(circa 1651-1719)

Patron of school teachers and principals

John Baptist de LaSalle was born in Rheims France. He believed that all children, rich and poor, deserved a good education. He also recognized that a good education depended on good teachers. St. John founded the Brothers of the Christians Schools to provide teachers for the poor. He began the first teachers’ college and was the first to divide students into grades. He also introduced the blackboard and the study of literature and mathematics. He gave his sizeable family fortune to the poor during the great famine of 1683.