Pietro Casani

In 1614, Pope Paul V decided to merge the Congregation of Lucca with the nascent work of the Pious Schools (the Piarists), founded in Rome in 1597 by Saint Joseph Calasanz for the free education of poor children. Father Pietro Casani was then appointed rector of the motherhouse of San Pantaleo in Rome, while Joseph Calasanz retained pedagogical direction of the schools. However, this union proved difficult due to the divergence of charisms: the fathers from Lucca favored the classical priestly ministry and considered teaching secondary, while Calasanz's group placed the education of poor children and radical poverty at the heart of their vocation. In 1617, Pope Paul V dissolved the union, leaving the religious the choice of their orientation. Deeply attached to evangelical poverty and the apostolate to disadvantaged youth, Father Casani chose to remain at the side of Saint Joseph Calasanz. On March 25, 1617, he was the first to receive the habit of the Pious Schools from the hands of the founder, taking the religious name of Peter of the Nativity of Mary (Pietro della Natività di Maria). He played a decisive role in the structuring and expansion of the Order of the Pious Schools, which transitioned from the status of a secular congregation to that of a religious order with solemn vows (approved by Pope Gregory XV in 1621-1622). Father Casani assumed heavy responsibilities: he was the first assistant general of the Order, the first master of novices (training, notably, the Venerable Glicerio Landriani), the first provincial of Genoa (Liguria) and Naples, as well as the commissary general for foundations in Central Europe (notably in Germany and Nikolsburg/Mikulov). He was also considered to succeed the founder as vicar general.

Father Casani distinguished himself through a life of intense prayer, tireless preaching, and a rigorous love of poverty, refusing, along with Calasanz, excessive gifts from benefactors to preserve the integrity of their mission among the most destitute.

He faithfully shared in all the trials of the young foundation, including the internal and external persecutions that shook the Order. On August 8, 1642, he accompanied Saint Joseph Calasanz when the latter was arrested and brought before the Holy Office. Despite the moral suffering linked to the temporary reduction of the Order to a congregation without vows by the Roman Curia, he maintained an unwavering faith in the future of the work.

Exhausted by his multiple apostolic journeys and the trials of his final years, he fell gravely ill in the autumn of 1647. He died holily in Rome on October 17, 1647, at the age of 75. His mortal remains were laid to rest in the church of San Pantaleo in Rome, in the immediate vicinity of the tomb of Saint Joseph Calasanz, who died ten months later.

The cause for the beatification of Father Pietro Casani was officially introduced on March 22, 1922, under the pontificate of Pope Pius XI. On January 22, 1991, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

On December 15, 1994, a decree approved a miracle attributed to his intercession. This miracle concerns the unexplained healing, which occurred in 1738, of a seriously ill woman hospitalized in Szeged (Hungary), who recovered her health after kissing an image of Father Casani that had been given to her by a Piarist priest.

Father Pietro Casani was solemnly beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 1995, in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, alongside thirteen Piarist martyrs of the Spanish Civil War. His liturgical feast is set for October 17 in the Roman Martyrology, and is celebrated on October 16 within the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools.

The spirituality of Blessed Pietro Casani is based on a radical evangelical poverty, lived as an indispensable condition for serving Christ through the poorest children. His spiritual union with Saint Joseph Calasanz was forged in this constant search for detachment and humility. He left behind the memory of a man of heroic patience in the face of the contradictions and trials of the Church. Before his death, he liked to repeat this maxim: 'Patience and prayer can do much.' He was also renowned for his ministry of blessing and prayer of deliverance against illnesses and harmful spiritual influences (prayers contra daemones et morbos). After his death, a blessing formula he had composed was widely distributed and reproduced with his portrait for the relief of the sick. His legacy continues today through the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (the Piarists), present throughout the world to ensure the Christian and human education of youth, especially the most destitute.