The Early Church

The liberal arts began to take shape in ancient Greece and Rome during the time of Saint Jerome, Origen of Alexandria, and Tertullian. The early Church was largely skeptical of the liberal arts, which were seen as pagan practices. However, Saint Augustine, who received a Roman liberal arts education himself, saw the benefits of the liberal arts for theology and evangelization and encouraged the Church to ‘baptize’ these secular studies. In addition to Saint Augustine, Saint Isidore of Seville mentions the Trivium and Quadrivium. So do Alcuin, Saint Rabanus Maurus, and the scholastics.

Read ‘The Seven Liberal Arts: A Study in Mediaeval Culture’ by Dr. Paul Abelson

The Mediaeval Church

Education flourished in the monastic and cathedral schools of the Church.

Even in the traditional “period of darkness” - (the sixth to the eighth centuries) - we find indisputable evidence that Italy was at that very period full of schools, monastic, cathedral, secular, public, and private. (Abelson)

This education that the Church offered was not only fixed in the liberal arts, but was explicitly classical. Throughout the mediaeval period, writers of the Church were familiar with classical thinkers such as Plautus, Terence, Catullus, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Lucan, Statius, Martial, Persius, Cicero, Seneca, the Plinys, Quintillian, Cornelius Nepos, Caesar, Sallust, Livy, Suetonius, and Tacitus.

The catalogues of monastic libraries of the middle ages such as have come down to us show that invariably nearly half of the books contained therein were grammars and pagan-classical authors. (Abelson)

Catholic education was classical from the very beginning.

Theodulfus, Bishop of Orleans, successor to Alcuin as the educational adviser of Charlemagne, whose interest in the traditional seven liberal arts is unquestioned, shows that he actually taught the following named classic and Christian authors in the eighth century: Virgil, Ovid, Pompeius, Sedulius, Rutilius, Arator, Fortunatus, Juvencus, Prudentius.

…

In the same century, we find Gerbert, afterwards Pope Sylvester II, teaching among the grammatical subjects at Rheims, Virgil, Statius, Terence, Juvenal, Persius, Horace and the historian Lucan. All these he considered as introductory to the study of rhetoric. (Abelson)

Catholic classical education extended all throughout the mediaeval time period.

Bernard of Chartres, for instance, who taught John of Salisbury, in the twelfth century, not only read the authors with his pupils but also explained constructions, pointed out mistakes and beauties of the text, elucidated matters of antiquity, asked pupils to judge and to criticize, made them memorize passages and write original exercises in prose and verse. (Abelson)

The mediaeval time period closes with some of the greatest works of Catholic literature and poetry, such as Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy.

In addition, the mediaeval Church brought forth the University. The Universities of Paris and Bologna, as well as Oxford and Cambridge, came into being at the end of the twelfth century.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance period profoundly impacted the Church. While the Church faced many trials during this time period, such as the Protestant Reformation, there was also an abundance of grace flowing through the arts and education. Between the time period of 1550 and 1650, all of the great artists of Europe were devout Catholics.

Bernini (1598-1680) often attended spiritual retreats and the exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola; Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) began painting each day only after hearing Mass. In the field of architecture, for a hundred years after the Reformation, virtually no new churches were being built in England. During this same period in the Catholic countries, a new style of architecture burst forth, beginning with Il Gesu in Rome (1584). (Topping)

During this time, Catholic education continues to grow through the work of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556). Saint Ignatius studied at the University of Paris and devoted much of his life to Catholic education. The Society of Jesus was founded by Saint Ignatius in 1540 and the Jesuits immediately set out to establish schools all over Europe.

From 1548, when the first Jesuit school was founded at Messina in Sicily, to 1556, when Ignatius of Loyola, the Jesuit founder and general, died, thirty-three schools had been opened and six more were ready to open. The countries then represented were Sicily, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Bohemia, France and Germany. By 1581 the number of schools had increased to 150. When the official Ratio of 1599 was promulgated, there were 245 schools. This number rose to 441 in 1626, to 669 in 1749. At the latter date, in France alone, there were ninety-two schools, enrolling some 40,000 pupils. Meanwhile, the Jesuit system had spread from Europe to India, Cuba, Mexico, and the Philippines.

