JOSEPH

CALASANZ
The Pioneer
of the
Popular School

Mario Spinelli

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Presentation
PART – I : THE REFORMER
The Salt of Peralta
A World to Reform
Studies, Travels, Experiences
Intrigues in the Monastery
From the Pyrenees to the Apennines
PART – II : THE EDUCATOR
When a Priest is Converted
A Roman Itinerary
The Lobby of Heaven
From Trastevere to Parione
It is Better Alone
Without Boundaries
The Ideal Teacher? A Holy Piarist
The “Judes” of San Pantaleo
PART – III : THE VICTIM
The Job of the New Testament
The Antagonists
Lightnings upon Europe
Still more Trials
Why Lord?
Blessed Be His Name
Beyond Job
Historical Note
Bibliographical Notesi

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 iii
MAPiv

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 PRESENTATION
Recently, the hagiographic literature has had a rather awakening development, maybe
because Pope John Paul II has declared more saints and blessed than in the whole history
of the Church. In his time as Pope until the end of the year 2000, 1,444 have been
proclaimed, counting all saints and blessed. Naturally, many biographies have been
written on these Servants of God especially of a diffusive character, and also of many
other famous and venerable persons. Besides that, there was a series of encyclopedias and
“Saints for Each Day,” more or less in many volumes that reflected a wide and popular
acceptance of this kind of hagiographic writings.
The author of the present book, Mario Spinelli, has already published two other
biographies in Citta’ Nuova Editrice (Rome): Senza voltarsi in dietro. Vita di Gaspare del
Bufalo (1994) which was translated into Spanish with the title: Sin mirar atrás. Vida de
Gaspar del Búfalo (Without Looking Back. The Life of Gas par of Bufalo (1996). It was
also translated into Polish the year after in 1997. The second book was: La Donna della
Parola. Vita di Maria de Mattias (The Woman of the Word. The Life of Mary de Mattias)
(1997). And again, it was followed by a Polish translation in the year 2000. Pope Pius XII
canonized the first (1954) and declared Blessed the second (1950). Saint Gaspar is the
founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood while, Blessed Mary de Mattias is the
foundress of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.
Now Spinelli presents to us a third new biography: Saint Joseph Calasanz, Founder –
he was also so – of the Piarists. His life has had several recent publica tions which
confirm the esteem of the literature in our time, as I said before. The last one was just
written and published in the year 2000 in Italy by Fr. Carlos Cre mona under the title
Giuseppe Calasanzio. Vita aventurosa del santo inventore della scuola per tutti – (Joseph
Calasanz.- The adventurous life of the saint inventor of the school for all). The book
entitled: “The School of the Sun” - Calasanz for Today by Fr. Henry Iniesta was
published in Spain in the year 1998. Another book was published in Argentina by Fray
Ontario Miglioranza: “Saint Joseph Calasanz”. There were other publications on Saint
Joseph Calasanz years before that is worth mentioning here: “The Life of Saint Joseph
Calasanz,” Spain 1992. The book was later translated into English and French languages.
In the same year too, I wrote a book entitled “Saint Joseph Calasanz, Teacher and
Founder.” This new biography was published by Major BAC. 1 And the following year, a
second edition of the 1985 biography came out: “Saint Joseph Calasanz.” And eventually,
it was translated into Italian, Portuguese, English, Polish and Hungarian.
Any biography is always a difficult endeavor, especially when it refers to a saint, a nd
even more so when he is the founder of a new religious order in the church, as is in our
case. On the one hand, it further defines his personality as a man, as a saint, and as a
founder. On the other hand, the niche where to put him, that is to say, the time when he
lived, with its problems and the political, civil, cultural, religious and ecclesiastical
characteristics, (his biography) would allow us to understand the historical transcendence
of his personality, the originality and potential of his work in the development of the
society and the Church during his time. All these aspects are enriched by the long life of
1
the person that is being studied and by the variety of the environments where he lived.

1
Biblioteca Autores Cristianos (BAC), Christian Authors Library, a series of Christian books in Spain. There are two
kinds, large ones and small ones (major and minor).

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 The protagonist of the present hagiographic work lived almost 91 years, among them,
35 years in Spain, and the rest in Rome. The first period, occurred completely in his
country during the reign of Philip II, with all its political, re ligious, and cultural
difficulties. It is especially very interesting because of the ecclesiastical reformation
movement promoted by the Council of Trent; accepted with enthusiasm and put into
practice in Spain. Calasanz was then a young priest, giving his work at the service of
some bishops and in a special way, at the service of his Urgell Diocese.
During the second period in Rome, he lived with more intensity the reforma tion
movement initiated in the Council of Trent. He has lived through the reign of six Popes
and also at the period of the Thirty Years War that brought terrible consequences to the
Pious Schools in Bohemia and Moravia. During his 50 years in Rome (1592-1648), he
was able to admire the wonderful baroque transforma tion of the city. And above all, he
had the privilege of meeting in person saints such as Philip Neri, Camillus of Lelli, John
Leonardi and others. It is in this period that he committed himself to charitable and
apostolic initiatives, assistance to the people in need and to popular piety. And with the
foundation of the Order of the Pious Schoo ls, he offered his personal life and everything
for the good of the city of Rome and for the whole Church.
Professor Spinelli tells us about all these aspects as he has done in the other
biographies mentioned earlier. He also enjoys describing political, c ultural and religious
environments, in order to focus in a better way the historical figure of Calasanz and his
work. Besides, he also adds a little fantasy in the dialogues thus, giving color and warmth
to the narration and a sensation of more vitality.
The title of the work is also in consonance with the titles of Spinelli’s other bi-
ographies that show not only the man, but also a symbolic idea of the saint. In the books,
“Without Looking Backwards” and “ The Woman of the Word,” Calasanz is portrayed as
the pioneer of free education for all.
The third part of this book, with the appropriate title, The Victim, shows us the whole
drama of this new Calling; “tested until the end” – as Cardinal Lambertini defined him.
This Cardinal who later became Pope Benedictus XIV, beatified him eventually. St.
Calasanz lived through the near destruction of his work, the Pious Schools. And against
any human hope, he kept his confidence upon God and upon the protection of the Virgin
Mary. He prophesied the re-establishment of the Order, as it happened later in reality 20
years after his death with the reintegration of the Order to its original idea before the
tempest.

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 Moreover, the transcendence of Calasanz in the history of the Church and civilization
is not in his heroic similarity to Job, but really in his condition as an educator. This is the
title of the second part of this book. It is always gratifying to repeat the words of the great
Church’s historian, Louie von Pastor, who defined the school of Calasanz as the first
tuition-free, public, popular school of Europe. Here lies the great invention of the founder
of the Pious Schools. After him came others with the same idea, such as John Baptist de
la Salle, John Bosco, Marcelinus Champagne, Guilermus Joseph Chaminad e, and many
others, thus opening new schools for poor children and also for girls. New female
religious institutions similar to male educational institutions were also founded
eventually. And as in many other fields of culture and service to the needy, the Church
will be the first in solving the new problems of humanity.
Although you may have read many biographies of Calasanz, there always remains the
possibility of still being moved reading other versions, as in the case of the present book
of Professor Spinelli. Each dawn transmits something original and un-edited in the vision
of the persons and the presentation of facts, without compromising the historical
objectivity.
Fr. Severino Giner Guerri, Sch. P.
Rome, December 20001

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 THE
REFORMER

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 1
THE SALT OF PERALTA
According to what we know, Joseph Calasanz, most probably, was aggressive only
once in his life. We could even more say, violent, but in a rather short period of his life
and always for the same reason. He was about five years old, and during those days, his
parents, brothers and sisters used to see him nervous and running around the whole
house, really angry, cutting the air with his fist and shouting that he wanted to trap the
demon and kill him.
“He is the enemy of God,” he would shout, looking around for him, nervous and
agitated, or running, inspecting all the corners of the house. “And he incites men to
offend Him with sins, to go away from Him. I have to find him at all cost because I want
to challenge him to a duel and kill him.”
Once, he really exaggerated. One morning, he went to see Peter, his father, who was
working hard in the blacksmith’s shop. Pretending that he was look ing around among the
tools and the weapons that were aplenty on the shelves, benches and tables in the shop,
Joseph rapidly took a small sword without being seen and hid it under his shirt while his
father was busy at the anvil hitting the incandescent iron that resisted the hammering to
take the desired shape. Then, he greeted him in a rough way and ran away to the town
square of Peralta looking for his companions. Almost all of them were there, Michael,
Andrew, and Vincent. Joseph Marques, the old aristocrat who wanted to study to become
a priest was also there around the town square.
“Look,” Joseph told them, with a furtive air and at the same time in triumph, taking
out from under his clothes the weapon he just got, “Now, we are already prepared. Let’s
go! Let us go to challenge the demon.”
The rest of the young boys remained petrified without saying anything. It was not the
case that they were not accustomed to see weapons. In 1562, in Ara gon, as well as in the
whole Spain of Philip II, who were without weapons, except for the women and men of
the Church? And that’s not all. Joseph was then five years old and until then, except for
some fixation about the demon, he had always been good and quiet. However, in all
occasions, he had shown to have a breed of a leader as he knew how to draw the group in
the games, entertainment, and in roaming around the town. This time, also, the same
happened. While his friends were still in silence and were looking around perplexed
without knowing what to do, the little Calasanz, in front of them, led them towards the
field, almost running, looking around in defiance and handling the small spade with
defiance, with the unsheathed sword shining in the sun.
“There he is,” he said stopping immediately, opening his arms to the right and to the
left to stop the companions, and lifting up the point of his chin to indicate a leafy olive
tree before them in a farm surrounded by a wall. “He is in that tree. Don’t you see his
black shadow how it is moving? He is on that branch and he is hidden among the leaves.
I have seen him already and he cannot run away from me.”
After saying this, he ran towards the farm. “I have discovered you, damned!” he
shouted while running. “You are not going to disobey God anymore and take away the
souls. I will kill you as a dog so that nobody will go to hell.”
In a few seconds, he jumped up to the olive tree and grasped the branch where he
thought the black silhouette of the demon was provoking him with a laughing smile. But
in a moment, when Joseph was just at the point of catching him, the black shadow

8
disappeared from his sight. At that instance, the branch broke and he fell down to the
ground. His companions accompanied him then to his house, a little bit hurt, and with a
strange sensation that such mysterious and disturbing experience should not end like that.
Maybe, it would be repeated, even more terribly, harder, more violent, but without
knowing yet when.
Our future “Don Quixote” was the last offspring of a large family. Sometimes, even
the relatives or neighbors of the house could not remember, at once, all the names of the
children of Mr. Peter Calasanz and Mary Gaston: three males, the heir John, Peter, named
after the father, and the little Joseph; five females, Mary, Johanna, Magdalene, Spes and
Elizabeth. Therefore, that day, when he went back home completely battered by the
accident, he had to bear a not-so-small reprimand, warning, and a ridicule especially from
his two brothers.
Of course, the father played his part, as was natural. Mr. Peter was not only a
blacksmith, this being an honorable and profitable job, since at that time there were many
arms and armed people around, but also a general bayle – a kind of major, a first citizen –
of Peralta de la Sal barony. This small town in the Aragon Region where the Calasanz
family were living and Joseph was born, is situated between the Cinca and Noguera
Ribagorzana rivers, near the boundary of Catalonia. Therefore, the father had authority
and the prestige to be upheld, and that is why the small child should be noted by his
strange behavior and exaggerations. Mary, as a good mother, was sweeter and intell igent,
reminding the husband and the sons that the small Joseph, after all, had been born in
1557, and he was just five years old. And, of course, we could not ask him to behave
always in a formal and moderate way as an adult would. Remembering also that s ince his
coming to this world, he had given his parents many satisfactions, because he had always
been very obedient, docile, and very affectionate. He was loved by everybody. He was a
golden boy, like many others, from whom one thing could be expected: that he would
continue like this. Even more, that he would keep the good promises of that innocent and
carefree age.
The father and mother did their best allowing him to grow up a good boy in all ways.
It does not mean that they did not take care of the other children; this would not happen
in any way. Especially John, for example, who was the eldest; they had great projects for
him, and following the mentality of that time, they saw him as the successor and principal
heir of the name and of the goods of the family. They thought about the daughters, too,
day and night, and they would had done any sacrifice to see them successful in life as
much as possible, preparing for them a proper dowry and finding a good husband for
each one of the five. At that turbulent and insecure time, it was not an easy thing to
protect the girls and prepare for them an honorable future. But Joseph was the youngest,
the most in need of care and attention. And besides, he was born when the parents were
rather old and had more experience. They had become more demanding to themselves,
more able to appreciate the beautiful and important things of life, and more fearful of
hurting and giving bad example to him. They had given more attention to the last child,
with their whole emphasis, affection and kindness, cultivating him, as a rare and delicate
flower that was necessary to protect and value as much as possible. There fore, they were
very careful in giving him enough food so that he would grow healthy and strong. They
called the doctor immediately when anything happened, gave him nice clothes, although
not so luxurious since they were not rich people. And at the same time, they did not want

9
to spoil him. Besides that, they took care that his companions were rather good, to avoid
that a bad companion or a bad example, could undo their patient and loving work.
Above anything else, they gave special care to educate him in the faith. They taught
him many prayers, short prayers, and devotions. They took him with them every time
they went to church for Mass, for the way of the cross, to the adoration of the Eucharist,
and other liturgical practices. However, what was most important was that with their
union and love, they gave him, day by day, in every occa sion, the example of true and
lived Christianity. Therefore, at the schooling of his parents, Joseph grew and matured
rapidly in character and spirit. He used to pray with fervor and concentration. He
frequently recited the rosary and the Small Divine Office of the Virgin Mary. He went to
visit Jesus in the sacrament every day, remaining with Him in sweet intimacy. And as if
this would be just a little thing, he would not be satisfied with his own faith, devotion and
spirituality. He used to encourage his brothers and sisters and all his companions to do
the same, inviting them to pray with him, telling them to become good, talking about the
Lord, the Virgin Mary and the saints and about the most important truths of our faith, as
his parents had taught him. He spoke to them all the things that he heard from the parish
priest during sermons or in the catechism lessons.
Summarizing, besides being a valiant and pious child, Joseph started to re veal a
strong and open character, active and communicative. He was very enter prising, strong
will and altruistic, which pushed him in an irresistible way to educate those who were
around him; to teach and explain things to others of the same age or to his smaller
friends. And many times, while he was simulating preaching or imitating the saying of
the Mass before them, he used to think that some day it would be nice to minister
seriously, before a true altar and with true vestments upon him. Who knows how many
things he could teach to others as a priest and how he could help them in a thousand ways
to enrich their spirit.
One day, he started to think about that more seriously while walking alone towards
the salt areas of Peralta. This area was the origin of the name of his town where he and
his companions went together to play. Upon arriving there, he stopped and he started to
watch that wide salty place, the excavations, the ponds and those arid and white rocks
that were shining everywhere as the sun was reflecting upon the crystals.
“This is the material salt” he thought, “the one which is useful for the bodies of men.
However, there is another salt which Jesus is talking about when he said that we should
become salt of the earth. Lord, make me salt to give taste to the world and that I may not
be tasteless and would not be thrown away.” From that day on, Joseph started to think
more and more of becoming a priest.
In the meantime, he was studying. At the school of the town, Joseph had learned to
read, write and to count. The teacher had told his parents that the child was a rather
talented boy, and not only because he had talent and learned everything upon hearing it,
but also because he had a passion for books and knowledge. He was never tired of
reading, asking questions, of paying attention in class. A very popular classical book, The
Miracles of Saint Mary by the poet monk Gonzalo de Berceo could be said that he knew
by heart. Well, he was born to study, to become a learned person, to carry out intellectual
work, the teacher concluded. Therefore, it would be a pity not to allow him to continue
his studies.

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 Peter and Mary followed the advice of the teacher. After the elementary school – or at
least as it would be called today – in Peralta, they sent the child to study with the
Trinitarian Fathers in Estadilla, a bigger town that was just a few kilometers towards west
of Peralta, almost by the side of Cinca river. It was 1568, and Joseph was 11 years old.
The parents, naturally, and especially the mother, were unhappy with this separation. But
the teacher was right! They themselves realized that their son was especially intelligent
and that was his direction. And they were right too, because the goods and the titles
would go to John, the father thought, while the youngest sho uld be able to take care of
himself. Therefore, thinking about Joseph’s interest, the father welcomed the studies in
his heart, blessing his son who could go as far as the university, and why not, as far as be-
coming a priest, since it is always an honorable solution to get a good position.
Joseph attended school directed by the Trinitarians for three years what we could call
our Secondary Education. That is to say, there, he learned more deeply the humanistic
and literature studies. He studied Latin well, not only declining rosa rosae, but also
reading the classical authors, such as Cicerus, Virgilius, Tacitus, Ovidius, and many
others. He made efforts and he did rather well. And in that atmosphere of studies and
mysticism at the same time, he felt the desire to develop a certain poetic aspect, sharing
some beautiful poetic works in the Castillian (Spanish) language about the Holy Trinity
and other religious topics. These inspirational fountains and sacred themes were no
casual things for him, and less a simple realization. While he was studying the profane
subjects, the young Calasanz was thinking of enriching his religious culture and by
instinct looking to combine the scientific and religious knowledge; developing at the
same time the human and divine knowledge. In the name of truth, he already was
foreseeing these as unique.
For Joseph, this harmony should not only be at the theoretical level. But rather, it
should embrace the moral life and relationships with others. That is why that student
from Peralta was not only thinking of the school duties. He was also looking for harmony
with everything. He was a generous and serviceable person, so much so that his
companions called him the santet, “the small saint;” in some way to tease him in an
affectionate way. On the other hand, it is because they really admired him, seeing the way
he prayed. By his fervor, devotion, spirituality, and for the whole time he spent in the
chapel or in the church and where silence was only caressed by the singing choir of the
Fathers, he was convinced, face to face with the Lord, that one day he would become salt
of the earth. He would become a priest.
In general, all the news that arrived to Mr. Peter and to his good wife from Estadilla
was that he was a good boy. However, his happiness and tranquility were suddenly
broken by the death of John, the heir, upon whom the parents, as we have already said,
had their great hopes. Therefore, the second son, Peter, took the position of his dead
brother. In the new testament of the father, dated February 8, 1571, he is nominated
universal heir of the Calasanz family. In that same year, Joseph finished his studies at the
Trinitarians, already free to go forward to the priesthood with his father’s approval, at
least for the moment.

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 2
A WORLD TO REFORM
When our hero, being a child, went to catch the demon with the firm resolution of
finishing him, he was expressing in a paradox, in that ingenious and exaggerated way, the
fervor of his faith and the desire of “beating the enemy of God and men,” as he said. But
in the bottom of his inner being, he showed himself as a son of his time and of his land,
the Spain of Reconquest and absolutism, the Spain of the Catholic Kings and of the
Imperial politics, of the European hegemony both of the Atlantic and Mediterranean
region. In reality, without realizing it, he had imitated in a spontaneous way, and just like
with instinct, the knightly and fighting spirit of King Philip II who was busy during those
years against the expansion of the Turks and infidels in Western Mediterranean.
Moreover, this was not the only front Philip II had been aligned with the spirit of the
Crusade, in the style of a knight of the faith that had “armed” also the hand of Calasanz.
After the tempest of the Reformation and the failure of the universal dream of Charles V,
the Catholic King had been focused on Spain and his possessions – Netherlands, half of
Italy, America, Philippines, and since 1580, Portugal too – not only to make of them a
great empire, but also to make them the base to move the Catholic restoration. Philip was
not only the sovereign who has passed into history as one of the founders and classical
examples of the absolute power. He was above all a sincere and devout catholic person, a
man of faith, a religious spirit, and in some aspects, an ascetic person. Near the new
capital, Madrid, precisely the year Joseph was born, he had started the construction of El
Escorial, a palace that is his portrait, huge as it is austere, sober, severe, without anything
of worldly things: a mix of a monastery, real palace and fortress, the architectural symbol
of the intransigent power, but inspired, in a Christian way, by its august inhabitant. And
from that monumental, separated, solitary and deserted place, as a monk maybe he had
wanted to be, the Habsburgs of Spain governed his country and his wide do minions with
a missionary spirit, sent by God to defend the Church of Rome, to restore the
Catholicism, to lead the reformation, to combat Kings and Protestant countries - as the
England of Elizabeth I, who disturbed his unsleeping nights in the silence o f El Escorial -
to face, as we have said, the Turks attack in the Mediterranean and in the Oriental
Europe, and to protect the orthodoxy of faith.
He did not get to the crown with the success of all his goals. He himself,
philosophically, used to say that “defeat is the honor of a well-borne man.” But this did
not prevent him from making very important and just things, and to enter his tory as the
greatest of the sovereigns of Spain. For example, regarding the religious politics, it
cannot be doubted that he was convinced of the Trent Reformation in the Spanish Church
and in the Religious Orders. We can see these convictions even in some episodes in the
life of Calasanz during his first years as a priest. Philip was considered in the Spanish
culture as Pericles in Athens, Augustus in Rome, or Lawrence of Medici in the Florentine
Renaissance. The first half of the Golden Century of Spain corresponds to his reign. The
baroque culture, the epoch of Cervantes, Lopez de Vega, Calderon de la Barca, El Greco,
and Velazquez, started and was consolidated with the Prudent King; a brilliant balance
that few kings and political persons could boast off, not only in the history of Spain.
It is said that Elizabeth and her heretical England were for the Catholic King a
nightmare, as were also the German electoral princess, the Geneva of Calvin, and the
Turks. Philip would have done the impossible to crush the heresy on the other side of The

12
English Channel, taking back to the Pope the land of Saint Augustine of Canterbury and
Saint Thomas Becker and eliminating the principal front of all the Protestants of Europe.
In 1558, after the death of his spouse, Mary the Catholic, the English situation had run
out of hand. Therefore, Elizabeth had taken the post of his sister- in- law, ending the brief
Catholic restoration wanted by Mary, and re-established by force the schismatic politics
of her father. At the beginning, Philip tried the diplomatic way, asking her even to be his
spouse. To that, she answered not only with resentment, but she also hastened the
separation from Rome and from the Catholic countries; approving between 1559 and
1563, by the parliament of London, a series of documents – the Oath of Supremacy, the
Act of Uniformity, the 39 articles - that sanctioned the separation from the Roman Pontiff
and created the Church of the State with the King or Queen as the head. At the same time
the persecution of the Catholics had started, so much as that during the time of Henry
VIII and Thomas More who had paid with their lives the fidelity to the Roman Church.
The most famous martyr of the time was Mary Stuart. In 1587, Elizabeth condemned her
to death, not only because she was a Catholic, but also for the fear that one day she would
dethrone her with the help of the Catho lics. In conclusion, the situation was burning, and
as if that would not be enough, the pirates, paid by her British Majesty, were continually
attacking merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean, killing the crews and stealing the
precious shipments. In that way, it was impossible to continue. The Prudent King was
thinking and it was necessary to do something.
Things were not going well in France, neither. There were many who fought in the
name of religion and faith in Christ, although the true reasons of those conflic ts and
fights, at the time when our Joseph was becoming a man, were very different. From the
half of the century, the Calvin Huguenots have grown and they were spreading like spots
of a leopard skin throughout the whole country. They were always asking stronger and
stronger, not only religious freedom, but also entire territories for them, and more
influence in the court. It was inevitable that they would oppose the crown, not because
the Kings of France would feel leaders of the true faith, such as Philip II, but because,
they could not tolerate a state within the state. It was a thorn at the side of the King that
continuous challenge to his authority, to the unity and to the stability of the nation.
In this way, during more than 35 years, from 1562 to 1598, France was bleeding in
continuous wars of everybody against everybody, fratricidal wars, but la beled as
religious. There were fighting among the factions of the court, among those who wanted
the throne. The fanatic intransigent and the adventures of every kind disturbed and mixed
the problems, making the situation more and more chaotic, cruel and uncontrolled.
Sometimes, common sense prevailed, or political sense, or diplomatic realism which led
to a truce as the peace of Saint German in 1570. The wolf hour arrived other times, as the
killing of Saint Bartholomew on the night between the 23 and 24 of August, 1572.
Calasanz was at that time almost 15 years old, and as we will see later, he had moved the
year before from Estadilla to Lerida to study Philosophy and Law at that University.
With things like this, Philip II, while he was alarmed by Elizabeth, could not but
worry about the agitated neighboring country. The French crisis regarding the religious
aspects affected him very much, as well as for the security and tranquility of Spain.
Sometimes, when he went through Aragon or the Catalonian Regions, knowing what was
happening at the other side, he could feel the trembling of the Pyrenees. So much so, the
authorities of those regions spoke of continuous passing through the boundary of the

13
Spanish territory by the Huguenot bandits. These bandits were sometimes united with the
local delinquents or other rebels, making those regions more dangerous and insecure.
In any case, the news that arrived from the Netherlands was not also completely
peaceful. In 1566, in the Amber’s Synod, the Calvin Church had been founded, and all
the unsatisfied people of the Spanish-controlled territories, considered as the State
Church, declared themselves as anti-Spaniards and anti-Catholics. Therefore, the
religious schism became a political revolt, and under the lead ership of Guillermo of
Orange. Holland and the rest of the territories started to part ways from Spain and to
proclaim them selves independent. That is why Philip was obliged to send somebody
there who would re-establish the order. Nevertheless, during the years 1560-70, the Duke
of Alba, in the end, was not clever enough for the job. According to the counselors of the
sovereign, he had exaggerated the repression and the summary executions of the “beggars
of the sea” and other rebellious people, but without any good results, since Flanders did
not give any signal of peace. Then, the Prudent King changed him with Alexander
Farnesio, more cautious and clever in the diplomatic field. But it was already too late, and
those lands were leading, without any doubt, towards independence. These loses,
nevertheless, did not affect the Spanish power too much and the expansion of his
kingdom, - the same as some certain unlucky events, as the defeat in 1588 of the
invincible Spanish fleet against the English fleet in The English Channel – upon which,
thanks to the conquering of the Philippines and other overseas territories, could not stop
the setting of the sun on the Spanish Empire after many centuries.
From the religious and Christian point of view, the Catholic Church around the
middle of the 16th century, started a new road with the Council of Trent, which ended
when Calasanz was 6 years old. This direction was not only o f rejection and
condemnation, but also and especially it was a firm and constructive answer with positive
propositions, of renovation and self-reformation. The Church after Trent, in Italy as well
as in Spain, in Rome as well as in Paris, was looking for a way to renew and purify
herself. It tried to put into practice the decrees of the Council, renewed the Liturgy, re-
awakened the Patristic tradition, practicing again a good theology to answer the
Protestants. It was banking on a more sound and better prepared clergy, for more
responsible Christians, and requiring from the Bishops that they might act as Bishops and
stay in their Dioceses. The Catholics “after Trent” did not imitate the Protestants. They
did not remain in their own positions, but rather, they reacted in an original and positive
way that even surprised historians of today. How? They found in their own traditions the
moral strength, the spiritual resources, the ideas and models to renew and face the chal-
lenges of the new times. Even more, this self-reforming Church would be one of the most
important historical testimonies.
Lastly, a word about the Popes who promoted what the lay people call, in an
inappropriate way, anti-reformation, when in justice, it should be called, as most actual
historians call it, “Catholic Reformation.” They are the Popes of the first part of the youth
of Calasanz. The first one is Paul IV, who was guiding the boat of Peter for two years
when Joseph came into this world. He was a pious man, severe even to rigidity. But he
started applying the council as a true reformer, cautious against the abuses of the Roman
Curia and the scandal of the simony. His Pontificate, nevertheless, also reflected a
contradiction and delay in the spiritual and discipline reformation of the Church. For
example, Paul IV was also a little inclined to nepotism and favored his relatives,

14
especially his nephew Carafa, nominating him Cardinal Secretary of State, in spite of his
censurable conduct. This Pope favored the Inquisition process. And this left us a little
perplexed. Although it is true that he could not have foreseen some excesses or deviations
that tribunal reached.
Paul IV reigned when Joseph was from two to eight years old. His greatest merit was
that he re-started the Council, promoted its activity and closed it only when the agenda
was finished. During his time, Rome was enriched with the pres ence of Charles
Borromeo, a protagonist of the Catholic Reformation, whom the Pope had nominated
Cardinal and Secretary of State. It is true that he was also his nephew, but who could not
say that this case of nepotism was… a felix culpa?
Let us conclude on Pope Pius V, a saint for the Church. He is the “first and true”
Pontiff after the Council. The assimilation and putting into practice the re novation of the
Council started magnificently in the whole Catholic world under his pontificate. In
addition, it happened that Pope Ghislieri was a Dominican, and it confirmed the precious
contribution that gave the old and new Orders to the Catholic Reformation. The Roman
Catechism for Parish Priests, the new editions of the Breviary and Roman Missal came
out as among his initiatives. He was a determined and valiant Pope, even with the kings
and no doubt in excommunicating Elizabeth of England. He thought and blessed also a
new Crusade against the Turks, every day more threatening and merciless during his
time. When the Christian fleet won in Lepanto, on October 7, 1571, there was also a feast
in Peralta. Joseph Calasanz was fourteen years old and he was on vacation before starting
again his studies. There were even more complications waiting for him.

15
 3
STUDIES, TRAVELS, EXPERIENCES
When he left his town for the second time, Joseph’s ideas were rather clear for his
age. He was going to study at the university because he wanted to become a priest. The
two goals (the university preparation and the priesthood ministry), and therefore, these
two directions were for him only one. The direction in the Church as well as in Spain
after the Council of Trent was to have well prepared priests; informed about the current
situation of the times and about the church reformation to be carried out. With a certain
culture and his own spirituality, our young man already felt on his skin the new air, the
spring air, the air of the Pentecost, the one after the Council that was blowing upon the
Church and on the Christian world. He was like a crazy young man ready to commit
himself, of giving himself, embarking in that fantastic adventure of apostolate and
priesthood with his whole enthusiasm of faith and youth. The period after the Council
was much too intense and committing. It was too stimulating and full of promises for a
convinced and sensible Christian as he was. It was impossible to close himself in. It
would have been as if betraying Jesus who was calling him.
With this spirit, on October 1571, he left the Castro and Peralta Barony for the first
time. He crossed the territory of Aragon and reached the city of Lerida by the Segre
River. It was a noble old city with a beautiful gothic cathedral and a famous university.
The students came from the three different regions of Valencia, Catalonia and Aragon,
like him. The students at that time had a great role in the institution since the Rector was,
in fact, one of them, elected every year among those enrolled in the Law Department. In
spite of everything, this rule was not enough to guarantee tranquility in the campus of
Lerida. In reality, the student environment was always very much disturbed by many
protests, oppositions, strikes, fights, manifestations, love affairs, revolts and other related
happenings. The streets and squares were not so secure. The neighbors were complaining
and the Bishop was very busy and could not attend to these problems. Once, in 1574,
when Calasanz was there, the Prelate, losing his patience, had ordered the arrest of a
student-rector who was a cleric. It would have been better not to do that. The whole city,
urged by the students, was in revolt, and many people with arms went to the Bishop’s
palace and obliged the Prelate to free the prisoner.
It seems that Lerida was not a tranquil oasis for studying. Nevertheless, Jo seph was
not in a bad situation. He was accustomed to the environment and he accepted those
turbulent student happenings without complaining too much or calling for order. And this
was not only because he was a kind and sociable man, but also because he knew how to
organize himself. He knew how to find a corner to concentrate himself. He followed the
lessons. He was in contact with the professors, and in every way, he was able to study
profitably. More so, he was very well integrated in the system, and true enough, he was
elected as a member of the Councilors of the Rector. The Council was composed of
students, one from each of the three “nations” that formed the “Crown of Aragon,” the
provinces of Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia. And this was more than probable because
he was not only an energetic young man and a model student, but also because he had
many friends. And everybody liked him much. In fact, although he was different and
more serious than many others, he was not a prudish young man, not taciturn. He gave
good example but he was not a preacher. He did not judge anybody. Even more, he spent
his free time taking strolls with his friends, just joking and celebrating the quirks of some

16
professors. When he heard his friends saying bad words or when they talked about love
or about girls, he was not pleased in a particular way. But through his attitude they wo uld
notice that he did not judge them and that he did not feel superior to them. And this was
appreciated very much by them, because they knew that he was better than them, but he
did not try to show it off. He was a coherent man, but he was not scandalized if the others
were not always blameless. He knew how to give counsel, how to find the proper word
when it was necessary, but without going up to the pulpit and without taking them away
with intransigence. Sometimes, a glance, an affectionate smile or eve n a joke said at the
proper time was enough. And they understood that he was too clever. He was considerate
about things and in the end, his friends rediscovered confidence and respect for
themselves. As if nothing would be said. An old friend, Mathew Garc ia, used to say
many times that during the time of Lerida when he was a poor disoriented student, as
many others were, Joseph had been for him a kind of Holy Spirit.
Moreover, besides studying and being with friends, Calasanz used to think about his
soul, his interior life and spiritual formation. He knew that these were also decisive years
regarding this aspect. That is why sometimes he remained alone, prayed and read the
Scriptures and the Fathers. He practiced penitence, meditated in his room or in the chapel
of the school, and even when he was walk ing slowly through the splendid gothic cloister
of the cathedral, with the sun going through the column lace and semicircular arches. On
April 17, 1575, he made the first obligatory step on the road towards the priesthood: the
tonsure, received in the sanctuary of the Holy Christ of Almata, in Balaguer City – a little
towards the north, following the course of Segre River – from the hands of the Bishop of
Urgell City, Catalonian Diocese in the Pyrenees, but that it also included in Peralta. After
that, he remained in Lerida another three years to finish his studies of Law.
In 1578, he went even further away from his native land, always towards the south, to
Valencia City. He was 21 years old, and he was not a child any more. He was tall and
strong. Nevertheless, the priesthood goal and the end of the studies were still far away
because our young man was just fully entering his ecclesiastical studies, taking theology
in the Jesuit school of Saint Paul. Besides that, if it is true that the Calasanz were rather
well economically, and he did not lack help from the Diocese, he was the first one to feel
the sensibility of providing something for himself and not putting too much burden upon
the family since the university road for Joseph was still rather long. Therefore, after
finishing the lodging requirements and the enrollment in classes, he started looking for a
job in order to contribute to the expenses of his studies.
In fact, after arriving, he started to work as a secretary for a young lady. Let us call
her Consuelo, a half relative, and knowing who he was and knowing im mediately his
good qualities she gave him a hand. She was an intelligent lady. For those times, she had
a certain culture although she was a wo man. She also had experience in worldly and
human relations. Everything made her understand that her young relative was not one
among so many. He had something special many intellectual, spiritual, and moral
aptitudes that the other young men and the other uninterested and noisy students around
the streets, probably would not even possess when they became adults. He knew many
things, spoke very well, was educated, refined, and sometimes with a certain innocent
gallantry, without realizing it. He was mature, sensible, precise in his best during his
work, and worthy to be trusted from all points of view. You could discuss anything with
him because he was intelligent and profound. However, in some other matters, he was

17
like a child, pure, simple, without any malice and mischievous thoughts, unable of
feigning. His soul and his character were a little like his bodily appearance, handsome
and strong, delicate and manly, able to protect and wishing protection at the same time.
After meeting everyday, reading together the mail or solving various problems in her
house, and talking of many things for so many hours, understanding, confidence,
friendship, and intimacy between the two was growing. Consuelo realized one day that
she was in love with Joseph. She felt that she could not be separated from him and that
she loved him with an irresistible passion.
She did not tell him immediately in a clear way, but she made him understand it by all
means. She looked at his eyes directly and with kindness. Sometimes she made
affectionate gestures toward him and she would keep him talking for a long time,
although the work might have been finished. She gave him all the attention. When she
was close to him, she took advantage of rubbing and touching Joseph with her hands or
with her body. Consuelo loved him and wanted him more and more everyday. The first
doubts – a seminarian, just a little older than a child, her salaried young man, almost a
member of her family – had finally been thrown away.
And Joseph? He, on the contrary, kept the doubts, the scruples and the remorse on the
proper level. In reality, he was an innocent young man, but not ingenious. He had
understood very well what the lady felt about him and her intentions. For him, being an
aspirant not only to priesthood, but also to a coherent Christian life, the solution was only
one: to go away from there, to not see her any more, to prevent his falling. But, how
would he do it? He had to remain in the city of Valencia to continue his studies in
theology. He needed work and Consuelo helped him. How to leave her without being
ungrateful? However, it was not only that. Reading more deeply in his soul, Joseph felt
also tempted strongly. She was not an ordinary person, not even a mediocre one. She was
alone. She needed true love. Besides, she loved him seriously; it was a true love. And
God… is He not love? “Lord, help me, enlighten and save me.” For Joseph, at a
crossroad, this prayer was the only way of answering those stormy, capricious questions
– so as not to go astray.
In the end, Consuelo continued with the same thing as always. One day, she received
Joseph in a really beautiful form, with make up she had never worn be fore and with a
clamorous and slender dress that would have turned the heads of all carousers in
Valencia. Just after he entered the house, she embraced him with unrestrained affection.
Then, she took him by his hand and led him to her room, smiling mischievously. She
took off, one by one, the headpins from her long and black hair, and let it loose upon her
shoulders, with her hands and shaking her head to position it better. Then, she started to
unbutton her dress.
“We have waited too long, Joseph,” she told him while looking at his eyes. “Let us
not lose more time. We have the right to this happiness because we love one another,
isn’t that so?”
Calasanz immediately stopped her, holding down her hands and placing her dress
back in its place, since the lady had started to lower it down along her arms. Then he told
her in a tranquil and soft manner: “No, Consuelo, it is not true that we have the right to
this. You know that my road is a different one. I can’t love only one woman nor only one
person. God calls me to love all in Him. This is the meaning of ‘God is love,’ the
universal love. If one has been elected – although unworthy, as I am – he must give

18
testimony to that kind of love. It is not a privilege. It is to make men understand that God
loves them, and how they should love one another. Look, I do not know if I will be able
to grasp both your hands without stopping at the other, but I know that I should try, and
the Lord will help me.”
While he was leaving forever the house of Consuelo, with the intention of leaving
Valencia City, he also felt renouncing the university and the job. Joseph understood that
talking to her in that way, he felt as if somebody had given him the answers to those
questions. Yes, it is true that God is love, but a love that is not limited and partial, as
human love is. Rather, God’s love is much bigger and more demanding.
Therefore, the student from Aragon, after one year, started again on the road, as a
wandering cleric of the medieval universities. This time, the goal was to arrive at Alcala
de Henares, in Castille near Madrid, the new capital of Spain by the will of King Philip
II. It is a good university, founded at the beginning of the century by Cardinal Jimenez de
Cisneros, the powerful Archbishop from Toledo City in the time of King Fernando and
Queen Isabel. Calasanz continued his theological studies there, thinking about finishing
them in an “acquired” peace, far away from the student uproars and the snares of
temptations. But this time, too, something was out of the program as his studies suffered
another sudden interruption.
What had happened? Peter, the older brother, died in a battle in 1579, fighting for the
Peralta’s baron, in one of those confrontations between the forces of the lords and the
rebel vassals.
As it has been said in the pages before, the Aragon of the second half of the 16th
century, a boundary land and far away from the court, became more and more dangerous.
It had many problems due to the secret passing of the Huguenots from France, with the
guerillas fighting between barons and feudal lords, and the growth of vagabonds and
bandits. The heir of Peralta’s bayle was also a victim of such a chaotic and difficult
situation. Joseph, naturally, suffered very much from that tragedy and unexpected lost,
but for the moment he preferred not to leave Alcala, where he was only for one year.
However, the disgrace did not stop there. After a few months from the death of Peter, the
mother, too, overcame by the pain, gave her soul to God. Therefore, at this time, Joseph
could not but go back to Peralta. It was the summer of 1580, he was 23 years old, and the
moment was a difficult one. During the whole trip back, he thought about his problems
and adversities: the death of his brother, that of his mother, the continuous interrup tion of
his studies and the priesthood still far away. And maybe he did not see it as nearly as
before, the father who needed an heir, and that he was the only male that had remained.
The young Calasanz had many motives to be depressed and uneasy as the reflections of
the sun on the salty hills projected the first rays upon his arrival in Peralta.
He remained at home for one year, between 1580 and 1581. They were alone, he and
his father. The sisters had already been married and they did not live there. One sister,
Spes, had also died. Those were difficult months; two strong personalities, one facing the
other, and the emptiness and the silence of a house that was already too big. The father
wanted by all means that Joseph would stop trying to become a priest and would become
the heir of the family. He did not listen to reason and he exchanged shadowy silences
with authoritarian threats. The name and the goods of Calasanz should pass to the son.
There was no other alternative. After the heated discussions with the father, he used to
close himself in silence, full of suffering and resentment. Joseph was looking for light

19
and strength in prayer, being once more at a crossroad: to go against the love of filial
obedience, ruining the heart of his father, to become a priest, or following his father
Peter, wasting a vocation, putting Jesus aside. In this situation, he invoked the Lord and
took time, bearing with patience and faith this great obstacle upon his uneven path.
The situation was solved in a providential way. The young man became seri ously ill.
While he was fighting between life and death, he made to the Virgin a vow: if he became
well, he would continue, without doubting, the road to the priesthood. When he said this
to his father, Peter started to see the things in a different way. Joseph was dying and only
a miracle could save him. Then, better a thousand times a priest son that he would have
become than a dead son, without any remedy to the disappearing of the breed and
patrimony of the family. It was a subtlety of God who knows how to make a circle out of
a square and to write straight lines out of curved ones. Joseph became well and the father
said yes to his decision. He blessed him as he was leaving again, as he had done in the
past. The two had grown in the suffering, in love, and they became nearer to God: the
son, contemplating the waiting mission, and the father, near the supreme goal, conquered
so hard with the last trials.
From that time on, the road was always sloping down. He enrolled again in the
University of Lerida. Let the dogs bark, as they say in Spain. The important thing was to
finish the studies. Besides, his father being rather an old person, alone and sickly, Joseph
should not try to go far away from his city. Therefore, on December 17 and 18, 1582, he
received the minor Orders and Sub-Deacon in Huesca City, from the hands of Msgr.
Peter del Frago, the local Bishop. The following year, on April 19, Msgr. Gaspar John de
la Figuera ordained him as a Deacon in Fraga City, also in the Aragon Region. Moreover,
with great joy, on December 17 of the same year, 1583, his Bishop of Urgell City, the
Camaldulense Hugo Ambrosius de Moncada, ordained him as a priest in the chapel of the
residential castle in Sanahuja, in Catalonia. He was 26 years old and finally he was a
priest, an apostle, and an evangelizer for the service of God, of the Church and of the
brothers. For his studies he had to move to different places. For his ordination, the same.
He was already accustomed to it.
However, he probably celebrated the first Mass in Peralta on Christmas. The fact that
there were Peter, the father and the four sisters, made them feel closer notwithstanding
the emptiness left by those who were absent: Mary, his mother, John, Peter and Spes.
Nevertheless, this did not impede that the persons present during the first mass to feel
happiness and pride. Maybe never as that day the complete name of his town, Peralta de
la Sal, seemed to all so proper and worthy of the honor.

