Lumen 2018

S TANISLAUS P APCZYNSKI 96 the middle of a serious internal crisis, which led to the intervention of Pope Innocent X. On March 16, 1646, the pope deprived the Pi- arists of the right to wear a religious habit and to take religious vows, bringing them down to the level of a congregation without vows modeled after the institute established by St. Philip Neri, where the members were free to leave the community and choose any other religious institute. 5 The Piarists did not have a right to accept new candidates 6 or to allow the novices whom they had accepted earlier to take religious vows. Every house governed itself and was subor- dinate to the local bishop in everything. 7 The papal decisions threatened the further existence of St. Joseph Calasanctius’s institute, but they were not implemented as rigorously as the papal breve required. Nevertheless, a period of a breakup fol- lowed. Within ten years from the date when the papal document was issued, about three hundred members left this religious community. As a result, the number of the teachers in the schools run by the Pi- arists decreased, and it became necessary to reduce the number of the classes and the students. Since those who remained in the insti- tute were probably its best members, the diocesan bishops, to whom the particular houses were subordinate at that time, treated them with kindness and respect, allowing the community of each house to elect a superior and approving him to this office. 8 The situation soon changed as in 1648 an authorization from the Holy See was received to accept candidates to the novitiate only as the so-called “associates” ( aggregati ). They were not fully members of the con- gregation, but, together with the congregation, created a family community and shared in its spiritual benefits. In that same year, Fr. Joseph Calasanctius died, having foretold the revival of his work, which, indeed, took place, partially, in 1656, when Pope Alexander VII returned the Piarists to the status of a congregation with simple vows, and, finally, in 1669, when Pope Clement IX raised them to the rank of a religious order with solemn vows. 9