Father Patrick Cunningham, a past editor of The Record, visited St Charles’ Seminary to celebrate Mass and address the students on the early history of the seminary.
Fr Cunningham is the only surviving member of the first class of seminarians who, with then-Archbishop Lancelot Goody, formed the foundation community in 1942.
Patrick Toohey, a third-year seminarian at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome, interviewed Fr Cunningham concerning the early history of St Charles.
Fr Cunningham also provided details concerning the use of the various seminary buildings and their rooms.
In his homily, Fr Cunningham told the seminarians that the seminary at Guildford occupied a blessed and much-hallowed place in the history of the Archdiocese.
The students shared further conservation with their distinguished visitor over lunch.
Fr Cunningham, who is now retired from active ministry, was delighted to see a photograph of himself in 1942 in an honoured place in the refectory.