JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

"If he is robbing us of our students," said the old supervisor, leaning forward in his chair, "then go to his school, take all his desks, and throw them out on the street. When you are finished, let me know so we can move on to the next step."

When everyone had left, Claude Joly sat back in his chair. At eighty-three, the superintendent of the Paris fee-paying schools was still full of vigor. His life had been a constant fight against despotism of every kind, and now it was his duty to safeguard the interests of the fee-paying schools.

The case of the Christian Brothers school on Du Bac Street was a perfect example of an intolerable abuse of authority by Father de la Salle. For some time, complaints about the Christian Brothers had been reaching the ears of the superintendent, and he watched with increasing alarm the growth of de la Salle’s work.

These schools were attracting all the children of the area. The teachers of the fee-paying schools were left without students and without the possibility of a livelihood. There would have been no problem if every boy in the Christian Brothers schools were poor and incapable of paying. However, it was said that some parents who could afford to pay were sending their children to these charity schools anyway. Fr de la Salle was making no effort to be selective, and for that reason these schools were a menace.

Moreover, the Christian Brothers were threatening time-honored, traditional methods of teaching. All the students were now being organized into one classroom, all with the same textbooks and studying the same lesson at once. Fr de la Salle even dared to undermine the very language of education itself. For centuries, teaching had always been in Latin. Yet Fr de la Salle was now introducing the modern language ahead of Latin, saying he wanted to make sure the students mastered their own language first.

Furthermore, some former Christian Brothers had complained that the work was too hard and that discipline was not the way it should be. Some even walked out and lodged official complaints.

Joly only saw trouble if the Christian Brothers were left unchecked. The worthy supervisor knew that he alone could stop Fr de la Salle before he went too far.

Claude Joly was in a strong position. In his twenty years as superintendent, he had won the confidence of the fee-paying schools’ teachers; they looked upon him as their champion. He was a faithful guardian of the privileges of the guild, and he knew his teachers resented Fr de la Salle’s success. He could count on their support in any action he might take to protect their rights. The time was ripe to intervene before these opportunists went any further.

After the raid was made on the school in Du Bac Street, a formal condemnation was launched against the founder ordering his schools to be closed. Claude Joly filed a lawsuit and awaited the decision of the law courts. He was confident of an easy victory, for he knew that Fr de la Salle detested lawsuits.

The Birth of the School

In fact, Fr de la Salle had never wanted to start a congregation. He had been minding his own business, working on his doctorate in theology at the University of Rheims. He was happy being a priest and loved his studies. Independently wealthy, he supported his family at his large house. His life seemed to be falling into place just as he wanted; that is, until he met Adrien Nyel.

Nyel was a man with a vision. He had spent his life in the midst of children and felt moved to establish a school for boys who could not afford an education. In his search for help, he had been referred to Fr de la Salle and went to him for advice.

Fr de la Salle received his visitor politely into his parlor and listened to his proposal with interest, but he immediately saw all the difficulties involved. He realized how a new foundation of this kind would not only interfere with the already established educational structure of the city but would also meet a wall of general indifference. He had seen the difficulties which had beset the foundation of a girls’ school, and he foresaw that opposition to a boys’ school would be far more formidable.

There were already official schoolmasters in the city; what would they say when they saw their position threatened? The Archbishop had been generous and considerate in the foundation of a school for girls, but would he extend his interest to a new school for boys?

Although Fr de la Salle did not want to get involved, he was deeply impressed with Nyel. He prayed over the matter and sought advice from the pastor of St Maurice, who was already considering opening a free school in his parish. Moreover, Providence had just sent money to support such a project.

Fr de la Salle was satisfied. He had found the contact Nyel needed to start his project. Nyel would work well at St Maurice, and Fr de la Salle could withdraw once more to pursue his studies. But Nyel wrote to him often and visited him frequently to discuss the problems and difficulties of the work.

Word of the new school began to circulate, and soon a wealthy woman from a neighboring parish wanted to found a school similar to the one at St Maurice. Nyel was an immediate enthusiast. He went to visit her, painting a glowing picture of what was being achieved and assuring her that Fr de la Salle would gladly support any such project.

But Fr de la Salle was not to be rushed. He saw Nyel’s danger: increasing foundations without consolidating the ones that were already working. However, he did not want to get in the way of any good that might come of it. Fr de la Salle met with her and reluctantly agreed to get involved. When she died six weeks later, her heirs faithfully carried out her wishes to found the school. In September of 1679 the new school opened. Shortly afterwards, there was another foundation, and then another, and another, until soon Fr de la Salle was entangled in a work in which he had never intended to take part.

