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The Early Years (1): 1952-1956
Following the Second World War, and the imposition of the Iron Curtain between the East and West, it became clear that the Ukrainians that found themselves in the West as a result of the war would not be able to return to Ukraine. As most of these Ukrainians were Greek-Catholics, the leaders of the Greek Catholic church started to organise not only a network of parishes across Western Europe, but to create the institutions which would provide priests to serve these new parishes. The first such institution was the Ukrainian Minor Seminary (later Ukrainian Pontifical Minor Seminary) which was established at Loury, near Orleans, France in 1951 under the leadership of Bishop Ivan Buchko the who was at the time the Apostolic Visitator for the Ukrainians in Western Europe. Inaugurated on the 29 June 1952, the Seminary, was housed in the Chateau de la Chesnaye, based in 15 hectares of park and supported by a working farm. (The Seminary was based on the Lviv Minor Seminary, established in 1919 in Western Ukraine, by Andrey Sheptytsky, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944. Ivan Buchko had been the Director of the Lviv Minor Seminary between 1922-1929 prior to his appointment by the Holy See as an auxiliary bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv on 16 September 1929.)

Buchko recruited as teachers a cohort of young Salesian priests, which had trained for priesthood in Italy prior to the war; they had been sent there by Sheptytsky when it became clear to him that Ukraine would fall under the Soviet Union. The first two teachers were fathers Andriy Sapelak and Hryhory Harasymovych. They were joined in 1953 by fathers Teodor Kudla and Ivan Tylyavsky. Owing to limited finances, the students (17 in the first year rising to 52 in 1954) helped renovate the building in-between their academic studies. However tensions arose between the intended Ukrainian ethos of the seminary, and the French church's insistence that the seminary subordinate itself to the French academic system and the assimilation of Ukrainians in France. This culminated in the issuance of a notice to close the school by the Paris Ordinate, signed by Cardinal Feltec.

The Early Years (2): 1956-1959
The decision was made to move to a villa at Castelgandolfo, named Villa Andrea after Sheptytsky, as a stop gap measure. Villa Andrea was the summer centre for Saint Josaphat's Ukrainian Pontifical College, a papal institution for training Ukrainian theologians, founded in 1897 by Pope Leo XIII based on Gianicollo, Rome. As the villa had to be vacated every summer, Buchko was instrumental in persuading the Holy Congregation for the Oriental Churches to support and fund a long-term permanent solution. The decision was made to purchase three hectares on Via Boccea (Rome 00166), about 5 kilometers North-West of the Vatican.

A permanent home: 1959-1999
In 1959, a brand new building was inaugurated as the Ukrainian Minor Seminary at 480 Via Boccea 00166. The building was designed to accommodate 100 seminarians, who were provided with all facilities for self-containment: there were two dormitories, with cubicles provided for the older students, teaching rooms, a study hall with desks, a chapel, a hall with a stage, full sports facilities outside and a dining room; the teachers/priests had their own dining room and accommodation area. The building was inaugurated on the 14th October 1959 in the presence of 5 cardinals, the entire episcopate outside Ukraine, and dignitaries associated from the Oriental Congregation. This was followed the next day with an audience with pope John XXIII who gave his blessing to the seminary, which was formally named the Ukrainian Minor Seminary of St Josaphat in Rome. This was now an administrative title, to distinguish the new building from what was now the Senior Seminary on Gianicolo. (Whereas the Senior Seminary catered for mature students on the road to priesthood, the Minor Seminary catered from seminarians from the age of 11-17. The students came from across the world with the bulk being from Western Europe and North America, though significant numbers also from Yugoslavia. Crucially, this administrative formality also meant that the two seminaries became 'extraterritorial' meaning that they fell under Vatican rather than Italian state regulations.)

On the 14th October 1963, through the efforts of Cardinal Slipyj, the Minor Seminary gained the 'Pontifical' status, meaning it was now the Ukrainian Pontifical Minor Seminary. The title meant that students completing their studies at the Seminary, were regarded as having completed a course of studies recognised by the Vatican as making them eligible for theological studies at the universities of the Vatican and then onto priesthood. It was an immensely prestigious achievement, and formal recognition of the role the Seminary was expected to play in the provision of priests to the entire Ukrainian diaspora. It was not coincidental that the move was driven by the arrival from Siberian incarceration by Cardinal Slipyj, who set about his task as leader of all Ukrainian Catholics with vigour and drive.

