The Gate Saint Joseph Calasanz Opened
A thin boy sat on the streets of Rome, barefoot, eyes fixed on children carrying books. He wanted to study, but he couldn’t. In his time, school was for the rich. Education was like a gate locked shut—the poor were left outside. History doesn’t record one exact boy, but this picture reflects the reality Father Joseph Calasanz saw in Rome.
Moved by this reality, Father Joseph Calasanz could not turn away. In 1597, he opened a school where poor children could enter freely. No tuition, no hidden fees, no barriers. It was the first public school in Europe—but unlike our government public schools today, it was truly free. Today’s “free education” is not really free—it still asks for uniforms, projects, and daily expenses that many families cannot afford. That’s why some poor children still drop out and drift as tambay. Father Joseph’s vision was radical because he removed every obstacle.
Centuries later, Father Aloysius Schwartz—Father Al—walked the streets of Korea and the Philippines. He saw the same eyes in abandoned children. And just like Father Joseph, he could not turn away. He built the Sisters of Mary schools—Boystown and Girlstown—serving poor boys and girls in high school years. Everything is free: food, shelter, clothes, books, medical care, and full education from Grades 7 to 12. For teenagers who once thought doors were closed to them, it became a home, a school, and a family.
History doesn’t show a direct line between Father Joseph Calasanz and Father Al, but their mission flows from the same spirit. Father Joseph opened the gates of school for the poor. Father Al built his schools under the motto “Ad Jesum per Mariam”—to Jesus through Mary. Two different paths, one and the same fire from God: to give the poor not just food for a day, but the light of learning and the love of Christ for a lifetime.
Today, on the optional memorial of Saint Joseph Calasanz every August 25, we remember a priest who first dared to open the school gates for the poor. And maybe that’s our challenge too: to notice the children we pass by, and to remove the gates—big or small—that keep them from the life God wants for them.
𝚃𝚢𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎
𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚛.𝚌𝚘𝚖
