History

The building that houses the Major and Minor Seminary of Gozo was erected in 1783 by Vincenzo Labini, bishop of Malta and Gozo, as a hospital for women so as to replace the old hospital of Saint Julian that was situated within the Gozo Citadel. This old hospital had been benefited from a number of bequests made by pious and rich persons, amongst whom were Fra Melchior Alpheran, Rose Pluman, and Theodore Ellul, whose portraits still hang in the hall of the present Seminary. When the new hospital was built, the benefices and property of the old structure were transferred to the new by a decree of the same Bishop Labini.

On 16 September 1864, Gozo was established a diocese through the papal BullSingulari Amore. Monsignor Michele Francesco Buttigieg was nominated the first Bishop. By that time the Government was also offering ample hospital services to women, So the bishop thought it fit to close down the hospital to convert it into the new Seminary of the diocese. In point of fact, the erection of a seminary was stipulated as a condition for the formation of the new diocese. It was decreed that all the benefices, property, and rents of the hospital were to be transferred to the new Seminary.