April 7 - A Tribute to St. John Baptist de la Salle

My life was tremendously blessed by my high school education at La Salle College (LSC). There are alumni everywhere and in this particular area of Canada there is a group of old boys who meet regularly and the common theme of these meetings was always to honor our school and her teachers, many of whom were priests of the what is now known as the La Salle Brothers. My memory of these priests were mixed. They were mostly very dedicated educators. A La Salle boy was expected to be successful in society. My favorite story is that the boy who scored last in my senior year class (not me but I was close to the last!) received a Master degree from Stanford University! They were also very strict disciplinarians. I couldn't remember any of them telling me the gospel message and the religious classes used to be called "Ethics" classes. I couldn't remember any discussion involving very personal and spiritual matters. But nevertheless, I had opportunities in that school to participate in religious activities, such as the Legion of Mary. But sad to say, I didn't really have any solid spiritual formation during the six and a half years there.

Yesterday (April 7) was the feast day for St. John Baptist de la Salle. Now that I am quite serious about the Catholic faith with its long history of saints, I thought I should do a little more reading around St. John Baptist de la Salle to honor him and to ask him to pray for me, even though my teaching career is almost over.

So this is a brief summary (reference) of what I learned:

• John Baptist was born on the 30th April, 1651, in the town of Rheims in France.
• His father, a relatively rich magistrate and a good Catholic, expected him to become a lawyer like himself, but was happy that he wanted to become a priest even at the early age of eleven.
• He was ordained a priest at the age of 27 on 9th April, 1678. Two years later he received a doctorate in theology.
• While ministering as a priest, he met many poor children who did not receive any education and who ended up getting into a lot of  troubles.
• He established schools, where children were not only taught how to read and write, but also to cultivate good manners and above all to pray and live their Catholic faith.
• Despite opposition from the church and the educational establishment his work attracted other men to join him and in just a few years he founded the Institute of the 'Brothers of the Christian Schools', and established several teacher colleges.
• He died on April 7, 1719 (on Good Friday, only weeks before his 68th birthday) 
• 6 years after his death (in 1725) the Institute received the formal approbation of the Church in the papal bull:  “In apostolicae dignitatis solio.”.
• 181 years later (in 1900) John Baptist de La Salle was canonized by Pope Leo XIII and another 50 years later (in 1950) Pope Pius XII proclaimed him “Special Patron of all Christian educators.”
• His feast day is April 7.

The Lasallian family today:

• The Lasallian family includes about 4,000 Brothers, who together with 90,000 men and women teachers and numerous other Lay associates help in running 1,000 education centers, in 79 countries.
• At any one time 850,000 students, children, youth and even adults, receive the best education available in Lasallian educational establishments.
• The Lasallian Family recognizes and welcomes believers of other faiths traditions who share the Lasallian Educational Mission and who call De La Salle “our Founder.”  For example, at the University of Bethlehem, one would find Brothers, teachers and students of other religions. 
• The Lasallian Institute, which is positively involved in the educational rights of children, was awarded the NOMA prize from UNESCO during the International Year of Literacy/Schooling in 1990.
• Today Brothers and Lay Lasallians support more than 300 informal educational centers for young children, teen-age youth and adults who live in areas of social decay.
• In the footsteps of the St. John Baptist de la Salle, 14 Brothers have been canonized, 150 are beatified, 8 Venerables and another 5 are on either on the way to sainthood with their process begun or nearing completion. 

Wow what a rich history! And I am a La Salle boy! St. John Baptist de la Salle, pray for me!