History

On July 25, 2008, the day of Mar Sarhad Yawsip Jammo's sixth anniversary of his installation as Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of St. Peter the Apostle for Chaldeans & Assyrians, Mar Abba the Great Seminary was officially opened. To commemorate this joyous occasion, there was an intimate gathering at the seminary where the Bishop blessed and dedicated the house.

This was in response to the initial 5 young men of the Diocese who had presented themselves for priestly studies the previous November. The young men were: John Bachoua, Ricky Kassab, David Sesi, Andrew Hermiz and Devon Jina. Seeing the grace of God at work in the young men, Mar Sarhad set out at once to provide for them all that was needed to aid their priestly discernment and formation, and the first step for this was finding a building. A suitable house was found and a down payment was placed thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the people of St. Peter Diocese, and Fr. Andrew Younan was named Rector.

From that point on, interest has been growing in the Seminary of Mar Abba the Great, and other men have come forward and joined, while others, discovering the call of God in other places, have moved on. There are currently 5 seminarians:Simon Esshaki, Jonathan Boulos, David Stephen, Royal Hannosh, and Emanuel Shapera. Finally, on January 17, 2009, His Excellency Mar Bawai Soro was added to the seminary team, officially assigned as its Spiritual Director.