JMJDLS Lasallian Studies

Name Second Finals Reviewer

Quarter
2018-2019
Gr. 11 - E ____ November 2018 Teacher: Br. Cliff Ferdinand Sy, FSC

THE BEGINNINGS IN REIMS

• Adrien Nyel
o March 15, 1679 – De La Salle met Adrien Nyel at the doors of the Sisters
of the Child Jesus.
o Sisters of the Child Jesus – school for the poor girls that DLS co-founded
together with Fr. Nicholas Rolands.
o Adrien was a zealous man in his early 50’s.
o Met De La Salle with the help of Madame Maillefer – connected to the family
of DLS.
o Invited De La Salle to put up a school for the boys.
o Adrien was good in putting up schools.
o De La Salle invited Nyel to stay with him in their house on the Rue Sainte
Marguerite in working out strategies to get the project off the ground.
• First Schools
o April 15, 1679 – the first Christian School for the poor boys of Reims was
opened in a small building opposite the side entrance to the parish church
of Saint Maurice.
o Fr. Nicolas Dorigny – the one who provided the room. The parish priest of
Saint Maurice.
o Catherine Levesque – a wealthy widow that helped De La Salle and Nyel
in opening another school, now in the parish of Saint Jacques. The School
opened on September 1679.
o December 1679 – moving the teachers into a house he had rented for them
near his own. The lease was for eighteen months. DLS would invite the
teachers to their home regularly.
o Nyel opened another school in the Parish of Saint Symphorien.
o De La Salle now knows that Nyel was not the best person to control or
inspire the teachers.
• Community in the Making
o Foundation of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools by John
Baptist De La Salle.
▪ There was yet no fixed organizational structure, no plan for the
future, no commitment on the part of the teachers, not yet formed a
community of any kind.
o “I had thought that the care which I took of the schools and the teachers
would only be external, something which would not involve me any further
than to provide for their subsistence and to see it that they carried out their
duties in a religious and conscientious manner.” John Baptist De La Salle
o 1680 – De La Salle successfully passed the examinations for the doctorate
in theology at the University of Reims. De La Salle alse resumed the
guardianship of his younger brothers and sisters. In 1676, the court
assigned this responsibility to Nicolas Lespagnol, his grandmother’s cousin.
o Nyel was frequently absent; the teachers were becoming either careless or
independent or both; there was no uniform policy or method to be followed
in the schools.
 o Holy Week of 1681 – De La Salle called the teachers into his home for a
spiritual retreat.
• Critical Decision
o June 24, 1681 – De La Salle moved the teachers into their own home.
▪ His family adamantly objected – two of his siblings left and lived with
their relatives.
o This allowed De La Salle to guide, train, form the teachers more.
o 1682 – opened more schools – Rethel, Chateau-Porcien, and Laon.
Guise
• First Permanent Community
o June 24, 1682 – De La Salle and the teachers moved into a rented house
on Rue Nueve or otherwise known as “Cradle of the Institute”
o June 24 – feast of Saint John Baptist – “moving day” in France.
o De La Salle considered this as a manifestation of his commitment to the
institute.
o De La Salle became the superior of the community.
o Due to the demands of this life, some of the teachers left the community.
• Critical Challenge
o With no real guarantee for the future, they began to be concerned about
what might happen to them if their “enterprise” would collapse.
▪ Trust in God’s providence – Birds of the air, lilies of the field.
o De La Salle entered in an extended period of prayer and meditation.
▪ August 16, 1683 – De La Salle resigned the canonry – Jean Faubert
▪ He also gave up his inheritance and spent it buying food and giving
them away during severe famine in the winter of 1683-1684.
• Going Public
