I. Charism - La Salle.org

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IV. DISCOVERING, LIVING, SHARING THE GIFT OF GOD
2. A prophetic step brings into existence the
Community of the Schools
In the transition from “Teachers” to “Brothers” lived in Reims, the
action of John-Baptist de La Salle was obviously decisive. The
prophetic gestures which he made - giving up his canonicate, getting
rid of his wealth, the decision to live with the teachers - at the
heart of his relations with them, caused the “Community of the
Christian Schools” to come into existence. To put it another way,
the Lasallian movement did not come about thanks to the spontaneous
goodwill of some generous young teachers. It was as if crystallised
by the personality and commitment of John-Baptist de La
Salle. The Lasallian charism, if it is not the “charism of the
Founder”, is nevertheless closely linked to the person, if not the
personality of Monsieur de La Salle.
One of the characteristics of prophecy is that it is personified: it is
not a theory, a utopia or a vision of the future arising from
nowhere, unconnected to the cultural, economic, social context…
On the contrary, the commitments of John-Baptist de La Salle to
give existence to the Community of the Masters of the Christian
Schools were profoundly rooted in his personal history, that of his
family, the customs of his milieu, of his church and of his world.
This is why his gestures questioned and touched those who were at
the same time the witnesses and the protagonists.
From external leadership to a personal relationship
The first quotation in Blain from Memoir of the Beginnings, indicates
that:
schools”. They were like the employees of an administration and disappeared with the French revolution.
Unlike the Sisters of Saint-Charles for girls’ schools, they would not re-appear later.