| Saint Joseph Calasanctius | |
|---|---|
"The Last Communion of St Joseph of Calasanz," by Goya |
|
| Confessor | |
| Born | September 11, 1557 Peralta de la Sal, Aragon, Spain |
| Died | August 25, 1648 (aged 90) Rome, Papal States |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | August 7, 1748, Rome by Pope Benedict XIV |
| Canonized | July 16, 1767, Rome by Pope Clement XIII |
| Major shrine | San Pantaleone, Rome |
| Feast | August 25 August 27 (General Roman Calendar 1769-1969) |
| Patronage | Schools |
Saint Joseph Calasanctius (Spanish: José de Calasanz) (September 11, 1557 – August 25, 1648), also known as Joseph Calasanz and Josephus a Matre Dei, was the founder of the Pious Schools and the Order of the Piarists.
Contents |
Joseph Calasanctius, or José de Calasanz, as he is called in Spanish, was born at Peralta de la Sal, Aragón, in the Kingdom of Spain on September 11, 1557. His parents were don Pedro Calasanz and doña María Gaston, who gave him, the youngest of eight children, a good education at home and then at the school of Peralta. After his classical studies at Estadilla, he took up philosophy and jurisprudence at Lleida and earned the degree of Doctor of Laws, and then, with honors completed, his theological course at Valencia and Alcalá de Henares.
His mother and brother having died, Don Pedro wanted Joseph to marry and perpetuate the family. But a sickness in 1582 soon brought Joseph to the brink of the grave. On his recovery, he was ordained a priest on December 17, 1583 by Hugo Ambrosio de Moncada, Bishop of Urgel.
During his ecclesiastical career in Spain, Calasanz held various offices in his native region. Joseph began his ministry in the Diocese of Albarracín, where Bishop dela Figuera appointed him his theologian, confessor, synodal examiner, and procurator, and when the bishop was transferred to Lleida Joseph followed him to the new diocese. During that period, he spent several years in La Seu d'Urgell. As secretary of the Cathedral chapter, Calasanz had broad administrative responsibilities.
In 1586 dela Figuera was sent as Apostolic visitator to the Abbey of Montserrat and Joseph accompanied him as secretary. The bishop died the following year and Joseph left, though urgently requested to remain. He hurried to Peralta de la Sal, only to be present at the death of his father. He was then called by his Bishop of Urgel to act as vicar-general for the district of Tremp.
In 1592, he moved to Rome in the hope of furthering his ecclesiastical career. He lived there for most of his remaining fifty-six years. He became, during this long period, a fully fledged Roman with strong ties to both Rome and Italy, without ever losing touch with his Spanish roots.
In Rome he found a protector in Cardinal Marcoantonio Colonna who chose him as his theologian and instructor to his nephew. Rome offered a splendid field for works of charity, especially for the instruction of neglected and homeless children, many of whom had lost their parents. Joseph joined the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and gathered the boys from the streets and brought them to school. The teachers, however, being poorly paid, refused to accept the additional labor without remuneration.
The pastor of Santa Dorotea, Anthony Brendani, offered him two rooms and promised assistance in teaching, and when two other priests promised similar help, Calasanz, in November 1597, opened the first free public school in Europe.
In 1600 Calasanz opened his “Pious Schools” in the center of Rome and soon there were extensions in response to growing demands for enrollment from students.
Pope Clement VIII gave an annual contribution and many others shared in the good work, so that in a short time Joseph had about one thousand children under his charge. In 1602 he rented a house at Sant'Andrea della Valle, commenced a community life with his assistants, and laid the foundation of the Order of the Pious Schools or Piarists.
In 1610 Calasanz wrote the "Document Princeps" in which he set out the fundamental principles of his educational philosophy. The text was accompanied by regulations for teachers and for students. In 1612, the school moved to San Pantaleo which became the motherhouse of all the Pious Schools.