o Winter of 1684-1685 – they decided to go public and wear a distinctive habit.
o Before, they were only known as Teachers of Fr. De La Salle. Now, Brothers
of the Christian Schools, “Fratres Scholarum Christianarum”
• Training Teachers
o De La Salle thought of putting up a teacher-training center.
o Rethel – failed due to the changing of mind of the Duke of Mazarin.
o Rue Nueve – succeeded
o Henri L’ Heureux – instructor of the first batch – twenty-five (25) teachers.
o Rue Nueve – first Mother House – headquarters
▪ Community of the brothers
▪ Teacher Training Program
▪ Junior Community
• First General Assembly
o Took place during Feast of the Ascension of the year 1686.
o Matters discussed:
▪ Food of the brothers.
▪ Wearing of the habit was made official.
▪ The name Brothers of the Christian School was made official.
o Trinity Sunday of 1686 – Private Vow of Obedience for three (3) years.
o The following year, De La Salle insisted that its time to elect a new superior
– Brother Henri L’ Heureux.
▪ Church officials and Archbishop Le Tellier asked De La Salle to
assume the position once again.
A VERY GREAT NEED
• Social Reality during the time of De La Salle
 o Boys had to be sent off to work at an early age. Girls would stay home to
take care of their young siblings.
▪ The girls at the age of 13-14, they were expected to enter service in
a bourgeois household.
o Illiteracy was prevalent.
• Educational Policy
o No religious community/group could enjoy the legal statues without the
Letter of Patent from the King.
o Education – under the jurisdiction of the clergy.
o Teachers needs an authorization letter from the bishop for them to teach,
unless exempted by the letters of patent.
o Pastor/Parish Priest may control the school in his parish but is always
dependent upon the bishop.
o Specific skill or subject.
• Educational Opportunities
o Rich have private tutors and big schools for their education.
o The bourgeois/poor – have little schools which were presided by a single
teacher
▪ Certified poor, free of charge
• Sense of shame from the poor and lack of motivation kept the
students at bay.
▪ Little Schools
• Individual basis, medium of instructions was Latin.
▪ School of the Writing Masters
• Guilds of professional scribes.
• Function
o Verify signature
o Maintain the quality of penmanship
o Write letters and official documents
▪ Charity Schools
• Sponsored by the parish with the approval of the bishop.
• Certified poor – were allowed to attend this schools.
• No special qualifications for the teachers.
• Little organization/supervision.
• Discipline was notoriously bad.
• Truancy was more of a rule than the exception.
▪ General Hospice (Poorhouse)
• Big cities, housed the sick, aged, homeless, etc.
• Worse than charity schools.
• Christian Schools of De La Salle
o Brothers of the Christian School
▪ “Brothers” – stability and continuity
▪ “Christian” – Religious character and purpose
▪ “Schools” – service aspect through education
o Characteristics
▪ Gratuitous – free of charge
▪ Use of vernacular language
▪ Reading and Writing
▪ Mathematics
▪ Skills for livelihood
▪ Simultaneous method
▪ Student monitors assigned per homogenous class.
 ▪ Highly disciplines
▪ Regular checking of attendance
▪ No Class Distinction
BEGINNINGS IN PARIS
o Why go to Paris?
▪ The schools in and outside Reims, and the vocation of brothers are
flourishing.
▪ Archbishop Le Tellier of Reims wants the brothers under his control.
▪ De La Salle promised the Parish Priest of Saint Sulpice to open a
school in his Parish.
o The First School in Paris: Saint Sulpice
▪ February 24, 1688 – De La Salle went to Paris with two brothers.
▪ Fr. De La Barmondiere – Parish Priest – the one that coordinated
with De La Salle.
▪ Saint Sulpice – Rue Princesse
• First School in Paris
• 1688-1691 – Mother House
• 1707 – stayed
▪ Father Compagnon
• Students – gamble
• Chaos
• Don’t follow schedule
• Factory – supervised by his assistant; Rafrond, constant
