Castellino da Castelli (Dei Castelli)

CASTELLINO DA CASTELLI (Dei Castelli). - Apostle priest of religious instruction, son of Francesco and Elisabetta de' Merli, born at Menaggio (diocese of Como) perhaps in 1476. With some laymen he founded in 1536 the first school of Christian doctrine in the oratory of Sts. Philip and James in Milan under the title Compagnia della reformatione in carità. At first he had conflicts with the Milanese diocesan authority, without whose authorization the work had arisen, but in 1540 it was approved by the vicar general and enriched with an indulgence. In a short time new schools were opened in the "Porte" of Milan, so that in 1564, when Ormaneto arrived, sent by St. Charles as vicar general, there were already 15 of them, and in two years they rose to 30. They spread widely in northern Italy: in 1541 at Genoa, Vigevano, Verona, Piacenza; in 1542 at Mantua, Parma; in 1545 at Lodi; in 1547 at Cremona; in 1550 at Varese; in 1551 at Novara at the request of the bishop; in 1554 at Bergamo, Brescia; in 1560 at Rome; in 1562 at Monza, Asti, Ascoli; in 1565 at Como. The Compagnia also brought help and perfection to the schools of doctrine of Venice, Savona, Ferrara, Turin, where it found the support of Duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy. In 1546 it was approved by the Council of Trent and Pope Paul III enriched it with an indulgence of seven years.

The title of the Compagnia, arousing suspicions, as though it recalled certain undertakings of the Innovators, was in 1546 changed to that of Compagnia dei servi de' puttini in carità, that is, of those "who teach the Christian life gratis on feast days for the love of God to boys and girls." From 1539 it had an organization with a prior general and twelve councillors, who, besides teaching Christian doctrine, had to approach the "usual universal Communion" every second Sunday of the month.

There is dispute over the catechism adopted by the Compagnia: whether it was the one composed by St. Jerome Miani, by the Dominican Tommaso da Reginaldo, or another composed by C. Probably it used an Interrogatorio del maestro al discipulo per istruire li fanciulli e quelli che non sanno nella via di Dio etc., later emended by St. Charles, to whom it was afterwards attributed. It follows the interrogatory method.

A very important figure in the movement - still little studied - of Catholic reform, begun before the Council of Trent; he was a precursor of St. Charles, whose fame eclipsed that of C. He died on 21 Sept. 1566 with the "consolation of seeing - writes Castiglione - fully fulfilled the prediction he had made so many years earlier concerning the end that had come to dispel the darkness of Christian education through the coming of St. Charles to Milan."

Giuseppe De Marchi