|
John Baptist de La Salle
 Founder
of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Patron of
Christian Teachers
Born at Reims into a devout and influential
family, John Baptist de La Salle received the tonsure at age eleven
and was named Canon of the Reims Cathedral at sixteen. Though he had
to assume the administration of family affairs after his parents
died, he completed his theological studies and was ordained priest
on 9 April, 1678. Two years later he received the doctorate in
theology. Meanwhile he became tentatively involved with a group of
rough and barely literate young men who wanted to establish schools
for poor boys. Almost by accident, the young De La Salle gradually
assumed the leadership of the small group of lay teachers. 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 brought up." To be more effective, he abandoned
his family home, moved in with the teachers, renounced his position
as Canon and his wealth, and so formed the community that became
known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
His 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
gratuitous school "together and by association." The education
establishment resented his innovative methods and his insistence on
gratuity for all, regardless of whether they could afford to pay.
Nonetheless 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, well-prepared teachers with a sense of vocation and
mission, and the involvement of parents. In addition, De La Salle
pioneered in programs for training lay teachers, Sunday courses for
working young men, and one of the first institutions in France for
the care of delinquents. Worn out by austerities and exhausting
labors, he died at Saint Yon near Rouen early on Good Friday, only
weeks before his sixty-eighth birthday.
|
