GIOVANNI BATTISTA de LA SALLE, saint. — Born into a family of magistrates on 30 April 1651 at Reims, he died at Rouen on 7 April 1719; his youth unfolded in the serene and honorable atmosphere of his society. He attended the Sorbonne and the Seminary of S. Sulpizio in Paris; he was ordained a priest in April 1678. In his native city, in August 1678, he took up and defended the work of can. Roland: he insisted that the community of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus be recognized as a female Congregation without solemn vows (the archbishop obtained the letters patent in April 1679, but did not place the Saint at the head of the community). This first undertaking revealed his skill as an organizer, which he was able to display more clearly in the education of youth.
The first school of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools may be considered to be the one opened in April 1679 at Reims, in the district of S. Maurizio. The example (even though the Saint soon withdrew) bore fruit: the devout lady Lévêque de Croyère summoned the Saint, offering him an annual income to support two teachers and establish a new school in the district of S. Giacomo; in his humility, the Saint wished to entrust the task of education to Adriano Nyel, but he was obliged to return to his work as an educator because of Nyel’s weak organizational abilities. On 24 June 1682 the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was founded; the Institute spread immediately on a very broad scale, in the surrounding regions, in Paris, in Chartres, throughout France and Europe, and the Saint’s activity became inseparable from the history of the Institute itself.
Strong opposition to the work of G. B. de La S. was not lacking (especially on the part of the writing masters, who succeeded in Chartres in having the Institute admit only those pupils whose parents were registered on the poverty roll, and on the part of the Huguenots and Jansenists); but the work demonstrated its vitality because it responded to a deeply felt need of the century, wholly engaged in the pursuit of the experimental and technical sciences.
A limpid and graceful writer, G. B. de La S. left several ascetical and mystical writings, imbued with a tone of devotion to the mysteries of Christ bearing a distinctly Berullian character: Recueil de différents petits traités (Avignone 1711); Méditations pour les dimanches de l'année (Rouen s. a.); Méditations pour le temps de la retraite (ivi s. a.; Italian version by D. Bassi, Il manuale religioso del maestro [Roma 1938]). He was canonized by Leo XIII in 1900 and proclaimed by Pius XII the principal patron of all teachers who care for children and young people (AAS, 42 [1930], pp. 631-32). His feast is celebrated on 15 May.
As for the institutions, he is responsible for: 1) the “free primary schools,” for which he presented what might be called a “charter,” in which the entire plan is perfectly defined and laid out in its essential structure and its developments. Thus he resolved the longstanding problem of popular schools, which had fallen very low in general esteem because of disorder, the lack of selection among teachers, the absence of any method, and the scarcity of people willing to undertake a career in teaching. 2) The “seminaries for the training of rural teachers,” a kind of teacher-training institute, the first of which there is any record, with an attached school in which the students carried out their practical training under the guidance of an experienced Brother. 3) The “technical institute” of St-Yvon (Paris), to meet the need for predominantly technical and scientific instruction that would set Latin and Greek aside, whereas until then classical education had prevailed. 4) The “vocational schools,” in which future merchants and artisans were prepared for their trades. 5) The “Sunday schools for adults,” which were intended to satisfy the desire for culture even among workers, who during the week were occupied with their work.
As for methods: 1) he radically changed the widespread practice by which children learned to read the rudiments of the various subjects through the Latin language; this had to cease, because the rudiments had to be taught and learned in the mother tongue, which was easier, more comprehensible, and more widely understood. He therefore wrote his primers, catechisms, and manuals of grammar, arithmetic, etiquette, and religion in French. For those times, this act, now so natural and understandable, had the character of revolutionary audacity. 2) In place of the still-current practice of individual instruction, whereby each pupil was taught separately while all were kept together in the same class, he substituted the “simultaneous method,” already employed by reforming pedagogues: all the pupils in a class were to have the same textbook and follow the lesson under the guidance of the same teacher.
As for the formation of teachers, the Saint wanted them to be full of enthusiasm and deeply conscious of their mission; hence the need to devote themselves completely to the successful education of the pupils, carefully preparing each lesson and properly correcting their work. Here lies the secret of the excellent reputation enjoyed by the institutions directed by the Brothers of the Christian Schools: possessing men wholly devoted to the educational purpose and continually advancing in their study of their subject. The Saint himself sets forth the twelve virtues that constitute the model of the perfect educator: gravity, silence, discretion, prudence, wisdom, patience, reserve, kindness, zeal, vigilance, piety, and generosity.
Finally, as for the formation of the pupils, he required first of all religious instruction (he prescribed half an hour of it each day); then serious discipline, to be achieved by preventing faults and laziness through the spirit of healthy emulation, solemn awards, and small prizes; the repressive method was to be used only when the first did not suffice and, even in that case, proceeding gradually: warning, reprimand, penance. Naturally, complete impartiality had to be maintained, and it had to be demonstrated that everything was done for the good of the person being punished.
For all these reasons, the Saint may rightly be regarded as the great reformer of the school and of discipline in a fully Catholic sense.