The Jesuit University of Antwerp

BELGIUM, 2002, the 150th anniversary of the UFSIA, Scott 1899

In 1852 the Jesuits founded a college for higher education in commerce and trade in Antwerp, one of the first business schools in Europe. In 1965 the college was granted university status by the Belgian government and renamed Universitaire Faculteiten Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen (UFSIA), also known as the Jesuit University of Antwerp. UFSIA offered degrees in applied economics, language, literature, philosophy, law, and social and political sciences. From the early 1970s UFSIA and two public institutions, the Rijksuniversitair Centrum Antwerpen (RUCA) and the Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen (UIA) formed a confederation, which merged into the public Universiteit Antwerpen (UA) in 2002. The Universitair Centrum Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen was established to continue the Jesuit tradition of the UFSIA.

Collège Saint-Michel, Brussels

BELGIUM, 2007, two of the three stamps in this tourism issue were Jesuit schools

On October 3, 1905 Collège Saint-Michel in Brussels, a secondary school run by the Jesuits, opened its doors to some 400 students. It was two more years before the red brick façade was completed, and the school's Church of St. John Berchmans was built from 1908 to 1910 and consecrated in 1912. Msgr. Georges Lemaître, Belgian mathematician, and Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant and heir to the throne of Belgium are both alumni of St. Michel. More

The Old English Chapel, Chevremont

  
BELGIUM, 1948, Scott B452-53

The above semi-postal issue was to help the Carmelites rebuild their church at Chevremont, a long time center of Marian devotion near Liège. Two of the stamps pictured the old pilgrimage chapel built here by the English Jesuits in 1688. They were doing their studies in exile in Liège and came to this spot to work on the chapel. The chapel (see detail) is in the lower left of the rose stamp and behind the image of Our Lady in the blue. Note the Jesuit monogram IHS and the date 1688 to the left of the statue.

Athénée Royal François Bovesse, Namur

BELGIUM, 2007, two of the three stamps in this tourism issue were Jesuit schools

The Athénée Royal François Bovesse in the very heart of old Namur began in 1545 as the École Latine du Faucon. The present buildings began in 1611, when the school was entrusted to the Jesuits. The School, Jesuit Residence and tower were completed in 1620. Jesuit running of the school ended, of course, with the Suppression in 1773. The school became a royal athenaeum in 1850 and in 1980 was named honor of François Bovesse, a 1909 graduate who was politically involved, defended culture and the arts and was eventually assassinated in 1944. More

The Church of St. Loup, Namur

BELGIUM, 1975, a series on the architectural heritage of Belgium, Scott 927

This Jesuit church in Rue du College, considered the most perfect example of a Baroque-style church in Belgium, was designed by the Jesuit brother and architect, Pieter Huyssens, SJ and built between 1621 and 1645. It was originally named St. Ignatius Church. Next to the church was a Jesuit college, whence the name of the street, begun in 1610. After the Suppression of the Jesuits, the church became the parish church of St. Loup. The college building became the home of the Athénée Royal. The Jesuit college, Collège Notre-Dame de la Paix, was reestablished in in 1831 and moved to Erpent, Belgium in 1971.

The Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, St.-Séverin-en-Condroz

BELGIUM, 1994, Scott 1558

The town of St.-Sévérin is now part of the larger municipality of Nandrin in the region of Condroz. Its origins are found in the foundation here in 1091 of a Benedictine Priory. For reasons not completely clear, the Benedictines left the priory in the early 1500s. Various administrators ran it until 1574 when the Prince Bishop of Liège, Gérard de Groesbeek, entrusted it to the Jesuits of Liège who oversaw its administration until the Suppression in 1773. The Abbey was restored in 1996. More

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