“He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message.”
Mark 3:13-14
| Allen Hall is the seminary of the Diocese of Westminster, where men from the diocese - and from other dioceses and religious orders - prepare for the Catholic priesthood. |  |
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Cardinal William Allen founded a seminary in Douai, France, in 1568 to provide for the English mission in time of persecution. Allen Hall, together with Ushaw College in the North, is heir to that Douai tradition, and is inspired by its history and above all by its martyrs. |
| In 1975 Allen Hall moved to its current home in Chelsea, to the grounds of the Great House of Saint Thomas More, uniting the tradition of the Martyrs of Douai with the history of that great scholar, statesman and martyr. |  |
In his document on priestly formation, Pope John Paul II wrote that a seminary, more than being a place, a material space,
"should be a spiritual place, a way of life, an atmosphere that fosters and ensures a process of formation, so that the person who is called to the priesthood by God may become, with the sacrament of orders, a living image of Jesus Christ, head and shepherd of the Church."
He quoted the Synod Fathers who said that,
"To live in the seminary, which is a school of the Gospel, means to follow Christ as the apostles did. You are led by Christ into the service of God the Father and of all people, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thus you become more like Christ the good shepherd in order better to serve the Church and the world as a priest. In preparing for the priesthood we learn how to respond from the heart to Christ's basic question: 'Do you love me?' (Jn. 21:15). For the future priest the answer can only mean total self giving."
Allen Hall tries to live out Pope John Paul's vision of the seminary and of the Catholic priesthood.