Posted by St. Joseph Calasanz/Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph Calasanz, as well as commemorating the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
St. Joseph was born at the castle of Calasanz near Peralta de la Sal in the Kingdom of Aragon in 1556. He came from an aristocratic family and his parents wanted him to marry to preserve the family dynasty. He was determined to become a priest. His father was eventually reconciled to this decision, and he was finally ordained priest in 1583. He held various ecclesiastical offices in his native Spain, but the decisive turning point in his life came in 1592 when he moved to Rome.
There were many opportunities for charitable works and St. Joseph was especially drawn to the education of poor children. In 1597 he opened the first free public school in Europe. This laid the foundation for the foundation of the order of the Pious Schools or Piarists. It became the first religious order essentially dedicated to teaching in elementary schools. The Piarists not only professed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, but also to dedicate their lives to the education of children.
The concept of educating the poor free of charge was very controversial at the time and St. Joseph faced much opposition to his ideals. It went against the prevailing political conservatism of the age, which believed that the poor should not be encouraged to get above their station. St. Joseph also believed that education should not be exclusively religious, but should also include mathematics and scientific subjects.
He was a friend of Galileo and continued to support him throughout the controversies that he was involved in. Unfortunately, this furthered the opposition that St. Joseph faced from conservative forces in the Church and society and led the Piarists to be viewed with increasing suspicion. He was even at one stage held and interrogated by the Inquisition.
There was also a controversy involving an abusive cleric associated with the order in Naples called Stephano Cherubini. He was very well connected in society and threatened to use his influence to destroy the order if his actions were exposed. He even succeeded in displacing St. Joseph as superior general of the order in 1643. The ensuing scandal led to the decision to suppress the order. When St. Joseph died in 1648 at the age of ninety it seemed that the work of his life lay in ruins.
The order was revived a few years after his death and consequently his legacy lived on. It may seem strange that it took the Church so long to become systematically involved in providing free education for the children of the poor. The collapse of the Roman Empire in the West had led to the Church becoming the sole provider of education. However, this was primarily associated with the work of religious orders during the so called Dark Ages and then universities in the middle ages. There was never any systematic attempt to provide education for the poor, except some form of elementary religious instruction.
The forces of conservatism in society were so strong that the idea of a religious order dedicated to providing poor children with free education does not seem to have been considered. When the Piarists were established for this purpose they faced strong opposition, due to the underlying fear of the rich and powerful in society that educating the poor in any way beyond the most rudimentary religious instruction would encourage them to get above their station.
The strong conservatism of the forces at work in the Church and society has often led to subsequent movements of social reform taking on a strongly anti-clerical and even anti-Christian character. The work of the Piarists shows that, when the Church is properly fulfilling its vocation it is itself the best instrument of social reform. At least it can be said that the Church became involved in the education of the poor before the State later did. While there have been many secular organisations involved in social reform, the Church has played a greater role overall, despite all the lamentable failings there have been in practice.
It has always sadly been the case that while some are drawn to the education of children because they want to help them, others are drawn to the education of the young because they seek to abuse them. This problem greatly hindered the establishment of the Piarists, and has remained a problem to this day. It is a problem that involves secular schools as well as religious schools because of the fallen nature of man. It has been said that all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There are those who are drawn towards the young for reasons of personal power and control.
It is not possible for us to see into the hearts of others and pass any kind of final judgment on their persons, but we can certainly judge their actions. It is when the powers that be insist on unquestioning obedience that it is most likely that authority is being abused. It is this that marks the difference between a Church and a cult. In a cult a hard line is always taken against those who question the leadership in any way, even if (as is often the case) the leadership are leading dissolute and immoral lives.
In a Church what should matter is holding fast to the faith once delivered to the saints, and the leadership should be prepared to engage with criticism, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and need to learn from our mistakes. This can only come if we are able to face up to criticism and learn from it, rather than attempting to close down debate after the manner of a cult. Actions speak more powerfully than words, and a good tree is ultimately known by the fruit that it produces.
It is also important not to give in to despair if we face continued discouragement and opposition. At the time of his death it seemed as though St. Joseph’s life’s work lay in ruins. The order which he founded had been suppressed against a background of scandal and controversy. But he had sowed the seeds that eventually did succeed in bringing forth good fruit after his death. It is for us to plant the seed. Even if our work may seem to fail it may eventually lead to a rich harvest.
Let us pray for grace to be enabled to follow the example of St. Joseph Calasanz in planting good seed in our own time, knowing that a good tree is ultimately known by the fruit that it produces in the long term. For we know, as St. Paul put it, that in the Lord our labour has not been in vain.