7.

EXPERIMENTATION When the pastor incharge of financing the school

heard about it, he stopped the donation and the
AND EXPANSION school was closed, much to the regret of DLS, who
( 1698 – 1703) was helpless to prevent it.

1699, The Grand Maison 1699, School at Chartres
The house As the reputation of the Brothers began to
was surrounded spread, the first Bishop to call them to his diocese
by open spaces was Paul Godet des Marais, the Bishop of Chartres.
and extensive This was not surprising because he had been DLS
gardens that were companion in his seminary days at St. Sulpice. On
protected by solid October 12, 1699 two Christian Schools open at
gates and thick the Chartres, one in the parish of St. Hilary, the
walls. Located other in St. Michael parish. There were 7 Brothers
near St. Sulpice in all who first came at Chartres. It was here that
became the DLS clarifies the use of French rather than Latin as
Novitiate, requested by Bishop Godet which DLS later write
Boarding School in his memoir to the Bishop of Chatres in 1702.
for 50 Irish boys The only reason DLS use French instead of Latin
who followed King for elementary students is its practical aspect. It is
James II of easy to learn French than Latin for children.
England (this was
the first time that 1700, Calais
boarders had ever Calais is a Port Town on the English
been accepted in a Lasallian school) & Christian Channel, only a few miles beyond Versailles to the
Sunday School or ‘Christian Academy’ as it was southwest. In July of 1700 2 Brothers arrived
called. there upon the invitation of the Duke of Bethune,
This Christian Academy was opened for the Governor of Calais, who was convinced by Fr.
young men under 20 years old to learn skills to Ponton, the pastor of the principal church and
help them earn a living. Some learned how to read dean of the clergy in Calais. Fr. Ponton got the idea
and write for the first time. The more advanced of inviting the Brothers to his place from his
followed courses in practical drawing, geometry, nephew, who was also a priest studying at St.
or other branches of mathematics. Classes began Sulpice who was attracted to the work of DLS. One
at noon and lasted for 2 hours followed by of the two Brothers who came to Calais was Br.
Catechism lesson. The school was soon filled to Gabriel Drolin who had made the Heroic Vow in
capacity, with some 200 students divided into 1691. Later, for the continuity of the school in
several classes. Calais, King Louis XIV himself give the financial
support.
1699, St. Hippolite Parish: A New Teacher-
training Program 1702, Troyes
A work that had always been dear to the In 1702 DLS received a request for
heart of DLS was the training of lay teachers for Brothers from the pastor of St. Nizier at Troyes in
the rural schools. He preferred to restrict the the province of Champagne. A pious lady had left
Brothers to city parishes where 3 or more of them an annuity of 200 livres to the pastor, Fr. Le Be, to
could conduct schools “together and by be used for a gratuitous school for the parish.
association.” Most country schoolteachers, by Although the sum was less than what was
contrast, had to maintain a school singlehandedly customary and necessary for the support of the
and in isolation. A program to train teachers for Brothers, DLS agreed on condition that the
the rural schools had been not long survive his housing should be provided for them. This was no
departure. Ever since, he had been looking for an problem since the pastor preferred to live in the
opportunity to revive it. seminary, and so the rectory was available for the
In 1699, at the request of Fr. Lebreton, the Brothers.
Pastor of St. Hippolyte, DLS sent 2 Brothers to When Le Be died and the new pastor took
start a Teacher-Training Center in the suburb of over the rectory, the Brothers had a difficult time
St. Marcel. DLS sent one of his best teachers and for a while. But then the townpoeple came to the
longtime associate, Brother Nicolas Vuyart, one of rescue with an annual sum to reant a house for
the 2 Brothers whom he had made Heroic Vows in them. In due time 2 more schools open in the
1691, to take charge of the program. parish of St. Mary Magdalene and St. John, with
Before the Pastor died 5 to 6 years later, he the efforts of the people.
was able to transfer the school to Nicholas Vuyart The uniqueness of this place is that the
name because the Institute has no legal status yet. people there raise money for the support of the
Unfortunately, when DLS was convicted by the Brothers.
Tribunal in Paris against the case of Clement,
Vuyart claim the school as his own to avoid the

scrutiny and confiscation of the State. He put aside
the Brothers Habit and send away the Brother
who had been working with him in the parish.
1702, Rome Drolin remained alone in Rome, faithful to
the Institute, to his mission and his vows, for 26
years until he was recalled by Brother Timothee in
1728. Of the many letters written by DLS to his
isolated disciple, 20 have survived.

1703, Avignon
This was the first school of DLS in the South
of France. Avignon was part of Papal States. It is
significant because whatever the Brothers
accomplished in Avignon it will be known in
As the network of Christian Schools began Rome; in one sense, the schools in Avignon carried
to spread throughout France, DLS began to think more weight in the Vatican than anything Gabriel
seriously about establishing a foothold in the Drolin was able to do in Rome itself. They were
Eternal City. From his seminary days, he had invited by the Archbishop of Avignon, who was
always had a high regard for papal authority, also the Papal Nuncio of France – Laurent Fieschi.
contrary to the Gallican tendencies of some of his But the original idea of inviting the Brothers in
professors and most of the higher clergy of France. Avignon came from the wife of the papal treasurer,
A foundation in Rome would be a symbol of the Jean-Pierre de Chateau-Blanc. When she died she
attachments of the Institute to the Apostolic See left some money so that her husband could carry
founded on the rock of Peter and his successors. out her dying wish.
At the same time, it might eventually pave the way Eventually Archbishop Fieschi was
for the papal approval that alone could guarantee summoned to Rome and made a cardinal, while
the Institute it s autonomy and freedom from the Banquieri was named Governor of Rome. Both
perennial threat of control by local bishops and became powerful advocates for the Institute at the
pastors. papal court. The favorable testimony of
On September of 1702, DLS send Brs. Archbishop Francois de Gontery, who succeeded
Gabriel Drolin & his blood brother Gerard Drolin Fieschi in Avignon, had great weight in obtaining
to open new school in the eternal city, Rome. But the Bull of Approbation for the Institute after the
there first arrival there was meet by difficulty. Founder’s death.
They were total strangers, unexpected and
unprovided for, unable to speak the language, and Brothers’ Communities at the death of DLS in
dressed in a garb that the Romans found strange. 1719.
Worst, Cesar d’Estrees, the Cardinal Bishop of
Albano, who was also French Ambassador to the
Vatican, to whom they are to stay, was away on
extended mission. His vicar managed to get them
settled for the time being, but it was clear that any
possibility of establishing a permanent foundation
would be a long way off, if not impossible.
The school system in the Papal States at the
time was complicated and tightly controlled. The
school for poor boys known as the Pious Schools,
were handled by the priests of the congregation
founded by Joseph Calasanctius. In short, the
Brothers found that there was little need for their
services and little interest in breaking from the
tradition in Rome that teachers in schools for boys
should be clerics.
The situation was so unpromising that,
after a few months, Gerard Drolin, discouraged
and unable to adapt, headed back for France,
where he soon left the Institute. Gerard had once
been with the Trappists.
After his brother left, Gabriel Drolin found a

fellow countryman, Claude de La Bussiere, who
offered him permanent stay. But it took a long
time before he could break through the highly
organized and clerically dominated school system
of ecclesiastical Rome. In 1705, he was accepted
temporarily as a teacher in the regional schools; it
was not until 1709 that he obtained his license to
teach in one of the papal schools, which by that
time had begun to accept boys as well as girls.