Jean-Baptiste de la Salle 229594 224186928 2008-07-07T18:43:52Z Oxxxo 4049185 /* External links : added Commons*/ {{Infobox Saint |name=John Baptist de La Salle |birth_date=[[April 30]], [[1651]], [[Reims]], France |death_date=[[April 7]], [[1719]], Saint-Yon, [[Rouen]], France |feast_day=Church: [[April 7]]<br> [[May 15]] Lasallian Institutions and Traditional Catholic Calendar |venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church |image=John_baptiesst_de_la_salle_1.jpg |imagesize=200px |caption=Official Portrait of St. John Baptist de La Salle by Pierre Leger |birth_place=|death_place= |titles=''Patron Saint of Teachers'' |beatified_date=[[February 19]], [[1888]] |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date=[[May 24]], [[1900]] |canonized_place=|canonized_by=[[Pope Leo XIII]] |attributes=stretched right arm with finger pointing up, instructing two children standing near him, books |patronage= [[All Teachers of Youth]] (May 15, 1950 - Pius XII), [[Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools]], [[Lasallian educational institutions]], educators, school principals, teachers |major_shrine=Sanctuary of John Baptist de La Salle, Casa Generalizia, [[Rome]], Italy. |suppressed_date= |issues= }} Saint '''Jean-Baptiste de La Salle''' (John Baptist de La Salle) (born [[30 April]] [[1651]] in [[Reims]]; died [[7 April]] [[1719]] in Saint-Yon, [[Rouen]]) was a [[France|French]] [[priest]], educational reformer, and founder of an international educational movement, who dedicated more than forty years of his life to the education of the children of the poor. In the process, he standardized educational practices throughout France, wrote inspirational meditations on the ministry of teaching (along with catechisms, politeness texts, and other resources for teachers and students), and became the catalyst and resource for many other religious congregations dedicated to education that were founded in the 18th and 19th centuries. :{{cquote|To touch the hearts of your pupils is the greatest miracle you can perform"''}} -St John Baptist De La Salle. ==Life== John Baptist de La Salle was born into a world very different from our own. He was the first son of wealthy parents living in France over 300 years ago. Born at Reims, John Baptist de La Salle received the tonsure at age eleven and was named [[Canon (priest)|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 to the [[priesthood]] at the age of 27 on April 9, 1678.Two years later he received a doctorate in theology. De La Salle became involved in education little by little, without ever consciously setting out to do so. In 1679, what began as a charitable effort to help [[Adrian Nyel]], a committed educator of the poor, organize a group of marginally competent, barely literate young men establish a school for the poor in De La Salle's home town gradually became his life's work. Within a short time, he invited them to move into his family home and thereby began a new [[religious order|order]], the [[Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools]]<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08444a.htm St. John Baptist de La Salle in Catholic Encyclopedia]</ref>, also known as the De La Salle Brothers (in the U.K. Ireland and Australasia) or, most commonly in the United States, ''the Christian Brothers''. They are often confused with a different 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. In his own words, one decision led to another until he found himself doing something that he had never anticipated. De La Salle wrote: :{{cquote|''I had imagined that the care which I assumed of the schools and the masters would amount only to a marginal involvement committing me to no more than providing for the subsistence of the masters and assuring that they acquitted themselves of their tasks with piety and devotedness . . . Indeed, if I had ever thought that the care I was taking of the schoolmasters out of pure charity would ever have made it my duty to live with them, I would have dropped the whole project. ... God, who guides all things with wisdom and serenity, whose way it is not to force the inclinations of persons, willed to commit me entirely to the development of the schools. He did this in an imperceptible way and over a long period of time so that one commitment led to another in a way that I did not foresee in the beginning.''}} At that time a few people lived in luxury, but most of the people were extremely poor: peasants in the country, and slum dwellers in the towns. Only, a few could send their children to school; 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 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 this new community of lay religious teachers. 