Jean-Baptiste de La Salle

John Baptist de La Salle (April 30, 1651 April 7,

1719) was a French priest, educational reformer, and
founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian
Schools. He is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and
the patron saint of teachers.

gregation whose work was the care of the sick and education of poor girls. The young priest had helped them
in becoming established, and then served as their chaplain and confessor. It was through his work with the Sisters that in 1679, he met Adrian Nyel.[3] What began as
De La Salle dedicated much of his life to the education of a charitable eort to help Adrian Nyel establish a school
for the poor in De La Salles home town gradually bepoor children in France; in doing so, he started many lasting educational practices. He is considered the founder of came his lifes work. With De La Salles help, a school
was soon opened. Shortly thereafter, a wealthy woman in
the rst Catholic schools.
Rheims told Nyel that she also would endow a school, but
only if La Salle would help.[3][4]

Life and work

3 Institute of the Brothers of the
Christian Schools

De La Salle was born to a wealthy family in Reims,

France on April 30, 1651.[1] He was the eldest child of
Louis de La Salle and Nicolle de Moet de Brouillet. La
Salle received the tonsure at age eleven and was named
canon of Rheims Cathedral when he was fteen. He was
sent to the College des Bons Enfants, where he pursued
higher studies and, on July 10, 1669, he took the degree
of Master of Arts. When De La Salle had completed his
classical, literary, and philosophical courses, he was sent
to Paris to enter the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice on October 18, 1670. His mother died on July 19, 1671, and on
April 9, 1672, his father died. This circumstance obliged
him to leave Saint-Sulpice on April 19, 1672. He was
now twenty-one, the head of the family, and as such had
the responsibility of educating his four brothers and two
sisters. He completed his theological studies and was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 26 on April 9, 1678.
Two years later he received a Doctorate in Theology.[2]
De La Salle was a man of rened manners, a cultured
mind, and great practical ability, in whom personal prosperity was balanced with kindness and aability.[1] In
physical appearance he was of commanding presence,
somewhat above the medium height. He had large, penetrating blue eyes and a broad forehead.[2]

Sisters of the Child Jesus

Statue in the Church of Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, Paris,
France

De La Salle became involved in education little by little,

without ever consciously setting out to do so. He lived
in a time when society was characterized by great disparity between the rich and the poor. Jean Baptiste de la
Salle believed that education gave hope and opportunity
for people to lead better lives of dignity and freedom.[1]

At that time, most children had little hope for the future.
Moved by the plight of the poor who seemed so far from
salvation either in this world or the next, he determined
to put his own talents and advanced education at the service of the children often left to themselves and badly
The Sisters of the Child Jesus were a new religious con- brought up.
1

LEGACY

De La Salle knew that the teachers in Reims were struggling, lacking leadership, purpose, and training, and he
found himself taking increasingly deliberate steps to help
this small group of men with their work. First, in 1680, he
invited them to take their meals in his home, as much to
teach them table manners as to inspire and instruct them
in their work. This crossing of social boundaries was one
that his relatives found dicult to bear. In 1681, De La
Salle realized that he would have to take a further step
he brought the teachers into his own home to live with
him. De La Salles relatives were deeply disturbed, his
social class was scandalized. When, a year later, his family home was lost at auction because of a family lawsuit,
De La Salle rented a house into which he and the handful
of teachers moved.[3]
Relics of John Baptist de La Salle in the Casa Generaliza in Rome,
De La Salle thereby began a new religious institute,
the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools,
also known as the De La Salle Brothers (in the U.K.,
Ireland, Malta, Australasia, and Asia) or, most commonly
in the United States, the Christian Brothers. (They are
sometimes confused with a dierent congregation of the
same name founded by Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice in
Ireland, who are known in the U.S. as the Irish Christian
Brothers.) The De La Salle Brothers were the rst Roman
Catholic teaching religious institute that did not include
any priests.

Italy

4 Veneration

Pope Leo XIII canonized him on 24 May 1900 and Pope

Pius X inserted his feast in the General Roman Calendar
in 1904 for celebration on 15 May. Because of his life
and inspirational writings, Pope Pius XII proclaimed him
patron saint of teachers on 15 May 1950. In the 1969
revision of the Church calendar, Pope Paul VI moved his
feast day to 7 April, the day of his death or birth to heaven,
In his own words, one decision led to another until De La
his dies natalis.
Salle found himself doing something that he had never
anticipated. De La Salle wrote:

