Unit 4: Adrien Nyet and A Community in the Making (PDF)

1.) Discuss the relevance of De La Salle’s meeting with Adrian Nyel. 2.) Explain the reasons of opening the first Christian school. 3.) Identify the first permanent community of the teachers and the founder. 4.) Enumerate the agreed agenda during the First General Assembly. q A...

1.) Discuss the relevance of De La Salle’s meeting with Adrian Nyel. 2.) Explain the reasons of opening the first Christian school. 3.) Identify the first permanent community of the teachers and the founder. 4.) Enumerate the agreed agenda during the First General Assembly. q At the age of 29, St. John Baptist De La Salle was settling gradually into the routine and the lifestyle of a pious and zealous bit rather comfortable and respected young priest. q He was just ordained as a priest two years earlier. q He was destined to be a bishop, archbishop, cardinal, or even a Pope someday because of his family and education. q God has other purpose. It all started when he met Mr. Adrian Nyel. Ø A zealous layman in his 50’s sent by Madam Maillefer from Rouen to open a school for poor boys in Reims. He has a letter for the Superior of the Sisters of Child Jesus (Francoise Duval). q DLS met Nyel at the door of the Sisters of Child Jesus Convent for the first time. q After introducing DLS to Nyel formally by St. Francoise, DLS invited him to stay at his house and gave 2 advices to Nyel: 1) Make the project secret of discreet without arousing suspicion from the authorities; 2) Let it be under Parish Priest of his parish. q Nyel stayed at DLS’ house in St. Marguerite. q After weeks of no progress, DLS offered his help by asking his priests friends if they were interested in opening a school for poor boys in his parish. qThe pastor of the parish of St. Maurice (Fr. Nicolas Dorigny) accepted the offer and agreed to provide board and lodging for Nyel, and his 14 years old assistant. qThe first Christian school of Nyel in Reims opened on April 15, 1679. qSoon, news got around about the new school, a rich woman, Catherine Levesque, also wanted to donate, but suspicious of Nyel, requested De La Salle to be part of the contract. qOn September 1679, a 2nd school of Nyel was opened at St. James Parish. This school is still in existence today. qNyel was always away looking for another donor to help him open the 3rd school. qThe teachers were becoming either careless or independent or both; there was no uniform policy of method to be followed in the schools; the students were becoming increasingly restless, and discipline was suffering. qDe La Salle decided to do something about it. During the Holy Week of 1681, DLS invited the teachers for a retreat at his house. qThe beginning of DLS’ spending more time with the teachers, to instill in them some sense of discipline, and to open to them a vision of the spiritual significance of the work they were doing. qDLS was now torn between his work as Canon and his time in the schools. qHe sought advice from his spiritual director (Fr. Barre) who adviced him to give more of his time to the school and bring teachers to his house; thus, began the involvement of DLS in the education of the poor. qOn June 24, 1681, DLS moved the teachers into his own home on the Rue St. Marguerite. (It is now called “Hotel des Postes” – Post Office) qAdrian Nyel was more and more content to give the direction of the teachers and the schools to DLS in Reims. qIn the year 1682, schools were opened in Rethel, Chateau-Porcien, and Laon. qIn the spring of 1682, DLS lost title to the family mansion on the Rue St. Marguerite when it was put up for auction. qOn June 24, the traditional moving day in France, DLS took his teachers to live in a rented house on the Rue Nueve. qThe house known as the “Cradle of the Institute”. qFor DLS, this move meant more than a change of residence. qThe decision has body, mind and spirit effects to DLS. qFor days, he suffered nausea because of the smell, the food they ate, and the living conditions of their new home. qThe conditions opted some teachers to leave, but new ones came. q On August 16, 1683, DLS resigned as Canon of the Cathedral of Reims. qHe discerned his decision by listing 10 points in favor his decision. The most interesting one is: “Since I no longer feel myself drawn to the vocation of a canon, it seems to me that this particular vocation has already left me long before I have abandoned it.” qDuring the famine of the winter of 1683-1684 provided DLS the answer to distribute his wealth. qThe actions put DLS more the opportunity to trust deeply in Divine Providence. qDLS was firmly committed to the community and the teachers themselves following his example, it was time to begin to go public with a new-found sense of identity. qAdopt a distinctive habit, a decision that was made probably in the winter of 1684-1685. qThe habit that they chose was to distinguish themselves from the laymen on the one hand and from the clergy on the other. qThey use a cassock without button in front and a rabat to give them a quasi-professional status in the schools. qThe habit shows to the world “a corporate title” about their identity. qHappened probably between the Feast of Ascension until Trinity Sunday of 1686 at Rue Nueve with Principal Brothers in attendance. qPURPOSE: To consolidate the gain made and to plan for future direction. a. Started with the intense retreat. b. Free flowing of ideas (De La Salle did not impose his own ideas)  a. Adopt a holy habit b. Adopt a corporate name “Brothers of the Christian Schools” (Fratres Scholarum Christianarum/Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes). c. Daily Common Schedule for the schools and communities. d. Taking Vows of Obedience for the first time. qThe next day they went for Pilgrimage, fasting and on foot to the Shrine of Our Lady of Liesse (30 miles from Rue Nueve). qThey renewed their vows and entrusted the future of the institute to the Most Blessed Mary. qOur Lady of Liesse was derived from Latin form “Laetitia” meaning “Joy”.