THE PIARISTS
St. Joseph of Calasantz (1557-1648) a Spanish priest, established the Order of the Pious Schools (known as the Piarists). He created his first school in 1597 in Rome, to educate poor children, providing them with knowledge and skills which would enable them to have a better life.
The Order of the Piarists was founded in 1622. Besides the three vows of consecrated life, its members also profess a fourth, to dedicate their lives to educating the young. The schools of this new Order soon became well-known and respected in Italy, Spain, Austria, Poland, Bohemia and Moravia. Their first school in Hungary was opened in 1642. According to the wishes of the founder, Piarist schools are free and they welcome first of all poor children, although open to all, without any social discrimination. Today they have schools on every continent.
At the request of the city council of the Hungarian capital, in 1717 the Order opened a school in Pest. Compared to the traditional education at the time, the school had its own specific curriculum conceived in the Piarist spirit. Thus, special emphasis was given to the sciences and the Hungarian language. Drama and theatre (the so-called “school plays”) added to the popularity of the institution. Importantly, instead of following the cultural mainstream, which favored German cultural influences and the use of the German language, the Piarist fathers used Hungarian in their teaching.
During its history the school had numerous locations. In the early 20th century the Order built a new modern structure and facility near the Danube embankment. After the Second World War, the communist dictatorship confiscated that building. In the summer of 1953, the Piarist fathers and their students were given only a few weeks to move to a designated new location, one-third of the original size, into a building that was never intended to be a school. During the communist reign, lasting until 1989, against all obstacles and pressure from the State, the Secondary School of the Piarist Fathers of Budapest maintained its fame and success. Due to the high academic level and excellent student-teacher relationships, it was among the best schools in the nation. Throughout their centuries old history, the Piarists played an outstanding role in educating generations of Hungarian intellectuals.
Today, the Order operates nine schools in Hungary, in addition to those it maintains for Hungarian communities outside the nation’s current borders.
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