Bishop Louis Amadeus Rappe established the seminary in
Cleveland in 1848 as
St. Francis de Sales Seminary, a name it used for only a short time before becoming Saint Mary Seminary. In its first years, the seminary was housed in a former
stable, but in 1859 it was moved to a new purpose-built structure at the corner of Lake and Hamilton Streets in Cleveland. During the 1920s, the institution moved again, to a new building at Superior and Ansel Roads in Cleveland. In 1922, the institutional focus was changed to a college undergraduate program, meaning that seminarians from Cleveland studied
theology at
Mount St. Mary's Seminary in
Cincinnati. However, the Cleveland seminary program resumed in 1929, and from 1929 to 1954, the Cleveland institution offered both undergraduate education and graduate theology training. Borromeo offered a
liberal arts program and awarded
bachelor's degrees to male students considering the possibility of entering the priesthood. In 1990 the St. Mary Seminary programs were moved to the Wickliffe location, while the Borromeo undergraduate program continues at
John Carroll University. ==Programs==