Read ‘The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum of 1599’

Jesuit education continued the Catholic tradition of teaching scripture, Hebrew, theology, philosophy, grammar, the humanities, rhetoric, mathematics, and the classics.

The aim of our educational program is to lead men to the knowledge and love of our Creator and Redeemer.

The provincial is to be especially careful that no one be appointed to teach theology who is not well disposed to the teaching of St. Thomas [Aquinas].

Still, none of our scholastics is to be sent to philosophy before he has devoted two years to the study of rhetoric, unless he be judged excused by reason of age or aptitude or other impediment.

The purpose of the Society in conducting colleges and universities is two-fold: First, she wants to equip her members with a good liberal education and with other skills required in her ministry, and secondly she wants to provide them with an opportunity to share with students in the classroom the fruits of their training. (Ratio)

The Baroque Period

The Baroque period in the Church embraced poetry, literature, music, and art, such as Milton’s Paradise Lost, Andrea Pozzo, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Thankfully, Catholic education was gifted a Saint to lead the way throughout this post-Reformation period.

Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle was a French priest, teacher, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He is the patron Saint of those who teach the young.

Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle was moved to educate the poor of France. Therefore, the curriculum of the Lasallian schools was simple and gave the children the essentials they needed in order to have a better life. The Lasallians taught reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, and catechism. The days in school were filled with prayer and the Sacraments.

In 1685, Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle founded the first ‘normal school’, which is a school devoted to training teachers in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum.

Read ‘The Conduct of the Christian Schools’ by Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle

Catholic Education in Colonial and Early America

By the time of its Founding, America already had many established local schoolhouses across the colonies. Boston Latin School was founded in 1635, making it the oldest school in America. Early American schoolhouses had one room where students of all ages would learn in community together, with the teacher guiding the older students and the older students guiding the younger students. Many students left school at a young age to go to work.

By the mid-seventeenth century, colonies across America began to make education compulsory. By the late seventeenth century, the Jesuits opened Catholic schools in Maryland.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton founded the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, the first community for religious women in the United States. She also founded St. Joseph’s House, otherwise known as St. Joseph’s Academy, which was a girls Catholic boarding school in Maryland run by the Catholic sisters. Next to it was Mount St. Mary’s College, a boarding school for boys run by Catholic clergy.

In June of 1810, Elizabeth wrote to John Carroll that “our school is very respectable and has increased to forty, including Boarders.” So rapidly did the numbers expand that the sisters slept in the garret.

Read ‘Elizabeth Seton: American Saint’ by Catherine O’Donnell

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton established strict order in her school, yet did not allow for corporal punishment, as was common in schools at that time.

When students inevitably did sit cross-legged or show “a spirit of contradiction,” corporal punishment was not allowed. Elizabeth, like her father, had never endorsed it…

Dubois and Elizabeth relied instead on surveillance, praise (the archive at Emmitsburg contains yellowing certificates of good behavior), and criticism finely tuned to each student’s temperament. They also sought to reduce opportunities for misconduct: the girls of St. Joseph’s lived under the eye of sisters dubbed “angels,” the intensity of whose surveillance rendered the romantic name slightly comedic.

The schools’ rural setting offered opportunity for adventure and play. Mary Diana Harper asked her parents to send potted geraniums and seeds “because I have a little garden”; her brother Charles wrote that he and his friends set snares and caught “rabbits, rackoons, possums, and another kind of animal called a pole cat.”

(O’Donnell)

The sisters pledged to educate the poor, as well as the wealthy. They offered free education for those in need. Catholic education was an essential part of their mission. The girls studied catechism, reading, arithmetic, and modern languages. The boys studied higher math and classical languages in addition to reading and catechism. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was trying to prepare the girls for two paths: married life or religious life.

