|
The
Family of John Baptist de La Salle
De
La Salle's Parents
Louis
de La Salle (1625 – 1672)
The
father of De La Salle was a distinguished magistrate of the presidial
court of Reims. He married at the age of twenty-five and was a faithful
husband and a devout father. Louis was highly respected in his profession
and was a true humanist with an extensive library. He had a life-long
interest in music and the arts, something which was not as evident in
his eldest son. Louis provided well for all of his children, and in the
case of De La Salle paid the significant expense of an education at the
Seminary of Saint Sulpice in Paris.
Nicole
Moet de Brouillet (1633 – 1671)
Of the landed gentry by birth, De La Salle's mother lost her claim to
nobility by marrying Louis de La Salle, a bourgeois. Married at the age
of seventeen, she bore eleven children during twenty years of married
life and died eight months prior to her husband. Nicole Moet de Brouillet
was known for her deep and genuine piety, and one biographer of De La
Salle attributes to her the deep sense of the presence of God that was
to become such an important part of De la Salle's spiritual vision.
De
La Salle's Brothers and Sisters
Of
eleven children in the family, four children died in infancy – Remy
(b.1652), Jean-Louis (b.1663), Simon (1667-1669), and Anne-Marie (b.1656)
– and seven survived into adulthood. This was something that was
not uncommon during the 17th century.
Marie (1654 – 1711)
De La Salle's eldest sister, she is said to have had a beautiful voice
and played a popular lute-like stringed instrument called a theorbo. After
her parents' deaths, Marie went to live with her maternal grandmother,
helping to care for her youngest brother, Jean-Remy, who was still an
infant. In 1679 she married Jean Maillefer. Of the ten children of her
marriage, five survived until adulthood, including one who became a Benedictine
and eventually wrote about the life of his uncle, John Baptist de La Salle.
Rose-Marie
(1656 – 1682)
Affectionately called Rosette by De La Salle, Rose-Marie joined the Canonesses
of Saint Augustine at the age of sixteen, just before the death of her
parents. During the time before her own sudden death in 1682 at the age
of twenty-five – the victim of poisoning from a badly-prepared medicine
– De La Salle had taken affectionate care of her. He visited her
at the convent, located near the Brothers' house on Rue Nueve, and his
records show him buying her books, articles of clothing, and small personal
gifts such as sugar, oranges, and an iron bedwarmer. He also provided
her with a small annual income as pocket money.
Jacques-Joseph
(1659 – 1723)
The next oldest boy of the family, he remained with De La Salle at the
family home in Reims for five years after the death of their parents when
he was not yet thirteen. In 1677, at the age of eighteen, he entered the
Canons Regular of Saint Augustine in Paris. In due time, Jacques-Joseph
acquired degrees in philosophy, civil law, and canon law, including a
doctorate in theology. He was a professor of philosophy and theology and
became prior of the monastery and pastor of the church of Saint Martin
in Chauny, a post he held until his death in 1723.
Jean-Louis
(1664 – 1724)
The only sibling to remain with De La Salle after he and the first Brothers
moved out of the family home and into the simple house on Rue Neuve, Louis
came to have the distinguished church career De La Salle could have had.
A student at the Sorbonne and the Seminary of Saint Sulpice, he became
a Doctor of Theology and later a Canon of the Cathedral of Reims. Louis
supported his older brother's work, heading a civil association that was
formed to provide financial and legal support for the work of the Brothers
in Reims.
Pierre
(1666 – 1741)
Living with De La Salle from the age of six, when their parents died,
until the age of sixteen, Pierre's education was supervised by his oldest
brother. After spending a short time with his oldest sister when De La
Salle and the Brothers moved out of the family home, Pierre studied law
and became a successful lawyer in Paris, eventually becoming magistrate
of the Presidial Court of Reims, as his father had been. Married in 1696
at the age of twenty-nine to Francoise-Henriette Bachelier, a distant
cousin, the couple had eight children. After the deaths of both De La
Salle and Jean-Louis, Pierre reorganized the civil association that continued
to support the Brothers' work in Reims.
Jean-Remy
(1670 – 1732)
Just over a year old when his parents died, Jean-Remy's early years were
spent with his oldest sister Marie at his maternal grandmother's home.
After MarieÕs wedding in 1679, he returned to the family home at the age
of nine to be with De La Salle, Jean-Louis, and Pierre. Two years later,
when the family home was sold and De La Salle and the Brothers moved to
Rue Nueve, Jean-Remy was sent off to boarding school. He had successive
careers as an army officer, a judicial counselor, and a procurator of
the court. Jean-Remy married in 1711 at the age of forty-one, but gradually
began to exhibit strange patterns of behavior. By 1715 he had lost almost
all control over his affairs and two years later was declared mentally
incompetent. After Jean-Remy's confinement to a mental institution, where
he died in 1732, his two oldest brothers were generous in their financial
support of his wife and children.
Editor's
Letter | Brother
Visitor's Letter | John
Baptist de La Salle: His Life and Times
John
Baptist de La Salle: The Educator and Visionary |
John Baptist de La Salle: A
Saint For Teachers
General Chapter
| The District Today
Web
Services by: TDG
Digital -- Signs of Faith site designed by Studio
North
Copyright 1999-2002. All Rights Reserved De La Salle Institute
|
