St. John Baptist de la Salle - Patron of Teachers - May 15th
This young French Man was studying to become a priest when both his parents died. He had to leave the seminary and go home to take care of the educating his brothers. But while he was teaching and training them, he kept on studying himself. So it was that they turned out to be fine young men, and John Baptist was ordained a priest.
At that time, the noble people of France lived in great luxury, and the common people were terribly poor and ignorant. St. John Baptist felt very sorry for the children of the poor, and began to open schools for them. To provide teachers, he started the Congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
Although St. John Baptist also taught the children himself, he spent most of his time training the teaching brothers. For them he wrote a rule of life and a book explaining the best way to teach. He was one of the best educators of all time and he believed in teaching in the language of the people, not in Latin, as others did. He grouped the students into classes and made sure they kept silent while the lesson was being explained.
After a while the brothers opened more schools and taught the sons of the working people and nobles, too. Many difficulties faced the new Congregation, but with St. John Baptist’s constant prayer and sacrifices, it continued to grow and to spread everywhere.
To please God and to do well in our studies, we shall be quiet during class and listen to the explanation of the lesson.