Rachol Seminary, Rachol (margao)
Rachol is about 7 kms from the commercial town of Margao, in Salcete taluka. On the top of a small hillock near Rachol and the small Village of Raia, lies the famous Rachol Seminary surrounded by the remains of a moat of an old Muslim fort and unending vistas of rice fields.
The seminary at Rachol in Goa originally built in 1580 was converted into a Diocesan seminary in 1762. It is among the first seminaries in the Bardez side and the second after in Old Goa. The college of Ignatius Loyola was setup here in the year 1580. Also the University of Arts, Science and Technology was established here by the Capuchins. It was in the year 1759, Archbishop da Silveira declared Rachol as a diocesan Seminary with the title ‘The Good Sheperd’, Bom Pastor.
One of the earliest printing press that arrived in India from 1616 was housed in the Rachol seminary which produced Christian religions literature. The Seminary has lot of students here not only from Goa but also from various parts of India.