The legacy left by Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was one that sustained Catholic education in America for generations to come.

Staffing no fewer than 15 schools in 11 cities in the years between 1809 and 1830, Seton’s Sisters of Charity brought stability and order to an otherwise chaotic pattern of Catholic educational development. Indeed, Seton’s sister-teachers often made the difference between success and failure in many Catholic parishes. It was an extraordinary achievement - even for an American Saint.

Read ‘Parish School: A History of American Catholic Parochial Education from Colonial Times to the Present’ by Timothy Walch

The Victorian Era

While Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was born and raised in the colonies, Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was born in London and was raised in the Church of England.

As he continued to study and teach Christian history and especially apostolic succession, Newman began to reconsider his own hostility towards Catholicism. Catholics had been reviled and persecuted in England for centuries after the reformation, but times were changing, foremost with the passing of the of ‘The Roman Catholic Relief Act’ in 1829, which quelled a potential Irish revolution. Nonetheless, Newman strongly believed the Catholic Church to be lacking in holiness, writing, ‘Rome must change first of all her spirit, … if they (Catholics) want to convert England, let them go barefooted into our manufacturing towns, let them preach to the people, like St. Francis Xavier, let them be trampled on – and I will own that they can do what we cannot; I will confess that they are our betters.’

In Tract 90, published in 1841, Newman argued that the defining doctrines of the Church of England were in fact fundamentally more Catholic than Protestant. Many at the university felt that Newman had now gone too far; senior tutors and heads of houses expressed outrage, arguing that the message was 'suggesting and opening a way by which men might violate their solemn engagements to the university.’ This caused the then Bishop of Oxford to call for the Tracts to come to an end. This led Newman to leave Oxford, to continue his search for the truest form of the Christian faith and to begin the next chapter of his journey.

By converting Newman lost most of his friends from the Church of England, his family rejected him and he could no longer be a fellow at Oxford.

Read the St. John Henry Newman Canonisation Resource

Saint John Henry Newman wrote a defense of liberal education titled ‘The Idea of a University’.

But it is needless to trace out further the formation of the course of liberal education; it is sufficient to have given some specimens in illustration of it. The studies, which it was found to involve, were four principal ones, Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, and Mathematics; and the science of Mathematics, again, was divided into four, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy, and Music; making in all seven, which are known by the name of the Seven Liberal Arts.
Read ‘The Idea of a University’ by Saint John Henry Newman

Newman understood that a Catholic institution cannot merely focus on ‘religion class’. The Catholic institution must teach the Liberal Arts.

I pass thus cursorily over the series of informations which history gives us on the subject, merely with a view of recalling to your memory, Gentlemen, and impressing upon you the fact, that the literature of Greece, continued into, and enriched by, the literature of Rome, together with the studies which it involves, has been the instrument of education, and the food of civilization, from the first times of the world down to this day;—and now we are in a condition to answer the question which thereupon arises, when we turn to consider, by way of contrast, the teaching which is characteristic of Universities. How has it come to pass that, although the genius of Universities is so different from that of the schools which preceded them, nevertheless the course of study pursued in those schools was not superseded in the middle ages by those more brilliant sciences which Universities introduced? It might have seemed as if Scholastic Theology, Law, and Medicine would have thrown the Seven Liberal Arts into the shade, but in the event they failed to do so. I consider the reason to be, that the authority and function of the monastic and secular schools, as supplying to the young the means of education, lay deeper than in any appointment of Charlemagne, who was their nominal founder, and were based in the special character of that civilization which is so intimately associated with Christianity, that it may even be called the soil out of which Christianity grew.

There were those in the middle age, as John of Salisbury, who vigorously protested against the extravagances and usurpations which ever attend the introduction of any great good whatever, and which attended the rise of the peculiar sciences of which Universities were the seat; and, though there were times when the old traditions seemed to be on the point of failing, somehow it has happened that they have never failed; for the instinct of Civilization and the common sense of Society prevailed, and the danger passed away, and the studies which seemed to be going out gained their ancient place, and were acknowledged, as before, to be the best instruments of mental cultivation, and the best guarantees for intellectual progress.

