Podcasts · Traditional Catholic Daily Devotional

May 15 – S Jean Baptiste de la Salle

· 10 min

Episode May 15 – S Jean Baptiste de la Salle

0:00 10:21

It's the Feast of St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: "The Beauty of Heaven", today's news from the Church: "End of Life: The Senate Timidly Rewrites the Text", a preview of this week's episode of The SSPX Podcast: "Obey or Resist? A Catholic Dilemma", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? podcast@sspx.org Sources Used Today:

• "The Beauty of Heaven" — Eastertide Day by Day

• https://angeluspress.org/products/eastertide-day-by-day

• "End of Life: The Senate Timidly Rewrites the Text" (FSSPX.news)

• https://fsspx.news/en/news/end-life-senate-timidly-rewrites-text-58948

• The SSPX Podcast: "Obey or Resist? A Catholic Dilemma" (SSPX Podcast)

• View on YouTube • Listen & Subscribe on SSPXpodcast.com

• The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)

• https://angeluspress.org/products/spiritual-life-archbishop

Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook!

• Learn more:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Wp4MQdK2o • Donate:https://sspx.gifts/audiobook

Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle was a priest whose life transformed Catholic education and opened the door of learning to countless poor children who otherwise would have been forgotten. He was born in 1651 in Reims, France, into a wealthy and respected family. His future appeared comfortable and secure, yet God gradually drew him toward a very different path, one centered not on status, but on service.

Ordained a priest at a young age, Jean-Baptiste first expected to live a fairly traditional clerical life. But when he encountered teachers struggling to educate poor boys, he recognized a deeper calling. At the time, education in France was often inconsistent, expensive, or reserved for the wealthy. Many poor children received little instruction at all, both academically and spiritually. Jean-Baptiste saw this not merely as a social problem, but as a spiritual crisis.

Slowly, he gave away his wealth and chose to live alongside the teachers themselves, sharing their hardships and forming them into a religious community dedicated entirely to education. From this grew the Brothers of the Christian Schools, commonly known today as the Christian Brothers.

What made his work revolutionary was not only charity, but method. Jean-Baptiste helped standardize classroom teaching, introduced instruction in the common language rather than only Latin, and emphasized order, patience, and personal attention to students. He believed education should form the soul as much as the mind. Teachers were to see themselves not simply as instructors, but as instruments of God helping to shape young Christians.

The Church honors Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle as the patron saint of teachers and educators. His influence spread far beyond France, shaping Catholic schools across the world and helping establish education as one of the Church’s great apostolates.

His feast day is especially meaningful in Catholic schools, where students and teachers often pray for wisdom, patience, and charity in the work of learning. In many places, his life is reflected upon during First Communion years and school ceremonies, reminding young people that education is meant to lead not only to knowledge, but to virtue.

For generations of Catholic children, especially those formed in traditional schools, the Christian Brothers and religious sisters inspired by his example helped create classrooms where faith and learning were inseparable.

Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, faithful teacher and servant of Christ, pray for us.

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