1680 · Reims, France
John Baptist de La Salle Founds the Brothers of the Christian Schools
In 1680, the French priest John Baptist de La Salle began founding schools for poor children and training lay brothers to teach in them, creating the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Brothers), who revolutionized Catholic education worldwide.
De La Salle was born into a wealthy family in Reims and was on track for a comfortable career in the Church. He held a canonry at the cathedral and had a doctorate in theology. Then he got involved with a group of rough, uneducated men who wanted to teach poor children, and it wrecked his plans in the best possible way. He gave away his fortune, resigned his canonry, and devoted himself to training these men as teachers. The Brothers of the Christian Schools — the Lasallians — were something new. They were not priests. They were lay brothers who took vows and lived in community, but their entire purpose was teaching. De La Salle developed methods that were revolutionary for his time. He grouped students by ability rather than age. He taught in French instead of Latin, because his students needed to read and write in the language they actually spoke. He insisted that classes be orderly, that teachers prepare lessons in advance, and that students be treated with respect rather than beaten into submission. He created the first teacher training colleges in France. He wrote textbooks. He established a network of free schools across the country that gave poor children access to education that had previously been reserved for the wealthy. His methods spread across Europe and eventually around the world. The De La Salle Brothers became the largest teaching order in the Catholic Church, and their schools educated millions of children who would otherwise have had no access to learning.
Why it matters
Created the first large-scale system of free Catholic education for the poor, pioneered modern teaching methods, and established the largest teaching order in the Church, transforming Catholic approaches to education worldwide.
What Happened
Beginning in 1680, John Baptist de La Salle gave up his wealth and clerical career to train lay brothers as teachers for poor children. He founded the Brothers of the Christian Schools, developed innovative teaching methods including vernacular instruction and ability-based grouping, created teacher training colleges, and established a network of free schools across France. The order grew rapidly and eventually operated schools on every continent.
Why It Still Matters
The De La Salle Brothers operate more than a thousand schools and universities worldwide, serving over a million students. De La Salle's insistence that education is a right, not a privilege, anticipated modern Catholic social teaching on access to learning. His practical innovations — lesson planning, teacher training, treating students with dignity — became standard educational practice. He is the patron saint of teachers, named so by Pope Pius XII in 1950.