Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Feast day: April 7
Saint John Baptist de La Salle, French priest, founded the De La Salle Brothers, patron of teachers (07/04)
Who is he?
Saint John Baptist de La Salle was a French priest who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries. He founded the Brothers of the Christian Schools (the De La Salle Brothers). The Brothers are not priests; they give their whole lives to teaching and educating young people. Today, De La Salle schools are found in a great many countries, including Vietnam.
Life story
He was born on 30 April 1651 in the city of Reims, France, into a wealthy noble family. At 15, he was already made a canon (a paid position, responsible for the liturgical prayer of the cathedral). When he was about 20, his parents died one after the other; he had to take their place in raising his younger brothers and sisters. On 9 April 1678, he was ordained a priest.
In 1679, he met Adrien Nyel, a teacher who wanted to open a school for poor children in Reims. He began helping those teachers. Seeing that they were still clumsy and poor, he invited them to live with him in his own house so he could teach them how to live their faith and how to teach. Many people in his family objected, but he kept going.
Then he did something big: he gave up his position as a canon, sold his fortune and gave it to the poor during a famine, so that he could live poor like the teachers. Together with them, he founded the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
He renewed the way teaching was done: teaching in French instead of Latin so children could understand easily, dividing students into classes by level, opening free schools for poor children, and opening schools to train teachers. He faced a lot of opposition and even lawsuits, but he kept trusting God.
On 7 April 1719, on Good Friday, he died near the city of Rouen. In 1900, Pope Leo XIII canonized him. In 1950, Pope Pius XII named him patron saint of teachers.
Why is he a saint?
Saint John Baptist de La Salle gave up money and status to serve poor children who could not go to school. He believed that every student is loved by God, and that teaching them is God’s work.
A lesson for you
- Study hard and offer your schoolwork to God.
- Be grateful to your teachers and catechists, and pray for them.
- Help classmates who are struggling more than you, just as Saint John Baptist de La Salle helped poor children.
Identifying marks
- A black cassock with two white neck bands: the clothes of a French priest of his time, and also the style the De La Salle Brothers wear.
- A little schoolboy beside him: he spent his whole life opening schools to teach children, especially poor children.
- An open book: he was a teacher who wrote books on education and prayer books for students.
- A classroom with a blackboard: he changed how schools were organized, teaching a whole class together.
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