For a century, hundreds of young Irish priests, trained and ordained in Wexford, have gone out to minister not only in Ireland but in dioceses in the four corners of the globe.
The decision by the Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, to close St Peter's Seminary this month and relocate the remaining eight priesthood candidates there, is stark evidence of the radical decline in vocations.
But it also draws attention to the remarkable cumulative contribution made by this Wexford seminary - and by Co Wexford families - to the worldwide Catholic Church over generations.
The sheer manpower contribution was extraordinary. Since the full seminary course was made available at St Peter's in 1897, well over 700 priests have been turned out for Ferns and elsewhere in Ireland, and for Australia, the US, New Zealand, England, Scotland and Wales.
Even earlier, when a partial seminary course was in place, St Peter's played a key role in establishing the church in South Africa. "It was the cradle of a mission to South Africa," points out the Rev John Gahan, now parish priest in Gorey and former president of the college. From 1830 on, priests from the college staff travelled to South Africa, and two Wexford men became bishops in the eastern Cape province.
Father Gahan is now engaged in the vast task of compiling biographical summaries of all the priests who have originated from, or served in, the Ferns Diocese.
That number could run to over 1,500 priests in the two centuries since 1800. "Before that time, the information on them is very scant," he says.
For decades St Peter's has combined a seminary with a large secondary school. A special ecclesiastical wing was opened in 1939, and it has had up to 80 seminarians at times.
A close link has always existed between them, with pupils and seminarians sharing a refectory and the college chapel - which was the first building in Ireland to be designed by the renowned ecclesiastical designer, Augustus Pugin.
Many vocations to the priesthood resulted from this link, and many past pupils rose to prominence. The late Cardinal Tomas O Fiaich was a student for three years and ordained there in June 1948. Other well known past pupils included Archbishop Raymond Prenderville of Perth, Bishop Henry Cleary of Auckland, the Young Irelander, Thomas D'Arcy Magee, former Minister for Finance, Dr James Ryan, and Msgr Patrick Corish, former president of Maynooth.
The president of St Peter's, Father Oliver Doyle, and his staff, in a statement this week, said: "The college is quietly proud of the work it has done in preparing ministers to serve the church".
Bishop Comiskey acknowledged that there would be sadness among many priests "at the loss of a great landmark in their lives". However, while it was appropriate to grieve for the passing of "a magnificent old institution", it was important to look to the future and the new opportunities opening up.
St Peter's Secondary School, with about 650 pupils, is to continue and a major extension is shortly to be built onto the campus. Carlow RTC has a third-level outreach centre on the campus, offering computer and business studies and a range of night courses.
The seminary facilities will be retained as a pastoral and resource centre for the diocese, as well as a centre for faith development and spiritual renewal.
Future seminarians from the diocese will pursue their main studies elsewhere, but it is planned that St Peter's will provide a base for their pastoral preparation at some stage in their careers, especially immediately prior to ordination.
Yet the reality is that dwindling vocations are steadily forcing a drastic reassessment of the network of seminaries in Ireland. The seminary at St Kieran's College in Kilkenny has already closed, Clonliffe is going, and the situation at St John's College in Waterford will be reviewed in a couple of years.
An important chapter in Irish history is closing with the regional seminaries. It is noteworthy, however, that Ferns is now one of the few Irish dioceses which continues to have a surplus of priests and has suffered no cutback in its parishes. In fact, even now the diocese has at least four priests on loan to Brazil and three in America.