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| De La Salle
Christian Brothers
LI-NE District
635 Ocean Road
Narragansett, RI 02882
(401)789-0244 Phone
(401)783-5303 Fax
info@cbline.org |
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THE LIFE AND VOCATION OF
ST. JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE
Here is the story of a wonderful saint who first started the idea that all youngsters deserved a good education in popular schools. This saint was born in Rheims, France on April 30th, 1651. The name given to him at his baptism was JOHN BAPTIST – not John the Baptist. It is a French tradition to put two first names together, so that they become one name. When we add his family name, this saint’s full name is JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE.
His family was large and very wealthy, although they were not of the high nobility. His father was a magistrate judge on the ruling council of the City of Rheims. When John Baptist was growing up, he and his brothers and sisters had a tutor come to their home for lessons. This was the usual way to begin learning in the families of the wealthy. When he was eight years old, he went to the prep school attached to the University of Rheims. John Baptist was bright and he was very successful in his studies. This is remarkable because in France at that time all education was given in Latin.
John Baptist had dreamed of becoming a priest for a long time, and he passed all his exams at the University of Rheims with distinction. At the age of nineteen he went to an important seminary in Paris, which is still known as St. Sulpice.
 Unhappily, sorrow struck the family. When John Baptist was twenty years old, his mother and father passed away within a year of each other. It was necessary for him to leave the seminary and return home. Since he was the oldest, his father wrote in his will that John Baptist was to take care of the family, especially his brothers and sisters, and that he was to manage the family finances.
While accepting all these responsibilities, he continued his studies to become a priest. He was ordained a priest in 1678. Besides taking care of the family, John Baptist looked forward to a life of doing good as a priest. He became well known in Rheims, and very influential.
God, however, had other things in mind for John Baptist. God often moves very slowly, but through a series of events and circumstances God gradually revealed what it was He wanted John Baptist to do.
One day a priest friend of John Baptist asked him to look after an order of sisters he had started, the Sisters of the Child Jesus. John Baptist agreed. After the unexpected death of his friend, John Baptist prepared all the official papers that gave the sisters public recognition.
 One time when he was paying a visit to the sisters, he met a man called Adrien Nyel. This man had come to Rheims to talk to the sisters about beginning schools for poor boys, as the sisters already had a school for poor girls. The meeting with Adrien was an event that changed John Baptist’s life. It happened slowly as God works slowly, but surely. The poor were sadly neglected in 17th Century France. After listening to Adrien, John Baptist invited Adrien to come and spend the week with him in his own house. There they had time to discuss all the problems which faced a project such as this. At the end of the week, John Baptist agreed to help Adrien Nyel. John Baptist understood this to mean he would provide money, and he would talk to parish pastors who wanted to open schools.
When this plan was beginning to be organized, Adrien Nyel left to begin schools in other towns, and he left John Baptist completely in charge. This shocked John Baptist, but he could not leave the teachers and students all by themselves. So, he took charge. The biggest challenge was teaching the teachers. Nobody bothered to train teachers for the poor in 17th Century France.
John Baptist de La Salle now fully realized that this mission was what God really wanted him to do. He knew that God wanted him to train teachers for the Christian schools for the poor. He knew that God wanted him to provide good teachers for the poor young boys who roamed the streets in gangs all the day. He answered God’s will, and he put all his prayers and energy into writing books to train the young teachers. He trained the teachers to live an organized life, and he thus started the Religious Congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. This is what spiritual persons do. Once they come to know the wishes of God for them, they put all their love and energy into that work and vocation.
Schools spread and students increased in number, but John Baptist was ready. He had the assistance of the Brothers of the Christian Schools whom he had inspired to join him. They became excellent teachers under the training of John Baptist, and they ran great schools.
 There were two great principles in the running of the Christian schools. First, there was a clear and solid organization and, secondly, there was a great love for the students. John Baptist also wrote many books for the teachers. He wrote text books on how to teach arithmetic, spelling, writing, reading and catechism. One of his books became a classic. It is called “The Management of the Christian School.” This explains what good the teachers do every day in school – how school begins, how to teach the various subjects – from morning until dismissal in the afternoon.
As the number of Brothers and students grew, different kinds of vocational schools were opened. It was John Baptist’s belief that everyone needed an education so that they could make a good living for themselves, and that they could come to know God, who would bring them to heaven.
Unfortunately, there were jealous people who opposed the work of John Baptist. They said he was stubborn and would only let his own methods be used in school. Others complained that he was too tough on the Brothers to be their leader. Another difficulty was that competing teachers sought to close his schools by removing all the furniture. This was because they believed he was taking students away from them. John Baptist got it all back by proving in court that the furniture did not belong to him, but to the parish in which the schools were located.
Eventually, John Baptist thought he should step down as the leader. He wanted the Brothers to run things themselves, and he also thought that he was the source of all the troubles which fell upon the Brothers. After telling just one Brother of his plans, he left for the south of France to make a retreat in a peaceful place. He wished to spend time in prayer asking God what he should do – should he continue as leader?
He spoke to a learned sister who directed the retreat center where he stayed. She told him “Go back to your Brothers. They need you, that’s where God wants you and where you are needed.” The Brothers sent a letter, all of them signing it, that they wanted him back in Paris. John Baptist did what was wanted of him. He returned to Paris, and he continued his work for the Brothers and their schools.
But, John Baptist knew he was getting older and more feeble. So two years before his death, he insisted that the Brothers elect from among themselves a Brother to be the leader. John Baptist spent time correcting and updating the books he had written. He continued to spend many hours in prayer as he had always done throughout his life.
In time, John Baptist became more and more weak and ill. He died on Good Friday, April 7th in 1719. The whole neighborhood turned out for his burial because he had been so good to them and their children.
In the year 1900 he was declared a saint. So, now he is Saint John Baptist de La Salle. In the year 1950 Pope Pius XII declared him the Patron of all Teachers. Now teachers have someone in heaven who understands their problems and who will present to God the needs of those who pray to him.
This was a wonderful and blessed life for a man who did not start out to train teachers and begin schools to become a saint and the special patron before God for all teachers. God moves slowly and surely to select people whom He wants to serve him.
The Brothers of the Christian Schools are still active today. There are many Brothers teaching school in the cities of the United States – in places like New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco. In fact, there are Lasallian schools in 80 countries of the world. The Brothers and their many partners are well loved and operate well-attended schools all operating with the vision and inspiration of Saint John Baptist de La Salle. Today there are close to one million students in those schools.
The feast day of Saint John Baptist de La Salle is April 7th, the day he died and was borne into heaven.
 PRAYER:We pray to you,
Saint John Baptist de La Salle;
For good teachers;
For good students;
For good schools.
We ask this through Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Saint John Baptist de La Salle'
pray for us.
Live Jesus in our hearts. Forever.
(Brother James Loxham, Booklyn, 23 October 2002)
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