CHRISTIAN WORKERS OF ST JOSEPH CALASANZ. – A religious congregation founded in Vienna in 1889 by Fr Antonio Maria Schwartz and approved by the Holy See in 1926 and 1939. Popularly its members are called “Calasantines.”
It is composed of priests and lay brothers especially devoted to the assistance of industrial workers, particularly young ones, through trade schools, boarding houses, spiritual exercises, workers’ missions and welfare works. In Austria the first “Social Seminary for Young People” was founded, where for two years Christian social doctrine is taught to future workers and technical leaders.
The Congregation also has houses in Hungary and Bohemia and numbers 60 priests and 30 brothers.
Bibl.: Arch. of the S. Congr. of Religious, V. 31.
Silvestro Mattei