Saint Patrick's Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California is a Roman Catholic post-graduate seminary whose primary mission is the formation of clergy for Western and Pacific Rim dioceses. It is located on a historic, beautifully landscaped 40 acre campus in Menlo Park, California, 35 miles south of San Francisco, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Since its founding, on September 20, 1898, by San Francisco Archbishop Patrick William Riordan, with a faculty from the Sulpician order and thirty-four young men, the seminary and university has grown considerably. In over 100-years, it has formed more than 2,000 priests; this school is governed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco in association with its other sponsoring western and Pacific Rim dioceses. The Archbishop of San Francisco, Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone, serves as the President and Chancellor of the Seminary and University; the President-Rector is Rev. Daniel B. Donohoo; the seminary and university is accredited as a graduate educational institution by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome.

In the Spring 2018 semester, the seminary had an enrollment of 53 men. The second Archbishop of San Francisco, Archbishop Patrick William Riordan established St Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park in 1898, in cooperation with the Society of Saint Sulpice—a French-based order of priests dedicated to educating future priests. To thank the generous Irish laypersons and clergy who helped to fund and support the Seminary, Riordan named it in honor of Saint Patrick of Armagh, the Apostle of Ireland. By this time, the Sulpician order had committed five priests, three Frenchmen and two Americans to staff the seminary; the first rector was Rev. Father Jean-Baptiste Vuibert, S. S. On August 24, 1898, the seminary was solemnly dedicated by Riordan, joined by Bishops George Montgomery of Los Angeles and Thomas Grace of Sacramento, along with more than 100 clergy. On September 20, 1898 the seminary received 31 high school students and 3 college-level students; the first annual commencement exercises took place on May 31, 1899 and were presided over by Riordan.

As the seminary continued to develop, a Department of Philosophy was established with six students. In 1903, the Little Sisters of the Holy Family arrived from Sherbrooke, Canada, to take care of the domestic services such as cooking and cleaning, they have since returned to Canada due to a lack of religious vocations, but working in their stead are the Oblates of Jesus the Priest. The Society of Saint Sulpice withdrew from St. Patrick's Seminary & University on June 30, 2017. Students are admitted to Saint Patrick Seminary on the recommendation of their diocesan bishop after intensive psychological testing and rigorous interviews; the program consists of four years of spiritual and pastoral formation in residence. Following the second year of studies, a candidate undergoes a year of intensively supervised pastoral experience. A candidate is called to the diaconate by his bishop in the fall semester of his last year, to serve in a local parish for the remainder of that year before being called to the presbyterate.

All candidates undergo formation which includes daily participation in the Liturgy of the Hours and the Eucharist, as well as spiritual exercises and special devotions. For continued studies at Saint Patrick's, all candidates must conform to the standards of moral and academic fitness required by the seminary in accordance with its directives and prescriptions for its program of priestly formation. Candidates deemed unsuitable for seminary life or for the priesthood are either put on probation or dismissed outright from the seminary community. Notable alumni and staff include: Seminary rector wants priests who can dialogue, evangelize. St. Patrick Seminary official website

Dragon Raja is the first series of fantasy novels written by Lee Yeongdo, one of the most famous fantasy novelists in South Korea. The books chronicle the adventures of a 17-year-old boy Hoochie Nedval, his mentor Karl Heltant and his friend Sanson Percival, all of whom are from the poor town of Fief Heltant in the Kingdom of Bysus; the main story arc, told in the first-person by Hoochie, concerns the three's quest to rescue their people from the black dragon Amurtaht by finding money to pay the ransom. Lee showcased his first chapters of Dragon Raja on 3 October 1997 on a serial forum of an online service provider, Hitel. For the duration of 6 months after the initial debut he updated 12,000 pages of wongoji, a material length equivalent to that of 1715 letter pages, the story gained explosive popularity on the forum. Golden Bough, an imprint of Minumsa Publishing Group purchased the publishing rights, Dragon Raja was published upon its completion in 12 paperback volumes. Prior to 1998 the fantasy genre in Korea its medievalist form, was considered unsubstantial and unaccounted for by many the press and the literary world.