20
 4
INTRIGUES IN THE MONASTERY
Joseph Calasanz, as we have seen it, first went around half of Spain for his studies.
Later on, he went from one diocese to the other to receive the differ ent Sacred Orders.
The same happened during his first years as a priest while he remained in the country. He
would go from one diocese to the other, from one Bishop to the other, from one job to the
other. In some ways, because as all young men, he was looking for his path, the best and
fittest way for him to practice his apostolate, a parish priest, a shepherd of souls. And on
the other hand, everybody wanted him, understandably, because he was an intelligent
person and courageous. Therefore, between the years 1580 and 1590, this young priest,
when he was around 30 years old, would gain ecclesiastical and pastoral experience in
the shadow of bishops and prelates in various positions, receiving more and more re-
sponsibilities from them. And, what would be the most important thing for him? He
would become the man of the Catholic Reformation in the Church of Spain, a faithful and
efficacious collaborator of the best illuminated hierarc hy. He would continue on the
renovations initiated by the Council of Trent and the applications of the decrees and the
spirit of the Council in the dioceses, in the parishes, and in the monasteries of the
northwest of Spain. At the same time, he would beco me more humane, more mature,
more prudent, more understanding of the lives of persons. His strong personality would
soon excel, with all its originality, its qualities, and his charism. During his first years as a
priest, he would continue even more. The spiritual road of Calasanz would be opened
with more diligence and commitment, his growth in God. As a consequence, those who
were near him, that tall and robust priest, would have a clear impression that he was
building his house upon rock, and that if he had not yet reached the top, in any case he
was already rather high.
He performed his first ministerial services by the side of Msgr. Philip de Urries and
for some years he was already Bishop of Barbastro, just near Peralta. That place, after a
long time, had become a Diocese in 1572. For Calasanz, it was important to start with the
head of a diocese because at that time, the bishops had a key role in the reformation
wanted by the Council of Trent. First, to put into practice the Council’s decisions and the
diffusion of a true reformation culture in each diocese evidently depended on the Bishop.
But besides that, the Bishop, as the image of a shepherd as such and the episcopal service
had been the objects of the reformation by the Council that was designed for the new
times of the Church and of Christianity. That is to say, not only an important titular of
this or that ecclesiastical territory, but rather, the bishop was a true shepherd obliged to
reside in his diocese, direct it seriously, and care for it with pastoral visits. Therefore, the
most open and sensible bishops of that time were really the vital leaders of the
reformation. And to work with them leading a diocese, meant to be on the front line in
the fighting for the catholic reformation after the Council. It was really in conformity
with the desires and the expectations of a young priest, prepared and enthusiastic as
Calasanz was, and for this reason he had to work hard in the dio cese of Barbastro from
February 1584 until the late spring of the following year.
The experience of Joseph with Urries was also beautiful for another reason. The
Bishop of Barbastro was a Dominican and therefore in the Episcopal palace the sons of
Saint Dominic were at home. Urries continued being religious and lived a community life
with his brothers. He recited the Canonical Hours in the choir with them. In summary, the

21
chancery of Barbastro, when Calasanz was there, was like a kind of convent. And the
new priest from Aragon, who had been already with the Trinitarians, the Franciscans, the
Jesuits, and other Religious, started to understand and to taste more and more the
Religious Life. This, as we will see later, would give a strong orientation to his process of
maturity and his choices.
Therefore, regarding this aspect and facing the future goal of Calasanz, the 15 months
in Barbastro were formative and providential months. In addition, this is also important
from another point of view. In reality, we ask ourselves what job, what activity and kind
of task Joseph carried out in the Curia of Urries? The sources say that he worked as “a
helper of studies.” This meant, according to the most probable explanation, that he was a
kind of teacher of the people in the Bishop’s Palace. That is to say, he took care of the
education and instruction of the youngest servants and housekeepers that were working at
the palace. Therefore, after preaching to friends in Peralta, maybe he repeated it also to
companions at the University. The third teaching experience of our hero can be said to
have coincided precisely with his first apostolic and priestly job. Was it only a
coincidence?
Bishop Urries died on June 19, 1585. He had directed the diocese for 13 years.
Thereafter, his young collaborator from Peralta became unemployed. It is not t he case
that he had economic problems. His father was still living, there were the goods of his
family whose principal heir was now him. But Joseph was not able to remain without
doing anything. He was ambitious in the good sense of the word. He wanted to act, to
work for the Church and the reformation as he had done already in Barbastro during
almost one and a half years. Then he looked around and thought of taking advantage of
an event that was being organized precisely during those days in Aragon. Precis ely, near
there, in Monzon City by the shores of Cinca River. As it had happened so many times in
the past, there were meetings of the General Courts, a kind of assembly of nobles from
Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia. As representatives of their regions, they had to make
important decisions about political matters of general interest. The Courts were an old
institution, from the Middle Ages, and for a long time had much power. With Charles V 2 ,
this power had been diminished, but still it was important. This gathering was news and it
caused expectation, especially because the king was present to preside it.
Then Philip II was in Barcelona to accompany his daughter Duchess Catalina who
had married Duke Charles Manuel of Savoia, one of those political weddings of that time,
and not only of that time. Therefore, after the departure to Ligury (Italy) of the new duke
and duchess, the Prudent King went with great splendor to Monzon, where he
inaugurated immediately the Courts of Monzon in the main Cathedral of Saint Mary of
Romeral. It was on June 28, 1585, and among so many voices exchanged among that
burning place of capes, embroideries, and plumed hats, among bows, slanders, and
contriving things, it was said that King Philip II, this time, had intentions of taking care
of religion and ecclesiastical questions. The prelates, priests and religious were also part
of the court itself to better understand their interests and competences. And given the

2
Charles (February 25, 1500-September 21, 1558), Holy Ro man Emperor. He ruled over extensive
domains in Central, Western and Southern Europe, as well as the various Castilian (Spanish) colonies in the
Americas. His son Philip II (May 21, 1527-September 13, 1598), ruled one of the world’s largest Westerns
European power.(Wikipedia)is

22
sensibility and attention of the Catholic King, it was very probable that the sessions
would take such color.
Besides that, if during those days so many Bishops and Prelates had not been in
Monzon, Joseph would not have been there, either. But he was there and looked around
with very open eyes, asking information about this or that to another Calasanz,
Bartholomew, Prior of Saint Mary of Romeral and an ecclesiastical official – today we
would say an Arch-Priest – of Monzon. Bartholomew indicated to his young relative the
prelates that could accept him in their group, and among them he indicated also Msgr.
Gaspar John de la Figuera, a Bishop from Albarracin, just recently nominated a Bishop of
Lerida and who might need personnel. Moreover, the bishop was from Fraga, where
Calasanz had become a Deacon two years before, precisely from his hands.
Summarizing, the auspices were good - Fraga, Lerida – and Joseph decided to try it.
Therefore, he got to be presented to La Figuera, who understood immediately who he was
and who took him immediately among his collaborators.
In the meantime, while he was establishing these contacts, Calasanz was ob serving
the events in Monzon. It was the first time he saw Philip II so close. It was in the church.
Their eyes crossed for a moment. He seemed to him a serious man, worried, of a long
face, pale skin, protruding chin, blond hair, and - revealing his northern origin from the
Habsburgs - very tall, that dominated all. But he was without pride, a prisoner of such a
ceremony, greater than him. Joseph knew that he was a religious man, with a zea l for the
good of the Church, There everybody could see that he was always respectful and correct
with Priests and Religious. He realized the king’s sincere and good intentions. Joseph felt
in tune with his reformation purposes. Philip II, the Bishops, the young and well-prepared
priests, were all for the application of Council; for a change and renovation. But not as
Luther or Calvin did, but by loving the Church of Christ, with all her wrinkles and
shadows so that she would come back to be young and beautiful, renewed, first of all,
they themselves.
La Figuera was thinking the same, in general terms, and although it was a delicate
matter, he accepted to preside a commission nominated by Philip II, to study how to
spread to the opponents from Aragon the reformation of the Augustinian Order which
started a long time earlier in Castille and other regions. In reality, the Catholic King
wanted to intervene too in the other religious Orders desirous of changes and reforms in
them. A religious of the Agustinian Order, Fr. Aguilar, called in the same way as
Calasanz, to the service of the Bishop of Lerida, tried immediately to influence the king
about this matter. La Figuera had talked about it with the confessor of Philip and the king
did not think twice, taking the bull by its horns – for that reason he was a Spaniard – to
create that commission. Joseph was called, too, to take part in it as a secretary. However,
while this commission was working in the reformation of the Augustinians another
situation had become much more difficult in the Benedictine Order, an older. And there
were happenings of many colors, especially in Aragon and Catalonia. The cases and the
biggest scandals happened in the Montserrat Monastery, near Barcelona; one of the most
prestigious monasteries in Catalonia, and one of the oldest and most venerated
sanctuaries of the whole Spain. Philip asked and obtained from Rome a Pontifical
approval, nominating La Figuera Apostolic Visitor for Montserrat. And he suspended at
the moment the commission for the Augustinian reformation. He sent the Bishop and his

23
collaborators for an Apostolic Visit to the Catalonian Abbey. Calasanz was also among
them.
However, what was the terrible thing that had happened in
Montserrat? Let us go in parts. As we have seen with the Augustinians, the
Benedictines, too, had in Spain their reformation. It started, as usual, in Castille –
specifically in the Congregation of Valladolid – and from there the reformation started
through the whole country. The reformation process had way ahead before Trent. But,
naturally, after the Council, the process that started long ago, moved faster and with more
intensity. But, as it had happened other times and in other contexts, Aragon and Catalonia
did not react well regarding this excessive flow of the Castillian culture, and that was
why the Benedictine monasteries of these regions were united against what for them was
an abuse of the Castillian power, particularly in Valladolid. It was not only an ethnic,
regional reality, it was also an old political rivalry between the Crown of Aragon and the
Crown of Castille. There were also economic interests, power ambitions, fights between
those who were for the centralization and those for autonomy. The monks from Aragon
and Catalonia used to say that the monks from Castille marginalized them, taking all the
power posts, and sending home or moving all those novices who were not from Castille,
so not to lose the acquired majority, according to them, through cunning ways and
preponderance. Moreover, the monks from Castille were accused also of taking the
precious objects, the sacred vestments of great value, and the money offerings for their
monasteries, especially to Valladolid. Therefore, among attacks from one part and
reactions from the other, in the end, the conflict reached the politicians. That is to say, the
Government of Catalonia and the Council of the One Hundred of Barcelona logically
took sympathy with the autochthonous monks, increasing the confusion and the tension.
Facing this case, Philip II should have intervened by any means. With permission from
the Pope, he ordained in 1584 the first Apostolic Visit of Montserrat that should be
carried out precisely by the ex-Abbot of the Monastery, Benito de Tocco, a predecessor
of La Figuera, as Bishop of Lerida. The visit started on May 9 and lasted several months,
but it ended, better to say it was interrupted in a dramatic way, on January 13, 1585, with
the unexpected death of Msgr. De Tocco. It was rumored to be an assassination or
poisoning. Even the Pontifical documents, with voices and testimonies of this plot, talk
about “grave scandals” and of “atrocious and enormous crimes.” However, the violence
did not end there. After two months, a certain Brother Guillen, a French Oblate, went
during the night in the dormitory of the monastery, together with other accomplices, and
took out 27 Castillian monks, escorting them out in the road. In the end, they were freed
by the troops of the Vice Roy of Catalonia, but they refused to go back to Mo ntserrat,
since it was clear that Guillen had accomplices inside the monastery. It was clear that, it
would have been dangerous for them to go back again.
Joseph meditated on the whole thing while he was riding slowly with Msgr. La
Figuera and the rest of the group going up to the monastery. He could not believe it. All
those conflicts, that hate, that violence and beside that a new dead person an ex-Abbot, a
Bishop and an Apostolic Visitor at that, according to what was said, was assassinated! All
this happened in an old holy place, a retreat place of devotees and a place of pilgrimages.
It seemed impossible. While he was thinking about it, the compact silhouette of the
monastic complex was becoming larger and closer, and the rocky blocks that were
crowing it seemed with each step more majestic and impressive. People used to recognize

24
in them familiar shapes, and used to give peaceful names to those severe and rough
masses: the dog, the camel…Mr. Peter, his father had told him many years ago. On the
contrary, now, Joseph saw strange, disturbing, and threatening figures. It seemed the
wrinkled faces of so many mute old people were looking at them with a suspicious glance
while they were approaching. But Calasanz preferred to take away those images and
retired in prayer, freeing himself of any prejudice, and asking for Him the serenity and
the importance of what he was going to do there with his Superior and other companions.
The small group of apostolic visitors arrived in Montserrat on October 28, 1585, after
a six-day trip. Here, the abbot, prior and other monks met them with deference at the
entrance, where they left the mules to the care of the persons in charge. Joseph seemed to
imagine behind the impassible looks of the religious, their opposition for that inspection,
their rancor, their preoccupations, the anguishes, the effort to dissimulate. But it was just
for a moment, a temptation. He smiled to all and he tried to have confidence, to wait for
the best. With these feelings, he crossed the court yard, he admired the façade of the
church just finished, the portico, crown with the Romanesque statues of the Apostles, and
he entered to pray with the others at the feet of the holy image of the Moreneta (blackish
statue) placed up there with the Child on her arms. Calasanz knelt down with his face on
the ground and said with love and fervor a prayer that we can imagine, more or less, like
this:
“Mary, Mother of God, patroness of this holy place, intercede before your Son, our
Lord, so that He would pardon the responsible of the evil that could have profaned this
venerable sanctuary, and He may do that everything that would occur here in the future,
until the end of the times, may be worthy of the sanctity of these walls. Regarding my
Bishop, my companions and me, the most unworthy, make us instruments of this
purification and new consecration of Montserrat, for the glory of heaven and the service
of the Church. Amen.”
The visit started on the following day. The titular, as we know, was La Figuera, that
used to carry out important things. After him was a certain Mr. Jeronimo Perez, who was
made as secretary and a representative of the King called John de Bardaxi. Calasanz was
an “examiner,” that is to say, he interrogated the monks. He made it through weeks and
months with consideration and care. Sometimes, the interlocutors impressed him when he
saw that they were innocent, sincere, pious, and that they suffered from that situation. But
on other times, he faced twisted persons with a challenging style and with compassion,
the style of one who feels himself protected and untouchable. They were malicious,
cynical, obtuse, without wanting to talk, and sometimes too talkative persons, but always
lying, who looked him in the eyes with ridicule and scorn. Some used to threaten him,
laugh at him or provoke him. Others asked him to close his eyes, that he would be toler-
ant of their transgressions, their intrigues. The law of silence was impenetrable, the net of
complicity undecipherable and indestructible. Joseph felt powerless and he became
disillusioned and frustrated. After these painful and disturbing encounters, he went to
pray before the Moreneta Virgin, or to the Church of Saint Cecile, just a few kilometers
away, or to one of so many eremitic chapels that had their nest at the top of the
surrounding hills: Saint Margaret, Saint Paul, the Holy Trinity… He used to repeat to
Mary the prayer of the first day. He became calm and started again hoping. Above
anything else he was careful not to hate, not to judge, to be just, without forgetting the
commandments of forgiveness and love.

25
 And then one terrible day, unforeseen, the situation precipitated again. Talk ing with
the monks from time to time, Joseph had received obscure warnings, hidden threats.
Another day one told him:
- “Reverend, it is better to give up and go back home; simply, you will not be able to
put out the spider from the hole. I tell you that for your own good, for your health and
that of the Msgr. Visitor.”
- “What do you want to say?” asked Calasanz. “Just explain yourself better.”
- “Fr. Joseph, you are still young. But you are not stupid or unwary. Think about it,
the same as your Bishop. And remember what happened to Msgr. Tocco.”
As always, he told everything to La Figuera and he recommended him to be careful.
But neither of them was the type that would give up or go back in the face of blackmail.
The Church of God, the Pope, the King wanted them there for that mission and it was
necessary to get to the bottom of it, although the dangers would seem more certain,
tangible and immediate than any solution, than any way out.
The announced and fearful tragedy arrived, without realizing it.
Suddenly, the visitor started to feel bad, worse everyday, until he was unable to get up
from his bed, and after a few days he died. It was February 13, 1586. The second visit to
Montserrat ended also with a dead person, without even four months passing. The
intrigue was repeated among mysteries and suspicions. Another unresolved case to keep
in the archives until the final judgment.
The mission became a total failure. The remaining solution was to go out of that
place, leaving the case to the intervention of Crown or the ecclesiastical authority. The
afternoon before leaving the monastery, he went out to take a stroll around. He started a
path, stopped, and looked up. It was a starry sky and the moon was shining. He observed
the huge familiar rocks, the pinnacles, the rocky tops, outlined according to the light, and
the night reminded him of the shadow of the olive in Peralta, so many years ago:
demoniac figures, rocky maligned spirits, guards of a place not so holy now, but
abandoned to its hands by the same God, who knows why. The following day, while he
was traveling, he got the news that in Montserrat Bardaxi the de legate of King Philip II
had died, too, unexpectedly. Another horror, yes, but not a surprise in some way, because
how can he who had no fear of the divine majesty have fear for the human one?
The failure of the visit and the disconcerting experience at Montserrat had confirmed
Calasanz, at least, in two convictions: first, that God’s designs are inscrutable, and
therefore, his positive or negative will should be accepted although it might be absurd.
Second, the Church, in many things, should be reformed, re-founded. In Peralta, he
thought of it a lot during the following months. He had gone back to that place to be by
the side of his sickly father, already near the end. On the other hand, for the moment, he
did not know where to go, since after the death of La Figuera, he remained again jobless.
He remained at home almost one year, until the beginning of 1587. He took care of
his father with utmost affection and love. Mr. Peter confirmed him as universal heir and
asked him “the suffrages for his soul,” as it is written in an old document. Now, he was
very happy of that son, so good and prudent. He was proud of the road he had started, and
of all beautiful and flattering things that were said about him. Inside himself, he was a
little ashamed of the problems he had created for him in the past. That is why now he
tried to be forgiven and to forgive; not with words, since it had never been his strong

26
point, not even with his eyes, but with some caress, some loving glances of appreciation
and gratitude.
Moreover, Joseph did not have anything to forgive. On the contrary, he felt indebted
to him; the home environment and that warm welcome, covered with affection and sweet
remembrances which consoled him and gave him strength after the recent adverse
happenings. He was recuperating, feeling very close the hearts of the two parents, the one
from the earth, and the other from heaven. When Mr. Peter closed his eyes forever, he felt
ready to take the road again, in the desert or in the jungle, fighting in Christ’s militia, and
in everything that could please God. Was he not a priest forever?

27
 5
FROM THE PYRENEES TO THE APENNINES
Peralta de la Sal, although it was in the Aragon region, belonged to the Dio cese of
Urgell. Therefore, Joseph Calasanz was incardinated to it. And from there, he re-started
his ministry after the family parenthesis with his father. At the be ginning of February
1587, he arrived at Urgell city where he remained almost two and a half years, until the
end of 1589, working as the secretary of the Cathedral Chapter and Master of
Ceremonies.
Seu d’ Urgell was a difficult Diocese, a tortured land. Isolated in the Pyrenees
Mountain ranges, it was just in the boundary with the Princedom of Andorra, and
therefore very near to France. It was inside the eye of the hurricane, with bandits that
used to infest the roads on the mountains, and with a continuous coming and going of
French Huguenots, who sometimes were united with the local bad living people, thus
increasing the chaos, the terror, and the violence. Joseph, as secretary of the Cathedral
Chapter spoke about this important, tense, and dramatic situation, in the letters he wrote
to the Viceroy. In one letter, for example, he lamented “the anarchy of these lands and for
so much blood flooding the roads” in which he enumerated the death of two poor men
whom “these delinquents have cut off their heads.” In another, he commented the
powerlessness of the political and religious authorities – in reality they were identical – to
stop the criminality “that everyday brings out great cruelties, killing and cutting into
pieces of persons through the roads and towns.” It was important to move around
“without falling into the hands of robbers, who stole everything,” and fall upon the poor
people murdered with cruelty that is “greater than what I have been able to express in so
many letters,” as he concluded in despair. That this was not an exaggeration is
demonstrated by the fact that sometimes even “many ecclesiastical persons have been in
the necessity of taking arms” to defend the public order and the security of good persons.
Calasanz also had an “arquebus with a pan” for gunpowder used in shooting. Even more,
as it can be seen in his notes, he was in charge of distrib uting the arms to the canons in
the cathedral. What we do not know is if he fired or not at any time.
In this kind of jungle, where everybody moved constantly with an arsenal of gun
powder, it is beyond any doubt that the religious and ecclesiastical life is left much to be
desired. The people were rather rude. A missionary that had been in America described
them as “a little less in need than the Indians” in catechetical instructions. The priests
were not so competent. They were disinterested in the faithful. They were dedicated to
their own interests and negligent of the others. If their superiors or the Bishop would call
their attention to it, they rebelled and continued worse than before. The reformation of
Trent did not arrive so easily in the mountains. In every way, the Bishop of Urgell, with
the most faithful collaborators, and the most zealous priests, were trying to change things
there with the pastoral visits, with a more real presence in these places and other
initiatives, according to the spirit of the Gospel and of the Council.
The new priest who arrived from Peralta would also take part in this cultural work of
moral evangelization, being coherent with his formation and ideas and very much in tune,

28
as we know, to the reformation and renewal. Now he was over thirty. He was not a child
anymore and the experiences he went through made him more mature over time. He
became less as an idealist and more disenchanted about almost everything. This meant
that his efforts to be holier, in serving others, evangelizing the society and reforming the
Church, was better founded, more conscientious, more manly, more realistic, less
sentimental and inconsistent. And therefore, he was more determined and practical. The
thing was that here it was not the case of corrup ted monks, of suspicious deaths, or
worldly prelates. In this situation, blood was flooding more than valiant reformers and
advanced priests. People needed bread and security, solidarity and concrete help, and the
Church also needed to defend their primary rights, the fundamental values. In the end,
Joseph had that scale of values, knowledge and experience, and he understood better each
day that for betraying the Gospel, there is not only one way, but rather many, in the
Church and in the world, and if one wants to help each one of them, one must know
which are they and how they should be attended or prevented. We must also say that
when he went down from the mountains, he had learned much regarding this point and he
would be able to teach others.
However, specifically, what did Calasanz do in Urgell? What was his minis try? As
secretary of the Cathedral Chapter he wrote down the Chapter Acts, wrote official letters
and recorded the expenses. He was very careful and scrupulous in his work, with a clear
and elegant calligraphy. At that time, to write with beautiful characters was very
important; there were people who were earning their living and doing their career in this
way. That is why as a teacher, Joseph would give much importance to the teaching of this
matter. His other job was Master of Ceremonies, and here he moved like a fish in water
in that magnificent Cathedral of Seu d’Urgell, one of the most beautiful and Romanesque
churches in Spain. He used to prepare and animate the liturgy, direct the Canons and the
assembly in the ceremonies, and contribute to the reformation. That is to say, he made up
the rites, the customs and the liturgical traditions, according to the norms of Trent. In the
summer of 1588, he was in charge of organizing the procession a nd the prayers Philip II
had asked of all the Spanish churches in order to get the victory of the Invincible Fleet.
Under the majestic arches of the temple of Urgell, Joseph learned to understand, feel, and
love the liturgy and to prepare well the prayers and the rites. It must be celebrated in a
solemn way, but not so pompous, carried out not to make a spectacle, but to honor God
and put it in the center of the life and of the world.
In any way, although these two jobs Joseph fulfilled to perfection, with much care,
Joseph in Urgell did not remain closed in the cathedral from morning to evening. From
the first moment, he looked around and tried to do his best for the Church among the
people of that needy Diocese. Among other things, around the end of 1587, he was
nominated as Parish Priest of two small towns in the mountains, Claverol and Ortoneda.
Although he was not obliged to reside there continuously, he went there many times, and
that is why he had contact with the region and its problems. Even more, it was precisely
this information about the needs of this region that took him to an initiative rather worthy
of it. Since the new Bishop, Andres Capilla, had not arrived yet, as Philip II had assigned
him to a very important job in another place, Calasanz took paper and pen, and in the
name of the Chapter, wrote to ask the king to come soon. During that time without a
Bishop, the situation had become worse, with “so many priests forced to abandon their
residences just to avoid death or prison,” because of the “boastful and other wicked men.”

29
Therefore, the Bishop, in a certain way, had the opportunity of knowing this zealous
priest even before meeting him in the diocese. Later on, in Urgell, the Bishop’s
admiration for him is confirmed and he considered him one of the best priests. So much
so that he called him to work at the Bishop Palace.
Before going to live in the Bishop’s Palace, Joseph lived almost a year at the house of
Anthony Janer, a merchant who made his revenues as an innkeeper and money lender.
This allowed Joseph to live among the people, among the merchants and near the daily
happenings of that small boundary town; submerged in this world with a certain delight.
Therefore, when Bishop Capilla called him, he, following his spirit of service, sa id yes.
But inside, he was not happy to move away from that lodging house. Maybe it was noisy
and much too busy. But it was full of life and it was good for giving strength. It was a
real place. In the Bishop’s Palace he was “secretary and steward” of the Bishop, a
document recounts. That is to say, he was the so-called manager of the Bishop. He was
his closest collaborator and, therefore, he continued living that type of life that he already
knew well in the experience he had at Urries and La Figuera.
With the recent past in the Bishopric of Barbastro, in a special way, these were two
important similar experiences for Calasanz. First of all, Capilla was also a Religious, a
Carthusian, and before that he was a Jesuit. Therefore, as the Bishop of Barbastro had
always been opened to the Dominicans, the Bishop Palace of Urgell was frequented by
the Carthusians. Even more, three Carthusians were always by the Bishop. In this way,
Calasanz continued living as before, almost as a Religious, with the choir prayer,
common life, the practice of certain spirituality, the respect for the rule, and other things.
We have already said how important this experience was going to be for him in the
future. The second affinity with the experience in Barbastro is in the fact that, very
probably in Urgell, Joseph also practiced a little as a teacher; teaching and taking care of
the instruction and education of the servants of the Bishop.
Summarizing, the Providence, with his wise and loving pedagogy, did not lose time
and was leading Calasanz through the road he would have to take during his whole life.
Moreover, it could be said that he was doing a profound and fast track forma tions,
after we have seen the experiences our young priest was going thru during those years of
intense activity. In fact, in the Bishop’s Palace he remained, more or less, about five
months only. At the beginning of July 1589, he was already in Tremp City as an
ecclesiastical official, General Vicar and Visitor of the Vicariate and of other places.
Bishop Capilla was lacking, with disgust, such an efficient counselor. But on the other
hand, he had understood that Calasanz was much too intelligent as to do only the work at
the Bishop’s Palace. He was one of those who should act freely in order to give his best.
And the man from Aragon did not disappoint him, working hard for more than two years
in that part of the Diocese that depended upon him. He visited towns and farms, parishes
and convents, throughout the mountains, valleys and plains. He encountered a whole
reality, with all its people, from the rich to those without any hope, to the powerful men
to their victims, exercising ecclesiastical and civil authority – as this was the law – and
not as a man of power, but as a man of evangelical and pastoral spirit. It was the only
period of his life that he acted in reality and solemnly as a Parish Priest and a shepherd of
souls, with a title of authority. And all this added a new impor tant contribution to his
human and spiritual formation.

30
 Among other things, he thought of reforming the priests under his jurisdic tion in the
way of Trent. He encouraged them to be less laxed and more self- giving, to a more
coherent priestly life. In addition, of course, it is not that all applauded him. Some,
threatened him and tried to kill him. For instance, he made known to them that the
archpriests and the vicars who would not denounce the transgressors of instructions given
by him would be excommunicated. As an answer, the clergy and the people got so angry
that they were ready to dispose of him. He did not surrender; he remained firm in his
decisions, calmly, but without any fear. And at the end, not only did nobody touched him,
but they approved of him and accepted his decisions. His priests, sometimes, used to go
to him because of the discussions for their own motives. He first tried to put them in
conformity regarding the legal level, and later, he convinced them to serve God instead of
money. And to give a good example, he never allowed payment for his juridical
sentences, as others did.
During the Tremp period, Joseph was between 32 and 34 years old. There fore, he was
still young, but at the same time a mature person, full of energy and vitality. Besides that,
he was a tall man, robust, very strong. These qualities he lped him go around the whole
area assigned to him, to perform his work well and to help others. Once, for instance,
while he was going through the mountains, he found a desperate person. His donkey fell
in the muddy pond and he was unable to pull it out. The Vicar stopped, went down from
his horse, pulled up his cassock, broke some branches and put them on the muddy ground
where the donkey was. He went near the animal, took it upon his shoulders and, walking
on the branches, brought it to hard ground. Another time, there were some fishermen in
the river that could not take their boat out from the Noguera Pallaresa River. Al though
they were many and they used their whole strength. Calasanz, who was crossing by, went
closer, asked them to pass the cord. He grasped it, pulled it with his whole strength. He
alone was able to drag the boat out as far as the shore. In another instance, when some
priests were enjoying throwing a bar as far as possible, Joseph joined and challenged
them. Needles to say, he threw the bar farthest among them. He was the best. Later,
among laughing and comments, he told them that it would be much better to think about
the people than to lose time playing as idle people.
But he had not only physical strength. He knew how to impose himse lf by his
character, by his way of living the faith and through his charism. Regarding this, there is
an episode that maybe, happened in Barcelona or more probably in a town in the
Pyrenees. It was a sort of a Spanish Romeo and Juliet version. A young man had
kidnapped a young lady, and the two families, with their armed people, were at the point
of going from exchange of words to war. They were noble and important people, and
even the king knew of it. He asked the bishop of Urgell to intervene. Bishop Capilla, for a
situation so delicate as such, thought immediately about his secretary, and without
waiting any more, sent him to mend things. The official of Tremp departed mid-winter
and through the snowy and muddy roads, reached the place when the two groups were
already ready to kill each other.
He came with authority and prestige, especially because he was the repre sentative of
the Bishop. Moreover, he has acquired during this period the skills of negotiating with the
proper words and reasoning so much so that the two families were reconciled with his
coming.

31
 How many experiences! How many encounters! How many situations to better know
the world, to serve the Church and neighbors! Sharing the talents! What an intense
experience of becoming fully human beings and growing in faith and in the Christian life!
Those years around the mountains were really a gift from God for Joseph, a continuous
occasion to become an apostle and evangelizer, reformer and shepherd of souls,
especially among the poor and abandoned. And that chapter was also going to be closed
rather soon. The Archpriest from Aragon, in spite of all these results, was uneasy,
unsatisfied and without knowing the reason. He was looking for something different.
Inside himself, he felt some stimuli but confused contradictory desires. On one hand, he
was rather tired, always going around on a horse, every time visiting people and solving
problems. He started to feel weary even for such a person as young and strong as he was.
A good ecclesiastical promotion, a job without the care of souls, a work in the chancery
of the Diocese, in any place, maybe would be the solution. It would give him security
regarding everything: a certain tranquility in a financial way, the means to help his sisters
with their families, and of course, the possibility of continuing the ministry with passion,
but as much as possible with less risks and stress. They were reasonable thoughts,
legitimate and understandable aspirations. But to fix the objective was not an easy thing,
even to be sure in getting it. In order to overcome the competence, it was necessary to
excel, knock the favorable doors and to follow the necessary steps. And where could you
get this except in Rome, at the Apostolic See? And where besides that, could you find
many Spaniards to lend a helping hand?
On the other hand, Calasanz felt also in his heart that inside he had a desire. He was
happy carrying out his work as a Priest, with its pastoral work. But maybe, what he had
done with satisfaction, with joy, with passion, was the teaching care of the young people
in the chanceries of Barbastro and Urgell. It was a type of experience that he had repeated
several times; improvising a little catechism and profane instructions where he had some
occasions, from the inn of Janer to his Parishes, from the cathedral of Tremp and to the
towns in the mountains. He liked teaching very much and he had inclination. For him it
was a meeting point of many good things: of friendship and catechesis, of the spiritual
and the material help, of charity and solidarity, of priesthood and the service to men. It
was to help a child, a young man to grow in faith and culture, to become a good citizen
and a good Christian, and in that way, to put a person at the level, especially if he is poor,
of finding a job to enable him to form a family and become useful to society. It seemed to
him one of the most beautiful fruits of the Christian charity. For this reason, in Urgell,
among other things, he had shared the project of the Bishop of entrusting to the Religious
the foundation of one school or college, also as a means of reformation. This was to say;
raising the cultural level of the young people, of the clerics and of the ordinary people.
But what relation did it have, this pedagogical vocation with the desire of a secure
and decorous job? Maybe the one that could answer this question was pre cisely Joseph.
Therefore, where he started going to Rome from Barcelona, where he had gotten the
doctor degree in Theology, the new doctor from Aragon was going to the capital of
Catholicism, yes, for more than one reason –to fulfill the visit ad limina representing the
Bishop, to become a diocesan procurator in Rome, to get a job in the chancery. But
especially he was going there to find himself. Leaning on the railing of the ship’s bridge,
he was looking at his country that was becoming farther and farther and from the other
section, the prow of the ship was pointing already to the North East, towards Ligury. He

32
left the Pyrenees and was going towards other mountains: the Alps, the Apennines.
Everything came back to his memory: the salty place, Mr. Peter, Mary, his mother, the
shadow of the olive, his brother, the student revolts, the black eyes of Consuelo, the
overwhelming mountains of Montserrat, the impenetrable eyes of the monks, the choirs
and incense of Seu d’Urgell, the highwaymen, the heretics, the blood on the road. So
many sins upon this earth, but also, so many sufferings, so much evil in this earth! He had
seen that everybody tried to be less unhappy, but few got it. No matter what the real
reason of his departure to Rome might be, at least of one thing was sure: he would
continue dedicating the rest of his life to do good to others, to wipe out so many tears, to
heal so many wounds. They were the first days of February of 1592. Calasanz was just 34
years old. He had renounced all his jobs, the few benefices he had; he had passed through
his native land to greet his sisters, and now he was navigating towards Genoa, maybe
with more doubts than hopes.

33
THE EDUCATOR

34
 6
WHEN A PRIEST IS CONVERTED
From now on, our Joseph Calasanz, already in Rome, would be called Gi useppe
Calasanzio. In reality, he would not move any more from Rome, neither from Italy, for
56 years, until his death. He would become famous among the peo ple, the devotees and
the historians, with this name in Italian. He would consider himself an Italian by
adoption, moreover, di senso et di costumi romano – a Roman by heart and customs. And
it could be said that the would forget completely his country – scordatto affatto della
Patria. That is to say, he didn’t feel any homesickness or nostalgia for his Spanish roots
and the land from Aragon. It is a natural thing to say that when one goes to Rome, one
becomes Roman. However, for our Giuseppe, the things were really like that. We, in this
English translation, will continue calling him Joseph Calasanz, with the permission of the
Italian author.
We have seen that after leaving Spain, he had many ideas in his head; we could even
say that he had real confusion with projects and goals a little vague and in contradiction.
However, without any doubt, among all these intentions and projects, more or less
uncertain and changeable, the thought of remaining in Rome did not pass through his
head yet. There was something that called him by the shores of the Tiber River, even
strongly, but it did not make him think that he would remain there for good. On the
contrary, it happened like this. The Eternal City, the capital of the Popes and Catholicism,
would soon form a whole with the character and the spirituality of Joseph, with his
mission and his service, his culture and his options, his tastes and his sensibility, the
apostolate and testimony, the style and mentality. It will last during his whole life.
In reality, when Joseph arrived in Rome, around the end of February of 1592, he was
convinced that he would stay a short time there, the necessary time for finishing the
matters of his Diocese and to get a much desired chancery job that would allow him to go
back to his country with ease and satisfaction and look at the future with a certain peace
and confidence. In the letters he sent to Spain during these first Roman months, he wrote
it clearly: “I ardently desire to return back home.” “I will try to start my return trip soon.”
“I have great confidence that they will provide me soon.” Soon, soon... an adverb that
shows the whole distance between the project of Joseph and those of the Providence. But,
in the meantime, during that period, before the project of Joseph and that of the
Providence would be the same, those who met him in the ecclesiastical palaces or in the
waiting rooms of the Prelates more or less powerful, could see the ordinary foreign priest,
with one foot in Rome and the other in his country. He was always trying to make his
plans go smoothly and anxious of going back to his home, with his knapsack full.
For this, and also in order to confront the solitude, Calasanz did as all for eigners had
always done, priests or lay people, who had lived for a short time in a cosmopolitan city
like Rome, especially the ecclesiastical Rome. That is to say, he met his countrymen, the
Spaniards who lived there temporarily, as he was in the city. They used to go especially
around the St. James Church of the Spaniards in Parione, between the Navona Square and
the Sapienza, or around the Montserrat Church. It was the official Church of the Crown
of Aragon, near the Farnese square, and the via Giulia, in the heart of the Regola district.
Regarding this, it does not seem that Joseph had any problem meeting some of his
countrymen and not being alone. This is also true in asking favor from his compatriots.
The only problem was who to choose. With the Catholic King on the thro ne, half of Italy

35
controlled by Spain, and considering the good relations that always existed between the
Court of Madrid and the Pope, the Spaniards felt as if they are in their own house in Italy.
In addition, of course, also in Rome, there were many Cardinals, Monsignors, Religious,
Diplomats, nobles, ordinary people and merchants, with whom the newly arrived
Calasanz could count upon for his practical necessities, as well as for his future career.
At the beginning, it was his countryman in fact, Rafael Duran, a Canon of Urgell,
who took Joseph in his house located at the square of the Santi Apostoli. The house was
facing a famous Basilica of the same name restored many times during the centuries by
Pope Martin V’s renaissance taste and later by Pope S ixtus IV and Pope Pius IV. Duran
was not “pure gold.” He had been dismissed as procurator of his Diocese as Joseph
himself had taken his place. Duran did not give a good example while he was in Rome.
He did not observe his vow of chastity and had no respect for celibacy. Such was the case
that a guest was also involved, without wanting it, in an episode or embarrassing
encounter. For instance, once, when he was coming back home, he saw the Canon talking
in confidence with a lady who was at the window of the interior patio. As soon as she
saw him coming in, she said to Duran with dissimulation:
“Put your voice down, since here comes the one who cannot see ladies.” It is not
necessary to say that this was the very much distorted and evil interpretation of the proper
and reserved behavior of Calasanz. In reality, Joseph, who had heard very well the words
of the lady –since she had said them to annoy him – took back the provocation and
answered quietly:
“You are mistaken, since I appreciate you more than the Canon. We know very well
that we are made of soul and body, and there is no doubt that the soul is more noble than
the body. I believe that your soul is the soul of a good Christian, devout, chaste, and very
holy, but the Canon wants you in another way.”
The lady, ashamed and knew not what to answer, went into the house and closed the
window. It is not known if from that moment she changed her life and was less frivolous
with ecclesiastical persons. However, we can say for sure that his friend in cassock
continued being as he was, and for that reason, Joseph thought of declining his
hospitality, being a little dangerous, and went to another place.
He needed not to go too far. In fact, another Spaniard, Bartolome Compte, a Canon
from Tarragona City in Spain, and also a procurator of his Diocese in Rome, presented
him to the Colonna. He showed their building to Joseph in the same square of Santi
Apostoli. Really, Compte, a little like Duran, could not throw the first stone, especially
when it comes to financial matters. Such was the case that all his canonical belongings
were taken by the Chapter of Tarragoza. And when he returned to his country, the Bishop
put him behind bars. But in this case, Joseph didn’t have to live in the house of his
protector, but rather he was living, he and other persons, in the house of Colonna in a
palace by the Basilica. It is located between the slope of Quirinale Hill where via
Flaminia starts. A century ago, it was the old via Lata. But during the time of Paul II, in
the years 1464-1471, it was started to be called via del the Corso. “Corso” means race
and during that time the races of mules and horses where held on that street.
Therefore, after a short stay in the house of Duran, Joseph Calasanz moved to the
Colonna Palace. The family was one of the best known among the Roman aristocracy;
the name came from the homonymous castle and farm in Southeast of Rome, already in
ruins since the end of the 14th century. During Medieval times, the Colonna family was

36
united with the Gibelin’s. This fact made them, for a long time, against the Orsini’s.
When Joseph went to live in the Palace at the end of the 14th century, the family was still
in high regard though their influence started to decline. In reality, during the previous
two centuries they had given their best to the Church and to history with Pope Martin V,
who in the middle of the 15th century had put a remedy to the schism of the West and re-
established in a definitive way the Pontifical See in Rome. Later on, with Vittoria
Colonna, the poetess friend of Michaelangelo, was a great defender of the Catholic
Reformation after Council of Trent. And more recently, with Marcantonio Colonna, the
popular duke of Paliano, who had led ten ships in the Lepanto battle. And as a reward, he
was nominated Viceroy of Sicily by Philip II. In the gallery of the Colonna Palace, there
are two famous rooms that commemorate Pope Martin V and the adventures of
Marcantonio against the Turks. Calasanz did not see them because they were painted as a
fresco later on. The first room is the Room of the Apotheosis of Martin V with a fresco in
the center of the ceiling. The other is the Room of the War Column – the shield of the
family with the conqueror of Lepanto taken to heaven by Hercules and presented to the
Virgin.
When Joseph was in contact with them, the most important member of the family was
the old cardinal Marcantonio Colonna, a powerful person in the Sa cred College. He was a
man of experience that knew how to value the qualities and the character o f the person.
And this was also good for Calasanz, whom in fact was nominated immediately as his
theologian adviser, the chaplain of the palace and spiritual director of those who were
living in the palace. Besides that, it seems that the Cardinal entrusted also to his Spanish
guest the education and instruction of his two nephews, Filippo and Marcantonio. At
least, this is what some biographers narrate. We have to doubt it a little, because in the
acts of the beatification process nothing is said about it. When Calasanz entered the
palace, the two young men were already 15 and 17 years old. Therefore, they were too
grown up to be entrusted to a tutor. Nevertheless, if the news is certain, it means that after
the teaching and educational experiences in Spa in, Joseph had carried out also a
pedagogical job during his first Roman period, and we know how important this would
have been for other future options.
Our “hero” stayed in the Colonna Palace for ten years, from 1592 to 1602. It is
difficult to say where his room was. The building, as we know it today, is very different
from the building at the end of the 16th century. In fact, during the first half of the 18th
century most of it was reconstructed. Nevertheless, some parts, as we see them today, are
surely from the first re-construction of the 17th century. For instance, the low west part, a
floor with two entrances that faces Santi Apostoli square, and what seems was military
quarters at the beginning, or also the great patio, being one of the most beaut iful and
graceful patios of all the Roman noble living quarters; or the four small bridges upon via
della Pilotta, that unite the Oriental palace side to the beautiful garden and to the villa on
the Quirinal slope; or also the oldest part of the whole comp lex, that is to say, the north
wing of four stories, that is to the left, entering the patio from the square, and that is back-
to-back with the right side of the Santi Apostoli Basilica. All these parts of the Colonna
Palace should be now, more or less, rather similar to how Calasanz saw them. The color
of the cover of the walls is not, because today, being the typical Roman brown yellow
imposed in the 19th century. At that time it seems that was almost surely sky blue-color

37
d’aria, as it used to be called, as a homage to the inspiration and the colorful caprices of
the Baroque Architecture.
Nobody knows the impression this colorful painting caused to our guest from Aragon
– maybe a little vulgar for that building, but at the same time it was ethereal, delicate, a
little mystic – in his Roman days. About this, naturally, we cannot make any hypothesis.
On the contrary, something can be said on the side where his room is located in the
palace. But the “Calasanz room” could not be renovated.
In fact, the first biographers say that from a small window of his room, Jo seph could
see the interior of the Basilica of the Santi Apostoli without him be ing seen. He would
pray frequently and gladly and having that advantage of the agreeable and providential
location, he would be in contemplation with God in the intimacy of his room, as if he
would be in the church, in an atmosphere that helped him forget everything. He would
even smell the perfume of the incense, hear the sound of the organ and the choir of the
Conventual Franciscans that were singing in the church. Therefore, if this circumstance is
true – and we do not have any reason to doubt it – it means that Calasanz had his room,
without doubt, in the northern wing of the palace that today corresponds to the
construction of four stories with an old and coarse aspect that we have already spoke
about.
Then there was the inn that was rather big and full of people. Compared to other
residences of the Roman patrician, it was always splendid and hospitable with visitors
and pilgrims, considering its importance, the noble distinction, the political weight, the
pontifical relation and the international relations of the Colonna, especially after
Lepanto’s pomp. Therefore, surely, among those halls and corridors, Joseph found time
to talk with his friend and countryman Baltasar. During so many years, including the
period of the Jubilee of 1600, when almost 3 million pilgrims arrived in Rome, he met
many other guests, dignitaries, diplomats, travelers, devout pilgrims, and even
adventurous people, high ranking court ladies and other suspicious persons. That is to
say, people of any origin and kind, who better than helping him to feel less solitary and a
foreigner in the Pontifical Metropolis, allowed him to deepen and refine also, inside the
house, his knowledge and understanding of life and men, things that notwithstanding,
could do every day through the streets and in the offices of the Apostolic See. On the
other hand, was he not in the center of the world? Then, where to find it better than here?
And what was his relation with the owners of the house, with the Prince and Princess,
and the little Princes? As we have already said, Joseph in Colonna fam ily was a
theologian consultant of Cardinal Marcantonio and he took care of the spiritual direction
of the members of the family. On this aspect, we can say that he was the chaplain of the
Palace. Therefore, he prepared and animated the liturgical rites together with the
cardinals of the family, or substituted them in the liturgical functions that were celebrated
at home, and naturally sometimes he gave them some talks. Besides, as we have said,
maybe he took care of the education of the two nephews of Cardinal, Marcantonio and
Filippo. Therefore, with Masses, homilies, rosaries, blessings, novenas, confessions,
talks, investigations and relations for his eminence and other things, he was rather busy.
The Cardinal held him in high esteem. And the more he knew him, the more his
admiration grew towards that young Spanish priest as he did well the jobs entrusted to
him ordinarily delicate and sometimes not always easy. Joseph reciprocated with
gratitude, respect, fidelity, and at the same time, he expressed it also with the affection

38
towards him and his relatives. So much so that after a short time, they did not consider
him a stranger or as a guest of inferior rank that would depend upon them, but rather as
one of the family, a minister of God, that took care of their spiritual needs, of their souls.
And therefore, he deserved and received great esteem and gratitude. The reality is that
Calasanz had authority upon them and was loved by all, in some way. It is because of his
strong personality, his great dignity and prudence, his irreproachable conduct and good
education, his wonderful spirituality and that knowing how to do things uniting the
diplomacy and the sincerity, the goods manners and the authority of a director of souls,
honest and independent that made him loved by all. He was a gentleman from his soul
and education, a whole man, who nevertheless knew how to be amiable and sympathetic.
And everybody in the Palace of the Santi Apostoli square, recognized these qualities.
In the meantime, during those first years in Rome, whenever he could be free from
the duties at the Colonna house and be away from the Palace, he used to go to the Vatican
or to any office of the Holy See around Rome, in order to ask recommendations and get,
finally, a desired ecclesiastical benefice that would be given to him in his country, and as
a preference, a good canonry. On the other hand, he went knocking at the door of some
counselors– or maybe the same Cardinals – or of any powerful friend or acquainted
Spaniard, so that they would help in his desire and would increase his hopes. Besides
that, it was precisely one of the official reasons why he had come to Rome. Joseph –
almost mechanically, in spite of all his doubts and moral reservations – had been with his
whole soul dedicated from the beginning to get a secure post, a pension, an honorable and
easy economical way, queueing in the line of those arriving clerics and with the ambition
of making a career of the social intruders, who arrived in Rome from all parts of the
Catholic world, desiring to go away from there with a title and a benefice in their hands
for the rest of their years.
It was just a joke! Those benefits could not be found every day or in any cor ner of the
streets. Besides, the competence was great. Joseph soon understood that it would be a
long and difficult task, and he tried to be very patient. Rome could not be conquered in a
day, but rather it was necessary to play with much delicacy like a chess game, with
determination and tenacity, and as much as possible, win. At the beginning, as it happens
many times in these cases, it seemed to him that everything was easy and that the goal
was reaching his hand without any problem. In fact, Calasanz had arrived only two and a
half months before, when Mr. Jaime de Palafox, secret chamberlain of the Pope, in the
name of the secretary of the Spanish ambassador, Peter Jimenez Murillo, told him that he
could be in peace because there was a good canonry in Urgell and he could consider that
it was his. It was only a question of some bureaucratic details to carry out and then he
could go back to Catalonia with his title and benefice. During these fifteen days Joseph
lived with the illusion that he had gotten his goal. But then, after the first of a series of
bad news, disagreeable surprises and disillusions took him suddenly to the dark and big
group of unhappy men. The apostolic representative, Msgr. Lucio Sasso, future Cardinal,
had officially blocked everything, because the new priest from Peralta, in the end, had
just arrived, and he could not be favored before the others who had been waiting for a
long time. But, more probably, it was because he Msgr. Sasso wanted to help the
candidacy of another priest. Nonetheless, he made the bitter pill sweeter as he made
known to Calasanz that he would make him happy as soon as possible. Murillo, Palafox
and a whole file of “sponsors” were also united to this promise! He wanted to increase

