The Colleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège were successive expatriate institutions for Roman Catholic higher education run by the Jesuits for English students.

In 1762 most masters and students moved to Bruges and in 1773 on to Liège, leaving a smaller college surviving in St Omer.

Saint-Omer was chosen as a site conveniently close to England, just 24 miles from Calais, and ruled by Catholic Spain as part of Flanders.

After an initial period of growth and prosperity, the unrest caused by the English Civil War resulted in a decline in students being sent from England, and the number dropped to as low as 24 in 1645.

During the period when formal sworn affiliation with the Church of England was required for students to attend Oxford and Cambridge, St. Omer provided higher education for several generations of English Catholics.

Since the colleges founded in the American colonies were also affiliated with the Anglican and Protestant churches, the wealthier Catholic families (initially primarily from Maryland) sent their young men to St Omer to be educated.

In 1793, the French Revolution weakened the college at Saint Omer, and France’s declaration of war on Great Britain finally ended it.

Once released in France, some of the staff and most of the hundred remaining students went to England, to avoid the war on the European continent.