Feast of Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle – April 7
Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Saint Jean-Baptiste was an educational reformer and father of modern pedagogy He is the patron saint of teachers.
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle was born in 1651. He was ordained a priest in 1678 and was a model of piety. A year later he assisted in founding a first free school in Reims. A few year later he founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, dedicated to education. He himself dedicated much of his life for the education of the poor children of France, and in doing so, started many lasting educational practices in France. He died in 1719.
His Brothers are very much present in the Holy Land and run schools in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Bethlehem as well as Bethlehem University.
Year B, Fifh Sunday of Easter
Year B, Palm Sunday