From Br Steve Hogan fsc
Greetings,
Every year around the 15th May, the College celebrates the anniversary of the canonization of St John Baptist de La Salle in May 1950, as the Patron Saint of all teachers.
Jean-Baptiste de La Salle was a French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools also known as the De La Salle Brothers.
John Baptist de La Salle was born into a world very different from our own. He was the first son of wealthy parents living in France over 350 years ago. His grandmother was Madam Moët from Champagne and his father was a lawyer in the Court of King Louis XVI. Born at Reims, John Baptist de La Salle received the tonsure at age eleven and was named Canon of the Reims Cathedral at sixteen.
Though he had to assume the administration of family affairs after his parents died, he completed his theological studies and was ordained a priest on April 9, 1678. Two years later he received a doctorate in theology. Meanwhile he became tentatively involved with a group of rough and barely literate young men in order to establish schools for poor boys.
Moved by the plight of the poor who seemed so “far from salvation” either in this world or the next, he determined to put his own talents and advanced education at the service of the children “often left to themselves and badly brought up.”
To be more effective, he abandoned his family home, moved in with the teachers, renounced his position as Canon and his wealth, and so formed the community that became known as the Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes (Brothers of the Christian Schools/De La Salle Brothers).
The Teaching Masters of the time resented his innovative methods and his insistence on gratuity for all, regardless of whether they could afford to pay. Nevertheless, De La Salle and his Brothers succeeded in creating a network of quality schools throughout France that featured instruction in the vernacular, students grouped according to ability and achievement, integration of religious instruction with secular subjects, well-prepared teachers with a sense of vocation and mission, and the involvement of parents.
In addition, De La Salle pioneered in programs for training lay teachers, Sunday courses for working young men, and one of the first institutions in France for the care of delinquents. Worn out by austerities and exhausting labours, he died at Saint Yon near Rouen early in 1719 on Good Friday, only weeks before his sixty-eighth birthday.
In 1900 John Baptist de La Salle was declared a Saint and in 1950, because of his life and inspirational writings, he was made Patron Saint of all those who work in the field of education. Today there are De La Salle schools in over 79 different countries around the world serving over one million students every day.
John Baptist de La Salle inspired others how to teach and care for young people, how to meet failure and frailty with compassion, how to affirm, strengthen and heal. De La Salle founded the Lasallian tradition of human and Christian education - our charism and ethos here at Oakhill College. We are called, just as De La Salle was called, to be people of respect, compassion, and kindness to others - an influencer; a way maker; miracle worker; a light that makes a difference. These are the hallmarks of a Lasallian and the Oakhill Graduate.
This week you would have received the announcement about the purchase of the Oakhill College property from the Trustees of the De La Salle Brothers by the Oakhill College Board. The Board has established the Oakhill College Property Trust where the land is to be held in trust for the human and Christian education of youth at Oakhill College. The legacy of Saint John Baptist de La Salle of innovative teaching and learning in the Lasallian tradition, a form of whole person student focused liberal arts education where every student is known every day, by teachers who are like a mother and father, older brother and sister, touching hearts and transforming lives, is safe, secure and guaranteed in perpetuity here at Oakhill College.
De La Salle had a very special regard for his mother and grandmother and spoke often that the Brothers as teachers needed to be like a mother to the children in their care. We wish mothers and all those who fulfill that role a very special day this Mother’s Day, Sunday 12th May.
St John Baptist de La Salle. Pray for us.
Live Jesus in our hearts. Forever.
Br Steve Hogan fsc
Principal
[ref: lasalle.org]
