Penang celebrates 360 years of Asia's oldest Catholic seminary

The College General celebrated the anniversary of the founding of the historic priestly formation institution with a three-day celebration entitled ‘Discerning Gratitude, Fidelity and Hope’. Through homilies, testimonies and reflections, bishops and seminarians recalled the mission of the seminary, founded in 1665 in Siam, which continues to be a beacon of grace, fidelity and hope for the Asian Church in Malaysia.

Penang (AsiaNews) - The rolling hills of Mariophile came alive when Asia's oldest Catholic seminary, College General, celebrated 360 years of priestly formation with a three-day celebration entitled ‘Discerning Gratitude, Fidelity and Hope’.

The celebration began on 29 September, the feast of the Archangels, and ended on 1 October, the feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, patron saint of missions: a fitting finale for a seminary whose roots are deeply intertwined with the missionary spirit of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP).

In his opening homily, Archbishop Julian Leow of Kuala Lumpur retraced the 360-year history of the institute as a living testimony to divine grace. Founded in 1665 in Ayutthaya, Siam, by Bishops François Pallu and Pierre Lambert de la Motte, the seminary has travelled across continents: from Ayutthaya it was moved to Chanthaburi, Thailand, then to Hon Dat in Vietnam and later to Pondicherry, a former French colony in southern India, before settling in Penang in 1809.

Since its early days, the seminary has trained clergy from all over Asia: Siam, Vietnam, China, India, and beyond. Over the centuries, its alumni have brought the Gospel to parishes, missions, and even to martyrdom.

‘These martyrs and missionaries are the shining thread that runs through our history,’ Archbishop Leow recalled. Addressing those present, he also paid special tribute to the alumni gathered, both clergy and laity, who continue to carry on the spirit of the College General in different ways. In particular, he mentioned the former seminarians who have continued to serve the Church through other vocations. ‘These men have not wasted their years at the College General,’ he said. ‘They too were trained in faith and discipline and today serve successfully in parishes, ministries and communities.’

The second day of the celebration focused on the theme of fidelity, a word which, as Bishop Bernard Paul of Malacca-Johor noted, ‘seems simple but requires a daily death to oneself.’ “To be faithful,” he emphasised, “means to keep returning to the call, in dryness, in doubt, in delay. Faithfulness is not a feeling, but a relationship sustained by grace.”

The morning session was enriched by Fr Vincent Sénéchal, Superior General of the MEP, who shared the Society’s enduring missionary vision. ‘When the first MEP bishops arrived in Asia, they knew that evangelisation had to take root in the local soil. That is why they built seminaries: to train priests who spoke the language, lived the culture and loved the people,’ he said.

The last day of the celebration turned its gaze to hope. In his homily, Cardinal Sebastian Francis of Penang, also president of the College General, invited all present to become “visionaries and dreamers for the Malaysian Church.” “Hope is not wishful thinking,” he said. “It is the audacity to believe that God’s grace continues to work through small beginnings and quiet fidelity.”

He paid tribute to the fathers of the Paris Foreign Missions, whose foresight gave Asia its first seminary, and to the generations of local bishops, clergy and lay benefactors who sustained it through wars, political upheavals and times of sudden change. ‘Even when its membership dwindled, God was preparing it to bear fruit elsewhere, in Thailand, Singapore and Kuching.’ .

This sense of divine continuity was beautifully captured in a reflection shared by Bishop Emeritus John Ha of Kuching, himself a former student and former formator at the College General. ‘Grace,’ Bishop Ha said, ‘is at the heart of the College General: the grace that calls, the grace that sustains and the grace that renews.’ He recalled how the history of the seminary mirrors the Paschal mystery: dying and rising again.

‘When College General seemed to be fading away, it gave birth to a new reality: Lux Mundi Seminary in Thailand, St. Francis Xavier Seminary in Singapore and St. Peter's College in Kuching. This is God's way of working: death leading to resurrection.’

The celebrations included moments of prayer, reflection, music and reunion among generations of former students from Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and other countries. Many recalled their years at the seminary as ‘the best days of their lives,’ a time devoted to study, fun, discipline and faith. Fr Ryan Innas Muthu, the current rector, expressed deep gratitude to all those who continue to support the seminary's mission.

‘We stand on the shoulders of giants,’ he said. ‘Every stone of this seminary bears witness to 360 years of grace. May we too be faithful in our time, forming priests who bring the face of Christ to Asia.’

At the end of the celebrations, on the feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the seminarians sang a special hymn composed for the anniversary: a moving song that sums up the spirit of the College General: "We rise, we rise to lift up Your Name. We live, we live to shout Your praise!" The melody, echoing throughout Mariophile, conveyed the same youthful fervour that has sustained the College General for three and a half centuries: gratitude for the past, fidelity to the present and hope for the future.