ST.

JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE

 Founder of the Institute of the brothers of the Christian Schools (FSC), Patron of
Christian Teachers.
 Father of Modern Education

John Baptist De La Salle was born on April 30, 1651, in

Reims, France. At the age of eleven John Baptist De La
Salle received the tonsure and was named Canon of the
Reims Cathedral at fifteen. The Divine Office together daily
in the cathedral, participated in the major liturgical feasts,
and advised the archbishop. It was both a great source of
prestige and a substantial amount of salary. He was very
fortunate being born with a family that has very considerable
wealth. He is the oldest from a family of eleven children, and
four of whom would die of infancy, born to Louis De La Salle
and Nicole De La Salle. Louis De La Salle was a magistrate of the presidential court
and a member of a quite successful family of merchants.

John Baptist De La Salle was tutored at home until he was nine, like most of the
children in his days. 1670 is the year De La Salle entered the major seminary of Saint
Sulpice in Paris. He thought religion to the children of parish on Sundays. Which served
the most crime-ridden section of Paris. Which was under the Sulpicians that De La Salle
would not only gain his first experience working in education, but also the spiritual life
that will define the rest of his life.

Here was the time De La Salle would devote himself to living each day constantly
recalling all mighty presence of God and completely abandoned to the will of God.
Doing and seeing nothing except “through the eyes of faith”. The later generations
would come and recognize these virtues as the centerpiece of what so be called the
“Lasallian spirituality”.
De La Salle was ordained as a priest on April 9, 1678. And remained a canon at the
cathedral. Addition to him being named De La Salle executor of his will, he was also
named protector of the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus. Formed by his spiritual director
Nicolas Roland, to educate poor girls. De La Salle helped the Sisters obtain the letters
patent or legal status in France and became their chaplain and spiritual director. Then
while serving in this capacity that a chance meeting could occur that would change the
life of John Baptist De La Salle and the world of education forever.

In March of 1679, De La Salle met Adrien Nyel, a layman who was working to build a
charity school for boys. He works at the behest of one Mme, Maillefer. Related to the De
La Salle family by marriage. De La Salle agreed on helping Nyel, and even insisted on
letting him stay at his place while the arrangements are being made. Rue Saint Maurice,
one of the first charity schools of Nyel opens on April 15, 1679. Years have passed and
De La Salle would say of this day that he had never expected his involvement in Nyel’s
project would extend past a few weeks of assistance, and that he was led by God “in an
imperceptible way and over a long period of time so that one commitment led to another
in a way that I did not foresee in the beginning”.

The request for a second school on the other side of town. So, De La Salle rents a
house near his own for the teachers and Nyel. And after that, a third school opened.
The classrooms were crowded and in chaos at the hands of untrained teachers, most
are out of work laborers simply looking for any job that will give them some income.
Nyel decides to leave it to De La Salle to care of the schools and moves on. He realized
that things cannot continue as if they are. So, he must think of a way for the schools to
succeed. On Easter, 1680, De La Salle invited the charity teachers into his home and
provided them meals and received professional training and spiritual guidance.

The teachers and charity school began to improve and from them will build or form a
type of teacher and a type of school.
Biography of St. John Baptist De La Salle
 Born at Reims, France April 30, 1651
 Ordained priest April 9, 1678
 Died April 7, 1719
 Beatified Feb 19, 1888
 Canonized May 24, 1900
 Proclaimed Patron Saint of Teachers May 15, 1950
 Eldest among 11 children
 Canon at Cathedral of Reims at 15 years old
 St. Sulpice Seminary in Paris
 20-21 years old, his mother died and later his father
 Adrian Nyel – the turning of St. La Salle life
 27 years old ordained as priest
 June 24, 1682, St. La Salle with teachers and had a house
 Brothers of the Christian School (FSC)
 32 years old – resigned as canon gave his fortune to the poor and suffering
 40 years old – vow to the mission
 41 years onwards – struggling to keep the mission alive
 60 – 62 years old – on retreat & resume as superior of the brothers
 Died at 67 years old
 “In all things I adore the will of God in my regard”
 May 15, 1950 – Pope Pius 12 proclaims St. John Baptist De La Salle as “Patron
of All Teachers of Youth.”