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 schools "together and by association." The educational establishment resented his innovative methods and his insistence on gratuity for all, regardless of whether they could afford 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, well-prepared teachers with a sense of vocation and mission, and the involvement of parents. John Baptist de La Salle was a pioneer in programs for training lay teachers. In 1685, La Salle founded what is generally considered the first [[normal school]] &mdash; that is, a school whose purpose is to train teachers &mdash; in Reims, France. De La Salle 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 first institutions in France for the care of delinquents, technical schools, and secondary schools for modern languages, arts, and sciences. Worn out by austerities and exhausting labors, he died at Saint Yon near Rouen early in 1719 on Good Friday, only weeks before his sixty-eighth birthday. De La Salle’s work quickly spread through France and, after his death, continued to spread across the globe. He was [[canonized]] by [[Pope Leo XIII]] on [[May 24]], [[1900]]. Because of his life and inspirational writings, he was proclaimed as the [[Patron Saint]] of Teachers on May 15, 1950, by [[Pope Pius XII]]. John Baptist de La Salle inspired others how to teach and care for young people, how to meet failure and frailty with compassion, how to affirm, strengthen and heal. His feast is celebrated in the Catholic Church calendar on [[April 7]], and at Lasallian institutions on [[May 15]]. 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, carrying out the work of their Founder into the [[21st century]]. == Lasallian Spirituality == Today, a simple dictionary definition of the word ‘spiritual’ offers us the following choices: <blockquote> 1. of or concerning the spirit as opposed to matter (spiritual relationship; spiritual home); 2. religious, divine, inspired (the spiritual life); refined, sensitive. </blockquote> The growth in the post-Reformation period of different kinds of religious congregations which were not monastic in the traditional sense heightened the contrast between those groups which stressed attaining personal salvation through removing oneself from the dangers of a corrupt and corrupting world, and those which stressed the importance of being Christ’s voice and active presence in the lives of ordinary people. We need look only at the difficulty encountered by Saints Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac in having the Daughters of Charity recognised as a new form of Christian service by women in the Church to see how much the idea of enclosed contemplative life had been seen as the one way of serving God. It is interesting to note, therefore, that the word ‘spirituality’ itself was coined in French only in the course of the early 17th century to distinguish some of the very divergent paths followed by devout Christian men and women as they lived out the Gospel. There is no difficulty in seeing similarities but also important differences when expressions such as ‘Jesuit spiritual- ity’, ‘Carmelite spirituality’ or ‘Franciscan spirituality’ are employed. If, in each case, the proper adjective gives a certain individuality to the noun ‘spirituality’, there seems to be nevertheless a broadly common understanding of the noun itself. What, then, does the adjective ‘Lasallian’ add to the common understanding of the word ‘spirituality’? This article suggests that it brings a particular ‘flavour’ or indeed emphasis, because it is inseparably linked to the life-story of Saint John Baptist de La Salle and the world-wide educational movement of which on his own admission he was the largely unwit- ting founder. It is then both from the deeds and from the writings of De La Salle that we can expect to set out some of the distinctive characteristics of Lasallian spirituality. But we need to note that if the original enterprise of some three hundred years ago attracted persons who were primarily teachers in a formal sense, the living heritage today is shared by a wide range of people, principally teachers but including also social workers, front-office people, all those who can be included within the broad category of Lasallian educators. This is the importance of the Church’s 1951 conferring the all enveloping title, Patron of Christian Educators, on Saint John Baptist de La Salle. '''1. The spirit of community.''' When historians ask why De La Salle succeeded better than his predecessors or his contemporaries in establishing lasting schools for the education of poor boys, they recognize that he did so because he “launched a movement” by first forming a community which survived him. His ability to attract others to share a form of community life, neither monastic nor clerical, led him to allow his followers to decide for themselves what they would be called and how they would live. The decision of those attending the 1686 Assembly in Rheims was that they would henceforth be called ‘Brothers’. In itself this title for consecrated men who were not clerics was not new but their definition of it was: they saw themselves