5 Legacy

De La Salles enterprise met opposition from the

ecclesiastical authorities who resisted the creation of a
new form of religious life, a community of consecrated
laymen to conduct free schools together and by association. The educational establishment resented his innovative methods and his insistence on gratuity for all,
regardless of whether they could aord to pay. Nevertheless, De La Salle and his Brothers succeeded in creating a network of quality schools throughout France that
featured instruction in the vernacular, students grouped
according to ability and achievement, integration of religious instruction with secular subjects,[5] well-prepared
teachers with a sense of vocation and mission, and the
involvement of parents.
In 1685, De La Salle founded what is generally considered the rst normal school that is, a school whose
purpose is to train teachers in Rheims, France.[6]
Worn out by austerities and exhausting labors, De La
Salle died at Saint Yon, near Rouen, early in 1719[5] on
Good Friday, only three weeks before his 68th birthday.

De La Salle was a pioneer in programs for training lay

teachers. Of his writings on education, Matthew Arnold
remarked: Later works on the same subject have little improved the precepts, while they entirely lack the
unction.[5] He was a pedagogical thinker of note and is
among the founders of a distinctively modern pedagogy.
His educational innovations include Sunday courses for
working young men, one of the rst institutions in France
for the care of delinquents, technical schools, and secondary schools for modern languages, arts, and sciences.
De La Salles work quickly spread through France and,
after his death, continued to spread across the globe.
Currently, about 6,000 Brothers and 75,000 lay and religious colleagues worldwide serve as teachers, counselors,
and guides to 900,000 students in over 1,000 educational
institutions in 84 countries.[6]
There are a number of streets named after La Salle, generally due to the location of a Christian Brothers School.
These include: Soi Sukhumvit 105, Bangkok, Thailand;
in Bacolod, Philippines (where the University of St. La
Salle and St. Joseph School - La Salle are located); and
La Salle Street in Mandaluyong City. There is also De
La Salle Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri; La Salle Road in
Hong Kong; and La Salle Road, Towson, Maryland.

3
Listing of the works of Alexandre Falguire

7 References
[1] History, University of St. La Salle
[2] Graham, Matthias. St. John Baptist de la Salle. The
Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 2 Feb. 2013
[3] John Baptist de La Salle: His Life and Times, Signs of
Faith, Winter 2000, De La Salle Institute
[4] R. Wanner Claude Fleury (1640-1723) as an Educational
Historiographer 1975 No survey of French education in
the seventeenth century would be complete without reference to the educational work of Jean-Baptiste de La Salle.
Beginning in 1679, de La Salle opened a series of charity
schools under the direction of a group of religious men he
founded, called the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools or simply the Christian Brothers.
[5] The saint who showed a revolutionary fervour for educating the poor, Catholic Herald, 9 April 2013
[6] Discover the Priesthood, Diocese of Jeerson City,
Missouri

8 Further reading
Salm FSC, Luke, The Work Is Yours: The Life of
Saint Jean Baptist de La Salle, Christian Brothers
Publications, 1989
Statue of Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, De La Salle University.

Also, there are many educational institutions named

after him, such as De La Salle University in Manila,
Philippines; La Salle University in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania; Seton-La Salle High School in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; La Salle College High School (Wyndmoor,
Pennsylvania); La Salle High School in Pasadena, California; De La Salle High School in Concord, California;
De La Salle College (Toronto), Canada, and De La Salle
High School in Revesby, New South Wales, Australia.
He is one of the six patron saints of Good Samaritan
Catholic College. There is also St. La Salle School
in Reedley, California. There is a technical school,
Collge de la Salle, in Douala, Cameroon, and De La
Salle College, Jersey. There is a De LaSalle Academy in
Fort Myers, Florida, University De La Salle in Bogota
Colombia.

See also
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
List of Lasallian educational institutions

Van Grieken FSC,George, Touching the Hearts of

the Students: Characteristics of Lasallian Schools,
Christian Brothers Conference, 1999.
Koch, Carl; Calligan FSC, Jerey; Gros, Jerey,
John Baptist de La Salle: The Spirituality of Christian Education, Paulist Press, 2004.
Calcutt FSC, Alfred, De La Salle: A City Saint and
the Liberation of the Poor Through Education, De
La Salle Publications, Oxford. 1993.

