An overview of the
numerous religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church would show that a
considerable number of these orders have, through their original foundation or
by tradition, been involved in education. In our own country the Benedictines
and the Jesuits, among others, have been known for their major schools, and
many other orders, particularly orders of sisters, have been involved in
education at various levels and to different degrees.
It is an increasingly
common phenomenon in the world of religious education, i.e. that of schools run
by religious orders, that the schools are either closing down, or moving from
religious to lay administration. There are various reasons for this change, but
the principal one is the self-evident fact that the orders simply no
longer have the personnel to staff and
run their schools. Religious life is no longer seen as a compelling life option
to the same degree that it was even thirty years ago, and the self-perpetuating
cycle which existed in many private schools run by religious, whereby the
school was seen as a seed bed for religious vocations, has been irreparably
broken. At the leadership level, the inherent lack of a positive career
structure within religious orders is increasingly seen as a barrier to the
production of effective leadership from within the ranks, although individual
cases can be exemplary exceptions to the rule.
As the orders
withdraw from day-to-day involvement in their schools, there remains in most
cases a desire that some sort of ethos, based on the traditional educational
ethos of the order concerned, be maintained in the schools. This ethos is
generally based on two things: a particular view of education, or an emphasis
on a particular facet or facets of education, propounded by the order’s
Founder, and the lived experience of the members of the order concerned. In many
cases the Founder’s original vision has become clouded by the accretion of
years of pious practice and mythologisation, and the lived experience has
become more central than the primitive inspiration.
In the years
following the Second Vatican Council religious orders were urged to investigate
and re-discover the original spirit of their Founders. For many teaching orders
this process has been concurrent with a withdrawal from full activity and
leadership within their schools. This has meant that the central question for
many such orders is no longer “how do we understand and apply the vision of our
Founder” but rather “how do we understand the vision of our Founder and attempt
to transmit it to and through colleagues who are not members of the order”.
The situation
described is the one facing my own order, the Josephites. Founded in
Today the situation
in
Herein, of course,
lies the problem. Over the course of the years Josephites have been so occupied
in being Josephite teachers that they have never had to take the trouble
to define what that meant. Faced now with the need to confide a
definition of Josephite education to lay colleagues the need has arisen for a
process of investigation, analysis and codification.
My own 1997 M.Phil
thesis[2] was a step this process of investigation, and
the final chapter proposed some definitions of the most prominent features of
Josephite education. The whole process of investigation into the Van
Crombrugghe legacy had been started many years previously, and was pushed into
its “modern” phase by Garcia’s 1980 doctoral
thesis at
The first published
work concerning Constant Van Crombrugghe appeared in 1878, only thirteen years
after his death. This was the “Vie et
Oeuvres du Chanoine Constant Van Crombrugghe”[3] written by Monseigneur C. Pieraerts, former
Rector Magnificus of the
An even more fanciful
book, “As the Stars They Shall Shine”,
was written in 1952 by an American nun, Mother Mary Ignatius d.m.j. This is a
work of popularisation bordering on faction complete with sugar-sweet imagined
conversations between Van Crombrugghe and his parents and the various other dramatis personae of the story. As a
work of academic reference it is of little use, and its syrupy prose style
would find little favour with a contemporary reader. It relies heavily on the
work of Pieraert and Desmet for its factual information, and some sections
would appear to be almost verbatim translations of the previous work.
Another work of
propaganda, the privately published “Constant
Willem Van Crombrugghe; Priester, Pedagoog, Ordestichter”[5] by Fr Leonard de Kort c.j. appeared in 1968.
This book, also translated into French and English, relies like that of Mother
Mary Ignatius on Pieraert and Desmet’s work for its factual content. Being of
later publication and being aimed at vocation work it contains more factual
information concerning the various foundations of the Josephites and the
sister Orders, and concerns itself with events occurring after the death of the
Founder and up until the time of writing.
The first major investigation
into Van Crombrugghe to be undertaken not as a work of uncritical propaganda
was that undertaken in the late 1940s and early 1950’s by Fr Jacques Jorissen
cj. This work was intended for private publication but was, in fact, suppressed
by the Josephite authorities of the time and languished, hidden from sight, for
many years until photocopies began to see the light of day in the early 1980s.
His “Constant Van Crombrugghe” and the later
“Essai de Décryptage Psychologique” take a broad and analytical view of
Van Crombrugghe’s life and work vis-à-vis the Diocese of Ghent, the Josephites
and the three congregations of sisters which he also founded. The major
contribution of Jorissen to a contemporary understanding of Van Crombrugghe is
acknowledged here as it has already been
in Powell (1997). Since 1997 a draft translation into English of Jorissen’s
work has been undertaken by Fr Robert Hamilton cj.
