St. Joseph Calasanz

St. Joseph Calasanz (born September 11, 1556, Peralta, Spain—died August 25, 1648, Rome, Italy; canonized 1767; feast day August 25) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, teacher, and founder of the Order of Poor Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (popularly called the Piarists), a religious teaching order that, in addition to the usual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, practice a fourth vow—the special care of youth. In 1948 Calasanz was declared patron saint of all Christian schools by Pope Pius XII.

Of aristocratic birth, Calasanz was educated at the Spanish universities of Estadilla, Lérida, and Valencia. Although his family initially did not support his religious calling, Calasanz was eventually ordained as a priest in 1583 and subsequently became vicar general of Tremp. Later he relinquished much of his inheritance, resigned his vicariate, and went to Rome (1592), where he labored for the education of poor children. In November 1597 he opened Europe’s first free school for poor children.

After other priests joined him, they eventually expanded their headquarters, forming a kind of community life. Increasing student enrollment necessitated a move in 1602. Calasanz was financially assisted by Popes Clement VIII and Paul V, who in 1617 recognized his community as a religious congregation. In 1621 the congregation, which was spreading throughout Italy, received papal approval as a religious order, with Calasanz as superior.

Calasanz was friends with Galileo Galilei, and the Piarists supported Galileo’s heliocentric system against other religious orders (namely the Jesuits). Calasanz and the Piarists also met with significant political backlash from a number of Italy’s powerful families over the order’s unwavering belief in the value of education for the poor. In 1630 a priest named Mario Sozzi was admitted to the Piarists and, acting out of apparent jealousy, caused an internal revolt that ruptured the order. When Sozzi died in 1643, he was succeeded by an equally divisive subordinate from a noble family, Father Stephano Cherubini. Pope Urban VIII quashed the generalate, and Calasanz, then 86 years old, was tried by the Holy See. Pope Innocent X reinstated him, but in 1646, after further internal disruption, the order was papally reduced to a mere society in which each priest was subject to his bishop. Calasanz’s hope for the Piarists’ complete restoration was not fulfilled until after his death.