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PiaristenPiarists (Scholarum Piarum, teaching order), Catholic men's order devoted to the instruction and education of young people. Their founder, Joseph von Calasanz (Kalasantiner), opened the first free elementary school in Europe in a Roman presbytery in 1597. The Piarists, sanctioned by the Pope in 1617, played a leading role in secondary school teaching in the 18th century, they ran 24 Gymnasium secondary schools in Austria and cultivated a rich repertoire of religious dramas of high literary value; present establishments in Vienna (Provincialate), Horn and Krems.
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