St. John Baptist
de La Salle

      Although little is known about his childhood, it seems that John Baptist decided to take on a priestly career at an early age. He received Christian education, and at the age of 19, entered the seminary of Saint Sulpice in Paris to prepare for priesthood. There, John Baptist found later turned out to be his future work - teaching.

      In 1678, John Baptist was ordained priest, and from then on, started his life of teaching. In 1679, he took part in constituting a charity school for boys in France. At first, he met with numerous obstacles. He found the students undisciplined, the teachers poorly trained and worst of all, both the students and the worst of all, both the student and teachers of the newly formed school were alienated by traditional educators and teachers. John Baptist made much effort to eliminate these difficulties. He believed that the teachers could only be improved by proper training, and decided to let the teachers live with him, himself acting as the teachers' trainer. Although his action was at first controversial, it was later proved appropriate, as in 1684, he already had seven such schools running smoothly in Rheims.

      Perhaps John Baptist's most significant contribution towards the entire industry of education I France was that he was able to bring education to children of all classes. Before his revolution, education in most European countries was only limited to the upper-class and those who could afford it financially. John Baptist later formed a religious organisation composed of 12 other teachers, the nucleus of the Christian Brothers with himself as the president. John Baptist organisation was founded upon his vision that every single could in France should receive proper education and moral training.