Christian feast day: Joseph Calasanz

Joseph Calasanz

16th and 17th-century Spanish priest, educator, founder of the Piarists, and saint

Joseph Calasanz, also known as Joseph Calasanctius and Iosephus a Matre Dei, was a Spanish Catholic priest, educator and the founder of the Pious Schools, which provided free education to poor boys. For this purpose he founded the religious order that ran them, commonly known as…