Saint John Baptist de La Salle

Saint John Baptist de la Salle is the Founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (FSC), also known as the De La Salle Brothers. He was born of a noble family in Reims (France) on April 30, 1651. He studied at the Seminary of St. Sulpice, and then at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Priest and Doctor of Theology. He died April 7, 1719 in Rouen; and was proclaimed Saint in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII. He was declared by the Church “Heavenly Patron of all Educators” by Pius XII on May 15, 1950.

His educational ideas realized in his works “make them one of the forerunners of modern pedagogy“. His teaching practice is mainly indicated in the “Conduct of the Christian Schools” but also in the Rules, Letters, Meditations and other writings.

From the beginning, De La Salle and his disciples were convinced that “school education was only part and a beginning of human education,” so we had to educate children in and for the life. So they created various kinds of Primary, Secondary, Professional and Teacher’s schools for the formation of the Teachers. For De La Salle, poor children’s education was the center of his concerns. The Brothers pay special attention to mission countries and young churches around the world, particularly in Asia and Africa.