as “brothers to one another” in their community, and “older brothers” to the young people whom they saw as “confided to their care.” In this one title they expressed their willingness to lead a celibate community life in which they shared everything and at the same time they expressed why they chose to do this: to be the older brothers to the young people whom they saw as “far from salvation” in any religious or human sense. This essential “spirit of community” has become enshrined in the Lasallian heritage through the expression used by the Brothers in the first vowed formula of consecration, “together and by association.” If they associated themselves, each one naming each one of his companions in solidarity, it was in view of a common mission, expressed to day as “the educational service of the poor.” '''2. The spirit of faith''' When De La Salle formulated his original Rule he saw that faithful membership of this com- munity depended first of all on what he called a “spirit of faith”: <blockquote> The spirit of this community is, first, a spirit of faith, which should induce those who compose it not to look upon anything but with the eyes of faith, not to do anything but in view of God, and to attribute all to God. </blockquote> Looking with the eyes of faith will lead De La Salle in his meditation for the Feast of the Epiphany to invite his Brothers to a particular way of seeing, as the Magi did in worshipping a poor baby in a manger, to look below the rags of the poor children whom you teach and see the Christ-child lying in the manger. Among the many other citations on the spirit of faith which can be found in De La Salle’s writings the following citations from his Meditations show most clearly the essential link be- tween the personal faith of the Lasallian and its importance for those “confided to their care”: <blockquote> Your faith should be for you a light which guides you in all things, and a shining light for those whom you instruct, to lead them on the path to heaven. (No.178.1) </blockquote> <blockquote> Do you have a faith that is such that it is able to touch the hearts of your students and inspire them with the Christian spirit? This is the greatest miracle you could perform and the one that God asks of you, for this is the purpose of your work. (No.139.3) </blockquote> The above conviction will lead De La Salle in many of his writings to remind his Brothers that they must see Christ in all their pupils, not simply in the better favored or the more intelligent. As someone who suffered contradiction and misunderstanding throughout his whole life, De La Salle was well-placed to exhort his followers to be able to rise superior to whatever difficulties they encountered. Again and again he would remind his Brothers to pray for those pupils with whom they were having most difficulty. This way of ‘seeing as God sees’, presupposes that this is not a remote God but someone with whom we form a relationship. The Lasallian teacher tries to be constantly aware of God’s loving Presence in the course of the day. Teacher and pupils will be reminded of this presence by the tinkling of a bell and a short invocation. The first Brothers, as Lasallians all over the world continue to do today, greeted one another by wishing for themselves and for others that “Jesus may live in our hearts, forever!” '''3. The spirit of zeal''' The Lasallian way of looking upon difficult children was not meant to be a form of Christian stoicism: for De La Salle and for all Lasallians today the spirit of faith should overflow and shows itself through a spirit of zeal: <blockquote> Secondly, the spirit of their Institute consists in an ardent zeal for the in- struction of children and for bringing them up in the fear [=awe] of God… </blockquote> This burning or ardent zeal was to be expressed by “being with the children from morning until night” every day of the week, including the Sunday when the catechism lesson took place in the school. This zeal for those confided to their care will lead Lasallians to try “to touch the hearts” of those with whom they work, so that they may more easily lead those with whom they work to God. De La Salle recognizes the struggle that this may sometimes represent when he occasionally uses the variation that our duty is “to win hearts.” The change of verb suggests that sometimes we may have to work much harder to break down forms of resistance. But, ‘touching’ or ‘winning’, De La Salle’s reminds us, in five different references to his patron John the Baptist in his meditations, that our duty resembles that of John the Baptist in always pointing beyond ourselves to the “Lamb of God,” willing that we decrease and that He increase! For De La Salle the essential relationship between ‘faith’ and ‘zeal’ is brought out in many of his writings, one of the clearest being in Meditation No.87 on Saint Stephen, the proto-martyr: <blockquote> This is how faith should make you act and how you