1971 saw an awakening
of academic interest in the Founder at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
Christiaan de Geeter published in that year his Licentiate Thesis in the
Faculty of Pedagogy “Opvoeding en
Onderwijs bij Constant Van Crombrugghe.”[6] Whilst this work contains much interesting
information it is somewhat limited in
its scope.
In 1980 a major
milestone in the understanding of Van Crombrugghe was reached with the
publication by Fr Guillermo Garcia c.j. of his Doctoral Thesis, also at
Another, very
different, thesis was published by Danny Bauters in 1981, this time in the
In the following years
Sr Theresa Clements d.m.j. completed her Doctoral Thesis at the
The history of the
period, and particularly the educational history, is not a rich field,
especially in the English language. De Meeus’ “History of the Belgians” (1962) in an English translation by G.
Gordon provides an interesting general read, but with no referencing or
bibliography. A richer source is J.A. Kossman-Putto & E.H. Kossman’s “The
In other languages, a
more weighty coverage yet is given by H. Pirenne’s massive “Histoire de Belgique”, of which Volumes
V and VI cover the period in question. Its sheer mass of detail makes it a
daunting prospect, though, as in most other historical works consulted, there
is little concerning education.
As far as Van
Crombrugghe texts are concerned, very little has appeared before in English
translation. The “Règlement des
Professeurs”, “Guide Pédagogique” and “Directoire
des Surveillants” did exist in English, in a rather piously-worded and
sometimes inaccurate translation dating from the 1950’s. These texts as they
appear here are translations prepared by this writer in 1984. The other
documents: the “Règlement du Collège
d’Alost”[8] , Van
Crombrugghe's speeches of 1815 , and Van Crombrugghe's intervention at the
National Congress of 1830
are new translations which were prepared by the writer specifically for the
1997 thesis. They are included as an Appendix here under the guise “Documents for Educators” since they
have been gathered together as such and privately published for the staffs of
Josephite schools. A Chapter on these documents, based on the work done in my
M.Phil. thesis, in included here for the sake of completeness.
Since 1997 one new
publication has shed some much needed light on the development of education in
A further process of
publication has also followed in the years since 1997, namely a privately
published series of documents, concerned with Van Crombrugghe and the
Josephites, under the general heading of “Studia Josephitica”. The aim of this
series has been to bring to light documents which would otherwise languish in
our Archives or simply be forgotten. The series has been published by myself in
collaboration with Father Robert Hamilton cj. and Father Honoré Smets cj. Where
possible documents which are in other languages have been translated into
English, and a copy of the whole series is lodged in the Van Crombrugghe
Library at
The main documents in
the series are Van Crombrugghe’s letters to his parents (107 letters) and to
Josephites (652 letters), translated from the French and Flemish by myself:
these are the keystones of the current research. These letters have been
annotated in so far as has been possible, and are submitted as part of this
thesis. I have to acknowledge the considerable contribution to this process of
the late Fr Honoré Smets cj who was kind enough to provide French translations
of those letters whose originals are in Flemish and to help with the
translation from French of the more obscure passages in the letters.
There is also a
similar number of letters from Van Crombrugghe to the Ladies of Mary which have
been translated and edited by Sister Alice Nugent dmj.
A further document,
and one which is considered in depth in this thesis, is the Diary of the first
Superior General, Ignace Van den Bossche.
A full list of
the “Studia Josephitica” documents
appears in the Appendix.
It is not the
intention here to attempt to prove or disprove any particular thesis: rather
the intention is to present the written, archival evidence and, based on that
evidence, to come to conclusions and present further questions for
consideration.
Two ideas from
Jorissen have been at the back of my mind during the research process, and these
will be returned to in the conclusions.
Jorissen speaks of Van
Crombrugghe in two ways:
·
“The ideal
of the Josephites as the Founder conceived it in his clear wisdom and burning
clarity”.
and
·
“…..
wishing to produce good results with inadequate subjects, he inevitably makes
us think of a chess master
·
. After a
few initial thrusts, we see him carefully preparing his moves; suddenly,
completely exploiting a fortuitous circumstance, he makes his decision
and, profiting from a series of
advantages, shoots ahead. The he pauses for a long time to consolidate his
position or, if he meets an unforeseen obstacle, he retreats and completely
rethinks his tactics, all the while seeking out better possibilities”[9]
The reader is
counselled, as he reads the pages which follow, to hold in his mind these two
pictures to which we will return in the final Chapter.
A number of conventions
are used in this thesis with regard to names and languages.
