Saint Joseph of Calasanz, Priest

Joseph Calasanz was born in 1557 at Peralta de la Sal in Aragon, studied law and theology and was ordained in 1583. In Rome from 1592, he saw the children of the poor district of Trastevere growing up unschooled. In 1597 he opened in the sacristy of Santa Dorotea one of the first free public schools in Europe, for any child, and from its teachers grew the Piarists, the Order of the Pious Schools. He let some of his priests study under Galileo, and after Galileo's condemnation one of them helped the blind old scientist. In old age, after quarrels within the order, he was removed as superior and in 1646 the order was reduced; he died in Rome on 25 August 1648, aged ninety. The order was restored after his death, and he was canonized in 1767.