should make known by your conduct, as [Saint Stephen] did, that you are true disciples of Jesus Christ, having God only in view in all your actions, and announcing with as much boldness and courage as he did, the maxims of the holy Gospel. In all this what should strengthen your zeal as well as your faith is the fact that you announce these truths in your position as ministers of God. </blockquote> '''4. A ‘practical’ spirituality''' These three ‘spirits’ show the essential unity of Lasallian spirituality in its origins. This community of Brothers working in elementary schooling was never simply a catechetical group interested only in passing on solid Christian doctrine and practices. Catechetical instruction was indeed “their principal duty” but they would spend six hours of school time each day teaching such fundamental human subjects as reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling. De La Salle, clearly recognizing the traditional view of spirituality of his time as the means taken to achieve personal salvation, expresses the importance of this ‘new’ and ‘apostolic’ spirituality in the Rule: <blockquote> Make no distinction between the duties of your profession and those that refer to your salvation and perfection. Be convinced that you will never achieve your salvation more surely nor acquire greater perfection that by fulfilling well the duties of your profession, provided you do so with the view of God’s will. </blockquote> The Lasallian community today consists of people who bind themselves in solidarity with others to ensure that the Christian school or Lasallian work in which they work will be a place of ‘salvation’ for all the young people who attend it. For no one is to be excluded. This ‘school’ is to be gratuitous, open to all, and it is to prepare young people to become whole, complete persons who will acquire the learning and the human skills which will enable them to live with dignity so as, in the famous words of the Conduct of Schools, “to be able to do anything.” From such a viewpoint, Lasallian spirituality is lived through the multifarious activities which are typical of an educator’s day, the greater part of which is going to be spent in educational activities of many kinds. While the Lasallian educator may be grateful for the personal rela- tionship with God felt occasionally in the peace and quiet offered by being able to pray alone in church or chapel, Lasallian spirituality stresses that it is mainly in the relationship to stu- dents and colleagues that the presence and love of God manifested in Jesus Christ is to shine through words and actions. This is not a spirituality which flees from engagement with life but one which balances up the personal relationship with a loving God with that of being the presence and action of God in relationship to others. John Baptist de La Salle lived and died as a Catholic priest in 17th century France without ever leaving his native country, but his ‘spirituality’ has proved to have an appeal well-beyond the culture in which it originated. Today, many people who choose to work in a Lasallian work may not necessarily share the Christian heritage on which the work was founded. Among such persons are Christians of other denominations, Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, Confucianists and Shintoists, followers of traditional religions or of no religion at all. Many find themselves in agreement with Lasallian emphases on such basic principles as gratuity, com- passion and personal relationships – all things beyond the material – and expressive there- fore of a ‘spirituality’. This is particularly so when they see the Lasallian enterprise working to ‘save’ young people from the consequences of structural poverty in order to prepare them for a life lived with greater dignity as human beings. This broad understanding of ‘salvation [= completeness, wholeness] is deeply rooted in De La Salle’s use of the complementary terms ‘instruction religious instruction’ and ‘education = reading, writing etc.’ at which the first Brothers spent the greatest part of each school day. '''5. Some sustaining metaphors of Lasallian spirituality''' As a natural expression and development in a practical way to the three ‘spirits’ already mentioned above, Lasallian spirituality is grounded in some very down-to-earth actions. Throughout his Meditations, especially in the Meditations for the Time of Retreat, De La Salle reminds his teachers of the dignity of their calling by some very clear directions about what he calls their ministry. Here are some of the many examples: • You are called by God to your work: <blockquote> You are the ones whom [God] has chosen to help in this work by an- nouncing to these children the Gospel of his Son and the truths that are contained in it. (No.193.3) You have been chosen by God to make Jesus Christ known and to pro- claim him. (No.87.2) It is God who has called you, who has destined you for this