The American Parochial School

The post-Civil War period was a time of great social change in America and in the Church.

As the nation moved toward an urban base and an industrialized economy, it attracted millions of new immigrants from Europe. Because the majority of these new arrivals were both poor and Catholic, the American Church was a primary source of their support, both spiritual and corporal.

During these decades three models predominated: the publicly-supported parochial school, which was an experimental plan implemented in about a dozen small communities; the Americanized Catholic school, which was the most popular model utilized by American-born Catholics; and the ethnic Catholic school, which was the model developed by German Catholics and utilized by the Germans and other nationalities. (Walch)

The Americanized Catholic school was a model for contemporary Catholic parochial schools. These schools were heavily patriotic in order to stave off the accusations that they were un-American. The textbooks used in the American Catholic schools promoted virtues of patriotism, piety, deference, thrift, honesty, and diligence. The children learned about nature, the lives of American statesmen, the history of the United States, and proper social behavior.

Young Catholics were to render their spiritual loyalty to the Catholic Church and their temporary loyalty to the United States. (Walch)

The American Education Revolution

By the early twentieth century, American education was compulsory in all states and had been heavily influenced by the thought of Horace Mann, The Committee of Ten, and John Dewey.

Mann promoted universal public education and the factory model of education, known as the Prussian model. From this model we get the institution of ‘grades’ and students progressing from one grade to the next, as if they were on an assembly line. In 1892, a committee of ten men from the National Education Association met to discuss American secondary schools. This meeting solidified the eight years of elementary education and four years of high school. The committee gave recommendations for what should be taught during each year of school. They offered an early and fairly simple set of standards. Dewey, a progressive, was born the same year that Horace Mann died. He taught that truth is discovered and self-taught by the student, which largely opposes classical philosophy that needs a teacher to impart truth to the student. Dewey’s philosophy introduced a child-centered education, which we still see in mainstream education today.

During this time, Catholic education was being attacked by secular public schools. However, the Church was firm about the importance of keeping Catholic religious instruction united to secular studies.

“Listen not to those who would persuade you that religion can be separated from secular instruction,” the bishops warned. “Listen to our voice, which tells you to walk in ancient paths; to make religion the foundation of the happiness you wish to secure for those whom you love so tenderly… Encourage the establishment and support of Catholic schools; make every sacrifice which may be necessary for this object.” (Walch)

While not Catholic, the public schools at the time were dominated by Protestantism and were still largely religious.

“We are determined to protestantize the Catholic children,” one public schoolman allegedly said, “they shall read the Protestant Bible or be dismissed from the schools; and should we find them loafing around the wharves, we will clap them in jail.” Some Catholic children did refuse to read from the Bible and were promptly expelled. In response to such crises, local Catholic parishes opened their own schools. (Walch)

Modern Catholic Education

From the time of Mann and Dewey, progressive educational philosophy has steadily crept into Catholic parochial schools. From the 1960’s, as the adoption of public standards by Catholic schools went up, enrollment went down. As Catholic schools slowly began to look more and more like the public schools, Catholic families began to find the choice between Catholic and public education to become increasingly easier to make. Why pay thousands of additional dollars for the same education being offered for ‘free’ in the public system?

Ryan Topping illustrates this sad reality in his book The Crisis of Catholic Education.

Currently, [in 2015] there are some 6,568 Catholic schools in America (among them 1,200 high schools), educating just under two million students.

At the height of the parochial system, during the mid-1960’s, Catholic elementary and secondary schools enrolled five-and-a-half million students.

The decline was swift. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, the number of students dropped by more than half, even while the Catholic population was growing.

Last year 27 new schools opened, while 88 consolidated or closed.

