Life of Saint John Baptist de La Salle

John Baptist de la Salle, educational pioneer, founder of the world-wide Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, commonly called the Christian Brothers, was born in the cathedral town of Rheims, France, on April 30, 1651. His parents were people of standing, his father holding a judicial post. From childhood he gave evidence of such unusual piety that he was designated for the priesthood. At eleven he received the tonsure and at sixteen became a canon of the cathedral chapter at Rheims. Later he was sent to the seminary of St. Sulpice to complete his studies. The young canon, handsome in appearance and scholarly in his tastes, seemed destined for high ecclesiastical preferment. Soon after his return to Rheims he was to discover his true life work—the education of the poor. It was to be a long, hard struggle, with few tangible rewards, but he unquestionably started a movement which was to result in furthering free elementary instruction.

The social orders of seventeenth-century France were still cast in a rigid mold. Education, with rare exceptions, was for the rich and noble, and quite beyond the dreams of the great mass of the people. Their pitiful ignorance became the lifelong concern of John Baptist de la Salle. From the outset of his career he was thrown into contact with poor children. His first post was spiritual director of the Sisters of the Holy Infant and the orphanage they conducted. Through this work he came into contact with a wealthy woman, one of his own relations, who urged him to found a similar refuge for orphaned boys. A lay teacher, Arien Nigel, joined him, and such a home and school opened its doors. It was so successful that soon another institution of the same type was set up in the diocese. Father John now saw the way clear before him—he must devote his whole energy to the cause of education. But to educate you must have teachers, and the preparation of young schoolmasters to teach in these schools was his initial task. He invited a number of them to come and live in his own home that he might have more time to train and counsel them. His brothers objected to having their house taken over in this manner, so Father John moved with his group to more suitable quarters.