Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It's the Feast of St. Joseph Calasanctius, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: "The Priest in the Confessional", today's news from the Church: "In Cusco, Pachamama Precedes Leo XIV", a preview of the Sermon: "Lessons from the Good Samaritan", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? podcast@sspx.org
Sources Used Today:
• "The Priest in the Confessional" — From Trinity Sunday to the Assumption
• angeluspress.org/products/from-trinity-sunday-to-the-assumption
• "In Cusco, Pachamama Precedes Leo XIV" (FSSPX.news)
• https://fsspx.news/en/news/peru-cusco-pachamama-precedes-leo-xiv-60650
• "Lessons from the Good Samaritan" (SSPX Sermons)
• SSPX YouTube: Sermons Playlist (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLonegYXBrLbQh2Cjr0SU5x7WGNyMO25cw)
• Listen & Subscribe: SSPX Sermons Podcast (sspxpodcast.com/sermons)
• The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
• angeluspress.org/products/spiritual-life-archbishop
Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook:
• Learn more:youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Wp4MQdK2o
• Donate:https://sspx.gifts/audiobook
Saint Joseph Calasanctius discovered his life's work almost by accident.
He was born in 1557 in Aragon, Spain, into a respected family. Intelligent and well educated, Joseph studied philosophy, theology, and law before becoming a priest. His abilities seemed to point toward a comfortable Church career, and eventually he traveled to Rome hoping to advance his position.
Then he started walking through the poorer neighborhoods.
What he saw changed everything.
Rome was filled with children whose families simply couldn't afford an education. Many spent their days working, begging, or roaming the streets. Education was largely a privilege of families who could pay for it.
Joseph began teaching some of them.
Then more showed up.
And more.
Before long, what had started as a small act of charity became something much bigger. In 1597, Joseph opened a free school for poor children in the parish of Santa Dorotea in Trastevere. It is often described as the first free public school in Europe.
His idea sounds completely normal today.
At the time, it was radical.
Joseph believed poor children deserved serious education, not simply enough instruction to keep them out of trouble. They learned reading, writing, arithmetic, religion, and practical subjects that could actually help them build a future.
Eventually he founded the Piarists, formally the Clerks Regular of the Poor Schools of the Mother of God, a religious order dedicated specifically to educating children.
And then everything nearly collapsed.
Joseph was a gifted educator, but administration brought enormous problems. Internal disputes, financial troubles, and serious misconduct by some members of the order eventually reached Rome. Joseph, already an old man, was removed from leadership. The Piarists were stripped of their status as a religious order, and the work he had spent decades building seemed finished.
Imagine being in your eighties and watching your life's work dismantled around you.
Joseph didn't leave.
He didn't become bitter.
He simply continued serving the children and trusted that the work belonged to God.
He died in 1648 at ninety years old without seeing the Piarists fully restored.
Eight years later, the congregation was revived.
Today, Piarist schools continue educating young people around the world.
There's something wonderfully appropriate about Joseph's story. He spent his life teaching children that failure wasn't the end of their future, and then had to live that lesson himself.
His rooms and the school connected with his work can still be visited at San Pantaleo in Rome, where his relics are venerated.
Saint Joseph Calasanctius, patient teacher and father of the poor, pray for us.
Please Support this Apostolate with 1-time or Monthly Donation ＞＞ (https://sspx.gifts/collections/frontpage/products/sspx-podcast)
- - - - - -
Explore more:
• Subscribe to the email version of this Devotional (us13.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=c98bae64255bbd7d863e838ec&id=7e99fe6b53) - it's a perfect companion!
• Subscribe to this Podcast (https://sspx-podcast.captivate.fm/listen) to receive this and all our audio episodes
• Subscribe to the SSPX YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/SSPXNewsEnglish?sub_confirmation=1) for video versions of our podcast series and Sermons
• FSSPX News Website:https://fsspx.news (https://fsspx.news/en)
• Visit the US District website:sspx.org
What is the SSPX Podcast?
The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Pres...