39
this file of sponsors because also among those who wanted to help him was Cardinal
Colonna, the future Cardinal Dietrichstein, chamberlain of the Pope, and Carthusian
Ercole Estense, the one who had much influence. Therefore, this was a very sure
candidacy, although until now, with the curia against him, nothing could be done.
Another six months went by, and the powerful Colonna got for him another canonry,
also in Urgell, his Diocese. Much better! However, this time it ended badly. The titular
before had died “in the month of the Bishop,” that is to say, when the local Bishop, and
not Rome, had the right to nominate the successor. There fore, the Vatican decision was
void and Calasanz was left out in the cold. In addition, his pain was still greater than
before, because Msgr. Capilla, the Bishop from Urgell, had not thought about him at all
for that position. A double wound for the poor Joseph, who was starting to enter, a little,
a period of crisis, in that attitude of a beggar, everyday more uncomfortable and
embarrassing.
The idea of establishing himself in his Diocese had disappeared for the time being,
and for many reasons There were no places available coupled by the strange behavior of
Capilla. Therefore, he could try to find something else in another neighboring diocese; in
Fraga or Barbastro. At the beginning of 1593, Calasanz got something. Precisely in
Fraga, but it was only a modest benefice of 24 ducados yearly, and in fact, there was not
any obligation of residence. Therefore the searching continued. After a little more than a
year, another position became available in Barbastro. There were so many remembrances
of the place! There was the beginning of his priesthood and his experiences with the
Dominican Bishop of Urries. It would be wonderful to live there, thus closing the circle
where everything had started. In this way, the protectors were informed, the diligences
were finished, and in three months time, Joseph centered his objective and became a
Canon of Barbastro. He had gotten it, but he did not know if he should be happy or not.
He felt a little melancholic, as empty, and with a nostalgia, but without knowing what:
would he leave Rome, that he felt like a little his home, and would he return to Spain, to
Aragon? And, for what? Nothing was the same as before. How can one start at the age of
thirty seven? Moreover, in the end, start what? In that way, he was just alone, without
father or Bishop, a shepherd without a flock and also without youth. Besides that, how to
leave Rome with his whole life and task that there is here? How is it possible to lessen the
rhythm while here in Rome the hours of a day are not enough to talk with people, help
others, save souls, serve the Church, the men, see the reformation when it is starting and
spreading throughout the Catholic world? Disturbing thoughts, painful doubts that are
interrupted again by a real stroke, in a new disillusion, another wound that is opened and
that will last at least four years to be closed and to be healed. Effectively, the canonry
given by the Pope to Joseph, on June 17, 1594, was also aspired to by other candidates,
and each one of them had already put fire to the cord and had started the fight to
overcome the other contenders. Therefore, Calasanz tried to wipe the tears from his eyes,
suppress his identity crisis, leave the examination of conscience and the solution of his
existential problems and threw himself, too, into the fight, in order to defend, with his
whole energy, the prey so hardly obtained.
The other aspirant Canons were no less than three, all ecclesiastical per sons with
many titles and endorsements, who had the advantage of being in the same place and
therefore could follow closely their interests. Nevertheless, Joseph moved with decision
and opportunity, appointing procurators who went to Barbastro on his behalf in order to

40
take possession of the job. But it was in vain, because the Cathedral Chapter rejected the
documents as invalid, although there was the sign of Cardinal Camilo Borguese, apostolic
first notary and future Pope Paul V. Therefore, the attempt was given to a Dr. Navarro,
who in the meantime had gone to Rome to defend his cause, and it seemed that he had
gotten it very well. Nonetheless, his victory was a pyrrhic victory, because when he went
back to Barbastro, he received the same treatment as Calasanz, and, as was the custom,
among the two contenders, there appeared a third one who took advantage of it, Dr.
Castillo. That is to say, the Episcopal candidate, before the end of 1595, saw how the
controversial canonry was given to him. Three beneficiaries for only one post, were
really far too many. It was an absurdity. Joseph reacted immediately and he made two
shots at that time that seemed to be deadly for the contenders: a complaint against
Castillo and a new petition to the Holy See. It was a good procedure. The Apostolic
Datary, on August 27, 1596, nominated him again a Canon of Barbastro, but the
hostilities were not finished. In reality, Castillo and Navarro did not give up. They
claimed again their rights and from that moment on, a complicated and exhausting cause
started that would continue for two more years. They reached an accord only in 1598 that
in synthesis proposed this: as a Canon of Barbastro Navarro would remain alone, but
should compensate Castillo and Calasanz for their renunciation and for the expenses they
had during the litigation. However, everything remained on paper and Calasanz never
saw a ducado, maybe because Navarro did not keep the agree ments, or because the
relatives of Joseph kept for themselves the compensations without sending him any cent.
In the end, he himself did not understand well what had happened regarding that chaos of
papers and sentences, of orders and contra-orders, as is proved by a letter he wrote to the
Parish Priest in Peralta, June 25, 1599: “And since this mailing I have in my hands, may
be blessed God… and I would like that the Bulls would arrive faster to your hands than to
the hands of my brother- in- law or my cousin, because from them, during so many years, I
have not received any profit and I do not know what to think about it.”
How much suffering! How many disappointments, how and frustrations in the words
and in the heart of Joseph! After four years were lost in litigations and accusations,
anxieties and disillusions, resentments and defeats. He was at the point of the beginning
with his doubts and his problems upon his back, before starting that disgraceful cause.
But now the desires and the sufferings of those last years seemed to open his eyes and
fasten his crisis of identity, finally making him see a solution, a positive revolving point,
helpful and necessary. He could not continue forward like this and he co uld not continue
being what he had been until now. He should come out of the ford, he should have
courage and continue forward until the other side. It was not that he had been an
ambitious person, a worldly man, a priest looking for riches and power. That was not the
truth. On the contrary, he had always tried to be a coherent Christian and a committed
priest, a model, putting into practice the Gospel and working for the reformation and
sanctification of the Church and the Christianity, serving the poor and living in
communion with God through prayer, mortification, and contemplation. Then what was
necessary to change or to improve his Christian life or his priestly work? There was
something, and God had started to make him feel like that, there in Spain. Later on, in
Rome, the Lord had started to knock stronger and stronger at his door, especially during
the last years. This was so when his failures and disillu sions had obliged him to feel
poorer and poorer, more bare, more insecure and he felt more need o f Him. He should

41
give a new direction to his spiritual and priestly life, a profound change, as a sign of
poverty and of service to the poor, to the last ones, to all the marginalized that from
everywhere arrived in Rome, more than in Aragon and Catalonia. He should make a 180
degree conversion, although he had always been a good priest and a true Christian.
Enough of compromises, moderation, half- tones; enough of fear of tomorrow, and of
looking for economic tranquility; enough of spiritual alibi, of hidden sanctity that did not
shout from the roofs, of moral education that did not denounce, nor provoke, of clean
poverty that did not get dirty with the true poor. God wanted this for him, there, in Rome.
At that point, he was already sure of it. Therefore, one day he would reach to refuse the
position of Archbishop of Brindisi (south of Italy) and even the “hat” of a Cardinal
offered by Pope Paul V. But, without going too fast, already at the beginning of 1600, the
same Ambassador of Spain proposed him, finally, in the name of Philip III, to become a
Canon in Zaragoza or Seville, but Joseph declined the offering without any doubt. And he
added: “I have found the definitive way to serve God in the children and youth and I
will never leave it for anything in the world!”

42
 7
A ROMAN ITINERARY
What was Calasanz referring to? What had happened in the life and in the soul of this
Spanish priest almost forty years of age? Why did he change? Why, after so many fights,
had he renounced to place himself in a high honest level and did he not want even to
return to his country? What did he find in Rome that pushed him, in an irresistible way,
to remain there to carry out his new options of poverty and service to the end? Besides,
why did he reach these conclusions, precisely during that time of his life, and there, in
Rome? To these questions, the believers, the devotees, gave an answer of faith.
This kind of “conversion” of Joseph to a more charitable, social and radical
Christianity than the one he had professed until then was a work of God, a fruit of his will
and of his calling. If Calasanz went to Rome, if his aspiration to the Canonry failed, if he
entered into a crisis, if he changed inside and started a new road, everything was thanks
to the Providence and to divine grace. In the following years, this would do of him, not in
a marginal way, but rather in the very heart of the Church, near the Vicar of Christ, a
great witness of the Gospel, a daring innovator at the service of the poor and of children.
He was a social apostle to the standard of the new times and the expectations of the
modern society. Besides, it is also true that God, in order to carry out His designs, does
not always go to miracles, but rather, in the majority of the cases, He uses reality, life, the
persons and concrete situations. And this is also good for our personage. Therefore, at
this point, it is the work of the hagiographer, of the chronicler, of the writer, to narrate the
facts and experiences that helped Joseph to discover the will of God upon him and to
follow it with enthusiasm and determination. This is the answer of history that does not
contradict, but rather completes the answer of faith. Therefore, let us see it.
After his arrival in Rome, Calasanz, seeing the misery and discomfor t of the poor
people that he met at every corner, he felt the necessity of giving himself to the charitable
and social environment: to contribute in this way, to alleviate those sufferings, and at the
same time, not to close in himself and wither as a Christian and as a priest among the
walls of Colonna Palace and the ecclesiastical offices. In this regard, the city offered a lot
of opportunities, with many fraternities, confraternities, institutions and associations for
the material and spiritual help of the need. Therefore, in 1595, precisely when he was in
the eye of the hurricane because of his Canonry in Barbastro, Joseph gave his name to the
Arch-confraternity of the Holy Apostles that located in the Basilica beside the residence
of the prince. This institution used to help the poor and the sick, and the members put at
its disposition their time, visiting them in their houses, when they had the time. They
brought them food, sometimes some money, and always a word of encouragement, hope
and a smile, not a forced one, but a comfortable one, at least in intention, although it
might not be in effect. During six or seven years of dedicated service, Joseph made more
than 150 visits to the most popular and disagreeable environments of the eleven Roman
districts. He entered many huts, “dens,” basements, and he saw with his own eyes the
hunger, the work, the filth so many families were obliged to live, and not only ordinary
people, but also noble and bourgeois people who had become poor. What a contrast with
the pompous way of living in the Colonna house and in the other patrician or
ecclesiastical palaces! However, what impressed him most from the first moment and in a
special way, was not only the material poverty, but also the cultural and spiritual degra-
dation of the people. There were so many children, so many young people with

43
expressive and intelligent eyes who stopped to listen to him as a preacher, avid of
learning when he spoke about Jesus, or when he narrated a parable. But after that, when
he went away, he felt that they were saying the same bad words, quarreling, eating with
their hands, grouping themselves into gangs, running around the streets throwing
themselves into the mud. How many qualities unused, how many gifts from God ignored
and trampled. The ignorance was the worst of all. It was a condemnation, without any
remedy, to misery, to unemployment, and marginalization. But, was it possible to do
anything?
Looking for and trying to find any remedy to this problem, Joseph continued forward
through his double path: on one side, he was going away, day by day, from the
expectation and the ambition to the canonry, to any other residential benefice in Spain.
And on the other side, he was submerging more and more himself in the Roman reality
and in the collective drama of the economic and intellectual misery that the city was
experiencing like a dirty cloud. In this way, while he was work ing in the Arch-
confraternity of the Holy Apostles, this searching and this moral tension were pushing
him to adhere and commit himself even more to other fraternities or associations, as he
calls them in his letters. During the year 1600, for instance, he became a member first of
the glorious Fraternity of the Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims and Convalescents, and some
months later of the Arch-Confraternity of Our Lady of Suffrage. Like the association of
the Holy Apostles, these associations, too, had a character not only religious and spiritual,
but also social and charitable nature in their testimony and activity. In fact, the Trinity of
the Pilgrims was founded in 1548 by the Roman Saint of charity par excellence, Philip
Neri, who had destined it, as we can see by its own name, to the service and assistance of
the travelers and pilgrims, especially the poorest who arrived in Rome exhausted, in bad
condition and needing help. Joseph did not join as a member to this Association by
chance; he joined the Trinity of the Pilgrims precisely because on the occasion of the
Jubilee of 1600, the City welcomed around three million “pilgrims” during that year,
coming from the whole of Europe. God knows how many times during the year Calasanz
took advantage of his free time to go from Santi Apostoli to the district of Regola,
between the Tiber River and Farnese square, where there was the Church and the Trinity
Hospice, those months full of sick persons and pilgrims. There, he washed and cured
many wounds of many emaciated and painful bodies. He gave food to many poor people,
helping them to find and to recuperate their strength and health. He listened to
confessions and helped spiritually so many penitents coming from God knows where, to
gain the plenary indulgence.
The other fraternity, that of the Virgin or of Saint Mary of Suffrage, was lo cated in
the church of the same name in via Giula, in the last stretch towards the curve of the
Tiber, near San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, near the Vatican. It remembered also Saint Philip
Neri. This Institution had as its main goal, the assistance of the dying: to be near them,
without leaving them alone, helping them to pray and to get the proper spiritual
disposition to what the pious language called a good death. Besides that, the members
used to pray everyday for the dead, especially for those who had been prepared by them
or by other members for the last journey of life. Therefore, it was evident that Calasanz
gave his name to this fraternity to complete the whole cycle of the charity works towards
his brothers: from material help to spiritual help, from the food of body and of the soul;
first, the assistance for the earthly life and then for the eternal. But besides this, the

44
ambience of Suffrage was very popular in Rome and the members increased continually.
In fact, in the Holy Year of 1600, when Calasanz gave his name, the Arch-Diocese
organized a procession to the four Arch-Basilicas where 300 members and more than
40,000 faithful took part. There were very important participated who participated in this
event, such as Cardinals Baronio and Bellarmino. And everything leads us to be lieve that
he knew and collaborated with those two famous persons of the Roman ecclesiastical life
at that time without having ulterior motives, since in 1600, as we have seen, he had
already renounced the canonry and his career.
But if one day, as a paradox, the Holy Father or the Cardinal Vicar had in mind the
strange idea of obliging all faithful inscription in one charitable group, excluding the
other ones, surely Calasanz would not have had any doubt and would have chosen,
without thinking twice, the Fraternity of the Christian Doctrine. We have insinuated
before that for Calasanz the cultural and intellectual ignorance, the unsatisfied hunger of
knowledge, was almost worse than the material misery and the hunger of the body. Even
more, for him, these were the worst of the evils for the children, because it condemned
them to a life without work, without comfort, without rights and without dignity. And if
to this kind of ignorance was added religious ignorance, then the negative picture was
complete, presenting with black tints the state of the body and soul, the earthly fate and
the eternal one. The Fraternity of the Christian Doctrine fought precisely in this front, that
is to say, the religious instruction, but also to a lesser extent the culture, the schooling of
children and youth from the parishes and from the districts. Therefore, it seems logical
that Joseph would pour himself completely into it. More so, his strong and felt
commitment to the Fraternity would be a decisive one and fundamental for his who le life
and his future. But this is an argument we will deepen in due time, after two chapters.
At this moment, nevertheless, what is necessary to stress and make clear is another
thing. These first Roman years –1592-1600 – when Joseph arrived and turned 40 years of
age - were very important and fundamental because during this period, as we have seen,
our hero chose social, charitable, volunteer work, leaving aside all worldly aspirations or
to live in tranquility. These were also important because they directed the course of this
new way, while at the same time, at a conscious and spiritual level, Calasanz did not
reject the past; his formation and the road he had walked until this point. On the contrary,
while he started to give up before the miseries and human necessities – a thing that more
or less he had also carried out in his country during the first years of his priesthood,
although with less energy and less radicalism – he strengthened, refined, made clear his
spiritual and ascetic formation, following and carrying out much better, according to the
years, the model of a social apostle, a Christian educator, a witness of the evangeli cal
charity, but also a man of God, an irreproachable Christian, a priest – and a Religious, as
we will see it – committed, before anything, to the betterment of his own and to his
sanctification.
Therefore, as we have already said, regarding this moral, spiritual and Chris tian life,
there is continuity in Calasanz, between the youth in Spain and the first maturity in
Rome. For instance, the reader may remember the frequent contacts of Joseph in Spain
with friars and monks, and the esteem, the sympathy that had been born in him regarding
the religious life. In Rome, these contacts continued and his admiration increased for the
religious life. Before anything else, in the Colonna Palace it could be said that Calasanz
lived almost together with the Conventuals of Santi Apostoli. As we know, he took part

45
in their liturgy. He heard them singing and praying, even from the window of his room.
From time to time, he went to take a stroll and made his ideas clear in the cloister of their
convent, talked with them, and in time, he became a friend of those brown clothes and
those tonsured heads. In this way, their founder, their great saint, in the end, at that time
so popular and so much loved in Italy, entered with strength in the life and spirituality of
Joseph. The Poverello of Assisi, the paladin of the evangelical poverty, was revealed to
Calasanz precisely when he was studying the poverty of the abandoned of Rome. When
he was learning to know it, serve it, love it and he was thinking about the idea of
dedicating his whole life to satiate that hunger of food, work, culture and dignity. In this
way, the image of Francis overlapped and identified itself with the poverty of the poor in
Rome. The huts by the hills or through the Tiber, became like those in Rivo Torto or the
Porciuncula (localities of Assisi), especially when Calasanz went more than once on
pilgrimage, with great devotion, to those Franciscan Sanctuaries of Assisi. And also his
commitments with the fraternities were colored with Franciscan spirit. In fact, in 1599, he
gave his name also to the Fraternity of the Wounds, having its place in the Church of
Stimmate di Saint Francis, in the Pigna district, near the Argentina Tower. Therefore,
among those Minor Friars, too, as among the Conventuals of Santi Apostoli, Joseph felt
stronger every time the attraction to a Religious Life that would incarnate, continue and
make real the Franciscan model of serving the poor and the sharing in his cross.
In reality, there was much of Franciscan spirituality in the style of life of Calasanz,
and we will see it abundantly. However, this was not all. There was also Saint Therese of
Jesus, John of the Cross and the Carmelite culture. And not only because from his youth
he had discovered this spirituality, but also because it was Rome that gave him the
opportunity of cultivating, deepening and making it his own. His walking through the
proletarian and ragged City took him to the other part of Sixtus bridge, to the shore
beyond the Tiber River, and there, among other things, he would be in contact with the
Carmelite Community of Santa Maria della Scala, that had arrived in Rome almost at the
same time as he did. In this way, he also associated with the Oratory of Saint Therese and
became a friend of Peter of Villagrasa, John of Saint Peter and Ustarroz and Dominic
Ruzola, three Spanish Carmelites, a little younger than him, that they would alwa ys be at
his side as spiritual guides with their counsels and encouragement. In this way, the
Franciscan cult of poverty, humility, charity and mercy regarding the sufferings and
human weaknesses, was united. In the spiritual journey of Joseph: the mysti cism, the
passion, a certain rigor, the penitential spirit and the taste for the Conventual and
common life that come from the Theresian-Carmelite interpretation of the Religious Life.
All this demonstrates that the first Roman years of Calasanz, not only had the basis
for a life completely dedicated to the service of the poor and the children, but also
continued and enriched, as only in Rome could he do it, the way of sanctifica tion started
many years ago. Among other things, he frequented other immigrant saints that became
Romans, as he was. One of these saints is Philip Neri, whom he surely met in the Trinity
of the Pilgrims. It is not a casual thing that Joseph became now and would always
continue so much devoted to a so much Philippian pilgrimage of the Seven Churches.
Another tradition that seems true and has never been denied was that he was a friend of
Camillus of Lellis, with whom he collaborated in the terrible flooding of the Tiber in
1598 to help the poor people that were left without houses. About the other spiritual
friendship with Saint Francis of Assisi, we have already talked. We can add that this new

46
component of the spirituality of Joseph was made so strong in him that it took him to the
top of the mystical experience and to the contact with the supernatural, as it was
demonstrated by the two Franciscan visions he had during those years: one in Assisi,
when the Poverello betrothed him with poverty, chastity, and obedience, and the other
one in Rome, when a young lady appeared to him clo thed in worn clothes and who told
him to be Madonna Poverta, the “Venerable poverty” of his Constitutions. The Religious
Life and the preference of the working field –for and with the poor - as it can be seen,
were the same thing from the beginning in the soul of Calasanz.
But still there was a place for something else. For example, an ardent Mar ian piety:
that is why, as a Religious, he would choose to be called Giuseppe della Madre di Dio,
Joseph of the Mother of God. This deep love to Mary would make him, among other
things, a great devotee of the Madonna dei Monti, and an as siduous visitor of her
sanctuary at the heart of the old Suburra, at the foot of Es quilino, and a few meters from
the Roman Forums. Besides, there was no doubt about the love of Ca lasanz for the
Eucharist, nourished also in Rome, while work ing in the fraternity of the Holy
Sacrament, near to Santi Apostoli. Summarizing, from all our Spanish immigrant
experiences inside and outside himself in the Eternal City, during the ten-year-period of
the 16th century, we can see clearly that one day he would become one of the great
figures of the sanctity of Rome and of the Catholic Reformation of Trent. And it can be
said that this would not happen by chance. On the contrary, it would be the natural end of
a completely Roman itinerary – charitable and spiritual, social and internal – walked by
this priest, everyday less foreign, during the successive immediate years of his arrival in
the capital of Catholicism.

47
 8
THE LOBBY OF HEAVEN
By means of chancery jobs, rents, and benefits in Spain, after he had tasted for “a
short time” the euphoria of having them, of considering them as his own, at least on paper
or in the declarations of the Pontifical officers, Joseph had started to feel a little cold
towards his country, less anxious of going back there. It was a natural reaction, favored
and helped everyday by the activity of Roman life, by the new stimuli that gave him the
charitable work in the fraternities, and for spiritual and socially improvised initiatives that
Calasanz was rapidly maturing. It is not that he did not love his country anymore. He
loved it and he would love it forever. But at this point, as we know very well, he felt that
God wanted him there in Rome, in the heart of Christianity, to widen or to continue under
different forms the apostolic service and the reformation endeavor that he had already
started in his country. Besides all this, there had happened another grave and important
thing that, inevitably, was going to diminish in the affective and sentimental level the ties
of Joseph with “his” Spain, with his world, his past, and his youth.
On September 13, 1598, Philip II died in his royal palace of El Escorial. The news
caused great impression in all of Rome, especially among the Spaniards. Joseph was also
filled with emotion. He could not believe it. Now also, this other thread that united him to
his country and to his first experiences was broken. About the family, it could be said that
he no longer had one. The sisters had to take care of their own. We have already seen
how the other relatives, after receiving the rents of his canonry, cared about him. The
Bishop of Urgell, in practice, turned his back away from him. That of the chancery job
had been a failure. Then, why go back to his country? On the other hand, in the Italy of
that time there was so much of Spain – the Milan Duke, The States of the Protectories
around the Argentario, and the Kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, as it is known,
were solidly in the hands of the Spaniards – so that a person from Aragon as Joseph,
could never feel isolated or out of the country. In this way, rid ing on the transition
between the two centuries, Calasanz gave himself completely to the new passion that had
grasped him in Rome: the poor that must be rescued from hunger, the children that must
be educated and the project of a Religious Life that was necessary to pursue in the
epicenter of the Church, as many others had done before him, such as Ignatius, Philip,
Camillus…
The other Italian states were officially autonomous, but evidently their territory was
rather small and in chronic enmity with one another for more than two centuries. The
reign of Spain in the Mediterranean and in Italy kept them more or less quiet with respect
to the superpower of Spain. The quietest were the Genoa Republic – today the Ligury
Province – that in fact existed thanks to borrowings from Spain. The Dukedoms of the
center-north –Mantova, Parma-Piacenza, Ferrara-Modena-Reggio and Urbino, were
respectively under the Gonzagas, the Farneses, the Este and the Della Rovere.
Princedoms of Piombino and Massa Carrara, were governed on paper by the Appiani and
the Cybo, but conditioned, like the others, by the commands of Madrid.
The reign of the province of Tuscany was better of, not only the small Repub lic of
Lucca, but also especially the Great Dukedom, always under the hands of the Medici. It is
true that the lords of Florence had the hereditary title of Great Dukes only since 1569
which they obtained from Emperor Maximilianus II, that is to say, from a Habsburg, as
he was also the Spanish King. But little by little they were getting further away from the

48
foreign power of Madrid with good economic policies especially in agriculture thus
making Tuscany self-sufficient and with a cultural policy rather serious and an open one.
We will talk about it later, when Florence and Tuscany might come into play in the life
and activity of Calasanz. In any way, between 1500 and 1600, the only Italian political
states really independent and sovereign were the Dukedom of Savoia, the Republic of
Venice and the Pontifical States. In reality, the first one, with the long government of
Emmanuelle Filiberto and later on with his successor Carlo Emmanuelle I, started to
imitate the great powers and before the half of the 17th century it had become a real
absolute state according to the European time period; although smaller and weaker than
those beyond the Alps, the Tirreno or the La Manche Channel. Regarding the Most
Serene of Venice, during this whole period we are looking at, and even during the
following decades, it would always be powerful enough, flourishing and proud to
compete, generally with success, with the whole of Spain, the Pontifical State, the
German Empire and also, much better, especially with the Turks of the Adriatic, of the
Baltic Coasts and the Greek Isles.
Joseph would go all around this Italy, and he would know almost all of it directly.
However, most of the time he would stay in Rome. To this city and to his people,
especially the poor and the children, he would dedicate almost all his fatigues, efforts,
illusions, projects, dreams, and sacrifices. In the end, when he left this world, Calasanz
would have been in and worked in the Eternal City for more than ha lf a century, from
1592 to 1648. It was a whole life, without interruptions, except for short periods, and
especially a decisive, historical period of great evolutions and wonderful, monumental
and cultural transformations of buildings in the city. Let us see with more detail and more
closely, how was this Rome of Calasanz. Let us move around its streets and squares, let
us see its face and its life from the hills and panoramic spots in order to find out and
admire it better, deeper, before going after that continuous movement who is our Joseph.
The city that found out the priest from Peralta after he arrived there, at the beginning
of 1592, was already very much changed, in better condition regarding the last centuries
from the Medieval Time. In the 14th century, during the long periods when the Popes
were in Avignon (France), Rome, by the force of circumstance had hastened the
decadence that started during the Medieval Period. And as a city, its image and
conditions of life, already touched the bottom po int of its whole history of three
millenniums. The most sacred expression, the symbol of the Christian Rome and
medieval period, that is to say, the Lateran, as a place of the Popes, had almost been
destroyed by a great fire at the beginning of that century and Clement V, although he was
elected in Perugia, had been crowned in Lyon, France, and immediately had established
himself in Avignon, without ever putting his feet in Rome. But a little more than 50 years
later, the fire had come back to the same old pontifical hill, finishing its devastating work.
Regarding the other churches and basilicas that made Rome great after the Roman
Empire and had given it a new identity no less universal than it had had in the antiquity,
there were not much better conditions than the “Mother of all Churches”, that is to say,
the Lateran Basilica. In fact, although the religious and liturgical life surely was
continued in all the districts, the absence and distance of the Bishop of Rome could be
felt in the negligence and degradation that was spreading, without ceasing, around all the
parishes, sanctuaries and convents, abbeys and hospices of charity. The City without a
Pope, the Eternal City, orphan of the Holy Father, was meaningless and absurd, the

49
historical paradox, besides being a scandal from the religious point of view, and this
could not continue without visible consequences also in the holy places, in the external
signs of the sacredness of Rome.
However, even in the “secular” city things were not better: palaces, streets, squares,
almost everything was in ruins. The Roman remains, every day more deteriorated, had
become like marvel specters, assaulted and almost hidden with moss and weeds. Some
places or monuments, glorious in the past, had changed even in name. For instance, the
Capitolio, was called by the people Mount Caprino, because the shepherds took their
sheep to graze; or The Roman Forum, that everybody knew was called the Vacuno Field,
because many cows and oxen could be seen around. There was a livestock market among
the half buried arches of Septimius Severo and the Majencius Basilica, when, on the other
hand, the old ruins were fewer and fewer. The walls and the columns that were saved of
the hordes of Alaricus and Totila were plundered everyday, by the nobles as well as by
the people, to build their palaces or their huts. Therefore, in the lime ovens one could find
everywhere, there were melting the last glories of humanity. The city became smaller and
smaller. The population declined - in the 16th century the Romans were fifty thousand -
and the pools of water were greater and more putrid every day. As in the time of Romulus
and the first kings, now everything made one think that the greatness was not in the
future, but in the past. In reality, even after the return of the Popes in 1377, things in
Rome had not become much better for the moment. Certainly, the worst had been gone
and the decadence had been stopped. The city had started to flourish in its pastoral,
spiritual and cultural point of view, but from the point of city planning, the environment
monuments, it was necessary to wait until the second half of the 15th century. The first
sign of change and recovery can only be seen at the beginning of the Renaissance. It was
then, and in the first decades of the 16th century, when Nicholas V, Sixtus IV, Alexander
VI, Julius II, Leon X and other Popes of that period, who called to Rome the most
accredited painters, sculptors, architects and town planning people - Ghiberti, Donatello,
Leon Baptist Alberti, Blessed Angelicus, Perugino, Botticelli, Pinturicchio, Raphael,
Bramante, Michael Angelo - to rebuild with them the face of the city and with them, to
project and construct a new Rome, worthy of its tradition and its mission. Artists and
contractors were dedicated now that the Vatican has become the Papal residence after the
return of the Pope from Avignon. But they also started the building and embellishing of
the Marzio Camp, the whole area of the curve of Tiber River. The area at the foot of
Pincio and Q uirinal, around via Lata, between the Flaminia Gate and Venice Square were
also rebuilt. Summarizing, the nucleus area of the Roman historical center was
developed. Other bridges were constructed on the Tiber river - as the one that unites the
districts of Regola with Trastevere. The bridge is called with the name of Sixtus IV
bridge. In the life of our Calasanz, this bridge will be crossed may times. New streets and
more spacious squares were opened. New palaces and churches were built with those
Renaissance lines that went back to the classical style. The dullness of the Roman
Trastevere, fondled by the sun, finally gave a new light to the whole city after centuries
of darkness.
With the reform of Trent at the middle of the century, the city planning and
monumental Renaissance of Rome did not stop, but rather it continued at full speed, even
stronger. The Popes, the Cardinals and the Religious Orders after the Council did not
abandon the initiative of the Renaissance predecessor. Though they tried for the whole

50
Church the road to moral improvement and the evangelical austerity, they wanted their
capital to be a beautiful and great one. Is it contradiction? No, it is the typical equilibrium
of the so called counter reformation, of what we have talked already a little: to be great
and at the same time pure; to accept and value the beauty of life, of nature and art;
avoiding the immorality and the paganism that had contaminated the Church and the City
of the Renaissance Rome had been. And, it is still a testimony, a splendid expression of
the equilibrium, for the world, without allowing it to forget heaven.
Therefore, the Eternal City, in the second half of the 16th century, with the reforming
Popes, continued to grow and transform itself. New streets, squares, fountains and
palaces made it greater and more beautiful. Sixtus V, collaborating with the architect and
city-planner Domenico Fontana, gave the greatest impulse to this activity looking
forward for the 1600 Jubilee. The project opened great roads that even now cross the
center of the city and unite the Basilicas and the most important shrines - the actual via
Settembre, via Sistina, via Quattro Fonane, via Merulana, via Santa Croce in
Gerusalemne, via San Giovanni in Laterano. It restored the Roman monuments, opened
ample squares. Egyptian obelisks that were in Rome, were placed at the centers of the
squares with the star and cross on top of it which was the emblem of Pope Peretti.
According to his project, the City itself, viewed from the top, should be like a star with
those main streets branching like rays. At first sight, it should be seen that it was the
Sixtine city.
However, in the 16th century, the project and work that kept the Popes and all their
collaborators very busy, was the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica. The first stone of the
new Basilica was placed in 1506. The works continued the whole century and part of the
following. The most important architects participated in the enterprise - Bramante,
Sangallo, Peruzzi, Michaelangelo, Vignola, Della Porta, Fontana, Maderno, and even
Bernini, with his Baroque way - collaborating or tripping one another through projects
and budgets. In the first years after Calasanz arrived to the city, the construction of St.
Peter was in full speed, but still there remained much to do. Urbanus VIII would
inaugurate the greatest church of the world only in 1626, when Joseph was almost 60
years and was living in Rome for 34 years. Bernini added the colonnade of the square
between the years 1650-1660, that is to say, after the death of our protagonist.
Therefore, the Calasanzian Rome was the one that was born during the Re naissance
and was facing rapidly towards the Baroque lavishness, ready to offer itself into the
hands of Bernini de Borromini, of Algardi and to other famous architects of the 17th
century. It would redo the city with all the cupolas and their belfries as those of the
famous portico of heaven and the atrium of paradise. Joseph in the midst of artistic
splendor, had also before his eyes the spiritual master works of two great saints of 16th
Roman century: the church of Gesu of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the church of Santa
Maria in Vallicella of St. Felipo Neri. With its beauty, these two “central masterpieces”
incarnated the renovation and apostolic fervor of Catholicism after the Council of Trent.
These were tangible testimonies of the Roman Reformation spirit. And around this whole
Rome, reborn in its decoration and in its walls, there existed a religious life, a spiritual
enthusiasm, a charitable commitment that signaled a leap of quality compared to the
century before. They were the most obscure periods called “extreme Renaissance,” far
away from the Gospel, and therefore, it was a disaster also for the Church. Moreover, it
does not mean that the Rome of Joseph might be completely a great monastery, a

51
paradise on the earth, a new Tebas of ascetic and holy men. It was not like that, and we
have seen it just a little. Corruption and poverty, scandals and degradation, anti- testimony
and marginalization, social injustices and moral and spiritual miseries were mixed and
were spread all around, making dirty the face of the city, as that of a pious and even
fervent beautiful lady, but weak, defenseless before the temptations and disfigured by old
vices. In spite of everything, the preferred Rome by Joseph was precisely this: from the
blue sky, to the sunset among the pines, the marbles, the golden stuccos, the murmuring
of the fountains, what other things could be added? Nothing! Nevertheless, from the other
side of the medal, there were plenty of things to do, of course, especially for a Christian
and a Priest that was convinced of the poverty and of the weakest ones.
However, beyond the monuments and the architecture, how was the Catho lic and
ecclesiastical Rome in the time of Calasanz? What were its commitments and its line of
action? While the Vatican Basilica was taking form, as it was go ing higher and higher
and consolidating; becoming the glorious and universal symbol of the Catholic
reformation, how was it behaving? Who was at the helm of the boat of Peter? We already
said something about Of the Popes of Trent and their immediate successors. When Joseph
arrived in Rome, Clement VIII Aldobrandini had been elected a few days before to the
throne of Peter and guided the Church until 1605. The other Popes of the Calasanzian
years were Leo XI Medici who reigned for only 26 days, until April 1605. There was
Pope Paulus V Borghese, from 1605 to 1621, Gregorius XV Ludovico, from 1621 to
1644, and Innocentius X Pamphili, from 1644 to 1655. All these Popes did good things
from many points of view. They carried out the reformation of Trent and in this Joseph
always smiled according to them. They took away from the people the bad memo ries of
the corrupted and simoniac Popes. They adorned Rome and promoted the missions
around the whole world. On the other hand, although more austere and spiritual than their
renaissance predecessors, they continued feeling and behaving a little like princesses, as
heads of the temporal states. They took part with this or that power, taking part in the
wars, helping them and even promoting some wars by themselves, as Urbanus VIII and
Innocentius X. This is true as in the case of the possession of the Castro dukedom against
the Farnese. All of them had practiced nepotism, especially the Barberini Pope. He made
his family rich in such a way that during a certain time, he himself entered into a crisis
and nominated a commission to study how to end the nepotism plague. Adding to this
problem is the complicated and delicate Inquisition problem. These Popes kept and made
use, for sure, of this severe tribunal. Now then, although it is certain that the most recent
studies have corrected some exaggerated and pre-conceived criticisms, demonstrating
that the Inquisition did not do killings, but in the end it was, rather, responsible for the
killings. Nevertheless, the option of those Popes of keeping it and using it, today nobody
would try to consider it as a merit.
In the end, in one way or another, all the Popes we have mentioned entered the life
and activity of Calasanz, sometimes influencing his life strongly in one part or another.
However, the ways and circumstances of those interventions and those relations will be
seen during the narration of our story.
Let us conclude with the European and international political scenario - the Italian we
have already seen at the beginning of this chapter - of the first Roman years of Joseph
Calasanz. We already know that at the end of the 16th century, when our migrant from
Aragon started to work in Rome and matured his decision of remaining there, in Europe

52
there was a star in decadence, the Spain of Habsburgs. There was also the growing
separation of the France of Henry IV and the England of Elizabeth I. And around these
scenarios a solar system, or greater still the galaxy of what remained of the Holy Roman
Empire, was in a position of slow and continuous disintegration. There were also
hundreds of small states and of German Electors Princes that were defying the mark of
the Emperor Rudolfus II, with his centrifugal and autonomist tendencies. The
Netherlands, part of the rest of the political atlas of the period, was becoming a sovereign
republic every day closer to be separated from Spain. The Baltic monarchies, Denmark
and Sweden, that were enjoying the good political and economic health and were now
galloping as a thoroughbred to start. They too were in the running of spreading hegemony
in Europe. And behind all this, the two Christian confessions, Catholicism and
Protestantism, were now looking at each other firmly, from far away, as in a trench war.
The first one was trying to overcome itself and calculating the growing of the second.
The latter one was hoping to start spreading again in the German Empire, since Spain and
Italy, for many reasons, was a prohibited land for Protestants. And in France, which was
divided into two, the Huguenots did not think of obtaining more power after the new king
was converted to Catholicism. For England and the Baltic countries, for the Evangelicals,
things were good as they were because they had a real absolute majority.
The first years of the century, they could see, therefore, the persistence of a situation
rather tense, unstable and dying. The Spain of Philip III continued loosing battles. The
France of Henry IV was just managing to start becoming a united and strong nation. The
England of James I continued forward with the politics of Elizabeth. It became stronger
being united to Scotland. Netherlands insisted in fighting against Spain to gain
independence. The Baltic Powers continued growing and the throne where the German
Emperor was seated looked more and more like an arsenal of gunpowder. At the end of
the second decade, the sky of Europe became more obscure and threatening. It was an
apparent calm but full of tensions, as when the birds fly low, and the thunder roars every
time stronger and nearer, warns us that the storm is already in the air. And at any
moment, the first drops are going to be felt upon the skin.

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 9
FROM TRASTEVERE TO PARIONE
Joseph Calasanz had already decided. Never mind about ecclesiastical rents, career,
or about Spain. He would remain in Rome being a priest and serving the poor. He had
understood that God wanted him in that way and that He had called him there for that. It
was there, in the heart of the world and of Christianity where he should become a saint
and where he had to give testimonies of the Gospel of Christ; working for the reformation
of the Church, not with criticisms or gossips, but with the sweat of his forehead and
taking the responsibilities of the consequences of his choice. And he should fight for
justice and truth, not with violence nor theories, but rather taking the side of the last o nes;
living in poverty among the poor and concretely helping the weak, the marginalized. And
he should help them come out of the tunnel of moral and material misery. Around the
year 1596, Joseph was convinced that the project of God upon him was this and therefore
he should give everything he had to carry it out. The problem was to discover what he
had to do, specifically to know if he was on the just road, especially at the begin ning. On
the other hand, he felt that God himself would show him the road. At the proper moment,
He would think in giving him the starting signal, and for that he was praying continually
with his whole fervor. He intensified his sacrifices, the spiritual exercises, the piety
practices, the pilgrimages to the Roman shrines, the devo ut visits to the Virgin of the
Mountains, to the sepulcher of the Apostles, of the martyrs and other saints.
Moreover, besides the praying, for the moment, the most important thing he had to do
in that line was to continue, even more, to multiply the self- giving to the social and
charitable activity of the Roman Fraternities. Therefore, now that he did not have to go
around the ecclesiastical offices and the houses of the power ful persons in order to ask
the favor of the chancery job in Spain, the hours and the half-day work that he could
spare, he dedicated all of it to the service of his neighbors. However, it was not only a
question of time. Since he did not have such worries, he felt even more free inside, more
available. And that whole new interior energy gave him more enthusiasm than before in
the assistance to the poor and in the rest of the activities of the Fraternities he had given
his name. He believed much more in what he did and that is why he made everything
better, with more enthusiasm, more conviction, and he felt that at any moment. He would
find what he was looking for, or better, what God wanted from him.
In addition, the facts demonstrated in a short time that this was not only a feeling, a
castle in the air. Let us see why. The work in the Fraternities took Joseph, as we have
seen, to all districts and to the poorest, stinking, and most ruinous houses in Rome.
Therefore, it was inevitable that sooner or later, it would happen that he had to go to
Trastevere, which then was not a picturesque and folkloric district of artists and
foreigners, but rather one of the most degraded and worst reputation zones of the city.
There, filthiness and misery of every day life became even more unbearable and dramatic
because of the Tiber floods. After the river has overflowed, it used to flood the right
border, which was straight as far as the Gianicolo. Here, the flooding was really tragic,
more than in other parts of the city. And when the flooding used to retreat, the Trastevere
remained with the houses in greater ruin, the streets more impassable and the people
angrier and in greater despair. Joseph arrived there for the first time one morning at the
beginning of April, 1597, together with a confrere of the Holy Apostles who had gone to
pick him up at Colonna Palace. First, they crossed in front of the Church of Gesu and by

54
Argentine Tower. They went into the Gueto, or Jewish district; they left to the left of the
Trinita dei Pellegrini and at the end they went towards the Sixtus bridge. They crossed it
in silence, and now they were there, in the deep terrain that goes down to Settimiana Gate
and Saint Mary della Scala, ready to go again in the abyss of despairing people. The wind
was cold, humid, and biting. The coming announcement of the spring breeze could not
still be felt.
As always, they started to visit the poorest houses where there were so many mouths
to be fed, the worst sick persons to assist, parents who most of the time did not have even
miserable work, among other things because they were in a nd out of the jail or from the
hospitals. They used to give clothes, food, medicines, and the people of the area used to
go around them, fighting for those small things, so that the givers had to find out a
method that they would not take them from their hands and would not quarrel among
themselves. Joseph could not get accustomed to that spectacle of suffering and misery, to
those streets filled with mud, to that nauseous odor that he felt all around, to those
ceilings and dirty underground cellars, very cold and without light, worse than the stables
and piggeries of the aristocratic and Cardinal residences. Above all, he was not
accustomed to seeing children and youth just in that state, forced to live almost like
animals, dirty and with torn clothes, always on the streets and quarreling, speaking bad
words, throwing stones or mud. What was their future? What kind of job could they learn
in those circumstances? How could they form a family someday? There should be,
without any doubt, a means of helping them in order to take them out of that life- long
condemnation, giving them a little instruction, dignity, some good opportunity for the
future. Besides, there, in the Trastevere, in those desolated surroundings, he felt like
touching the depths of the misery and marginalization. If it were possible to do anything,
one could start there with hope. “Why don’t you try, Joseph?” he thought. “Now you
know that there is a Trastevere where the children are such and such, living like this.
Therefore, you do not have any excuse. Were you not waiting for a sign from God?
Maybe it has already arrived.”
In this way, this time, too, as it was the custom when he did those visits, he went by a
group of children that were shouting and running around, and started to talk a little with
them. He wanted to know them better, to know more about their lives. Moreover, by just
exchanging some words, he was able to understand that the poorest of them were not able
to pay the local teachers and go to a small school in Santa Dorotea, Trastevere Parish.
The same Parish Priest, Fr. Anthony Brandini, used to teach them how to read and write
in two small rooms by the Church. Those who had a father with work used to pay a
certain monthly amount. Some gave any offering when they could, because altar boys
helped Fr. Anthony in blessing the houses, or maybe they did a small service for the
Parish.
Santa Dorotea was just over there, between the Tiber River and Porta Settini ana, in
the actual via di Ponte Sixtus, by what according to the Roman tradition had been the
house of the beautiful Fornarina of Rafael. The beautiful façade, with a small concavity
as we see it today, is from the 18th century, and we do not know how it was two centuries
before. In any way, then, no matter its popular aspect and being in the suburbs, it was an
illustrious Parish, a famous and holy place. In reality, at the beginning of the century, it
had been an Oratory of the Divine Love, and in 1542, Cayetano de Thiene and John Paul
Carafa - the future Pope Paul IV - had founded there the Theatine Order. Now, the

55
Trastevere Parish was ready to give life to another historical foundation, worthy of being
remembered, in line with the Catholic reformation. And it was precisely by the initiative
of that Spanish priest that had just put his foot there for the first time.
In fact, Joseph went immediately to visit Santa Dorotea and met Fr. Brandini who had
some relation with the Twelve Apostles Church, informing them about the families in
need in the district. In this way, Calasanz knew that Fr. Anthony did not only teach the
children catechism, but also how to read, write and a little arithmetic to be able to count.
Generally, he did it alone, but sometimes some members of the Christian Confraternity
used to come, although not in an official way, but rather as private persons. The Parish-
Priest- Teacher asked the new Spanish visitor to collaborate with him, but Joseph, for the
moment, stopped showing him some availability, without making any promises, nor
taking any concrete commitment. Nevertheless, he had been impressed and moved by the
zeal of Fr. Brandini and from the participation of the children; he understood that in those
two small rooms, together with the education and instruction, the poor children were
given an alternative, concrete and available for the miserable and the re jected. And now
that he knew it, he was unable not to give a hand.
Therefore, that day, in the Trastevere, Calasanz felt that God was calling him to that
mission: to help the poor, not only in general, but precisely the children, the youth, the
most despised youth, to help them come out of death without any hope, to fight for a
future of as respected citizens, as good Christians, as hard workers and to be able to gain
bread in an honorable way. Now he understood in what had happened in Spain that he
had to teach more than once and had to dedicate himself to the children. And why in
Rome, facing so many injustices and sufferings, he had felt pity and anger, especially
regarding the painful spectacle of the abandoned and those without manners, the children
that were running around the streets. God had prepared him to give the big step that now
he had to give by all means. That is to say, he had to dedicate his life to the education and
instruction of the poor youth and of the children of the people. He had to give his life by
giving them culture so as to liberate them from the material misery, but especially from
the moral one, and by giving them the conditions of living as men and sons of God.
In the following months, the discovery of Santa Dorotea and the school of Fr.
Brandini during the Autumn of 1597, the discovery of this vocation, this election, this
project, started to take deeper and secure roots in the mind and soul of Cala sanz.
However, at that moment, we do not know why Joseph still did not decide to give his
commitment to that small school in the Trastevere as the Parish Priest had proposed him.
He went back at the end of May. He wanted more. He wanted to attack the evil from the
root and in a global way. He could not think only of a district in Rome. The children
condemned to ignorance and marginalization were not only at the foot of Gianicolo but
everywhere. Therefore, he gave his name to the Christian Doctrine Fraternity that had
more than 22 schools in Rome. However, this organization was also not the ideal for him
since the members taught only the catechism. That was good but not enough. The
children should learn also how to read, write, accounting and some skills, if they really
wanted a social redemption and a more worthy life.
The best solution would be to open teaching centers in the city for the poor children
without paying anything. For those times, this was more than a utopia but Joseph
believed in it in spite of everything. In this way, he started a frustrating and disappointing
pilgrimage that took him first to the district teachers with all their defects and limitations.