As has been noted in
the introductory chapter, my own 1997 M.Phil. thesis, “Constant
Van Crombrugghe (1789-1865) and Education;
the genesis, evolution and application of the educational philosophy of
a 19th century Roman Catholic Educator”
continued the process of investigation into Van Crombrugghe by attempting to
define how Van Crombrugghe viewed education, and concluded by proposing some definitions of his educational
principles.
Its focus was,
therefore, rather different to the current research as it sought to concentrate
on Van Crombrugghe himself and the factors which influenced the development of
his educational views. The focus of the current research is rather the story of
the development of the Josephites as the inheritors of his views and the people
who had, with varying degrees of success, to put his views into action. It aims
to give an overview of the various currents and personalities involved in the
development of the Josephites as a teaching institute from the
foundation of the Institute in 1817 to the death of the Founder in 1865, and to
draw conclusions as to the nature of Josephite education as shaped by Constant
Van Crombrugghe and his early collaborators and such as it had been realised in
Van Crombrugghe’s lifetime. In this context it could be characterised as an
almost entirely introspective evaluation, focussing almost without exception on
the data available and, therefore, as interpreted by the writers of the
documents. It does, therefore, build on and continues the work previously done,
not only in my own thesis but in the other works mentioned in the introduction.
No apology is made for
the inclusion of a number of sections from the M.Phil. thesis as these are
sections which give a wealth of background information germane to the current
research and, indeed, a reader of this thesis could well be at a loss to
understand the context of the various events described and assertions made in
the present work. Where elements of the earlier work have been included they
are specifically acknowledged as such.
There is no specific
thesis to prove or disprove in the current research; rather it is an attempt at
elucidation of an historical story through interpretation of archival data, a
vignette of an educational movement at a particular time and place, and a
distillation of the principal threads of that story. The intention is not to
focus on the development of the Josephites as a Religious Congregation except
where those elements are bound up – as they frequently are – in the development
of the schools.
It could be argued that
all historical research is archival, and therefore the inclusion of “based on
archival sources” in the title of this thesis is un-necessary. However the
inclusion of these words in the title is done deliberately to highlight the
difference in approach between the earlier M.Phil. which was based principally
on commonly available sources and the current work which has involved a large
amount of consultation, transcription and translation of original material.
It has to be acknowledged
that there is a degree of crossover between the two theses and the reader is
counselled to consult the M.Phil. thesis in order to reach a fuller
understanding of the background to the current work. Where it has been felt
necessary, elements from the M.Phil. have been included here and acknowledged
as such. This has been particularly necessary in the following chapter which
attempts to set the work of Van Crombrugghe and the Josephites in a historical
context.
A principal difference
between my M.Phil. research and the current project is the availability of a
large body of archival material which was not available at the time of
undertaking the M.Phil. This includes:
- evidence from Van
Crombrugghe’s correspondence, in particular the extant letters between himself
and a) various early Josephites and b) his parents. The originals of these
letters were not available for consultation at the time that my previous thesis
was being written. These letters, all originals, are stored in individual
envelopes contained in ring binders. Many of them are somewhat frail and should
be handled with care. The numbering system used in this thesis is my own and
will not be found on the envelopes containing the originals. The letters are
stored in chronological order with the letters to his parents as a separate
collection. They are indexed as III-D-1 to 8[10].
- The circulars of
early Superiors General, Ignace Van den Bossche (1st Superior General),
Stanislas De Haeck (2nd Superior General) and Rémi de Sadeleer (3rd
Superior General). These are stored in book form in the handwriting of the
author with the exception of all but a few of the earliest of Van den Bossche’s
circulars which are in Stanislas’ hand. Each General has a separate book. They
are indexed as IV-A-2,3 and 4.[11]
- Chapter documents, particularly those
dealing with educational matters and leading up to the take-over of College
Melle in 1837. As these documents are quoted more or less in their entirety in
the Superior General’s Circular immediately following the Chapter they are
considered within the context of the Circulars. The Chapter records are stored
in book form as III-B-1.
- Early account books
of the Congregation which are the sole remaining record of who was where when,
thus giving an insight into how various personalities shaped the educational
basis of the Congregation. These records appear in the Appendix and I
acknowledge the work of Fr Honoré Smets in their preparation. They are stored
on open shelves IX-B-7,8 and 9.
All of the documents
noted above were housed at the time of consultation in the Josephite Archive at
Melle[12]. To call the collection an archive in the
traditional sense is, perhaps, a misnomer. The word used in the house to refer
to the collection is “secretariat” and this is a more accurate description. It
is only in the past few years that an archivist has been appointed, and he
would more accurately be described as “the person in charge of the archives”
rather than an archivist per se. This is to say that the appointee has no
particular skills but is simply the person under whose umbrella of
responsibilities the archives fall. The origins of the archive collection are
as the secretariat of the Superior General and over the years the archive has
simply been the place where the various documents pertaining to the Superior
General’s period of office have been stored. The care with which this has been
done has unfortunately varied from General to General. More recently other
documents and collections pertaining to the history of the Institute have been
added, but there is no particular requirements for copies of documents of any
specific type to be submitted to the archive. The situation has been
complicated since the 1960s by the division of the Institute into Regions or
Provinces, each with its own governmental structure. Inevitably this has meant
the fragmentation of holding points for documentation and most recently the
archive has been seen as the Belgian regional archive, albeit holding material
of interest at the Institute level.