But Dragon Raja was an immediate success, became the best-selling fantasy title in Korea that grew to be a million seller. As of 2011, Dragon Raja has sold close to 2 million copies in 4 languages; the success of Dragon Raja prompted two big phenomenon in the Korean publishing industry. First, fantasy literature "gained the attention of publishers and writers as the new goldmine" and opened the new era for Korean fantasy market. Speculative fiction gained more support in the literary world, more writers of "serious literature" began using fantasy and science fiction elements in their works. Secondly, the amount of online serials getting published increased exponentially, in "genre literature", a Korean umbrella term for genre of novels including romance, wuxia, science fiction and mystery. Once published, it took less time for such online fiction, or Internet literature, to be adapted into other media, in more varied forms. In the case of Dragon Raja was adapted into games, radio drama, textbook texts.

Amurtaht the black dragon's existence has plagued Fief Heltant for long, the king has sent the white dragon Catselprime and his raja, a young son of the House of Halschteil to subdue the black dragon. A blind wizard Tyburn arrives at Heltant and helps guard the town while during the battle with Amurtaht. Hoochie helps Tyburn, who gives him in return a pair of Ogre Power Gauntlets or OPG, which gives the wearer great muscle power; the news comes that Catselprime has lost to Amurtaht and died, while the remnants of soldiers including Hoochie's father have been taken prisoner by Amurtaht, who demands a ransom of an enormous amount for their release. Hoochie and Sanson set out on a journey to the capital Bysus Impel, to report the news of battle to the king and to attain aids for the ransom; the trio attack a group of orc bandits that has killed a traveler, the orcs begin chasing the trio for revenge. But Hoochie defeats them powered by his OPG. Repeated battles with the orcs bring Hoochie together with Iruril Serenial, a beautiful elf woman, Axelhand Eindelf, an old magnanimous dwarf, both of whom become his friends.

Hoochie and his party visits Lenus City and solves affairs with the city's arena, at the next city they visit, Fief Carlyle, they face difficulties from a strange pathological phenomenon all over the city. They meet Edhelin, a troll priestess, find out that the crisis is caused by Sacred Land, a curse that combines magical and divine powers, they find out that Djipenian agents are behind the curse, a military experiment for the current war between the Bysus and Djipen. They take one of Unchai, as a witness in reporting the curse to the king; as they reach the Brown Mountains just west of the capital, they meet Neria, a red-haired "nighthawk" or a thief, a member of the thieves' guild, Gilsian, a warrior on a bull with a chattering sword, revealed as Prince Gilsian Bysus, the older brother of the king and the ex-heir apparent. Throwing off the orcs' pursuit, the party arrives at the capital, they meet the king to bring the news of Catselprime's demise, report the Djipenian operation. The king decides to help pay the ransom and they're delighted, but only for they find that there aren't enough jewels left in the capital.

In the jewel mines of the Brown Mountains signs are observed of an awakening dragon that terrorized the continent 20 years ago: Kradmesser the Blazing Spear. The House of Halschteil, the bloodline of dragon rajas, has a lost daughter. Hoochie and others hope that she is a dragon raja, so she can make the dragon raja's covenant with the awakened Kradmesser; the only thing known about her is the red color of her hair. While the party prepares for the trip to find the girl, a young nobleman Nexon Huritchell captures Neria and forces the party to steal a book with state secrets from the Halschteil mansion; the party works together to rescue the book of secrets from Nexon's hands. Condemned of treason, Nexon attacks the party along with the vampire sorceress Shione, but Iruril returns in time to save the party from the vampire's threat. Iruril has information about a girl in the Duchy of Ilse who may be the lost daughter of the Halschteils, they head to Ilse, along with Unchai to tell Djipen's plots to the