source of distractions.
▪ De La Salle introduced their system – positive impact
• Fr. Compagnon – jealous and started making stories against
De La Salle.
o Fr. Compagnon – removed.
▪ Father De La Barmondiere was been changed by Father Baudrand.
CRISIS AND CONSOLIDATION
• Brother Henri L’ Heureux
o Closed to De La Salle
o De La Salle asked him to study and become a Priest.
o Few days before his ordination, he suddenly got sick and died.
o De La Salle had thought that there must no priest among the brothers.
• Trouble in Reims
o Eight (8) of the Sixteen (16) brothers left.
o Closed down the teacher-training – lack of brothers
o Brothers were getting sick because of overwork
▪ Father Baudrand, the new parish priest of Saint Sulpice – take over
schools.
• Facing an Uncertain Future
o De La Salle took his time in weighing the alternatives before deciding on a
course of action.
• Vaugirard
o Solution 1
▪ A village outside of Paris
▪ De La Salle and the brothers underwent a spiritual renewal.
▪ Second Cradle of the Institute
• Novitiate – brothers that were being formed
 o Womb of the brothers
▪ Reddition – personal letters, practice of writing.
o Solution 2
▪ Heroic Vow – November 21, 1691
• Brother Nicolas Vuyart, Brother Gabriel Drolin
• An agreement that they will never leave the brothers and the
schools.
o Solution 3
▪ Election of the New Superior
▪ Twelve (12) brothers professed perpetual vows on June 6, 1694.
▪ De La Salle suggested
▪ Two times they voted, two times De La Salle was elected.
▪ Brown brothers – those who had a good sense of vocation but were
not skilled in teaching.
• Experimentation and Expansion
o Grande Maison (1699)
▪ Started another novitiate
▪ Brothers for fifty (50) Irish boys as requested by King James II
▪ Christian Academy
▪ Sunday School
o New Teacher Training Program
▪ 1699 – Father Liberton – De La Salle – take over Saint Marcel and
turn it into a Teacher Training Center.
▪ Nicolas Vuyart – Officer-in-Charge – donations were made under his
name.
o Opening of more schools
▪ 1699 – Chartres
▪ 1700 – Calais
▪ 1702 – Troyes
▪ 1702 – Rome
▪ 1703 – Avignon
THE ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT
• Secret Enemy
o Father De La Chetardie
▪ Parish priest of Saint Sulpice
▪ Quite saintly, caring, tireless, generous and sensitive to the needs of
the poor.
▪ Supports the brothers but has a hidden motive of taking the institute
under his control.
• Conflict with other Schools
o De La Salle – conflict – Writing Masters, Little Schools, Charity Schools
▪ Accepting students for free.
▪ Teaching of different subjects
▪ Trainings of teachers
▪ As a result:
• Schools were attacked
• De La Salle was fined
• Furnishing in the schools were confiscated
• Barred from teaching and assigning of teachers to teach.
• De La Salle legal battle
o While all of these are happening
 ▪ De La Salle negotiated to open a school in Normandy, 1705 –
Darnetal.
▪ St. Yon, Rouen – signed a lease
▪ Brothers suddenly left for an unknown place.
• Final Compromise
o Father De La Chetardie
▪ Contacted De La Salle and begged him to return to Paris.
▪ De La Salle would only send the brothers back only if their work
would be undisturbed and De La Chetardie will take personal
responsibility for the safety of the brothers.
▪ Opened the schools again.
BEGINNINGS IN ROUEN AND ELSEWHERE
• Archbishop Colbert
o Archbishop Jacques Nicolas Colbert
▪ Son of the former finance minister
▪ Through his efforts and support that DLS and the brothers went to
Rouen and established the Novitiate and four schools there.
• General Hospice
o May 9, 1705 – Rouen
o The brothers lived in the general hospice for two (2) years.
o Took over four schools
▪ St. Maclou
▪ St. Goddard
▪ St. Eloi
▪ St. Vivien
• Novitiate of Saint Yon
o Three-hectare property outskirt of Saint Sever, west bank of Seine River.
o Opened a novitiate
o Boarding school
o Special program for children in conflict with the law (Present – Bahay Pag-