The archive room itself
is small, gloomy and unconducive to study. Most items are contained in a
collection of cupboards around the walls. There is a rudimentary indexing
system in book form by which items are indexed by cupboard, shelf and item. So,
for example, the records of General Chapters 1835 – 1857 are indexed as
“III-B-1”, that is: cupboard 3, shelf B, item 1. The index has not been kept up
to date and many items relating to the past ten years are neither indexed nor
stored. In the past two years (2001 – 2003) the archives have been moved to
more salubrious surroundings in the former noviciate area of Grammont and it is
there that they can be consulted at the time of writing[13]. There are tentative plans in existence (June
2003) to hand the whole collection over to KADOC, the Catholic Documentation
Centre at the University of Louvain, who specialise in the maintenance of
archives and who already hold the archives of a number of Belgian
congregations. Whatever happens in the future the Josephite archives are badly
in need of complete re-indexing and cross-referencing.
Background
The background to the
current research is here considered under three headings: findings from my own
M.Phil. research; an overview presented by Grootaers[14]; a consideration of Van Crombrugghe as a link
in the historical chain of Jesuit inspired education.
The historical background to the
development of Van Crombrugghe’s educational thought has been previously
outlined in my own M. Phil. thesis. The principal points from that thesis are
incorporated here for the sake of completeness, but the reader is again
counselled to read the fuller account in that thesis
The beginning of
Austrian influence in
During the long period of Habsburg rule there
was considerable tension between the monarchy and the Church due to the reforms
which the monarchy, particularly Joseph II, tried to impose. He ruled as an enlightened despot, in line
with the following description:
“The ruler can dispose
of everything in the state, without exception..... Privileges which are
disadvantageous to the state are always invalid”[15]
This remark was, of
course, aimed at the institution which stood par excellence between the monarch and the exercise of complete
freedom, i.e. the Roman Catholic Church. This is not to say that Joseph singled
out the Church for specific ill-treatment - he was, after all, a Roman Catholic
himself. Rather he quite dispassionately
regarded the Church simply as one element (albeit a major element) in the
machine of state, and, as such, everything which prevented the Church from
acting as an efficient contributor to the building of a modern, unitary state
had to go. In espousing this attitude he alienated much of the population of
the largely Roman Catholic
As the Enlightenment
progressed so the utilitarian ideal of the “useful citizen” became much more
prominent. Johann Ignaz von Felbiger, who was one of the most influential
contemporary educational theorists in
“a. honest citizens;
b) good citizens; that is faithful and obedient subjects of the authorities;
and c) useful people for the community.”[16]
As will later be seen,
these aims, albeit set in a Christian and Catholic context, are remarkably
similar to those of Van Crombrugghe.
Joseph II turned his
reforming eye on the field of education, believing that a sound, uniform
education system was at the heart of a unitary state. In an ordinance published
in the first year of his reign he stated:
“The schoolchildren
should remind themselves constantly that every human being has a moral
obligation to develop his intellectual powers as far as possible and that the
study by which this is achieved is a duty imposed by God; that every citizen
has a similar obligation to make himself capable of serving the state.”[17]
In the universities,
practical (i.e. “useful”) subjects blossomed at the expense of the more
ephemeral. The grammar schools also suffered: Joseph did not believe in
over-production of intellectuals and imposed school fees, as a result of which
attendance dropped rapidly. All schools that did not fit in with Joseph’s
ideals were suppressed, and 813 were closed.
In the field of primary
education, however, Joseph improved the situation enormously. He created many
new primary schools at a time when it was a neglected area of education; he
ensured that primary school teachers were paid proper salaries; he ensured
attendance by offering financial rewards to parents whose children were regular
attenders and fining those whose children were not. Finally, and unusually for
the era, he laid emphasis on the education of girls. As a result, by 1790 there
were relatively more children at school in the Austrian Empire than in any
other part of
In considering the
policies brought to bear by the Austrians on the
“It would be
absolutely contrary to our goal to concentrate the literary profession under
one sole class or order of persons, and such an interesting enterprise demands
that its scope be spread as wide as possible in order to deem apt for this
profession all whose who have the necessary qualities without regard for their
state.”
[18]