About the residence
Het Leo XIII seminarie is a vibrant, christian student residence of KU Leuven with a specific community project. In total, 106 students from different faculties and from more than 20 different countries live together at Leo XIII in 10 different communities.
A residence with character
Leo XIII seminary is a complex of different monumental buildings connected through the beautiful, large garden.
- A lot of common spaces for studying together or for group tasks: library room, Rerum Novarum hall, Rosary hall
- Bar with pingpong table
- Chapel with piano and organ
- Monumental staircase halls decorated with a lot of historical pictures from Leo XIII seminary and its founders
LIVING TOGETHER
1. Every student belongs to one of the 10 student communities: Camino, Babel, Hebron, Emmaüs, Jericho, San Damiano, Sint Michiels, Pharos... Every community has its own character, project and rules. The kitchen is the central place, the heart of the community where you will meet frequently your fellow students and where you will have weekly your common dinner with your community.
2. During the academic year we organize a lot of socio-cultural activities for all the 106 students: opening bbq, 'kotconcert', carnival evening, closing bbq... . We also have an enthusiastic bar team that serves you on Sunday nights our famous Belgian beers and organizes also other special activities like 'bar masqué"...
3. The third pilar of our project is the christian inspiration. Not only because we are inspired by our rich tradition, but also because we believe that community life is an personal enrichment that creates opportunities for individual growth.
Three Types of Communities @ Leo XIII seminary
1. Jericho, Hebron, Babel, Emmaüs en Camino are the communities with a social commitment. This has the following pillars:
- active living together within an international community
- weekly common dinners
- organisation of a big benefit activity: quiz, picknick, openmic...
2. San Damiano, Pharos Household, Sint Michiels are the communities with a spiritual commitment. Every community is inspired by its own spirituality:
- San Damiano lives from the spirituality of the Friars of Tibériade (Dutch-speaking)
- Pharos lives from the spirituality of the Jerusalem-community (International, only male)
- Sint-Michielslives from the spirituality of the Sint-Michielsbeweging (Dutch-speaking)
3. Paloma and Tabor are the communities of the Universitaire Parochie.
- application procedure via Universitaire Parochie
- social, individual commitment
- weekly common dinner
More information at our own website: www.leoxiiiseminarie.org
History of the Leo XIII seminar
The Leo XIII seminary was founded in 1892 at request of the pope himself, Leo XIII by Mgr. Désiré Mercier as a living place for seminarians who came to Leuven to study philosophy at the Higher Institute. It became the start of a Het werd de start van a particularly turbulent history with many highs but also lows.