Roman Catholic Saint. Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and patron of Christian teachers, Saint John Baptist De La Salle was born in Reims to a noble family. Receiving the tonsure at the early age of eleven, he was named canon of the chapter of the cathedral of his native city at sixteen. Ordained priest on April 9, 1678, he earned a doctorate in theology two years later. 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, leaving his family home and moving in with the teachers, while renouncing not only his canonry but also to his wealth. The community that became known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools was thus formed. Facing opposition from the ecclesiastical authorities who resisted the creation of a new form of religious life, a community of consecrated laymen to conduct gratuitous schools "together and by association", nevertheless De La Salle and his Brothers succeeded in creating a network of quality schools throughout France that oversaw 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, he 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. The De La Salle Brothers were the first Roman Catholic religious teaching order that didn't include any priests. A man of refined manners with a cultured mind and great practical ability, his physical appearance was of commanding presence, somewhat above the medium height, with large, penetrating blue eyes and a broad forehead. 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. A pioneer in founding training colleges for teachers, reform schools for delinquents, technical and secondary for modern languages, arts and sciences, his work quickly spread through France and, after his death, across the globe. Pope Leo XIII canonized him on May 24, 1900 while Pope Pius XII named him patron saint of all those who work in the field of education in 1950. With De La Salle schools present today in eighty four different countries around the globe, the saint's remains rested for 187 years in Rouen and for another 31 at Lembecq-lez-Hal, Belgium. Transferred to Rome in 1937, arriving on January 24, the following day, they were received into the present chapel of the Lasallian Curia with great solemnity. With his writings influencing educational practice, school management and teacher preparation for more than three centuries, his liturgical feast day is held on April 7.