St. Mary's Seminary is the first Roman Catholic seminary in the nation: rich in tradition while focused on priestly preparation for the 21st-century.
These pages provide information on the history, personnel, environment, and formation (in the Sulpician tradition) at St. Mary's.
The three pages in this section of our site touch on the very basics of the formation process.
A major part of priestly formation is intellectual formation, accomplished through the pursuit of academic degrees.
Desiring to assist in the strengthening of Hispanic ministry and recognizing the need for well-prepared priests dedicated in-part or in-full to this ministry, St. Mary’s Seminary and University has established a specialized track in Hispanic ministry.
St. Mary’s Propaedeutic Stage implements the vision of the Program for Priestly Formation (6th edition). It takes place in a revitalized and expanded structure on the historic grounds of the original St. Mary’s Seminary in downtown Baltimore. The McGivney House welcomes candidates from all dioceses and is not limited to candidates destined to enter St. Mary’s Seminary & University, but is the recommended program for those who will come to St. Mary’s.
St. Mary’s Ecumenical Institute (EI) was founded in 1968 by St. Mary’s Seminary & University, America’s oldest Roman Catholic seminary, in cooperation with ecumenical leaders. St. Mary’s is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The Ecumenical Institute encourages people of all denominations to explore theological studies in a serious, open-minded, and supportive environment. All EI programs are available wherever you are - on campus in Baltimore, and on-line.
The Ecumenical Institute invites people of all denominations into theological study that pursues excellence and promotes ecumenical understanding and respect. All EI programs are available wherever you are - on campus in Baltimore, and on-line.
St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute has a rolling admissions policy. Students may apply at any time for admission by submitting the appropriate materials.
The Ecumenical Institute offers accredited graduate theological programs for two master’s degrees, several graduate certificates, and introductory explorations.
The post-master’s Certificate of Advanced Studies in Theology (CAS) is designed for individuals who possess a master’s degree in theology (e.g., MAT.), ministry (e.g., MACM), divinity (e.g., MDiv), or a related field and who desire to continue their theological education with a general or focused program of study.
The Doctor of Ministry program roots ministry in the mission of God, the ways God is working in your context, in your ministry, and in you.
Students have a host of resources available to support their theological education, from free parking and a great library to writing assistance and advising.
St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute offers accredited graduate theological education that is intellectually rigorous, personally enriching, and professionally empowering.
More than 750 alums of St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute are making a difference in Baltimore, in Maryland and D.C., West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and around the world.
General communication and individual contacts
It is the mission of the Center for Continuing Formation to encourage bishops, priests, deacons, and lay ecclesial ministers to engage in human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral growth and to enable processes of growth that are ongoing, complete, systemic, and personalized.
Forming Supervisors for Vocational Synthesis implements the vision of the Program for Priestly Formation (6th edition) for the final stage of preparation for the priesthood.
Conference space rentals include a large room that will seat as many as 58 and smaller rooms that will seat from 4 to 30.
St. Mary's Center for Continuing Formation offers and hosts a variety of continuing formation programs for priests in the spirit of the Bishops' new Basic Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests.
St. Mary’s Seminary & University’s Pinkard Scholars is the cornerstone of Youth Theological Studies at SMSU.
For more information about any of our conference facilities or space rentals, please contact our offices directly.
The Marion Burk Knott Library of St. Mary’s Seminary and University is the largest specialized theological library in the Baltimore area, with additional materials in the areas of philosophy, psychology, pastoral counseling and church history, among others. The library receives over 390 periodicals and maintains a collection of 20,000 volumes of bound periodicals. Other holdings include newspapers, microfilm, and audio-visual materials.
The Associated Archives at St. Mary’s Seminary & University opened in the spring of 2002. Located on the campus of the nation’s first Roman Catholic seminary, this program brings together the archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore (est. 1789), St. Mary’s Seminary & University (est. 1791), and the Associated Sulpicians of the United States (U.S. Province est. 1903), making it one of the most significant repositories for records relating to the early history of the Catholic Church in the United States.
Click here for more information about hours and visitor policies.
This section was created to provide researchers with a brief description of the open collections in the archives of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, St. Mary's Seminary & University, and the Associated Sulpicians of the United States.
The Associated Archives at St. Mary’s Seminary & University has developed a genealogical policy responsive to individuals researching their Catholic roots.
