Did it always take this long to become a priest?

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In today’s world a priest must have 7 or 8 years of education after high school. Throughout history has this always been the case?
 
St. Dominic is known to have studied for 9 years (aged 14 to 23) to become an Augustinian Canon Regular in the canonry of Osma, Spain. This was in the 1180s & 1190s. St. Gaetano Catanoso was born in 1879 and ordained a priest in 1902. I am not sure how long he would’ve studied in the 1890s.

The canonical age for ordination to the priesthood has always been set at 25. Many, many priests have been ordained at a younger age throughout history.
 
I went thru for my Bachelor’s of Bible College studies and
took a little more than one year of seminary in a Non-
denominational Christian School, it would have taken me
two years for a Master’s of Theological Studies. No Hebrew
only Greek.
 
Don’t know about the timeframe, but priestly training started out (1st cen.) as more of a one-on-one “apprenticeship” type situation. St. Augustine (5th cen.) as bishop mentored several minor clerics at a time, and this system spread. In the 13th cen., universities (such as Oxford) were established which taught canon law, philosophy, & theology, but only a privileged few attended these; the rest got a very limited education. The present seminary system was set up by the Council of Trent (16th cen.). As you probably know, some religious orders, societies of apostolic life, &c., have a longer formation than a typical diocesan seminary.
 
I feel the process is so long it cost a lot of future priest. Jesus’s program was three years long. How in the world did we get to this point? We are talking about 20 years of schooling to become a priest. Grade school, high school, college and seminary. Is there a shortage because there are just to many hoops to get though. Have we brought this shortage apon ourselves?
 
A priest specializes in Eternity, for which there is no short course.
 
trad_1 said:
In today’s world a priest must have 7 or 8 years of education after high school. Throughout history has this always been the case?
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No, because there have not been high schools throughout history.

ICXC NIKA
 
trad_1 said:
I feel the process is so long it cost a lot of future priest. Jesus’s program was three years long. How in the world did we get to this point? We are talking about 20 years of schooling to become a priest. Grade school, high school, college and seminary. Is there a shortage because there are just to many hoops to get though. Have we brought this shortage apon ourselves?
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Going back to grammar school in counting the requirements of becoming a priest seems a little off since this is a time for an extreme amount of personal growth and learning and not so much about becoming a priest, or any profession in particular really. Physicians have a minimum of eight years of schooling and then residency. Their job is extremely important-- often life and death. The schooling and time to mature is needed. Priests also have a lot of responsibility and deal with life and death and beyond. Eight years seems entirely appropriate. The human brain is not even done growing until the age of 25. I want my priest’s brain to be fully grown, at least. So for a young priest this time allows for this maturing. For older people it is still needed to learn the very important job of guiding his congregation, which is no easy task.

If this time does discourage some from becoming priests that may be that these people are not called to be priests. A lifetime commitment should not be taken lightly and time is needed to move through this process. I don’t know how old you are or if you are considering this vocation (I seem to remember you have been), but I think the time requirement is the least of this challenge. I can see being very eager, but there’s a reason for these requirements that we on this side of priesthood cannot understand completely.
 
trad_1 said:
In today’s world a priest must have 7 or 8 years of education after high school. Throughout history has this always been the case?
Click to expand...
As recently as the 1970s most priests (in the US) were in formation for about 10-12 years. Junior seminary replaced high school, then there was college and post graduate seminary training.

So, no, it hasn’t always been 7 or 8 years. And even now, it is much shorter if a candidate already has a college degree in philosophy or theology.
 
A Jesuit’s training takes even longer.

In my opinion a priest’s education is a decent time. We must have priests who are very intelligent so they can preach the Gospel and be able to reason.
 
trad_1 said:
If you are middle age is process still the same length?
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The time it takes depends on your schooling, not your age. If you already have a 4 year degree in Theology or Philosophy you may be able to shorten the requirement, but that is a case by case basis made by the vocation director.
 
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