Saint John Baptist De La Salle

• Saint John Baptist De La Salle was part of the Fratres Scholarum Christianarum (FSC).
• He said he would not have started if he knew what the future held, but God was gentle and guided him.
• Born April 30, 1651.
• Died April 7, 1719, at age 68.
• Beatified February 19, 1888, 169 years post death.
• Canonized May 24, 1900, twelve years post beatification.
• Proclaimed Patron Saint of Teachers of Children and Youth on May 15, 1950.
• He was the eldest of seven children in Rheims, France, from a wealthy family.
• His family home was Hotel de la Cloche, Home of the De La Salles of Rheims.
• His mother was Nicole Moët de Brouillet.
• John Baptist was privately tutored for four years, following the custom for gentlemen.
• He entered the College des Bons Enfants in 1661, excelling in classical studies.
• Determined to become a priest by age ten, he received his tonsure in 1662.
• Pierre Dozet, a canon of Reims cathedral and John Baptist's cousin, resigned his position for him in 1666.
• In January 1667, at 16, he became a canon at Rheims Cathedral, a position that provided a large income.
• He took minor orders in March 17, 1667.
• He completed his Master in Arts degree summa cum laude in July 1669.
• He began studies at the University of Rheims, later transferring to the University of Paris.
• Nicolle Moët died on July 19, 1671, at age thirty-six, followed by Louis de La Salle on April 9, 1672.
• De La Salle became the executor of the estate and guardian of his siblings.
• He stopped studying and returned to Rheims to see to their education and settle the estate.
• DLS became a deacon on March 21, 1676.
• In 1678, he received his Bachelor degree in Sacred Theology and was ordained a priest on April 9.
• After Roland’s death, Nicolas Barre became his spiritual director.
• In August 1678, he denounced Cesar Thuret for having a concubine, which was frowned upon by Church authorities.
• DLS became a Doctor of Theology in 1680.
• In March 1679, DLS met Adrian Nyel, a zealous schoolmaster known for establishing schools for poor girls in Rouen.
• John Baptist agreed to help Nyel, beginning his life's work.
• The first school was established at St. Maurice, followed by two more; three schools were operating by December.

Adrian Nyel's Background

• Nyel was from Rouen and successfully administered the city’s General Hospice, organizing classes for poor families.
• He was appointed to run the free schools of the city .
• Mme. Maillefer and Nicolas Roland planned to set up a school for boys in Reims, similar to schools for girls run by Roland and Barre’s sisters, and Nyel was their agent.
• After Roland’s death, Maillefer sent Nyel to Reims to seek help from Fr. De La Salle.

Distress Context

• Human distress: Poverty, ignorance, parental neglect, lack of skills, criminality, violence, social marginalization, and lack of access to quality education.
• Spiritual distress: Religious ignorance, alienation from God and the Church, vice, immorality, and “spiritual death.”
• John Baptist discerned God's call in the needs and dreams of poor young people.
• De La Salle and the first teachers created a new school that would ensure quality education was accessible to the poor.

Teachers Ideal

• They dedicate thier whole lives to teaching
• They teach for the love of God with no interest in monetary gain
• They try to live the gospel
• They put the welfare and salvation of students before their own
• They go wherever they were needed to ensure the schools suceed

Birth of Community

• Nyel's zeal in establishing schools left little time for training the masters and securing the schools’ stability.
• DLS invited the masters to his home for conferences and spiritual exercises, beginning in Easter of 1680.
• He moved the masters into his home on June 24, 1681, to supervise their formation.
• His brother-in-law Jean Maillefer filed a suit against him.
• DLS lost his house and was relieved of his family guardianship and his siblings were distributed to relatives.
• On June 24, 1682, he and the masters relocated to a small house on Rue Neuve in the “poor quarter” of Rheims.
• Christian schools would express Christ's love to young people by liberating them from ignorance, poverty, and sin.
• Young people would never feel abandoned in these schools but would meet God's love through their teachers.
• De La Salle admonished his followers not to fear, but to trust in God’s providence, due to worries over tuition.
• Followers replied, “It’s easy for you to talk. You have a fortune and a canonry. We are poor men with nothing. If the work dies, so do we.”
• De La Salle resigned his canonry, liquidated his inheritance, and sold his possessions in August 1683, following the call of the gospel.
• He used the money to buy food and distribute it to the poor during a famine, becoming a true brother to his disciples.
• In 1686, De La Salle and the school masters named their group the “Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools”.
• The name “brother” described their relationship with students and with one another.
• They took a vow of obedience and chose a distinctive robe to symbolize their new identity.

Brothers Characteristics

• Not priests but dedicated laymen
• Lives totally dedicated to God
• Carrying out God’s work through education
• Educating with skills and professionalism
• Replacing fear with firm yet tender love
• In solidarity with one another in community
• Free to serve as needs required

Conflicts Faced

• Professional schoolmasters who saw the Christian Schools as competition
• Jealous priests seeking to replace De La Salle and control the Brothers
• Church officials who saw De La Salle as stubborn and wanted to discipline him
• Difficult and disloyal Brothers
• De La Salle and two trusted Brothers made a sacred vow at Vaugirard to keep the society alive, even if it meant begging for alms and surviving on bread alone.
• More Brothers were inspired to commit with renewed zeal, increasing recruits and spreading schools quickly.

De La Salle Inspiration

• One of his inspirational phrases was "I adore in all things God’s will in my life”.
• There are 63,000 educators connected with the Lasallian mission, educating 800,000 students in over 80 countries.

Mission in Schools

• To give a human and Christian education, especially in schools, with the service of the poor as a priority.
• To evangelize and catechize, to promote peace and justice, accomplished together as a “shared mission.”

Priorities

• Christian
• Committed to Excellence
• Competent
• Confident
• Compassionate
• Concerned for the Marginalized
• Capable of Leading
• Contribute to Society
• Cares for the earth
• Cherishes being a Filipino