We facilitate personal integration of the human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral dimensions necessary for authentic priestly witness and service in the image of Jesus Christ.
Father Hy has been a member of the Society of St. Sulpice since 2000. He received his doctorate in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. After six years of teaching at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore and three years at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, he joined the faculty of Theological College and also taught Foundations of Catholicism at The Catholic University of America.
As a native of Vietnam, Father Hy has contributed significantly to the faith formation and growth of the Vietnamese community living in the U.S. and in Vietnam. He has been Chair of the Theological Committee of the Federation of Vietnamese Catholics in the U.S. since 2006, lectured widely to the Vietnamese community in America, has published numerous writings in several Vietnamese journals in the U.S. and in Vietnam, and regularly conducted retreats and workshops for Vietnamese clergy and laity. He edited, in Vietnamese, the book Marriage and Family (published in spring 2015). He has also lectured regularly at many Catholic gatherings, including the Los Angeles Congress, Mid-Atlantic Congress, and the Faith Formation Conference of the Bay Area. Since 2002, he has been hosting the half-hour live talk-show radio program “Learning Our Catholic Faith,” which is broadcast once a month by more than 40 different stations in the U.S., including in California, Texas, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, and Virginia. It has also aired in Australia. Father Hy served as an interpreter for Vietnamese attending the World Family Conference in Philadelphia in September 2015 and was a speaker at the Convocation of Vietnamese Priests of the U.S. in October 2015.
Fr. Maillet was an accomplished concert pianist before he discerned a calling to the priesthood and then began his seminary studies at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in 1995. Toward the end of his seminary formation, he discerned a “call within the call” to dedicate his life to the initial and ongoing formation of priests and was accepted into the Society of Saint Sulpice (the Sulpicians). After ordination in 2001 and two years of parish ministry in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Fr. Maillet served on the faculty of St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California for a total of nine years (with an interim of five years in Washington, DC for doctoral work in 2005–2010).
Since 2018 Fr. Maillet has served on the formation faculty at Saint Mary’s, where he has been Vice Rector since 2019. He holds a doctorate in Sacred Scripture from The Catholic University of America. His dissertation involved a comparison of the Masoretic text and the Septuagint version of the Servant Songs of Isaiah. He has taught various Scripture courses, Ecclesiastical Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and New Testament Greek. On weekends, Fr. Maillet celebrates Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation in parishes in Baltimore. He continues to play the piano and to give concerts, lectures, and masterclasses on occasion as his schedule permits. His most recent solo recital was at a classical music festival, Aigues Vives en Musiques, in the south of France.
Selected Courses Taught
Service to the Church
Selected Publications
Recommended Reading
I am only a pencil in the hand of God, but it is He who writes. Saint Teresa of Calcutta
Dr. Matthew Dugandzic joined the theology faculty at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in 2019 after completing a Ph.D. in moral theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. His dissertation, “A Thomistic Account of the Habituation of the Passions,” explores the ways in which people can develop virtuous affective inclinations.
Dr. Dugandzic’s scholarship focuses on medieval thought, especially Thomas Aquinas’s anthropology, psychology, and ethics. His work on the fomes peccati (“tinder for sin”) recently appeared in New Blackfriars, and his work in bioethics has appeared in National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. His current research focuses on the sources that Aquinas used in developing his understanding of virtue and on recovering ancient and medieval wisdom regarding economics in order to apply this wisdom to contemporary financial problems.
Dr. Dugandzic has taught courses in fundamental moral theology, bioethics, and Catholic social teaching. In addition to his work in the academy, Dr. Dugandzic has also brought his theological expertise to the aid of the Church, having taught theology to RCIA groups, catechists, and candidates for the permanent diaconate.
In addition to his doctorate, Dr. Dugandzic holds a BSc in biology from Concordia University in Montréal, Québec and an MA in religious studies from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York. He and his wife, Audra, live in Baltimore. In his spare time, he likes to play hockey, which he enjoys almost as much as reading theology.
In a common mode, God is in all things by his essence, power, and presence … [but] above this common mode is a special one, which befits the rational creature, in whom God is said to be as the thing known is in the knower and as the beloved is in the lover. And since by the act of knowing and loving the rational creature is said to touch God, God is said not only to be in the rational creature, but to dwell in him as in his temple. [Summa theologiae, I, q. 43, a. 3.] St. Thomas Aquinas