The life and work of the Ven. J.B. de La Salle, the founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools

Front matter

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Preface

The present Life does not pretend to be exhaustive. It is merely a sketch. It is only in the English language that there is any lack of biographies of the Venerable de La Salle. But many of those written take partial views of their subject. Some consider only the saint enduring suffering and persecution for the greater honor and glory of God, and for the good of souls. Others look but to the mere human side of his character, and dwell solely upon the achievements of the great educational reformer.

The writer's is a different view. To his mind the great educator was so successful, because he was also a great saint. The one trait is inseparable from the other. Had he been less holy, the work would have produced less fruit. In the following pages, while it is sought to do justice to the educator, the saint is not lost sight of. With what success, it is left to the reader to determine.

In preparing the work, the following Lives have been consulted :

ViedeM, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, 2 \o\s. 4to. (l733),/tfrP. Blain,

La Vie de M, de La Salle^ Instituteur des Frh^es des Ecoles Chri" tiennesj par M, r A bb§ de Montis, Paris, 1785. 321 pp.

Vie de M. de La Salle, par P, Garreau, S, J, 1750.

Vie du Vinirable y, B. de La Salle, Fondateur des Ecoles ChfStiennes, par L. Ayma, pp. 432. Deuxi^me Sdition, Aix, 1858.

LAbbS de La Salle et VInstitut des Frhres des Ecoles Chriiiennes, Depuis, 1651. Jusqu'en, 1842.

Par un Professeur de rUniversitS. 198 pp. Paris, 1842. Vie du Vinirable J, B, de La Salle, Fondateur des Frires des Ecoles CkrStiennes, Suivre de VHistoire de cet Institute Jusqu^a 1 734. Par un Frere des Ecoles Chriiiennes, 500 pp. Rouen, 1874.

vi PREFACfi.

ITistoire du Venerahle yean-BaptisU de La Salle, Fondateur de rinstitut des Freres des Ecoles Chritiennes, par Armand RaveUU 496 pp. Paris, 1874.

La Vie de Monsieur yean-Baptiste de La Salle ^ par le R. P. D. Fra9^ cois E, Maillefer, PrL R, Bn, de la Congregation de St Maur^ a Rheims, 1766. (This life is in manuscript; there are but six or eight copies extant.)

Leben J. B, de La Sallen, von Jos. Aloys Krebs, C. SS. R.

I^e Monument du Venerable yean-Baptiste de La Salle, Rouen, Fit4 du 2 yuin, 1875. Deuxieme edition^ 256 pp. Par y, ChantreL

(Euvre des Ecoles, par L. Ay ma, Aix, 1859. 312 pp.

Vie du Frere Philippe, par M, Poujoulatj 1875. 376 pp.

Also many documents in the archives of the mother-house in Paris, and several papers we had previously published on kindred subjects.

Introduction

The Venerable John Baptist de La Salle has many claims upon the attention of the rea'ding world. He was a holy man, who practised virtue in a heroic degree. The study of such a soul must be elevating and invigorating. It is a soul that has soared upon the wings of heavenward aspirations above the level of humanity ; it is an example worthy of admiration : and who knows but that, from admiring, God may inspire the reader to imitate its noble career ? This were certainly a grace worth praying for. When one becomes so saturated with the Spirit of God that he snaps all the ties that bind him to the things of earth, and lives only for heaven, his is necessarily a glorious and successful career. The world may pronounce it a failure, and to all seeming it may be so ; but it is the reverse. The good has been done, the seed has been sown, and in due time Providence will draw out plant and fruit. The work cannot remain barren, for it has been blessed. Such is one of the numerous lessons written upon the face of the life sketched in the present volume. We see therein a man who runs counter to the ways and maxims of the world ; who abandons his wealth to the poor, and becomes one of themselves, that he may the better do good among them ; who leaves the high road to preferment and renown, that he may be ignored ; and withal, a man whose existence has been a benediction to millions, and whose career has been made resplendent by the accumulating gratitude of two centuries. The principle of action animating such a life is worthy of our most diligent research. The high moral qualities that supported it ought not to be left unstudied. We find before us a man of iron will, overcoming obstacles numerous and difficult ; a man of faith, receiving successes and disappointments, patronage and persecution, as so many blessings coming from the hand of God ; a devoted child of the Church, refusing a mitre when to accept it were to renounce his allegiance to Rome, and preferring, in the stead, a ^crown set with the