Asa)
o Fame of this school soon spread, students began to come – Paris and other
neighboring provinces.
o Curriculum at Saint Yon was so advance, designed for careers in commerce
and industry.
o 1865 (160 years later) the curriculum at Saint Yon became the basis for the
secondary education of the whole of France.
• New Foundations in the South
o Dijon – 1705
▪ Claude Rigolet – entrusted with three (3) schools.
o Marseille – 1706
▪ Port of the South
▪ Religious background cannot read nor write.
▪ Brothers opened the first maritime school – South of France.
▪ Authorities gave them authority over and parish schools.
o Mende – 1707
▪ Bishop Piencourt – pleased with the works of the Brothers, he left a
perpetual support to the Brothers.
o Ales – 1707
▪ Good work that the brothers were doing, the bishop asked for more
brothers.
 o Grenoble – 1708
▪ Situated at the heart of the French Alps
o Saint Denis – 1708
▪ Extensive suburban town north of Paris
▪ Started a teacher training center with the help of Abbe Clemente
FAMINE, FAME, AND DEFAMATION
• Situation of France during this period?
o Severe winter that caused widespread famine
▪ Quality of food was poor and its very expensive
o Resources were exhausted by the wars.
o Other congregations went bankrupt or were decimated by diseases.
• Situation of the brothers
o Brothers suffered terribly
▪ But they fared better than most.
▪ Brothers to trust in God’s providence.
o Fame of the institute continued to spread, and more and more schools were
being put up or entrusted to the brothers.
o Some brothers lost the spirit of their vocations.
• Great Crisis
o Abbe Clemente Case
▪ Rich young man
▪ Minor who was inspired by the work of the brothers.
• He wanted to put up a teacher training school.
▪ Son of a wealthy and well-known doctor.
• Julien Clemente
▪ Lawyer – Louis Rogrier – negotiations on his behalf.
• October 23, 1708 – Contract signed
▪ Brother Nicolas Vuyart
• Head of the school
• He left the brothers to manage the school.
▪ Dr. Julien Clemente found out, he accused De La Salle corrupting a
minor.
▪ A case filed against De La Salle
▪ May 31, 1712 – the court released its verdict
• Money advanced by De La Salle will not be reimbursed.
• De La Salle has to pau the initial expenses of the school.
• Prohibited from dealing with minors.
SECLUSION IN THE SOUTH
• Brother Barthelemy in charge of the brothers.
• Why go south?
o He will lose the case because he was been betrayed by his own lawyer.
o He is not allowed to teach
o DLS thought that the brothers don’t want him anymore.
o Visited the different La Salle schools
o Different reactions from the brothers, most were negative.
o Brothers made the people rise up against him.
• Effects on De La Salle
o Felt betrayed and abandoned
o Frustrated and unwanted
 o De La Salle became humiliated for all the misfortunes happening to him and
the institute.
• Extended Stay in Grenoble
o Received by the Brothers – Saint Laurent
o Carthusians – Grande Chartreuse
• Parmenie and Sister Louise
o Parmenie – hermitage that served as a retreat house on the top of a hill
near Grenoble.
o Sister Louise
▪ Mystic shepherd
▪ Spiritual Director of the Retreat Center
▪ Source of renewal, peace and strengths to DLS
▪ DLS decided to stay in this place permanently.
o Paris – going bad to worse
▪ Desperation, Br. Barthelemy and the principal brothers
• Joint letter to DLS
• Letter ordered by the virtue to his vow of obedience, become
the head of the institute.
• Deep inside DLS – he humbly returned to Paris.
BACK TO PARIST (1714)
• Fr. De La Chetardie died on August 1714.
• August 10, 1714, DLS arrived back to Paris. “What do you want of me?”
• In his return, He didn’t take the role of the superior but instead became an advisor
(when asked) to Br. Barthelemy.
• The presence of DLS began to yield positive things for the Brothers
• The Brothers began to stabilize
• Administrative problems were solved

