I’ve finally read Fallen Order by Karen Liebreich. I had put it off because although the subject interested me very much, I thought the story she tells – how sexual abuse impacted the early years of the Piarist Order – would be just too depressing.

Well, it is painful, just as all such stories, new and old are, but the book rather surprised me, because the story is actually a little more complex than I thought it was, and Liebreich’s deep research into the primary sources offers not just a good, needed examination of what really happened with the Piarists in the mid-17th century, but a fascinating window into religious life, life in Rome and church workings in general during the period.

The Piarists, or Clerics Regulars Poors of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools or the Scolopi, is a teaching order founded in 1597 by St. Joseph Calasanz, whose mission was to provide free education for the poor. The order grew quickly – too quickly, and not long after its foundation, was beset by problems, largely as a consequence of the rapid growth.

The order’s work was in great demand, not only in Italy but in other European countries as well. Within a couple of decades, complaints surfaced here and there that the order wasn’t being selective enough in its acceptance of "vocations." Anyone was accepted, and then sent out to teach with minimal training. This, not surprisingly, led to trouble.

Here and there, hints of improper conduct by a few teachers began popping up at various houses through the order. I won’t go into details – for its pretty complicated, and that’s what the book is for – the details – but the core of the issue goes broader than the abuse itself: it’s that in those decades, somehow, one of the primary figures accused of abuse (and a generally lax observance of the rule, as well), rose to a position of leadership within in the Order, despite his conduct being widely known.

Here’s where it gets really complicated. I knew the basic outline of this story: the Piarists were shut down by the Pope just a few decades after the order began. I had assumed that the reason they were shut down was because of the abuse: Rome found out about the abuse which had been covered up, so the order was shut down. That’s not what happened.

What happened was the consequence of familial and power ties between certain people in the order (including that first particular figure, Stefano Cherubini, whose father and brother were powerful Roman lawyers) and powerful Curial officials (Cardinals here and there and officials in the Office of the Inquisition), the worst people imaginable rose to power in the Piarists as the founder, Fr. Calasanz, aged and the order’s growth spun out of control.  People who were widely despised within the order itself – Cherubini and the wretched Mario Sozzi – had the support of Curial officials, who ultimately wielded the most power, even in determining the order’s leadership.

So the story ends up being this, in essence: Cherubini abused boys in Naples, and Calasanz, anxious to avoid scandal for his relatively new order (of course) and under pressure from Cherubini’s friends in Rome, sent him away to do other things – teach in other schools, oversee other schools, traveling about. This allowed Cherubini to remain within the order, doing all sorts of damage, weaving more connections and, as is often the case, getting more information on the weaknesses of the order which can be held almost as blackmail.

Mario Sozzi was admitted to the order although he was totally unsuitable, and immediately started making trouble in the order’s foundation in Florence – a foundation which was different from the others in that it was dedicated to a higher level of study, science and math-focused, and centered on Galileo, who was under house arrest in Florence, and with whom several of the Piarists share views. (In this part of the story and several other points, the Jesuits emerge as the enemy, as they were at the center of the efforts against Galileo, and later a Jesuit who was appointed as a "visitor" to the Piarists in a supervisory role when things started to go bad, apparently did all he could to harm the Order. Of course, bad feelings went both ways, considering the Piarists in Sicily, egged on by Cherubini, played a role in burning down newly-formed Jesuit school. So.)

This Sozzi was a crackpot in every respect. He disobeyed authority in terms of sacramental ministry in Florence, he did what he could to disturb the Florentine foundation, he hoarded luxurious goods and was in general a useless troublemaker.

But he had friends, and eventually, believe it or not, was appointed governor of the Order, even while Casalenz was still alive. He was struck, however, by a bizarre, persistent and deadly skin disease, which caused his skin to scab over – some sort of wild psoriasis it almost sounds like – they would clean him off, he would be okay, and then it would all reappear.

He eventually died of it not too long after his appointment, despite the most interesting treatments – twice live heifers were cut in half and he was encased in the carcass, and near the end, in desperaration, they did it with an ox.

It didn’t work. The good news, the chronicler reports, is that no one in the congregation fell ill when they ate the meat. Of the ox.

In the end, what happened was the the appointment – by Rome, not the order itself – of Sozzi and Cherubini to leadership in the Order, accompanied by their friends who were either sexually suspect or at the very least profligate and uninterested in the austere Piarist Rule, brought the Order to the ground. Every house in the Order wrote in protest of Cherubini’s appointment, his "leadership" broke much of the Order financially, and ultimately, Cherubini was able to fashion opposition to him as an act of defiance against the Holy See which had appointed him, in the chaos, the Order was reduced to a congregation, and its members were free…to go.

(The closure was fought, incidentally, by the Eastern European foundations and secular rulers who supported them, foundations which, unlike the Italian houses, had remained untouched by scandal. To no avail.)

So yes, the story is different than I expected, but perhaps even more instructive as a result. Because the story of the Piarists is the story of the contemporary sexual abuse problem as it’s been played out in the 20th and 21st century American church. The sexual abuse and exploitation of children and young people is at the heart of it, but the destruction is only furthered by the response:

* leadership covering up the sins of the clerics, transferring them, and not really paying much mind to the impact of all of this on the victims, all in the name of "avoiding scandal" and not wanting to harm the institution.  So Fr. Calasanz saw the good that his order was doing, serving the poor in a way that hardly anyone else was doing, and feared that if word of perverse behavior got out, communities and secular leaders would put a stop to the work, period.

*Networks of power, support and secrecy. The most startling and thought-provoking aspect of this story is how a small group of men rose to power in this order, even though they were mostly incompetent and if not that (Cherubini apparently had excellent powers of persuasion – not surprising), dissolute and essentially uninterested in the spiritual vision of the order, despite the widespread hatred of them in the order itself. How did this happen? Information and connections. Amassing enough negative of questionable information, using it as a blackmail threat or even as a way to do real damage, and having friends and relations who will support you.

The tragedy is that Cherubini was not tossed in the beginning, and that other similar problems were not handled and exposed. The fear was that the Order would collapse and its good work would have to come to an end.

And in 1646….it did.

(Twenty years later, the order was restored, and continues to this day.)

How many times has the story been re-written since?

The other interesting aspect to the book is in the writing of it. Most of this history had been buried – even burned – and largely forgotten by all except a few archivists. In fact, the old Catholic Encyclopedia article on the order says nothing about the squalid turn of events, alluding only briefly to one Pope undoing something that a previous Pope had put into effect. Liebreich went to Florence to study 17th century educational reform, and slowly stumbled upon this story. The material she pulls from the archives is simply fascinating – the immediacy of the letters and reports of profligacy and betrayal, the intensity of the emotions regarding these rotten people by devout Piarists who saw their order crumbling around them – it’s all there.

Good history and a sobering reminder of the consequences of sin…especially when we fail to face it honestly.