The following account reflects the life of the "Venerabile Collegio Inglese" (the Venerable English College) in Rome through the eyes of a seminarian aged 17 when he arrived at the College on 6 October 1955. During the three years he was a student at the Venerabile, he kept a daily diary. It is upon this, and upon the very detailed letters sent home, that the present article draws. The contrast with seminary life today is sharp; indeed, I doubt whether those training for the priesthood today would recognise such an account. Following the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s nothing short of a revolution took place. The present author did not experience that and therefore can only comment briefly throughout on the signs of such a revolution as they have been told by others who came after.