Secondary School
of the Piarist Fathers
in Budapest
 - A brief introduction -


 

The founder of our Order and the history of our school

St. Joseph of Calasantz (1557-1648) was a Spanish priest, founder of the Order of the Pious Schools (in short, the Piarists). He created his first school in Rome in 1597 to give an education to poor children, providing them with knowledge and skills which enable them to get on in life.
The Order of the Piarits was founded in 1622. Besides the 3 vows of consacrated life, its members also profess a fourth vow to dedicate their lives to the education of the young. The schools of this new order in a short time became well-known and respected, not only in Italy, but in Spain, Austria, Poland, Bohemia and Moravia as well. Finally in 1642 their first school in Hungary was opened. According to the wishes of the founder, Piarist schools are free and they welcome first of all poor children, although they are open for everybody, without any social discrimination. In our days we have schools in every continent.

The city council of the Hungarian capital requested the Order to open a school which was established in Pest in 1717. Compared to the quite old-fashioned education of those times, quite soon the school had its own specific curriculum conceived in the Piarist spirit: special emphasis was given to sciences and to Hungarian language. Drama and theatre (the so-called "school plays") added to the popularity of the school. Instead of following the cultural mainstream which favoured German cultural influences and the use of German language, the Piarist fathers used Hungarian in their teaching. At the same time the school operated on a wider level: the very first secondary school leaving exam in the city of Pest was held in this school in 1851.
During its history the school has been housed in numerous buildings. In the early 20th century the Order had a building erected on the Danube, which guaranteed up-to-date structure and facilities. After the Second World War, Communist regime claimed the building. During the summer of 1953 the Piarist fathers and their students were only given a few weeks to move the school to its designated new location. Its size one-third of the original one, the structure in question had never intended to be a school. It is where we are now.
During the Communist dictatorship reigning until 1989, against all obstacles and pressures from the State, The Secondary School of the Piarist Fathers of Budapest maintained its fame: it was among the best schools on nationwide level, it played an outstanding role in educating generations of Hungary's Christian intellectuals. Everybody knew about the high academic level of the school, the teacher-student relationship and the care the school followed and assisted the students' lives with even outside the school building.
In 1989 - the end of the Communist system in Hungary - Catholic secondary schools did not have to suffer restrictive rules from the government any more. Students and teachers could enjoy freedom. We have not had to be afraid of spies among us any more, our students are not discriminated at university entrance examinations, we can (in theory) teach the truth about the events and personalities of the Communist regime unpunished, we are free to establish exchange projects with schools in other countries and the number of the students we admit is limited only by the capacity of the building and the number of our teachers. Thus we could admit slightly more students: currently we have 12 classes of students, two for every year.

 
     
 


Structure

Our secondary school is maintained by the Hungarian Province of the Order of the Pious Schools. The Province is part of the whole Order which is guided by the Father General. The Province is represented by the Provincial Superior. In the last decade and half the teaching staff has changed: currently one-third of our teachers are members of the Order. Although outnumbered by lay teachers, it is the Piarist community that shapes the teaching staff. According to the Constitutions, the school belongs to the convent. In practice it means that it is the members of the convent who decide the future the school is going towards, who guarantee that the traditions of the Piarist Fathers are handed down to the next generation, who provide for the spiritual care and development of the lay staff and who represent 350 years of history of the school.

 
     
 

Moving

In 1953 the Communist Government confiscated the school building on the Danube and housed the State University in it. After the fall of the regime the new Hungarian State promised to give it back to the Order of the Pious Schools. The University moved out only in 1998 leaving behind a completely run-down structure, which was absolutely inadequate to be used as a secondary school.
The Province decided to move the 350-year-old school back to this building which - according to present plans - will be restored by 2009. It is a great challenge to find the necessary financial and organisational resources. To succeed we need God's help - and the cooperation of the Province, the teachers, the parents and the students.
 
     
 

General Information

Ours is a secondary school for boys only, from year 7 to year 12, thus our students are aged 13 -18. The school follows the Hungarian educational laws and rules, thus our school reports and school leaving exams are officially recognised nationwide. Unlike a state school our students have 2 lessons of catechism every week.
We follow the National Curriculum, but we also do our best to organise clubs for the main subjects for every year and to provide more than the compulsory number of extra classes for the students in years 11 and 12.
In years 7 and 8 children learn only one foreign language (English or German). In year 9 they choose an other one: English, German, Spanish, Italian or French. We teach Latin as an optional third language, starting from year 8. A special feature in this field is that - on request - our teachers can provide for teaching Dutch and ancient Greek.
Activities open for students of any age are scouting, the Filmmakers Club and certain hikes.

Currently - according to the Vatican Treaty - we receive almost the same per capita funding and other public funding as state schools. It is true that in the present circumstances this sum does not give us much opportunity for innovation and development, still our students do not pay tuition fees. Of course we are grate for any contribution to our foundation, but we do not expect it, nor is it common practice.