work, and who has sent you to work in his vineyard. (No.201.1) </blockquote> • You are co-workers with God: <blockquote> Let this be your whole effort in the instructions you give them, looking upon yourself as the ministers of God and the dispensers of his mysteries. (No.193.1) Jesus Christ wants you to understand …that the more your work for the good of your disciples is given life by him and draws its power from him, the more it will produce good in them. (No.195.3) </blockquote> • You work for the poor: <blockquote> Every day you have poor children to instruct. Love them tenderly as this saint [Saint Cyprian] did following in this the example of Jesus Christ…these poor are also the ones whom God has entrusted to you and to whom you are obliged to proclaim the truths of the holy Gospel. (No. 166.2) </blockquote> <blockquote> God has had the goodness to remedy so great a misfortune [i.e. the plight of the children of artisans and the poor] by the establishment of the Christian schools, where the teaching is offered free of charge and en- tirely for the glory of God. (No.193.2 & 3) </blockquote> • Through the movement of the holy spirit: <blockquote> You need the fullness of the Spirit of God in our state, for you should live and be guided only according to the spirit and the light of faith. It is only the Spirit of God who can give you this disposition. (No.43.2) </blockquote> <blockquote> You carry out a work that requires you to touch hearts, but you cannot do this except by the Spirit of God. Pray to him to give you today the same grace he gave the holy apostles, and ask him that, after filling you with his Holy Spirit to sanctify yourselves, he also communicate himself to you in order to procure the salvation of others. (No. 43.3) </blockquote> '''6. Towards a conclusion''' De La Salle’s own life was marked by a profound sense of openness to discerning and doing God’s will as he saw it. This is clear in the fragment called the Memoir of the Bginnings in which he recognises that he was led by a “ God, who guides all things with wisdom and serenity and whose way it is not to force the inclinations of persons, willed to commit me entirely to the development of the schools. He did this in an imperceptible manner and over a long period of time, so that one commitment led to another in a way that I did not foresee in the beginning.” Thus, through the ‘chance meeting’ with a stranger at the convent of the Sisters of the Child Jesus, he saw himself guided [conduit] by God to making vows for life with a group of laymen some 14 years later. It is this same conviction that he expresses on his death bed by the words “ I adore the guidance [conduite] of God in everything concerning me.” Lasallian spirituality is, therefore, like all spiritual movements in that it is based on a profound interiority, a relationship of trust and confidence in a loving God who, in De La Salle’s words, “wishes everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (No.193.1). But this spirituality is lived out in an educational relationship that is earthed in all the difficulties and contradictions of life that can make relationships conflictual and difficult. This tension in itself becomes creative when true Lasallians find strength and solace in trying to see as God sees and being prepared to be zealous in acting without self-interest in doing whatever is judged best for the good of those whom they see as “confided to their care.” ==References== <references/> == External links== {{Commonscat|Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle}} *[http://www.lasalle.org/ Website for the De La Salle Christian Brothers worldwide] *[http://www.brothersvocation.org/ The Vocation of the Brothers] *[http://www.lasallenetwork.org/ Compendium of Lasallian Resources] *{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08444a.htm|title=St. John Baptist de la Salle|work=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]}} * [http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Statues/Founders/JohnBaptistdelaSalle/John%20de%20la%20Salle.htm Founder Statue in St Peter's Basilica] ==See also== *[[Lasallian educational institutions ]] {{DEFAULTSORT:La Salle, Jean-Baptiste de}} [[Category:Founders of Roman Catholic religious communities]] [[Category:French educators]] [[Category:French Roman Catholic priests]] [[Category:French saints]] [[Category:Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools]] [[Category:1651 births]] [[Category:1719 deaths]] [[ca:Sant Joan Baptista de la Salle]] [[cs:Jan Křtitel de la Salle]] [[de:Jean Baptiste de La Salle]] [[es:Juan Bautista de La Salle]] [[fr:Jean-Baptiste de La Salle]] [[it:San Giovanni Battista de La Salle]] [[he:ז'אן בטיסט דה לה סאל]] [[nl:Johannes Baptist de la Salle]] [[ja:ジャン=バティスト・ド・ラ・サール]] [[pl:Jan Chrzciciel de la Salle]] [[pt:João Batista de La Salle]] [[ro:Ioan Baptist de la Salle]] [[ru:Салль, Жан-Батист де ла]] [[tl:Jean-Baptiste de La Salle]] [[zh:聖若翰·喇沙]]