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| 'I adore in all things the Will of
God in my regard' - last words of St. John Baptist de
La Salle |
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
studies and was ordained priest on 9" April 1678. 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 m 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 well-prepared teachers with a sense of vocation
and mission and the involvement of parents. In addition, De
La Salle pioneered in programmes 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, 7' April 1719, only weeks
before his sixty-eighth birthday. He was canonized on 24'
May 1900. De La Salle was proclaimed as Patron of All Teachers
on 15" May 1950.
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