St. John Baptist de la Salle founded schools for the poor and trained teachers, becoming the heavenly patron of those who teach.
Editorial Staff (07/04/2026, Gaudium Press) Today the Church celebrates St. John Baptist de la Salle, patron of Christian teaching.
Born in Rheims on April 30, 1651, into a noble family.
From a young age, he chose the path of the priesthood. At 16, he was appointed a member of the chapter of Rheims Cathedral.
He studied at the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, where he entered in 1670, and was ordained a priest eight years later. Everyone imagined that he would carry a brilliant ecclesiastical future.
But a canon of Rheims, on his deathbed, entrusted him with the direction of a school and an orphanage for girls, and with overseeing the religious who cared for them—there, he grew increasingly interested in educating young people.
He meets a layman who would found a school for poor boys
One day the saint met a layman, Adrien Nyel, who had gone to Rheims to found a school for poor boys. Canon de La Salle encouraged him, and they founded two schools. The saint took charge of the teachers who would serve those schools, and even brought them to his own home—something that caused two of the saint’s brothers to leave the house, since they did not want to live with people whose manners were so rough.
Of the first seven teachers placed under the saint’s care, five left because they could not put up with the discipline he required. But soon other candidates appeared, gradually forming the core of the congregation that the Saint would found: the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
St. John Baptist de la Salle left his father’s home and moved in with his teachers to a building on the Rue Neuve. The movement began to grow, and requests started coming in from various cities in France for him to send the teachers he was training.
He was a man of some means, so one day he considered what he should do with his possessions: whether to give them to the poor, or to invest them in the new congregation. By the counsel of a priest, he decided to give them to the poor. And so, this man formed in refinement—born with a silver spoon in his mouth—now had to be content with the austerity of a life of poverty.
Soon he inaugurated four schools. But his main concern was the formation of his teachers; with a board of twelve of his disciples, he drew up a provisional rule.
Many vocations begin to arrive
But another kind of disciple began to arrive: men sent by the parish priests of the surrounding areas so that he would train them as teachers. For this purpose, he created the first teachers’ training institute, which was followed by one in Paris and another in Saint-Denis.
He had trained one of his disciples, Brother L’Heureux, to be his successor, and he had thought it would be good to train some priests to take charge of the leadership of each house. But the unexpected death of Brother L’Heureux convinced him that God wanted them with vows—but not as priests.
Around 1695, he drafted the final rules of the congregation.
He introduced many innovations in education, which benefited above all poor children. He had to face persecution from lay teachers and from the Jansenists, but he did so with patience, even though it was difficult.
Before his death, he resigned the office of superior, and lived as one brother among the others, devoting himself to the formation of novices and those in the institute.
Against the opinions of the Jansenists, he encouraged frequent—and even daily—Communion.
God called him to His glory on April 7, 1719, a Good Friday, when he was 66 years old. Pius XII declared him a heavenly patron of those destined for teaching.
With information from El Testigo Fiel.
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
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