The "Hand of God" at Work in Adult Catholic Priestly Formation

Fr. Eus be M. M nard, O.F.M., was gifted with a visionary perspective regarding God's call to adults for ministry in the Catholic Church, specifically, priestly vocations. In the mid-1940s, M nard, then a recently-ordained priest, proposed an innovative idea for training men called to serve God through the priesthood: seminaries for "belated vocations." As he defined it, a man with a belated vocation had not heard the call of God in his early years or, having heard it, did not or could not follow God's call at that time. The events leading to the formation of the present college and seminary proved challenging and, at times, personally painful for those people who joined M nard in this enterprise. Still, it appeared from the start that the "Hand of God" was truly at work in the concept, acquisition, and development of Holy Apostles. This study documents the founding and initial development of Holy Apostles and highlights several significant events from the first forty years of its service to the Catholic Church.