St. John Baptist de la Salle

John Baptist de la Salle was born at Reims in France on April 30, 1651, into a prosperous family. He was the eldest child and received an education that prepared him for a respected place in society. Drawn toward the priesthood, he became a cathedral canon while still young. This position gave him an income and duties in the cathedral. He later went to Paris to study at the seminary of Saint-Sulpice.

The deaths of his mother in 1671 and father in 1672 interrupted those studies. He returned to Reims and took responsibility for his younger brothers and sisters, attending to their upbringing and the family's affairs while continuing his own preparation for the priesthood. His spiritual adviser, Nicolas Roland, involved him in charitable education. De la Salle was ordained a priest in 1678. Service to children grew out of responsibilities he had already accepted.

In 1679 he met Adrien Nyel, who had come to establish free schools for poor boys in Reims. At first de la Salle helped arrange the work. He gradually saw that the teachers needed guidance, reliable support, and a common life if the schools were to endure. He invited them to meals and then, in 1681, brought them to live in his own house. This decision drew criticism from relatives and people concerned for his standing.

The teachers feared what would happen if the schools failed or they became too old to work. Guibert recounts their objection that their wealthy guide did not share this insecurity. De la Salle's response involved costly changes. He resigned his cathedral position in 1683 and gave his inherited wealth to the poor during the famine years that followed. His commitment increasingly took the form of sharing the teachers' circumstances, prayer, and daily discipline.

The community developed into the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Although its founder was a priest, the Brothers' vocation was religious life devoted to teaching, without ordination. Their formation joined Christian doctrine and prayer with preparation for the classroom. De la Salle defended teaching children to read first in French, which they understood, instead of beginning with unfamiliar Latin. Poor children might have only a short time at school, and needed learning they could use.

The expansion of the schools brought opposition. In Paris, established schoolmasters challenged the free schools, and lawsuits and attacks threatened the work. Disputes also arose with church authorities and within the community. Guibert's account describes years of setbacks, departures, and uncertainty rather than an uninterrupted success. De la Salle continued preparing teachers and supporting the schools. In 1717 the Brothers elected Brother Barthelemy as superior, and their founder accepted a life under his successor's direction.

He died at Saint-Yon, near Rouen, on Good Friday, April 7, 1719. Leo XIII canonized him in 1900. His lasting contribution was a community able to carry Christian education beyond his own lifetime, with sustained attention to the preparation of teachers and the needs of poor children. In 1950 Pius XII declared him patron of teachers of children and adolescents, explicitly including men and women, clergy and laity, and those preparing to teach.