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De
La Salle: A Son of the Upper Class
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John
Baptist de La Salle was born into a comfortable and established level
of the stratified French society, the upper bourgeoisie – his
ancestors wealthy from the cloth trade, his father a lawyer and magistrate,
his mother of noble family, people who lived a privileged life in
a spacious mansion with servants, fine food and clothing, a well-stocked
library, abundant educational opportunities, and cultivated entertainment.
His father Louis was apparently a wise, conscientious, cultured man
of the world, and both parents are said to have been devout in their
practice of Catholicism. Young John Baptist seems to have been conscious
from an early age of a call to the priesthood, and his father's cousin,
Vicar General of Reims and Chancellor of the University, arranged
for the boy to receive the "tonsure" at age ten, signifying
his interest in the priesthood. This made the boy eligible for ecclesiastical
benefices (without committing him irrevocably to the obligations associated
with Holy Orders) even while he continued to attend preparatory school.
De La Salle's later resourcefulness as an educational innovator is
not owing to any experience of innovation or reform in his own schooling.
The curriculum and method were staid and traditional; he studied Latin,
Greek, and classical philosophy, reading only ancient authors, and
science by way of Aristotle. De La Salle did well in his studies and
took part in what are now called co-curricular activities: a role
in a school play, a prize in elocution, and an honorable mention in
declamation. The same priestly cousin who had invited De La Salle
to receive the tonsure paid him a distinct honor when the boy was
not quite 16 by resigning his office as a canon of the cathedral in
favor of the boy. This was a distinguished ecclesiastical position
(among the alumni of the cathedral chapter of Reims were popes, cardinals,
and bishops). Duties of a canon were principally public prayer (daily
liturgy of the hours and solemn liturgies on great feasts) and taking
part in advisory sessions with the archbishop. The rewards were great:
a house, a considerable yearly stipend, and concomitant dignity and
prestige. |
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
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