Lives Of The Saints
May 14
St. John Baptist de la Salle
Quick answer
At a glance
- What it is
- John Baptist de la Salle was a priest, founder, and educator. His life is remembered for sacrifice, perseverance, and the Christian formation of the young.
- Feast
- May 14
- Source
- Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume II (April-May-June), May 14, St John Baptist de la Salle, Founder, Christian Classics 1990. Read the source standards.
Saint John Baptist de La Salle, devotional portrait
Brief life
John Baptist de la Salle was a priest, educator, and founder whose holiness took shape in the patient reform of Christian schooling. Born to comfort and expectation, he slowly surrendered position and security as his work for poor children and for teachers deepened. He carried burdens that were not romantic: lawsuits, opposition, interior trials, misunderstandings, and constant financial strain.
Yet he kept building. The Brothers of the Christian Schools grew out of that perseverance and out of his conviction that formation in faith and discipline mattered deeply for ordinary families. De la Salle is not remembered for spectacle, but for steady sacrifice in a work that gave the Church one of her great educational missions.
Historical note
This life uses St. John Baptist de la Salle because Butler gives him the strongest fuller life on the date.
Next step
Novena to Saint Jean-Baptiste de LaSalle
A novena connected to this saint is in the library.
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