The college was founded in 1607 by
Florence Conry,
Archbishop of Tuam, and Irish Franciscan
Hugh MacCaghwell (Lecturer at the University of Salamanca, later Archbishop of Armagh), with the support of Philip III of Spain, as an exile institution for the training of Irish
Franciscan priests. A bull of foundation was acquired from
Pope Paul V on 3 April 1607. The foundation stone of the current building was laid in 1617. Funding came from
Isabella Clara Eugenia, wife and co-ruler with
Archduke Albert. It was one of the main centres of Irish learning and the preservation of Irish intellectual culture during
penal times. The Irish language was used in the college, and Irish was read during meals. The monks preserved and translated many Irish language documents. Following the
Flight of the Earls, many of the O'Neill and O'Donnell clans stayed in Louvain. In October 1610, two young O'Donnell nobles,
Hugh Albert, son of the
Earl of Tyrconnell, and Hugh, son of
Cathbarr, were sheltered at the college by MacCaghwell. 7 O'Donnell clan members were also buried there.
The College of the Immaculate Conception, Prague College of the Immaculate Conception, Prague was founded in 1629 by Irish Franciscan priests from Louvain, including
Patrick Fleming and Malachy Fallon (both Professors in Louvain). In 1787 following the suppression by the Habsburgs, of the
College of the Immaculate Conception, Prague, students were transferred to Louvain.
The Pastoral Irish College, Louvain The Pastoral Irish College, Louvain ( / ) established in 1622, by the archbishop of Dublin
Eugene Matthews (and sanctioned in 1624 by a papal charter and financially by
Pope Urban VII), was under the supervision of the Franciscans, and affiliated to the university. It was based in Rue des Orphelins, Presidents/Rectors of the Irish Pastoral college Louvain include Nicholas Aylmer, John Sullivan (from Kerry who set up a bursary for Louvain), Florence Sullivan and Dr. John Kent (served from 1732-1778). The Pastoral College closed in 1795 following French occupation. Thomas Stapleton also served as Rector of the pastoral college as well as of the University of Louvain.
The Irish Dominican College, Louvain The Irish Dominican College, Louvain (Irish Dominican College of Holy Cross), founded in 1620's, a priory built in 1650 and chapel in 1659, also in 1659 the College was fully incorporated into the University of Louvain. With the other colleges it was also suppressed in 1795, the property sold and buildings destroyed in 1799–1800, the street name in
La Rue des Dominicains Irlandais now in Flemish ''Ierse Predikherenstraat (Irish Preachers' Street)'' is all that remains.
Re-establishment of the Irish College, Leuven Closed down by the French invaders on 8 January 1797, the buildings were sold by public auction, later they were bought by the guardian Fr. James Gowan in 1822, since the university was closed he disposed of it in 1830 becoming a boys' school for the duration of the 19th century. In 1925 the Irish Franciscans again acquired the site (technically it was owned until 1973 by the Catholic University to issues of foreign organisation ownership), it needed repairs since it had been damaged during the great war, helped by Rev
James J. Ryan and his friend from his University days Cardinal
Désiré-Joseph Mercier, and helped by funding from Irish-born American philanthropist Marquis
Martin Maloney. In 1927 the college reopened. From the 1920's, many Irish students would have studied in St. Anthony's College, taking a undergraduate degree in
University College Galway, before moving to Louvain. Following the German invasion in 1940, students were transferred to the Franciscan (St. Anthony's,) College in Galway, where an extra wing was built to accommodate them (and students who would have otherwise gone to Rome) and the Louvain college was entrusted to Belgian friars, with the Irish province resuming control in 1948, using it for their own educational purposes until 1983. 2007 saw a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of St Anthony's, the Irish Franciscan College, in Louvain, with events in Ireland and Leuven to commemorate it. A commemorative stamp was issued by the Irish post office to celebrate the 400th anniversary. A project to provide online access to the Irish manuscripts of the
Irish College in Leuven is a collaboration between the Center for Irish Studies (KU Leuven), KBR, the Irish Embassy in Belgium and Irish Script on Screen (
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies). == The Leuven Institute of Ireland in Europe/Irish College Leuven ==