 8, 2013, the Inquirer reported that – The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said Thursday that it would explore selling or leasing 45 acres of the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary campus in Lower Merion, consolidating in older buildings on 30 acres in the back of the property.
The Seminary is Sold to Main Line Health – May, 2019
Richard Ilgenfritz wrote for the Main Line Times on May 25, 2019 –
After years of discussions, Main Line Health has reached an agreement to purchase the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary property in Wynnewood. But what isn’t clear is how the health system will use the property over the long term.
More than two years after Main Line Health purchased the entirety of the St. Charles Seminary property, if anybody knows how Main Line Health plans to use the property, they’re not talking.