History of the Seminary

Marists have been in New Zealand since 1838 when Bishop Pompallier and two Marists landed in the northern area of the country known as the Hokianga. In 1890 the first seminary in New Zealand was set up in Meeanee in the Hawkes Bay, with the first ordinations to the priesthood occurring in 1893.

The Marist Seminary in Meeanee, Hawkes Bay near the end of the 1800's

In 1911 a decision was made to move to Greenmeadows, also in the Hawkes Bay. Surrounded by the Mission Vineyard, which still operates today, Greenmeadows, or The Mount as it is often known, trained priests and brothers until we moved to our current premises in Auckland in 1992.

Seminary buildings, Greenmeadows, Hawkes Bay

Until this final move students lived and studied in the same complex. The new seminary was divided in two, with the theological college been set up separately in central Auckland. Known as Mount Saint Mary's, the theologiate taught priests and brothers for the Society of Mary, seminarians for diocesan priesthood and lay students.

In 2001 a joint venture between the Society of Mary and the Bishops of New Zealand, where the respective theological colleges of the Society of Mary and the Bishops became one - Good Shepherd College - Te Hepara Pai.

Seminary, Hopetoun St, Auckland