John Baptist de la Salle was born at Rheims, France on April 30th. He was the eldest of ten children in a noble family. He studied in Paris and was ordained in 1678. He was known for his work with the poor. He died at St. Yon, Rouen, on April 7th. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900. John was very involved in education. He founded the Institute of the Brothers of the ChristianSchools (approved in 1725) and established teacher colleges (Rheims in 1687, Paris in 1699, and Saint-Denis in 1709). He was one of the first to emphasize classroom teaching over individual instruction. He also began teaching in the vernacular instead of in Latin. His schools were formed all over Italy. In 1705, he established a reform school for boys at Dijon. John was named patron of teachers by Pope Pius XII in 1950. His feast day is April 7th.
Comments
i love la Salle...
kia | 7/17/2009
This is in reply to Justin Andrada's comment [7/25/2008]
Adrian Nyal suggested to St. La Salle about the concept of opening schools for the poor. Although DLS was from a rich family he convinced his two helpers [Gabriel Drolin, and Nicolas Vuyart] that he was in it for the long haul with them when they signed the 'Historic Vow' where he basically said he would give up all his money and possessions and completely commit to the cause of the schools for poor boys.
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