56
It was, nevertheless, the most popular teaching reality. After that, he went to the Jesuits
of the Roman College, and lastly to the Minerva Dominicans. To all of them he proposed
the same: to admit the poor children to the same school, without paying anything. All
gave him the same answer: the operating expenses were very high, the resources were
limited. And according to the statutes, the children should already have some basic
education; know basic Latin and other similar things. The teachers of the district schools
in particular told him in a clear and laconic way that the municipal wages were low and
therefore, they could not allow themselves to accept children that later could not
contribute to add to their salaries. Faced with this reality, Calasanz, after asking the help
of Cardinal Colonna, he went immediately to the City Capitol asking in a humble way
from the Senate and members of the council of Rome if they would increase the wages of
the teachers and would allow the enrollment of the poor children in the public schools. It
is not necessary to say the answer this time, too. Therefore, Joseph, at the beginning of
1598, crossed again the Sixtus bridge and entered the Trastevere, towards Santa Dorotea.
It would be a drop in the ocean, as he had thought the first time, and many times during
the following months, during his ingenious trying of social-schooling reformation, but in
any case, he had seen that it was the only place, the only possibility of doing anything
good and concrete in Rome for the education of the poor children and for lighting a
flame, and with God’s help, could become a beneficial fire. Evidently, the Lord wanted
him not only committed to good ideas and diligence, but also in person, at the front.
Therefore, regarding this, he would not go back.
Therefore, in January 1598, Calasanz started to visit more and more the Par ish and
the school in Santa Dorotea. He used to go with other members of the Christian
Fraternity. Moreover, more than once he tried to convince them of in cluding the school of
Fr. Brandini among the schools helped by the Fraternity. However, we have already said,
this Fraternity in practice, only took care of teaching the catechism. Therefore, the ideas
and plans of the new Spanish member about the integral instruction, focusing especially
for a future job and a social security for the sons of the people, were not in the minds of
the directors and affiliates. Nevertheless, this was not by chance that among all the
members that had an activity in Santa Dorotea, Joseph was soon the most assiduous and
committed to the students. He taught them everything, that is to say, not only the
Christian Doctrine, but also reading, writing and even counting. Now he had understood
that his vocation and the designs of God upon him were not only those, but also after the
failures, municipal teachers, Jesuits, Dominicans and nobles of the Capitol - now even his
companions of the Christian Doctrine - were sure that if he wanted to carry out his things,
he had to think only upon himself. He was ready for that, and with divine help counting
upon his strength.
Therefore, after a short time, Calasanz beca me the alter ego, the right arm, and the
best collaborator of Fr. Brandini. He used to help him, substituted for him, gave him
counsel and was always ready for him. The Parish Priest gave him, we could say, a free
hand in running the school because he reco gnized his honesty, his cultural and
intellectual superiority over the others. In this way, after a few months, Calasanz became
the principal responsible and the practical director of the small school in Santa Dorotea.
Since the founder and Parish Priest was still Fr. Anthony, Joseph, when he thought
that the moment had arrived, he decided to present to his consent a rad ical project he had
in mente (in mind) from a long time before: to admit in the school of Santa Dorotea only

57
poor children; the sons of the families that could not pay the municipal school, nor any
other form of paid teaching.
“However, how are we going to defend ourselves?” objected, with a pale face, Fr.
Brandini. “With all the expenses we have to face! You know it very well.”
“Do not worry, reverend,” Joseph kept him in peace. “We trust Providence, the help
of the faithful and all the good persons who want to give us a hand. You will see how we
will succeed. Trust me. I will take the whole responsibility. Don’t you think that it is
worthwhile?”
Fr. Brandini was convinced, although he was worried and alarmed. However, in his
heart he knew that the idea of Calasanz was really right and besides that he really trusted
him. He had seen him so committed, so enthusiastic, that he could not tell him “no.” He
had been a little stingy regarding himself. Therefore, before the end of the year 1598,
Santa Dorotea saw a change that made an epoch. It be came the first, tuition free school of
Europe. The Trastevere Roman District, the most degraded as we have already said, gave
a gift to the whole world, one of the greatest social and pedagogical revolutions of
history.
Calasanz, it is not necessary to say, was full- time during the new school year. He
went from one place to the other between the Colonna P alace and via Ponte Sixtus. He
was divided among so many obligations. He bought with his money notebooks, books,
pens and everything that was necessary. He gave class and ac cepted the new students.
The news that in the Trastevere there was a completely tuition free school for the poor
children had gone around Rome immediately and the demands of enrollment increased.
Every day more work, more fatigue, more expenses, more responsibility. Moreover, as if
it were not enough, a very hard test arrived on Christmas Eve. The Tiber River
overflowed once more. This flooding was one of the most terrible in the history of the
city, with thousands of dead persons and damages reached thousands of golden escudos.
The Trastevere looked like the Pontina plain. Its odor was death and desolation. The
school of Santa Dorotea, just a few meters from the river, was really a misery. Joseph
took courage and tried to revive it. He became a painter, carpenter and mason and at the
end he was able to get some economic help from the Christian Fraternity that had
confirmed the desire of not taking as its own school the school in Trastevere. In this way,
in the first months of 1599, the two places were again full of children, almost explod ing
up with them. Calasanz rented a new place nearby to have more space and not to deny the
enrollment to anybody. In a strong decision for the school he bet everything and it
became a great betting. That is why when on February 26, 1600, Fr. Anthony died,
although he had remained alone, he never thought of abandoning and giving it up. He
would continue it, and with God’s help, he would win.
If somebody had doubts about the project, he had to give up soon. In reality, after the
death of the Parish Priest, Joseph not only did not abandon his children, he decided to
give a valiant step, almost a crazy step, that would increase his work and the trajectory
around the whole of Rome. From the time the school was tuition free, the students of
Santa Dorotea had increased without ceasing. The rooms were not big enough to
accommodate all the student and be comfortable. Besides this, the new director had seen
that many children came from the districts inside Rome. The misery and privations were
not lacking there, either. Because of these two reasons, Calasanz thought of moving the
schools from that place to a more strategic point, embracing the service to the whole map

58
of Roman poverty. The choice was the poor zone of Campo de’ Fiori, that few days
before the death of Fr. Brandini, it had been terribly affected by the condemnation and
the burning at stake of Giordano Bruno. There, near the Campo, in the historical and
central district of Parione, among the small streets that lead towards Sant’ Andrea della
Valle is the small Paraiso square. It is called by this name because of a medieval inn
located in the square itself. The first years of 1600, while the city and the districts of the
center started to be filled with pilgrims for the Jubilee, Calasanz moved the school to a
small house near this inn. Later on, since the students were increasing to almost 500, he
had to rent another one. He had to pay for everything 106 escudos for a whole year. That
of course he had to take out from his own pocket. The problem was that the possibilities
were limited, and therefore, after a short time, not knowing what to do to meet the bills,
he decided to ask the Christian Doctrine and convince them, in the end, that they would
directly take the responsibility of the work. As long as he could get his goal, he tried
everything, with energy and also with diplomacy, even trying to be elected president of
the organization. However, everything was in vain. And in the end, Joseph realized, once
and for all, that he had but two options: to renounce or to do everything by himself.
Moreover, of course, the first solution should be rejected.
In the meantime, the number of students was increasing without stopping. In the short
time of two years, the two houses in Paraiso Square were not enough, so that in 1602,
Calasanz was obliged to change again. He established the school near the same place, in
the Vestri building, near Sant’ Andrea della Valle, at that time in construction. It is now
where the via dei Barbieri flows with via del Monte della Farina. Msgr. Vestri was the
owner; he rented the building for 200 hundred escudos yearly. As we can understand, aT
the same time the number of students was still increasing and with it, also the expenses.
But Joseph was not ready to give up. Even more, after this second move, his educational
commitment and his dedication to school became better, in profundity, accepted and a
living reality. In fact, the director left Colonna Palace and went to live there among his
children and among his working companions. We will talk more about it later on. From
then, the school for him became his home, a place of prayer, work, play, rest, study and
an evangelizing field, everything together. In addition, it would continue in this way until
the end of his days. Because there, inside his heart, he was thinking about everything,
from a to z, from the didactic to the other services and practical necessities, without being
stopped by any difficulty, sacrifice or risk.
As it happened that time, he himself wanted to fix the bell he had put in the school
yard to signal the hours of classes. As any school of that time, that would consider itself a
school, it had to have a bell. He placed a tall ladder on the wall and started to climb up
rapidly. But when he was up, he stepped out of the place and fell to the ground, breaking
as a consequence his femur. He was not a child anymore! He was 45 years old and that
was old for that time. Moreover, the consequences of that accident that left him out of
work for some months after, will be felt during his whole life. In the Vestri building, the
students and his collaborators - in the meantime they were called confratelli (brothers), -
remained for more or less three years, until in 1605. The third movement transfer then
occurred. Let us see how it happened. The students had already reached 600 and therefore
in these conditions the Vestri Palace was too small. Calasanz looked around him and sent
an S.O.S., and in the end, he accepted the offer of the noble Mannini Ottavio, a place that
was rented for 350 escudos yearly. The building was in the square of San Pantaleo, near

59
the church of the same name, very near Navona Square. Therefore, the schools and the
residence of Joseph went back to see the Parione, as one of the oldest and typical districts
of Rome. It is a noble area but at the same time popular in the center of the center, as we
could say. It is famous around the world for its places and monuments, such as the
Navona Square and the statue of Pasquino, the via of the Governo Vecchio - the old
Papal via, between the Vatican and Lateran - and the imposing and whitish ecclesiastical
palace of the Cancelleria. Here, Calasanz would live at its most intense, and work for the
rest of his life for his important accomplishments, that made him famous and a saint.
In fact, in 1612, with the help of benefactors, Calasanz, without leaving the small
square where he had been for the previous seven years, had to make a great step, buying
the Torres building next to the church of San Pantaleo, which was also there, precisely in
front of the Mannini house. In this way, that building would become already the head and
heart of his whole activity, the history, and the works and Calasanzian foundations.
During the first years of 1600, the building was very different from today, and although it
never became a magnificent complex, nor even after so many modifications that would
be carried out in it during the centuries. Then it was smaller and more modest, of two
stories, plus the ground floor. The Church had the entrance fronting the Massimi square.
Nobody could imagine a space at that year of 1619 for so many students plus seventy
more, if we count the teachers and service personnel, as there were in 1638. Nevertheless,
everything was functioning; the school and students, the institution and community.
Joseph, for decades of years, as we will see, would travel through all Italy to always be
by his schools. He would live and travel to other places also. However, it was there in
San Pantaleo where he planted and cultivated his roots in order to spread later on his
branches and fruits throughout the whole world. Therefore, the Parione district was like
Bethlehem, the Nazareth of Calasanz. But we will also see later where his Jerusalem and
his Calvary will be.
In spite of everything, it is evident that our frustrated canon, even with the whole
tenacity and enthusiasm of his strong character, could not do everything alone. We have
hinted a little the fact that he had collaborators. Let us see better now this matter. Let us
remember that at the beginning, in Santa Dorotea, between 1598 and 1600, the principal
collaborator of Joseph had been, evidently, the same Parish Priest. But already at the
beginning of these first years and more so after the death of Fr. Brandini and the move to
Paradiso square and Vestri house, the new director, no matter what happened, could
count on some of his collaborators in the teaching work and in the organization. During
the first moment, there were collaborators from the group of the Christian Doctrine that,
as we know, committed themselves in a personal way to this activity, such as his friends
Santiago de Avila and Marcantonio Arcangeli. But they had families and obligations.
And therefore their collaboration was not continuous, but rather limited, and in any case,
in the afternoon they went to their houses and bade goodbye to the school and all the
problems of the school went to the poor director. They were wonderful though. They
were full of good intentions, with spirituality and some experience, as members of the
Fraternity. But specially after the events that happened in Vestri house, Calasanz needed
true teachers and well-prepared professionals. He needed persons that would dedicate
every day, with consistency full time work as much as possible without a family, without
too many commitments and ready to live and sleep by the school. Little by little Calasanz
found out what he was looking for. And that is why the school started to have some stable

60
teachers and more experts. However, it was not that they were the ideal. Calasanz had
already his frictions and problems with them. Not everybody was well prepared and the
director was demanding with the teachers, and even more with the students. He wanted
the teachers to be well prepared and responsible in the cultural level as well as in the
spiritual, for the good of the students. Besides, in general, people were too much self-
centered. They were always thinking about their wages. They were murmur ing and were
protesting without any reason while Joseph was the one sweating in order to find mone y
to pay them. Sometimes it happened that after learning the job, they went to teach in the
municipal schools or in other places, where they earned more. It was impossible to
continue like this. It was not the school he wanted: positive, attractive, able o f forming
excellent young men, good workers and good Christians. After a tuition free school for
the poor, it was necessary to carry out another idea, maybe not so revolutionary, the time
would say, but the same convincing idea.
For Calasanz, the idea had long been clear, already during the time of Traste vere.
Illuminated by God and moved by the spectacle of the misery, that Spanish priest had
opted for serving the poor children, educating and preparing them for a life of dignity and
a happy eternity. Therefore, the school, the teaching ministry, for him was a vocation, a
mission to live and honor till the end, during his whole life, 24 hours of the day without
separating the human and natural dimension from the supernatural and Christian one.
But, were not these the connotations of the Religious Life? Naturally, and Joseph
understood it immediately, acting as a consequence, integrating the educational and
religious projects. His educational centers would be called for this reason Pious Schools -
that is to say, instruction plus faith - and to lead them, there would be not only a director,
a body of teachers or financial people, but rather an ecclesiastical community, a Religious
Family, the Congregation of the Pious Schools in the City. This double project, but in
reality the same, started to take shape in the transfer to the Vestri building (where not by
chance Calasanz saying goodbye to the Colonna Palace) not only to accompany better the
children, but also to live a community life with his companions he had selected in the
Paradiso square and also for the new ones that would come later; called at the same time
for teaching and for the religious life, or better, to a different religious life for the
education of and service to the children and youth. The educational process would
enlighten the religious state and the religious life would make the teaching ministry
better. This was the line of Calasanz. By the way, after 350 years, Fr. Lawrence Milani,
in Tuscany, Italy, would try to put into practice a rather similar organization, a school and
community life, and celibacy for the teachers, as a condition and sign of dedication to the
students! It confirms, in a clear way, the modernity of the Calasanzian ideas.
Now, let us see some of these first “Piarist” collaborators, as the people would call
the first Religious and teachers of the Pious Schools. The first true member of the
Congregation was Glicerio Landriani, a cleric from Milan City, Italy, a relative of
Charles Borromeo. He knew Joseph in 1612, the year he moved to Torres building, and in
1617, he entered the novitiate. He was a thin man, very much sensible, a little delicate in
health, but when the time of teaching the Catechism came or giving classes, he was a
genius that went around the whole of Rome “catching” the poor children. Although he
was from a rich family, he felt the love for poverty. He was a kind of Christian “hippy”
that he started to dance with joy when the Holy See authorized the Congregation of the
Pious Schools to profess the Supreme Poverty. With the children, he was very clever and

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they felt him very close to them. Since the adults and the mature people did not
understand his young enthusiasm at the service of charity and apostolate, they called him
hot- headed. The founder foresaw in him a valuable successor. And therefore the sorrow
was even greater when Glicerio died sick in 1618 and exhausted at only 30 years old. The
Pious Schools had lost a valuable element and a possible Superior, but Pope Pius XI
would “re-fish” him in 1931, declaring him a Venerable by his heroic virtues.
Another extraordinary man was Gaspare Dragonetti, who lived more than one
hundred years old. He died at the age of 119 years. He had the energy of a robust young
man. He was from Sicily and well versed in Latin. These qualities, his presence and his
work, together with Joseph already since 1603, showed that the director not only wanted
to teach the rudimental principles to the sons of the Roman proletarian, but also take them
closer to the treasures of superior culture through the Latin language. Before working
with Calasanz, Gaspare had taught humanities in Rome for 40 years, and his prestige was
so great that one day he was invited to explain Virgilius before Pope Urbanus VIII and
his court of Monsignors and Cardinals. The witnesses say that before them, following a
professional deformation, he started his explanation saying: “Be attentive, my
children!”.About the poverty theme, he was not thinking like Glicerio. He sometimes was
in crisis. He complained before Joseph, and he threatened to leave everything. He was
able to eat and clothe himself, but he complained because he was lacking the means. It
greatly conditioned the didactic efficacy. Therefore, those who suffered most were the
students. It is not necessary to say that the patience and faith of Calasanz kept him quiet
every time.
We have to also say about Dragonetti that he never made the religious pro fession in
the Congregation. He worked until his death in San Pantaleo without being a Piarist in a
juridical way. This is important because it allows us to see that the founder, for his
religious family and especially for his educational family, had very wide ideas. He did
not accept only those who were strictly religious, but also he accepted those from outside,
in simplicity, even lay people. In summary, he was a good selector of people, a good
hunter of talents. Everybody was good, as long as the subjects were taught well and they
were, above all, good Christians. At least it was so during those insecure and pioneer first
years of the Pious Schools, when the personnel, Piarist or not, was scarce or was not so
good. For instance, a very valuable lay man who worked in the school of Joseph was
Bonaventura Serafellini, maybe the best calligrapher at that time in Rome. It is enough to
say that the big inscription Tu es Petrus…inside the Vatican Basilica, in the ring of the
copula, is his. In reality, Joseph called him precisely during those years when he was car-
rying out that famous work and made a legal work ing contract with him, dated 1618.
Serafellini had to give writing lessons, normal and aulic calligraphy, not only to the
children, but also to the teachers and probably even to Calasanz, who from his youth had
tried to excel in calligraphy. It is not only for a hobby or pastime to learn calligraphy, but
also, knowing to write well was a fundamental require ment to finding work. Therefore,
children had to learn well and practice much in the writing skill that one day it could take
them out of the streets forever. Among the famous lay people that entered the orbit of
Calasanz and his school would be also Galileo and Tommaso Campanella. It confirms to
us that his soul was great, 64

62
 open, liberal, valiant, without prejudices, and sometimes also, against the current.
Changes, new places, collaborators, benefactors, increasing in number of students.
These were the first steps towards the formation of a congregation… However, was
everything going well, really everything going smoothly, for the Pious Schools and for its
founder and director? Was the dream of Calasanz becoming a true reality, more and more
everyday, without any trouble? It was not precisely like that. We already know something
about it because we have talked about the fatigues and sacrifices borne by Calasanz. His
economic situation was always precarious, although also chosen by him, and the
problems with inept teachers, either ambitious or deserters. To all this, in those first years
we must add the anxiety, the insecurity and the psychological stress before a reality that
was bigger and bigger everyday, more compromising, more ambitious, in the good sense
of the word. As it was the school that was growing and the Religio us Family that was
taking shape… how would everything come out? One could ask: was it worthy of or was
it ready? But at any time, could it be disproved by the facts? For Joseph these were
temptations and he put them away by praying, patience, hope, the trust of giving oneself
to God, through penance, and some pilgrimages in Rome, whe n he had time. On the other
hand, he was an athletic man with much experience in the fighting against sin and on the
road to holiness and perfection. On the contrary, for the companions it was different and
sometimes, the fatigue, the works, the responsibilities, the worries, the tensions and the
fear of tomorrow, were difficult tests for them.
Moreover, a moment came when the district public school teachers contributed to his
worries. They started to protest against Calasanz and the Pious Schools. Accord ing to
them, the Spanish man was making a vile competence. He was being accused of taking
away the students from them the students because he was teaching tuition free. Nobody
knew where he came from and he was putting his nose in a field that was not his and
discrediting them along the way in the measure he was going up. However, this last thing
was said in public in order not to recognize the success of the Pious Schools. The sad
thing was that some rector or teachers from the Jesuits, too, and close environments to the
sons of Saint Ignatius, were on the same wave as the district teachers, although with more
discretion and style. Since until that time, instruction and the Company of Jesus had been
synonymous. The Jesuits, for half a century, and not only in Rome, could be said to have
had the monopoly on education. It is certain that they directed the superior studies, the
Roman College, the school for the rich, while the Pious Schools attended, principally, to
the children… to the poor children. However, who could foresee the future if the work of
Calasanz became strong, maybe even with the help of the Curia?
Therefore, these adversaries - for the time being, the district teachers - broke out an
attack campaign, calumnies, half- truths, telling that they (Pious teachers) were ignorant,
of doubtful morality, ambitious, half heretic, and other similar insults. As they pretended
and they foresaw, these voices reached the ears of the Pope who immediately sent the two
great ecclesiastical intellectual people of the moment, Cardinals Cesare Baronio and
Silvio Antoniano, to examine the deficiencies of the Pious Schools. The Cardinals
inspected, not because of the command, but seriously and with intelligence, the school in
Vestri building. They attended the lessons, talked with the director, with the teachers,
with the students and they examined all the papers, and even the first short “Rules” that
Joseph had just written for the “Venerable Congregation of the Pious Schools in the
City.” In the end, they remained very much satisfied and they made a very favorable

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report to Pope Clement VIII. The Pontiff called Calasanz to an audience and he assured
him his protection. He approved, at least by word, his Congregation. Since 1607, the
Piarists would have also a Cardinal Protector: first, in the person of Ludovico Torres and
since 1613, the Roman Benedetto Giustiniani, who did much for them. Now one could
say that they were rather consolidated and well seen. However, the most important for
Joseph was that the people appreciated them because they had done much good and could
continue doing even more in the future. Regarding him, all the poor people in Rome
could be sure of that. 66

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 10
IT IS BETTER ALONE…
In Rome, one of the most suggestive squares is called as the district that surrounds it,
Campitelli. It is longer than wider and it seems rather as the meeting point of obscure
small streets that go there. It is opened towards the sunny slope of Capitolio, the ruins of
Apollo Temple and the arches of Marcelo Theater. The most important monument of this
square is the baroque church of Santa Maria in Campitelli, which during the time of our
history was not yet baroque, and it did not have the façade where it is now, but rather in
the next Lovatelli square. It was called Santa Maria in Portico because the venerated
image of the Virgin dei Portico is housed inside. It is still venerated today and it is called
so because before it was in the near Portico di Ottavia.
In the first years of the 17th century, the church was under the responsibility of the
Fathers of Lucca. It was Giovanni Leonardi, a person who would later be proclaimed by
the Church as a saint, who founded the Congregation in the city of Lucca (near Florence).
It was a religious family born after the Trent Counc il. It was a rather dynamic one,
especially through the contact with the people, the youth. The Fathers of Lucca though,
did not dedicate themselves expressly to education or to teaching. In a word, as a
Congregation it was rather promising. It already had its own spiritual and pastoral
physiognomy, but it was still a little weak. It needed to clearly define itself. And besides
that, if it wanted to avoid the risk of disappearing, it had to grow and make better
foundations regarding the numbers, organizatio n, and should increase its consistency and
public presence.
For these and other reasons, the new Cardinal Protector of the Piarists, who knew
well the Lucca Fathers, and had the opportunity of knowing Giovanni Leonardi in person,
and of appreciating his spiritual and intellectual quality, after he had just been nominated,
went to Santa Maria in Portico and proposed to those religious to collaborate with the
Congregation of the Pious Schools, thinking about a possible fusion of the two Religious
Families.
“It is an honor for us, your Eminence, but the charism of our founder and of our
community is not appropriately that of teaching,” the Lucca Fathers told Giustiniani, after
receiving him with great honor and listening with attention in the waiting room of the
convent.
“It is not proper to say, reverend Fathers,” answered his Eminence quietly, “but, it
seems to me that the education of the children, especially the poor, is not in contradiction
with your presence among the people, with the service you give to the people. On the
contrary, the Pious Schools make much good, and this is what is necessary. That is why I
am convinced that the school could also be a ground for you where you could enrich your
spirituality and carry out your charitable mission. Believe me.” He concluded in a
paternal and convincing tone, “this cooperation, and God willing, this union will be good
for all, for you, Lucca Fathers, and for the Piarists. It will make you grow in all directions
and especially it will be good for the Church, the poor, the children and the whole
society.”
However, why that day had Guistiniani left his palace of Sant’Eustachio and went to
Campitelli to invite the Fathers of Santa Maria in Portico to take the same road as the
Piarists? Is it because the Lucca Fathers needed some help or because they needed some
tonic to be spread around and become stronger? Or on the other hand and maybe because

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they needed a little light to find their road? Certainly, it is for this, too. However, it was
not everything. The first thing we have to say is that this Cardinal used to do things
seriously. He was not a patrician with purple, but rather he wanted to really serve the
Church, as Charles Borromeo did, Robert Bellarmino and others called Princes of the
Church, too. There is no doubt that they (the patrician in purple) wanted to be called like
this - that in Rome, after the Council had given the best example as one can grow in
sanctity even being on the top. Therefore, for him, even a simple job only as a formality,
as an honor, as it was to be protector of a Congregation, or of one Institute or any other
thing, was considered and carried out as well as possible. The Pious Schools were going
very well, but on the other hand, they were not so much consolidated. Therefore being the
first Christian and its protector, his social duty was to make them stronger and make them
prosper for the good of all. In addition, especially because Giustiniani (the Cardinal
Protector) knew also that Calasanz and his companions had dangerous enemies and that
these would be happy on the day the Pious Schools would disappear from the scene. But
still there was another thing. Joseph was already 56 years old, and in those times, one
could say that he was already an old man. And after what had happened to him in Spain
and in Rome, one could say that he did not feel so strong, especially after what had
happened to that good leg that always hurt him when the weather changed - and in Rome,
it changes frequently - and with all the fatigues that remained behind. How long would he
be able to go on? How long would he be healthy with energy to continue directing the
schools and the Congregation? How could he face the fatigues, the pains, the obstacles,
the opposition that everyday was threatening the existence of everything he had built for
20 years? Never mind the problems and the daily obligations regarding the children and
the companions. The work was hard, delicate and difficult, although his external
appearance was more tranquil. Although Calasanz never lamented, Giustiniani knew and
understood everything very well, and that is why, after he was nominated a protector, he
immediately started this way we have seen. Moreover, thanks to heaven, but also to
human reasons, the personality and the prestige of the Card inal, the answer was, in the
end, yes. The friendship, although not yet the marriage, between the Lucca Fathers and
the Piarists, had started.
In addition, as with all prudent and responsible sweethearts, the Tuscany and the
Roman Congregation, before making the big step, thought of knowing themselves better,
putting everything upon the table and exchanging with pas sion ideas and thoughts about
the future they had to build together. With his experience, authority and unselfish
counsels, Giustiniani and the Carmelite Fr. Domenico Ruzola, Superior of the Trastevere
convent of Santa Maria della Scala and a very good friend of Calasanz and the Pious
Schools, the Cardinal helped the two religious families to dialogue with a constructive
spirit to be understood well. The two congregations believed in this operation and
therefore they made possible that this would be carried out correctly and without
mistakes, for the good, not only of the two Congregations, but also for the whole Church,
the poor, and for society.
In this way, just a little before 1613, the delegations of the Lucca Fathers and the one
from the Piarists, met together in Santa Maria della Scala, to make things clear and to
proceed the union. The Fr. General Alessandro Bernardini, who came from Lucca City on
purpose, led the first ones. From the Pious Schools Calasanz, Landriani, and Dragonetti
were there. Fr. Ruzola was also present, not only because he was from the house, but also

66
because he was useful to them. From the chapel of his palace, Cardinal Giustiniani asked
the Lord in prayer that everything would arrive to a good end for “this great and useful
work, not only for Rome but also for the world.” He was convinced that it would
contribute “to the reformation of the Church.” In fact, the name o f Pious Schools would
always spread and its future was considered full of promises and of…fatigues. However,
where were the personnel for this? And the means? This is why the union was necessary.
The agreement arrived. Therefore, the Trastevere that saw the birth of the Pious
Schools of Joseph was also the theater of that event that would make them strong and
would project them to an international scale. However, let us see in synthesis the terms of
the agreement. In the first place, Calasanz would continue as a Prefect of the Pious
School for life. In addition, the Piarists that were already with him would continue
keeping his rule. On the other hand, after the union was done, the new ones that would be
admitted, would observe the Constitutions of the Lucca Family, but from now on would
be called Congregation of the Mother of God. It was clearly said that the Pious Schools
should be taught only by charity and love of God, without accepting any compensation or
gift. Therefore, the schools from the Parione district, because of the free tuition, would
continue being the schools of the poor par excellence, although a new directive was intro-
duced about admitting children and youth coming from other social classes. It was not
good to continue making ghettos with the poor and abandoned, Joseph thought, precisely
when they were concern for their recovery. On the contrary, without taking out anything
from the original vocation of a tuition-free school for the poor, it would be better to
educate the most intelligent students (from other social classes) together with the others,
integrating them in this way, from the school benches in a heterogeneous and pluralistic
society. Therefore, in Santa Maria della Scala it was decided that at the schools outside
the City unlike Rome, it would not be necessary to ask from those who wanted to enroll a
certificate of poverty given by the Parish Priest. For that, it is thought, among other
things, already that all the Piarists, the Lucca Fathers, Giustianiani, Ruzola…were hinting
beyond the seven hills. Finally, an article of the Constitutions of Lucca Fathers was
abrogated, the one that prohibited the teaching of grammar and “humanities.” It was not
stated that the Piarists would be limited only to the elementary teaching and that the
superior teaching would be prohibited for them, as their adversaries wanted.
After this point was accepted, the two Congregations would send a petition to the
Pope so that he would decree the union. Paulus V, the second Pope of Ca lasanz and of
the Pious Schools was very solicitous. And on January 14, 1614, he signed the Papal
Decree approving all the petitions from the Piarists and the Lucca Fathers. Therefore,
after a week, Fr. Pietro Casani from the Lucca Fathers was nominated Rector of the Pious
Schools of San Pantaleo, while Joseph, as we have already said, continued as Prefect, that
is to say, the most important responsible teaching authority. In summary, a proper
compromise was achieved for the equilibrium between the two Congregations that, as we
have said, inspired the main principles of the agreement. The criteria were correct and
intelligent, but sad to say, it would not be enough to guarantee the eternal wedding.
What kind of honeymoon is not good for a couple of new spouses? In this world,
everything happens.
Therefore, there could be, and surely there are some marriages from which crisis
arrive during the honeymoon trip. However, these are rare cases; exceptions we should
say. For most of the just married couples, after the wedding, everything goes smoothly. In

67
addition, the marriage between the Lucca Fathers and the Pia rists was like that. It was
celebrated, as we have seen, by the Pope himself, with a Cardinal and a Carmelite
Superior as altar boys! In San Pantaleo, everything went smoothly. The classes were
carried out. Prayers were done and in the space of few months, the students went up to
800 and 1200. The new Rector Casani, in agreement with Joseph, got two or three places
near by, to get more space and adapted them to the necessities of the school. They were
incorporated in the schooling and community campus already existing. A little later, a
beautiful fountain was added in the interior patio for the children, with a concession of
free water. It was like this for more than 350 yea rs. Now, not anymore. In summary, it
was apparently a successful and happy marriage, There was also with fruits as we have
seen. However, privately, not everything was fine. There were some problems and the
division started to show, corroding into a crisis. The reality was that the Lucca Fathers
did not take the affairs of the school seriously. Those who had been in charge of teaching,
could not continue anymore after sometime, even though the school year had not been
finished. Therefore, in the end, out of the 11 classes, at least four were with more than
100 students, a thing Calasanz could not admit in any way, since according to him, in
each class should not be more than 50 students. Therefore, at the end of the first school
year of collaboration between the Piarists and Lucca Fathers, of the 25 teachers that were
necessary, only 11 remained. Moreover, it was not only that. It was also the problem of
the poverty. For the Lucca Fathers, the way of life proposed by Joseph and by his
companions was hard and austere. In a word, as religious, they were in agreement and
well prepared. But later, concretely, facing the Piarist radical interpretation of this virtue
and its consequences, they reacted telling that it was exaggerated. It meant that for all
their reasons, between 1614 and 1615, the Lucca Fathers had lost almost their whole
enthusiasm for the fraternity with the Piarists and for the teaching. And because of this,
according to them, it was necessary to discuss it again.
How did Calasanz react? The answer is: as a revolutionary. Let us see why. Facing
the disillusionment of the Lucca Fathers, he could have done many things, some
mistakes, and other things, more or less right, although understandable. For example, to
be discouraged, leaving everything alone and stop to carry out the Pious Schools together
with the Lucca Fathers. To feel pity, as a lady facing the controversies of those Religious
and look for another commitment. To accept that in the new “religion” that was intended
to form together, the Lucca Fathers could dedicate to other things besid es the teaching
ministry. In that way, they could practice a watered down poverty. If Joseph had allowed
everything, the crisis, probably would had been solved for the Religious-Teachers, as he
wanted them, committed with a vow of teaching - as the one of the Jesuits regarding the
Pope - serving the school and the children, and radically poor, to give a visible tes timony
of that dedication to education, to live as the marginalized whom one had to educate and
to imitate Jesus the Master in the Gospel’s spirit and the Catholic Reformation. A new
commitment much too protected by the exigencies of Lucca Fathers and in that way it
was necessary to overcome the whole Calasanzian project of school and Religious Life.
Joseph understood it very well and that is why he reacted with decision, taking the
initiative and attacking the first. Exactly as a revolutionary.
In reality, instead of calming down the Lucca Fathers, he pushed the accel erator and
without saying anything to Bernardini - since in this world the revolutionary people are
like that… “impolite” - sent to the Pope a wonderful letter stressing the fact that in the

68
new Congregation “one institute alone, that of the school,” should be cultivated. And if
someone would take care of other things, one should do it “without the danger of
relaxing” in the teaching ministry. That is why the General of the Lucca Fathers accused
Calasanz of “immoderate zeal” and he judged the content of the pro- memorial as
something “not so convenient and not reasonable.” As it can be seen, the distance was
great. Piarists and the Lucca Fathers, through the mouths of their leaders were talking
different languages. Therefore, during the year 1616, the situation became more and more
tense, deteriorated, confused amidst reconciliations and new repentance, notwithstand ing
commissions created by the cardinal to settle the case. Temporary commit ments of paid
teachers were instituted “in extremis” to substitute the absence of the Lucca Fathers.
Living together and collaborating in those conditions was becoming more problematic
everyday, sterile and self-defeating. It was not that Joseph was rigid and intolerant. The
truth was different. To save materially the Pious Schools, so that they could survive, one
could not betray them, making them unnatural. There were at stake the deepest
convictions of the Founder, for which he had fought since the beginning, from Santa
Dorotea. One could not act with duplicity as the Lucca Fathers wanted, to do a little
school, but not school alone; to be poor, but not so much. On the other hand, to educate
tuition-free the abandoned children so that they would become good citizens of the
worldly and celestial city, was a mission so hard and for other obligations, interests,
programs to exist though they might be legitimate and good. One could not put the hand
on the plough and later on go back or remain blocked. Someone who would not
understand it, could not work for the Pious Schools. It was an illusion to think in a
different way. It had been an error not to make clear everything since the beginning. On
the other hand, there had been the difficulties, the long and stormy crisis that had better
illuminated Joseph about the meaning, value and objective of the school for the poor and
directed by the poor, both classmates of the Master, born in a manger and who died naked
on a scaffold. Therefore, at the beginning of 1617, the experiment came to an end and
they arrived to an inevitable separation between the Lucca Fathers and the Piarists. It is
better to try to go forward alone, in saving the authenticity of the project, for the good of
the children and the society, Calasanz thought, than insisting in keeping alive something
that one could not see how it would become.
With the help of Giustiniani, Ruzola and the same Pope, Joseph finally was made to
assume one hundred percent the commitment and responsibility of guiding by himself a
new Congregation that would have as an objective the Pious Schools, without agreements
with anybody else. He would gladly leave the helmsman, at least by modesty and humble
conscience of his limitations, but everything and all, authorities and counselors, Piarists
and students, benefactors and citizens were encouraging him in that direction. Therefore,
in a short decree of Pope Paulus V on the birth of the Pauline Congregation of the Pious
Schools, where “those who enter,” the text says, “will work, will strive and will commit
to teach the children the first elements, grammar, counting and especially the principles
of the Catholic faith. They will form them in good and pious customs and will educate
them in a Christian way, free, without any recompense, wage, stipend or hono rarium.”
The Papal document talks also about the three simple vows, the practice of the “supreme”
poverty, and nominates Joseph as General Superior, with the right of writing and giving
the norms and the statutes that should regulate the new Religious Family.

69
 It was March 6, 1617. Twenty years after Santa Dorotea we could assist to the re-
founding, or if you will, to the full and definitive form of the Calasanzian educational
community foundation, with Joseph as the head in a juridical way. Fr. Casani - the only
priest with Calasanz - and a dozen members of the Lucca Fathers, remained with
Calasanz. And therefore the new religious family counted at that moment thirty members.
On the 25th of the same month, it was the establishment of the very first group of fifteen
Piarists. It was solemn and moving. For that event, Giustiniani, as Cardinal Protector of
the new Congregation, an affectionate and solicitous father, ordered the vestments for
them and had organized everything. He himself put the habit on Joseph in the chapel of
his palace, after which, Calasanz put the habits of the remaining fourteen in the chapel of
the Pious Schools. The dream would have not become a reality, but now those men of
God that now were there with that coarse habit on, and with sandals in their feet, same as
the ones of the Discalced Carmelites - an idea of Ruzola - ready to give everything for the
poor, showed that what had happened was not a failure.
On the contrary, the first decision that should be taken by the new General was the
nomination of Master of Novices. The election was upon Fr. Peter Casani who not only
was the only priest, but also had a strong spirituality and the good temperament of an
ascetic man, even a little exaggerated. The Novitiate was in San Pantaleo - at the
beginning - then it was moved more than once; first to Gianicolo, in a rented house in the
slope of Sant’Onofrio. And later on, it was transferred to the center near Santa Maria in
Via - between the Colonna Square and the beginning of via of the Tritone - where
Landriani died in 1618. After that, it returned again in Sant’Onofrio, and at the end, in
1624, it was moved to Quirinale, near Quattro Fontane. In the first four years, the novices
reached the number of 153: 18 priests, 72 clerics and 73 Lay Brothers. Taking into
consideration that 66 abandoned and 22 died, between 1617 and 1621, the Congregation
increased by 65 members, with an average of 16 entrants per year. In summary there
were a number of vocations to the charism. Besides that, in the educational front, the
enrollment was increasing in quota.
The first answers from heaven were, therefore, positive and encouraging. At this
moment, Calasanz was in calm to do what he had felt from the first begin ning, his
foremost duty: to write the Constitution and the Rules of the Congrega tion. Therefore, in
the Autumn of 1620, he left San Pantaleo and Rome and he retired to Narni, in the heart
of the wooden and Appennine Umbria. There, in the land of Francis and Benedict, always
in communion with God in prayer and in contemplation, he wrote austere rules, but with
equilibrium, where one can find something of everything: the Gospel, 1500 years of
spiritual and ascetic tradition, the model of other Religious Orders that Joseph had
experienced and knew rather well - Trinitarians, Jesuits, Franciscans, Carmelites,
Theatines - the reformation spirit after Trent, and also, naturally, the conviction of the
educational mission as the center. And it suggested and characterized so many norms,
aspects, and details of the life of the Congregation. In the end, entrusting everything to
the providence of God and the authority of the Mother-Teacher, he rode on his beloved
small donkey, and with the saddle-bags full of written folios, went back to San Pantaleo.
It was the second half of February of 1621.
From then, for many years, Joseph and his schools would always continue smoothly.
Paul V had been the first Pope who protected the Congregation and that is why it was
called Pauline. Gregorius XV followed the same line, and with a series of decrees around

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1621-1623, he approved the constitution written by the founder, nominated Calasanz
General Superior for nine years and gave to the Piarists the perpetual use of San Pantaleo.
The Pious Schools, after the painful pruning, had become a strong and leafy oak-tree,
with the roots in Rome and foliage spreading very wide and far away.

