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Devon Prep’s Piarist Fathers

Devon Prep serves as an important priority to enabling the Piarist mission of preparing young men for the rigors of 21st century life by modeling, in word and deed, the Piarist values of charity, humility, patience, respect, and simplicity.

The Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (Latin: Ordo Clericorum Regularium pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum, Sch. P. or S. P.) or, in short the Piarists, is the oldest Catholic educational order.

St. Joseph Calasanctius was the founder of the Piarist Order.  He was born in Peralta de la Sal, Spain, in 1557. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1583, and nine years later moved to Rome.

St. Joseph was very touched by the intellectual and moral misery of the poor children of Rome. He now understood that God asked him to do something for poor children, becoming their unconditional friend. He made history in 1597 when in a simple and humble way, he started “the First Popular Christian School” in the sacristy of the church at St. Dorothy. The education was totally free, and Joseph wanted the poorest children to attend it. This school, which was open to every child regardless of religion, is believed to be the world’s first modern elementary school.

Little by little, Joseph became aware that God wanted him, no one else, for the specific mission of educating poor children, and that became a wonderful invention, a generous gift for the poor: the popular Christian School. To this invention he gave the name THE PIOUS SCHOOLS, which is the same as to say “School for the poor”.

Once he saw clearly that God asked him to remain forever with the little ones in the school, St. Joseph deemed it necessary to devote his energies to this task. Therefore he asked the Pope that the congregation be upgraded to a Religious Order.  St. Joseph wrote the book of the Constitutions in 1620, which guides and directs the life of the Piarist Order regarding everything the Piarists do in their service of education and evangelization of children and young people. On August 8, 1622, Pope Gregory XV approved the Piarist Order that continues to be fully alive from its founding until today, for it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Scholarum Piarum (of the Pious Schools.)

The Piarists, as any religious, professed the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In addition, according to the wishes of St. Joseph, members of the Order also professed a fourth vow to dedicate their lives to the education of the young.  Even today, members of the Order profess these four vows.