American College of the Immaculate Conception

Founded in 1857, it was operated by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in the federal national capital city of Washington, D.C., to prepare European students as deacons and priests for service in the United States and to provide a residence for Americans clergy studying at the nearby Catholic University of Louvain / Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven).

It was created to train young European men to serve as missionary priests in North America and to give American seminarians the opportunity to study at the Catholic University of Louvain.

[2] Some of the priests were eventually appointed as bishops of newly formed dioceses: The college continued to train young men for service to the Church in the United States into the twentieth century under the rectorship of Jules De Becker.

Their sponsoring dioceses were: Boise, Cheyenne, Congregation of Holy Cross, Green Bay, Lublin, Madison, Milwaukee, Orange, Portland (Oregon), Rochester, Salford, and Spokane.

In addition to the classes offered by KU Leuven the College provided a comprehensive program of human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation for seminarians.

On November 22, 2010, the USCCB released a statement:"Due to the small number of seminarians and available priest faculty, the American College of the Immaculate Conception in Leuven, Belgium, has announced its closure in June 2011.

[8] The facility was renovated in 2013 to serve as housing for Mater Dei and the St. Damien Community students, and for American researchers studying philosophy, theology and canon law at KU Leuven and UCLouvain.