A word’s true sense is often revealed through its etymology. For example, the word “clue” comes from the Middle English “clewe,” meaning “ball of yarn,” pointing to how we can follow a clue back to its source like a thread from a ball of yarn. The word “advent,” coming from the Latin
adventus for “coming” or “arrival,” prepares us during the season of Advent for the arrival of Jesus into the world.
In thinking recently about the nature of life as a seminarian, it occurred to me that the word “seminary” likely stems from the Latin
semen, meaning “seed.” In fact, seminary comes more directly from the Latin
seminarium for “plant nursery” or “seed plot.” Seminary used to be a common word for schooling generally until the early 20th century when it became used primarily for formation houses for men preparing for the priesthood.
What can we draw from the etymology of “seminary?” Jesus often uses seed imagery in the Gospels. He shares the parable of the sower who generously sows the word of God and likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed. Possibly the most compelling use of seed imagery in the Gospels is in John 12 when Jesus foretells his death telling his disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
If the seminary is like a plant nursery, it is not merely because we are well cared for and protected from the elements like seeds in a greenhouse. As seminarians, we are also called to “fall into the earth and die” so that we might “bear much fruit.” Before a seed can sprout and bear much fruit above ground, it must spend a lot of time in the earth; it must receive the nutrients around it, break out of its shell, and venture up with faith that above it there is a sun it has yet to know.
Seminary is a time to grow especially in intimacy with Christ that He might be the source of our lives. As Pope Benedict XVI once exhorted seminarians, “the most important thing in our path towards priesthood and during the whole of our priestly lives is our personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ... That is why it is so important, dear friends, that you learn to live in constant intimacy with God.”
Seminary is a special time for entering into the earth to encounter Christ so that we may grow with Him. In the seclusion of prayer in the earth, we sprout firm roots to weather hardship and receive nutrients. Our time in the seminary is a particular time of quiet from the world, but it is not so that we might “remain alone,” but that we might grow and “bear fruit,” not simply for ourselves but for the sake of others.
It is telling that the word “seminary” was once used more broadly for schooling of all kinds. Jesus’ exhortation to encounter Him in the earth applies to all of us, and our schooling is a fitting setting to do so. For us at St. John Paul II Seminary, it is a blessing to be able to do so in such a dedicated way so that one day, God willing, we might “bear much fruit.”
Mr. Cerritelli is a Second Pre-Theology seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington.