Philosophy, BA

Diocesan seminarians and seminarians from religious orders complete the academic component of their priestly formation in coursework offered by the Constantin College of Liberal Arts while being formed at neighboring Holy Trinity Seminary or other seminaries or houses of formation close to the university.

Seminarians study for a Bachelor’s degree major in Philosophy and Letters. (Seminarians who have already attained a Bachelor’s degree enroll in the Pre-Theology Program.) The minimum entrance requirements for the Philosophy and Letters Program are the same as the university’s general undergraduate requirements. Candidates for admission to this program must also meet admission requirements stipulated by their dioceses or religious orders with regard to academic achievement, personal character, and spiritual maturity.

The Philosophy and Letters Program adheres to the norms established by the current edition of the Program of Priestly Formation approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In light of this adherence as well as the university’s commitment to the liberal arts and liberal education, the following are the goals of the Philosophy and Letters Program:

• To provide a well-rounded undergraduate education in philosophy in accord with the Program of Priestly Formation;
• To develop in seminarians the three arts of language—grammar, logic, and rhetoric—in preparation for their future ministry as teachers and preachers;
• To ground seminarians in the Catholic intellectual tradition, including its literary, poetic, artistic, historical, philosophical, and theological dimensions;
• To foster in seminarians the love of wisdom so as to give rise to a lifelong pursuit of wisdom through a rich intellectual life;
• To initiate in seminarians a knowledge and love of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Common Doctor of the Church; and
• To enable seminarians to draw connections between philosophy and theology in a way that bespeaks their conviction concerning the unity of faith and reason as ways of achieving truth.

By means of the Philosophy and Letters Program, seminarians are prepared for those graduate studies in theology required for priestly ordination.