It's the Feast of St. Joseph Calasanctius, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: "The Priest in the Confessional", today's news from the Church: "In Cusco, Pachamama Precedes Leo XIV", a preview of the Sermon: "Lessons from the Good Samaritan", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? podcast@sspx.org
Sources Used Today:
• "The Priest in the Confessional" — From Trinity Sunday to the Assumption
• angeluspress.org/products/from-trinity-sunday-to-the-assumption
• "In Cusco, Pachamama Precedes Leo XIV" (FSSPX.news)
• https://fsspx.news/en/news/peru-cusco-pachamama-precedes-leo-xiv-60650
• "Lessons from the Good Samaritan" (SSPX Sermons)
• SSPX YouTube: Sermons Playlist (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLonegYXBrLbQh2Cjr0SU5x7WGNyMO25cw)
• Listen & Subscribe: SSPX Sermons Podcast (sspxpodcast.com/sermons)
• The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
• angeluspress.org/products/spiritual-life-archbishop
Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook:
• Learn more:youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Wp4MQdK2o
• Donate:https://sspx.gifts/audiobook
Saint Joseph Calasanctius discovered his life's work almost by accident.
He was born in 1557 in Aragon, Spain, into a respected family. Intelligent and well educated, Joseph studied philosophy, theology, and law before becoming a priest. His abilities seemed to point toward a comfortable Church career, and eventually he traveled to Rome hoping to advance his position.
Then he started walking through the poorer neighborhoods.
What he saw changed everything.
Rome was filled with children whose families simply couldn't afford an education. Many spent their days working, begging, or roaming the streets. Education was largely a privilege of families who could pay for it.
Joseph began teaching some of them.
Then more showed up.
And more.
Before long, what had started as a small act of charity became something much bigger. In 1597, Joseph opened a free school for poor children in the parish of Santa Dorotea in Trastevere. It is often described as the first free public school in Europe.
His idea sounds completely normal today.
At the time, it was radical.
Joseph believed poor children deserved serious education, not simply enough instruction to keep them out of trouble. They learned reading, writing, arithmetic, religion, and practical subjects that could actually help them build a future.
Eventually he founded the Piarists, formally the Clerks Regular of the Poor Schools of the Mother of God, a religious order dedicated specifically to educating children.
And then everything nearly collapsed.
Joseph was a gifted educator, but administration brought enormous problems. Internal disputes, financial troubles, and serious misconduct by some members of the order eventually reached Rome. Joseph, already an old man, was removed from leadership. The Piarists were stripped of their status as a religious order, and the work he had spent decades building seemed finished.
Imagine being in your eighties and watching your life's work dismantled around you.
Joseph didn't leave.
He didn't become bitter.
He simply continued serving the children and trusted that the work belonged to God.
He died in 1648 at ninety years old without seeing the Piarists fully restored.
Eight years later, the congregation was revived.
Today, Piarist schools continue educating young people around the world.
There's something wonderfully appropriate about Joseph's story. He spent his life teaching children that failure wasn't the end of their future, and then had to live that lesson himself.
His rooms and the school connected with his work can still be visited at San Pantaleo in Rome, where his relics are venerated.
Saint Joseph Calasanctius, patient teacher and father of the poor, pray for us.
Please Support this Apostolate with 1-time or Monthly Donation ＞＞ (https://sspx.gifts/collections/frontpage/products/sspx-podcast)
- - - - - -
Explore more:
• Subscribe to the email version of this Devotional (us13.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=c98bae64255bbd7d863e838ec&id=7e99fe6b53) - it's a perfect companion!
• Subscribe to this Podcast (https://sspx-podcast.captivate.fm/listen) to receive this and all our audio episodes
• Subscribe to the SSPX YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/SSPXNewsEnglish?sub_confirmation=1) for video versions of our podcast series and Sermons
• FSSPX News Website:https://fsspx.news (https://fsspx.news/en)
• Visit the US District website:sspx.org
What is the SSPX Podcast?
The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Pres...
