Bishop John Shaw was importing priests from Europe when he discerned the need for a seminary for the Diocese of San Antonio, TX. A locally-formed clergy was key to the support of the Catholic faith in the young diocese. Relying on five diocesan priests as faculty, Shaw dedicated St. John's Seminary in 1915. A frontier, make-do attitude energized the first faculty as they taught and guided the seminary's first class who lived and studied in what had been the bishop's residence. In its first century, St. John's ≈ Assumption Seminary has trained nearly 800 priests for service in arch/dioceses across the US and foreign lands. With the guidance of arch/diocesan priests in the first 25 years, the Congregation of the Missions (Vincentians) in the second 25 years, and again directed by archdiocesan priests and a diverse faculty in the last 50 years, St. John's ≈ Assumption has both struggled and thrived. Collaborating with Oblate School of Theology, St. John's ≈ Assumption nationally-known for its pioneering bilingual-bicultural programs, stands on solid ground as it begins its second century. Shepherds in the Image of Christ chronicles 100 years of molding men and boys into priests for the Roman Catholic Church of Texas and beyond.