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 11
WITHOUT BOUNDARIES
Arriving at this point, and taking into consideration the popular and exhaus tive
character of this biography, let us synthesize in one chapter the spreading of the Pious
Schools in Italy and in Europe, under the satisfied, grateful and also worried glance – as
we can imagine - of its founder. It is natural to start from Rome. We have already talked
about the steps that followed Santa Dorotea, Para diso Square, Vestri building, Mannini
building, and finally San Pantaleo, in the center of Parione district, by the renaissance
palace Massimo alle Colonne. It is from Area Sacra of Argentina Largo, and by the
Braschi palace, from the XVIII century, and a little before the Piccola Farmesina, now
the Barracco Museum of Ancient Arts that is in the opposite site, today called Corso
Vittorio Emmanuel II. Here, and as we have seen it, the historical heart of the Piarists
palpitates. Here, Joseph lived, worked, fought and became a saint, amidst the sacrifices
and sufferings, until the last instant of his worldly itinerary.
We have mentioned, too, the moving of the novitiate, between 1614 and 1624, from
San Pantaleo to Sant’ Onofrio, in Gianicolo, and from the area of Colonna square to
Quattro Fontane, in the Quirinale. This last zone, it could be said, at that time was an
open field, although it was already crossed by the cross-roads of streets planned a few
years before during the time of Sixtus V. In fact, the Per etti Pope, taking into
consideration the Jubilee of 1600, had made the Pia Street that would cross in a
perpendicular way, starting from the gate of the same name, today via XX Settembre,
with the via Quattro Fontane, an extension of via Sistina, towards the Santa Maria the
Major Basilica and Saint John of Lateran.
In 1639, the Piarist Novitiate was moved again. This time to Borgo S. Spirito district,
just a few steps from Saint Peter, to the left, looking towards the Basilica. There, very
near the Bernini colonnade, a Calasanziane house is now located, back-to-back with the
north corner of Gianicolo Hills. Therefore, if we assume that Joseph and his sons had
already opened there a house in 1619, we can conclude that the presence and the
historical memory of the Pious Schools near Saint Peter, is already four centuries old.
Even more, it could be said that the Piarists and St. Peter’s Basilica have grown together.
Since they arrived to Borgo, the exterior of the new building was being finished then, and
seven years later was its inauguration. The construction of the interior of the basilica was
a different thing that every time Calasanz would enter the basilica, he could see the work
in progress starting with the bronze canopy with its Solomon columns of Bernini just
around 1620.
Therefore, a little more than 25 years before, Joseph had moved his schools around
Rome, from the Trastevere district to the center, and from the oriental outskirts to the
Vatican. And since he had waited from the first move, the students had come from almost
all the districts of the city, confirming the increasing success of the Pious Schools and the
usefulness of its service. However, the fact, the most important conquest of this
expansion and of this establishment in the Roman reality was the foundation of the
famous Nazareno School. Let us see how it happened. The elevation of the Piarists from
Congregation to Order, was been delayed, because although the Pope wa s in favor of it,
nevertheless there were difficulties in the Curia. It is sad to say, but the main opposing
person was the powerful Prefect of the Congregation for Bishop and Regulars, the
Cardinal Michaelangelo Tonti, called “the Nazareno,” because he was titular Bishop of

72
Nazareth. It is not that he was against the Piarists, but he was an opposition man by
principles regarding the birth of new Religious Orders in the Church. The Cardinal based
his opposition on the Decrees of the fourth Lateran Council. Then, Joseph confident of
his work, and with the customary intrepidity, took paper and pen and sent a pro-memorial
to the Cardinal in order to defend his own reasons. In substance, he demonstrated that the
IV Lateran Council had wanted to avoid the apparition of un-useful Orders, to duplicate
religious families already in existence. But the Fathers of the Pious Sc hools were the
contrary of everything, because with almost unanimous recognition they were opening a
new road and they carried out a valid and necessary service in behalf of the poor, the
Church, of Rome, and of the whole society. The arguments and the luc idity of the pro-
memorial impressed the Cardinal and he was convinced in giving his placet to the
creation of the new Order. In addition, not only this, but also he became a great friend
and admirer of Joseph and the Piarists, in such a way that when in April of 1622 he
became gravely ill, he left his goods as an inheritance to the Pious Schools with the
obligation of opening in Rome a school for poor children, but who were very well gifted
and worthy of help. On April 20, Calasanz and his four assistants, among them Fr.
Casani, pronounced a solemn vow precisely at the bedside of Tonti, on his hands, and
promised him to use his inheritance as he wanted. Therefore, practically, the prestigious
Nazareno School was born at the same time as the Order. After a few years, it went to the
actual and historical place in the north side of Quirinale be tween the via di Tritone and
via Sant’Andrea delle Fratte, back-to-back with the shrine of the same name.
Nevertheless, before finishing this period, it is necessary to say that this future glory of
the city and of the Piarists would also give many preoccupations to Joseph because the
testament of Tonti was contested, without any juridical foundation, by the relatives and
the lawsuit would last many decades. However, this was not an obstacle, as the Nazareno
School would become and remain until today, the apple of the eyes of the Pious Schools
and one of the most qualified Roman Institutes.
Let us now go out of Rome, but without going too far. More than five years before
the death of Tonti, in the region called Castelli Romani, in the smiling Frascati, near the
ruins of the old Tusculum, Joseph had opened the first school outside Rome. It was the
year 1616, during the union with the Lucca Fathers. The name of Pious Schools was
spreading and therefore, besides the people from Frascati, the whole ecclesiastical Rome,
starting with Paulus V, was in his favor and was forcing Calasanz the foundation of this
school there. The Fr. Prefect of the Pious Schools accepted it, not only because it was
Frascati, a summer residence of the Popes and many Cardinals. It is renowned as the
“small Rome.” There were people who were telling him the political advantages of this
circumstance, but above anything else, there were many poor children, too. They needed
Pious Schools to educate, instruct and lead them through the good road. Joseph liked very
much the school and the people of Frascati, and he used to go there as many times as he
could. And not because of the air and the good wine, but a lways to teach at school, and
even to help the responsible to solve some very difficult prob lems. Also his friend
Tommaso Campanella, invited by Calasanz, lived and taught at the school in Frascati
during the Autumn of 1630, after his second term in jail in Rome, maybe finding in it the
peace and the happiness of being useful and ap preciated in a serene and working
environment of the Pious schools.

73
 The following year, in the Brief of foundation, the Borghese Pope would pro hibit the
opening of new houses beyond 20 miles from Rome. But the prohibition would soon
become dead, and for four years, between 1618 and 1621, the Piarists founded nine
Religious houses and schools in Narni, a feudal land of Cardinal Giustiniani - where as
we have seen, Joseph wrote the Piarist Constitution - in Fanano, upon the Tuscany-
Emilian Apennines, in Mentan, to the North-East of Rome, in Moricone, in the town of
Sabina and again in Umbria, in Nursia, the native town of Benedict and Saint Scholastica.
In those years, the Congregation of Calasanz would take the responsibility of directing
the Magliano seminary, also in Sabina. With all these new houses and schools, it was
difficult to find somebody in Rome or in the whole Pontifical State who do not know the
Pious Schools and its untiring founder!
But soon the work of Calasanz started to spread throughout the whole Italian
peninsula. For example, they opened houses in the province of Ligury which was then the
Genoa Republic. At that time, it maintained the political equilibrium between Madrid and
Turin.
These two centers were helping each other in lucrative businesses with the dominant
rich class. However, there were also poor families and children in the coastal towns as
well as in the mountainous interior where the arid ground and the windy climate made it
very hard and unproductive the work of the farmers. In reality, the Piarists opened the
first Ligurian school in Carcare, a town elevated in the heights of the west Ligury at the
back of Savona, where the Maritime Alps give way to the Ligurian Apennines. That
small community, so isolated and poor in resources, had knocked, as many others, to at
the doors of the Pious Schools in San Pantaleo. And as many others, had obtained at the
beginning a sour rejection. These anguished petitions, insistent and urgent, which Joseph
received every time with more frequency from Bishops or civil authorities from so many
localities were his cross and joy. He was happy that they would look for him, giving
thanks to the Providence that he would give Him the opportunity of doing so much good.
He would have liked to have make everybody happy. This was his longing to teach in
person to all places. But later, when he counted the Piarists, and he saw that they were
still few and in some cases not even to the proper level. He was obliged with much pain
to say no. Besides that, it went with his personality. He was a serious man, rigorous with
himself and with others. He had much faith, but he was not for adventures or fond of
amateur attempts. He wanted to build a true school, useful for helping the children. It was
not enough to do good, but rather it was necessary to do it well. That is why sometimes
he said no although it was hurting in his heart.
However, the effort of the Pious Schools in Ligury was compensated four or five
years later after Carcare, two houses were opened in Savona and another two in Genoa,
with the novitiate in Oregina. Therefore, face to face with this small boom, after the
Roman one, Calasanz created in 1623 the first Province of the Congregation Ligury. He
entrusted this first Province to Fr. Casani.
Now, let us go to the South. It was inevitable that a popular service as the Pious
Schools, sooner or later, would find out a vital and colored reality as Naples. It happened
in 1626. The road had been made easy by Fr. Melchiore Alacchi, a Piarist from Sicily.
With all his eccentricities and defects, he had the confidence of Joseph. He was rather
smart and enterprising that Joseph had put him in charge of finding out the possibilities of
new foundations wherever he would think op portune. Alacchi, therefore, went to Naples

74
and with proper steps and good contacts, he prepared the ground. Calasanz and among
the possible choices, decided to establish a school in the Duchesca, one of the poorest,
most populated and most notorious districts. The opening of the Pious Schools meant the
cleaning of the district, since more than 600 prostitutes were put away from their narrow
streets. The children arrived in droves, more than 400 hundred in a week from the
inauguration. Therefore, soon another house was opened for the novitiate in the
Caravaggio district, near Porta Reale. And after a few years, a third one for the sick
persons was opened in Posilipo. Naples became also a motor and point of refer ence for
other foundations in the Kingdom of Naples. Houses were founded in Bisignano and
Campi Salentina, Somma Vesuviana and Cosenza that in effect, the Neapolitan Province
of the Pious Schools was created in 1636. At the beginning, it was also under the
supervision of the veteran Fr. Casani.
Joseph, if he had been able, would have become himself Provincial of Naples. He
became in love with Naples and his people, its sky and the sea, the luminous aspect and
even the disorder. Although in some aspects he was a reserved man, he had nevertheless
a great humanity and sensibility. Otherwise, he would have not been able to understand
and appreciate the people of Naples. He would never see and realize even in his last years
his dream to end his days in Naples. As it goes, “vedi Napoli e poi muori”; see Naples
and then, you can die.
As the Province of Naples made it evident the testimony of the popular voca tion of
the Pious Schools, the Province of Tuscany in the same way, with houses in Florence,
Fanano, Pieve di Cento, Guglia and Pisa (since 1641), showed us very well the
Calasanzian spiritual and cultural aspects: the love for learning, the scientific passion,
together with the courage, the intellectual openness and the independent spirit this
passion brings with it. The Piarists from Florence, led by the Provincial Francesco
Castelli, cultivated and nourished with fervor the mathematical studies. It is true that
they founded a public school for adults teaching algebra. At that time, it was an
exceptional thing, not only in Italy but also in the whole of Europe. It was natural for
good reasons that they shared the admiration for Galileo and sided with his scientific
findings. As Galileo was getting blind and in need of help, he retired to Arcetri in 1633
after the second condemnation of the Holy Office. The people, some for admiration and
other despising them, called them “galileians.” Especially Frs. Michelini and Settini were
considered disciples of the scientific, and the second was not less than his secretary. In
his last days, with the full approval of Joseph and that in case of necessity they were even
allowed to remain during the night in the house of the scientist.
The Piarists from Tuscany were, in some way, the best in the class in the Order with
regards to culture and science. As a result they founded in Florence in the year 1638 a
superior institute, the “Noble School,” with the help of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. It did
not mean that they forgot the poor, since the money of the rich was used to continue the
other social and popular activities of the Pious Schools. On the other hand, the Piarists
from Florence not only thought about studying: they had demonstrated it giving
themselves completely during the pest of 1630, of “manzonian 3 ” remembrance, getting
for that the recognition of the whole people.

3
The Italian Plague of 1629-1631 was a series of outbreaks of bubonic plague which occurred from 1629
through 1631 in northern Italy. It claimed the lives of approximately 280,000 peoples. Milan City lost
60,000 out of 130,000. Ven ice City lost 46,000 out of 140,000. The Piarist Fathers were working in the

75
 In conclusion, let us look at what happened in the island of Sicily, the southern
insular part of Sicily is the native land of Alacchi. It is not necessary to say that Alacchi
dedicated himself completely to the founding of the Piarist Schools in the island,
although it happened differently. Among other things, after a school was opened in
Mesina, there was a double opposition by the Archbishop and the Jesuits that eventually
ejected the Piarists. There were no better winds in Palermo. However, neither Melchiori
nor less Joseph, were types of persons who surrender easily. Facing this situation, the
General sent again his deputy to the other side of the Straight, and with tenacity and
perseverance, energy and diplomacy, the island was conquered. Two are the essential
dates in the bulletin of the victory: 1633, the Pious Schools entered Palermo and Mesina;
1637, the Province of the Congregation was born in Sicily. For the island of Sardinia, we
can use a more baroque metaphor. The island was like a small Spain among the Terrene
Sea. Well, let us say that also there the gestation period was long and the birth of the
Piarist schools was painful. In 1640, the first foundation was opened in Cagliari and in
1645, the novitiate was inaugurated, also in the capital. However, the Province of the
Piarist in the island was only completed in 1661. These were 13 years after the death of
the founder.
In the meantime, during the first years of the decade that followed 1630, Joseph and
his sons had made another great step. They started the internationaliza tion of the Pious
Schools. On the other hand, could the pedagogical and social vocation of the Calasanzian
work and, have limits: national, ethnic or any other type of boundaries? Were there not
everywhere poor children to educate and to rescue? The front of the fighting against the
economic and the spiritual front, did not overcome all countries? Therefore, the Piarists
went further than the Alps, entering the German Empire, where they opened the first
school in Nikolsburg, today Mikulov, near the boundary between Austria and the Czech
Republic. How long the road from the Trastevere and Santa Dorotea to other places in
only a little more than 30 years! On the other hand, this is the way: the mission and
vocation of Rome have been and will always be universal; first within the Roman Empire
and later with the universal Church. The Pious Schools were not an exception to this
historical and providential rule: born among the seven hills, they could not but reach to be
world-wide. They had to apply to the school, to education, to the social promotion of the
abandoned children the ecumenical charism of the Eternal City.
The one who wanted that the Piarists would go to that land was, especially, a
powerful and determined Cardinal, Francis of Dietrichstein. His grandmother was
Spanish and he was a Bishop of Almuz and an adviser to the Emperor. Nikols burg was a
residential city. The Piarists arrived there at the beginning of June, 1631. They did their
work so well that after few months it was decided to construct a new and bigger school.
The seminary was also entrusted to them eventually. In the end, with such a big fish and
as interested as Cardinal Dietrichstein, it was a blessing that to gain entrance of the Pious
Schools in those regions. Because in reality, without his prestige and tenacity, it would
have been very difficult for the Piarists to get the permission from the Holy See who was
always in doubt when it was the case of a new foundation of the Pious Schools.

northern part of Italy. Alessandro Manzoni wrote the novel: I promessi sposi (The Betrothed). Although a
novel of fiction the events are comp letely historical (Internet).

76
 Let us not talk about the difficulties that were the torment of Calasanz, much too
honest and lucid not having the fear that his sons were few and not so well prepared
every time a new school was going to be opened! Therefore, it was better that the
German Bishop was the one who would convince the Vatican as well as the same
Calasanz, maybe sweating more with the second than with the first.
After Nikolsburg, during the life of Calasanz, the Pious Schools opened its door also
in other cities of Western Europe: Litomysl, Leipnik, Straznice, and Pod olin. One of the
aspirants of the Piarist Schools was the famous Wallenstein Duke who later on became
one of its patron and protector. He became famous because he was one of the
protagonists of the Thirty Years War.
This conflict was the bloodiest war in Central Europe. The consequences on the lives
of the poor people of the time would also affect in symbiosis the activities of the Piarists.
Around 1640, the men of Calasanz arrived also in Poland, in Warsaw. The Piarists since
then, exert great influence to the cultural and educational history of this nation. The
Polish King Ladislaus IV was a great friend of the Pious Schools and of its founder. And
in the last and difficult moments of Calasanz, he would do his best to defend and help
him. But as we will see in this book, it would be in vain.

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 12
THE IDEAL TEACHER? A HOLY PIARIST
Up to now and from time to time, we have made some excerpts to talk about the
historical-political, cultural, social and ecclesiastical scenarios where Calasanz moved.
Moreover, this was to understand better the meaning and the reasons of his actions, of his
options as a man, as a Christian and as a priest. Now we are go ing to interrupt for a
moment the narration of the facts and of the circumstances that have relation with our
protagonist. We will not to talk about popes, kings, wars or diplomatic treaties, but rather
to deepen a little more in his figure as an educator, as a man of school and a teacher.
From age of forty onwards, Joseph gambled everything for the school, making of it the
only option and his one reason in life. Therefore, to understand well what kind of school
he had in his mind and tried to mold, what kind of methods and objectives were, it is
essential to discover who Calasanz was, who really Calasanz was in history, not only in
the Church but also in the society of education.
Before anything else, we must reflect upon one thing. Joseph did not act only as an
educator, and he did not act as an educator alone - forgive the play of words - but he
founded a Religious Order, a new ecclesiastical family, with the obligation, the aim and
the specific charism of teaching and educating specially the poorest. During his period,
many thought that they should remain always ignorant, to continue serving without any
protest and no absurd chance of emancipating oneself. However, who were the Piarists
for Calasanz? How should we interpret their role of Religious-Educators? What should
they do to be able to answer to the social and evangelical model thought by their
Founder? The answer, besides being found in the Statutes written by Calasanz, is also in
his life and in the lives of so many of his companions! It is also explained in the Brief
history of the foundation we have already talked about. Pope Paulus V, among other
things, said that the new born religious family should dedicate itself “especially to the in-
struction and education of the poor children,” and that its members “should work, strive,
and commit themselves to teach the children the primary elements, the grammar,
arithmetic and above all, the principles of the Catholic faith by instruct ing them in the
good deeds and holy customs, and educating them in a Christian way. This was free
tuition fee, without any recompense, without wages or salaries of any kind.”
This is certainly, in general, what the best Piarists ought to be, the “super,” starting
from Joseph. Men who become saints in the religious and communitar ian life, through
prayer and in the ascetic way of life. And at the same time, these men should dedicate
themselves, without any reservation in the instruction and catechesis of the children of
the people making them good citizens of the human and God’s cities. If the Piarist has
not given up everything unselfishly and with passion for the school, for the teaching, for
the education of the students; if he does not prepare adequately at the cultural and
professional level - as the founder took care of this aspect of the formation very much –
he will not even be sanctified. He will not be a good teacher nor a good religious! He will
betray not only the students, the families, the society, but also his vocation to the charism.
That is why Calasanz, besides the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, invented a
fourth vow, that of teaching, to sensitize and make responsible to the utmost the Piarists.
This would unite, as solid as it could, his spirituality with the professional mission, the
sanctity with the educational commitment. And to incarnate these values and to reach
these objectives, Joseph directed and guided, during his entire life his religious sons with

78
his example, with his words and also with thousands of letters he wrote continually to all
religious from his room in San Pantaleo.
And after the religious teachers, let us go to the students, that is to say, let us see what
was the didactic way of the Pious Schools and what was taught and what kind of
methods. The complete circle embraced 9 classes, and contrary to what we do today, it
was started from the “ninth” and finished with the “first,” from 6 to 15 years of age. In
general, the lowest class was the most demanding, tiresome, and the one that gave least
satisfaction to a type of teacher who was more intellectual. For Calasanz, on the contrary,
with his complete superior culture, this was his preferred one. While somebody else
sometimes tried to avoid it, he, if he could, took that position with enthusiasm. The
smallest children, together with the poorest, were for him the most beloved and the most
worthy of his attention. He became a child with them, celebrating their simplicity and
innocence, so to start all together the happy road towards the Truth. After the 9th class,
there came the “first circle” from the “eighth” to “sixth” classes. Here the children in four
years got a basic culture and preparation in reading, writing, calligraphy, first elements of
grammar, a little Latin, basic arithmetic, music, song. And for those who did not want to
continue, it allowed them to live a decent life in a store, a job in the printing press, a
worker in an aristocratic house or in a chapel as a musician. At the end of the first
obligatory circle, the second circle started with technique or humanity formation, and
therefore, finishing the complete circle, they could go to university studies, by enrolling
in the Roman College, or finding a good job; a well paid and gratifying employment. For
better understanding:
9th class = 6 -7 yrs old
8th class = 7-8 yrs old first circle
7th class = 8-9 yrs old
6th class = 9-10 yrs old
5th class = 10 -11yrs old second circle
4th class = 11-12 yrs old
3rd class = 12-13yrs old
2nd class = 13-14 yrs old third circle
1st class = 14 -15yrs old
Regarding this second circle, it is necessary to add that Joseph, as well as the other
Piarists, put their best interest. The constant tendency of the Order was to make the
teaching quality better and to elevate the level of the educational offer ings like, Latin,
diction, the rest of the humanistic disciplines and higher mathematics and the rest of the
course offerings. That is why those who teach should always be well prepared, and
therefore, Calasanz looked for the collaboration of Galileo 4 and also, even after his
condemnation of the Inquisition. He encouraged the Piarists from Florence to continue
till the end taking advantage of his Galileo’s teaching. Around 1630, Tommaso 5
Campanella in Frascati was also engaged by the Piarist schools there. It is not that he
4
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Italian physicist, mathemat ician, astronomer, philosopher and flautist. He
was perhaps the responsible for the birth of modern sciences. His views brought him into conflic t with the
ecclesiastical authorities (Internet).
5
Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639). An Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet. His most
famous work, “The City of Sun.” Campanella’s heterodox views brought him into conflict with the
ecclesiastical authorities (Internet).

79
taught to the children the ABCs, but rather during a certain time he gave Philosophical-
Theological courses to the young Piarist seminarians, and this was for him a positive
experience that moved him to write the Justification of the Pious Schools, where the
Dominican exalted the cultural and social emancipation of the people promoted by the
Piarists. In summary, Joseph and his sons always were interested in covering the whole
teaching arch, from the elemental teaching to the superior studies. This was not only to
earn satisfaction, but rather because it is their right to study for better quality of life for
the sons of the people. And in that way they would not suffer humiliation. In the end, the
history would say that the Pious Schools and its founder were right and they would gain
this battle. But in the meantime, during the life of Calasanz, what their adversaries and
people’s opposition battled against was precisely their “promotion” and opening of
superior schools for the poor children. This was go ing against the monopoly of the Jesuits
for the superior instruction, and betting for Reformation of the educational as well as the
social system of the time.
But let us go again to the classrooms of San Pantaleo and to other Pious Schools, and
let us see for ourselves their educational program. The schooling year used to last around
250 days. The vacations were in autumn, when there was much work and the farming
families would require the help of their children. During winter, the calling bell first rang
at 8 in the morning and the students studied until 11. They came back at 2 in the
afternoon to and ended at 5 in the afternoon. In summer, they started earlier and they
ended later in order to avoid the worst hot hours of the day. At the end of the lessons, the
teachers used to arrange them in line rows from smallest students to the tallest and
accompany them to their houses. People were accustomed to see these groups of children
that walked and crossed happily the streets of Rome in an orderly manner with the
teacher. From time to time, the teachers would call them to order or took part in the “hot
quarrels” in the rows. It was a heavy toil for the Piarists, but the Father General decided
that they were not mercenaries, as the teachers of the districts, and therefore they should
take the responsibility of the students even before the moral and material dangers of the
streets. After eight hours of classes, the teachers gathered together their troops and they
took long walks as far as Piaza del Popolo or as far as Esquilino (the actual site of the
Basilica of Mary Major, or as far as Trastevere or Borgo Pio, (most of these places are
about 1 or 2 kilometers far from San Pantaleo). You could hear them praying or singing
together with the children, while the women, looking out of the windows, used to smile
with tenderness. The shop- men went out to greet them and passers-by moved to the wall
to allow the children to march through while some carriages stopped.
In class, they did not use many textbooks. For reading, there were books of psalms
and in that way they read and prayed, at the same time. And the children became familiar
with the Word of God. For Latin lessons, they used the best texts, those most modern (at
that period), as the Manuel Alvarez’s grammar book, that of Francis Sanchez or Gaspare
Scioppio. All of them are innovative books. The Piarist Gianfranceso Apa 6 , encouraged
by Calasanz, published a concise grammar which was simple and clear. This would be
enough - not talking about Dragonetti7 - to show that the Pious Schools had the papers

6
Fr. Apa is the first who wrote a Latin Grammar for teaching Latin in Italian. Everything was done in
Latin until then.
7
Fr. Gaspar Dragonetti. He taught grammar and humanities in Ro me for more than forty years and then he
went to collaborate with Calasanz. He d ied when he was 115 years old, revered and mourned by all.

80
very well prepared regarding the humanities and superior studies. Nevertheless, Joseph
used to give more importance to the technical formation, as it is more useful for the
children of the poor people. These preparation was more demanded by the industry of the
time.
In addition, one would ask about the discipline, the teaching- learning relationship.
And what about punishments? The Pious schools were ahead of the times! Everything
was based on respect, trust and on the positive work for the children. In the Pious
Schools, as in the whole Order, one could feel an air of free dom, a fruit of the
renaissance, of the two reformations and of the scientific progress. It is certain that some
whip sticks were still given. We have to understand they were in the 17th century.
However, the “correction” that Joseph preferred for the students was the sacraments,
frequenting the sacraments of confession and communion. According to him, this was the
most efficacious method improve the behavior of the children. That is why the motto of
the pious Schools was and is, “Piety and Learning,” culture and faith, because in them the
true Master is only one, for the children as well as for the teachers. One Demanding
Master in the school, but even more in life.

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 13
THE JUDAS OF SAN PANTALEO
Teaching has never been an easy profession. The relationship with the chil dren is not
an easy matter. When you even try, generally you make mistakes. Moreover, the society,
the parents, the public opinion, the superiors and the authorities, do not frequently
understand the problems and the difficulties of the one who is in front of the desk. They
do not trust him and they sometimes despise him. The educator lives in suffering and
frustrations. And he avoids or sublimates these feelings continually to move forward;
unless he is a missionary or a saint. The teaching profession is a mission, sometimes
people say, though this is not an exact description from the professional point of view. It
is, on the contrary, really a true mission from the moral, spiritual, psychological and
existential viewpoints. If an educator enters every morning the classroom, not to receive
or to keep things for himself, but only for giving and serving - for sometimes it is not
enough to be a professional, it is necessary precisely to be a saint - then yes, their work
and life changes. They are transformed and they become full of joy and light. About this
Joseph Calasanz knew a little more. That in school, in the classrooms with the children or
accompanying them home through the streets of Rome, he passed the most beautiful
hours of his life. They were the fullest and happiest hours that became for him moments
because they were so happy. If he had thought only in teaching, his life had been a happy
one, a continuous amusement, a paradise on the earth (He liked teaching). Probably, he
had not been less holy. His whole happiness did not come from teaching, but from the
love he put in teaching. An absolute love, as the love of Christ. In addition, the sanctity, it
is already known, is the perfection of love.
Moreover, Joseph had to take care of governing the Order, organizing the schools,
spreading them, defending them from the violent or hidden attacks of the adversaries,
forming and guiding the companions, and this whole thing became for him a fountain of
crosses during his whole life. We have seen it in some way, and we will see it even more
in the following pages. For instance, between 1625 and 1642, before starting the very
hard calvary of the end, there was a series of events and important obstacles that Calasanz
lived through with suffering in his own life. He became the target of accusations and
oppositions, completely unjust and unfounded.
Things started in 1625. Urbanus VIII had ordered apostolic visits to all the churches,
convents, monasteries and pious works in Rome. San Pantaleo had its visit on October
27. The “Visitor” was Monsignor Anthony Seneca. At that time, there were 28 Piarists in
the community and the school was attended by 900 students, with another 200 hundred
students enrolled in the Borgo Pio School. Before the inspection, the atmosphere was
already full of criticisms and accusations from the Piarist Paolo Ottonelli about the Pious
Schools and on Fr. General, that he wrote in a letter to the Pope. After that, Ottonelli had
retracted himself and had excused himself before Joseph, but the climate was not the one
before. Therefore, during the visit and after the visit of Seneca, there were other
denunciations and accusations against the founder. Not even Casani freed him of doing
some observations. It seemed that, not so as gentlemen, many, many Judases wanted to
take advantage of the occasion of the arrival of the pontifical delegate to blow off their
resentments and questioned the authority of Fr. General. Maybe because they wanted to
be noticed and show off how zealous they were in the observance of the rule.

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 In the end, what was Calasanz accused of? What was criticized about the functioning
of the Pious Schools? It is the habitual accusation that is repeated continually: that the
General was a despot; the Order did not practice poverty; some Religious were much too
important - a bullet against Alacchi. This is a case of envy and rivalry. The teachers were
ill prepared and there were too many new foundations of schools without having enough
personnel to manage them. And some, more clever teachers - or more presumptuous -
were trying to surpass the limit of the popular teaching. For some historians, these
accusations were not completely fortuitous. For example, it is a fact that Joseph had an
authoritarian character by nature, a little centric attitude. Today we would say that he was
an expedient leader, that is to say, that he tended to decide by himself alone. However, it
was evidently exaggerated. And what was worse, the persons opposing Fr. General had
chosen the least correct and heartless ways to express themselves. It is a pity, but power
is not generally very kind. Sometimes, it is inclined to listen to those who criticize and
pay little attention to the views of the law. Therefore, in spite of the good relationship that
was established between Calasanz and Seneca, the success of the visit was rather a
disillusionment: the official records noted some of the criticisms against Fr. General and
his way of governing the Order and the schools. They invited the Piarist Order to revise
what was not going well. Not only the men opposing from the inside, but also the
enemies of Joseph and of the Pious Schools from the outside have won the battle. The
founder reacted with energy and humility. He spoke to his own and he defended himself.
He put things straight and invited everybody to take this burden. They had taken the bitter
pill. Moreover, it was the hour to start again.
It was not easy. Among these tensions, these crises, these conflicting situations that
were created inside the Order were fed and used by the adversaries of the Pious Schools.
The most sour thing for Fr. General was the fact that he could not talk about it frankly,
with his heart in his hands. Some companions accused him of being an authoritarian man,
but they even avoided making a dialogue with him. They talked behind his back. They
criticized him in hidden places and later on they came out with accusations and letters to
this or to that Cardinal, in order to show their dissatisfaction and in that way get
somebody to intervene. However, around Joseph, there was like a curtain of silence:
mouths shut, fake smiles, formal approvals, and in the meantime, there was fire under the
ashes. It is a continuous systematic situation up to the General Chapter meeting convened
by Calasanz in 1627. It was carried out in San Pantaleo, between the 11th and 14th of
November. The major responsible of the Pious Schools from the Provinces of Naples,
Geneva, Rome, the rector of the Roman novitiate and others participated in this
convocation. It was the ideal occasion to talk about everything and to pull out from the
sack criticisms and lamentations. They were there for that and they represented the whole
Order, and even the founder encouraged them to be open. Nevertheless, nothing
happened. Moreover, it happened that in the agenda there were important themes such as
poverty, and the rights of the General to expel the offenders of very grave faults…
Everything was discussed as if there would be a complete agreement. But some months
later, when the results of the Apostolic Visit were known - they were communicated to
the Pious Schools about three years later after it was carried out - one could imagine the
confusion, the painful amazement of Joseph. Now he understood that if the authorities
were pointing the finger to the Order in the way we know, it did not depend much about
what Seneca had seen with his own eyes during the inspection, but rather what some

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Piarists had told and narrated to him in their own way. In the General Chapter meeting
nothing had come out about the revolts nor that some sons were disgusted with him. The
father had to find out and deduce from the warnings of the Superiors.
These and other problems for the Founder were repeated and increased through out
the general chapters of the Order that were held the years 1631, 1637 and 1641. During
these occasions, during and after the meetings, there were talks rumors and out went the
customary criticisms, slanders, and defamation campaign, using denunciations and letters
directed to Prelates of the Vicariate of the Holy See. The accusations were more or less
what we have seen, sometimes adding the latest happenings according to the consumer,
half- truths and exaggerations. For example, what Joseph called “inconvenient report”
caused a scandal, spread the eve of the chapter of 1631. Many things were there. Besides
the ordinary protests, the General and the Assistants were accused of giving the habit to
people of the lowest social class, capable of doing everything but teaching, with the only
purpose of increasing the number in the Order and therefore their power. The Vatican,
being unable of asking the accuser the proof and the basis of the denunciations, - the pro-
memorial was anonymous - gave the document back to Joseph, obliging Joseph, in an
impudent way, to demonstrate his innocence. In addition, long live the Roman law,
inherited by the Church!
Nevertheless, this was nothing in comparison to the denigration campaign started in
1631 against Calasanz and the other Superiors by the Piarist cleric whose name and
surname was known, for the first time: Gianfrancesco Castiglia. Confessing that he acted
not out of love to the truth and justice, but rather “because he had received an offense” -
that is to say, by indignation - Castiglia wrote not only one, but many of the accustomed
memorials. He sent them to the Pope and to many members of the Curia. Later, he also
repented and tried to put a remedy, but the fuse was already on fire. In fact, once more,
the authority thought seriously of inviting the Piarist General to ask for an excuse. The
Cardinal Anthony Barberini, who had received also the report of Castiglia, called Joseph.
When Calasanz arrived to the palace of the Prelate, the lobby and the hall were full of
people, members of the staff, noble visitors, foreigners, well, everybody important. The
Superior of the Pious Schools remained in a corner standing as a fish out of water.
Immediately, the door of the office was opened and from there came out the Cardinal in
an angry face. He stopped at the entrance, looked around those who were present and as
soon as he recognized Calasanz, he went directly to him. When he was near, he pointed
his finger and scolded him in a loud voice, so that everybody could hear him.
“What do you have in your head, Fr. Joseph?” he told him very angrily. “The measure
is already full! What is said of you and your Order cannot be forgiven. You are not
Religious, you are a group of adventurous, unthinkable, that live in pride and discord.
What a school of the poor! You use the sons of the poor people to be loved, to become
popular and going higher. You have come from Spain to destroy the social order, to
disturb the peace of the honest persons and to create illusions in the heads of the poor
people. Now I understand why the Canestrari street, behind your house, is called ‘the
Spaniards sewer.’ However, we know what kind of serpent you are, ready for everything
as long as to give satisfaction to your ambitions, your vanity, and your thirst of riches and
power. They have un-masked you, my beloved reverend.” He concluded in a sarcastic
way “Be in peace! Because neither you, nor those thinkable schools have any future.”

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 Calasanz became pale and knelt down, a little because of humility and another little
because his knees were unable to bear that hurricane of reproaches. He asked the
Cardinal to listen to him alone for a moment. The other, a little pacified from the
uneasiness, agreed and went rapidly to his office. Joseph followed him, wiping his
sweating face with a handkerchief given by one bystander. The witnesses looked at him
in silence, surprised and incredible. Something grave must have been done by that old
priest - they thought - to be so treated like this. The Fr. General, with his patience and his
reasons, exposing with serenity the facts, had to convince Barberini of his innocence.
However, certainly, the evil, as it is the custom, left an ugly footprint in the opponents o f
the Pious Schools who were every time stronger and more ready to demolish them. The
internal opponents of the founder were lifting up their heads and the authorities had
become jealous of Joseph and his sons. They were distrusting systematically in
promoting new foundations every time something like that happened. It is “better to be a
gate man or an infirmarian - maybe under the sun of Naples! - than to have the job I
have,” used to repeat Calasanz during those difficult moments. Nevertheless, after that,
he offered everything to the Lord and he again took the weight of the cross upon his
shoulders and continued on.

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THE VICTIM

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 14
THE JOB OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
From now on, Calasanz would not be only the teacher, the educator, the Fr. General,
the priest, the founder. He would be also the saint: talking about him, we will call him in
this way. The chapters we are starting here go from the year end of the 1620s to 1648.
This is the last step of the worldly itinerary of Joseph over a period of twenty or more
years, when he was already seventy years old. This period will end when he reached
ninety. Therefore, it was a period when the founder of the Pious Schools had gotten,
without any doubt, not only the sanctity, but also even the fullness of it. Those twenty
years were not the end of all his fatigues, nor the start of a quiet old life in pension. On
the contrary, a very hard and stormy period would end, as for Christ, only with death.
Therefore, the Calasanz of the “great tribulation,” as he was remembered in the tradition
of the Pious Schools, is worthy to be called, more than ever, “the saint.”
Of course, with this we do not want to say that Joseph became a saint when he was 70
years old and not before. What we have narrated until now demonstrates the contrary.
The road of sanctity for him started early on and it lasted his whole life, and always
through winding roads and mined grounds. One is not born a saint but rather he becomes
a saint - although God’s election is before anything else. Calasanz started to be a saint, as
we have seen, from childhood. He grew and became mature, fused and purified in this
sanctity with body and mind, in culture and character, to the heights of sanctity during the
years and travails we are going to narrate.
Nevertheless, before the narration of these facts, let us stop for a moment near the
man who lived them. Although we already know him rather well, let us look at him with
more calm. Let us look at the aspects of his character, spirituality and in his particular
interpretation of the Christian sanctity. Or better still, let us see how the life and the
grace, the fatigues and the sufferings were molding and polishing him. We have many
pictures of our saint, although no one from his time that we might know. In any case, all
these paintings are more or less reliable because they seem similar to each other and are
not in contradiction. Let us stop at three of them that correspond to three periods of his
life; the three moments or stages of the life o f Joseph. One of them is from Segrelles,
entitled “The Vocation of Saint Joseph Calasanz.” It depicts rather a young man, around
35-40 years of age, tall, rather thin but well formed, almost stout, as he really was, a
handsome and a strong man, with brown skin. The painting shows a Latin man with
beard and black hair with a little receding temples. He has a priest’s hat, not on his head,
but it is held in his hand, with grace, unconscious of the perfect image of a cleric. On the
other hand is a closed small book - the breviary. It could be a prayer book or a book of
culture, with his thumb finger between the pages to mark the page. He has not finished
reading it yet, but he has seen something that distracted him that now attracts his whole
attention. In reality, to the left of the picture there is a small group of children that are
fighting brutally. The priest is looking at them, with a worried and sad face. He has not
intervened yet, but he is ready for that. At the background of the characters is a great
light: representing the grace or the divine providence painted on the way of that man with
some ragged small children, needing moral and intellectual education to enable him to
observe, understand, choose and work for them. Moreover, Joseph gives us the feeling
that he understands the message. The reality is that he stopped, has left reading and he is

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entering fast into a crisis - the culture! … If you have it and you do not communicate to
others out of love, you are only an empty bronze bell that sounds or clanging cymbals.
The second picture is from the painter Luca Giordano. On the foreground, Calasanz is
about 60 year old. With curled beard, the mustache and the eyebrows have become white,
while the few hairs that remain are more brown, as if the youth and the energy would not
like to give up to the years that go on. With short hair, as a protest also against the 17th
century baroque, with the long hair, corkscrew hairs and curled wigs. The ears are very
much close to the head and the nose, without being properly aquiline, is a little long and a
little irregular, but not big, nor ugly. The face is deepened with hard furrows as an effect
of the penitence and of the ascesis. It is also because of the age, fatigue and an original
thinness. However, the most important of the body painting are the eyes. In the center of
the image, they seem to hypnotize the observer, provoking a mute dialogue with him.
They are sweet, tranquil, serene without being happy. They are intelligent, acute, deep,
without being proud, nor pedant. They are eyes that know everything, but he remains
simple, as the one who knows the suffering but not the discouragement.
At the end, the third picture of a genius painter, Goya - he also Spanish - with a
masterpiece painting of the Last Communion of Saint Joseph Calasanz. We are in San
Pantaleo Church: the vaults are obscure and from an arch a soft ray of light comes down.
And on the altar is a famous Piarist priest in liturgical vestments who is offering a
consecrated host. He is offering the Host with great attention and respect, due to the fact
that the one who receives it is the Fr. General - the “holy old man,” as they called him -
just a little before dying. Joseph is kneeling upon a cushion, that surely he did not want,
without liturgical vestments because they could be too heavy for him, but only with a
stole around his collar, since he was a priest and he is celebrating with him in a spiritual
way. He has his arms dropped down because of the sickness. He is weak and he is
already 91 years old, the hands together, his eyes closed and the mouth open. He is in the
moment of receiving the consecrated host. It is always he, the same face, the same
physiognomy and the same somatic features. He has lost almost all of his hair, the
tonsure that is left around his temples is candid, the cheeks sinking. The hands and the
face are the only things that are uncovered, and they are not brown as before, but white,
diaphanous. Calasanz is at the zenith of his life, of suffering and sanctity, and in this
situation he is ready to go from this world to eternity. This profound moment of a saint,
not in his last moment before death but of his resurrection is excellently depicted by that
soft ray of light projected from above that reaches Joseph and by the so lemn attitude of
the Piarists and students kneeling in the background. In fact, their faces show consolation
rather that affliction. They pray in front of the mystery more divine than human. Even the
golden vestment of the celebrant and the stole are symbo ls of the resurrection and glory,
as in Golgotha after everything is fulfilled.
Seeing him so tall and corpulent in his mature years, Calasanz might exudes a sense
of security, of solidity, to the companions, to the students and to all per sons that came
close to him. And this impression, this sensation, when somebody talked to him, knew
him better, treated him a little, did not disappear, did not change, but rather it was
confirmed in full; it was not an intuition, but rather it became a reality, a certainty and an
evidence of his character. And this because Joseph was inside as outside, that is to say, a
person really strong, of solid character, with that positive energy, that tranquil and master
vitality that does not come from the nerves or from the will, but rather is innate by

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constitution. Therefore, as it happens in these cases, he was also a man of peace, stable,
with equilibrium and with a marvelous personality, self-assured. His ideas did not weigh,
generally, upon the others, and he did not cause fear. The majority of the people are not
like this. They are full of weaknesses, insecurities, contradictions and interior conflicts
that make them weaker, insecure, vulnerable to the tests of life and the continuous
aggressions of others. It is also known that even among the saints and blessed, there are
nervous by nature, unstable and maybe even neurotic personalities. The disposition of the
psyche and the disturbances of the personality can live together with sanctity. Even more,
it can help the soul to get holier, precisely because of the burden of the problems and
suffering they cause to the person. The burden is sometimes terrible, unbearable,
continuous and hard. Nevertheless, Joseph was not a nervous saint and much less a
neurotic one. He was a peaceful person, strong, secure and with equilibrium, as it has
been said. Perhaps his parents were probably of that character. Or maybe, he thought of
cultivating and strengthening these hereditary traits with an ascetic way of life in
penitence, prayer, meditation, interior life, vigilance, in the exercises of will and virtues,
vision and acceptance of all circumstances and experiences of the beauty and happiness
of life. And above anything else, with a continuous and loved cooperation with the grace.
To get that it would become a whole with his body, soul, words, gestures, thoughts,
desires, and dreams. In a word, his whole “he.” Another aspect, or if you want, another
character trait of Calasanz was his simplicity. This Spaniard, transplanted on the seven
hills of Rome, was a simple man, without complications nor duplicity, and without
mental reservations. He did not “sophisticate,” nor create intrigues. He did not make the
problems bigger, nor he was stopped by the pros and contras. He was not lost among the
puzzles and labyrinths where so many people are trapped and went around in the empty
spaces. For him, white was white, and black was black. Yes was yes and no was no, as
Jesus says in the Gospel. Moreover, it does not mean that he was superficial, ingenuous,
or one for whom everything is easy because he is not intelligent or does not have
acuteness, nor the responsibility to see the problems and the difficulties that could happen
in some circumstances or could come from certain decisions or initiatives. It was not like
that. The simplicity of Calasanz was like his strength, that is to say, always a fruit of his
equilibrium, rationality, spiritual energy, serenity, maturity, wisdom and an experience
accumulated and weighted with the scale of reason, culture, and with all the human
faculties which the Renaissance had discovered and so much exalted. Simplicity as an
election of life, as a conquest and method, as an evangelical style! And this was not for
reducing, impoverishing and making banal the reality, but rather to build with confidence
and commitment something solid and beautiful, maybe for his own sanctification or for
the relationships with to others, or for the spreading of the Pious Schools.
Besides this, the simplicity of Calasanz was really united not only to sincerity and
honesty - of course for one who wants to become a saint - but also to that quality typical
of the populace of the Iberian peninsula and to Aragon region, that is to say, the sobriety.
Yes, Calasanz was also this, a serious man, radical, without devices and sentimentalism.
A man clearly anti-baroque, and therefore, against the current, without glitters, super-
structures and the megalomania of the baroque. However, even about this, we can be
precise. The aridity of Joseph was not frigidity; it was not lacking humanity, it was not
insensibility or apathy, emotive inertia. On the contrary, during his whole life, especially
at school, in his relations with children and youth, but also in many occasions in his

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relations with companions and other persons, Calasanz showed to himself be a whole
man. He was lively, made of flesh and bones and with blood in his veins, a sensible
person, with passion, sweet, delicate, with affection, able to laugh and play, of dreaming
and becoming enthusiastic, of being interested in others, of being moved. Some times -
and let us mention this so that we may not present a picture of our hero too angelic and
idealized (the saints, too, were from this earth) or used to be carried away a little by his
sentiments and by his affection. For example with Fr. Alacchi; he defended him always
by all means, although many Piarists had their every reason to criticize him. With Fr.
Cherubini he would count upon him in spite of all his faults, at least for a time and also
with a certain understanding and would cover his faults. Why and how, we will see.
What more could we say about the character of Joseph? He was a moderate man,
cautious, grounded in reality. We could say that he proceeded with great caution, at least
when we think about his negations, postponements or diplomatic answers that he gave
sometimes regarding the continuous petitions to initiate another school which arrived on
his desk from all parts. But this prudence, this common sense or measured sense, did not
impede him from running and flying high when it was about cultivating dreams, making
projects, going from one house to other, not being afraid of the expansion of the Pious
Schools in Europe. It is so certain, as we have seen, that even with his who le prudence
and disregard to so many petitions and pressures from among the companions and
ecclesiastical authorities, there were people who did not stop in accusing him of temerity
of in opening too many schools without having enough teachers to send and in ignoring
the limitations imposed by the Holy See to the development of the Pious Schools. In
summary and on the other hand, we can find in Calasanz with a little of those
contradictions, sometimes only apparent. But they nevertheless are proper of the great
spirits, of superior personalities like him. He was a man with his feet on the ground, yes,
but he knew also how to be audacious, bold, and op portune. When he knew that it was
necessary to do so, he acted with decision and grasped the opportunity a lmost by chance.
This kind of analysis should be repeated regarding his will, his tenacity. He was an
upright man. If he was convinced of one thing, of having the truth, he went to the bottom
of the matter without any respect. That is why there were people who said that he was
obstinate, stubborn and that it was impossible to reason out with him. But, who can be a
good educator, a founder and organizer of schools? Who can be a religious leader, a man
of success, in his way, a victor and fulfilled man as our saint was; without being ductile,
diplomatic, psychological, and with so many and different persons with whom he had to
rely on everyday during his whole life? Therefore, here too, Calasanz knew how to play
two cards, keeping firmness in his conviction and decisions and at the same time, a
certain understanding and availability with others. In summary, it can be said that in
many things, with the Latin character of our saint, taking good care of it, he was half
Spanish and half Italian. He was the authentic Spaniard; a genuine man from Aragon
Region, that is to say, passionate, fitting, austere, tenacious, active. But he was welded
and kneaded by the Italian sun and the breeze of Rome, prone to take the drama of things,
to polish the roughness, to moderate, be a “philosopher,” understanding, even indulging
in human weaknesses.
With this character, with this unwinding nor complicated personality, as we have
seen, but rather rich and full of facets, Joseph had molded through the years a very
particular spirituality - the great saints are always creative and genial re garding

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spirituality - trying that it would adapt to all corners, to all folds of his “I.” As a good
Spaniard, grown up and formed in his land, he was a little like Ignatius, a knight of faith,
a man of studies and action, ready to bet everything for God, for the Church, the Pastors
and the Christian people. When he went to get the demon to kill him with his knife he
was still very young, but also from this fact we can already derive something o f his active
and militant style of fighting and passionate, generous and heroic in the way of living the
faith and of fighting for the truth, for the good of the souls, the destruction of the evil and
for his sanctification. On the other hand, he was differe nt from Ignatius – an adult
vocation and a religious that was not integrated from the beginning in the ecclesiastical
body. Joseph was in everything and by all, a man of the Church, first as a seminarian-
student, later as a presbyter in collaboration with the bishops; with delicate and
responsible jobs, Then, he became as a parish priest and as a principal Prelate in his Dio-
cese. In addition, who knows where he would have reached if he had remained or went
back to Spain! Therefore, the image of the Spanish Calasanz is the one of a culture
Presbyter, pious, zealous, who does his best in serving the Church, the neighbor and in
that the contradictions, scandalous, and anti-testimonies he saw everywhere in the life of
the Church. For him, the Spouse of Christ, with all her defects and sins is always the
mother and teacher one must love and serve without any reservation, even doing or doing
again what others do not do, or do badly, or undoing.
When he was around 30 years old, the spirituality of Joseph was not only that of a
Presbyter. As we have seen, he was impregnated and modeled by the encounter with the
Religious Orders - the Jesuits, the Trinitarians, the Benedicts, the Franciscans, the
Dominicans, and the Carthusians - who transmitted to him the love for communitarian
life and the choral prayer, for the poverty, the work and the contemplation in silence. In
addition, regarding the silence and contemplation, another important piece in the mosaic
of the Calasanzian spirituality is the lesson of Teresa of Jes us, her interpretation of the
religious life, the fascination of her mystical experience, the admiration in reading of her
works. Nevertheless, had Teresa, John of the Cross and his Reformed Carmel, existed
without the Trent Council? The answers implies also Calasanz who as we have seen
repeatedly, he was not only a good priest and a sincere admirer of the more perfect
religious orders. But also, he was a progressive priest, a convinced reformer, a Christian
and a man of the Church, who considered the application of the Trent Decrees as a cat-
egorical imperative and the most necessary Ecclesial urgency of the moment. As the
other great saints and Catholic persons of the second half of the 16th century, Joseph too
had an authentic Trent spirituality of a reformer and of renovation.
On this aspect and it was precisely in Rome, the center and motor of the Catholic
reformation, that made Calasanz one of the great spirit of renewal of Catholicism after
Trent. His long Roman period of almost seventy years - was the fullness with the hot and
fertile summer of his life’s formation, of his maturity, and of his spiritual, human,
educational and apostolic experience. But Italy and Rome would give also other
contributions, other facets, to the spirituality of Joseph. For example, the Marian piety,
the culture to the saints and martyrs, the veneration of the relics, the practice of
pilgrimages, together with many other expressions of the popular devotion that would
become an integral part of the culture, sensibility and wa y of acting of our Saint. Let us
not talk now of his Franciscan vein in his soul and in his personality, that as we have
seen, becomes more lively and richer after his arrival in Italy, during the contacts with the

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Friars of Santi Apostoli, the working in the Fraternity of the Wounds and above anything
else, the pilgrimages to Assisi and maybe also to other Franciscan shrines.
With this whole character and spirituality, Calasanz, first in Spain and later on in
Italy, especially in Rome, walked the road of sanctity as far as the highest places. He is
the saint of love, mercy, human warm, understanding and solicitude for the children, the
youth, the poor, the last ones, the excluded from the welfare and culture, from the power
and dignity. He is the saint of battle and sacrifice, work and fatigue, social commitment
and service, audacity and tenacity in preparing and constructing a better world, a more
just and fraternal society, a brighter and secure tomorrow for the abandoned children, for
the children of the people, for the marginalized. He is the saint of infants and adolescents,
of culture and education, of the instruction and of the school understood as a fraternal
community. It is a school where one is taught, studies, and learns to become really much
better person and in all aspects. It is where to live as good Christians and to put into
practice the Gospel; to make of this earth, although maybe not the mirror of the kingdom
of heaven – since the saints never are utopian persons –neither an antithesis.
However, he is especially the saint of humility, patience, meekness and hope. We
have already seen the difficulties, the problems, the oppositions faced by Jo seph in the
foundation and direction of the Pious Schools. Obstacles and crosses everywhere, without
stopping, from the powerful, the jealous and also from some of his companions in the
community. Added to these trials were the sweat, fatigues, efforts and the school work, in
educating and in organizing everything everyday. Altogether, and as the years were going
on, these indispositions and sufferings were increasing and becoming worse in spite of
his strong character. The last seven or eight years were an impressive tragedy. As we will
see it in the next chapters, the events that unfolded would cause other persons, not so
strong or not so holy as Joseph, to become crazy or to be discouraged. Nevertheless,
Calasanz lived and faced also this last disgusting period as he had faced and solved all the
hard and difficult moments of his past life: with humility, patience, and resignation; with
an interior peace, a meekness that was worthy of being called “the Job of the New
Testament.” Here maybe, is his most typical character, the key to understand Joseph, the
master piece of his sanctity. It is the main reason to admire, to honor and take him as a
model to follow. Therefore at this point of our story, we are now closing in a harmonious
way the life circle of Joseph Calasanz. We will see now the unity of what was narrated in
the beginning about his character and about his moral strength. In fact, if Calasanz has
been the Christian Job, the Job of the XVI century Rome, the Job of Parione, of the
Roman center, he has been it not only because he was a saint, an evangelical man, full of
grace, “another Christ,” but also because he has the virtue of a strong man. And that
strength (paradoxically), he did not use to dominate nor to conquer in a human way
which sometimes destroys. But he used it to serve God and the brothers; to carry the
cross, to hope in the resurrection and to become perfect as the Father in heaven.

