BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Thursday, August 26, 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Third from left, Fr. Jose's Last Communion, by Francisco Goya, 1819; next to it, the saint's founder statue in St. Peter's Basilica.
ST. JOSE DE CALASANZ (Joseph Calasanctius) (b Spain 1556 - d Rome 1648), Priest, Educator, Founder of the Piarist Order
Born in Aragon, he obtained degrees in canon law and theology before he was ordained a priest. He performed a variety of pastoral activities during which he revived religious zeal among the laity. In 1592, following a vision, he gave away much of his inheritance, renounced the rest, and travelled to Rome where he worked as a theological adviser to a Cardinal. In 1595, he worked with plague victims. Then he and some colleagues in a Confraternity for Christian Doctrine opened a small free school for poor children, the first such free public school in Europe. Demand for this revolutionary service was so great that they soon had a number of 'pious schools' (scuole pie) in Rome. Their work attracted the attention of Pope Clement VIII who gave them his support, which continued under his successor Paul V. As more schools were opened and more men were drawn to the work, the teachers who lived as a community were recognized as a religious community, the Clerks Regular of Religious Schools, of whom Jose was appointed superior for life. But the Piarists, as they came to be called, were to have many problems - opposition from social classes who feared that educating the poor would leave no one to do lowly tasks, from other communities working for the poor who feared they would be absorbed by the Piarists, and within the order itself, from those who mistrusted Calasanz's friendship with Galileo. An advocate of educating his schoolchildren in Latin, science and mathematics, Calasanz sent some of his teachers to learn from Galileo. At one point, Calasanz was replaced as superior by a younger priest who accused him of incompetence. A papal investigation in 1645 acquitted Calasanz of all accusations and returned him as Superior. Nonetheless, internal dissent continued to the point that Innocent X dissolved the Order and placed the priests under their local bishops. The Piarists would not be reconstituted until 1656, eight years after their founder's death at the age of 92. He was beatified in 1748 and canonized in 1767. In 1948, Pope Pius XII declared him the Universal Patron of all Christian popular schools in the world.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/nab/082610.shtml


OR today.

Illustration: St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, church window in Varese, northern Italy.
At the General Audience, the Pope calls on everyone not to fear Truth:
'Saints like Augustine should be our travelling companions through life'
He appeals for inernational efforts to enforce respect for life and human rights in Somalia
Other Page 1 items: US housing market has worst slump in over a decade; terror-bomb massacres continue in Iraq; Pakistan seeks more help to deal with its unprecedented flood catastrophe, as epidemic threatens survivors. In the inside pages, Benedict XVI's message to the Sisters of Charity to commemorate the 100th birthday today of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. (Also issued as a Vatican bulletin today.)


Sorry, I was unexpectedly called away this morning and have only gotten back, so I am just now beginning my day on the Forum for 8/26!