THE THOUGHT OF ST. JOSEPH CALASANZ BUENAVENTURA PEDEMONTE I FEU THE THOUGHT OF ST. JOSEPH CALASANZ www.edicionescalasancias.org MATERIALES 54 The thought of St. Joseph Calasanz Author: Buenaventura Pedemonte i Feu Cover design: Rafel Codina Filbà Publicaciones ICCE (Instituto Calasanz de Ciencias de la Educación) Conde de Vilches, 4 - 28028 Madrid www.icceciberaula.es ISBN: 978-84-7278-516-8 Depósito legal: M-26363-2017 Imprime: Gramadosa In charge of the team of translators: P. José Pascual Burgués [email protected] Copyright is reserved. Reproduction, publication and distribution, whether total or partial, of all the original material contained in this book is expressly forbidden unless written authorization has been given. For further information contact: www.icceciberaula.es CONTENTS Preface ........................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Background, confi guration and development ....................................................... 11 The philosophical environment in Calasanz’ times ....................................... 15 Late Middle Ages’ and early Renaissance thought .................................. 16 The late scholasticism ................................................................................................................. 16 Saint Thomas Aquinas and thomism ....................................................................... 19 John Duns Scotus and scotism ........................................................................................ 22 Ramon Llull ............................................................................................................................................... 24 William of Ockham and the nominalism ........................................................... 26 The rhineland mysticism and the “devotio moderna” ...................... 28 The Renaissance Age ...................................................................................................................... 30 Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Lorenzo Valla .................................. 34 Towards a christian humanism ....................................................................................... 38 Erasmus of Rotterdam ................................................................................................................ 40 Education and the ideal of piety, according to Erasmus of Rotterdam ........................................................................................................ 45 The Protestant Reformation ................................................................................................ 49 The reformist proposal on education: Luther and Melanchton ............................................................................................................. 55 6 Buenaventura Pedemonte i Feu Joan Lluis vives ..................................................................................................................................... 59 The education reform in Europe ................................................................................... 63 In pursuit of a method: the “ratio studiorum” ........................................... 66 The school of salamanca: Francisco de Vitoria ........................................... 68 The jesuits. Francisco Suárez ............................................................................................ 70 The erasmism in the Iberian Peninsula: the University of Alcalá ............................................................................................................... 73 The arrival of the utopists: Moro, Bacon and Campanella .......... 74 Heroic furors: Giordano Bruno ....................................................................................... 82 The beginnings of the new science. Galileo and Bacon .................. 84 Conclusion and transition ...................................................................................................... 91 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................. 94 Saint joseph calasanz’ thought in his work .............................................................. 97 Calasanz and his philosophical background .................................................. 97 Calasanz with the trinitarians of estadilla ......................................................... 98 The University of Lleida ............................................................................................................. 100 Valencia and Alcalá: late tomism ................................................................................... 105 Erasmus’ infl uence .......................................................................................................................... 107 Joan Lluís Vives, predecessor of Calasanz ......................................................... 109 Value of the sacred studies of philosophy and theology .................. 110 The carmelite mysticism .......................................................................................................... 113 The popular instruction before Calasanz ........................................................... 115 Social situation in Rome at the end of the sixteenth century ............................................................................................................ 117 Calasanz founds a popular school ................................................................................ 119 The scientifi c Ideal ........................................................................................................................... 121 The thought of St. Joseph Calasanz 7 Memorial addressed to cardinal Michel Angelo Tonti (1621) .................................................................................................. 124 The apology of the Pious Schools by Tomasso Capanella ............. 127 The utopia materialized in the Pious Schools ............................................. 131 Towards some features of Calasanz’ thought ................................................ 135 The piarist educator as cooperator with truth ............................................ 138 Education from the earliest years ................................................................................ 142 Educating especially the poor ........................................................................................... 148 “Piety and letters” .............................................................................................................................. 151 Books in the piarist libraries ............................................................................................... 154 Conclusion and transition ...................................................................................................... 155 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................. 162 The thought of saint Joseph Calasanz in our days .......................................... 165 The downgrading of the Order ......................................................................................... 166 The restoration process ............................................................................................................. 168 Fr. Carlo Giovanni Pirroni ..................................................................................................... 170 The expansion of the Order .................................................................................................. 171 The Pious Schools in the eighteenth century .............................................. 173 Fr. Stanislaw Konarski and Fr. Gratien Marx ................................................ 178 The Superior Generals of the eighteenth century .................................. 179 The Enlightenment ......................................................................................................................... 182 The Pious Schools of the eighteenth century in Spain ................... 188 Balance of a period of great involvement ........................................................... 193 The crises of the nineteenth century ....................................................................... 194 The disintegration of the Pious Schools in the nineteenth century ....................................................................................................... 198 8 Buenaventura Pedemonte i Feu The liberal style of the piarists ......................................................................................... 202 The boom of the new bourgeoisie and the social question ......... 205 ThePious Schools adapt to the new times ........................................................ 206 The jump towards America ................................................................................................... 209 The confl icts of the fi rst half of the twentieth century .................... 211 The Pious Schools subject to serious problems in Spain and in Europe ............................................................................................................... 213 Trying to clarify the ideas .......................................................................................................