On September 15, 1616 the first public and free school in Frascati was started up on his initiative. One year later, Pope Paul V approved the "Congregation of the Pious Schools," the first religious institute dedicated essentially to teaching. During the following years Calasanz established Pious Schools in various parts of Europe.
After convincing the Pope of the need to approve a religious Order with solemn vows dedicated exclusively to the education of youth, the congregation was made a religious order on November 18, 1621 by a Brief of Pope Gregory XV, under the name of "Ordo Clericorum regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum" (Order of Clerks Regular Poor of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools). The term "Pauline" was dropped by this pope, while it was part of the original name per Pope Paul V. The Constitutions were approved on January 31, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, and had all the privileges of the mendicant orders conferred upon it, Joseph Calasanz being recognized as Superior General. The Order of the Pious Schools was thus the last of the religious Orders of solemn vows approved by the Church.
As recognized by Ludwig von Pastor, Calasanz was the founder of the first free public school in modern Europe. It was a revolutionary initiative, a radical break with the class privileges that kept the masses marginalized and in poverty. In the history of education, Joseph Calasanz is an educator of the poor, offering education free of charge to all classes of society, without discrimination.
Calasanz displayed the same moral courage, in his attitude to victims of the Inquisition, such as Galileo and Campanella, and in the acceptance of Jewish children in his schools, where they were treated with the same respect as other pupils. Similarly, Protestant pupils were enrolled in his schools in Germany. So great and universal was Calasanz’s prestige that he was even asked by the Turkish Empire to set up schools there, a request which he could not, to his regret, fulfill, due to a lack of teachers. He organized and systematized a method of educating primary school pupils through progressive levels or cycles; a system of vocational training; and a system of public secondary education.
In an era when no one else was interested in public education, Calasanctius managed to set up schools with a highly complex structure. He was concerned with physical education and hygiene. He addressed the subject in various documents and requested school directors to monitor children’s health.
Calasanz taught his students to read both in Latin and in the vernacular. While maintaining the study of Latin, he was a strong defender of vernacular languages, and had textbooks, including those used for teaching Latin, written in the vernacular. In that respect he was more advanced than his contemporaries.
Calasanz placed great emphasis on the teaching of mathematics. Training in mathematics and science was considered very important in his Pious schools, both for pupils and teachers. But Calasanctius’ main concern was undoubtedly the moral and Christian education of his students. As both priest and educator, he considered education to be the best way of changing society. All his writing is imbued with his Christian ideals, and the constitutions and regulations of the Pious schools were based on the same spirit. Calasanz created an ideal image of a Christian teacher and used it to train the teachers who worked with him.
Calasanz was the first educator to advocate the preventive method: it is better to anticipate mischievous behaviour than to punish it. This method was later developed by St John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Schools. In terms of discipline, and contrary to the prevailing philosophy of his own and subsequent eras, Calasanz favored the mildest punishment possible. While believing that punishment was necessary in certain cases, he always preached moderation, love and kindness as the basis of any discipline.
At a time when humanistic studies ruled the roost, Calasanz, sensed the importance of mathematics and science for the future and issued frequent instructions that mathematics and science should be taught in his schools, and that his teachers should have a firm grounding in those subjects. Calasanz was friend of Galileo Galilei and sent some distinguished Piarists as disciples of the great scientist. He shared and defended his controversial view of the cosmos.
When Galileo fell into disgrace, Calasanz instructed members of his congregation to provide him with whatever assistance he needed and authorized the Piarists to continue studying mathematics and science with him. Their dignified and courageous support for Galileo does both Calasanz and the Piarists great credit, bearing witness to the tolerance of a great educator. Unfortunately, those opposed to Calasanctius and his work used the support and assistance offered by the Piarists to Galileo as an excuse to attack them. Despite such attacks, Calasanz continued to support Galileo. When in 1637 Galileo lost his sight, Calasanz ordered the Piarist Clemente Settimi to serve as his secretary.
