The Lycée Léonin () is a non-profit private school in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It was founded in 1838 and belongs to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Since 1907 it has been run by the Community of the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

(), a group of

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

monks dedicated to education. The school has campuses in

Nea Smyrni Nea Smyrni (, ''Néa Smýrni'', "New Smyrna") is a municipality and a town in South Athens, Greece. At the 2021 Greek census, 2021 census, it had 72,853 inhabitants. It was named after the former Greek city Smyrna (today's İzmir in Turkey), whe ...

and

Patissia Patisia or Patissia () is a neighbourhood of Athens, Greece. It is split in two neighbourhoods: ''Ano Patisia'' (Upper Patisia) and ''Kato Patisia'' (Lower Patisia). The main streets of Patisia are Patision Av. and Acharnon Av. Ano Patisia Ano P ...

and is directed by a community of six Marist Brothers that reside in Athens.

History

On July 25, 1838, approximately 14 months from the official opening of the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

, the

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

Constantine Sargologos was granted, "on the order of the Ecclesiastic and Public Education of Royal Secretariat Territory", authorization for the founding of a primary school for boys. The new school was named after the patron saint of

, St.

Dionysius the Areopagite Dionysius the Areopagite (; ''Dionysios ho Areopagitēs'') was an Athenian judge at the Areopagus Court in Athens, who lived in the first century. A convert to Christianity, he is venerated as a saint by multiple denominations. Life As rel ...

, and functioned in

Plaka Pláka () is the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture. Plaka is built on top of the residential areas of the ...

. The St. Dionysius School had been working humbly until 1889, when the Catholic Bishop of Athens managed to expand its activities into both elementary and secondary education and the school was renamed "Lycée Léonin of St. Dionysius", in honor of Pope

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the A ...

, who admired Greece and funded this project. In 1897, the school was transferred at 4 Sina Street in central Athens. Despite its accommodation in a fully equipped building, Lycée Léonin underwent a decline from 1897 until 1907. In order to save the school, the Catholic Bishop of Athens invited monks of the

to take over as they had successfully ran similar schools in Istanbul. After the Marist Brothers undertook the management of the school on September 15, 1907, the number of students was tripled. In 1916, Lycée Léonin expanded to

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

, and the "St. Andrew" School was founded, which functioned until the end of World War II in 1945. This had been the school of the President of the Hellenic Republic Costis Stephanopoulos. In October 1924 another campus opened in

Patisia Patisia or Patissia () is a neighbourhood of Athens, Greece. It is split in two neighbourhoods: ''Ano Patisia'' (Upper Patisia) and ''Kato Patisia'' (Lower Patisia). The main streets of Patisia are Patision Av. and Acharnon Av. Ano Patisia Ano P ...

. It is known as ''Lycée Léonin de Patisia''. When Greece joined the allied forces in World War II, the two schools stopped functioning. During the occupation and until April 1945, the Marist Brothers organized soup kitchens and prepared 3000 portions of food daily. In the beginning of the 1960s, as Lycée Léonin at Sina Street had already 700 students in primary and high school, the building was deemed insufficient and the construction of a new campus in Nea Smyrni was decided and was completed in September 1962. The new campus was inaugurated by the President of the French Republic

Charles De Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

. In 1986, as all schools in Greece, Lycée Léonin became co-educational.

Noted alumni

* Costis Stephanopoulos, former President of Greece *

Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens Christodoulos (17 January 1939 – 28 January 2008) (, born Christos Paraskevaidis, ''Χρήστος Παρασκευαΐδης'') was List of Archbishops of Athens, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece and as such the primate (bishop), primate o ...

Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas (; February 26, 1906 – September 3, 1994), also known as Nikos Ghika, was a leading Greek painter, sculptor, engraver, writer and academic. He was a founding member of the Association of Greek Art Critics, AICA-Hellas, ...

, painter *

Alec Issigonis Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Άρνολντ Κωνσταντίνος Ισηγόνης) (18 November 1906 – 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by ...

, engineer and designer of the

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

car *

Thanos Kalliris Bang was a Greek male vocal duo, consisting of Paul Stevens (vocals, guitar) (according to ''Billboard'' "Top Pop Singles" and several other unofficial sources, his real name is Thanos Kalliris) and Billy Adams (Vassilis Dertilis) (keyboards). Th ...

, singer *

Loukianos Kilaidonis Loukianos Kilaidonis (; 15 July 1943 – 7 February 2017) was a Greek composer, songwriter and singer. Biography Kilaidonis was born at Kypseli, Athens. He studied at the Lycée Léonin of Patissia. He then studied architecture at the Aristotle ...

, singer and composer *

Anastasios Peponis Anastasios Peponis (; 1924 – 8 August 2011) was a Greek politician and author. Life He was born in 1924 in Athens, Greece. During the Axis Occupation of Greece in the Second World War (1941–44), Peponis was an active member of two resistanc ...

, former minister *

Mimis Plessas Dimitrios "Mimis" Plessas (; 12 October 1924 – 5 October 2024) was a Greek musician, composer, conductor and pianist. Life and career Plessas was born in Athens. He attended the Lycée Léonin school in the Athens suburb of Nea Smyrni, and ...

, Greek composer *

Lasgush Poradeci Llazar Sotir Gusho (; 27 December 189912 November 1987), commonly known by the pen name Lasgush Poradeci, was an Albanian philologist, poet, translator, writer and pioneer of modern Albanian literature. He is regarded as one of the most influen ...

, Albanian poet *

Ilias Psinakis Ilias Psinakis (, born 8 April 1948) is a Greek businessman, politician, manager, and television personality. Psinakis served as Mayor of Marathon, located in the administrative region of Attica, from 2014 until 2019. Early life and education Ps ...

, celebrity manager *

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

, Greek composer and Academy Award winner * Andreas Vgenopoulos, head of

Marfin Investment Group MIG Holdings S.A. (also known as MIG) is a Greece, Greek investment company. It has acquired several companies and has changed name several times since. In 2004 it took the name ''Marfin Financial Group'' following the triple merger of ''Comm G ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lycee Leonin Schools in Athens Educational institutions established in 1838 Marist Brothers schools 1838 establishments in Greece French international schools in Greece