 In 1901, Catalan anarchist and freethinker Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia established modern or progressive schools in Barcelona in defiance of an educational system controlled by the Catholic Church.The schools' stated goal was to "educate the working class in a rational, secular and non-coercive setting".Fiercely anti-clerical, Ferrer believed in "freedom in education", education free from the authority of church and state.