 
     
 

Religious Education

The system and the methods of the spiritual education we offer want to face the challenges coming both from the Church and society. We provide more and more freedom and at the same time more and more possibilities. The school celebrates the Holy Mass together every Sunday, we have spiritual retreats, moments of prayer in the mornings, before and after classes.
 
     
 

Facilities

Our science and IT laboratories are at the level of the best provided-for schools, but they look like decoration on a Christmas tree in February... we have to teach at a 21st century level in a building that has never be intended to be a school.
Our equipment for experiments of physics is famous in the whole country - but it is kept in drawers. Recently we have lent instruments to the BBC - they needed them for a film about Einstein.
We have a well-equipped IT room and our computer science curriculum covers all aspects of the field.
We only have one small gym - a yard was converted in 1983, by constructing a roof over it. Still, one year, in the Communist period, when our only "gym" was this open courtyard and we held workouts even when it was freezing, and the school's basketball team won the Budapest championship. We try to maintain this level notwithstanding our difficulties.
 
     
 

Our objectives, our education

The mission statement of the school can be summarized with two words: "Pietas et litterae" - a synthesis of a life of faith and high-level education. In harmony with our traditions that look back on many centuries, we are positive that "if since their first years children are educated to religious life and culture, we can undoubtedly hope that they will have a happy life" (Constitutions of the Piarist Order I. 1. 5.) Therefore our school is a workshop for learning how to work in a precise and self-controlled way, how to live in faith, how to have high expectations in one's cultural and spiritual life and how to respect the others. At the same time we bring up our youth in freedom and to be free in a level-headed way, we give them the opportunity to live a Christian life and create a Christian community. In the Church and in our country there is great need for people who are well educated in faith and in the different disciplines, for young men, future fathers, who have been brought up in a balanced, responsibly free and moral way.
The education we offer does not end with the classes at lunchtime. Equally important is the time we spend with the boys outside the lessons. Excursions, hikes, moments of liturgy offer good opportunities for teachers and students to get to know each other better. During these extracurricular outdoor activities students and teachers are less different from each other - they face the same difficulties, they sweat under the same sun and get tired in the same way. Students who may not be particularly gifted or hardworking where everyday schoolwork is concerned may turn out to be helpful companions, good friends enriching human relationships. Such discoveries are wonderful assets for teachers and students alike. It is our aim that every class have the opportunity to go on different tours during the summer holidays: rowing, biking, canoeing or sailing. During the school year classes go on numerous other hikes, for example the school guaranties a skiing holiday every winter.

Being a form master is not merely an administrative role in our school. Form masters must create a community out of their classes - and also their parents, organising meetings and programmes with them and for them.

 
     
 

Our students

We have an interesting mixture of children in our school. Our Order has 8 schools in Hungary and they have different age groups and various profiles of curriculum. Historical events wanted the secondary school in Budapest to become a place where white-collar, middle-class, Christian families with many children can send their young for an education corresponding to their expectations and to their abilities.

We have some very gifted children as well as some quite average ones. We try to achieve a synthesis in which students who are particularly talented in a certain field can fully realise their potential while those who struggle can still bring out the best of them. It is not an easy task.

We are proud of the fact that we have many students coming from large families: in many cases we not only have several brothers from the same family but children whose father, uncles, grandfathers used to study in the Secondary School of the Piarist Fathers as well.

We expect much from our students, at the same time we strive to give them something more and something different than the "usual" schools (while respecting the values and the achievements of other institutions): this regards learning, relationships, behaviour and manners and the way one spends their free time.
During the years our students spend with us in the school they face the high expectations, the rules, the requirements of discipline and hard work we place in front of them. At the same time our alumni visiting us tell us how these burdensome rules have given them certainty and a capacity to adapt in their adult life and also created a community in the school that has made them able to be creators of community in their new environments.

 
     
 

Our alumni

We are happy and proud to have a list of alumni including several outstanding personalities of Hungarian history and public life, some of whom have greatly contributed to all mankind's cultural life. Without aiming to offer a complete list, we can mention: Mihály Vörösmarty, poet; Lóránd Eötvös, physicist, Pál Teleki prime minister, Antal Szerb litterateur, Sándor Sík and János Pilinszky, both poets, József Antall prime minister, cardinal Péter Erdő, present primate of Hungary, Péter Esterházy writer, György Hevesy and György Oláh Nobel Prize scientistst, Mór Perczel general in the battles of 1848, István Nagy Sándor and Ignác Török, both generals in the battles of 1848 who laid down their lives for our country.
In school-life people of the past can be role models, remembering them is an instrument of pedagogy. Not all our students will become Nobel-prize winner scientists or Kossuth-prize writers or prime ministers - nor are the expected to do so. Still, the living memory of the "great alumni of our history" can serve as an example of striving to develop one's talents and can strengthen a sense of belonging.