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Seminary Boy: A Memoir
John Cornwell evokes a vanished time and way of life in this moving and, at times, troubling memoir of an adolescence spent in the isolated all-male world of the seminary.
Born into a destitute family with a dominating Irish-Catholic mother and an absconding father during World War II in London, John Cornwell's childhood was deeply dysfunctional. When he was thirteen years old he was sent to Cotton College, a remote seminary for boys in the West Midlands countryside. For the next five years Cornwell lived under an austere monastic regime as he wrestled with his emotional and spiritual demons. In the hothouse atmosphere of the seminary he strove to find stable, loving friendships among his fellows and fatherly support from the priests, one of whom proved to be a sexual predator.
The wild countryside around the seminary, the moving power of church ritual and music, and a charismatic priest enabled him to persevere. But while normal teenagers were being swept up by the rock ’n’ roll era, Cornwell and his fellow seminarians continued to be emotionally and socially repressed. Secret romantic attachments between seminarians were not uncommon; on visits home they were overwhelmed by the powerful attractions of the emerging youth culture of the 1950s. But when they returned to Cotton College, the boys were once again governed by the age-old traditions and disciplines of seminary life. And like many young seminarians, Cornwell struggled with a natural adolescent rebelliousness, which in one crucial instance provoked a crisis that would eventually lead to his decision to abandon his dream of becoming a priest.
Written with tremendous warmth and humor, Seminary Boy is a truly unforgettable memoir and a penetrating glimpse into the hidden world of seminary life.
Born into a destitute family with a dominating Irish-Catholic mother and an absconding father during World War II in London, John Cornwell's childhood was deeply dysfunctional. When he was thirteen years old he was sent to Cotton College, a remote seminary for boys in the West Midlands countryside. For the next five years Cornwell lived under an austere monastic regime as he wrestled with his emotional and spiritual demons. In the hothouse atmosphere of the seminary he strove to find stable, loving friendships among his fellows and fatherly support from the priests, one of whom proved to be a sexual predator.
The wild countryside around the seminary, the moving power of church ritual and music, and a charismatic priest enabled him to persevere. But while normal teenagers were being swept up by the rock ’n’ roll era, Cornwell and his fellow seminarians continued to be emotionally and socially repressed. Secret romantic attachments between seminarians were not uncommon; on visits home they were overwhelmed by the powerful attractions of the emerging youth culture of the 1950s. But when they returned to Cotton College, the boys were once again governed by the age-old traditions and disciplines of seminary life. And like many young seminarians, Cornwell struggled with a natural adolescent rebelliousness, which in one crucial instance provoked a crisis that would eventually lead to his decision to abandon his dream of becoming a priest.
Written with tremendous warmth and humor, Seminary Boy is a truly unforgettable memoir and a penetrating glimpse into the hidden world of seminary life.
344 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
9 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
John Cornwell
83 books49 followersJohn Cornwell is a British journalist, author, and academic. Since 1990 he has directed the Science and Human Dimension Project at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he is also, since 2009, Founder and Director of the Rustat Conferences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (University of Leicester) in 2011. He was nominated for the PEN/Ackerley Prize for best UK memoir 2007 (Seminary Boy) and shortlisted Specialist Journalist of the Year (science, medicine in Sunday Times Magazine), British Press Awards 2006. He won the Scientific and Medical Network Book of the Year Award for Hitler's Scientists, 2005; and received the Independent Television Authority - Tablet Award for contributions to religious journalism (1994). In 1982 he won the Gold Dagger Award Non-Fiction (1982) for Earth to Earth. He is best known for his investigative journalism; memoir; and his work in public understanding of science. In addition to his books on the relationship between science, ethics and the humanities, he has written widely on the Catholic Church and the modern papacy.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 4, 2009
This book is not for everyone. Given my fascination with Catholicism, I suppose that I was primed to find this book interesting. However, as intriguing as this memoir is as an evocation of a lost time and unfamiliar culture, I was soon overcome rather by the simple, painful story of a soul. It is a work of interior and spiritual biography, not unlike Augustine's Confessions. Its sincerity and honesty arewhat give it much of its power, but be warned, the book is very frank (without ever becoming--in my opinion--prurient), even when dealing with difficult material such as sexual abuse. I found it, for reasons I can't quite explain, one of the most moving books I've read in a long time.
