September 2023

Fr. Cornelius BANAH,

sch.p. of the Holy Cross
Christian Piety of Calasanz as Practical Tool
of Evangelization in Africa.
Saint Joseph de Calasanz adopted as motto in his schools “Piety and
Literacy”. This is essential in his teaching and he spoke about it with great
interest. To better understand why the role of Piety as a practical tool of
evangelization, it is important to retrace the etymology of the word, situate
it in the context of Saint Joseph Calasanz (Middle Age), before seeing how
it can help facilitate the evangelization of Africa.
Piety comes from the Latin "pietas" which means sense of duty,
righteousness or holiness. Piety is a filial affection towards God and
towards all that is turned to God. It is far from being a simple scrupulous
respect for religious forms, since it is animated by "an outpouring of
spontaneous tenderness".

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 Lorem Ipsum Dolor [Édition] :: [Date]

The motto was intended first for teachers, then for students. Calasanz gave great
importance to the intellectual and spiritual dimensions of man, but defend the
dominance of Piety over Literacy. He said to himself that a pious and literate man
from a young age is a joy and a success in society. Godliness must come first
because man is called to live in the love of God.
The Pious Schools of Saint Joseph Calasanz had as principal objective a sound
moral and religious education of children. The end result Integer metus. is to
of this education

Lorem.
render the children apt for their personal sanctification and make them
protagonist of social and moral reforms of the society. It is then understood that
education, according to Calasanz, doesn’t aim at providing job or money to
students, but its finality is to make them happy and apt to change
auteur the society.
[Nom] in the children
Calasanz insisted that these moral values should be inculcated
from their tender age so that they will be free from all negative social influences.
Bringing them up this way will help them to build a solid moral foundation and
religious culture that will permit them bring change in the society.
This is only possible when the educators themselves are invested with the moral
values because one cannot give what s/he doesn’t have. It is for this reason why
Calasanz insisted so much on the good selection of teachers in the Pious Schools,
and a sound moral formation given to them according to the norms and values of
the Catholic Church. This reminds us of the necessity of creating Catholic
Teachers’ Training Centres for the integral training of future Catholic teachers
who are prepared to transmit the rich catholic values to the children. To obtain
the results of an integral education that responds to the standards of Catholic
ethics and values, we ought to invest in the training of catholic teachers and do
proper selections of those who are to work in our schools. This will ensure a solid
foundation of the education agents who are the custodians of the values we want
to transmit for a better future. We are therefore going to proceed to the
presentation of Piety according to the spirit of Calasanz.

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a) Holy Fear of God: The religious and moral formation of Calasanz had as
objective to ignite in the children the Holy fear of God. This involves admiration
of the greatness of God, His Almighty power and the wonders of His creation.
Calasanz often spoke of "His Divine Majesty", which is a submissive love of God
that leads to the respect of His commandments. This fear of the Lord begins with
wisdom, the transformed into a reverential love of God, which leads to holiness.
Children should therefore be initiated into this love of God.
b) Christocentrism: It was always the wish and intention of Calasanz to make
Christ the central message of the religious teaching to the children. He insisted
that special emphasis should be placed on the life and passion of Christ was the
concern of Calasanz. Children must understand from their tender age that the
way of hardwork and perseverance is the way of success. This is contrary to the
gospel of prosperity that is being preached in many churches today, where
pastors make people to understand that it is enough to believe in God and pray to
be able to make it in life. Teaching children the way of the Cross is inviting them
to take their destiny at hand, and work so hard while trusting God before they
can succeed in life. The feasts of the Lord and the great solemnities to be
celebrated in a special way in the Piarist schools. This will help the students to be
initiated into the mysteries of Christ. Calasanz also laid emphasis on Holy Hour,
and encouraged that the ‘continuous prayer be done before the Saint Sacrament.
He also advised that the children should receive the Body of Christ at least once a
week, and that Christ should be the first model proposed to the children.
c) Continuous Prayer: This consisted of an uninterrupted adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament done every day during school hours by all the students. The
students were to be divided into smaller groups of nine, ten or twelve and be sent
for prayer according to the different hours. This was a great tool to initiate the
children into the culture of Adoration, helping them to find time be quiet in the
presence of the Lord. During this moment, certain core truths of our Christian
faith were explained to the children, and some intentions given for them to pray
for. This helps them to live in perfect communion with the universal Church.