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 15
THE ANTAGONISTS
Now that we know a little more deeply what kind of man Saint Joseph was, we can
accompany him better, closer, through the via dolorosa (Way of the Cross) that indicates
the last stage of his road; the one which goes from 1640 till his death. The Order of the
Pious Schools, with the good it had done and the growth it achieved, had arrived at the
beginning of the year 1640 with impressive results and in some aspects positive.
However, as we have seen, the problems and difficulties were not absent and neither were
the adversaries. Therefore, the religious family Calasanz had founded was as if it lived
and developed in a situation of a chronic instability, due also to the fact that the Fr.
General was not the despot somebody said.
Let us see, for instance the problem of the “Lay Brothers” that during many years
were the principal fountain of preoccupations and the torment of the Pious Schools. This
“case” was so complicated and difficult that Calasanz tended to show more dialogue and
listening by giving his trust in the companions and his openness to the new things in tune
with the new times that were changing. This openness and confidence, sometimes were
not properly answered but betrayed. Nevertheless, let us see better what we are talking
about.
In the Piarists, like in the other Religious Orders, there had been from the beginning
Fathers and “working” Brothers, that is to say, lay-brothers or converted-brothers.
However, some of them were teaching as the priests were doing so though it was only in
the classes of the small children. With time, they started to complain and requested for a
more adequate treatment. They said that at school they found more difficulties than the
priest-teachers. They were not respected by the students and were considered as second
class teachers. Many students made fun of them and treated them, no matter what, like
servants. Therefore, when the General Congregation met in 1627, this problem was
addressed. It was decided to give clerical biretta and tonsure to the lay-brothers who were
teaching. And from then on, they would not be called lay-brothers, but “lay-clerics,” and
because of that, they would be a middle category between the priests and the lay-brothers
in charge of the domestic and most humble services.
It was another revolutionary change in the history of the Religious Orders and the
Founder had approved and authorized it, maybe to meet the necessity of teachers who
were not priests and in this way to make the school function for the better. It was also
perhaps to show the confidence he had with Fr. Casani who was convinced of this good
idea improvement. And as the Provincial, he had already experienced of this problem in
the community of Ligury. This step was not an improvised one, but rather it was part of
maturing. It was the fruit and completion of a new interpretation of the religious and
communitarian life in the religious family of Joseph; with less hierarchy, less dualistic
priests- lay brother relationship and more participation, more equality, more evangelical
fraternity. All the Religious Orders and Congregation at the time in the Church took in
this democratic spirit as their own, at least in theory. But Calasanz and his community, as
a good follower of the Catholic Reformation movement, had chosen one of the very first
to apply this spirit in their community.
On the other hand, and returning to the Piarists, returning back to the problems of the
Piarist community of the time, the lay-clerics, after they had been “promoted” should not
aspire and give up to be ordained as priests. They should give up to teach more important

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matters subjects in the higher classes. Regard ing this point, Fr. General had been very
clear and firm from the very beginning, and would never give in to ordain lay clerics as
priests. This is for the interest of the school as well as to maintain the dignity of the
priesthood.
Nevertheless, things did not go through the right path and this valiant and modern
reformation and accord to the Evangelical spirit, faced limitations and human faults that
produced two pernicious effects. On the one hand, after a short time, more and more
clerics longed for the priesthood. Not to be less than others, they wanted to teach the
older boys, to have more prestige and even intended to go up the hierarchy of the Order.
On the other hand, many lay brothers pretended simply and only to be promoted to clerics
to live a life not so hard, and in that way to avoid sweeping, cooking or going for alms
during the rest of their days. Therefore, around 1630 a situation of uneasiness and general
tension was created that the Provincials, in order to maintain peace, were obliged to cede
and give satisfaction to some cases. In that way, the Pious Schools were full of teachers
for teaching higher subjects matters. There were then many of working brothers and of
incompetent priests who didn’t know how to prepare their teaching lessons. The teaching
of the spirituality also suffered as a consequence. While there were less and less people
who wanted to be employed in the domestic chores and service tasks. Moreover, adding
to this, and during this time of confusion and relaxation, the Superiors also became more
lenient in the admission of novices. We can see that the Order very soon was reaching a
very imminent level of relaxation.
We can imagine the bitterness and the preoccupation of Fr. General in front of this
situation. In many letters, he invited the provincials and others responsible, to be more
cautious and diligent in the admission and promotion of the religious to all levels and
jobs. “They are destroying the Order,” he said once while talking about the Superiors of
Geneva and Naples. Regarding the slope the Order was facing, everything was in da nger:
the good functioning of the schools, the quality of the Religious Life and the internal
relations, the same identity and survival, considering that there were many enemies ready
to take advantage of the difficulties or of the false steps of the Pious Schools, in order to
give the last attack and destroy them. The Order was facing a downward slope and
everything was in danger. It threatens the operations of the various schools. The quality
of the religious life and the community rapport was suffering and the same identity and
the survival of the Order was at stake. More so, there were many enemies who were
ready to take advantage of these difficulties o r the false steps of the Pious Schools in
order to destroy them and deal the last blow. It was necessary to do something. Therefore,
after ten years of foundation, the General Chapter of 1637 was obliged to abolish the said
category of lay clerics and reserve the teaching only to the priests and clerics. The
experience was a failure and the situation in the schools returned back as before. It came
back, more or less, to the situation before. However, neithe r a decision nor a pen has ever
been able to completely erase out the bad customs, the snares, the mistaken roads,
distortions and old vices. Therefore, the bad tempers and the inquietudes continued like
snakes causing damage and keeping the religious family of Calasanz in a permanent state
of uneasiness, disgust and instability. The fire under the ashes was waiting for somebody
who would stir it, and would blow upon it to convert it into a devastating fire. This
situation was truly a pity! But this waiting was not going to be long.

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 All these events show among other things, and it happens frequently in the historical
growth of many Religious Orders, as the numbers grew in the Piarist Order, together with
many valuable elements and saintly members, inevitably some mediocre individuals
started to penetrate the Order. These negative persons had really nothing to do with the
model of the Founder and of his early companions. As we have seen that since not so
long before, the Piarists had started to admit novices without properly screening their
vocation to the religious life and to the Piarist life in particular. That is why there were so
many conflicts and so many tensions. There were rotten apples; religious without any
quality and sometimes without equilibrium, that were destabilizing the Order. This was
poisoning the climate atmosphere of the community and impairing the name of the Pious
Schools, causing continuous problems and disgust to Fr. General and trying his patience.
Two of these individuals in particular, are Stefano Cherubini and Mario Sozzi, who made
of the last years of the “old saint” a true martyrdom, dragging along him and the Pious
Schools into the dust and the mud. Therefore, let us try to find out who were these
protagonists, or better, these antagonists of Joseph in the final obscure tragedy. They
were inspired by the absolute evil and were allowed by the mysterious designs of the
Divine Providence to ruin the Order.
Cherubini had entered the Order in 1617, when he was 17 years old. And as a Piarist,
he was called Stefano degli Angeli. However, our “celestial guards” (refer ring to “degli
Angeli”), as we will see, would have little to do in his life and person in the Piarist Order.
His father, Laercio, was a jurisconsult and auditor of the Roman Curia, while one of his
brothers, Angelo Maria, was a monk in Montecasino, and they both would have influence
on him in the long run. Laercio, from Nursia, but a resident in Frascati, had helped much
when was the Pious Schools were opened the place there. And from that time on, he had
become a good friend of Calasanz. Moreover, this can explain the protection and maybe a
little disputable behavior of the founder in his rapport with Fr. Stefano.
After the solemn vows in 1624 and his priestly ordination in 1626, Fr. Stefano was
nominated rector of the Narni house. He was rather skillful, espe cially as an administrator
and organizer. He took good care of what today we call public relations. He and Fr.
General used to write each other frequently. Joseph took special care about this young
religious as he considered him a good “acquisition” and a very promising priest for the
Order. With his counsels and his recommendations, he tried to help him grow and work
as well as possible. At the beginning, no one could say that this confidence and
expectations were not well justified or unfounded, since Fr. Stefano was intelligent and
had received a good education. We could call him what we call a distinguished person
and used to appear well. Only that these qualities had a contrary negative influence in his
ambition for power, honors, some inclination to be noted. He was a person who wanted to
show off and wanted to always be protagonist of the situation. Besides that, he was an
effeminate person and had too much refined and worldly manners for a religious. He was
a little bit inclined to vanity and he had nothing of being an ascetic person! But on the
contrary, he was one of those who always criticized in public the austerity and the spartan
life style of the Order. In summary, he was a son of a good family; protected from above
and a typical son of the baroque century family. And that besides having intellectual gifts
and knowing how to please the others, these were not so much in harmony with the spirit
and mission of the Pious Schools.

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 The facts demonstrated it soon. Let us see it. In November 1627, Fr. Stefano was
moved to Naples where he should help Fr. Provincial, Fr. Casani, in administrative
matters and in the organization of the house. For two years, everything went well. After
that, suddenly, during the autumn of 1629, the bomb exploded. Joseph received a letter
from Fr. Casani that accused accusing Cherubini, with many proofs and witnesses, of
having molested some students of the Piarists, forc ing them to do with him obscure
things. For Calasanz, it was a hard blow. More than once he had cautioned the Superiors
to be vigilant regarding that “pest,” that is to say, about the pederastic danger, abuses and
violence that could happen at the schools. It would be the worst and the most vile way of
mudding and discrediting them definitely. And now it was clear that one of the best gifted
and promising elements priest had been stained with the fault. He became a danger for
the children, for the house of Naples and for the whole Pious Schools.
It was necessary to intervene. In accord with Fr. Casani, he found out the way that
Cherubini would leave Naples by nominating him general visitor of the schools of the
Roman Province. Later on, at the beginning of 1631, a process and investigation against
him was opened in Rome. Some children and Napolitan youth were heard as witnesses.
All the accusations and hints proof evidences were again reviewed and at the end, it was
clear that the culpability of the accused was true. Cherubini, on his part, had always
rejected all the accusations and during the process had been declar ing himself innocent.
But when he understood that this would not be enough to avoid the possible
condemnation that was coming upon him, he went to high positions and with the help of
his brother Flavio and some prelates from the Curia, he got everything stopped.
Therefore, he remained among the Piarists at the direct order supervision of Fr. General,
taking care of the administration of different houses. In addition, he was intending
revenge. In fact, although he officially had not been condemned, his position and the per-
spective future prospects he could embrace, were not anymore the same as before.
In this whole sad matter, it was not that Joseph behaved in an incorrect way, but it is
was evident that for the reasons we have seen, he did not act in a hard way. On the other
hand, his moderation though did not impede that the process investigation would go on
and which almost sentenced Fr. Stefano. And this would have meant his expulsion from
the Pious Schools. The reality was that if Calasanz had moved more rapidly and after
proving the culpability of Cherubini had he exercised immediately his faculty of sending
away the gravely unworthy elements out of the Order, without waiting so long for him to
organizing and being able to counter attack, justice would have been carried out.
Analyzing how things came out on the long run, we do not have the right to judge since
the one who paid more than anybody else for the continued stay of Cherubini in the
Order, other than the victims of the schools, was the founder himself, as we shall see
later.
The damage that C herubini inflicted on the Order and its Founder was nothing
compared to the problems and difficulties that another individual by the name of Mario
Sozzi induced on the Pious Schools and led to the ruin of Joseph himself. He was from
Umbria, from Chiusi. He was from a town called Chiusi in the province of Umbria. He
was born in 1608 and he was admitted to the no vitiate when he was 20 years old, that is
to say, in 1630, when the Order was already in dirty waters, by the whole inconveniences
related to the matter problems of the lay brothers. More so, Mario Sozzi spent his
novitiate in Naples, a vital and worthy city of the Pious Schools. But during that period,

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the School in Naples did not give serious attention to the promotion of the lay brothers to
clerics and to the rigorous admission process of novices to the Order. And, in 1627, as we
would know, at the beginning of 1630, Cherubini had arrived to help and he would
remain there until the beginning of 1630. This Umbria novitiate probably knew him and
was influenced negatively by becoming his friend, at least for the facts that followed.
But putting aside the problems of the Neapolitan environment during the difficult
moments of the Order when the internal relationships were not so good, we may ask what
kind of novice or what kind of religious aspirant and for that matter what kind of priest, a
Piarist was he first of all? Probably he was not one of the best.
At that time, there were still many people who knocked at the doors of the seminaries
or of the Religious Orders, not because of vocation, but rather to find out a secure and
tranquil refuge in the jungle of life and society of the time. They were looking for an
honorable situation, sometimes too, for a means to make build a career, to become rich
and to give orders. Besides, some poor people, in some few cases, entered the convent to
have a roof upon on their heads, a bed to sleep and a secure piece of bread. The Catholic
Reformation was trying to eliminate all this. But to change things, time was nece ssary.
Therefore, at the beginning of the 17th century, even the new Orders that were born after
the Council of Trent, were in fatal danger of contamination that still was reaching and of
false vocations and bad acquisitions. That is why Joseph, as we have seen, was really
worried about this situation and he continually would recommend the provincials and the
superiors to be very careful in accepting novices, having the danger of drying out the
young plant and of shipwrecking the Pious Schools.
From the options he took later and the way he behaved, one can deduce that Mario
Sozzi had become a Piarist not to become a saint as a poor Religious and nor to teach in
an unselfish way to the youth, but rather to reach an honorable so cial rank, to do high
work, get the esteem of the people and maybe to conquer his own powerful place in the
Order, especially now that the Piarist were consolidating and spreading in Italy and
abroad. Notwithstanding the adversaries, the critics and other difficulties, they still had,
without any doubt, the support of the Pope and the Roman Curia. Besides, without
considering for a moment these inadequate motivations, we have seen, in some way, that
the internal climate of the Order around the 30s, had not been a proper one so that saints
would be born easily in their ranks, not even to put straight the ideas of those who had
entered by mistake. On the contrary, the whole tangled and poisoned atmosphere during
these years of tensions deteriorated with the ambitions of some and the resent ments of
others, and a relaxed, not so responsible government management of the Order,
especially in the periphery by a line of threat and not so responsible government. It had
cooled down the enthusiasm and the good intentions of the best persons, and making
worse the defects, the wrong attitudes, and the treachery of the worst elements.
Among these last ones was also Fr. Mario, who at the end of the 1630, had already by
character and morally, decided to start the absurd adventure that in a few years would
trap him as well as the Pious Schools. He was around 30 years old then and after leaving
Naples, he was in Rome, in Palermo, in Poli and in Frascati, where he never taught. He
was only taking care of the pastoral ministry. He was not stupid, and he had his qualities.
Probably, Fr. General, admired him rather well, too. For that reason, on the eve of the
General Chapter of 1631, he named him secretary of the Visit and of the Provincial
Chapters that were held in Geneva, Narni, Mesina and Naples. In reality, Mario had

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started to be promoted, as his desires were. Now he was looking for the moment and the
proper occasion to be able to up the ladder faster. In the meantime, he lived his life and
did his religious work without any bad fame nor any praise. As a P iarist of the rear guard
more than of the front, with much ambition and little spirituality, he was very cautious
and observant; hiding carefully from the companions, superiors and faithful, his most
hateful and restless traits, those most obscure and dangerous ones with an unstable and
twisted personality.
In November, 1639, Sozzi was sent to Florence. There, he did not give classes either,
but rather he exercised his ministry in the church of the Piarists. This fact put him a little
aside from the community and it hurt his susceptibility and his desires of excelling.
Besides, we know that the cultural environment in Florence was the most intellectual, the
most progressive and open in the interior part of the Pious Schools. Therefore, a twisted
person and not especially gifted for the studies and the culture, as Fr. Mario was, should
not feel much in tune with those “galilean” companions. On the contrary, he was
disgusted, a little out of place. He felt different and inferior with respect to the others and
all this created in him a tumult of reactions; from distrust to hostility, from a hidden
rancor to the mania of vengeance. Finally, one day the desired occasion of excelling
sprouted, or better, an occasion he believed as such in his morbid optic. He grabbed the
situation immediately with his whole self- love and vanity.
He was in the church hearing confessions, when he saw enter a young girl entering,
knelt down on the pew in prayer. By the way the girl was moving her head and shoulders,
Sozzi saw that she was crying. While he was asking himself whether to intervene or not,
she stood up unexpectedly and went to the confessional box. Then the priest, curious,
leaned towards the small window, opened it and was able to see on the other side of the
lattice the young girl, with her eyes still shining and her cheeks watered with tears
without being wiped out.
“Yes, my dear daughter,” he told her, as paternal and as captivating as he could.
The girl, in the beginning, remained without breath, a little undecided and without
words, alternating the words and the sighs with silence. Afterwards, encouraged by Fr.
Mario, she opened up and narrated a story to make one tremble. She was from a nearby
town and was in Florence since just a few months before. A lady, the widow Faustina
Mainardi, had taken her in her house to educate and teach her all the things a good lady
of the house and a mother of a family should know. There, she had known other young
girls that, like her, had come from the nearby towns and poor districts of the city. But
soon these “guests” realized that Faustina had taken them under her roof only to use them
for prostitution and earned plenty of money. Some had tried to rebel, escape, and asked
for help. But it was impossible because the patroness of this dirty business, moreover,
had as a partner a Canon from the Cathedral, Fr. Pandolfo Ricasoli, a person much too
powerful and esteemed as to have a problem of some small girls who were important for
nobody. Therefore, they were forced to remain there as in a jail and to suffer that
miserable life without seeing any way out. Also their families, because they were poor,
had sold their consent and their silence to Faustina and Pandolfo for a few coins, a small
part of their good business of those exploiting their daughters and sisters.
While the young girl was going on in her sad and dramatic relation, Mario became
really disgusted and indignant. He was upset and incredulous. The one who was before
him was just a little more than a young girl, a poor ignorant who could not invent

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everything and much more in confession. In any way, he, in order to be more certain of it,
told her in a serene and grave tone:
- “Little girl, be careful because if you have lied, you have committed an un- forgetful,
demoniac sacrilege. You will not have a good position before God, nor before men.
Think twice before ruining your life and your soul.”
- “What do you say, Father!” she answered with sighs. “My life is really ruined.
Moreover, it is not because of my fault. Do you think that I would have come here in
order to risk my prison and eternal condemnation if what I have told you would not be
true? Help me, I ask you! Help us that we may come out of this hell where we are in!”
- “Well, little girl, I take note of what you have told me. However, if you want me to
believe you completely, you should have to repeat everything outside the confession box.
Only if you do it I could do something for you and for your companions in disgrace.
Therefore, go now and come tomorrow at this same time. Show me your place and you
will see how everything is okay.”
More than feeling compassion for that girl and the other victims of Faustina, Fr.
Mario had the desire, the necessity of denouncing the responsible for that scandal. The
reaction was good, a legitimate one. But inside himself, there was the desire to be noticed
and to acquire merits before all by presenting himself as a zealous moralist; a strict man
of justice whom important persons could trust. In summary, it could be the occasion, long
awaited and sought for by him giving satisfaction to his ambitions. Therefore, he decided
not so much to help the girls of Faustina, but rather, above anything else, to punish that
lady and his worthy partner. So, he was in accord with two friends that would later
become witnesses. The following day, when the girl came, he took her to the sacristy and
made her narrate everything again. The two were listening without being seen, otherwise
she would have been afraid, have become ashamed, and had run away, witho ut any
doubt, and without saying any word. After that, Sozzi and the two witnesses went to the
inquisitor in Florence, at that time a Conventual Francis can, Giovanni Muzzarelli. Sozzi
made an account of the denunciation against the widow and the Canon of the Cathedral.
Muzzareli informed Rome and the Holy Office authorized, without any more inquiring,
to start the process against the accused. The machine of justice had started to move.
Before the eyes of everybody, Fr. Mario had the merit of initiating it.
From that moment, Sozzi entered the circle of the Inquisition and he did not come out
of it anymore. The case of Faustina, but especially his personality, ready to do anything
as long as he would appear, and the all-powerful delirium he had reached, made him a
protégé. He became at the same time, a connecting person of the Holy Office. It would be
there where he would find powerful friends and the “God parents” that would help him
make a career; starting from Msgr. Francesco Albizzi, the powerful assessor of the
undisputable Roman tribunal, with whom Fr. Muzzarelli got in contact immediately after
the denunciation and witness of Mario against the bad Florentine lady. But this
connection with the most obscure and restless side of the power would soon be r evealed
as a mortal embrace for Fr. Sozzi as well as for our saint, for the Pious Schools and as
well as for the whole Piarist religious family.
However, let us go back to the facts. Fr. Mario, therefore, had been changed, and fast,
in his position. He was already somebody, or at least he felt like that. His name was
among the informers and collaborators of the Inquisition in Florence as well as in Rome.
For a character like him, his head became full of dreams. With the companions with

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whom he never had good relations, he showed off himself as an important person,
arrogant, working as he liked without respecting the Superiors. If sometimes he was
called to order, he answered with insults and threats. One day he even denounced his own
Superior, and the said Muzzarelli, that he already took everything as pure gold, came
before the accuser while he was in the confessional box and scolded him in front of
everybody. However, the Florentine Piarists were not people that would become cowards.
And that is why the Rector took much care not to show the other cheek to that paranoid
brother. Even more, by any answer, since he knew that Mario was a gluttonous man,
ordered his sons to go to his room and take all the food they could find there. The Piarists
in charge of this searching came out from the snake’s nest with an unbelievable amount
of sweets, biscuits, caramels and other delicacies. They distributed them among all the
companions who while masticating a choco late or biting a biscuit, did not know if to
laugh or to get angry at the situation. The one who really did no laugh was Fr. Sozzi, who
went again to the inquisitor to protest against the heretics and impenitent galileans.
One day, in fact, Muzzarelli, to make his new friend happy, opened a canoni cal
process against some young Piarists who had committed only the mistake of sending a
letter to the companions asking them to come to the dining room for an internal feast
“with much hunger, under excommunication penalty.” The inquisitor, with the zeal of the
best cause, had thought that with that “excommunication” the religious wanted to make
fun at the Holy Office, and this was what he wrote in the investigation registry report. In
reality, with this climate in the convent, nobody could live in Florence. This is why the
Piarists went to Joseph and Fr. General, for the good of peace, wrote to Sozzi telling him
to move to Narni. But instead of obeying, he went to Rome and put himself under the
protection of Msgr. Albizzi, who ordered Calasanz with a strong command to send again
Mario to Florence and not to bother him. At last, he was also a person whom nobody
could touch. He had understood it well and took advantage of the opportunity he had.
In the house of Florence, everything became worse than before. The pride and the
insolence of Sozzi were increasing every day. Once, during supper, a companion
reprimanded another who was laughing while he was praying and to whom he answered
with sarcasm:
- “I see that to laugh in the dining room has become also a case of the Holy Office.”
In an instant, there was a great dispute. Sozzi, with more zealous than ever,
interpreted those words as an allusion to him and became very angry. Fr. Settini tried to
calm him down, but the other gave him a slap.
“All are witnesses” shouted then Clement Settini, with his red cheek. “Fr. Mario has
put his hand against a priest and therefore, according to the canon law, he is
excommunicated.”
These words made the situation worse. Sozzi became even more angry, ob sessed, and
the others, while opposing him, whipped him with holy zeal. At last, he was able to run
away to Muzzarelli’s house where he remained for a week to heal his face.
The inquisitor started another judicial process against the Piarists and sent the
documents to Rome. Settini and others were summoned. But in the end, everything
became like a bubble of soap. Calasanz did not lack courage and inde pendence this time
either. He nominated Fr. Clement Provincial of Tuscany for the General Chapter that was
being held those days. In summary, with the exoneration of the guilty and the promotion

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of Fr. Settini, this attack had not been favorable for Sozzi and his protectors. However,
this even increased their irritation, making them more and more dangerous people.
In reality, Mario trimmed his aim in order to attack again with malice and lowness.
He sent to Rome a pro- memorial full of detailed accusations against Settini, Micheli and
other galileans. Among other things he said that they were anti-Aristotle and that they
held the theory that the earth moved around the sun. And, the Pope and the Holy Office,
eight years before, were mistaken in condemning Galileo and his heliocentric theories.
The Cardinal Barberini, Secretary of State, summoned the accused to Rome. However,
Micheli and the other galileans in the meantime, had left Florence with prudence, except
for Settini, and therefore, he was the only one who went to Rome. However, this dispute
was not successful, because the Great Duke of Tuscany intervened in favor of Settini. In
any way, this time, Sozzi had really exaggerated, touching a very delicate and inflam-
mable matter. Nevertheless, all this caused a great joy to the enemies of Calasanz and it
had given a heavy blow to his prestige, to his stability and to the future of the Pious
Schools. Although the worse was still to come.
On November 28, 1641, the judicial process against Faustina and his partners was
closed and they were condemned to life imprisonment. Then, Msgr. Albizzi, to
recompense Mario, obliged Calasanz to nominate him Provincial of Tuscany. The
founder, Cardinal Cesarini, protector of the Order, Fr. Settini and many others, opposed
it, but they could not do anything. Among the general confusion of the Piarists, the man
who had been so cruel against the Pious Schools in Florence, now came back to lead
them by the will of a higher authority.
Since he was protected by the Holy Office, he started immediately to exercise his job
but not according to the Rule, but becoming the boss arbitrarily. With the pretext of
wanting to “renew” - this of the renovation became his disguised mystic with which he
destroyed everything and all - he pretended that Fr. General would send him from any
house the religious wanted, without taking into consideration the damage it would mean
for the harmony and functioning of the Pious Schools. Joseph, who had never helped
Mario in this foolish posture, had not been behind the indisputable and irresistible Holy
Office. But considering the situation, he did not have another option. He had to always
say yes and only yes. But in the meantime, he tried to oppose the danger by writing to the
Religious to have patience and that they would offer everything to God and would wait
with confidence so the tempest would pass away. He, in addition, that in some for m had
suffered from distance, because of this disgusted question, now became a direct victim of
Sozzi and of his powerful friends. His last and hard calvary was already starting under the
sign of patience, oblation and hope.
Not all Piarists were Jobs. Many rebelled. Those from Pisa, helped by the Great
Duke, declared that they wanted to depend directly on Fr. General, while the houses of
Fanano, Pieve di Cento and Guglia became by themselves “A Province of Lombardi,”
nominating their Superior and acquiring three lawyers who made a process against Fr.
Mario. Joseph suffered very much because of this situation and although it was very
difficult for him, he recommended continually, to all, the obedience to Sozzi and the
Holy Office. It was a pity, but he had to see how everything was sinking around him.
Because his position was rather moderate and according to the law, Mario and his
supporters - he had already some con-friars inside the Order - accused him of being the
one who encouraged and urged the rebels to disobedience. Sozzi was so convinced of this

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that since he could not govern the situation in his Province, he went to Rome to find out a
radical solution to all his problems. It was July 1642, a summer that in spite of all
foundations in Poland and Hungary, the Piarists would remember as one of the most
blackest moments in the history of the Order and of his founder. We will know why soon.

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 16
LIGHTNINGS UPON EUROPE
While the Pious Schools were spreading in Italy and throughout Europe, and at the
same time they were growing and suffering all the crisis and problems we have seen, the
heart of the old Christian continent felt whipped by a long and cruel conflict that implied
in a way or in another all the European forces. It would pass to history as the Thirty
Years War. Although it happened during the 17th century, it can be considered as the last
war of the Renaissance, the last religious war, the last encounter - really hard,
devastating, without end - between the Catholic nations and the Protestants. It could be
considered as the painful and cruel birth of the modern world that at the end of this period
would appear rather well defined in its essential guiding lines of the modern world.
Unfortunately, the true Christian and peaceful voices of the two bands were not heard and
with the intervention of the princess and generals of the two reforms, would conclude
their trajectory in the war fields, delaying co-existence and dialogue for some decades,
after the last cannon was silent and the last fallen man was honorably buried.
The Thirty Year War ended only in 1648, the year of the death of Joseph Calasanz.
Therefore, the saint, following it with anguish and vibration, besides his personal chalice,
would also drink deeply this collective chalice, mixing its drama and the one of the Pious
Schools, with the common tragedy of the people and Churches, as the drops of water in
the Eucharistic wine. The private pain would melt in his heart with the pain of all in one
unique horror for the evil in all its forms and dimensions, but also in the unique offering
to the Father, so that the good would resist and in the end would win.
In the first decade of the 17th century, the central Empire was more than ever, an
arsenal of gunpowder, divided and shaken by the ferment and centrifugal tendencies of
the ethnic and religious minorities. The Emperor Mathias of Habsburg sent representation
to Prague to call to order a Bohemia which was more and more restless and obstinate.
However, the people, driven by the local nobles, who wanted to govern in their house,
rebelled. The Imperial civil servants were thrown out by the window of the castle of
Prague. It was May 23, 1618. Moreover, as soon as the fuse of the civil war started in the
interior of the Empire, it would become in a few years time an international fire, a
European tragedy.
The first period of the conflict, the Bohemia-Palatino that is talked about in history
books, was rather limited to the Empire territory, taking place the divi sions and the
regional, political and internal religious encounters in the domains of the Habsburgs of
the Central Europe. Although, the rest of the Continent, as we will see, would not remain
as an spectator only. After the rebellion of Prague, the anti-Habsburg government of the
“states” - Austria, Silesia, Moravia, Hungary and Transylvania- was formed, taking to the
war front their armies and sending them against Vienna, the heart of the Empire then. The
recently elected Emperor Fernand II, as it was foreseen, was not recognized by Bohemia,
offering instead Federico V of the Palatino, 23 years old and head of the Evangelical
Union. The political- military alliances and the respective religious aspects were already
well defined. The Emperor, with the help of Spain of Philip III, the Pope, and the
Catholic League, led by Maximilian I of Babiera and even the Lutheran Electoral of
Saxony - the political calculation counts more than the religious faith! – fought against
the young antagonist, helped by the regional aristocracy and most of the big German
electors.

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 This first period of the conflict did not last long, only five years, until 1623. The
numeric superiority of the Emperor was really too big, and all the episodes were solved in
his favor: the famous battle of the White Mountain, following the escape of Frederick V
to Holland and the disintegration of the Evangelical Union, the assault of Heidelberg, the
encounter of Wimpfen and the victories of Hoechst and Stadtlohn with the immediate
occupation of Westphalia and the Low Saxony. The armies of the Habsburgs were
victorious everywhere, and the war, for the time being, ended with the strengthening of
the Empire. In the religious front, the Protestant expansion suffered a sudden brake and
also a certain re-structuring, there were 150,000 refugees among the Evangelists, with the
advantage of the Catholic presence, that was consolidated and in some case recovered the
lost territory.
How did Joseph receive the news of the successes and the final victories of the
Emperor and Catholic armies? Of course, everybody in Rome, in Italy, and in the
Catholic world, was with satisfaction. First of all, because of the end of hos tilities, and
then for the strengthening of the Catholic and the good perspectives that were expected
from it. We cannot be scandalized by that; we cannot become anachronic, anti- history.
Even in the letters of the Saint are footprints of these reactions and these feelings. But
what he most felt in his heart, and for what he would tremble, especially in the last phases
of the war were clearly the fate of the Pious Schools, his Religious and the students of
those regions. There, the Piarist were in the front, not to fight with guns, but to suffer,
educate, evangelize and convert to the Catholic faith the separated brothers, with the
teaching, the catechesis, the dialogue and the culture. This was the mobilization and the
fight Calasanz was best known for. The rest, were fruits of the time, of the dominant
ideology, except the pain and agony that in Calasanz remained while the war was going
on.
This war, as we have said, would last still very much longer, another quar ter of the
century. It was relived after just two years, in 1623. The second phase, known as Danish,
became more complicated, violent and more cruel than the first, because although in the
end the Catholic Emperor would again become stronger, nevertheless, the war was lasting
and becoming a “world war,” according the geo-political map of the time. Besides that,
the chiefs and the mercenary armies - Catholic, Protestant or indifferent to faith - would
act as bosses or lords of all the places of the conflict, destroying, setting on fire,
plundering, robbing and causing every kind of violence upon the defenseless people. A
collective tragedy on the invasion of Padua region, Italy, by the troops of Albert of
Wildenstein, a column of the Emperor’s front was described so well in all its terrible
aspects on the pages the book of The Sweethearts by Alessadro Manzoni,
From the first moment one could see that the conflict was becoming international. In
fact, the first to re-fire the ashes was Christian IV from Denmark, who decided to face the
reality in the battle front against the Emperor, because he knew that he could count upon
the help of the English and Holland people, and besides, of course, with the help and
probably the intervention of the German Princes of the Lutheran faith and the Protestants
of the whole Empire. The Evangelist Front was therefore wider and stronger than before
and that is why he took the initiative. On the other hand, Fernand II had a war machinery
no less powerful and destructive, based especially upon the mercenaries of the Bohemian
Duke Wildenstein, a converted Protestant, and of the Flemish Duke Tilly, armed very
well with lances, pikes, and harquebuses. In reality, the Emperor’s armies were in almost

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all the encounters, running after the Danish and Bohemians as far as their territories; in
the end, they complete the submission of the whole North Germany under the influence
of the Habsburgs. Is such the case that Wildenstein was nominated “Commander- in-chief
of the Ocean and Baltic Sea.”
At this moment, Fernand had before him different possibilities: one, to go back to the
old project of his grandfather Charles V, a universal monarchy, but France and Sweden
opposed it; or two, to reform the Empire in an absolutist way, as the national reigns had
done, but the German princess and all the regional aristocracies were opposed; or three,
to convert Germany to Catholicism as if Luther had not existed, but Luther did exist, and
the Protestant princess had made it impossible to put down the Emperor’s dreams. In any
way, the Habsburgs had conquered and with them the Catholic party and all this had its
logical consequences. Therefore, in 1629, the peace treaty of Lubeck came and besides
expulsing for ever the Danish King as far as his dominions, in the religious level had
more strength and fastness of realizing the Restitution edict, proclaimed before the war
was finished. With this preservation measure of the Catholic Empire, they wanted to put
an end to the situation and go back as it had bee n before the peace of Augsburg
practically forgiving the Reservatum ecclesiasticum. The Protestants should return to the
Church all the territories and the properties that had gone to their hands after 1552. Some
years later, in 1630, in the Ratisbon Diet, to balance this hard line, hands were tended to
the Electoral Princess, preoccupied by their political-religious autonomies, and among the
things they got was the head of the hated Wildenstein, who was dismissed from office.
However, this moderate gesture probably was late. In the air the smell of gunpowder was
felt. It announced the third phase of the conflict, and everybody realized soon that the
Commander- in-chief had gone, but with a return ticket in his pocket.
The first two periods of the Thirty Years War, had therefore a favorable suc cess for
the Emperor-Catholic cause. Rome, Italy and the countries faithful to the Pope, had
reason to be satisfied, although the most sensible and thinking spirits would have
preferred not to have paid such a high price in victims, destruction, suffering and new
divisions among Catholic and Protestants. Among these Chris tians was probably Joseph.
Although the good results of the schooling work and the progress of the Pious Schools
gave him much consolation, much enthusiasm, in a certain way, was compensated and
distracted him from the thought of the war and the preoccupations of the fate of so many
innocent people. In reality, between the years 1610-1620, as we have seen, the Pontifical
Briefs were published and that would lead, little by little, to the birth of the Piarist
Congregation, its promotion to Religious Order, the nomination of the founder as General
Minister and to the concession to the Piarists in perpetuum -for ever - of the Church of
San Pantaleo, that was decreed by Gregorius XV on February 23, 1623. The adjacent
house, nevertheless, that had never been a property of the Holy See, was acquired by
Calasanz and his companions in 1612. Besides, during those years, house-schools had
been founded in Frascati, Narni, Carcare, Fanano, Nursia. Following the Roman
Province, the Provinces of Geneva and Naples were founded. Therefore, after the
disillusion with Lucca Fathers, again was re-started in full speed the road, and only now
started to appear problems of some gravity, at the end of the 20s, with the problem of the
working-clerics, some qualitative decadence of the Religious and all the difficulties we
already know. We know that these difficulties would become worse and many more
during the following years. During the last phases of the war that became harder than the

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first, especially when the results of the Bohemian-Palatino and Danish periods difficulties
were inverted.
Going out from the Parione district and looking at the whole of ecclesiastical Rome, it
was also evident that the satisfaction for a way out of the Thirty Years War was really
great, maybe more than in San Pantaleo, especially in another part of the Tiber, that is to
say, in the Vatican. During the first two periods of the conflict, in the Seat of Peter, two
Popes were reigned, Gregorius XV and Urbanus VIII. The Ludovico Pope was only for
two years. He was the last of the Bohemia-Palatino phase. He helped in a decisive way
Fernand II and after the falling of Heidelberg, the Emperor’s people sent to Rome the
famous Palatina Library as a gesture of gratitude. As a Pope, he carried out the
reformation of Trent, and among other things canonizing some protagonists of t he
reformation that started in the century before, such as Teresa de Jesus, Philip Neri,
Ignatius of Loyola, and Francis Xavier. In addition, regarding the great Jesuit missionary,
one has to say that this Pope made much for the missions, founding the Inst itute of
Propaganda Fide that later on would become the most important instrument of the
evangelization ad gentes (to the peoples).
With Urbanus VIII, the scene changed a little. In the last phases of the war, he fell in
the trap put by Richelieu and he would help France more than Spain and the Empire.
However, in the end he did his best so that the hostilities would stop. In the religious
aspect, although one cannot talk about the reproduction of vices and errors of the
Renaissance, the worst nepotism reappeared, nevertheless, freely with the Barberini Pope.
In fact, while Rome continued its rhythm of expansion and embellishment, the Barberini
became everyday day richer and more powerful. The Catholic reformation spirit becomes
weaker. While the war was cutting Europe into pieces, the Pope thought in calling his
new extraordinary Jubilees. Was it to get the peace, the victory of the Catholic cause?
Maybe yes, too! However, the flow of the offerings that were poured upon Rome during
those holy special years, it is known that a good part was channeled towards the Barberini
palace. The lamentable attachment to the family name would push Urbanus, the Pope, to
even embark on a personal skirmish with the Farnese regarding the possession of the
Castro Dukedom. In short, to this pontiff was also united the condemnation of Galileo in
1633. Considering everything, can we be surprised by the fact that Urbanus VIII had been
the first Pope not so favorable to Calasanz and to the Pious Schools? It would be a
surprise only if the megalomania, the preponderance and the avidity of the Barberini
would not be in the antipodes of the style of the spirituality of our saint.

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 17
STILL MORE TRIALS
As soon as Fr. Mario di san Francesco - the name in “religion” of Sozzi - arrived in
Rome, as if he had the whole reason on his part, he had the insolence of wanting to meet
Cardinal Cesarini, the Cardinal Protector of the Pious Schools. His intention was to ask
with energy to the Eminence that he would oblige to go into his wish the rebellious and
disobedient Piarists to the Provincial of Tuscany.
“Before his Eminence, they could not deny anything,” he thought to himself while he
was walking in haste towards the Cardinal’s palace. “Afterwards, I will be the one who
will give them what they deserve.”
However, he had miscalculated. Barberini denied receiving him. He was against him
from a long time before. He knew what kind of person he was, and as we have seen, he
was opposed to his nomination in Florence. Maybe now had come the occasion of
showing him his opposition and trying to sail against him, probably with more success
than the time before.
“Is that so?” exclaimed Mario, when the secretary of the Eminence told him without
any reservation that the Cardinal did not want to receive him. “Very well,” he answered,
controlling his full rage, with a sarcastic tone and challenging air. “Then, tell his
Eminence that if he becomes obstinate, I will be obliged to send those embarrassing
documents he knows very well.”
What was he referring to? Maybe even he did not know exactly what he was boasting
about. Anyway, as soon as he went away, the secretary told Cesarini the words of the un-
desired visitor.
It was too much. Full of rage and indignation - maybe also of fear for those
documents? - the protector of the Piarists decided to give a clear lesson to Fr. Mario.
Therefore, he sent a group of guards to search his room. Afterwards, while the men of the
cardinal went out with the papers and the files taken from the Religious, the commander
in chief ordained him not to leave San Pantaleo under excommunication threat. It was the
afternoon of August 7, 1642, and upon Rome, upon the Parione district, upon that
Religious Family, a storm was ready to start out.
At this point - the hour of the wolves and the serpents - Stefano Cherubini came into
play. He was a friend of Fr. Mario, and therefore, Stefano, to help him, advised him to
tell everything to Msgr. Albizzi. Sozzi shared the idea and sent a writing to the Assessor,
telling him, but with identical falsehood to his perjury, that the Fr. General with his
Assistants were those who had searched the room, adding with a calumny that some
documents of the Holy Office had taken away. Albizzi, hurt in his honor and in his
power, became very angry and went to inform the Secretary of State who reacted in the
same mood. At the same time, Cardinal Barberini talked to Urbanus VIII, and the Pope
ordained the assessor to arrest and put into prison, immediately, the responsible of that
offense to the sacred tribunal of the Roman Inquisition.
On the morning of August 8 a group of constables arrived in San Pantaleo, bigger
than the one of the preceding day. They stopped in front of the Piarist house and
surrounded the whole block, the house and the church. After a short time, a carriage
arrived from where Msgr. Albizzi came out, who went directly to San Pantaleo. After he
got inside, he asked abruptly to the first Brother he met:
“Call immediately Fr. General.”