August 4, 2008
The journey from impoverished adolescent thug to the cloistered halls of a Catholic seminary.
John Cornwell was quick with his fists and intelligent enough to be dangerous. He was headed for a life of crime until a poor parish priest showed him another road. Head of a growing gang of youthful thugs and exiled to the hall in public school, John was considered a waste of space and education. His domineering Irish mother and his crippled and often absent father fought constantly, often throwing things and coming to blows. John shared a bed with two younger brothers and had one older brother and sister. Moving from a tenement row house to the greens keeper’s cottage where his father worked made things a little easier for the family, but did not change their overall poverty or family situation. When John became Father Cooney’s altar boy everything changed. He saw another life and discovered something outside himself that answered the hunger inside for something more.
John felt the call to become a priest like Father Cooney and with the father’s help was chosen to go to Catholic seminary at Cotton College, an elite rural seminary, although John was behind in Latin, and nearly every other subject. His mother and father didn’t know if they could afford the clothes John would need, but Father Cooney helped them get funding from the diocese and thinned out the list. A few days into the term, John arrived at Cotton College and was shown to his bed in the dormitory, the washroom and given very few instructions. He went to bed cold and lonely and woke to the thump of a book at the foot of his bed. Bleary-eyed and freezing, one of the boys helped John get around and thus began a life very different and quieter than the one he had known all his thirteen years.
John Cornwell writes with exacting and lyrical detail of his life before, during and the after the seminary, giving the impression he is still figuring it all out. A sense of wild purpose and unflinching honesty fills Seminary Boy with charm tinged with a touch of sadness. He faces his wild and misspent youth until he enters the seminary with a bright and mischievous wit that never veers into melancholy in spite of the sometimes sad and wrenching details of his family’s battles and prejudices.
Cornwell sets a lively pace that is at times as humorous as it is appalling. Seminary Boy is no diatribe against the Catholic church nor is it a tell-all book of salacious gossip, rather it is an unbiased and candid tale of a privileged and sometimes difficult life in the cloistered halls of the seminary against the backdrop of poverty and familial trials and tribulations that are not without a certain poignant charm.
John Cornwell was quick with his fists and intelligent enough to be dangerous. He was headed for a life of crime until a poor parish priest showed him another road. Head of a growing gang of youthful thugs and exiled to the hall in public school, John was considered a waste of space and education. His domineering Irish mother and his crippled and often absent father fought constantly, often throwing things and coming to blows. John shared a bed with two younger brothers and had one older brother and sister. Moving from a tenement row house to the greens keeper’s cottage where his father worked made things a little easier for the family, but did not change their overall poverty or family situation. When John became Father Cooney’s altar boy everything changed. He saw another life and discovered something outside himself that answered the hunger inside for something more.
John felt the call to become a priest like Father Cooney and with the father’s help was chosen to go to Catholic seminary at Cotton College, an elite rural seminary, although John was behind in Latin, and nearly every other subject. His mother and father didn’t know if they could afford the clothes John would need, but Father Cooney helped them get funding from the diocese and thinned out the list. A few days into the term, John arrived at Cotton College and was shown to his bed in the dormitory, the washroom and given very few instructions. He went to bed cold and lonely and woke to the thump of a book at the foot of his bed. Bleary-eyed and freezing, one of the boys helped John get around and thus began a life very different and quieter than the one he had known all his thirteen years.
John Cornwell writes with exacting and lyrical detail of his life before, during and the after the seminary, giving the impression he is still figuring it all out. A sense of wild purpose and unflinching honesty fills Seminary Boy with charm tinged with a touch of sadness. He faces his wild and misspent youth until he enters the seminary with a bright and mischievous wit that never veers into melancholy in spite of the sometimes sad and wrenching details of his family’s battles and prejudices.
Cornwell sets a lively pace that is at times as humorous as it is appalling. Seminary Boy is no diatribe against the Catholic church nor is it a tell-all book of salacious gossip, rather it is an unbiased and candid tale of a privileged and sometimes difficult life in the cloistered halls of the seminary against the backdrop of poverty and familial trials and tribulations that are not without a certain poignant charm.