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 Lorem Ipsum Dolor [Édition] :: [Date]

d) The Sacraments: Calasanz proposed that the reception of Sacraments should be one
of the key spiritual exercises offered to the children. Insistence should be made on the
sacraments over the sacramentals. This is opposed to the actual tendencies of projecting
and even selling sacramentals to Christians, making them to believe more in them than
the sacraments. Sacramentals, especially exorcism and the use of religious objects,
make our Christian faith to resemble the African traditional beliefs and practices. We
ought to print out the importance of sacraments in our schools and help the children to
receive them often. The sacraments of Confession and Communion (Holy Mass)
undoubtedly occupy the first place among all the natural and supernatural means of
Calasanctian education. Calasanz affirmed that these two sacraments illumine the
human intelligence in a extraordinary manner, and if received frequently, they can
ignite the will to dread sin and love all virtuous actions. According to Calasanz, if the
church were a school, then the Holy Mass would be the most important subject in this
school. So, attendance in the Holy Mass should be obligatory to all, and this should be
done with much reverence and discipline.
f) The Worship of the Saints and the Guardian Angel: After the presentation of Jesus
and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Calasanz recommended to the children the lives of saints
that are most adequate to their realities and mentality. Children of today are saturated
with knowledge, but they lack role models capable of teaching them that it is possible to
live in Love. That is why Calasanz selected some saints whose life could inspire certain
aspects in the children such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, who is a model by his purity and
love for science. He was conscious of the fact that children need role models in life that
will help shape their lives in the direction we want. Many of them go astray today
because they follow the models that are proposed to them by the street or social media.
We also have to present to them real models who incarnate the rich Christian values we
intend to inculcate in them.
g) The Practice of Virtues: Calasanz placed much emphasis on the formation of the
moral virtues of the student through acts of faith, examination of conscience and
prayers. The students were to recite the seven Christian virtues everyday, and practice
the virtues of charity and humility in all their actions. He instilled the virtues of
sincerity and truth in the children as indispensible conditions to acquire a solid
education in the truth. The students were to be observed keenly at key moments of their
daily lives to see if they manifest these virtues. This demanded a close attention and
follow-up of educators during classes, mass, sports, refectory, study period and other
moments of the day.
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h) The practice of prayer: Calasanz considered prayer as one of the most

effective tools available for teachers to succeed in education, both intellectually
and morally. Calasanz encouraged both individual and collective prayers. All
activities were to begin with prayer or the invocation of the Holy Spirit. One of
the main objectives of education according to Calasanz was to promote a
profound spirit of prayer. Prayer in this sense is an intimate relationship with
God that transforms the entire being of the learner and accompany him in his
daily actions. Prayer is creating a moment to resource oneself, knowing that all
inspiration comes from God, and from Him comes the strength to lead meaningful
actions that can change the society. Prayer is also thinking good about oneself
and others, and this attitude changes the mindset into a more positive and
abundant mindset capable of changing the world. Prayer is equally the practice of
charity (love), which is that vital force capable of pushing us out of ourselves to
encounter others for their growth and for our fulfilment. The life of our students
must be that of prayer.
i) The practice of piety at home: Calasanz included the follow-up of the conduct
and behaviour of his students at home in the school regulations. Educators were
interested in knowing how the students behave in the house, and if they were
responsive to the rich moral education they receive in school. To realise this,
there was a close link between parents and teachers. Both the parents and the
teachers are two requisite protagonists for the good education of children. This
parent-teacher follow-up can also be rendered effective through the
recommendation of students by their parents before admission. Parents are to fill
an admission form in which they frankly and sincerely state the behaviour of
their children. The school will take this and work upon that aspect of the child
and make sure that there is a follow-up in the house and a feedback given back in
school. There should equally be meetings between the parents and the
administration or class teacher to ensure a good moral bring-up of the students.
This will permit an integral growth of children according to the objectives of the
school.

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j) Extra-curricular catechesis, Oratories and Fraternities (Calasanz Movement):

These are platforms created out of the school program to continue teaching and
promoting the Christian faith. It is a form of accompanying the children and helping
them to keep their Christian faith and make it grow. Extra-curricular catechesis is like
what we call ‘Sunday school’ today, where little children are gathered at a particular
place to explain the gospel to them. It could take the form of other youth gathering and
animation where the faith is explained and transmitted to students.
Oratory in the time of Calasanz was a kind of gathering before the Holy Mass usually on
Sundays of feast days. The children are gathered in a place where the priest (or religious
or monitor) reads a spiritual passage, make a reflection/exhortation to explain the
meaning and importance of the Sunday or feast that is celebrated. This helps them to
take active part in the Eucharistic celebration and make it have an impact in their lives.
Fraternities (congregations) were other gatherings that were facultative. The members
were organized with some elected leaders who were chosen to lead their activities. They
were more devoted to the Marian spirituality and work as a group to encourage
themselves in that line. They had their days of meeting and a program for their prayers.
The creation of the Calasanz Movement in all the Piarist presences in the world is a
way of regrouping these different forms of spiritual follow-up and accompaniment into
one reality. The Calasanz Movement an ecclesiological way of organizing the school
environment where children at different levels are accompanied and followed up. It is
also a pedagogy option for juvenile pastoral accompaniment, which accompanies the
young people in their Christian and moral up-bringing. It is a platform of extra-
curricular activities that seek to accompany young people in the practice of their faith.
It is also a series of different formation conveying diverse themes of formation that
touch the key aspects of the life of young people. This formation is adapted to different
age groups, levels of education and social classes. The objective is to accompany children
and youths into adulthood while preserving the rich Christian values acquired in the
Catholic schools. This can be an efficacious tool to accompany the mission of
evangelization in the world, especially in the African context where there is still an
urgent need of primary evangelization.

