Quote:John Baptist de la Salle was born of a noble family at Rheims. When quite a child he showed by his ways and actions that he would be called to follow our Lord and attain great sanctity. He studied literature and philosophy at Rheims, and though his virtues and quick intelligence endeared him to all, he avoided the company of his fellows that he might be free to contemplate God in solitude. He was made a cleric when very young, and was only sixteen when given the rank of a Canon at Rheims. He went to Paris to study theology at the Sorbonne, and was received at the Seminary of St. Sulpice. He was soon forced to return home by the death of his parents, whereupon he undertook the education of his brothers, which he carried on, without interrupting his own studies, to the great advantage of his pupils, as soon became evident.

He was ordained priest, and said his first Mass with the intense faith and love which, throughout his life, he brought to the holy Mysteries; but his zeal for the salvation of souls made him devote himself wholly to the service of his neighbor. He was made superior of the Sisters of the Holy Child, founded for the education of girls, and by his prudent government saved their institute from dissolution. From this he turned his attention to the education of poor boys. God had raised him up for this very end, namely that he should found in the Church a new family of religious men devoted to the training of children, particularly the poor. This work, which had been entrusted to him by divine Providence, was successfully accomplished in spite of many trials and contradictions by the establishment of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

His first helpers in this great and arduous work he received into his own house, and then, establishing them in a more suitable dwelling, gave them a careful training in those wise laws and regulations which were afterwards confirmed by Pope Benedict XIII. His humility and love of poverty caused him first of all to resign his canonry and to distribute all his property among the poor; and finally, after many unsuccessful attempts to do so, he spontaneously resigned the government of the Institute which he had founded. His solicitude for the Brethren and for the schools which he had opened in various places suffered no diminution, though he began to give himself more assiduously to the direct service of God in fasting, watching, and other austerities. He spent his nights in prayer. His virtues were conspicuous, especially his obedience, conformity to the will of God, and love of the Holy See. At length, full of merits, and fortified with the Sacraments of the Church, he fell asleep in the Lord in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Pope Leo XIII beatified him and, after fresh miracles had been worked through his intercession, proceeded to his canonization in the year of Jubilee, 1900.