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 He did not realize that the one he was looking for was precisely there, seated as a man
among the pews of the church, as waiting and foreseeing something.
As soon as he signaled him, the Prelate went closer:
“You are a prisoner of the Holy Office,” he told him in a high voice and angry. That
was the ritual formula. Only that according to the law, he had to add why he was accused.
However, he kept that for himself. Livid with indignation, and sure of the Pope’s help
and that of the Secretary of the State, he thought that he had not to give an account to
anybody, as an implacable and almighty man of justice.
The guards took Joseph and the others accused, who in the meantime had all come
down to the Church, and tied them with fetters to their wrists. Later, they tied them one to
another, with steel collars linked by a long chain and they pulled out of the Church. With
Calasanz were Casani, Garcia, Catalucci and the secretary Bandoni. The sad cortege,
obeying in silence all the commands, went in a line towards the Pasquino Square, led,
followed, and flanked by the constables. Behind everybody slowly went the carriage of
the Monsignor with the Prelate in, who spied the reactions of the people and enjoyed,
happily, the spectacle through the curtains of the carriage. It was Friday, the day of the
Passion of Christ, of his painful and infamous walking from the Pretorium of Pilate to the
Calvary. The witnesses said that after leaving the church, Joseph was precisely thinking
about that, in Jesus, arrested and humiliated. Without spiritual pride, without any ascet ic
narcissism, but rather as a coherent Christian could think; the one who knows that in his
whole life is trying to imitate Christ, and knows, too, where at the end, that election will
take him.
They went through the Governo Vecchio street that then was as the Corso Vittorio
Emmanuelle II of today, the most direct street to the Vatican. Then followed through
Banchi Nuovi street, Sant’ Angelo bridge and Borgo Santo Spirito, until the Holy Office
palace, then as now, to the southern part of Saint Peter, to the left of the square. In the
streets, there were people. Many had come out of the shops or went to the balconies.
They were incredulous, they did not know what to think watching the “old saint,” in his
85 years, flanked by the public force and chained as a ma lefactor. Their hearts were
oppressed. They were accustomed to the caprices and abuses of some ecclesiastical men,
but this time was too much. If there was a saint in Rome, that was the founder of the
Pious Schools! Many times, they had seen him laughing and running with the children of
those same streets! And now? What had happened? Was the world upside down? Who
could believe that Fr. Joseph was worthy of all that? However, not everybody was think-
ing the same. Some, more skeptics, more beaten by life, had seen so many things that
they were not surprised by anything. One can even pretend to be perfect, but who knows
what is going inside his head? Who knows what he is doing when nobody sees him?
Besides that, there was a third group, those who fear the police, the spies, the powerful
men, or who knows, who were mute and were hiding their opinions and sentiments
behind an indifferent mask. In any way, except Albizzi, nobody was happy with that
“triumph of the humility” of Calasanz, as one of the first Piarist biographers called it. Or
better, Mario Sozzi – who, then? – who, looking out of the window in the Giverno
Vecchio street, was enjoying the scene with a smile of satisfaction reflected in his face.
Joseph, while he was walking bent over, tired by the sun, was seeing everything and read
the souls and consciences through the stares, gestures, and silence. He showed a smile
seeing a friendly face, and tried to greet, lifting with difficulty the chained hands. He was

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not the persecuted, he thought. The true victim were the poor people, once more
frustrated and deceived, spoliated and abandoned.
After arriving at the Holy Office, the Assessor, instead of interrogating the arrested
men, since it was already almost one o’clock, thought of going in tranquil ity to his
apartments to have lunch. After that, he did not spare his good siesta. Calasanz and his
companions remained in a locked room, under custody without eating anything. Fr.
General was really exhausted, tired by the heat, sweaty, and breathing with difficulty.
However, at the same time, he was in peace, in tranquility, and in spite of everything, in
the end, he fell asleep while seated in a bench. The companions looked at him with mix
of love, affection, admiration and even with a little of loving envy for that interior peace,
deep, in that so terrible situation.
Lunchtime went by, the first hours of the afternoon went also by, and nothing. The
detainees continued waiting. The fatigue and the weakness were already stronger than the
anxiety and fear. At a moment, suddenly, the door was opened and in came Albizzi. The
Piarists stood, but the guards commanded them abruptly to sit down. Monsignor, looking
obliquely at the five, sat down in front of his desk lifting his threatening finger against
them. Then, looking at Joseph said in a peremptory way:
“Do not make any illusion. No one of you will go out from here until all the papers
that were taken yesterday from Fr. Mario, are returned.”
“Have patience, Monsignor,” answered the saint, serene and full of dignity, humble
but without fearing or becoming servile. “My assistants and I do not have anything to do
with what happened. Neither they, nor I, have commanded to search the room of Fr.
Mario.”
“Then, who had that bright idea?” answered sarcastically Albizzi. “Maybe the princes
of shadows in person?”
Fr. Casani intervened. “With much respect, it was the Cardinal Cesarini. Yes terday,
when his men arrived to San Pantaleo, no one of us could impede that the orders of his
Eminence would be carried out.”
“And do you pretend me to believe you?”
“Try to inform yourself and you will see how the Cardinal will make everything
clear.”
After much insistence from the detainees, in the end, Monsignor agreed to verify their
version.
“But I warn you,” he added in a threatening tone, “if you have been pulling my leg,
today you will see how marvelous are the rooms in Sant’ Angelo. In addi tion, you will
not come out from them so easily, not even with the good services of your Cardinal
Protector, I guarantee you that.”
After being consulted by an emissary of the Assessor, Cesarini confirmed in writing
the testimony of the Piarists and of Fr. General. When Albizzi read the declaration, he
was obliged to free the detainees. However, he refrained from ask ing forgiveness or
manifesting any contrition. Nevertheless, the proven innocence of the Religious of San
Pantaleo showed that Sozzi had slandered and denounced them falsely. However, the
Prelate did not have any intention of asking for any account. On the contrary, the
protection of Mario would continue as before and even increase, and to pay for the
suffered shame of this act, he thought of giv ing him the decisive push as far as the top.
Regarding the small Piarist group, if it had been according to Monsignor, they would

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have been obliged to return to San Pantaleo on foot, through the same streets as the ones
they came through. On the contrary, after leaving the Holy Office palace, they found a
carriage sent by Cardinal Cesarini to take them home. However, after they arrived home,
they had to spend fifteen days in home-arrest, commanded by Msgr. Albizzi. It was the
hideous and hysterical reaction of the powerful man that he found himself as almighty.
But only for the moment.
Sending the carriage to take Joseph and his companions in front of the Holy Office,
Cesarini not only became courteous and delicate with his protégées, but also he became
publicly apart from the line of the Pope, the Secretary of the State and the Assessor of the
complicated problem. But this coherence regarding his role of protector, would be very
expensive for the valiant Prelate; they took him out of his job and he could not intervene
any more in favor of the Pious Schools and of the Fr. General, when upon them the hell
became freed.
It was seen clear a few days later, August 14, when the Congregation of the Holy
Office gathered in the Quirinal, presided by Urbanus VIII, to discuss and deliberate upon
the case of the Sozzi-Calasanz-Pious Schools. In reality, the place of Cesarini was clearly
vacant, and therefore nobody could fight in defense of the Piarists. It demonstrated the
taken decisions. Let us see. First of all, the Pope ap proved the behavior taken by Albizzi
against Joseph and Assistants. Then, always by order of the Pontiff, it was notified to Fr.
General, his collaborators and to all Piarists, that Mario was under the protection and
direct jurisdiction of the Holy Office, and therefore he was released from all the
Superiors of the Order, even from the Founder and Cardinal Protector - his name appears
arisen four times in the acts of the meeting and that is a sign that he did not count
anything at all. Besides that, Calasanz and the assistants should impose upon everybody
the obedient submission to the Provincial of Tuscany and on the contrary, it would be
necessary to act “against the disobedient.” And to make matters worse, the prohibition of
founding new houses was stressed “without the permission of His Sanctity” and of the
Holy Office, as stressing, during that critical moment, a total decline of the esteem of the
Pious Schools before the eyes of the Pope and of the Holy See.
Although this decree was a juridical absurdity, the grotesque caricature of justice and
truth - the unworthy and the guilty ones were prize-winning, the abuse praised, the
innocent punished, the right violated - Joseph and his companions did not have any other
way, they had to obey. Therefore, on August 30, with an official notice, they invited the
Piarists in Tuscany to recognize “Fr. Mario di San Francesco as a true Provincia l
Superior” and to follow all his orders “without any opposition.” Besides this, Calasanz
took care of publishing and supporting the document of that order with personal letters,
exhorting the Religious to drink the sour moment and to put down the head, ac cording to
the Evangelical spirit, for the benefit of the Pious Schools, and for the good and unity of
the Church.
However, the Holy Office, commanding to the Piarist Superior to obey, had made the
account, if we can say that, without the permission of the owner. In fact, if most of the
Piarists from Tuscany, as good Religious, were ready to ac cept the return of the
Provincial, on the other hand, the Great Duke of Tuscany made known immediately that
he did not have any intention of recognizing the authority of that undesired lot. And not
being satisfied with that, he invited the Piarists in his States to be under his protection and
to rebel. What could those poor Religious do surprised between the two fires? What

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could his General do, while he was the aim of the firing and the crossed vetoes of the
Holy Office and the Tuscany political authority? The Holy Office was completely wrong;
the Tuscany authority was somehow right, but it was wrong in the way the Great Duke
did it, because it was interfering in the ecclesiastical matters, giving assent to the regalist
theory. If they obey the Great Duke, they were against the Holy Office, Rome and the
Pope. If they did pay attention, they fulfilled with the ecclesiastical authority, but they
were outside the law. This was especially for the Religious from Tuscany, but evidently,
Joseph was also completely included. As we can see, the knots were far away from being
untied. On the contrary, there were perspectives of new conflicts, new effective blows,
and new scandals. In addition, new crosses for the Fr. General. Therefore, as soon as
Mario arrived in Florence, at the beginning of October 1642, the Great Duke ordered him
to abandon the State, in an absolute way, as an “unfaithful, cunning, false spy, and rebel
to his prince.” This was the testimony of the own expelled person. Maybe it was a little
exaggerated but in substance credible. Obliged by this circumstance, he had to return to
Rome more furious than the time before.
Nevertheless, he was not the only one that was irritated. Albizzi too had lost his
nerves. All the pressures he had put upon his ambassador in Florence to convince the
Great Duke that would admit Sozzi, “who was his special personal friend” - textual
words on a letter to the Duke’s Court - had been nothing. The sovereign had become
irremovable; in Tuscany, there was no place for Fr. Mario. That is why the Assessor, in
the end, could not but show his anger with blackmails and threats, writing to the same
ambassador that if the Holy Office would not get the return of Fr. Mario to Florence and
his “reintegration in the good opinion of His Majesty,” all this would provoke the
“destruction of the same Religion.” These were the words that, it is a pity, would not
remain only on paper.
As soon as Mario arrived in Rome, to avenge himself, he wrote plenty of accusations,
so wicked as absurd, against Calasanz. Among other things he said that Fr. General was
implicated with the Medici in the war against Castro - then terrible enemies of the
Barberini in the Castro war - and if this would not be enough to discredit him before the
Pope, he added that he was too old and out of his mind to govern the Order. Albizzi, it is
not necessary to say, believed everything as the Gospel, and this time tried to get into the
heart of the matter, getting from Urbanus VII a Brief by which Mario was nominated no
less than general vicar of the Piarists! Not being happy with this, Sozzi grasped again his
most devil arm, the pen, and wrote what the history of the Order knows as the
“defamatory memorial,” full of other grave accusations against Calasanz and his Order,
and mixed with his own self-defense, a masterpiece of hysteria, paranoia, and blind
destructive furor. But they took it seriously, and the Barberini Pope, incited by Albizzi,
gave a grave decree ordering an Apostolic Visit to the Piarists, nominating Mario first
Assistant and suspending Joseph of his General work and the other assistants of their
functions. In this way, Sozzi became the number one, the absolute arbiter o f the situation.
It was January 15, 1643. The beginning of the end of the Pious Schools and the founder.
The darkest hour was about to start.
The Apostolic Visitor would be a Somascan Father, Augustine Ubaldini. He went to
San Pantaleo at the end of March. After the formalities of the Ritual, the first thing he
asked for was the key of the room of Fr. Mario. Nobody was waiting for such a petition
and all remained trembling. The search the year before had started a storm; what would

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happen now? Ubaldini examined in detail all the personal things of Mario. Every time he
opened a small door or a drawer, or searched a large chest, he remained more perplexed,
more incredulous. He found everything: money, small cakes, marmalades, drinks, gloves,
embroidered clothes, laces, feather shawls, color bands, smooth cloth, expensive religious
objects, expensive rosaries. The visitor could not believe his own eyes; he did not know
what to think. He was surprised and disgusted. Instead of the room of a Religious who
had made a vow of poverty, it seemed the room of an epicurean man, a vice man, an
opportunist, an exhibitionist, somebody of a double life, and a hypocritical and
ambiguous example. Ubaldini searched everything, and after that, he wanted to talk with
the Assistants and the other Fathers of the house. First, naturally, he wanted to see the ex-
General. He came prepared. They had told him that Calasanz was a person who had done
good things. He did not have the touching feeling and therefore the Order, because of
him, was adrift. The room of the new general vicar was a proof of it! On the contrary,
when he talked with him, he found him perfectly lucid in his mind, with equilibrium. And
besides that, serene, with tranquility, without any remorse against those who had trapped
him, or had put him in that uneasy situation. On the contrary, he said naively to the
Somascan Father that he was hoping very much from his visit. He did not see it as a mali-
cious operation, but rather as an occasion to make better the things in the Pious Schools
and to re-start the road with more courage. In summary, the inspector understood that he
had before him a person with common sense, full of qualities, of experience and with an
extraordinary spirituality.
One thing was for sure: Ubaldini had started on the right path. He was an honest man,
he did not pay attention to appearances, nor did he allow himself to be influenced. In fact,
he made good relations where he embraced everything, and was ready to continue in a
correct way his path. Albizzi read the relation and swallowed quinine, taking care not to
punish, not even requesting something from his protégé. In the meantime, he grinned and
bore it, waiting for the last consequence of the situation and preparing himself to
intervene in the moment and opportune way. The Somascan Father finished the visit in
San Pantaleo after fifteen days. Then he put in writing his conclusions and suggestions
and sent another information to the Holy Office. The Order and his founder came out, in
the fundamental things, with their heads very high; some small warnings, and the Pious
Schools could continue forward peacefully for the utility of all.
It is not necessary to say that Albizzi and Sozzi could not be satisfied with this
conclusion. In his overexcited mind, Mario had started to feel himself as a reformer, a
man sent by God to purify and make better the work of Calasanz. As it was, he thought,
the “religion” of the Piarists, was “necessary to be put out of the world because it was not
good for the Holy Church,” as he wrote it on a delirious letter to one of his companions.
In his tormented and darkened soul, the mania of self-exaltation and the desire of
destroying the Order were only one thing, there fore, in his plans. The Apostolic Visit
should be the proper instrument to start the dissolving of the Pious Schools and of
everything Joseph had constructed. Therefore the seriousness and serenity of Ubaldini
could not play with him, nor with Albizzi, who was completely on his side. The position
of Calasanz and the stability of the Religious Family and its foundations were at the point
of being confirmed and strengthened, and this the two allied could not allow. Therefore, a
few weeks after, while Ubaldini was to start the visit of other houses and institutions of

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the Piarists, Mario and his protector got that he would be dismissed and in his place
would be the Jesuit Father Silvestro Pietrasanta.
Yes, a Jesuit. Moreover, it was not by chance. On the contrary. Albizzi, think ing
about him, had made a good tactic election. We have already seen how some sons of
Ignatius had not accepted with sympathy the birth and development of the Pious Schools.
They saw in them competitors, especially since the Piarists had started to admit in their
schools the sons of noble and bourgeois people, and even more since they had opened the
Nazareno School. This did not mean that the whole Company of Jesus were contrary to
Calasanz. Only some members, a group, together with some lay people and Prelates that
were around. Moreover, with these people, in these environments, had counted the
Assessor in choosing the Jesuit. They would be, and Pietrasanta in the first place,
although in an unwilling way, without the same malice and grudge as the Monsignor,
who would give a hand against Calasanz and the Pious Schools.Fr. Silvestro took
possession of his job on May 9, 1643. At heart, he was a good person, a good Religious,
but he allowed to be managed more than Ub aldini. In the end, his task was more
compromising and delicate, because this time the Visitor should inspect not only the
Order, but also govern it with the four Assistants, and therefore, especially with Sozzi.
The work was planned in a bad way from the beginning. To start, the secretary of the
Visit, Fr. Giovanni Antonio Ridolfi, was a good friend of Mario, and an astute and
ambiguous type, worthy of him, who from the beginning oriented everything, without
any scruples, towards a determined direction, favorable to the first assistant and
unfavorable to the founder. He was the shadow of Pietrasanta. He was always by his side
to console him and to inform Fr. Mario. Moreover, this, among other things, explains
why the Piarists interrogated by the Visitor were always too much silent, distrustful and
not completely trustworthy. Besides that, the Visitors of the other houses of Italy -
Pietrasanta took care of Rome - had been elected and nominated by Sozzi; therefore, one
can imagine with what correctness and objectivity would do their work and how they
would write their reports.
In this climate and with these collaborators, Pietrasanta started his visit and
government. However, what government? From the first months, Mario started to
become the boss, to rule the roost, giving jobs to his partners and keeping the other
assistants out. In the end, in despair, they stood up and Pietrasanta scolded them severely
as “rebels and opposed to the Holy Office.” Therefore, they resigned and the Piarist and
the Jesuit became owners of the field. In September, Pietrasanta sent the first official
report to the Cardinal Congregation that had been met for this purpose. It is not necessary
to say that the soul and the strategy of this commission was Msgr. Albizzi. Inexorably,
for Joseph and for the Pious Schools, the water was reaching the neck.

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 18
WHY LORD?
Being at the top, Fr. Mario became carried away without brakes, giving vent to his
entire furor and rage, his delirium of power and the demolished frenzy that he had
accumulated day after day over the previous years. In addition, as it was foreseen, he took
especially for Joseph, as if the fact of discrediting him before the eyes of everybody and
despoiled of all authority would not be enough for him. He made everything possible to
molest him, humiliate him and make his life impossible. He used to intercept his mail,
what he received as well as what he sent. He used to read it and gave it only when he
agreed with the content, and if nothing was against him. Sometimes, he used to delay it
without any reason, only to make him suffer and mortify the “old sa int,” to show off to
everybody who was the one who was in charge now. Even more, as at his age the ex-
general could not but have a secretary to attend his mail every time more in abundance
and compromising, Sozzi, to make Calasanz write as little as possib le, one day he took
off his collaborator and sent him to another task. He was not only sadistic. He wanted to
cut off his ties with the world, to isolate him as the English did with Napoleon, and in
some way for the same reason, that is to say, to prohibit him any possibility of rescue, of
re-apparition; to make him to be forgotten, to take away even hope and push him to the
renunciation. In reality, he was afraid of him, he knew that many, outside and inside the
Order, still loved him and were longing for him, and for that reason, he was not sure
unless he was a despotic and unpopular king on his trembling throne. Because the other
did not decide to die, he thought; and he had to organize everything as if he were already
dead.
The abuses were not only that. Joseph kept in person the public and private registers
of the Religious Family. In summary and in ciphers, he had everything there, forty years
of fights and glories, of crosses and fatigues. Knowing how much the founder appreciated
that, Mario took them away and hid them, not to inform himself of the state of the Order,
but rather to show off his power before Calasanz. It is so certain that one day one of those
books, the one where were registered all the professions from the foundation, was found
in the wastepaper basket of Sozzi, reduced to a pile of small papers already unreadable.
He took also the reliquary where Joseph kept with love and veneration the heart of
Glicerio Landriani of whom he had introduced, a short time before, his cause of
beatification. These two last offenses show that Mario did not want to attack only
Calasanz, but also precisely destroy the Order, starting with the documents of its history,
by the most sacred values, and by its symbols. Therefore, according to him, it was neces-
sary to neutralize the first of these values and of these symbols, the same founder.
Therefore, at certain time, the new “general” was not only satisfied in censuring and
reducing his mail, but also he prohibited the Piarists to go to his room, and to talk in
private with him; and if somebody would transgress his command, he used to cover him
with insults or send him out, not only from San Pantaleo, even out of Rome. To all this,
how did the saint react? In his customary way, with patience and meekness, with humility
and mercy, a Job more than ever, to sanctify himself and to save the unity and the future
of the Pious Schools. When Joseph went out of the house, the first thing he did was to go
to Sozzi and, kneeling before him, ask the blessing. In addition, the other did it without
any problem, not because of the spiritual good of Joseph, but because that was funny for
him and besides that, he saw it as another show off of the power, another surrender

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without conditions of the ex- general. Once, Calasanz received from a princess one
hundred ducats. The benefactor had sent them in order to help him defend, even going to
a lawyer, from all the accusations that were upon his head. After he read the message and
saw the ducats, Joseph went immediately to the room of Mario and put everything at his
disposition. Sozzi grasped the money and put it into a drawer; afterward, he read the
letter, tore it and threw it into the wastepaper basket. At the end, he said in tranquility and
coldness, centering again in the papers he had in his desk:
“You may go out.”
For Joseph did not get even one escudo of that sum, having been sent to him and it
was his by right. Anyway, he swallowed his feelings without protesting anything. Only
he said, just as to make an excuse of being inopportune:
“Father, some Religious outside Rome have asked me to send them a few religious
pictures…”
He did not finish the sentence, because the other had already understood that the old
man had the necessity of some coins. Then he took again the money as an angry person,
put his hand in the bag and took out some small coins in his fist.
“Stretch out your hand,” commanded in a brusque tone to Calasanz.
The saint obeyed, and Mario, just putting his own hand upon the hand of Joseph,
allowed to fall down some pieces in the opened hand of Joseph, slowly, slowly, one by
one, looking at the other with a mix of sarcasm, challenge and despise. In the meantime,
he accompanied the slowly falling of the coins saying:
“One… two… three... four…”
When he reached 25, it was Calasanz who said:
“Enough, Father.”
Sozzi did not wait to repeat it. He cut it immediately, sent out Joseph and he remained
alone, tasting the pleasure of having treated him as a beggar. In that occasion, too,
Calasanz retired in prayer, sending to heaven that question that he was asking for so a
long time, but more frequently during those last months: “Why, Lord?” He was traveling
the road of sanctification; it was natural for him the style of resignation, of losing before
the world. However, it was not so easy for him. On the contrary, it was a heavy weight
for him and he suffered for it; besides, because now the situation had arrived to a
hallucinating, absurd, tragically paradoxical state. It was not the matter of the protests of
the lay-brothers or the gossip of an unnamed memorial. Now, with the power in the hands
of a misled soul as Sozzi, supported by the Inquisition and his clique group inside and
outside the Order, there was at stake the life and the future of the Pious Schools,
everything that had been constructed and carried out during almost 50 years.
How had they arrived to this situation? Why did the Lord allow it? Certainly, He has
said that the darnel should grow freely together with the wheat, but when the weeds are
ready to suffocate and destroy the good seeds, when they try to make of this world a
dessert, where people will become sick and will die, because at the end there will be no
food, how is possible that heaven would not intervene and would impede the ruin of all,
of the best, of the most weak? It was precisely for these for whom Joseph was worried
and in anguish. He suffered the humiliations, yes; the slapped cruelties that afflicted him;
but what was worst for him was the damage they were doing to the Pious Schools, to so
many Religious and good and enthusiastic novices that in the strong wind were risking of
losing the compass of their vocation and ending adrift. Not to talk about the children,

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students, the poor families, the Christian people who were entrusting with such fidelity
their sons to the Piarists. What was going to become of them? Why had the Lord allowed
the Pious Schools to do so much good if now they were poisoned by a serpent in their
bosoms and swept away by the worst of the Church of God? They were crucial questions,
without any answer, unless from the faith. Moreover, in fact, in this unique fountain of
light and peace, Calasanz found a little of consolation and the strength to continue ahead,
plucking up courage and exhorting other with words and with example to persevere and
hope.
Anyway, one day an answer arrived to those questions. While Joseph was in prayer,
illuminated by the Holy Spirit, he saw a flash of light of the future, a near and tragic
future for Fr. Mario, the future prepared by the divine wrath. That in the saint happened a
kind of foreseeing, it could be seen clearly by the following episode. In one occasion,
Sozzi had one of the ordinary quarrels with the Assistants, among a storm of shouts,
insults and threats. At a moment, Mario left the others standing and ran towards the
founder. As soon as he met him, faced him and started insulting him:
“Old senile man, foolish old man, because you are nothing but that! These people do
not want to obey me! he added referring it the collaborators, and you do not do anything
facing them, remembering their obligation.”
Then, he concluded in a way as disturbing as meaningful. “I have taken the Order to
the brim of the ruin and I will not have peace until I have destroyed it from the
foundations,” and similar phases, full of evil and delirious exclamations.
Joseph, as always, was not disturbed but he made an observation:
“The present Superiors have been elected by you, I have not elected them, not at all.”
The other part kept silent; the facts could not be denied. Then Joseph continued, also in
tranquility but in a firm and authoritarian voice:
“Were I in your place, I would take care of God’s punishment because of the damage
you are doing to the Order. His wrath will soon reach you, be careful.”
We have already said that the patience and the goodness of Joseph were not
weakness, nor timidity, nor less slavery. They were the virtues of a right man, of a true
Christian who has always taken seriously the Gospel. Therefore it should not be strange,
not a contradiction, this clever and energetic answer we have said. And besides that,
Calasanz had not been angry talking in this way, he had not said those grave things with
rancor or being nervous, as to take back the offense to Fr. Mario after so many sour
drinks he had made him drink. He had talked as a spiritual father, as a prophet, a witness
and defender of the honor of God. Moreover, he felt the obligation of doing it for the
good of his scourge, inviting him to change and put a remedy while there was time. In
reality, the hour of giving an account was near and he knew it.
After a few days, Sozzi became sick of syphilis. The symptoms were those of the
leprosy, and in fact, to put a pious veil upon the conduct of Mario, people spoke about
leprosy, fire of Saint Anthony, French sickness. His body and face started to be covered
with purple spots, sores and bumps, and so he became ashamed as a robber. He did not
allow anybody to see him and he did not go out of his room, surrounded only by doctors
and his unconditional people. Any cure was in vain. Following the science of that time,
they gave him wine with meat of a viper and fried food of the same nauseating meat. In
order to reabsorb the blisters and the buboes, they submerged him in boiling sulphur
vapor, the whole body, except the head. They even put him in the womb of a cow

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disemboweled for that. Inside it, they put the body of Mario and sewed the animal,
keeping the sick person enclosed inside it until the warm of the sacrificed beast became
the coldness of death. But everything was in vain, with no improvement.
Joseph did not think for any moment in taking pleasure regarding the se verity with
what the divine justice was hitting him, nor being proud that he had foreseen the reality.
He knew how to bear, resist, and now, with more reason than before, could forgive and
be compassionate. At any cost, he wanted to visit Mario to help him in a spiritual way,
but his unconditional friends impeded it every time he tried it, thinking that it was not
suitable. In his place went Casani, who tried to help him as he could. Some witness says
that when Mario saw him, he whispered:
“Tell Fr. General that if I have offended him, may he forgive me.”
It was not too much, after everything he had plotted. But were it true, it would be, in
some way, an acceptance of the fault and an expression of repentance, and even an
implicit recognition of the authority of Calasanz and his own illegality. But the facts do
no say that. Feeling he was dying, Mario said that, at any cost, he wanted to talk a lone
with Monsignor and the Jesuit; as soon as the two arrived to the bedside, Mario asked
them to nominate as leader of the Order, Stefano Cherubini, as his successor. What a
repentance!
He died on November 10, 1643, after almost two months of suffering. He was 35
years old. The friends took the corpse to the church, and they buried it quietly, without
exposing it to the public, as he had asked for.

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 19
BLESSED BE HIS NAME
The following day, Pietrasanta sent to San Pantaleo a message Albizzi had just
written with the command of reading it in community. Monsignor communicat ed
officially to the Piarists that the special Cardinal commission had nominated Cherubini
supreme authority of the Order. Calasanz remained still suspended of the generalate and
the “old and new” assistants could not interfere in that. These decisions were confirmed
five months later by a Pontifical Brief that nevertheless had the date of November 11. It
shows that everything was a thing of the Assessor of the Holy Office. In fact, how could
the Pope and the Cardinals have taken a decision and carried out in the short time of 24
hours?
Therefore, the nightmare continued. The protagonist was changed, or better, the
antagonist, but the scenery of the drama was the same. A perverted man, a degenerate, as
the leader of the Order. Everybody remembered very well his thorny adventure,
especially what he had organized in Naples, the process he had suffered inside the Order,
the falseness he and his godparents had invented to avoid the condemnat ions, the
discretion of Calasanz towards him, only for “consideration to his family,” as Joseph
would say in a sworn declaration, but saying, neverthe less “that the things contained in
such a process were true.” His nomination was an outrage, a provocatio n of the Order,
and it was felt like that. In fact, upon the Cardinals written protests and signed memorials
rained from entire communities, including San Pantaleo, that sent to the commission a
document with 43 signatures, the first of all from the ex-general. Moreover, everything
was in vain. In spite of the evident indignity of Stefano, the decision of putting him as
leader of the Pious Schools, not only was not revoked, but as it has been seen, in the
spring of 1644 it was confirmed solemnly by a Brief of Urbanus VII although this act did
not have the Pontifical but the seal and the sign!
We have seen more than once how the Pious Schools had become a big and serious
problem for the Holy See, and to face and solve it a Cardinal commission had been
appointed. And we have also seen that in that commission Msgr. Albizzi had a strong
voice. Even more, maybe he was the one who asked for the commis sion to eliminate
Calasanz with the help of a high and collegial authority, as an assessor of the Holy
Office, or as a prelate knowing the matters of the Piarists, after those years of
“contacts”(!). The commission was completed and took possession with all the blessings
at the end of the summer 1643, and from then on, it would have an important role in all
this matters, until its tragic conclusion. Therefore, before anything else, let us see a little
better who were the members. There were five Cardinals - Roma, Spada, Falconieri,
Ginetti, Panfili - and two Monsignors, Albizzi and Paolucci. Roma and Spada were allies
of Albizzi against the Pious Schools. They did not want the democratization of the
culture and the school, because, according to them, the instructed people did not want
later on to do the humble tasks, the manual work, and they would aspire for more in t he
social, political and economic levels… Therefore, it is evident that these three
personages, during the long duration of that process, were the references to all the
adversaries of the Pious Schools and of the founder, that is to say, the municipal teachers
and a part of the Jesuits; the Piarists that had left the Order in a bad way and the dissatis-
fied that remained inside; the followers of Cherubini and the whole public con servative
opinion more conditioned by the prejudices and unknowing matters. Ginetti, Falconieri

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and Paolucci, formed the opposite front, and they would battle in defending Joseph and
his work. In summary, three against three. Cardinal Panfili could have been the
counterweight, but he never took part in the meetings. In the end, as we will see, after his
election to Pope with the name of Innocentius X, he would intervene with one of his
blows, throwing everything overboard and cutting the discussions. However, let us go in
order.
Before the commission would start the work, Calasanz knew that in the matters to
discuss was the possibility of suppressing the Order. Good starting! Why so much
consideration! Alarmed by it, he ran to his room and he prepared a defend ing memorial,
and as it was his custom, irreproachable in the substance and in the form, and he sent it to
the commission. Among other things, he did not deny the crisis. Not only had he admitted
it, but he also proposed twelve strong preventive measures, but not destructive, to cure
the sickness without killing the sick person. His ex-assistants also sent another memorial,
more or less on the same line. Two good initiatives, but they were compromised, if not
neutralized, by a third document presented by the general in function, that is to say,
Cherubini. In an identical line and even in the same style as Sozzi - among an avalanche
of contradictions and paranoia, paradox and evils, ridicule things and calumnies - the
“worthy” successor, after an reformation- moralistic introduction, in the style of
Savonarola, he accused the General and the Pious Schools more grave and numerous
accusations than those that came from outside and he concluded, taking off the mask and
giving a stroke to the back: “Things have become such that it is neces sary to put those
remedies - to the Piarist Family - that would be considered good for the cure, and if not,
suppress it so that it could (sic) not damage the Church.”
However, the commission took more into consideration the report of the visitor that in
the whole was rather balanced. In fact, Pietrasanta, not only recognized that among the
Piarists there were “many complete sound members,” but also he admitted honestly that
the much vituperated founder was really a man and an excellent Religious “of rather
notable virtue and of more than ordinary goodness.” On the other hand, the problems
were not lacking. Too many dissatisfactions among the Brothers and clerics, too many
turbulent and un-adapted elements to the Religious Life, inadequate selective criteria in
the recruitment of novices and insufficient formation. Fr. Silvestro also put his finger
upon supposing too much poverty and the rigidity of life, regarding the physical and
intellectual work of the schooling teaching. But evidently, the witnesses interrogated by
him, because they did not live anymore in the joy and charity of the foundational
moments, could not interpret and live with joy and plenitude the meaning of poverty and
availability of the Educator-Religious. Nevertheless, after the list of evils, the Jesuit
proposed the remedies: to send out some and to revise the juridical structure of the Order,
that after all, had been declared by Gregorius XV, with a Brief that, according to him,
could be considered even null.
The commission met on October 1, 1643. The first thing it did was to e xamine all
these memorials. After that, they decided to vote only one point; to sup press or not the
Order of the Pious Schools. Roma and Spada were for it; all the rest against the
suppression, even Albizzi, who was too clever and skillful to burn himself in such a
radical position before considering the other commissioners. In fact, for the time being,
the Assessor took the position of the center that he was rather for the reduction of the
Order to Congregation more than for its suppression. For the time being, the Piarists were

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saved. Anyway, regarding this division and since they were looking for an accord as
complete as possible not to prolong the debate indefinitely, it was decided to examine the
Brief of Gregorius XV and all the other pontifical doc uments regarding the Order, to
verify, once and for all, the legitimacy and the juridical consistency of the Calasanzian
Religious Family.
Moreover, in the meantime, there were coming to the commission memorials and
denounces of the Piarists against the generalate of Cherubini, that with his capricious,
despotic, and scandalous behavior, was confirmed more and more each day what was
already amply demonstrating what he was. The Religious, as it is natural, in their
protests, were also against Pietrasanta, accused of protecting Stefano and that he was also
for the destruction of the Order. Regarding everything, the visitor lost his patience and he
contradicted himself, that is to say, to his initial honesty, writing a second relation about
the Pious Schools, that in the tradition of the Order will be remembered as the “ominous
document” - recently a very good historian has tried to prove that the author of this text
had been the same Albizzi. This time, Calasanz and his people were considered as rubble
people and accused of disobedience and rebellion against the Holy See, against her Tri-
bunals and Congregations. According to the Jesuit - or probably Monsignor, the Order
had increased and spread “always with disobedience, and with disobedience to the
Apostolic See.” Regarding the founder, although being an “excellent Religious… and of
good intention,” he did not know how to renounce, although he was suspended of the job,
“to the exercise of it, even in things prohibited by the Sacred Congregation of the Holy
Office.” The last accusation could not fail, very grave then and more than ever a joy for
Mgr. Albizzi.
The “ominous document” also has its fault, let us call it historical fault, in proposing
for the first time in concrete for the Pious Schools the solutio n - partial, but very much
negative and offensive - that later on was adopted, that is to say, the reduction of the
Order to a simple Congregation without vows, no general, no provincials or other internal
superiors, with separated houses among them and depending in a canonical way of the
local Bishops. In fact, the commission met in the second session on March 10, and after it
was made clear the validity of the Pontifical Briefs, voted precisely about the elaborated
resolution according the suggestions of Pietrasanta. Ginetti, Falconieri and Paolucci,
against. During the debate, also the visitor, in a surprise of conscience, had been in favor
of the permanence of the Piarists as Order, and it contradicted the “ominous document,”
which, therefore, as it has been said before, is not probable that it had been written by
Pietrasanta. In any case, the Religious did not have the right to vote. Therefore, again
three against three. There was not any decision. The last word corresponded to the Pope,
so that he would decide and maybe he would add a commissioner.
The matter lasted a long time. It seemed that nobody was in a hurry. Joseph and his
companions were upon embers waiting to know what would be of them. At the end of
July, to complicate things, arrived the death of Urbanus VIII. Calasanz prayed from the
bottom of his heart, without resentments, for the Barberini Pope who had made rich his
family, making wars to extend his State, starting the processes against his friend
Campanella and Galileo and had been opposed to the Pious Schools. Joseph knew that to
become a Pope is not an easy thing; he can also make mistakes if he does not talk ex-
cathedra, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit; he can become a victim of false
information, of interested counsels… and besides that, the Popes continue being human

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beings, weak sons of Adam. Therefore, peace for the soul of Maffeo Barberini and
welcome his successor, the Panfili Innocentius X . As we have seen, he had formally
belonged, being a Cardinal, to the commission for the Pious Schools, but he never took
part, and therefore nobody knew his thoughts. It was one more reason to have confidence,
to be optimistic Calasanz thought, who for finding out the ground and putting everything
in movement, he wrote to the new Pontiff, asking him that he would leave the whole
matter to Cardinal Ginetti or to the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, that was still
presided by this Cardinal, a Friend of the Piarists. A new chess game. To the initiative of
the ex-general, Pietrasanta and Cherubini answered, writing also to the Pope, but asking
him on the contrary, that he may confirm the commission. Innocentius sent the two
petitions to Albizzi who, naturally, rejected the first one and accepted the second.
Everything as the year before, with the Cardinals De la Cueva and Colonna (the latter old
friend of Joseph? In this case, it was expected, although it was necessary to count upon
the human inconsistency…), instead of Falconi and Panfili.
Before the commission would meet again, the shooting of defensive memorials was
increased. The Piarists and their protectors, even the King of Poland, Ladislaus IV, his
Prime Minister, Jorge Ossolinski, tried to convince even the most terrible and irreducible
adversaries of the Pious Schools, as Cardinal Roma and Spada and also the Secretary of
State, Panziroli, who had it against the Piarists, first because as a good student of the
Jesuits, he wanted to leave to the sons of Ignatius the monopoly of the schools, at least
the superiors, and in the second place, because they pretended to instruct the poor, and it
was better that these would continue poor and ignorant for their good and the good of all.
In this climate of contrasts and defense of their own interests, the Pontiff finally received
Joseph. With success? The same saint tells us in a letter that thinks the audience as “very
grateful,” and he adds that Innocentius put him in peace, giving him some loving pats on
the shoulders and telling him with a good smile: “Be in peace, Father, we do not have
anything against you.”
Therefore, the third session of the Commission, July 17, 1644, could be said to have
started at first sight with good auspices, or at least more promising than other times. In
his relation, Pietrasanta changed his position for a third time, taking the side of the Pious
Schools. He said that the problems had been solved and that there had been no grave
faults; to reduce the Order to Congregation would had been to suppress it; that the
Piarists had the right to teach, not only the elemental matters, but also humanities and
rhetoric, and that they were doing very much good giving schooling to the poor. Besides
this, he even asked that the Order would be able to found new houses and schools where
they might be necessary and that the Fr. General were restored to his position, with a
vicar to his side. The only reservation was for the Constitutions, that they should be a
little made easier and later on approved by the Apostolic See. Nevertheless… the new
additions of Fr. Pietrasanta, Roma and Spada would remain contrary, affiliated and
decided with their surnames. Then, Paolucci, re-taking the arguments of the Visitor, had
another intervention for the Piarist cause and concluded with concrete propositions about
the desire of reform of the Order and the revision of the Constitutions. With these
dispositions arrived the last unanimous accord of the commissioners. The Order remained
saved and rehabilitated. Joseph was very happy and also gave thanks to God because the
new attitude of Pietrasanta showed that not all the Jesuits were against the Pious Schools
or predicted its disappearance. The Piarists made a feast of it with a Te Deum and they

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pealed the bells, while the students, the families and the persons of the public - the true
conquerors - fired rockets and exploded firecrackers through the streets during the hot
Roman night.
Albizzi too, had voted as the others, but because of opportunism, not to be put aside
and later on leave the game as a loser. He was ready to change his tactics as long as he
kept the strategy, that had as the last goal the destruction of the Order, or at least its
greatest damage and possible anemia. Now was an ambiguous moment of transition. A
new Pope, new commissaries; here was not a time for triumphs. It was necessary to wait,
to recuperate the dominion of the situation and, in any case, as soon as it would be
possible, remove the waters and fish in trouble waters. It was a pity, but the waiting of
Monsignor was short. The one in charge was, as always, Fr. Ridolfi, a friend of
Cherubini, as he had been of Sozzi. While the sentence of the commission was celebrated
with a great feast, the general euphoria and the reaction regarding the avoided danger,
animated impudently to some Piarist to exaggerate the situation with words. A Brother of
San Pantaleo, for instance, shouted in a loud voice before the others with these words:
“Blessed be God. Now we are at the moment of asking an account: the one who has
persecuted our Fr. General should pay for the entire evil he has caused to him and the
assistants. And pulled by the enthusiasm he even added, “Let us see if Monsignor Albizzi
continues having so much power!”
Ridolfi, at that time, took part in that matter, sarcastically, to the general ap plause
those words he had received. But later, as soon as he found the proper time, he left the
motherhouse and went to meet Msgr. Albizzi to tell him everything. “The occasion had
arrived before what I imagined,” the prelate thought. Now is the time to transform that
match in a bonfire and there is not time to lose. Therefore, he denounced immediately to
the Pope the arrogance and the intemperance of the Piarists, cooking everything as the
last absolute proof of an absolute and irreparable depravation of the whole Order.
Innocentius X talked about that, not only with Albizzi, but also with the Cardinals Roma
and Panziroli, all of them as we know, enemies of the Pious Schools. After that,
inevitably, the Pontiff thought out of revoking the decision of the third session and
reducing the Piarists to a Congregation, as the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. Therefore,
under his mandate, at the end of the summer, the commission met again in the fourth
session, as always in Spada’s palace, but this time everything in secret. The owner of the
house and the president of the commission told the members that he had convoked them
to inform the intention of the Pope in reducing the Order of the Pious Schools to
Congregation. To fix the modality and the details of this reduction and that if they were
accepted, they will be strengthened by a pontifical special document and im mediately a
fifth and last session would be convoked. That was everything.
Nobody knew anything about the decision of the Pope and that of the most recent
session of the commission. Calasanz, after the third session, had to go to Cardinal Spada,
to receive in an official way the news of his reposition, but at the last moment, they made
him know that the convocation had been postponed. To this setback and to this disillusion
followed days, weeks and later on long months of silence, of rejections regarding any
new petition of interview or explanations. For Joseph and for the Order this had been a
shower with cold water. In a few days, they had gone from the euphoria to a nervous
period, from suspect to frustration, and at the end the fear and the fright had taken
advantage to all the rumors and presentiments. Now again they were afraid of the worst.

