St. Joseph's Seminary was founded in Baltimore, Maryland by John R. Slattery in 1888 as a major seminary for the Mill Hill Missionaries, an English Catholic religious community that came to the United States to minister to newly emancipated former slaves following the American Civil War. The seminary became independent of Mill Hill along with the Josephites in 1893, and moved to Washington, DC in 1930.[1]
The building is located on the Brookland neighborhood of DC, also known as "Little Rome", known for the various Catholic institutions established in the area following the revelation of plans for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1914.[1]
The seminary has served as the place of formation for several significant Catholic religious figures, including Charles Uncles, the first African-American Catholic priest trained and ordained in the United States, and the notable priest-activist Philip Berrigan.[3][4] For several decades in the early to late 20th century, however, racial politics led to the seminary being closed to most African Americans.[1]
Constructed in a Neo-Georgian style, the building received a new chapel wing in 1958.[5]
For several decades, the seminary operated as an academic institution, possessing its own faculty as a degree-granting institution for men studying to become Josephites. The seminary closed for studies in the early 1970s, following conflicts related to the Black power movement and the resultant exodus of most of the society's seminarians, Black and White.[1]
In recent decades, the seminary has functioned as the residence for the society's seminarians, most of whom hail from Nigeria and study at the nearby Catholic University of America.[6][7] The building also houses several retired Josephites, the Paulist formation community, and a community of Franciscan religious sisters from Mexico who perform domestic duties.
Due to the society's financial difficulties, the property's significant backyard green space was sold in 2017, later developed into a set of townhouses opened in 2022. An adjoining park was also built along with the new development, near the existing Josephite Seminary Park.[8][9]
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 2022.[10]
