College of St Omer

Colleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège
Location
Spanish Netherlands
Information
Type	Catholic (Jesuit)
Established	1593 (St Omer), 1762 (Bruges), 1773 (Liège)
Founded by	Fr Robert Parsons SJ
Succeeded by	Stonyhurst College

The Colleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège were successive expatriate institutions for the Catholic education of English students and were run by the Jesuits.

Initially founded in 1593 by Father Robert Parsons SJ as the College of Saint-Omer in Artois, France (then part of the Spanish Netherlands), the school was forced to relocate twice due to the suppression of the Jesuit order, first to Bruges in 1762 and then Liège in 1773, before migrating a third and final time to Stonyhurst in England where it became Stonyhurst College in 1794.

During the reign of Elizabeth I religious education for Catholics was subject to penal legislation in England. The English Catholic church had created several colleges in continental Europe to make up for this, at Douai, Rome, and Valladolid, but these primarily addressed the training of priests. Especially the English College, Douai was associated with the faculty of theology of the University of Douai. Father Robert Parsons (1546–1610), had been instrumental in founding the English College, Valladolid, but recognized a need for a school for laymen. Saint-Omer was chosen as a site conveniently close to England (it is 24 miles from Calais), and ruled by Spain as part of Flanders. It was also near the University of Douai, wherein scholars have been editing and publishing the Douay–Rheims Bible.

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