Calasanz brought the same understanding and sympathy he had shown to Galileo to his friendship with the great philosopher Tommaso Campanella (1558–1639). Campanella was one of the most profound and fertile minds of his time, producing famous philosophical works. Despite the fact that he was a highly controversial figure in his time, Campanella too maintained a strong and fruitful friendship with Calasanz.
The philosopher whose utopian visions proposed social reforms in which the education of the masses played an important part must have been a kindred spirit for Calasanz, who was already putting these Utopian ideas into practice. Calasanz, with his courage and open-mindedness, invited the controversial thinker to Frascati to help teach philosophy to his teachers. It is not surprising, then, that Campanella, who had rallied to the support of Galileo, also came to the defense of his friend Calasanz with his Liber apologeticus.
The pedagogical idea of Joseph Calasanz of educating every child, his schools for the poor, his support of the heliocentric sciences of Galileo Galilei, and his service towards children and youth, carried with them the opposition of many among the governing classes in society and in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In 1642, as a result of an internal crisis in the congregation and outside intrigues and pressures, Calasanz was briefly held and interrogated by the Inquisition.
Problems were exarcebated, however, by Father Stefano Cherubini, originally headmaster of the Piarist school in Naples who systematically sexually abused the pupils in his care. Father Stefano made no secret about at least some of his transgressions, and Calasanz came to know of them. Unfortunately for Calasanz as administrator of the order, Father Stefano was the son and the brother of powerful papal lawyers; no one wanted to offend the Cherubini family. Father Stefano pointed out that if allegations of his abuse of his boys became public, actions would be taken to destroy the Piarists. Calasanz therefore promoted Father Stefano, to get him away from the scene of the crime, citing only his luxurious diet and failure to attend prayers. However, he knew what Cherubini had really been up to, and he wrote that the sole aim of the plan “… is to cover up this great shame in order that it does not come to the notice of our superiors”.[1]
Superiors in Rome found out, but bowed to the same family ties that had bound Calasanz. Cherubini became visitor-general for the Piarists, able to conduct himself just as he wanted in any school he visited. The Piarists became entangled in church politics, and partially because they were associated with Galileo, were opposed by the Jesuits, who were more orthodox in astronomy. (Galileo’s views also involved atomism, and were thought to be heretical regarding transubstantiation.) The support for Cherubini was broad enough that in 1643, he was made head of the order and the elderly Calasanz was pushed aside. Upon this appointment, Calasanz publicly documented Cherubini’s long pattern of child molestation, a pattern that he had known about for years. Even this did not block Cherubini’s appointment, but other members of the order were indignant about it, although they may have objected to Cherubini’s more overt shortcomings.[1] With such dissention, the Vatican took the easy course of suppressing the order. In 1646, the Order was deprived of its privileges by Pope Innocent X.
Calasanz continued to live in disgrace and the whole system built up over the years was in danger of collapse. Nevertheless, he always remained faithful to the Church and died August 25, 1648, at the age of 90; admired for his holiness and courage by his students, their families, his fellow Piarists, and the people of Rome. He was buried in the church of San Pantaleo.
Eight years after his death, Pope Alexander VII cleared the name of the Pious Schools. Joseph Calasanctius was beatified on August 7, 1748 by Pope Benedict XIV.
He was later canonized by Pope Clement XIII on July 16, 1767.
On August 13, 1948, Pope Pius XII declared him to be the "Universal Patron of all Christian popular schools in the world."
His heart and tongue are conserved incorrupt in a devotional chapel in the Piarist motherhouse in Rome.
Pope John Paul II affirmed that Saint Joseph Calasanz took as a model Christ, and he tried to transmit to the youth, besides the profane sciences, the wisdom of the Gospel, teaching them to grasp the loving harmony of God.
Saint Joseph Calasanctius' liturgical feast is celebrated on August 25 in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints since 1970. The 1769 to 1969 editions of that calendar, which some traditionalist Catholics continue to observe, placed it on 27 August.[2]
He is also remembered in a number of schools around the world, named after him and overviewed by the Piarists and other religious institutes that have him as patron saint.