BRIEF HISTORY

In 1859, Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Pasto with the bull In Excelsa Militantis Ecclesiae. Three years later, in 1862, His Excellency José Elías Puyana, the first Bishop of Pasto (1859-66), founded the first diocesan institution to train future priests under the name “Seminary of Our Lady of the Conception.” It was temporarily located in the Convent of Saint Augustine, but was entrusted to the Lazarist Fathers (now Vincentians), under the leadership of Father José Ignacio de la Villota. Until then, seminarians in these southern Colombian lands were trained in the seminaries of Popayan or Quito.

In 1867, Bishop Juan Manuel García Tejada (1866-70) established the ecclesiastical school, which was not only dedicated to the training of future priests, but also to the instruction of the indigenous people, appointing Father José Chicaiza as rector. It operated on the land where the University of Nariño now stands, and thanks to the various sciences taught there and the quality of its professors, the institution enjoyed a good reputation throughout the country.

In 1872, Bishop Manuel Canuto Restrepo (1870-83), in accordance with the requirements of the Council of Trent, abolished this school because he considered it unsuitable for ecclesiastical studies and in 1873 he began to found a seminary according to the conciliar directives, under the direction of the Lazarist Fathers. Some turbulent periods in national history forced this school to operate intermittently, until 1877, when it had to close its doors due to the expulsion of the formators, a consequence of religious persecution. It was the Fathers of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri who reopened the school in 1880.

In 1887, Bishop Ignacio León Velasco (1883-92) decided to unite the College of the Society of Jesus with the seminary, entrusting its direction to the Jesuit Fathers, in the person of Father Luis Antonio Gamero. It was at this time, more precisely on June 20th, 1884, that Bishop Velasco blessed the foundation stone of the new cloister, located in the Plaza Mayor of the City of Pasto. The new building began to be used in 1892 and served as the seminary until 1960. The Diocese of Pasto and the seminary experienced and benefited from the Christian witness and pastoral ministry of Saint Ezequiel Moreno y Díaz (1895-1906). The Society of Jesus was present at the seminary until 1925, during the ministry of Bishop Antonio María Pueyo de Val (1917-30). In the same year, the Minor Seminary was created, exclusively for candidates for the priesthood, with the buildings of the Minor and Major Seminaries being occupied by the diocesan clergy. Canon Jesús Enrique Calvo took over as rector.

During the episcopate of Bishop Hipólito Leopoldo Agudelo Prieto (1930-34), candidates for the priestly ministry, after completing the Minor Seminary, returned to the Major Seminary of Popayán for their ecclesiastical studies. But in 1936, beginning on September 27th, Bishop Diego María Gómez Tamayo (1934-47) obtained permission for the Congregation of the Eudist Fathers, in the person of Father Marcos Evangelista Gelves, to continue the formation of the clergy of Pasto and the direction of the seminary, giving it the name “Major Seminary of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary,” which it retains to this day. The Eudist Fathers have written the history of this institution for 75 years.

In 1955, Bishop Emilio Botero Gonzalez (1947-1961) blessed the first stone of the current seminary building, located in the Torobajo neighbourhood, on the outskirts of the city. The auxiliary bishop, the future Cardinal José de Jesús Pimiento Rodríguez (1955-1959), was responsible for the impetus for the work, which was completed on October 1^st, 1960, and since then, seminarians and formators have lived there uninterruptedly. Only the doors remain of the old building, at the entrance to the Sebastián de Belalcázar shopping center. Bishop Arturo Salazar Mejía (1976-1995) sent the seminarians to study philosophy and theology at the Marian University of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate. After completing their courses, the young men returned to the seminary to complete their community experience in the cloister.

In 2012, Bishop Enrique Prado Bolaños (1995-2020) entrusted the direction of the seminary to the Society of the Fathers of Saint Sulpice, appointing Father Manuel Octavio Bautista López as rector, who served two consecutive terms. At the suggestion of the Provincial Council, some priests from the Diocese of Pasto serve with the Sulpicians in the pastoral role of formators, but under the guidance of Sulpician pedagogy. Beginning in 2021, Father Bernabé de Jesús Echeverry served as rector, and Bishop Juan Carlos Cárdenas Toro presided over the Diocese of Pasto from the end of 2020.

In February 2018, Bishop Orlando Olave Villanova sent the seminarians from the Diocese of Tumaco to this seminary, who began their preparatory experience. In 2017, Bishop Prado Bolaños established the Catholic University Foundation of the South, allocating part of the seminary building to the operation of this new diocesan work. Since July 2020, following the recommendations of the Ratio Fundamentalis for Colombia, a country house located in the municipality of Chachagüí (Nariño) has been destined and adapted to accommodate the young people of the propaedeutic year, accompanied by two priests and a full-time temporary deacon. On that same date, Bishop José Saúl Grisales Grisales, in the situation generated by COVID-19, sent his seminarians from Ipiales, who were being trained at the Major Seminary of Tulcán (Ecuador), to continue their formation process at the Major Seminary of Pasto. However, many priests from that neighbouring diocese had also been trained in our seminary for several decades, until approximately the year 2001.