On Friday, September 8, Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a “Topping Off” ceremony at its new Lower Gwynedd campus, writes Gia Myers for CatholicPhilly.

Members of the seminary community as well as the architects and engineers building the new campus gathered to witness the last steel beam, fittingly named the “Marian Beam” be inserted into the structure of the seminary’s new chapel.

The new chapel will be named the Immaculate Conception Chapel.

“There are a lot of emotions,” said Father Keith Chylinski, the Seminary’s Rector who led the ceremony, “a lot of sadness having to leave [the Wynnewood] campus, but excitement for the new campus.”

Attendees of the ceremony gathered to pray the Miraculous Medal Novena and then all the priests and seminarians were invited to sign the “Marian Beam.”

“It felt momentous,” said seminarian John McCabe of placing his signature on the Marian Beam.

“The move to the new campus with God’s protection and Mary’s intercession really came to life. Things are really coming together, McCabe, a Lansdale resident, said.

Read more about the special “Topping Off” ceremony and what it meant for the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary community at CatholicPhilly.

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More on the construction of the Lower Gwynedd campus.