March 3, 2008
Cornwell, a former juvenile delinquent, developed a religious calling and was sent off to a Catholic junior seminary when he was in his early teens.
This highly readable memoir reads like a novel. One really feels Cornwell's affection for the seminary that took him out of a tumultuous, poverty-stricken home life. Also palpable, painfully so, is young Cornwell's anguish and confusion as to what a junior seminarian is supposed to do about his budding sexuality.
Speaking of sex, yes, the book does contain stories of abuses perpetrated by Catholic priests. But these are not the point of the book, and they are presented with minimal details. The horror of such abuses is still felt, but any trace of sensationalism is mercifully absent.
I felt that the most interesting parts of the book dealt with the varied, sometimes conflicting pieces of advice Cornwell received from the priests who were his teachers at the seminary. Each priest had his own way of doing his job, and some of the priests seemed better at it than others. I was also struck by the different philosophies espoused in Cornwell's various readings (Therese of Lisieux's autobiography, a work by St. Francis de Sales, etc.) and how he attempts to put these into practice.
And, of course, Cornwell's spiritual and emotional journey -- the whole point of the book -- is moving and fascinating. I'd be interested to read some of his other books.
This highly readable memoir reads like a novel. One really feels Cornwell's affection for the seminary that took him out of a tumultuous, poverty-stricken home life. Also palpable, painfully so, is young Cornwell's anguish and confusion as to what a junior seminarian is supposed to do about his budding sexuality.
Speaking of sex, yes, the book does contain stories of abuses perpetrated by Catholic priests. But these are not the point of the book, and they are presented with minimal details. The horror of such abuses is still felt, but any trace of sensationalism is mercifully absent.
I felt that the most interesting parts of the book dealt with the varied, sometimes conflicting pieces of advice Cornwell received from the priests who were his teachers at the seminary. Each priest had his own way of doing his job, and some of the priests seemed better at it than others. I was also struck by the different philosophies espoused in Cornwell's various readings (Therese of Lisieux's autobiography, a work by St. Francis de Sales, etc.) and how he attempts to put these into practice.
And, of course, Cornwell's spiritual and emotional journey -- the whole point of the book -- is moving and fascinating. I'd be interested to read some of his other books.
September 5, 2018
I was so taken by the childhood religious journey of this memoir! He describes his own passionate faith and search for spiritual perfection with empathy; a boy of poetic soul (past his first young years as a ten-year-old hooligan), he tries to find some escape from his mother who is loving, brutal, ignorant and cares and doesn't care for him, his beaten down wistful father, his several siblings. He finds that as a Catholic boy server in the Mass by the local priest who is as poor as anyone, but really finds the spiritual idea in the perfectly bucolic, plentiful country monastery he visits: it is that perfection he seeks. He tries to find it in his junior seminary where it seems that emotional contact with anyone but visions of Christ and the Virgin are forbidden. Neither physical contact of course - not even a hug! I cannot understand how the writer remembers the smallest gesture and attitude of so many people from at least forty years ago, but they come across as clearly as if they were standing before us. A beautiful recollection of a difficult journey of a sensitive young boy.
November 10, 2024
I can't decide if this depresses me or fascinates me, but in between it's certainly an interesting look at a time and place that isn't in any way ancient history, yet simultaneously feels like another planet. Dark, brooding, contemplative, repellent in equal measure.
September 27, 2009
I've been cleaning up my book-shelves... obviously the unread book section.
I came upon this book through work... a draft sent to be reviewed by the paper. Instead, contrary to the hopes of the publisher, this book found itself in a pile for any staff member to take home and read.
Coming from a family of Catholics... with grandparents as devout as they could come; I wanted to read a book about a time when it was considered a great honor to have a seminarian in the family. I really feel it would have been my paternal grandmother's greatest joy to see that realized... and I have a feeling she would have had my father do the honors.
His writing style is easy... a few parts of theological musings eluded me, but I've not studied the saints and their writings to the degree Cornwell has.
