Antonio Angelo Cavanis

The major work of Antonio Angelo Cavanis is inseparable from that of his younger brother, Marco Antonio Cavanis (1774-1853), with whom he founded the Congregation of the Schools of Charity (Congregazione delle Scuole di Carità), commonly known as the Cavanis Institute (Istituto Cavanis).

After the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 and the foreign occupation (first French, then Austrian), all free schools intended for children of the working classes were closed. Faced with the material and moral misery of the Venetian youth, Antonio began in 1797 to give free private lessons to poor children in the family home.

On May 2, 1802, with the help of the Jesuit father Luigi Mozzi, the Cavanis brothers founded the Marian Congregation for youth at the church of Sant'Agnese. On January 2, 1804, they opened their first free school, the Scuola di Carità. Marco Antonio, who also worked as a secretary at the Chancellery, resigned to join his brother's work fully and was ordained a priest on December 20, 1806.

To cope with the influx of students, the brothers acquired the Palazzo Da Mosto in 1806. They set up classrooms there and created a typography (printing press) to provide a trade for young people who did not pursue academic studies. They also opened workshops and schools for poor girls, calling upon Saint Maddalena di Canossa to collaborate in female education.

The institute, initially called "Secular Priests of the Schools of Charity," received diocesan approval from the Patriarch of Venice, Mgr. Francesco Milesi, on September 16, 1819. In 1820, the brothers and their first companions began to live in community.

To ensure the sustainability and legal recognition of their work, they sought the approval of the Holy See. Pope Gregory XVI approved the Congregation of the Schools of Charity by the apostolic brief Cum Christianae on June 21, 1836. The canonical erection of the congregation was pronounced on July 16, 1838, by the Patriarch of Venice, Mgr. Jacopo Monico. Antonio Angelo received the religious habit there on July 13, 1838, and pronounced his perpetual vows on July 14, 1838.

The two brothers devoted their entire personal fortune to the maintenance of the schools, to the point of becoming poor themselves and having to beg to feed and clothe their students.

Upon his death in 1858, Antonio Angelo Cavanis was buried in the church of Sant'Agnese in Venice, alongside his brother Marco Antonio, who had died in 1853. On their tomb is engraved the inscription Iuventutis vere parentes (True parents of the youth).

On January 20, 1861, Father Sebastiano Casara, successor to the founders, officially requested the Patriarch of Venice, Msgr. Angelo Ramazzotti, to introduce the cause for the beatification of the two brothers.

The diocesan informative process opened on February 2, 1919, and closed on July 16, 1925. The decree on the writings of Antonio Angelo was published on April 17, 1935. The Positio on the heroic nature of his virtues was published in 1979 by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

On November 16, 1985, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Antonio Angelo Cavanis (as well as those of his brother Marco Antonio), thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

A diocesan inquiry into a miracle attributed to his intercession for the purpose of his beatification was opened on October 1, 2003, and closed on June 23, 2004. The decree of validity for this inquiry was issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on May 24, 2008, and the Medical Board met on July 3, 2008. To this day, no miracle has yet been the subject of a decree of papal approval, and the cause for beatification is still ongoing.

The spirituality of Antonio Angelo Cavanis is based on "spiritual fatherhood" towards abandoned youth. Inspired by Saint Joseph Calasanz (founder of the Pious Schools), whom he chose as the protector of his work, he wished for the educators of the institute to be "more fathers than masters" to the children. The motto of the congregation is Sola in Deo sors ("God alone is our portion" or "Our hope is in God alone"), expressing a total abandonment to Divine Providence. Today, the legacy of the Cavanis brothers continues through the Congregation of the Schools of Charity (the Cavanis Fathers) and the Cavanis Sisters. The religious dedicate themselves to the human and Christian education of young people in schools, colleges, orphanages, and youth centers. The institute is currently present in about ten countries around the world: in Italy, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Romania, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and East Timor.