Teacher Trouble

He now found himself in charge of several schools as well as the formation of their hastily recruited teachers, qualified men, but rude and ill-mannered. Fr de la Salle was convinced that good manners were a necessary part of being a Christian role model, but how could he refine the teachers? He thought the whole matter over, and on the principle of Mohammed and the mountain, he decided to bring them to his table.

They should come twice a day and have their meals in silence while one of them read aloud. When the meal was over, Fr de la Salle would give them a short spiritual talk on the great work to which they had devoted themselves and the various means of preparing themselves for it.

His family members were not at all pleased with his guests, and his brothers complained. They pointed out that even though the house was his property, he might at least take into consideration his own brothers who also lived there.

To complicate matters further, the rent on the house leased for the schoolmasters was about to expire. Fr de la Salle could have its lease renewed, or he could follow Nyel’s suggestions and take the teachers into his own home. It was a matter that Fr de la Salle did not feel competent to judge for himself, so he left for Paris to consult Fr Barre, a priest renowned for his holiness and learning who had himself founded several schools.

Fr de la Salle laid the whole problem before him. Father Barre, in turn, told Fr de la Salle that God had chosen him to do this work, and that the obstacles were means God used to strengthen it.

"The greatest designs of God upon a soul," he exhorted Fr de la Salle, "are only achieved through opposition. Exterior and interior trials invigorate the soul. As you could get no wine without crushing it in the winepress, neither could a soul produce any good work unless it has been on the winepress of temptations, persecutions, trials, and afflictions. The perfect religious ought to be like the cock on the church steeple: it turns with every wind without ever coming from under the cross." Fr de la Salle resolved to follow his friend’s advice and returned home to Rheims.

Making promises to God is not that difficult; keeping them is. The difficulties for Fr de la Salle were only beginning, for shortly afterwards, news arrived that Adrien Nyel had died suddenly in Rouen. But Fr de la Salle had already made his decision. In June, on the feast of his patron saint, he took the whole community into his house.

His relatives protested: "It was bad enough to have them at table! Does he now intend to bring them into our family home?" Some said he was mad, that he had lost all feelings of affection. Others told him he had lost his dignity as a priest. The whole idea was disgracefully wrong, and Fr de la Salle had no answer. He would listen to them courteously, kindly, and patiently, and when they had finished, he would return to his work of forming the teachers.

His family walked out.

His relatives had left him, his friends were skeptical, and now even the men for whom he had sacrificed so much began to grumble. His very regularity became their complaint.

The teachers had volunteered to teach, not to become religious. Yet, they found themselves living in a house where, without any doubt at all, they were subject to the discipline of a religious congregation.

Fr de la Salle did not despair. He knew that if the schools were not the work of God, then they deserved to perish. If, on the other hand, they were God’s work, then the power of God would protect them: all would end well.

A Second Beginning

When one group of teachers departed, another group quickly took their place. These were men who had received a solid education, Christian teachers in the best sense of the word. He and some of his companions vowed never to abandon the work even if they were reduced to living on bread alone, but their resolve was soon put to the test.

It was at this point that Claude Joly filed his lawsuit to close the schools. Fr de la Salle had done everything possible to avoid an open conflict, but Joly would not be moved. Suppressing his deep longing to leave the congregation and go back to his books, Fr de la Salle went on a pilgrimage with all the brothers to the Shrine of Notre Dame des Vertus, where St Vincent de Paul had often gone to pray in times of need at the little church of Aubervilliers.

After praying for guidance and the wisdom to know what to do, he decided to fight for the rights of his congregation and his students.

Claude Joly soon discovered that he had underestimated Fr de la Salle. The priest showed he could present his arguments effectively once he set his mind to the task, since rhetoric had been part of his education. He stated his case so forcibly and with such precision that within a short space of time the lawsuit was decided in his favor.

Joly carried the appeal to Parliament. Fr de la Salle defended the case himself and won. The schools were reopened, discipline was tightened, and each morning the improvement in the student’s behavior became more and more marked. People began to notice the change, and the general public became more sympathetic on account of the good being done in the schools.

John Baptist de la Salle continued to guide the Christian Brothers, establishing primary schools on an extensive scale in order to offer the people a Christian education. When it became obvious that the Christian Brothers alone could not supply the many demands, he began to train lay people for the work, founding the first training college for teachers in the history of education.

Home | Order Form