Seminario Arquidiocesano mayor nuestra señora del socorro

It is the ecclesiastical educational institution of the Catholic faith where future priests of the Archdiocese of Valencia and nine other Dioceses of the country are trained. The history of the Valencia Seminary began with the fulfillment of the Decree issued by Archbishop Críspulo Uzcátegui, dated March 4, 1886. On September 8 of the same year, its organization as the Archbishop of Valencia College began. . He was appointed as the first Rector, Fr. Dr. Hipólito Alexandre. At that time, there was no suitable place in the City of Valencia for this purpose, but, as an act of generosity by the new Rector, a site was arranged next to the Cabaña de la Divina Pastora. Fr. Dr. José Gregorio Fébres Cordero, and as administrator, Fr. Evaristo Montenegro. In this first stage, the zeal that Archbishop Críspulo Uzcátegui had for the Archbishop College is striking, due to his constant visits and in personally administering the Holy Orders. Also, because of the self-denial and pastoral capacity of the Rector, Fr. Hipólito Alexandre. We see the progressive increase of students from the year 1886 to the year 1897, and as a result new ordinations, not counting the subsequent ordinations that do not appear in the Book of Minutes, diligently carried out by Fr. Alexandre. The Hon. Mons. Gregorio Adam, third Bishop of Valencia, recorded in the Book of Minutes the closure of the Archbishop's College: “For the year 1904 this Seminar was closed by order of the Hon. Mons. Juan B. Castro, Archbishop of Caracas decreed which, his building is used for the seat of the Liceo de la Divina Pastora, at whose initiation Dr. Hipólito Alexandre appears; receiving internal, external and semi-permanent students. He is preceded in the direction by Doctor José de J. Arocha and then Pbro Doctor F. A. Granadillo… ”. With this note from Archbishop Gregorio Adam, we enter a second period, to call it that, of priestly formation in Valencia. It is the stage –as the Jesuit historian Hermann González says- that could be called the seminary of Mr. Archbishop Juan Bautista Castro When Valencia is elevated to the dignity of Bishopric, its first Bishop Mons. Francisco Granadillo begins to manage a Diocesan Seminary. It is the third stage where the doors of the old Archiepiscopal College of Valencia are reopened. On February 13, 1925, the Diocesan Seminary was already established in the same building where the Archbishop's College functioned. At this time the building was run by the Salesian Fathers. For the service in the formation of the Diocesan Seminary, the Bishop brings the valuable collaboration of three Lazarist Priests (according to the RP Emiliano Hernández C. M, only one priest arrived, the RP Amelio Plasencia) The first Rector of the Diocesan Seminary of Valencia was the RP Amelio Plasencia. He was of Spanish origin and had just completed his pastoral work in Peru. The Seminary begins to be called “Our Lady of Help”. This new name of the Seminary would signify a new ascending stage of the Valencia Seminary. The first Rector had been, since the installation in 1938, R. Fr. Ramón Sangüesa de los Padres Paules. It was a very turbulent time in the adaptation of the new Paules Fathers in the Seminary. This was blessed on November 10, 1940. Said Fr. Armando Falcón, that “on Monday, November 11, the seminarians from Valencia moved from the Quinta“ Santa María ”de La Entrada to the new premises of the Seminary located in La Pastora, next to the Church of the same name. May the Lord and Our Lady of Socorro bless these walls and may many Levites come out of it, true Ministers of God ”(Book of Minutes, folio 13)