38 Facts About Joseph Calasanz

Joseph Calasanz, known as Joseph Calasanctius and Iosephus a Matre Dei, was a Spanish Catholic priest, educator and the founder of the Pious Schools, which provided free education to poor boys.

Joseph Calasanz became a close friend of the renowned astronomer Galileo Galilei.

Joseph Calasanz's parents gave him a good education at home and then at the elementary school of Peralta.

Joseph Calasanz then began theology studies at the University of Valencia and at the Complutense University, which at the time was still located at its original site in Alcala de Henares.

Joseph Calasanz began his ministry in the diocese of Albarracin, where Bishop Gaspar Juan de la Figuera appointed him his theologian, confessor, synodal examiner, and procurator.

The bishop died the following year and Joseph Calasanz left, though urgently requested to remain.

Joseph Calasanz hurried to Peralta de Calasanz to attend the death of his father.

Joseph Calasanz was then called by the Bishop of Urgel to act as vicar general for the district of Tremp.

Joseph Calasanz hoped to further his ecclesiastical career and secure some kind of benefice.

Joseph Calasanz lived there for most of his remaining 56 years.

In Rome, Joseph Calasanz found a protector in Cardinal Marcoantonio Colonna, who chose him as his theologian and, once he had learned to express himself in Italian, entrusted him with the spiritual direction of his household.

Joseph Calasanz joined the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and gathered boys from the streets for religious instruction and other schooling.

Joseph Calasanz threw himself into the response, joining a religious fraternity dedicated to helping the poor, and began to help in the cleaning up and recovery of the city.

Pope Clement VIII began making an annual contribution and many others gave their financial support to the work so that in a short time Joseph Calasanz had about 1,000 children under his charge.

In 1610, Joseph Calasanz wrote the Documentum Princeps in which he laid out the fundamental principles of his educational philosophy.

The Order's Constitutions were approved by Gregory XV 1621, and the order was granted all the privileges of the mendicant orders, Joseph Calasanz being recognized as superior general.

Joseph 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.

Joseph Calasanz 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.

Joseph Calasanz addressed the subject in various documents and requested school directors to monitor children's health.

Joseph Calasanz taught his students to read both in Latin and in the vernacular.

Joseph Calasanz created an ideal image of a Christian teacher and used it to train the teachers who worked with him.

Joseph Calasanz wrote a version of the prayer "The Crown of Twelve Stars," and he established continuous prayer in all his schools.

Joseph Calasanz was the first educator to advocate the preventive method: it is better to anticipate mischievous behaviour than to punish it.

In terms of discipline, and contrary to the prevailing philosophy of his own and subsequent eras, Joseph Calasanz favored the mildest punishment possible.

At a time when humanistic studies ruled the roost, Joseph 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 firmer grounding in those subjects.

Joseph Calasanz was a friend of Galileo Galilei and sent some distinguished Piarists to study under the great scientist.

Joseph Calasanz shared and defended his controversial view of the cosmos.

When Galileo fell into disgrace, Joseph 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.

When, in 1637, Galileo lost his sight, Joseph Calasanz ordered the Piarist Clemente Settimi to serve as his secretary.

Joseph Calasanz brought the same understanding and sympathy that he had shown to Galileo to his friendship with the great philosopher Tommaso Campanella, one of the most profound and fertile minds of his time, producing famous philosophical works.

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 Joseph Calasanz, who was already putting such utopian ideas into practice.

In 1642, as a result of an internal crisis in the congregation as well as outside intrigues and pressures, Joseph Calasanz was briefly held and interrogated by the Inquisition.

Cherubini made no secret about some of his transgressions, and Joseph Calasanz came to know of them.

Joseph Calasanz therefore promoted him, to get him away from the scene of the crime, citing only his luxurious diet and failure to attend prayers.

Joseph Calasanz was buried in the Church of San Pantaleo.

Pope John Paul II affirmed that Saint Joseph Calasanz took as a model Christ, and he tried to transmit to youth, besides the profane sciences, the wisdom of the Gospel, teaching them to grasp the loving harmony of God.

Granada, Spain has a parish church, Parroquia de San Jose de Joseph Calasanz, dedicated to him.

Joseph Calasanz is commemorated in a number of schools around the world, named after him and overseen by the Piarists and other religious institutes that have him as their patron saint.