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All of the seminary’s major buildings were designed by the local architectural rm Warner and Brockett, which used distinctly reddish Medina Sandstone mined from nearby Hanford’s Landing.
Over the years, St. Bernard’s trained thousands of men for the priesthood. Among them was Matthew Clark of the Diocese of Albany, who attended the seminary in the late 1950s before returning to Rochester in 1979 to begin his 33-year tenure as diocesan bishop.
By that time, however, the numbers of priests and seminarians across the United States were declining signi cantly. In January 1981 Bishop Clark announced that the seminary would close, and priestly training was discontinued at the end of June.
Yet other aspects of St. Bernard’s ministry continued unabated, thanks to a decision in the late 1960s to begin admitting lay men and women for theological studies. In September 1981, the school – now known as St. Bernard’s Institute
Bishop James
E. Kearney gathers with St. Bernard’s alumni for
the seminary’s 50th anniversary in 1941.
The bell tower of Colgate Rochester -Bexley Hall- Crozier Divinity School rises behind participants – including Bishop Matthew H. Clark
(left) and Father Sebastian Falcone (center) –in an Aug. 26, 1981, ceremony marking the af liation of St. Bernard’s Institute with the Divinity School. Under the agreement, St. Bernard’s was located at Colgate for more than 20 years.
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