Seminaries/Formation Houses

A few years after the erection of ecclesiastical unit of Ujjain as an exarchate, it started recruiting candidates for the eparchy. At first the students were studying in the minor seminary of MST at Melampare, Kerala.In 1987 the eparchy started its own minor seminary. In the eparchy the Missionary Society of St Thomas the Apostle (MST) has established its own Major Seminary, Ruhalaya, which has celebrated its silvar jubilee this year. Here the students undergo both philosophical and Theological formation. There is also a Missionary Orientation Centre for the eparchial seminarians in the eparchy. It is at Kotra and it now caters to the needs of the nearby Syro-Malabar mission eparchies as well. What follows is a brief description of these centres of formation and their specific features.

1.Minor Seminary

Eparchy of Ujjain has its own minor seminaries in two stages. First three years of formation aims at spiritual, liturgical, cultural and linguistic orientations for the mission. During this stage the candidates are given exposure programmes to the villages. The fourth year of formation is called the missionary orientation Course.

Rajeshwar Bhavan (Minor Seminary)

Rajeshwar Bhavan is the eparchial minor seminary to form the future missionaries whow are familiar with the local culture, language, life style etc. this familiarity is very essential for an effective mission work. The minor seminary was shifted to Ghonsla in 1990. At present there are 16 students in three batches. Rev. Father peter Chettaniyil, the rector with his team of three fathers give here the basic seminary formation.

2. Missionary orientation centre

At present the missionary orientation course is conducted at Vikas Maitri, Kotra which functions as an inter-eparchial missionary orientation center. After having successfully completed the minor seminary course, the students are promoted to missionary orientation course. This is the place where the students are given orientation for a deeper personal understanding of the mission. Greater emphasis is given to their spiritual orientation. They are also given opportunity to master the local language (Hndi), to know the people and their culture better. Above all it is a decisive period to discern one's missionary vocation. It's suration is one year. At present there are fourteen students belonging to five eparchies (Ujjain,Sagar,Adilabad,Jagdalpur and Satna) undergoing missionary orientation under the guidance of three priest formators.

3.Ruhalaya Major Seminary(MST)

Ruhalaya is the Major Seminary of the Missionary Society of St. Thomas the Apostle in the Eparchy of Ujjain. It is situated at the outskirts of Ujjain city. It is intended to impart an integrated philosophical and theological formation to the candidates to priesthood. Ruhalaya philosophate was started in 1986 and the theologate in 1997. Ruhalaya philosophy faculty is affiliated to the pontifical urban University Rome from1998. Ruhalaya imparts formation to priesthood to priesthood with special emphasis on the human, spiritual, intellectual and missionary training, firmly rooted in the ecclesial traditions of the syro-malabar church and fully adapted to the missionary context of India. Although Ruhalaya is primarily intented for the priestly formation of the future missionaries of MST, it is open to the students of all syro-malabar dioceses and religious congregations, both men and women. In the past 25 years 581 students completed their philosophy and 140 students completed theology studies in the institution. At present, Ruhalaya has 15 members on the resident staff, 67 resident students and 5 day scholars in philosophy and 66 resident students and 4 day scholars in theology Missionary formation in this mission eparchy itself has positively contributed for the integral formation of missionary priests. The missionary challenges were faced by the candidates right from beginning of the formation. Hence they are better equipped to serve as missionary in the eparchy. The candidates are competent in the local language (Hindi) and even in the dialects. Exposure to north Indian culture, Language, customs and practices enable the future missionaries to adapt themselves to the mission context. And thus the missionaries are more effective in the work of evangelization.

4.Aradhana Sadan(Postulancy SABS)

5.Nav Jyoti Convent(Aspirancy SABS)

6. S.H. Provincial House, Mendiya(Postulancy SH)

7. S.H. Convent, Chandessara (Aspirancy SH)

8. CarmelDham(Aspirancy CMC)

9. St. Thomas Convent (Postulancy D.S.T.)