On a Solemn Night, Wynnewood's Seminary is a Dry Sanctuary

You’ve seen the sprawling, well-landscaped parcel that is home to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary—perhaps as you jogged past, or zoomed by it in a car, along E. Wynnewood Road, City Line Avenue or Lancaster Avenue. You’ve admired the graceful architecture of its stately, quiet, stone buildings.

And on Good Friday evening, you might have gotten chance to step inside the gates for the first time, to take part in the seminary’s candlelight Stations of the Cross procession around the main building of the campus.

But rain was threatening for hours, and it came. The procession, to be led by Cardinal Justin Rigali, leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., when the entire event was calmly (and happily for most participants) moved into the seminary’s spacious St. Martin of Tours Chapel.

The candlelight and the dry warmth of the indoors was a solid consolation prize in exchange for the disappointment of poor weather. It was the fifth year of this new tradition at St. Charles, and last year had perfect weather. All things considered, showers were due.

“It was tough because last year was just so nice, that anything would just pale in comparison,” said Daniel Skalski, spokesman for the Seminary.

Another plus for the faithful is that the St. Martin of Tours Chapel is more akin to a cathedral than a chapel. Lit up with candles and with the Archdiocesan Boys Choir of Philadelphia filling the church with song, the atmosphere felt a little more like Christmas than Easter.

The procession is the only time the general public is invited on to the 70-plus acre Seminary grounds. Skalski said that annual open houses in the fall stopped a couple years ago, but may resume again this year.

“We’re hoping to re-establish that tradition so that people not only see the exterior of this building, but they’ll be able to go inside and see what the life of a seminarian is like, or go to our library to be able to see our art exhibit there,” he said.

In light of continuous scandals related to the sexual abuse of minors by priests in recent years, that kind of connection with the public can only help the Church in its relations to the faithful, he added.

“For all the unfortunate events that have unfolded—not only the past couple of years, but for the past decades—I really do think that the people do need to see the men who are here now, and the good that is in them,” Skalski said. “They are a sign of all the good our Church will be in the future.”

The collective Stations of the Cross is a ritual, often involving the saying of the Rosary, but the individual stations are an ever-present part of Catholic life. In every Catholic church, the 15 Stations are rendered as pictures, paintings, stained glass windows or sculptures, placed intermittently throughout. (At the seminary’s St. Martin’s Chapel, for instance, the stations are hewn of white marble and ensconced into the outer walls of the vaulted, classically adorned chamber.)

The Stations depict the final hours, or “Passion,” of Jesus of Nazareth, leading up to his crucifixion on Good Friday. The tradition is also observed by some Protestant churches.

St. Charles Borromeo Seminary was founded in 1832, and moved to new buildings in Wynnewood (often referred to as Overbrook) around 1871.

At its height in the early 1960s, some 600 seminarians studied there. This year, there are 160, a slight increase over the past few years. There is a college division, which is accredited like a traditional university with a four-year course of study, and a theology division, also four years, which is akin to a master’s program.

Visiting priests and nuns, along with members of the laity, can also take courses at the school.