Joseph Calasanz

José Calasanz (* around 1556 in what is now Peralta de Calasanz (formerly Peralta de la Sal), Spain, † August 25, 1648 in Rome), Joseph of Calasanz, was a Spanish saint and founder of the Piarist.

Life

José Calasanz studied philosophy and theology and was ordained a priest in 1583. In 1592 he moved to Rome and devoted himself during the plague epidemic in 1595 of nursing. In 1597 he opened in the premises of the Santa Dorotea belonging to the monastery a school for impoverished and orphaned children, already in 1611 their were 1,000 teaching. 1617 followed the papal recognition of the so -called Piaristen ( Christian Brothers ), 1621, the survey of the Order. José Calasanz was the first general of the Order.

José Calasanz was beatified on August 18, 1748 by Pope Benedict XIV, on July 16, 1767 followed by the canonization by Pope Clement XIII. In 1948 he was declared a saint of the Catholic elementary schools. His feast day in the liturgy is the 25th of August.

Named after José Calasanz is the Order of the Kalasantiner, which was founded by the worker priest Anton Maria Schwartz, 1889 in Vienna.