I came upon this book through work... a draft sent to be reviewed by the paper. Instead, contrary to the hopes of the publisher, this book found itself in a pile for any staff member to take home and read.
Coming from a family of Catholics... with grandparents as devout as they could come; I wanted to read a book about a time when it was considered a great honor to have a seminarian in the family. I really feel it would have been my paternal grandmother's greatest joy to see that realized... and I have a feeling she would have had my father do the honors.
His writing style is easy... a few parts of theological musings eluded me, but I've not studied the saints and their writings to the degree Cornwell has.
April 21, 2012
Cornwell does a great job in giving the reader an insight into the mind of a boy who decides he wants to be a priest. His descriptions, too, of the seminary and the pre-Vatican II priesthood is very interesting. But, sadly, that's all. There's not much of an emotional connection, nor is there much of an arc to his story. It is, instead, a string of unrelated incidents. A lot of time was spent on his early life, but his later dissatisfaction with the church was rushed and glossed over. He also had many interesting and powerful relationships but these were always kept at a distance from the text. It all left me rather cold and unfulfilled.
Ultimately it's not a book I can recommend. If Cornwell had delved deeper into his experiences, motivations and feelings this could have been a fascinating book. Otherwise it's only factually intriguing.
Ultimately it's not a book I can recommend. If Cornwell had delved deeper into his experiences, motivations and feelings this could have been a fascinating book. Otherwise it's only factually intriguing.
March 1, 2008
When John Cornwell describes his life prior to the junior seminary, his time at there and when he looks back at what it taught him, this book is fascinating. In spite of its many imperfections, Cotton made John Cornwell. In between time, we get a great deal of detail about events that simply drag; I'm not sure I wanted to know about them either...
May 20, 2009
This was a memoir written by an Englishman who entered pre-seminary around age 13 in the 1950s. The descriptions of his home life, the period, the place and his time at the seminary make for an interesting read.
November 3, 2015
Interesting look back at a way of life that's now firmly in the past - the life of a minor seminarian, a boy being groomed to eventually after years of formation become a Catholic priest.
March 13, 2025
I am reading Cornwell's Seminary Boy for a course on the Catholic clerical abuse crisis. We've been reading the Boston Globe reports, survivor accounts, and church documents that all arose out of the context of the crisis beginning in the early 2000s, which centered on sexual abuses of laity mostly from the 70s to the 90s.
This memoir that Cornwell has provided us offers a glimpse into the world of the Catholic seminary. Catholic seminaries arose out of the context of the Counter-Reformation (a Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation of the early 1500s). The emphasis behind the seminary was to fortify young men entering the priesthood.
Cornwell, a lower class boy, found himself at Cotton, a prestigious minor seminary. In the Catholic world, prior to the sex abuse crisis, minor seminaries were analogous to middle/high school charter schools. Boys would be sent to receive a religious education before moving onto major seminary, which would be more analogous to college.
We see here the deeper context out of which priests, both abusers, abused, and non-abusers, experienced in their spiritual formation. Women were seen as inherently tempting, and therefore were disdained and avoided at all cost so seminarians could maintain "custody of the eyes." However, the seminaries were more unsure about what to do with sexual temptation between boys, and even priests and professors desiring young seminarians.
From Cornwell's eyes, we see a large group of young boys who are being restricted from the outside world, enclosed in the seminary. The idea was to isolate these boys from temptations before reaching puberty, and to keep them highly disciplined at all hours of the day, that they would have no time to think about the things that could lead them to break their eventual vows of celibacy.
This memoir is crucial to understanding where clerical abuse comes from. In an environment where sex is not talked about, authority goes unquestioned, and kids are not allowed to form normal friendships with each other or find father figures in their authorities, an environment of secrecy, shame, and hurt is sure to grow.
As an evangelical, I grew up thinking that religious abuse was a Catholic problem. Today, I know that abuse is common throughout evangelicalism. Yet, we evangelicals like to pretend that abuser pastors are only "bad apples" and individual bad actors. I believe that this memoir should move all religious communities to move beyond that way of thinking. We need to think about the cultures and systems in place that form religious leaders. How are these systems encouraging healthy behaviors towards consent, sex, and information? And how are those systems encouraging secrecy, distrust, and repression?