9 External links
Virtual Pilgrimage of De La Salles Life ocial
website
De La Salle Christian Brothers worldwide ocial
website
The Vocation of the Brothers United States &
Canada
Complete works of St John Baptist de La Salle PDF
format
Founder Statue in St Peters Basilica

10

10
10.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Jean-Baptiste de La Salle Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste%20de%20La%20Salle?oldid=641632256 Contributors:

Rmhermen, Olivier, Michael Hardy, Docu, JASpencer, Ronaldo Guevara, Charles Matthews, Steinsky, Fernkes, Slawojarek, Gentgeen,
Jondel, JackofOz, Dina, Everyking, Duncharris, Jonel, Oknazevad, Avihu, D6, Discospinster, Robmv, MarkS, Aloysius Patacsil, Cherry
blossom tree, Shenme, Cmdrjameson, Man vyi, Deryck Chan, Nsaa, Melaen, Cburnett, Angr, Woohookitty, Mark K. Jensen, Hreid, Twthmoses, Cuchullain, Dpr, Computor, HERMiT cRAB, Hall Monitor, Roboto de Ajvol, YurikBot, GCNrocks223, Gaius Cornelius, Wiki alf,
Badagnani, Johann Wolfgang, Welsh, Asfalterisk, Wknight94, Closedmouth, Shyam, Anclation, SunKing, SmackBot, Unyoyega, Eskimbot, Mithril Cloud, HeartofaDog, Gipsy, Ludi, Bluebot, Keegan, Colonies Chris, Sumahoy, Chlewbot, Labattblueboy, Ww2censor, VMS
Mosaic, Mathiasrex, SMasters, White.matthew.09, Joseph Solis in Australia, Angeldeb82, Geremia, Urbanautters, MAlanH, Vaquero100,
Cydebot, Shirulashem, Thijs!bot, Heraldolipino, Freddiem, Seaphoto, Antique Rose, On Wheezier Plot, Deadbeef, Connormah, VoABot
II, JNW, Mbc362, EtienneDolet, Rob Lindsey, Deagro, Craig.borchardt, Pharaoh of the Wizards, ConservativeDC, Ans-mo, LordAnubisBOT, Bewareofdog, NewEnglandYankee, Spellcast, Lears Fool, Philip Trueman, Blackboarding, Gvangrie, Joseph A. Spadaro, AlleborgoBot, SieBot, Oxxo, Lucasbfrbot, Zacatecnik, Flyer22, Imamylee93, ClueBot, The Thing That Should Not Be, All Hallows Wraith, I Am A
Cool Person, Uncle Milty, Kathleen.wright5, Estirabot, Riccardo Riccioni, Fresh Prince Of Brazil, Greatyingsock, Mikaey, Thingg, Aitias,
7, Arturolorioli, Nowaynotme, Ragelo12, MystBot, Khaosraider, Addbot, Ashoroman, Ronhjones, ShepBot, Joshaib, Lightbot, Rojypala,
Luckas-bot, Yobot, Fraggle81, KamikazeBot, Noq, Materialscientist, Xqbot, Inefable001, Johnferrer, Weglinde, FrescoBot, OSCA7R,
MacCambridge, Daniel the Monk, Hornlitz, In ictu oculi, Esoglou, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Cworth000019, Cworth00000019, Ramon
FVelasquez, GoingBatty, Solarra, Halpernamass, Mz7, RCMdel14, Bartpirie, Hiccups4647, ChuispastonBot, ClueBot NG, MelbourneStar, Pillaw, Mannanan51, 8blessings, Boydzy :), Aranea Mortem, Eduardo8024, Hill Gate, YFdyh-bot, Obtund, Hmainsbot1, Mogism,
VIAFbot, Diopraph, Tentinator, ShadowJangoFett, StephanieCalvillo, Ginsuloft, Quenhitran, OccultZone, Micheal.J.Fax Fax.to.the.future,
Kzuni002, Cksaad, Silvergoldenbird, YourNeighbor, Jomigdave and Anonymous: 171

10.2

Images

File:Commons-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original

artist: ?
File:DeLasalle_Leger.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/DeLasalle_Leger.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: The portrait is in the public domain and featured on the ocial website of the Congregation plus many other locations both in
print and on the internet. http://www.lasalle2.org/ClipArt/Iconog/icon5.jpg Original artist: Pierre Leger
File:Glasallejf.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Glasallejf.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors:
Own work Original artist: Ramon FVelasquez
File:Gloriole_blur.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Gloriole_blur.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Eubulides
File:John_baptist_de_la_salle-relics.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/John_baptist_de_la_
salle-relics.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.lasalle.org/ClipArt/Color/icon141.jpg Original artist: De La Salle
Brothers
File:glise_Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-la-Salle_(Paris)_15.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/%C3%
89glise_Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-la-Salle_%28Paris%29_15.jpg License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Peter17 (<a
href='//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Peter17' title='User talk:Peter17'>talk</a>)

10.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0