Up until 1991 the vast majority of the seminarians came from Western Europe and North America. However, with the independence of Ukraine in 1991, the emphasis was placed on preparing people for priesthood in Ukraine and as a result the decision was made to close the seminary in 1999 and transfer its operations to a new seminary in Ukraine. Over the course of its existence in Rome, the seminary educated some 2500 seminarians of which over 60 went on to priesthood. Of those which chose not to, a significant number went on to be community leaders in their local parishes.

Life at the Ukrainian Pontifical Minor Seminary
Life at the seminary was conducted in line with the Catholic and vocational ethos of the school. The education was classical and designed to prepare students for life at the Senior Seminary and eventually priesthood. The curriculum consisted of Latin, Ukrainian, Maths and Physics as core subjects (i.e studied across all 6 years of the Minor Seminary) with Religion, History of Art, Chemistry, Geology, Biology, and others studied in the third to sixth years. The students qualified with a Baccalaureate which qualified them for entry into the Vatican's universities. Alongside this there was a significant religious component to life at the seminary with a daily mass (spoken on weekdays and sung on Sundays), a daily rosary recital and evening prayers. Feasts such as Easter and Christmas and the periods leading up to them were celebrated extensively, as were significant saints' days and funerals. The vast majority of the seminarians did not go home for Christmas or Easter. The academic year ran from September to June.

Extensive additional experiences bolstered the religious ethos of life at the seminary. Seminarians would frequently attend masses held at St Peters Square by the various popes, as well as their funerals and inaugurations, would frequent mass at St Sofia cathedral (next door at 478 Via Boccea) to sing for Cardinal Joseph Slipyj was he in residence and would go on trips to visit sites of significant religious interest in Italy. One incident stands out: at the inauguration of John Paul II, the newly annointed pope was passing amongst the crowd when he noticed a small group of young boys dressed as Cossacks at which point he stopped and asked in Italian "Who are you? Where are you from?"("Chi siete? Di dove siete?"). To which they replied "We are Ukrainians from the Ukrainian Pontifical Minor Seminary here in Rome" ("Siamo Ukraini, di Pontificio Seminario Minore Ucraino qui in Roma"). He would subsequently visit the seminary and St Sofia's next door a few years later.

Ancillary support (cooking, washing) was provided by nuns who lived in the building next door. There was little interaction between them and the seminarians other than on Sundays when the nuns would come to the Seminary's chapel to attend mass.

Musical life was very well developed at the seminary with a choir (for four voices) members of which also performed in a variety of musical extravaganzas (such as a rock opera written by Yevhen Nebesniak). The choir would also regularly sing on Sunday evenings at a dedicated mass, celebrated at a studio within the Vatican City, which was transmitted live by Vatican Radio to Ukraine. Special efforts were made to sing clearly owing to the known efforts of the Soviets to block transmissions. The seminarians also participated in dance troupes (typically Ukrainian Cossack dancing) in a variety of theatrical spectaculars performed within the seminary.

The seminary was also visited by noteworthy dignitaries including the widow of Yevhen Konovalets (who attended Christmas lunches) a vast range of cardinals and bishops, and a number of Soviet dissidents who found themselves in the West after release from a variety of gulags (including Leonid Pluyshch, the mathematician, Valentyn Moroz, and others).

Father Stephan Czmil
While in Argentina, Father Czmil would celebrate mass on a daily basis, regularly assisted by Jorge Bergoglio, the future pontiff, who attended a high school run by the Salesian Fathers. The future Pope Francis would rise early each morning, hours before his classmates, to serve at the Mass celebrated by Fr. Czmil. As a result, he become very familiar with the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church and its rites. Father Czmil spent 12 years in Argentina before returning to Italy.

Perhaps the most significant yet unheralded administrative support was provided by Archbishop Miroslav Marusyn, who was between 1982-2001 the Secretary of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches. In this powerful position he was able to act as a protector of the seminary and ensure its continuity.

The academic staff
Father Professor Stephan Czmil - teacher of Ukraininan language and literature

Father Professor Ivan Choma PhD - teacher of Ukrainian and World History

Father Professor Roman Mazyar - teacher of Religion, History of Art, Latin language and literature

Father Professor Lev Hajdukiswkyj - teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, Latin language and literature and French language

Father Professor Volodymyr Hrynyshyn - teacher of Economics, Maths and Physics

Father Professor Yevhen Nebesniak - teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, Song, Dance and Music

Father Professor Roman Samotey - teacher of Latin language and literature, Italian language, Geography, History

Father Professor Vasyl Tyndalo PhD - teacher of Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Geology

Father Professor Vasyl Sapelak PhD - teacher of Religious Studies, Ancient Greek, Ukrainian language and literature

Father Lykhach - teacher of Maths

Father Professor Roman Saba - teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, Ancient Greek and Latin language and literature, Religious studies