A great piece, and I fully recommend it to anyone interested in religion, abuse, seminaries, and the like.
This memoir that Cornwell has provided us offers a glimpse into the world of the Catholic seminary. Catholic seminaries arose out of the context of the Counter-Reformation (a Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation of the early 1500s). The emphasis behind the seminary was to fortify young men entering the priesthood.
Cornwell, a lower class boy, found himself at Cotton, a prestigious minor seminary. In the Catholic world, prior to the sex abuse crisis, minor seminaries were analogous to middle/high school charter schools. Boys would be sent to receive a religious education before moving onto major seminary, which would be more analogous to college.
We see here the deeper context out of which priests, both abusers, abused, and non-abusers, experienced in their spiritual formation. Women were seen as inherently tempting, and therefore were disdained and avoided at all cost so seminarians could maintain "custody of the eyes." However, the seminaries were more unsure about what to do with sexual temptation between boys, and even priests and professors desiring young seminarians.
From Cornwell's eyes, we see a large group of young boys who are being restricted from the outside world, enclosed in the seminary. The idea was to isolate these boys from temptations before reaching puberty, and to keep them highly disciplined at all hours of the day, that they would have no time to think about the things that could lead them to break their eventual vows of celibacy.
This memoir is crucial to understanding where clerical abuse comes from. In an environment where sex is not talked about, authority goes unquestioned, and kids are not allowed to form normal friendships with each other or find father figures in their authorities, an environment of secrecy, shame, and hurt is sure to grow.
As an evangelical, I grew up thinking that religious abuse was a Catholic problem. Today, I know that abuse is common throughout evangelicalism. Yet, we evangelicals like to pretend that abuser pastors are only "bad apples" and individual bad actors. I believe that this memoir should move all religious communities to move beyond that way of thinking. We need to think about the cultures and systems in place that form religious leaders. How are these systems encouraging healthy behaviors towards consent, sex, and information? And how are those systems encouraging secrecy, distrust, and repression?
A great piece, and I fully recommend it to anyone interested in religion, abuse, seminaries, and the like.
June 22, 2024
'Seminary Boy' wants to be the 'Angela's Ashes' of church study, as a pre-pubescent John Cornwell leaves his turbulent, poor family and is accepted into the exclusive seminary Cotton where future priests are trained. What follows are the usual tales of self-discovery, aescetic horrors, abuse, and both the joys and limitations of faith, but there's a kind of banality to the proceedings as none of the incidents compare with the worst things we expect, the worst things we have already seen. Bad things happen to everyone, but if you're looking for some kind of shocking tell-all, well, this isn't the book for you. Apart from the fact that the seminary actually gives one of the priests on staff the title "Dean Of Punishment", there's nothing really shocking about any of it, unless you find being sent to bed without dinner to be a travesty for the ages. As a study in both impoverished Irish family culture and the Catholic seminary society, it's a captivating tome for a novice, but if either of those are really your thing, there are probably better histories/memoirs on the subject. I found the journey worthwhile, even if the "ending", the conclusion of Cornwell's seminary years and his decision to not only not become a priest, but to leave the faith entirely, went largely unexplained, though the Postscript which resolves some loose ends among his family members 50 years hence softens the blow somewhat.
April 1, 2018
A coming of age story. An insight into a junior seminary. A glimpse of working class life in Britain in the nineteen fifties. Seminar Boy is all this and more.
Cornwall’s writing is easy to read and the story clips along at a pleasing pace. Cornwall, from London’s East End, ends up at the Cotton junior seminary almost on a whim. He didn’t hear God or Jesus calling him to serve. His parents fought frequently. Money was scarce to feed and clothe John and his four siblings.
He left one difficult situation for another. Priests had to be addressed as “sir”. Cornwall was caned for reading after lights-out. All the attendant angst, sexual repression and fear engendered by a cloistered virtually all-male environment is well described.
This memoir is more than a description of a boy’s experiences. It’s also the story of a search for a father figure and love. Cornwall leaves the priesthood at senior seminary. His decision is the culmination of years of repression and “outrageous and dogmatic demands”. The explanation could’ve been more detailed, along with why he joined the junior seminary. This doesn’t diminish what is a readable insight into a world of mystery.
