Vianney Bhavan was founded on July 1, 1989 by Rt. Rev. Thomas Thiruthalil, CM, the then Bishop of Berhampur at Gopalpur-on-Sea. Though the number of young men who responded to the priestly calling gradually increased during the last three decades of the twentieth century there were no major seminaries in the State of Odisha to train the local clergy. They were sent to the Seminaries of neighbouring regions, namely, St. Albert’s College, Ranchi; Morning Star College, Barrackpore, West Bengal; St. Charles College, Nagpur; Papal Seminary, Pune; St. John’s Regional Seminary, Hyderabad and so on. It was becoming all the more difficult to get all the students from Odisha admitted to the above seminaries. Moreover, in the 1980s, there emerged the concept of imparting contextual formation in the Reginal Seminaries. Hence, at loja virtual gratis the request of the Bishops of Odisha the Divine Word Missionaries started Khristo Jyoti, the Theology Seminary at Sason, Sambalpur, Odisha in the year 1987. At the same time, the Congregation of the Mission of Saint Vincent De Paul was running, since 1955, a College at Gopalpur-on-Sea – Aquinas College - to give Philosophy course to the Vincentian students. They were requested to take in the Diocesan Seminarians from June 1987. However, it was soon felt necessary to set up a separate institution for the Diocesan students near Aquinas College to train the seminarians with emphasis on Diocesan and Pastoral Spirituality. Therefore, Rt. Rev. Thomas Thiruthalil, CM generously set aside for this purpose the villa he had acquired from the Jesuits of the Jamshedpur Province, and thus the Vianney Bhavan was born.

The Seminary is located on the Main Road of the coastal town of Gopalpur. This town is named Gopalpur-on-Sea because it is situated on the coast of the Bay of Bengal (North-Eastern coast of India). It is a picturesque town with white sandy beaches and lush green coconut and mango groves. This small and quiet holiday resort is 14 Kms. loja virtual gratis away from the railway station and the city centre of Berhampur, which is the commercial capital of South Odisha. The city also has many educational institutions like the University of Berhampur, The National Institute of Science and Technology, Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati Medical College, Uma Charan Patnaik Engineering School, Lingaraj Law College and many other centres of learning and training.

The town has a small beautiful Church built by the French Missionaries of St. Francis De Sales in the year 1886. It was handed over to the Diocese of Berhampur and is now the Parish Church of St. Benedict. It is taken care of by the Vincentian Fathers. They are also running ‘St. Vincent’s Retreat Centre’ which is loja virtual gratis adjacent to the Parish Church. Besides these institutions, the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul have their Formation Houses in the vicinity. The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, too, have a community here. The sisters are involved in the apostolate among the poor fisher-folk, and do social work among women and children.

During the past twenty-six years, the Seminary has made an envious progress. Three hundred fifty five students have passed through its portals ever since its inception. The initial limited infrastructure has beenreplaced with more spacious ones to meet the basic needs of the students, thanks to the Pontifical Society of Saint Peter the Apostle, the Archdiocese of Koln, the ‘Aid to the Church in Need’ and the Missio. Still the infra-structure to house seventy-five seminarians is an urgent necessity. On February 12, 1999, the Most Reverend Henry D’Souza, Archbishop of Calcutta, the Most Reverend Thomas Menamparambil, SDB, Archbishop of Guwahati, Right Reverend Charles Soreng, SJ, Bishop of Hazaribag and Right Reverend Joseph Rodericks, SJ, Bishop of Jamshedpur made the Apostolic Visitation to loja virtual gratis the Seminary. They recommended that the doors of Vianney Bhavan be opened to the seminarians of neighbouring regions as well. Ever since, the number of students seeking admission to Vianney Bhavan began to increase, but the Seminary was unable to say ‘yes’ to all the applicants. Not being able to host all the students at Vianney Bhavan, the Regional Council of Odisha Catholic Bishops requested the Vincentian Community of Aquinas College to accommodate the Diocesan Seminarians coming from the dioceses outside Odisha. This arrangement started since August 2003, was only a temporary one, and Vianney Bhavan hopes to keep all the Diocesan Seminarians together under its wings as soon as sufficient infrastructure is created, and impart the Diocesan & Pastoral Spirituality.