MOVED TO ROUEN
• After a year in Paris DLS moved to Rouen.
o At St. Yon
o DLS began to work toward providing future stability to the Institute.
o Because of DLS’s condition, the Brothers thought of officially electing a new
superior.
o Towards the end of 1716, Br. Barthelemy was task to visit all of the Brothers’
houses in preparation for the General Chapter on the following year.

AT SAINT YON
• At that time
o There were 23 Brothers’ communities.
o And about 40+ Brothers.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
• May 16, 1717
o Elected Br. Barthelemy as the new superior
o DLS was tasked to revised the rule of the Brothers
o The Legacy left from the Abbe Clement case allowed the Brothers to buy
the property of St. Yon.
 o The condition of DLS was getting worse.
o He became bed ridden
o He asked the brothers to stop wasting money for his treatment and just
leave everything to God.
o He Celebrated his last mass during the Feast of St. Joseph.

ATTITUDE OF DE LA SALLE
• After having a new superior
o DLS moved away from the limelight.
o When Brothers would go to him, he would refer them to their new superior
o He showed great humility
• St. La Salle’s Last Will
o Submission to the Bishop of Rome, Pope.
o Special devotion to the Holy Communion, Meditation, Most Blessed Virgin
Mary, and St. Joseph (Patron and Protector of the Institute)
o For the Brothers to fulfill their assignments with great zeal and without self-
interest.

ONE FINAL HUMILIATION

• After the death of Archbishop Colbert, he was replaced by Archbishop Claude-
Maur d’Aubigne.
o Archbishop Aubigne didn’t particularly like DLS.
o After a complaint from the pastor of St. Sever, the Archbishop removed the
faculties of DLS.
o This means that DLS is not a priest anymore and he cannot celebrate the
mass or the other sacraments.

DEATH OF A SAINT
• After the pastor of St. Sever learned that DLS was critically ill, he went to visit DLS
to reconcile with him.
• Br. Barthelemy asked for DLS’ final blessing.
• The last words of De La Salle
o “I adore in all things, the will of God in my regard”
o It was Good Friday, April 7, 1719. He was just few weeks short of being 68
years old.
o He was buried the next day (April 8, 1719) in a side chapel of the church of
St. Sever. (St. Yon)

AFTER DEATH
• Letter of Patent granted by King Louis XV Sep 28,1724
• Bull of Approbation granted by Pope Benedict XIII Jan 26, 1725
• A document from the Pope that recognizes a congregation and officially makes it
part of the Catholic Church, directly under the Holy See (Pope)
• De La Salle declared a Saint by Pope Leo XIII May 29, 1900
• St. La Salle declared as Patron Saint of Teachers by Pope Pius VII May 15, 1950
LEGACIES OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE
• Lasallian Reflection Framework
o Masid-Danas (See-Experience)
What are the things I have observed?
What do you think is your purpose of going and experiencing it?
How was the experience relevant or significant to me as a person?
o Suri-Nilay (Analysis-Reflection)
What did this experience teach me?
How was it connected and/ or related to my life?
What is God telling me about this experience?
o Taya-Kilos (Commitment-Action)
What can I do to make a positive change in my life?
What can I do to make a positive change in the life of others?
How can I be an agent of change?
WRITINGS
• Memoir on the Habit (1689-1690)
• Formula of Vows of 1694
• Conduct of Schools
• Meditations for the Time of Retreat
• Meditations for Sundays and Principal Feasts
• Explanation of the Method of Mental Prayer
SCHOOLS
• Religious and value centered
• Sensitivity to social issues
• Quality education and pragmatic
• Elevated the function of the teacher to a vocation worthy of the dedication of a
lifetime.
• Lasallian Spirituality
o Spirit of Faith
o Zeal for Service
o Spirit of the Community
BROTHERS
• The wealth of the institute is nothing less than the Brothers who composed it.
• Concept of the Lasallian Family
• All the people and institution who live/lived by his examples and teachings.

“In the light of faith we see things differently.”

Saint John Baptiste De La Salle