Despite leaving the seminary, the Catholic religion never left Cornwall. The depth of his feeling and emotion comes across, especially in the book’s final part.
Cornwall’s writing is easy to read and the story clips along at a pleasing pace. Cornwall, from London’s East End, ends up at the Cotton junior seminary almost on a whim. He didn’t hear God or Jesus calling him to serve. His parents fought frequently. Money was scarce to feed and clothe John and his four siblings.
He left one difficult situation for another. Priests had to be addressed as “sir”. Cornwall was caned for reading after lights-out. All the attendant angst, sexual repression and fear engendered by a cloistered virtually all-male environment is well described.
This memoir is more than a description of a boy’s experiences. It’s also the story of a search for a father figure and love. Cornwall leaves the priesthood at senior seminary. His decision is the culmination of years of repression and “outrageous and dogmatic demands”. The explanation could’ve been more detailed, along with why he joined the junior seminary. This doesn’t diminish what is a readable insight into a world of mystery.
Despite leaving the seminary, the Catholic religion never left Cornwall. The depth of his feeling and emotion comes across, especially in the book’s final part.
December 8, 2020
I read this book through the author’s voice, from his own personal struggles and his breakthrough in vocation. His life away from society, concealed in Cotton as a seminary boy, showed me a glimpse of how religious life can be rigidly calm on the surface with battles of everyday storms within themselves. This book serves as a breakthrough for me as well, allowing me to come to terms to owning my life and living it with clear conscience.
August 6, 2024
Not being Catholic, I could and did vehemently disagree with, even recoil from the erroneous teachings the young boy (the author) received. However his basic life and earnestness toward God made up for what lacked in the teaching he received. I would have to add though, so close yet so far away in coming to know the Truth of the Scriptures.
March 9, 2025
Had to read for class - fascinating and disturbing and blunt. Worth reading but sometimes it felt like the story dragged on and the actual writing style was complicated and wordy
November 7, 2025
Disappointing
Well written. But the ending is very unsatisfying. A rather shallow story full of faux depth. Wish I hadn't invested the time reading the book.
Well written. But the ending is very unsatisfying. A rather shallow story full of faux depth. Wish I hadn't invested the time reading the book.
May 4, 2016
A spiritual odyssey
This is a moving account of life in a junior seminary with its trials and tribulations, and also its positive facets. This memoir helps to explain the radical critique which the author has made in his voluminous writings of the contemporary Roman Catholic Church. Yet he returned to Christianity after twenty years of agnosticism. This book is superbly written and is of particular interest when on considers the crisis which was about to follow the Second Vatican Council.
This is a moving account of life in a junior seminary with its trials and tribulations, and also its positive facets. This memoir helps to explain the radical critique which the author has made in his voluminous writings of the contemporary Roman Catholic Church. Yet he returned to Christianity after twenty years of agnosticism. This book is superbly written and is of particular interest when on considers the crisis which was about to follow the Second Vatican Council.
February 18, 2015
I'm not sure why I picked up this book, but I'm glad I did. I enjoy memoirs, and this one was well written. Cornwell spent some years as a teenager in a minor seminary, preparing to train as a priest. The book was a window into a world I know nothing about, and since I enjoy learning, the book was interesting. Not being Catholic, however, I did find parts of it hard to follow when he speaks of the daily rituals and routines that involve the church. I appreciate the honesty also.
August 21, 2011
Very interesting insite into what it was like for boys in 1950s England to go to minor seminary (a school for boys that were thinking of joining the priesthood). Really tough experience and a lot of devious things going on, but very interesting nonetheless!
May 24, 2007
Cornwall describes his experiences at a Catholic boarding school for future priests in the England of the 1950s.
August 3, 2007
I love memoirs. As a former Catholic, it was fascinating to me to get an inside glimpse at this former seminarian's upbringing and schooling.
April 11, 2010
What a family life he overcame!! Interesting to consider that priests need family which they do not have while they counsel people about their lives.. they need friends... a contradiction it seems..
Read
December 23, 2010an eye opener
April 21, 2013
It's not for me.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews