The Cathedral Close

As we reflect on the extraordinary evils perpetrated by clergy upon the young as revealed in the recent Pennsylvania cases, we do well to reflect on the life and witness of those in the Church of those who have sought the good of our “least little ones”. In particular, today is the Feast day of St. Joseph Calasanz, Sch.P. (September 11, 1557 – August 25, 1648), also known as Joseph Calasanctius and Josephus a Matre Dei, a Spanish Catholic priest, educator and the founder the founder of the first free public school in modern Europe. It was a revolutionary initiative, a radical break with the class privileges that kept the masses marginalized and in poverty.

St. Joseph Calasanz displayed great moral courage, in his attitude to victims of the Inquisition, such as Galileo and Campanella, and in the acceptance of Jewish children in his schools, where they were treated with the same respect as other pupils. Similarly, Protestant pupils were enrolled in his schools in Germany. So great and universal was St. Joseph Calasanz’s prestige that he was even asked by the Ottoman Empire to set up schools there, a request which he could not, to his regret, fulfill, due to a lack of teachers. He organized and systematized a method of educating primary school pupils through progressive levels or cycles, a system of vocational training, and a system of public secondary education.

In an era when no one else was interested in public education, the saint managed to set up schools with a highly complex structure. He was concerned with physical education and hygiene. He addressed the subject in various documents and requested school directors to monitor children’s health. He taught his students to read both in Latin and in the vernacular. While maintaining the study of Latin, he was a strong defender of vernacular languages, and had textbooks, including those used for teaching Latin, written in the vernacular. In that respect he was more advanced than his contemporaries.

As well, St. Joseph Calasanz placed great emphasis on the teaching of mathematics, but his main concern was undoubtedly the moral and Christian education of his students. As both priest and educator, he considered education to be the best way of changing society. All his writing is imbued with his Christian ideals, and the constitutions and regulations of the schools were based on the same spirit. He created an ideal image of a Christian teacher and used it to train the teachers who worked with him.

COLLECT

O God, who for the teaching of youth in the spirit of understanding and godliness didst through thy blessed Confessor St. Joseph vouchsafe to provide thy Church with a new succor, grant we beseech thee; that by his example and intercession we may learn so to do and to teach , that we may be found worthy to attain to the reward of everlasting felicity. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and forever. Amen.-From The Anglican Breviary