Childhood
Zoetmulder was born in Utrecht, Netherlands. From his early childhood, "Piet"--as he was called—was able to read and write even before entering school. His mother Catharina née Noelege was a professional pianist and had been a patient teacher to Piet such that he was able to be admitted to primary school without having to attend kindergarten due to his reading and writing skills. At school he was known to be a conscientious, talented and smart student. His father was an engineer.
Piet was raised in a Roman Catholic family, and while attending the Canisius College Mater Dei gymnasium he became interested in becoming a priest, specifically as a member of the Society of Jesus. Two of his uncles were priests, and an aunt had been a nun in Africa and Suriname. His father had to move to the town of Heerlen for his work as a public health engineer, so Piet attended a gymnasium at Rolduc instead, which was also his father's alma mater. He graduated in the A and B academic tracks. In 1925 he was admitted to the Society of Jesus Novitiate School to begin his training as a priest.
Read more about this topic: Petrus Josephus Zoetmulder
Famous quotes containing the word childhood:
“Pleasing illusion: “if my childhood had been the Paradise it should have been, all would now be well.””
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“... all the cares and anxieties, the trials and disappointments of my whole life, are light, when balanced with my sufferings in childhood and youth from the theological dogmas which I sincerely believed, and the gloom connected with everything associated with the name of religion, the church, the parsonage, the graveyard, and the solemn, tolling bell.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“By contemplation’s help,not sought in vain,
I seem t’ have liv’d my childhood o’er again;
To have renew’d the joys that once were mine,”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)