Clerks Regular of the Pious Schools

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Called also Piarists, Scolopi, Escolapios, Poor Clerks of the Mother of God, and the Pauline Congregation, areligious order founded inRome in 1597 bySt. Joseph Calasanctius. As a member of theConfraternity of Christian Doctrine he went about the country instructing the people, and his experience convinced him of the necessity of providing the children of the poor with religious instruction at an early age. Antonio Brendoni,pastor of Santa Dorotea in Trastevere, placed two rooms at his disposal and assisted him in the work, in which they were afterwards joined by two otherpriests. It was not long before the reputation of theschool increased the attendance to such an extent that Calasanctius removed it to a building within the city, where he took up his residence with his companions. When two years later theschool was again removed, this time to the Vestri Palace in the vicinity of Sant' Andrea della Valle, community life was inaugurated among the associates, andClement VIII showed his approval of the work by ordering the payment of a yearly allowance of 200 scudi for rent of the house. Criticism ensued which led to an inspection of theschools by Cardinals Antoniani andBaronius, which resulted satisfactorily, the approval ofPaul V was even more pronounced than that of his predecessor. In 1612 the growth of theschools necessitated the purchase of the Torres Palace, and on 25 March, 1617 Calasanctius and his companions received the religious habit, thesaint changing his name to Joseph of the Mother of God, thus inaugurating the practice of dropping the family name on entering thereligious life. The most noted of his early companions were Gaspare Dragonette, who joined thesaint at the age of 95 and died a saintly death in 1628 at the age of 120; Bernardino Pannicola, laterBishop of Ravello; Juan Garcia, afterwards general of the order; the learned Gellio Ghellini; Tommaso Vittoria; Viviandi de Colle; Melchiore Albacchi, etc.

The congregation was made areligious order 18 Nov., 1621 by aBrief ofGregory XV, under the name of "Congregatio Paulina Clericorum regularium pauperum Matris Dei scholarum piarum". The Constitutions were approved 31 Jan., 1622, when the new order was given the privileges of themendicant orders and Calasanctius was named general, his four assistants being Pietro Casani, Viviano Vivani, Francesco Castelli, and Paolo Ottonelli. On 7 May of the same year thenovitiate of St. Onofrio was opened. In 1656Alexander VII rescinded the privilege of solemnvows granted byGregory XV, and added to the simplevows anoath of perseverance in the congregation. This was again altered byClement IX in 1669, who restored the Piarists to the condition of regulars. But petitions from members who hesitated to bind themselves by solemnvows ledClement X in 1670 to issue aBrief which empowered the general of the Piarists to dispense from solemnvowslaymen orclerics inminor orders, whileordainedclerics in possession of a sufficient patrimony or abenefice were restored to thejurisdiction of theirbishops. The Piarists are exempt from episcopaljurisdiction and subject only to the general, who is elected every six years and has four assistants. In virtue of aBrief ofAlexander VIII (1690) they ceased to be discalced. Their habit is closed in front with three leathern buttons, and they wear a short mantle. The order spread rapidly even during the founder's lifetime and at present it has nine provinces (Italy,Austria,Bohemia,Moravia,Hungary,Poland,Spain,Chile, and Central America), 121 houses with 2100 members and about 40,000 pupils.

The Piarists have won distinction in the sphere ofeducation. Their first care is to provide freeeducation for poor children, but they also receive pupils from the middle classes and the nobility, and since 1700 they have taught besides the elementary branches the liberal arts andsciences. At the time of their foundation inPoland and Lithuania,Clement XII formally commissioned them to teach the higher studies. The course consists of nine classes, the plan of studies is uniform, as are also the textbooks, which to a great extent are compiled by members of the order. Like theJesuits they devote special attention to the acting of Latin dramas by the students. A member of the order, Francis Hermann Czech (d. 1847), was very successful in his work of teaching the deaf and dumb. Among the writers and learned men of the order are the general Pietro Francesco of the Immaculate Conception, author of the "Polygraphia sacra seu Eleucidarium biblicum hist.-myst". (Augsburg, 1724); Philip of St. James, who edited the chief Sentences of the "Maxima Sanctorum Patrum Bibliotheca" (Lyons, 1719); Arn. Zeglicki, whose "Bibliotheca gnomico hist.-symb.-politica" was published atWarsaw in 1742; Alexis a S. Andrea Alexi (d. 1761);moral theologian; Antonius a Santo Justo, author of "Schola pia Aristotelico-Thomistica" (Saragossa, 1745); Gottfrid a S. Elisabetha Uhlich (d. 1794), professor ofheraldry andnumismatics; Augustine Odobrina, who was actively associated with Leibniz; Adrian Rauch, historian; Josef Fengler (d. 1802),Bishop of Raab; Remigius Döttler, professor of physics at theUniversity of Vienna; Franz Lang,rector of the sameuniversity; the generalGiovanni Inghirami (d. 1851),astronomer; Johann N. Ehrlich (d. 1864), professor oftheology at theUniversity of Prague; A. Leonetti, author of a biography ofAlexander VI (Bologna, 1880); Filippo Cecchi; Karl Feyerfeil, mathematician; and Franz Kraus, philologian. Many members of the order led lives of eminentsanctity. In his Life of St. Joseph Calasanctius, Tosetti gives a list of 54 who between 1615 and 1756 died edifying deaths, among them Petrus Casani (d. 1647), the firstnovice master of the order; the fourth superior general, Cosimo Chiara (d. 1688); Petrus Andreas Taccioni (d. 1672); the lay-brother Philip Bosio (d. 1662); Antonio Muscia (d. 1665); and Eusebius Amoretti (d. 1685).

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