St John Berchmans College () is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

founded by the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. It is situated close to the

Church of Our Lady of the Chapel The Church of Our Lady of the Chapel (; ), or the Chapel Church (; ), is a Catholic church in the Marolles/Marollen district of Brussels, Belgium. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Chapel. The church, in a Romanesque- Gothic transitional s ...

and is named after the Belgian Jesuit

Saint John Berchmans John Berchmans, SJ ( ; 13 March 1599 – 13 August 1621) was a Belgian Jesuit scholastic and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. In 1615, the Jesuits opened a college at Mechelen, Belgium and Berchmans was one of the first to enrol ...

History

The school was founded by the Jesuits on 16 July 1604 and had 400 students that same year. However, in 1773, the Jesuits were ordered to cease providing educational services by

Pope Clement XIV Pope Clement XIV (; ; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in September 1774. At the time of his elec ...

. The school was closed on 20 September 1773. The furniture was confiscated and sold and in 1816, the building became a court house. Later, the Belgian State Archives were housed in the building. In 1891, the archives were moved and the building was razed to make way for a road. In 1814, the Jesuits returned to Belgium and opened the French-speaking St Michael's College 19 years later in the

Chapel Church The Church of Our Lady of the Chapel (; ), or the Chapel Church (; ), is a Catholic church in the Marolles/Marollen district of Brussels, Belgium. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Chapel. The church, in a Romanesque- Gothic transitional s ...

area of the city. In 1905, the expanding population forced the Jesuits to not only expand the college but to also look for a location for a new college. In 1905, the college on the / was renamed as St John Berchmans College and the new college in the

Etterbeek Etterbeek (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the municipalities of Auderghem, the Cit ...

part of the city became St Michael's College. In 1912, the Church of St. John Berchmans was opened next to St Michael's College. Starting in the late 1930s, a shift in language was made which would result in St John Berchmans College teaching in Dutch and English and the French-speaking section of the college being transferred to St Michael's College. The two separate colleges still exist today, each teaching in their respective language.Cegesoma.be
retrieved 20 February 2014

Notable former students

Former students of the college include: *

Henri Carton de Wiart Henry Victor Marie Ghislain, Count Carton de Wiart (1869–1951) was a Belgian writer and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 20 November 1920 to 16 December 1921. Early life On 31 January 1869, Henry Carton de Wiart was ...

Pieter De Crem Pieter Frans Norbert Jozef Raymond De Crem (; born 22 July 1962) is a Belgian politician and member of Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V). He has been a Member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives since 1995. He headed the CD&V fr ...

Paul De Grauwe Paul De Grauwe (; born 18 July 1946) is a Belgium, Belgian economics, economist and John Paulson Professor in European Political Economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science as head of the European Institute. He is also profess ...

* Lorenzo Gatto * Jan Grauls * Felix De Laet, also known as

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* Bart Laeremans *

Hubert Pierlot Hubert Marie Eugène Pierlot (, 23 December 1883 – 13 December 1963) was a Belgian politician and Prime Minister of Belgium, serving between 1939 and 1945. Pierlot, a lawyer and jurist, served in World War I before entering politics in the 192 ...

* Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Hereditary Archduke of Austria-Este *

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Prince Joachim of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este (born 5 June 1962), is the second child and first daughter of King Albert II and Queen Paola, and the younger sister to the current Belgian monarch, King Philippe. She is married to Pr ...

* Princess Maria Laura of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este * Princess Laetitia Maria of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este * Princess Luisa Maria of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este *

Eric Van Rompuy Eric Karel Paul Van Rompuy (born 23 November 1949) is a Flemish politician. Biography He is the son of the later Prof. em. dr. Vic Van Rompuy and brother of Herman Van Rompuy and Christine Van Rompuy.Herman Van Rompuy Herman Achille, Count Van Rompuy (; born 31 October 1947) is a Belgian politician who served as Prime Minister of Belgium from 2008 to 2009, and later as the first permanent President of the European Council from 2009 to 2014. Van Rompuy, a ...

Piet Van Waeyenberge Piet Paul August, Baron Van Waeyenberge (born Ghent, Belgium, 27 October 1938) is a Belgian businessman. He is a son of Camille Van Waeyenberge and a brother of Jozef Van Waeyenberge. He was one of the founders, and is currently president, of bus ...

Youri Tielemans Youri Marion A. Tielemans (born 7 May 1997) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Aston Villa and the Belgium national team. Tielemans began his career at Anderlecht, where he made 185 official appearances an ...

References

External links

St John Berchmans College site
{{Coord, 50.841833, 4.349303, type:edu_region:BE, display=title Secondary schools in Brussels Jesuit secondary schools in Belgium

History

Notable former students

See also

References

External links