Another famous Dublin school run by a religious order is to get a lay principal.
The principal of Belvedere college, Father Leonard Moloney, is planning to step down and hand over the day-to-day running of the school to someone from outside the order from next September.
This would leave Clongowes Wood college, Co Kildare, as the only Jesuit school not run by a member of the laity.
Father Moloney (47), who has been running Belvedere for the last 11 years, said declining numbers of Jesuit priests meant lay people were taking on a greater role in their schools.
He said the order was also expanding its mission, based on the teachings of St Ignatius Loyola, into other areas, particularly social justice. An advertisement for his replacement would be placed in the national newspapers in January.
The school on Great Denmark Street would not be affected by the change, he added. Parents had been fully informed and the school's 70 teachers were also aware of the situation.
Two years ago the order made it clear it would not be pulling out of education when it said there was "no question of ceding ownership or withdrawal at the present time". However the increasing presence of the laity is clear - the majority of the school's boards of management are now lay people.
The Jesuit order, which has a long established reputation in Irish education, runs five schools at second level: Belvedere, Clongowes Wood, Crescent college, Limerick, Gonzaga, Dublin, and Coláiste Iognáid in Galway.
The Belvedere move follows a well-established trend throughout the education sector of greater lay involvement in the senior management of schools. Of the184 second-level schools in Dublin, fewer than 20 now have a nun or priest as their principal.
Father Moloney said the age profile of the order was a factor in appointing lay people to the position of principal. There were now only 30 Jesuits under the age of 50, only four of whom were still involved in Belvedere.
The school has a long list of prominent past pupils, including James Joyce, Sir Anthony O'Reilly, former Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald and Cardinal Desmond Connell.