Who Was St. John Baptist De La Salle?

 

       Born at Reims, France on April 30, 1651, John Baptist de La Salle grew up in a devout and influential family. He 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 April 9, 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. He died at Saint Yon near Rouen on Good Friday, April 7, 1719, only weeks before his sixty-eighth birthday.  De La Salle was beatified on February 19, 1888, and was canonized a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on May 24, 1900.  On May 15, 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed St. John Baptist de La Salle Patron of Teachers.

 

Understanding Lasallian Spirituality

 

       For St. John Baptist de La Salle, founder of the Institute of Brothers of the Christian Schools, life was an ongoing response to the will of God, which he discovered through both a deep interior life of prayer and an equally deep attentiveness to the movements of the outside world.  This was De La Salle's "double contemplation", and in it can be found the key elements of De La Salle's own spiritual living, his charism of Lasallian spirituality: the spirit of faith and zeal, the practice of prayer, the recollection of the presence of God, and abandonment to the providence of God.

       The heart of Lasallian spirituality is what De La Salle called "the spirit of faith".  To live with the spirit of faith is to view all things through the eyes of faith, seeing all of life as part of God's path to salvation.  In the spirit of faith, all is done in view of God, all is attributed to God, and all is infused with meaning by God.  On his deathbed, the last words De La Salle spoke were, "I adore in all things the holy will of God in my regard to my life."  Accompanying the spirit of faith is what De La Salle called "the spirit of zeal".  Zeal was the energy and dedication to work that was the fruit of a life lived in the spirit of faith.  It was only the one who did the work of God willingly and with great joy who was a true disciple.  In the spirit of zeal, the Brothers were to devote themselves to their students just as Jesus devoted himself to his disciples.  On one occasion, De La Salle wrote, "By your zeal, give striking evidence moreover that you love those whom God has confided to you, as Jesus Christ loved his church."  For De La Salle, faith and zeal were the two sides of the same vital coin. 

     Not surprisingly, De La Salle insisted that the life of ministry that he lived and for which he prepared his Brothers must be rooted in a life of prayer.  Prayer was the food of his life; it was in prayer that he would discern and embrace the all-important "holy will of God in my regard".  De La Salle constantly reminded the Brothers that their first "rule", or set of guidelines in the Institute, was the Gospel, to be read and prayed constantly.  So intent was De La Salle on the point of prayer that he devised a “method of interior prayer” which each Brother was to practice.  He also wrote several books of meditations to be used by the Brothers in prayer on Sundays, major feast days, and their annual retreat.  It was a Lasallian teacher's duty to pray, for without prayer, one could not do the work of God.  Writing on the subject, De La Salle said, "Pray to God without ceasing, that nothing may make you displeasing in his sight, because you are obliged to instill his love into the hearts of those whom you instruct.  Do you act in this manner?  Is this what you ask of God in the prayers that you say?"

     Perhaps the simplest, yet most profound, element of De La Salle's spirituality was his practice of constantly recalling the presence of God.  It was the way he began each task of his day, and he instructed his Brothers to do the same: a brief recollecting of the self, and a recitation of the "Lasallian signal", "Let us remember that we are in the Holy Presence of God."  In this way, De La Salle believed that he and his Brothers would be more inclined to focus themselves and their work on God, in fulfillment of his call to them.  He wrote, " There is nothing we should more carefully endeavor to attain than habitual attention to the presence of God."

       In keeping with the spirit of faith that he espoused, De La Salle maintained that no good would come of his efforts in life without what he called "abandonment to providence".  In other words, De La Salle saw that a life of faith leads to the ability to see God's grace and attentiveness at work in our world.  He firmly believed that God always moved to those in need, be it the Brothers who were in need of strength and perseverance in their work, or their students, whose need for loving and caring teachers had been, answered by God in the person of the Brothers themselves. On this topic, De La Salle wrote, "Our Blessed Lord charges himself with providing for those who have consecrated themselves entirely to him... Our Blessed Lord has never abandoned those who apply themselves only to please him, and who think only of following him."

       In conclusion, to understand the spirituality of St. John Baptist de La Salle is to discover the foundation of both the man and the Lasallian story.  It is not possible to separate De La Salle’s faith experience from the vision of ministry, because they are one in the same.  Just as De La Salle gave his entire life as a response to God's call, the Lasallian mission is rooted in discerning and doing God's will in regard to God's children.  Lasallian educators and schools everywhere share Lasallian spirituality as the heart of both the Lasallian story and their ministry to instruct the minds and touch the hearts of the young who have been entrusted to their care.           

The Lasallian Story

Main Page | The Lasallian Story | The Lasallian Mission | The Lasallian School | The Lasallian Family