John Baptist de la Salle

(1651–1719)

   Educator, Order Founder and Saint.

   John Baptist was born in Rheims into a noble family and he was ordained in 1678. He was appalled by the lack of educational facilities for the poor. He set up the order of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in 1684 and the first Rule was written in 1693. Although he met with considerable opposition, he had established schools in twenty-two French towns before he died. He was the author of several educational manuals and his methods were revolutionary for the time. He used French rather than Latin; he encouraged class teaching; great emphasis was placed on silence and according to the Rule ‘the Brothers should be careful to punish their pupils but rarely’.

   W.J. Battersby, St John Baptist de la Salle (1957).