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 Most probably, the only one who was informed of what was happening was
Cherubini, who also was feeling as backed completely by Albizzi and compan ions in
order to allow himself to tyrannize the Religious without renouncing to free himself from
the most indecent scandals. In the carnivals of 1645 he masked himself, rented a carriage
and went into the merrymaking feast of the city, with the inseparable Ridolfi and other
friends. At a moment, as it happened frequently among the general agitation, there was a
collision and the carriage of Cherubini broke an axe. Therefore, as nobody could go on,
the passengers had to go down and the people recognized them. They were contused by
the accident and very much ashamed; the clandestine fun- loving had to run away among
the jokes, the laughing, and the bad words of the people.
Stefano continued dominating at his whim, as if nothing had happened, always
untouchable, administering happily the money of the Order and deceiving the ones who
went near him. After the secret session of the Commission in Sep tember 1645, he became
even more impertinent. Around the following new year, together with Pietrasanta -
already permanent inspector, institutional! - promulgated, under punishment of
excommunication, a decree about the offerings and possession of money by the
Religious. Evidently, with the excuse of the poverty vow he wanted to take advantage of
his power to steal in an official way from his companions even their personal coins. It
was too much; everybody rebelled. Therefore, without losing his temper, Cherubini went
to Albizzi again to tell him everything, who, to make him happy and to show his power
over the Piarists, made that the special commission would confirm Stefano by a decree.
Even more, he added by his own hand the penalties of jail or galleys for the transgressors.
Another choir of lamentations and another raining of memorials went to the Pope, the
Holy See, and the Cardinal commission. Luca Anfosso, an impulsive and generous
Brother, decided to go directly and with other Piarists, without considering the
hierarchical levels. Taking a big risk, he went near the Pope during a liturgical function in
Saint Peter. Many went after him to stop him, but Innocentius ordained them to allow
him and his four companions to pass. After that, he went with them to a small room and
asked them what they wanted:
“Your Holiness,” started Luca, with sweat, with emotion, but who decided to say
everything, “we, the Piarists, cannot bear any more. It has already been three years that
we live in anguish because of our Superiors. We are tired of being humiliated, of living in
insecurity, of seeing everyday destroyed by our fatigues and those of our founder. We
only ask justice and it as soon as possible.”
The Pope cut immediately everything and said goodbye with the best peace ful words
that came to his mouth.:
“Be in peace,” he said seriously and sharply, “your petition will be satisfied before
you think. Now, go in peace.”
Ridicule mission… a diplomatic mission that of the Brother Luca and his
companions; it was not a success. While Innocentius saw them going away, he said to
himself, frowning his brow and smoothing his chin and goatee with his right hand, “They
are right, Msgr. Albizzi, more than enough. The Pious Schools are sick and a shock
therapy, a radical cure is necessary. It is necessary to act fast, and I am with you
regarding these poor men.”
In addition, as if the happenings were conjugated to give the reason to the Pope and to
all anti-Piarists regarding this idea, the situation, especially in San Pantaleo, came to the

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right moment. With the hysterical happenings of Cherubini, the relations of Pietrasanta,
the rebellions of the Piarists, the memorials to the Vatican and the terrible waiting of the
decisions from above, it was total chaos and spasmodic tension. Joseph was suffering
more than anybody and he prayed more than anyone did. He invited the religious to be
calm, and in the meantime he used to take refuge in the school rooms, among the
benches, with his smallest children, to find himself there, to find the true authentic Pious
Schools, the concrete good that should be done, the reason and the goal of everything.
However, who was listening to him? Moreover, even more, who was ready to look at him
in that eve of the apocalypses?
Among this deteriorating and incandescence climate, the commission met to have the
last session. It was February 3, 1646. On the agenda was to carry out the Pontifical
decision of reduction the Order of the Pious Schools to Congrega tion. Albizzi had
distributed beforehand to each commissioner a rough copy of the Brief, rather in
moderate terms, with tactic, because the debate and the final decision regarding the
scheme could only make worse the destiny of the Piarists. In addition, it was like this.
From the conclusive vote - in unanimity - the Order became disarranged, almost non-
existent. Let us see why. The Religious of Calasanz became a Congregation without
vows and together with their houses and schools, they remained in everything and in
every aspect under the authority of the local Bishops, without having anymore their ow n
Superiors. The founder and the other Superiors were suspended indefinitely from any
authority. Even Cherubini fell down from his generelate, but in compensation, he was
nominated rector of the Nazareno School: the right man to the right job! The childre n
were waiting with their arms open! All the Piarists that would like to, could go to any
other Order and nobody could be admitted to the novitiate or profession without the nihil
obstat of the Holy See. In summary, it was one condemnation after another, until the total
extinction, that was made longer with time as a slowly and painful death, certain and
inexorable. And finally, new Constitutions should be written. Could the Piarists do it? Of
course not. That would be taken care of by Albizzi, Pietrasanta, other prelates, and the
person to which Congregation all the Piarists should belong to.
On March 16, Innocentius X signed the Brief that ratified the decisions and made
them worse. The possibility of admitting any kind of persons to the novitiate or to
profession, was excluded, two organisms that for the Piarists did not exist any more.
Therefore, the Congregation was not only of simple vows, but… to be extinguished. The
only tip the poor Cardinal Ginetti could get from the Pope was the rejection of put ting
Cherubi as director of the Nazareno School, that in any case, for the moment, was taken
away from the direction of the Piarists and given to the judges of the Sacred Rota. The
secretary of the Vicar Cardinal read the Brief in San Pantaleo in a complete silence. At
the end, Joseph, with his forehead on high and with his arms crossed on his chest, as if he
were in prayer, pronounced with his perennial Spanish accent the words of Job: “The
Lord gave it to me, the Lord has taken it away… Blessed be his name!”

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 20
BEYOND JOB
Per chi vuol qualche grazia dal sovrano
Aspra e lunga e la via del Vaticano,
Ma se e persona accorta
Corre da Donna Olimpia a mani piene
E cio che vuole ottiene.
E’ la strada piu larga e la piu corta.
For the one who wants to get something from the sovereign
The road to the Vatican is rough and long.
But if he is a clever person
He goes to Mrs. Olimpia with “dough”
And he gets what he wants.
It is the widest and shortest road.
“Who is that Mrs. Olimpia?” Brother Alfonso asked to a compa nion, reading these
verses discovered one day upon the Pasquino statue, at the starting of vie Governo
Vecchio there two steps from San Pantaleo. In reality, since not so long ago, the jokes
and satires about the powerful sister in law of Innocentius X, wr itten during the night on
the marble bust in a corner of the Orsini Palace - today Braschi - were abundant and as it
was the custom, they were mordant and they hit the nail on the head.
“O, Luca! Are you not in Rome?” replied the Piarist friend, sharing t he laughter with
the people that had stopped with the two before the most famous of the “talking statues”
in the city.
“Everybody knows it,” the Religious continued. “She is the one who governs the
Vatican now, meddling in everything. She flatters him as she wants to and in the end, the
Pope does what she wants. Realize that people call her “the gate “ of the Holy See,
because if you ask for a favor, if you need anything, if you want an audience with the
Pope, you must go through her, you must get her nihil obstat, her consent. However, not
only the poor people, but also the princes, the Cardinals, the ambassadors. Everybody had
to go to her, and if she says yes, everything is okay.”
The Piarist, when he was saying this, was not far away from reality. Besides, it was
what everybody thought in Rome during those years. Olimpia had married the Pamphilio
Pamphili marquis. Moreover, since she became a widow in 1639, and the brother of his
husband, Giambattista, had become elected Pope in 1644, the noble lady from Viterbo,
Olimpia Maidalchini, had become a powerful person. Not only because she was sister- in-
law of the Pontiff, but also because she was ambitious and avid, ready for everything, to
any intrigue and low blows in order to get her purpose; those were always increasing her
power and richness. Among other things, she controlled the finances of the Vatican and
we can imagine her intentions and criteria. They called her “the She-Pope” and she was
considered as the supreme boss in Rome. As long as she got money, she did of
everything. She even went as far as abusing the prostitutes with the pretext of helping
them. Regarding her brother in law, she had a powerful influence. Two months after the
election, she had got for her son Camilo the nomination of general of the Church and
commander of the pontifical navy. In addition, not being satisfied with it, she pretended
and got the cardinal hat for her nephew Francesco that was only fifteen years old.
Innocentius X was not a firm man and authoritarian as his predecessor; he was weak,

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insecure and capricious and the widow of his brother made his life and also the ministry
even harder. The bitterness, the unhappiness of the Pamphili Pope can be seen very well
in the wonderful, talking picture of Velazquez. Practically, Olimpia would put him on the
streets. After he died, January 7, 1655, she plundered everything that had remained, two
boxes of full gold hidden under his bed. In this climate and with these personages arrived
the “Innocentian reduction” of the Pious Schools.
But going back to Pasquino and to our friends, the poor Brother Luca had to realize
his naiveté, not knowing who Pimpaccia was, as the people also used to call her, because
besides that, the Pamphili palace where Olimpia prepared her plots, was very near San
Pantaleo. It was brand new. It was a gift from her brother in law, the Pope, not so a long
time before. It was on the East side of Navonna Square, before arriving to Saint Agness
in Agone, which the Rainaldi and Borromini were constructing. In a word, everything
was happening there, in the Roman heart of the Parione district, where so many things
lately happened.
“Then, why don’t we go to Mrs. Olimpia, asking for grace, to implore the re-
habilitation of the Pious Schools and of our Fr. General?” e xclaimed Anfosso with his
habitual passion and generosity.
“What do you say!” objected the other Religious. “Is it not enough with what you
prepared with the Pope? After the surprise you gave him in Saint Peter, he has gathered
the Cardinals and he has given us a hell of a beating. Forget it, please! Let us do as the
holy old man says, let us offer this cross to heaven, let us continue doing the good we can
and let us hope that the Lord, soon or later, may touch the heart of the one He knows.
Thanks God, nothing was done. Moreover, it was not wrong, because it had not been
good for Calasanz and his sons that they had to give thanks to Mrs. Olimpia. Besides that,
not the Polish King, nor his chancellor Ossolinski, nor Bishops and nobles of his reign,
nor the Tuscany duchess, nor the Spanish Vice-King in Italy, nor the Leonora Empress
neither the rest nobles of the Empire, who precisely these months were writing to the
Pope asking for justice and clemency for the Pious Schools, thought of going to the
powerful sister in law. In fact, Innocentius X continued saying no to all with an
unaccustomed firmness in him and without any doubt worthy of other cause.
Therefore, after the Congregation of February 3, 1646 and the Pontifical Brief of the
following March, there were not any other new facts, other substantial changes, other
surprises, other important blows, while Joseph was living, that is to say, still during six
and a half years. There was only the execution of the pontifical order, slowly, gradually,
but inexorable and spread to the whole Italy and European Pious Schools. The enemies of
Calasanz and his work, of his educational and social programs, of his fight of fifty years
for rescuing the culture, spirit and humanity of the infancy and popular abandoned youth,
had conquered. The municipal teachers had conquered, envious and speculators; the
Jesuits had won, jealous of their school monopoly - and we can see that there was not the
whole Company of Jesus; the Roman Inquisition had won, just few years after t he other
victories over Campannella and Galileo; the prelates and the aristocrats had won contrary
to the popular school, to the right of study and cultural progress for the masses, to the
betterment of the quality of life for the sons of the families and classes most abandoned.
Now, without any autonomy, without any independence, without promotion, without
contacts among them and without a unification and orientation aim, without liberty of
decision and didactic, being under the jurisdiction and sometimes the caprice of the local

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bishops, the schools and the Piarist houses would rapidly lose efficacy, soul, identity, and
they would go towards fatal decline. Everything they had constructed with love and work
during fifty years, that had been approved by four Popes and encouraged the spirits and
policies most clairvoyance, that had enjoyed so many towns and cities and by thousands
of youth in Italy and in Europe, was condemned to be disfigured and later on to disappear
in just a few years, with damage for the Church and society, for children and the Catholic
world, for Catholic states and the popular classes.
Before this dismantling and this ruin of the blessed fruit of so many suffer ing and so
much sweat, Joseph felt as Jesus on the cross, painful and anguished, insulted and
betrayed, without being understood, derived and abandoned. His life had never been easy
and comfortable, neither when he was young, nor when old, neither in Spain, nor in Italy.
He had elected Christ and his Gospel. He had fought the battle of good during ninety
years, trying to be holy day by day and sowing the wheat of the Kingdom of God.
Nevertheless, it had been always difficult and never in an automatic form. Each success,
each step going on, was hard for him, because he had to give his best, not only in one
front, but also in many: with himself and with the evils of the world, the reformation of
the Church and society, the carrying out the good and facing continuous mediocrity,
incoherence, contradictions, anti-testimony, scandals or aberrations he had found among
the brothers in the faith, the priests and the ecclesiastical authorities. However, he had
persevered and continued forward, had been a valiant a faithful person until the end,
crossing the fire without being hurt, and going straight through the road the Lord had
showed him. As we have seen, he had been converted several times, had made options
every time more committed, bold, radical, and total, until the last for the education of the
poor and the defense of the weak. And in this daring enterprise had spent his sixty Roman
years founding a renovated Religious Family, poor, evangelical, and constructing a new
school for the service of the people. He had been a new Francis of Assisi, a new Philip
Neri, reformer, but faithful, social apostle, but committed in being holy, first himself, a
strong testimony, but also a realistic and constructive one, able of making an incision in
an authentic and deep way.
Besides, the last ten years had been very hard, and increasing in obstacles and
problems, disillusions and bitterness, fights and persecutions. To the difficulties and the
always adversaries, there had been added the “nourish a viper in your bosom…” inside,
the rotten apples, first with the working-clerics, later on with the memorials and
anonymous denunciations, and then with the Holy Office and Frs. Mario, Cherubini,
Pietrasanta and the special commission, even the censure of two Popes and the
Innocentian reduction. Now had started the end, the slowly death of everything. Many
Religious left the Order; many also remained but they were full of doubts, problems, and
anguishes. The schools were going on as they could, as coordinated organisms, but every
day “nearer” the sunset. The communities and the families were lamenting, not k nowing
where to turn to so their sons would continue studying. Everybody was in confusion, and
each one managed as he could with the district schools, the Jesuits, if they had money, or
returning to their little businesses. Or maybe, to the street, again to the social, physical or
moral degradation, to the open abysm of marginalization and vice, delinquency, jail.
Regarding this almost total disaster, the Founder continued praying, encour aging all -
Religious, teachers, students, families, benefactors, sympathizers - hoping against any
hope, against any logic or rational valorization. He continued repeating that it was not

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necessary to be discouraged, that it should not be abandoned, because the Pious Schools
would be reborn as before and better. The death and obscurity of that moment would be
conquered by the brightest resurrection of the whole work. Moreover, his hope was a
theological hope, not human, not a sentiment. In fact, he did no say such things to console
others, to take them out from the bottom of desperation, but rather because he was
convinced of it, he really believed it. His high sanctity, matured, purified in an existential,
spiritual, long trip, committed and with so many tests, inspired him immediately, without
forcing him, the interpretation according to the faith, the religious answer, the Christian
vision of everything that was happening to him and to his world. And that reading of the
facts, that behavior, suggested him and others, only an alternative: the positive and
submission acceptance, the forgiveness and mercy, the meekness and the abandon to the
will of God, the offering to the Lord all tests and pains, especially if they were unjust, and
the confidence, the hope, and the Christian optimism in the future.
His line had always been this, and it continued being like this even after the Brief of
February 1646, that is to say, the line of patience, and no despair regarding the
encountered disillusions, the endured offenses and the suffered evil and the one that
would come. A line and a behavior that as we have said, induced someone, the first the
Pope Lambertini Benedictus XIV in 1748 - with the occasion of the beatification of
Calasanz - to talk about the founder of the Pious Schools as a new Job, a hero of the
inspired religious patience. And this is certain even further than that, how this similarity
has been interpreted. Because if it is certain that Job is wounded with so many calamities,
in spite of his piety and sanctity, it is also true that his suffering prostrated him, destroyed
him morally, made him weaken and took away any attachment to life; they made him
curse the day when he was born, made him desire and invoke death. Job does not get
angry with God - and this is his great merit - in the meaning that he does not rebel, does
not blaspheme. However, he laments to the Lord, asks Him why he allowed that
earthquake that has destroyed his life, has taken away everything and conjures Him not to
deny him at least his last favor: to take him from that hell- world where He allowed him to
fall. In addition, the same happens to Calasanz, a saint, yes, but not an angel, not a pure
spirit, but rather a human being as the others, also with a limit of spiritual suffering that
cannot be surpassed. Therefore, Joseph, during the months and years of greatest
suffering, was similar to Job, not only because he was a patience man, and did not rebel
against God, but also because he also felt strongly the temptation of imitating the just Hus
in the despair, in the exhaustion, in the fear, in the lamentation and in the desire of dying.
When he felt very much tempted, he seemed to him to see the same threatening shadow
that many years before, while being a child, had appeared to him in the olive tree of
Peralta de la Sal. Uniting the fantasy to the spirituality, we imagine that sometimes, after
the reduction of the Order and the beginning of the dismemberment, the obscure
silhouette might have directed him some words. If that would have happened in reality,
the last facing of the saint with the old adversary, could have happened in this way:
“Joseph, those who have not yet died, can be seen again. It is already a long time
since it happened, no? You were a child, a little excitable, not so much reflective, the case
was that you did not have a bright future. Who would have said that you walked so much
road, that you would become famous, not only in Spain, but also in Italy, in Rome, in half
a Europe? However, where has everything taken you? Look: your are almost 90 years
old, you cannot pretend the respect and obedience of anybody, you don’t have anything

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yours, you are alone in this world. Many that were on your part, who said they were your
friends and ready to do anything for you, have gone back, have abandoned you. The
Church, the Pope, have disapproved you, ridiculed you; they have taken away their
confidence and the esteem of the people and they allow you to finish your days in
discredit and forgiveness. That is your reward, the recompense you have gotten after you
have worked and suffered so much for the Church, the children and the poor. After all,
don’t you think that you have mistaken your plans, that you have made a complete
mistake? If you would admit this, you could say that at least you don’t die as an
ingenuous person, as a poor dreamer, as you have always lived. Never late to realize it, to
say enough to those who always pull your leg. At least, you will deprive them of the
satisfaction that they have deceived you until the last moment, until the last breath.”
Calasanz looked attentively at the shadow, rubbing his eyes as to see who he was.
Then he moved his head up and down several times, as if he had recognized somebody,
smiled with a sour gesture in his mouth and accepted loyally, almost gratefully, that
provocation, that kind of colloquial-challenge. In the end, he answered calmly:
“Are you? Always you! The only vice you don’t have is laziness. You recommend it
to the souls, but you do not know it, you are a continuous movement. I have felt you so
many times during these years; I have felt your presence, your stench, and your
destroying action! I knew that you were the one, I saw the effects of your work, the
difficulties you were creating for me, the darnel you were sowing inside and outside the
Order, the powerful men became yours and later on you threw them upon me. Now I am
sure you are satisfied! You have killed many birds with only a shot! The Pious Schools
have been humiliated, changed; many Religious have stopped becoming holy; the
ecclesiastical authority at the high levels has been stained with more faults; many
children will remain ignorant, and with their moral and material misery, they will be an
easy prey for you. The world, of which you are the prince, has lost another occasion to be
closer to the Kingdom of God. For you, that is the best.”
Thanks to the white enamel of the teeth on the black side, Joseph understood that the
shadow was smiling, in silence, laughing, satisfied. Then, stretching out his right arm and
lifting the index finger towards him he protested in indignation:
“Don’t make any illusion! Your victories are always pyrrhic victories, false, limited,
and temporal. What my brothers and me have constructed with the help of God, has not
died completely, and it will not die. The good we have done, re mains, and even among
the difficulties, in the limitations of now and in the immediate future, we still will be able
to do it again. We will resist, you can be sure of that. Much more earlier than what you
think, the Pious Schools will be reborn from the ashes, stronger and more active than in
the past, purified and better, thanks to this obscure night we are living through.
Everything will function as before, and even better, for the good of men and the glory of
God.”
The shadow was no longer smiling. After a short silence, it replied:
“Well… well… I see that the lessons your have received were not enough; still you
have not learned. Won’t you be cured of your naiveté, your pathetic idealism, and your
utopia? At last, open your eyes! You are an intelligent person, a theologian, you know
how to reason, you have much experience…, therefore, draw the conclusions of what has
happened, of what you have seen and still you are look ing at. The Christians are fighting
in Europe. Those you call heretics are gaining ground, e ven in those countries where your

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Religious are teaching long time ago and had converted so many children and families.
As you see, work in vain! Your words of peace and reconciliation come to an end by the
cannons and shouts of those who are wounded, of those who are dying. The seed you
have sowed do not give fruits, the pigs do not want your pearls any more and come
against you. And in Italy? And here in Rome? Have you seen what kind of persons your
companions were, how they have treated you? Have you seen whom I have put as a
leader of the Order? For me they have been two perfect disciples and collaborators. In
addition, it was not difficult for me to find the person who would encourage them, protect
them and would increase their devastating power. It was just a simple trying around the
Roman Palaces, which are full of Prelates and ambitious and corrupted nobles, greedy
and vicious, intriguing and pagans. The reality is this, my old man. The human nature is
defective, the true Christians, those who go to heaven, the elected are very few, and they
are counted with the fingers of one hand. Jansenius was right in his Augustinus, although
the Pope Urbanus has put him in the index. Admit it, once and for all, and you will feel
better, you will be able to live with more serenity the short time that remains for you.”
Joseph did not answer anything more. He lifted again his arm, but this time in calm,
as if it were heavier. Then he made a signal of the cross towards the shad ow, which
immediately disappeared, becoming totally silent, one could perceive. Only the voices of
the students of San Pantaleo could be heard, that were singing down in the church, in the
Eucharistic Blessing in the afternoon. A great peace embraced the heart and the mind of
Calasanz, even more, a deep joy, the same that during those years, incredible, had
accompanied him, among all the problems and crosses. Where did it come from? The
same Joseph tells us in two confidences - and this is not imagination! - that Fr. Berro
made, one of the first Piarists who wrote his life. The first time he told him: “I know a
person (just like this) that with only a word the Lord told (sic) him, he bore in his heart,
with much patience and joy, ten continuous years of great work and persecutions.” And
one year later, he remarked: “I know a person who, with only a word God told to his
heart, suffered with great joy fifteen years the great pains that happened (just like this) to
him.” And not only “with much patience,” but also with “joy,” more with “a very great
joy.” The grace of God, his love, his nearness, his help, his “word,” had sent this Job of
the Parione district further than the other Job, that is to say, had pushed him from virtue
to sanctity, from obedience to God, from the confession of His greatnes s and the own
nullity, to the communion with Him.
Months passed and the Piarists were cured from the wounds; they were counting the
dead persons and the wounded - that is to say, the resigning, those who were at the point
of going out, the children and the families that were going away from their influence - but
the situation did not seem to find a better road. The application of the Pontifical Decree
continued its course, with that irrevocability that only the bureaucracy knows. On the
contrary, in a certain sense, it seemed a worse future. In fact, the new Rules were already
prepared, the new Constitutions of the Congregation signed, as it was decided from
above, it is not necessary to say, by Cherubini and Pietrasanta! However, in practice, a
grace from heaven, they never went into effect. First, because the good Cardinal Ginetti,
trying a reaction in extremis, not only refused to sign them, but also retained the text in
his office, telling the friends that he would not allow those “destructive rules” to leave -
as one witness calls them - while he was alive. Besides this, at the begin ning of May
1647, came rather as an improvisation, the death of Fr. Silvestro. The “urinary calculi,”

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that is to say, in a grave form of stones in the vesicle that took him during the night. Just
prior to that he had been operated. The surgery was a success, but the patient, as it
happens sometimes, died anyway.
Therefore, Cherubini, in the first line, was alone to go on with the dismantling of the
Pious Schools. However, at this moment, a new blow in scene, or better, another series
happened. The reader could remember that in February of 1646, the Cardinal
Commission, in order to compensate Fr. Stefano because of his loss as Fr. General - it
was incompatible with the new Congregation, since it was not autonomous - had
nominated him Rector of Nazareno School, but putting beside him the auditors of the
Sacred Rota, as a job of control. After a few months, the magistrates of such a tribunal,
revising the accounting of the school, discovered that the rector had administered them in
a dishonorable way, and therefore they dismissed him from his job without any other
consideration. However, this is not everything. Any person of common sense would have
thought that because of evident reason, the ambience of Nazareno was not apt for a
discredited and dangerous type as Cherubini. In fact, before the end of the year, Stefano
fell in his vice. Therefore, after these two self- goals in his project, all the godparents ran
away from him and for the Piarists it was an easy thing to catch him - let us say this - and
send him to Frascati to meditate his faults, without any honor, nor power.
From that moment until the day of his death, purgatory on earth started for him, so
painful as it might be providential for his soul. Branded and abhorred by everybody as a
perverse, shameless, persecutor of the “holy old” and a destruc tive person of the Pious
Schools, Cherubini fell in an anguished depression and became sick. The sources say that
he was also attacked by “leprosy” (!), similar to the one that took Mario Sozzi to the
tomb, and it can be accepted with tranquility. Anyway, after some months, in a tiny voice
he asked his companions to take him to Rome, to feel less lonely and in that way to meet
the founder and ask his forgiveness. He was a complete sore. It caused compassion. In
addition, his repentance, the repentance of his sins, different from what happened to
Sozzi, seemed sound, painful and sincere. He died with many spasms on March 9, 1648,
reconciled with his Religious Family, comforted with the sacraments and forgiven by
Joseph Calasanz from the bottom of his heart. The sons of Calasanz did not allow Joseph
to go the bedside of Stefano, but the saint had followed his agony and his end with great
solicitude and urged his Religious to give him the last Communion and the anointing of
the sick persons before he died. He was 48 years old. He was also buried in San Pantaleo,
and Joseph wanted to take part in person in the funeral and to pray before the disfigured
corpse.
Except the stopping of the new Rules, the death of Cherubini did not bring any good
thing to the Pious Schools, no novelty that could make the heart happy, no change of
tendencies. There were not new norms that could enrage the remaining Piarists, but it
happened that the old Constitutions written by Calasanz were not in vigor, and this, of
course, did not block, nor delay the fast decadence and the process of extinction, of the
Congregation, as well as of the foundations and activities. At the end of 1647 died, too,
the number two of the Pious Schools, Pietro Casani, a column of the Order from its birth,
a great friend, unequal collaborator of Calasanz and a valiant companion in so many
battles. He was 75 years old, he was also consumed by the fatigues of his whole life and
because of so many anguishes and bitterness of the last years. As we saw it, especially
during the time of the working clerics, Fr. Casani did not remain always in the same line

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as the founder. He also had committed some mistakes, some impudence, and some errors
of valorization. Nevertheless, what was the matter? What Joseph only remembered was
the fraternal friend, the daring Religious, the example educator, the illuminated
counselor, the charismatic Superior, and therefore, his disappearance made him feel
alone, weaker and desolate.
Nevertheless, the bad news, the incidents, the misfortunes, still had not fin ished. That
summer of 1648, each sore, each wound seemed to be more painful: in Italy, where the
sunny and beloved Naples was blooded by the revolt of Masaniello and the following
repression; in Europe, in Westphalia, where after 20 years of un- useful massacre was to
be signed a peaceful treaty that was almost a picture of the one signed a century a go, in
Augsburg. A whole world that was crumbling away - the unity of the Empire, the unity
of the faith - and from the debris of the values and the old institutions, the outlines of the
new, of the future, were still too much uncertain and confused. During the night of July 6
and 7, the gunpowder arsenal of Savonna exploded and among the victims, there were
also six Piarists of the Genoa Province. The Religious of San Pantaleo decided not to say
anything to the founder. However, he got knowledge, anyway, a little by his intuition,
even supernatural, but also because in a rather big community, and also frequented by
people who come and go, it is difficult to keep hidden the news, good or bad. Although
his heart was already accustomed to hard experiences, and full of scars, Joseph was very
much affected by that. He prayed deeply and he offered to the Lord this sour chalice. But
of course, with this new test, after all, what had hap pened was that his physical and
general conditions, almost 91 years old, had become really critical.
In fact, just a few days after coming back from the Salvatore Church, which now does
not exist, but then was by the side of San Luigi dei Frascati, and one of the many
churches that were in Rome with this title, where he had gone to gain the plenary
indulgence, Joseph stumbled and felt to the ground, hurting one foot, among other things,
because he used sandals without socks. The two Religious that were with him, helped
him to get up and accompanied him to San Pantaleo, supporting him. From that day on,
he did not leave the house any more. On August 1, he celebrated what it was his last
Mass. The following day was Sunday and his Religious convinced him that he would
take part in the Mass with the students, without celebrating, because of the danger that he
would feel bad. During the function, Fr. Berro gave him the Communion; this is the scene
painted by Goya, about what, we have already talked.

INSERT PICTURE

Immediately after that, he became worse and went to bed. Three doctors visited him
in different hours, but none of them understood much. They talked about his age, about
his stress, of the general deterioration. And it is not that it was not true. However,
Calasanz insisted that especially it was his liver. During his whole life he felt pain, and he
had always fought his pains applying to his right side an alabaster stone slab that is still
kept in his room. However, this time, before thinking about getting better, regarding the
doubts of the doctors, he said:
“The doctors do not know my sickness. When the Lord wants to take some body to
heaven, He makes the doctors not understand the sickness, and that is why they cannot

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say the kind of remedy.” In the meantime, his fever was rising. The saint was burning
with thirst but he denied drinking anything in a decisive way.
“While I may be able,” he said in a low voice, “I want to avoid water because of
God’s love. Pray for me so that I may accept his will.”

INSERT PICTURE

Day by day he became worse and worse. On August 11, they b led him, but he got the
opposite result and it seemed that the sickness was passing away. The following day they
gave him the Communion. Looking at the priest ready to give him the Communion,
Joseph, looking at it in contemplation and serious, said:
“This is the tribunal of truth,” referring to all the false accusations that had been
invented so many times about him and to the silences he had answered fre quently,
committing everything to the Celestial Judge, that now was foreseen in the consecrated
host. After the Communion and thanksgiving, he asked forgiveness to all, present and far
away, calling “very dear sons” and exhorting them to humility, patience, charity and
mercy. Moreover, he did not talk only with his voice, but also with his eyes that were
crying without stopping.
It was very hot. The Parione district was immersed in silence in the summer heat.
Only the voices of the helpers of Gianlorenzo Berninio could be heard. They were
constructing the Fontana dei Fiumi, exactly in the center of Navona Square. It could be
said that it was the only good thing Mrs. Olimpia had thought, because she had been the
one who had released the master from the quarantine that had been put by Innocentius X,
convincing the brother in law that he would allow her to cons truct the fountain.
Therefore, a master piece of plastic and architectonic art was being born, while a few
steps away, a master piece of Christian sanctity was at the point of going back to the
fountain of all beauty.
On August 15, Calasanz took Communion again. Later on, he talked again with the
Religious. He invited them to resist, persevere, hope and continue work ing at school, for
the children and to love the Institute, that unfailingly will rise again, he repeated.
“If we remain united as true brothers,” he concluded, “we should not fear anything,
even if the hell would be unleashed.”
Since he had always been very devout of Saint Charles Borromeo and Saint Philip
Neri, one day he asked for the cincture of one and the biretta of the other, and he kept
them for a while, venerating in those relics the two great “Roman” reformers they
belonged to. But still one thing was lacking, and just doing his best, he fulfilled it
immediately. He called two Religious and he made them this petition:
“Please, make me this favor, by the love I have for you. Go to the Vatican, gain the
indulgence for me, kiss the foot of the statue of Saint Peter and ask the blessing for me,
so that the Lord may give me forgiveness of my sins.” He stopped for an instant, with
fatigue, and continued, “After that, go to the chamberlain’s master of Cardinal Cecchini
and asked him to get for me the plenary indulgence of the Pope and the blessing in
articulo mortis”.
Joseph’s conscience was in peace; he knew well that he had always been unit ed to the
Holy Father, although he had treated him unjustly; and he also knew that to die well in
the grace of God and in peace with the Church, he was not obliged to this act. Anyway,

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he did it, because of humility and charity, to put away any sus picion, to prevent any
manipulation and to edify all with a public testimony, and the last, of his love for the
Church and the Vicar of Christ. Moreover, everything came out, as he desired. Later, on
August 23, he asked for the Viaticum and in the evening, the unction of the sick. Fr.
Garcia administered them, being present the whole community. Then, the 24th and the
following night, the “holy old man” was already in his last breath.
The visions came again. He had them since the beginning of the agony that was going
on for a long time.

INSERT PICTURE

The Madonna dei Monti had appeared to him, of whom he had been very devout and
she had comforted and gave him peace. Another time he had seen the dead Piarists, a
rather good group, all, except one. We can imagine who was the absent one.
The third vision that we narrate is not a historical one, but a fruit of the imagination
and inspired in the composition between the testimony of Calasanz and the direction of
the contemporary Church. It seemed to him that an invisib le hand took him flying into the
Basilica of Saint Peter, where he had entered so many times, especially when the Piarist
house, as we know, was in Borgo Santo Spirito. After walking the right nave, he felt like
pushed towards the transept, as far as by a great niche, where was… Yes! incredibly, he
himself. As it would be sculpted a century later, in the attitude of educator! Immediately
after that, the mysterious force pushed him towards the future, as far as the first Sunday
of Lent of the year 2000, and put him before the Confession altar, under the baldachin
Bernini, still in his apex, that had been built 15 months before, with Urbanus VIII. There,
he saw an old Pope, bent, with white hair and the same Slovak accent as the king
Ladislaus, while before an ancient crucifix that Joseph had seen many times in San
Marcello dei Corso; he was praying, in recollection, and as painful, leaning on a staff,
also in the form of a crucifix. There was a moment when the saint heard him pronounce
these impressive and solemn invocations:
“Brothers and sisters, let us pray with confidence to God our Father … that He may
accept the repentance of his people, who confess with humility their own faults and give
his mercy… Lord God, your pilgrim Church… in each epoch has in its bosom members
that shine because of their sanctity and others that disobeying you, contradict the faith
professed in the holy Gospel; You that are faithful, although we may become unfaithful,
forgive our faults and give us the grace to be among men the authentic witnesses.” And it
continued, “Lord, God of all men, in certain epochs of history, the Christians sometimes
allowed themselves to be carried by methods of intolerance, and they have not followed
the great commandment of love, staining in this way the face of the Church, your Spouse.
Have mercy on your sons, sinners, and accept our commitment of looking and promoting
the truth in smoothness of charity, knowing very well that the truth is not imposed but
with the strength of the same truth.” And at the end, “God, our Father, that you always
hear the shouts of the poor, how many times the Christians have not recognized the
hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the persecuted, the deprived of any possibility of self-
defense… For those who have committed injustices, having confidence upon riches and
power, and despising the “small,” especially loved by you, we ask forgiveness: have
mercy on us and receive our repentance.”

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 Joseph was touched and consoled with these words. That mea culpa was re cited too
for him, to compensate him of the persecutions, condemnations and undeserved
sufferings, and for that, he was full of joy and recognition. Therefore, after the old Pope
had finished his prayer, he told him with a smile, with bright eyes:
“Thank you, Holy Father. I have always asked God to forgive my persecutors, those
who chose to become my enemies, who caused evil to me, my Religious Family, my
schools and indirectly, my youth. Regarding myself, I have forgiven all from my heart.
On the other hand, the injustices, the violence, and offenses that I have suffered have not
taken away any of the precious gifts, graces and joys the Lord has given me. My life was
very beautiful, wonderful. Much more than I deserved.”
While he was talking like this, Joseph lifted his right arm - this is again history - as
wanting to bless those who were near him and maybe those who were not. Then, he
whispered three times the name of Jesus, and slept in the glory.

HISTORICAL NOTE

Joseph Calasanz died in his small room of San Pantaleo the night between 24 and 25
of August 1648, when he was 91 years old. He just closed his eyes forever when his
Religious Brothers heard from his bedside the clock of the Sapienza - then, the University
of Rome - five and three quarters, corresponding to fifteen minutes to two in the actual
calculation. He was buried in the same Church of San Pantaleo, in the evening of August
27. The affluence, the pain and the popular fervor, of the Piarists and other Religious and
of many priests and Prelates during two days that his corpse was exposed, and the solemn
funeral, had confirmed the popularity, the esteem, the affection and devotion that
surrounded the founder of the Pious Schools.
His rehabilitation, let us call it that, came very soon. During the first months of 1650,
Innocentius X - he, precisely he - authorized the celebration of the ordinary process super
non cultu. The following year, Cardinal Ginetti, Vicar of Rome, inaugurated the ordinary
informative process for the beatification of Calasanz. Benedictus XIV, on August 18,
1748, proclaimed him Blessed in Saint Peter Basilica.

INSERT PICTURE

Seven years later, the sculptor Innocenzo Spinazzi made him immortal with a statue
that - as we have said in the last vision of Joseph - was put in a niche, to the right of the
central nave of the Vatican Basilica, together with other founders. These recognition and
honors culminated with the canonization on July 16, 1767, by Clement XIII and on
August 13, 1948 - three hundred years of his death - Pius XII declared the Founder of the
Pious Schools “universal celestial Patron of all the Christian popular schools, “ that is to
say, of all the institutions, works and educational catholic activities before the university -
kindergarten, primary, secondary, and superior. The Church celebrates the Liturgical
Feast on August 25th, his dies natalis, date of his death, as we have said. In the Pious
Schools centers the saint is remembered on November 27, because in the past, until the
reformation of the Vatican Council II, his liturgical feast was on August 27 and not on
the 25th, as now, and also because during August the schools remain closed in almost all

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places for summer vacation, and therefore, teachers and students could not celebrate their
founder.
Later on, other “historical” Piarists would ascend to the honor of the altars. Pompilius
Maria Pirrotti (1710-1766), from Benevento, Italy, was proclaimed Blessed by Leo XIII
in 1890 and a Saint by Pius XI, in 1934. In addition, the Pope Ratti, in 1931, recognized
the “heroic virtues” of Glicerio Landriani (1588-1618). Regarding the faithful alter ego of
Calasanz, Pietro Casani (1572-1647), was the founder in person who promoted his cause
of beatification. John Paul II declared him Blessed in 1995, together with 13 Spanish
Martyrs in the religious persecution of 1936. On October 25, 1998, John Paul II declared
blessed Fr. Faustino Miguez (1831-1925), Spanish Piarist, founder of the Calasanzian
Congregation Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess.
With the same rhyme and with the same vigor, the Calasanzian work was reborn also
and again became great. On 1656, the Pope Alexander VII recognized again the Pious
Schools as a Congregation with simple vows. Thirteen years later, in 1669, his successor
Clement IX elevated it to the rank of Order with Solemn Vows. In 1731, Clement XII
recognized and confirmed the Piarists with the right of superior teaching, and also
teaching indistinctly poor and rich children, according to the Christian classic spirit
supported by the Founder already during his time. At the same time, the Pious Schools
were spreading and consolidating through the whole Italy, Europe, and during the XIX
century around the world. The anguished callings of Calasanz to confidence and hope
during his last dramatic years, his blind certainty, the foolish remarks of an old man, but
rather the visions of a prophet and of a witness, near to the heart of God.
Today, the Pious Schools are present in 34 nations on four continents. The Piarists are
about 1500 and their foundations - schools and Religious houses - are about 250. The
students are more than 100,000: a beautiful balance four hundred years from Santa
Dorotea! As at the beginning of the road, now too, the Piarists hire for their teaching the
collaboration of lay educators and spiritually being near to them; more than 6000 around
the world. Regarding the educational contents and the didactic methods now in effect, the
disciples of Calasanz are daily committed to harmonizing the necessary adaptation to the
cultures and national and local legislations to the own tradition, in the Calasanzian way
and to the exigencies of a Christian education to the level of the third millennium. Piety
and Learning, faith and culture, life and knowledge, spirituality and professional. As
yesterday, and as always.
To this historical glory of Calasanz and his Pious Schools, is also a joy to add other
figures of the Calasanzian Family, also admirable by their sanctity: Saint Paula Montal of
Saint Joseph Calasanz, founder of the Daughters of Mary, Escolapias Sisters, canonized
also by John Paul II on November 25, 2001. Blessed Anthony Maria Schwartz, founder
of the Congregation of Kalasantiner Fathers in Vienna, especially dedicated to the
education of working young people. Blessed Celestina Donati, founder of the Poor
Daughters of Saint Joseph Calasanz, “Calasanziane,” in Italy. Brothers Angel and Marcos
Anthony Cavanis, founders of the Congregation of Saint Joseph Calasanz, for the
education of poor children, in Italy. Joseph Mary Timon-David, founder of the
Congregation of Sacred Heart, for the education of children, under the protection of Saint
Joseph Calasanz, who wrote his life and propagated it through France. Fr. Luis Vincent
Donche, S.J., founder of the Sisters of Vorselaar, in Belgium, ded icated to the education
of children in the Christian Schools, under the protection of the Virgin of the Pious

136
Schools and Saint Joseph Calasanz. Antonio Provolo, founder of Institute for Deaf-Mute,
also under the special protection of Saint Joseph Calasanz, in Verona, Italy.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The following bibliographical information does not pretend to be exhaustive, nor

systematic, neither scientific. In presenting it, I have tried to center myself on two
objectives: 1) to make the reader a partner of some aspects of the preparatory work of the
reading and documentation carried out during years, before the Biography of Saint
Joseph Calasanz; 2) to indicate some secure forms, some good authors and titles for those
who want to know more about our saint.
I have to start for the contributions of the best historian and biographer, still living, of
Saint Joseph Calasanz, the Spanish Piarist Severino Giner Guerri. In 1985, Fr. Giner
published in Spain his first biography in the popular BAC, with the title, San José de
Calasanz, that had a second edition in 1993. It was translated into Italian in 1987,
Portuguese in 1990, Polish in 1994, English in 1995 and Hungarian in 2000. In 1992 was
published in Major BAC a second biography of this illustrious investigator man, much
more ample and deeper than the first one, with rigorous scientific character, entitled San
José de Calasanz, Maestro y Fundador. Nueva biografía crítica, Madrid 1992. It is a work
of almost 1200 pages, and today it represents the most extent and the best one about our
subject, because Giner has carried it out using all documents and fountains published and
not published until now - first of all the Letters of the Saint (10 volumes, Rome 1950-
1956, 1988)-, and other contributions of the best biographers and historians already
classic ones -Vicente Berro, Vicente Talenti, Urbano Tosetti, Gyorgy Santha, Deo degario
Picanyol, Calasanz Bau. Besides, in this second biography of Giner, there is a wide and
actualized bibliography until the years 90 (cf. pp. XXII-XXVIII). For these good reasons,
the two works of Giner - the one in 1987 and even more the one in 1992 - have been
without comparison the most powerful and luminous guiding lines on my road, in the
preparation, as well as in the development of the work. Besides this, they have been the
instruments and references that have given a critic-historical base, solid, serious, with
documents and actualized, to my biography, that, anyway, is for a type of popular
publication, spiritual and literary contributions, without scientific pretensions.

Besides the biographies of Fr. Giner, I have read others that I cite in a chronological
order:
- Francesco Giordano, Il Calasanzio e l’origine della scuola popolare, Genova 1960
- Remo Branca, Avventura del Calasanzio, Cagliari 1967151
- Quirino Santoloci, San Giuseppe Calasanzio, un grande amico dei fanciulli, Rome
1994
- Enrique Iniesta Coullaut-Valera, La Escuela del sol. Calasanz para ahora mismo.
Madrid, 1998
Regarding the first companions of our protagonist, I have read:
- Giovanni Panchetti, Glicerio Landriani, apostolo della catechesi, Padova, 1989.
A special place among the biographies – that is to say, half the road between the
properly said fountains and the historical-biographical works, most recent - are the old
“lives,” much appreciated by the Piarists. Of them, I have read the two most famous:

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 - Vicente Talenti, Compendio istorico-cronologico della vita a miracoli del B.
Giuseppe Calasanzio, Rome 1748.
- Urbano Tosetti, Compendio storico della vita di S. Giuseppe Calasanzio, Rome
1798.

Regarding what is properly fountains, I have consulted:

- Leodegario Picanyol, Florilegio Calasanziano, an anthology of the Letters of the
saint, a monumental work edited by the same author, already cited before.

Regarding pedagogy, spirituality, influence and other aspects relating to our saint and
his trajectory, I have consulted the following works:
- Angelo Sapa, Teologia spirituale e pedagogica di San Giuseppe Calasanzio, Firenze
1951
- Gyorgy Santha, San José de Calasanz: obra pedagógica, second edition, revised by
Severino Giner Guerri, Madrid 1984.
Giuseppe Gramignoli, Laici sulla via del Calasanzio, Rome 1992.

Finally, I come back to the author with which I have started this list, Giner, to note a
wonderful small book, that has been, in some way, the guide of my walking and my
“physical” contacts with the Calasanzian Rome:
- Severino Giner Guerri, Siguiendo las huellas de S. José de Calasanz por España
e Italia, ICCE, Madrid 1992, with an Italian translation in 1992.
- Joseph Calasanz, from Aragon Region in Spain, had a long and intense life
(1557-1648), spent almost completely to the service of the education of the
youth. He founded what has been called “the first popular, tuition free, public
school in Europe,” the Pious Schools. The opposition and the difficulties of any
kind he met almost destroyed his work, but Calasanz - as a patient Job and
really stubborn, secure that in the end, the Order and the schools would be
reborn, even more spread around the world and more efficacious than before -
continued trusting and hoping against any evidence. In addition, the facts
demonstrated that his ideas were not foolish remarks of a dreaming old man, but
rather visions of a prophet, of a witness close to God. In these pages is presented
the historical figure of the “pioneer of the popular school” and of his work,
among lights and shadows of the ecclesiastical environment of his time, and
with the whole originality of his pedagogical vision.

Mario Spinelli is a writer, journalist and professor. He has studied and translated
works of the Fathers of the Church, classic authors of the spirituality and medieval
authors. In the same way, he is an author of several historical propaganda works. Among
his publications are important: Senza voltarsi indietro, vita di Gaspare del Bufalo, Rome
1994; La donna della parola. Vita di Maria de Mattias, Rome 1997; I santi di Roma,
Rome 1999.

Original Title: Giuseppe Calasanzio,

Il pionieri della scuola popolar
2001,Citta Nuova Editrice

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Via egli Scipioni, 265 - 0019 Roma

Spanish Translation:
Jose de Calasanz
El pionero de la escuela popular
2002 Editorial Ciudad Nueva
Jose Picon, 28 - 28028 Madrid
Wwwciudadnueva.com
By Fr. Veleriano Rodriguez Saiz, Sch.P.

English translation, from Spanish :

Fr. Jesús Lacarra, Sch.P.
English Revision:
Mr. Richard Higgins

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