Leuven

Leuven (French: Louvain). See Map. A Flemish city in Belgium (2018 pop 101,396), and the site of a famous Catholic university (est 1425). Ukrainians (initially from Galicia) have attended the university since 1931, when Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky, with the assistance of the Belgian Jesuit R. Jourdain, sent 50 students for studies there. In 1932–85 approximately 100 Ukrainians graduated from Leuven University, three of whom went on to become professors there: V. Gapyshyn, Yu. Shukhevych, and Roman Yakemchuk. Another graduate, Zhyhmont Protsyshyn, became a professor at Ghent University. Most of these alumni, among them Vladimir Mackiw, Ihor Ševčenko, Maksym Hermaniuk, and Olexa Bilaniuk, emigrated to North America, and only about 20 percent stayed on in Belgium. A Ukrainian department was situated at one of the city’s libraries. It published books on Ukraine and the monthly Holos Khrysta Cholovikoliubtsia (1946–70), which was subsequently taken over by the apostolic visitature.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]