The Wellness Center
The Seminary promotes the health of its students. Saint Vincent maintains a well-equipped health center, operated by a registered nurse under the supervision of physicians who regularly visit the Center. All prescription medicines are chargeable to the student.
The College and Seminary have adopted a group hospitalization plan that provides for hospital room and board, surgical, and other expenses as defined in the contract. The coverage is effective for accident or sickness on or off campus during a complete 12-month period, from August to August. Students are required to have health coverage of some type. For information concerning coverage, please contact the Rector’s Office.
Athletics
Facilities on campus are available to those interested in swimming, weightlifting, basketball, and physical conditioning. The College and Seminary Corporation maintains soccer and lacrosse fields, tennis courts, as well as baseball, softball, and football fields for students interested in outdoor sports. A fitness trail and numerous areas for jogging and hiking are located on the campus grounds as well, and skiing facilities are within a half hour drive from the school; special group rates for skiing are available in cooperation with the College. The Seminary also has a fitness room in one of its Seminary residences for the convenience of the seminarians.
The Library
Benedictine monk Boniface Wimmer founded the Saint Vincent Archabbey-Seminary-College Library as part of a monastic-educational institution. The shared facility is of great advantage for the completeness of the library collections and for sharing holdings among the entire Saint Vincent Community.
The earliest library collection consisted of works given to Wimmer by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Now, more than 162 years later, there are nearly 225,000 printed volumes, 44,000 bound periodicals, and approximately 100,000 microforms in the Library. The theological holdings make up almost half of the total collection, including nearly 100,000 printed volumes.
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Over 225 of its 680 journal subscriptions are theological and published in English, French, German, Italian, Latin, and Spanish. The central reference provides access to more than 3,500 authoritative reference titles such as encyclopedias, abstracts, dictionaries, indexes, handbooks, atlases, concordances, and gazetteers. Within this collection there is a special emphasis on materials in the various sacred sciences (Theology, Sacred Scripture, Canon Law, Church History, etc.) in both English and foreign languages.
The Library fulfills the mission of the Seminary and maintains the tradition of the Archabbey both through its purchases and through its acquisition of gift items for the collection. While fulfilling its mission, the Library gives extra emphasis to preserving the institution’s Benedictine patrimony by giving special attention to the acquisition and preservation of “Benedictina.” The Library’s renowned collection of rare, valuable, and unusual theological books and manuscripts, kept in a climate controlled special collection area, is evidence these traditions are being well preserved.
The Library’s large holdings also cover relevant materials from cognate disciplines, as well as basic texts from various other religious traditions. There is also a growing collection of DVDs, audio tapes, and video tapes with monitor/VCR/DVD players.
In addition to its holdings, the Library extends borrowing privileges to students, faculty, and staff members of the Seminary. The Library participates in the Westmoreland County Libraries Reciprocal Borrowing Program that affords members of the Saint Vincent Community borrowing privileges at participating libraries. The Library is also a member of the Pennsylvania Library Network (PALINET), which provides students and faculty members with access to the resources of many of western Pennsylvania’s academic, public, and special libraries.
Library resources are also available to the general religious, educational, and business community, and the library is open to patrons 83 hours each week when school is in session, with special hours in effect during vacation periods and on holidays.
The Library uses a fully automated catalog (OPAC), utilizing the integrated system of Innovative Interfaces, Inc., and patrons can search through eight EBSCOhost databases, LexisNexis Academic Universe, ProQuest Education Journals, and Religious and Theological Abstracts. These databases provide online access to an extensive list of bibliographic and full-text information.
Additionally, the Library currently subscribes to three theological indexes/abstracts on CD-ROM. Pamphlets are available to guide Library patrons in the use of these various services, and members of the Library staff are available to help. The Library employs five professional librarians and a number of paraprofessional and support staff. These individuals work to maintain the quiet atmosphere of the Library and are available to assist Library patrons with research needs, directions to the contents of the collection, and help with the print and digital resources available in the Library. When faculty, students, staff, and patrons are ready to settle down for some serious work, they will find private study carrels and tables available for this use throughout the library.
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