From Apostolic School to International Centre of Formation
The house opened in 1938 as an Apostolic School to prepare young men of French-speaking Switzerland for the missionary priesthood. About 250 pupils were trained there over 34 years.
When the school closed in 1972, Torry took on new purposes: editorial office of the Bethléem magazine, welcome for foreign students, missionary animation in the Romandie. For decades the house remained a centre of SMB activity for French-speaking Switzerland.
The decisive turning point came at the General Chapter of 2023, which opened the recruitment of non-Swiss candidates and designated Torry as the international centre of missionary formation of the Society in Europe.
The Novitiate and Theological Studies
Torry offers two complementary formation paths that unfold side by side.
The first is the novitiate of the SMB, organised in eighteen modules around four axes: the history, spirituality and Constitutions of the Society; the biblical and theological foundations of mission; a deepened spiritual life with personal accompaniment, Lectio Divina and guided retreats; and a daily community life where fraternity, service and intercultural living are tested. Above all, it is a year of vocational discernment that prepares the temporary promise.
The second is academic theological formation at the University of Fribourg — canonical Licence, Master and Doctorate.
The proximity of one of the leading Catholic theological faculties of Europe, combined with Torry's eighty-six-year tradition of welcoming students for mission, makes this twofold programme ideally organised: each candidate can advance at his own pace and depth in both the internal SMB formation and his academic studies.
International Student Residence
Alongside the formation centre, Torry continues — as it has for decades — to welcome an international student residence. Theologians, priests in postgraduate studies, but also students of many other disciplines and nationalities live together at Torry while pursuing their studies at the University of Fribourg. The result is a rich intercultural milieu of exchange and shared living, where the daily life of a religious community meets the curiosity and youth of a university generation.
The rhythm of the community is marked by the morning office, midday prayer, the conventual Mass and evening prayer. Student-residents are free to join when they wish. The shared meals, in particular, are the heart of the day: it is around the table that fraternity is built and that conversation runs freely between continents and disciplines.
- Furnished rooms with a private sink
- Cleaning and bed linen change
- Shared showers and toilets on each floor Outdoor parking available for rent Internet included
- Laundry facilities
- Bus stops and Poya train station nearby
- St-Léonard university stadium within walking distance Shops easily accessible
- Highway access just 5 minutes away by car
- Fully equipped kitchen
- Dining room
- Lounge/meeting room
- Spacious garden
- Chapel
- Small room (10-12 m²)
CHF 400.- - Medium room (15-18 m²)
CHF 450.- - Large room (20-25 m²)
CHF 500.-
- half board
CHF 250.- - full board
CHF 500.-
Torry Est - Bethlehem Spirituality, Expressed in a New Way
A major urban renewal project is now under preparation for the eastern slope of Torry hill. The Bethlehem community at Fribourg — the SMB members, the formation centre and the international student residence — will become the heart of a new neighbourhood of the city of Fribourg.
This is the same intuition that animates «Im Bethlehem» at Immensee, expressed differently: a Bethlehem presence woven into the wider city, not apart from it. At Immensee, that presence is lived around the chapel of the mother house, with the older confreres. At Torry, it will be lived through the renovated SMB villa standing at the heart of a new urban quarter of Fribourg.
A Living Chapel
The chapel of Torry was consecrated in December 1956. It is open to the public for the conventual Mass, and remains the heart of the community's daily life.
