As stated in RF (no.92): “A library [in a major seminary] is an indispensable instrument for study, both for the professors and the students.” Hence, through the diligent efforts of seminary administrators over the years, the seminary’s library collection has slowly been built up.

The Patience-Theunissen Memorial Library of the regional seminary is dedicated to the memory of Fr. Fred Patience, a diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Port-of-Spain, and Fr. Edward Theunissen, OSB, a monk of the abbey of Mt. St. Benedict. Fr. Patience was among the first group of diocesan priests to be educated at the then archdiocesan seminary and was ordained priest together with Bishop John Mendes and Msgr. Urban Peschier on the feast of All Saints, November 1, 1953. At the time of his death on June 15, 1971, Fr. Patience was Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Port-of-Spain and was the first diocesan priest to have been appointed Administrator of the Cathedral, though he died before actually taking up that post. Fr. Theunissen, on the other hand, was a Benedictine monk who, in addition to teaching Biblical Studies at the regional seminary, was the seminary’s Librarian for over ten years before he died (on July 5, 1989) at the relatively early age of fifty.

Dedicated to the memory of these two symbolic figures of the seminary’s short history, then, this library, which contains some twenty thousand volumes, and is equipped with an online public-access catalogue, and computers with internet access, is provided with the services of a qualified librarian (see RF no.92) and is situated in the academic block of the seminary, within easy reach of the classroom area.

In addition, students and staff have access to the library of the Abbey of Mt. St. Benedict which contains valuable source material and which is situated in close proximity to the seminary’s academic block.

Please feel free to contact the librarian for further information.