College of the Immaculate Conception, Prague

College of the Immaculate Conception, Prague, was a Franciscan College, founded in 1629 by Irish Franciscan priests from Louvain.[1] Instrumental in its foundation was its first Rector Patrick Fleming from Leuven, also involved was Fr Malachy Fallon,[2] the Professor of Theology in Louvain, who persuaded the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II to permit foundation of an Irish College in Prague. The establishment was seen as being part of a re-catholicisation of Bohemia, by the Habsburgs, but also to provide clergy for Ireland.

The College was suppressed in 1786 by Habsburg Emperor Joseph II, following his Secularization Decrees.

Most of the house and the church are still standing on Hybernska (Hibernian) Street, in Prague, Czech Republic.[3] The building became a Tax office.[4]

People Associated with the College
  • Fr. James Taafe as papal nuncio to Ireland
  • Bishop Anthony MacGeoghegan OFM, served as bishop of Meath and Clonmacnoise
  • Fr. Anthony O’Neill as guardian in Armagh.

See also


References
  1. 'College of the Immaculate Conception, Prague- The Irish Franciscans, 1651-1665' By B. Millet.
  2. Prague www.franciscans.ie
  3. ‘Unruly, fractious, disreputable’ – Irish Franciscans in Prague by Andy Pollak, Irish Times, April 28, 2015.
  4. 'The Irish Franciscans in Prague' by Brendan Jennings OFM, An Irish Quarterly Review, Vol. 28, No. 110, p. (210-222), June 1939.
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