José de Calasanz (1558–1648)

Biography

He was born in Peralta de la Sal, a small Aragonese town, on July 31, 1558. His mother was a wonderful educator and had a special predilection for the youngest of the seven, our little José. From a very young age, Joseph began to carry out the profession that he would live throughout his life and that even after his death, he would continue to exercise through his religious children from the Pious Schools: Education and Teaching. Joseph encouraged his companions to be better and to love Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary more and more. He knew how to attract and convince, because he put his whole soul into these actions and pulled them as if he were a magnet. Joseph saw that the Lord was calling him to be a priest and to spend himself for the good of humanity. To escape the temptations that the Devil offered him day after day in Valencia, he returned to Peralta, but here a great setback awaited him: his older brother died, and his father begged him to marry and be the one to inherit the family estate. But Joseph wants to consecrate himself to the Lord. He falls seriously ill. His father relents and José jumps for joy. He regains his health and continues working to become a priest. He was ordained in 1583. Soon the Bishops knew his worth and gave him positions and honors that demonstrated the great ascendancy he had over them. When he was Vicar of the priests he helped many of them to live their priestly lives well. He dedicated himself to Rome to work with the Brotherhoods and founded new ones and with them he began to attract the attention of the Pope, Cardinals and the great and simple of the city. He dedicated himself, above all, to caring for the poorest children: he instructed them, fed them, taught them the catechism, and took them to Church. He founded the "Congregation of Regular Clergy of Religious Schools." Since 1642, a wave of intrigue and slander by some false brothers within the Congregation arose against the saint. He was arrested by the Holy Office and taken prisoner. His enemies managed to remove him as superior, and the main traitor was named superior general. In 1646, Pope Innocent X dissolved the Congregation and allowed it to continue only as a "diocesan community." When Joseph heard the news, he said like Job: "THE LORD GAVE IT TO US, THE LORD TOOK IT AWAY FROM US. BLESSED BE HIS HOLY NAME." Later Pope Innocent X himself rehabilitated him and 8 years after Joseph's death, his work was again recognized as a religious order. He died on August 25, 1648. In 1767 Joseph was canonized. Pope Pius XII declared him, in 1948, patron of all Catholic elementary schools.