A new book claims that the patron saint of Catholic schools covered up the first sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.
In Fallen Order, Karen Liebreich writes that in 1621 the Spaniard Father José de Calasanz established the Piarist Order to house and educate the poor children of Rome. The schools flourished and quickly became established throughout Catholic Europe. Yet in 1646, the order was abolished by the Pope amid rumours of a scandal.
Liebreich claims that sexual abuse of children was being carried out by some of the leading priests in the order and that José de Calasanz knew about it and tried to cover it up.
The book portrays the patron saint as covering up the behaviour of his colleagues by moving and promoting the perpetrators. It also claims the cover-up was ordered by Father de Calasanz in his own letters.
One of the chief perpetrators, Father Cherubini, was made Universal Superior of the Order with the full knowledge of his superior, Father de Calasanz, in 1643, it says.
The order was later revived and the book states it is still in existence today.
Father José de Calasanz was sanctified in 1748 and beatified in 1767. In 1948 he was made patron saint of Catholic schools.
Ms Liebreich said she discovered the story while researching her PhD at Cambridge University.
She said she gained access to highly restricted archive material to uncover the reason for the order's closure. She says that although Father de Calasanz did not carry out sex abuse, he knew about it and should be desanctified.