What has been lost from view even within Catholic schools is a sense of the unifying vision of a liberal education.

Read ‘The Crisis of Catholic Education: Why Parents, Teachers, and Politicians Should Reclaim the Principles of Catholic Pedagogy’ by Ryan N. S. Topping

Looking at data from a study by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton in 2005, it is clear that the differences in faith between religious teenagers are negligable. Where there are significant differences, Catholics are usually suffering.

CP - Conservative Protestant

MP - Mainline Protestant

BP - Black Protestant

RC - Catholic

J - Jewish

LDS - Mormon/Latter-day Saint

NR - Non-religious

Not only has the Church struggled to pass on the faith to the youth, but we have also failed to pass on an understanding of man’s ultimate end. During this modern period, Catholic schools have adopted the progressive push to turn education into a means to achieve worldly success. Catholic education has always upheld that the purpose of education is to assist man in reaching his ultimate end - eternity in Heaven. In Catholic schools, we want to make Saints for Christ and the Church.

The ends of education are threefold: happiness, culture, and virtue. (Topping)

The Church must also reclaim the true definition of freedom it has always upheld, as it shapes why and how we educate.

Where the Church proclaims a freedom for excellence, the prevailing secular view defends merely man’s freedom of expression - the view of freedom that, as it happens, also lies at the root of the 20th century movement of “progressive” education. (Topping)

Where Do We Go From Here?

One hundred Catholic schools are closing every year. So what should we do? The solution begins first with parents, second with teachers, and third with politicians.

Parents are the primary educators of their children. The Catechism says that parents bear “the first responsibility” (CCC 2223).

Parents: it is your duty to intervene. If your child’s education is damaging them, fix it. If the culture of the classroom does not support the faith, change it. That might mean volunteering over recess; that might mean taking over a board of trustees; that might mean sending your girl to another district, or keeping your boy home. Whatever the case, according to God, you must maintain control and see to it that your child’s education unfolds according to your wishes. The job of everyone else - politicians, principals, pastors, teachers, even taxpayers - is to help you make this happen. (Topping)

Subsequently, Catholic teachers must play their part in passing on the Faith and intellectual tradition of the Church to their students. The University of Dallas offers a classical education masters program for teachers. Catholic classical schools are growing by leaps and bounds and are searching desperately for Catholic educators formed in the liberal arts!

Lastly, politicians must advocate for every Catholic family to have the opportunity to use their own tax dollars towards Catholic education for their children. Everyone benefits when parents are empowered to choose what is best for their children.

Now, as a matter of established doctrine, Catholics insist that a government which taxes parents incurs the duty to help fund their children’s education. Certainly, along the lines of the Second Vatican Council, parents should state their case: we believe that “public subsidies [ought to] be paid out in such a way that parents are truly free to choose according to their conscience the schools they want for their children.” (Topping)

Is there hope for Catholic education? Certainly. Yet, hope is very different from presumption or despair. The object of hope, according to Saint Thomas Aquinas, is a future good, difficult but possible to attain. Presumption neglects the fact that the future object will be difficult to attain. Presumption says ‘No need to do anything! We’re already perfect! All is well.’ Despair believes that the object is impossible to attain.

The renewal of the liberal arts and classics in Catholic education, leading to a flourishing in the Church, is not impossible. However, it will take action on behalf of all Catholics in order to turn things around. If your parish has a school, begin a dialogue with your pastor about returning to the tradition of the Church in education. Offer your services, whatever they may be - accounting, teaching, construction, architecture, medicine, law, or engineering! Send your Catholic school leaders a link to this website and pass the invitation on to as many people as you can.

We are in need of many Saints in our time, but most especially those who hold a roaring fire in their hearts to preserve and renew Catholic schools. We need an army of lay and religious Catholics that are joyfully unwavering in this tradition of Catholic education and are ready to work together to breathe truth, goodness, and beauty back into the Church.

I pray, dear reader, that you would either be one of those Saints or that you would join the army.