City: Baltimore, MD

Category: Education

Telephone: (410) 864-4000

Address: 5400 Roland Ave.

Description: This private university began in 1791 by the Society of St. Sulpice to educate students for the priesthood and was the first Catholic seminary in the United States. The equivalent of a high school and community college by today’s standards, it grew in importance when the Sulpicians were granted recognition as a Pontifical Theological Faculty in 1822 by Pope Pius VII and gained the ability to grant pontifical degrees. St. Mary’s Seminary is one of only six seminaries in the United States that are allowed to grant such degrees. The Ecumenical Institute of Theology, which opened in 1968 to persons of all faiths, continues to provide a platform for investigation and argument of religious and philosophical topics and awards master’s degrees in theology and religious education. Within its School of Theology, St. Mary’s opened the Center for Continuing Formation in 1995, which hosts priests on sabbatical and provides learning opportunities in religion and philosophy for the general public.