Biography cleege des irandris paris

Fr. John Lee of Waterford is credited with the founding of the first Irish collegiate community abroad in 1578 when six students under his tutelage entered the Collège de Montaigu in the University of Paris.

Louis XIV granted the Irish community its first permanent home in 1677 on the rue des Carmes at the Collège des Lombards.

In 1769, their prefect Laurence Kelly, acquired a townhouse and grounds on the rue du Cheval Vert.

Following major refurbishment and extension of the building, the new Collège des Irlandais came into being, providing accommodation for both lay and clerical students from 1776 onwards; the Irish priests stayed on at the Collège des Lombards.

Counter-Reformation requirements to set up Catholic seminaries and restrictions placed on education for Catholics in Ireland by the Penal Laws meant that by the end of the 18th century, approximately thirty colleges had been established in university towns such as Louvain, Lille, Lisbon, Prague,