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k) Community witnessing: The wish of Calasanz has always being to make the
environment of his schools a community. The members of a school should collaborate
and create a fraternal atmosphere just like in a community. Nowadays it is impossible to
function independently, given a hostile social atmosphere in which we live. Since any
message to be believed and accepted must be based not only on the credibility of what is
proposed but on a social atmosphere which confirms it, the possibility of communicating
values and criteria depends on the constitution of an Educational Community as an
alternative society that can confirm the viability of our educational proposal (Beltran,
2013).
Our schools should move from a self-centred pedagogy to a “pedagogy of the
community”. The centre of the Piarist ministry is the child/youth, and this goes beyond
the individual learner to implicate his/her integration in an educational community. If
this education is really an “initiation” (socio-cultural and Christian), the community is
decisive. Therefore, it is urgent to foster authentic human and Christian communities in
our schools, ensure their internal relationships, their process of growth, and the
presence of the Spirit in their midst.
Conclusively, the pedagogic recommendations of Saint Joseph Calasanz were a good
reading of the signs of his time when all debates was cantered on the question of Faith
and Reason. It can be affirmed with certainty here that proposal of Calasanz was not
only valid and useful in the Middle Age, but also in the evangelization process of our
time. Catholic schools should be considered as an indispensible platform for
evangelization. To succeed this mission, our schools must be organized communities
where values are experienced, shared and transmitted.
Let us open up "community spaces" making this "evangelical atmosphere" possible and
begin to create links: links of communion between people, which allow us to feel
humanly recognized, accepted, love (Beltran, 2013). These links must call for a shared
responsibility among the different actors in our mission, towards the needs of young
people. We need links that lead us to follow Jesus Christ while living fraternity; we need
links that lead us to a school that is structured and organized as a space for
encountering others, for conviviality, listening and communication. It is a space where
educational options must encourage teamwork in the face of individualism, solidarity in
the face of competition, help to the weak in the face of marginalization, responsible
participation in the face of passive submission (Beltran, 2013). We need a school that
makes possible and real the fact of being “brothers” and the fraternal relationships.

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Saint Joseph Calasanz admonished his followers and collaborators to be co-

operators of the Truth. During his life on earth, Jesus already revealed himself as
the Way, the Life and the Truth (Jn 14: 6), and this is the centre of the
evangelization message. Jesus came to give life to the full to whoever believes in
Him, and He is the way to the Father and to the heavenly Kingdom. But, Jesus
Christ as the Truth was only fully revealed after his Resurrection. Remember the
question of Pontius Pilate during his trial: “And what is truth?” (Jn. 18: 38). This
question implied that the Truth was an enigma to all, even to the great Pontius
Pilate. And the Truth is still a mystery in our days, especially as we see people
move from church to church in search of the ‘Truth’. Some are putting on masks
of different facets as their “true identity”, pretending to possess the truth. Others
are just so comfortable in deforming everything that seems or appears clear, true
or upright, just because they want to defend their ego and protect their
selfish/devilish interests in the name of the Truth. Moreover, we live in an age of
mass medias and appearances that promote the culture of show-off, hypocrisy,
fake life-styles and organized lies. All this depicts the case of the high priests and
the Pharisees. To be "cooperators of the truth" implies to be witnesses of this
lifestyle that we propose for our young people, because we need people who
believe in this ideal and who live it (and not only individually, but in a community
way), because only in this way we will be able to pass it on to our young people.
This “community pedagogy” is only possible if it is carried out from the
community: we educate in community, from the community and to be a
community. If this educational model is clear to us, it becomes indispensable. It is
true that it will be necessary to establish the different levels of "community", so
that each level operates at a different level in the evangelizing process
(personalization, faith-culture dialogue, catechesis), but all will have to be
involved and called upon to build the educational community of the school as a
whole.

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Catholic schools are the most popular forms of primary
and secondary evangelization, which constitutes the
concern of the paper. Pope Francis affirmed that
education and catechesis are the two central
mainstays of evangelization (Evangelii Gaudium n°
163). He further explains, “we already possess a
number of magisterial documents and aids on
catechesis issued by the Holy See and by various
episcopates” (Evangelii Gaudium n° 163), but few to
print out the necessity of education as an indispensible
column of evangelization. Catholic education has
always been a podium for the exposition and
transmission of the rich Catholic values and doctrine.
But over recent years, more accent has been placed on
the intellectual and economic aspects of the education,
while neglecting the process of evangelization. We
ought to come back to the essence and raison d’être of
our Catholic Education.

A.M.P.I.

To the Greater Increase of Piety in our

Schools and the Salvation of souls.