Dromantine: 100 years of people, stories and missionary history woven into one very special place

Dromantine marks 100 years since the Society of African Missions (SMA) established its seminary in County Down, Northern Ireland. The facility officially opened as a major seminary on September 29, 1926, following the arrival of 47 seminarians from the SMA seminary in Cork eight days earlier.

The SMA Ireland established the site at Dromantine House because existing facilities could no longer accommodate the growing number of students. Father Morris Slattery, the SMA superior in Ireland at the time, selected the location after an extensive search.

Between 1926 and 1972, the seminary provided missionary formation for 587 ordained students. Many of these priests were sent to serve in countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, and Liberia. Father Brice Ulrich Afferi, an Ivorian priest with the SMA Communications Office, described the opening as the start of a remarkable chapter for the society.