Vui INTRODUCTION.

thorns of persecution. The stoiy of such a life shows how much good may be done when a man is really in earnest. It is an eloquent protest against the petty selfishness of so many with ready hands and willing hearts, who defeat the designs of God upon them, because of their want of the spirit of sacrifice.

It is not only the spiritual life of this great man that is worthy of our study and imitation ; it is also his works. His mission was not merely to sanctify his own soul ; it was, furthermore, that of inaugurating a new era in education. He began where he found the need the most pressing : he placed primary education upon a new basis. Living in the golden age of Louis XIV, he saw beneath the glitter of his day, and found that in many cases what men called gold was only gilding. He found the splendors of the court built upon the impoverishment of the people, and his heart bled for them. Others might bask in the sunshine of royal and episcopal power ; he would none of it. He had a work to do. The poor were in suffering and neglect ; their children were without a proper education. He saw a people growing up in ignorance of their religion and their duties, a prey to aW the accompanying vices, and he shuddered at the consequences. Perhaps he foresaw, perhaps there flitted across his vision, the horrors of the French Revolution. Be that as it may, had there been more La Salles, the people would not have become so estranged from the clergy ; and though the Revolution might not have been avoided, its horrors would have remained unwritten in the blood of the best in the land. There were universities and colleges enough for the wealthy and middle classes, but the poor were sadly neglected Primary education was at a low ebb. Anybody was considered good enough to be a teacher. At Paris, Claude Joly is accused of employing the very scum of society to teach his schools.* In Lyons, M. Demia finds ''that the greater number of teachers not only did not know how to read and write well, but were also ignorant of the principles of their religion, "t The Bishop of Toul, in 1686, draws a disgusting picture of the masters of his day : ''They are gamblers, drunkards, libertines, ignorant and brutal. They pass their

* Factum, attributed to E. Purchot, of the Paris University, i ** Viede if. Demia,'* p. 8x.

INTRODUCTION. IX

days in taverns, playing cards, and are engaged to fiddle in haunts of pleasure, and at the village festivals. In church they are not modestly dressed, and instead of applying themselves to the ecclesiastical chant, they sing, during the Divine Offices, whatever comes into their heads." * But little good was to be expected from such men ; on the contrary, the evil they did was incalculable. ' ' Since you force me, '' said a prelate, ' ' to say what I would wish to have hidden in eternal forgetfulness, I have been obliged to interdict a dozen of magisters, because these unfortunate individuals had become the corrupters of those confided to their instruction. " f ' * We ought not to be astonished," says M. Bourdoise, *' if we see so few of the children educated at the free schools live like good Christians. For a school to become useful to Christianity, it must have masters who labor as apostles, and not as mercenaries. To remedy so loud-crying an evil, and raise up masters worthy of their sublime mission, became the lifework of La Salle. And he succeeded. He gave a new method of teaching : the mutual-simultaneous, which time has sanctioned. *' It is by the simultaneous method that the Brothers have raised the level of education ; that they have regulated its progress, and caused it to be useful to the masses, and not to the chosen few. "J He based the acquisition of knowledge rather upon reason and judgment than upon memory. He laid a hitherto unheard-of stress upon the study of the vernacular. Prior to his day, the study of Latin was made the basis of all other studies ; children should know it before undertaking to learn their mother-tongue. He reversed the process, though not without much opposition. Nor did he neglect higher education. He found that many of the colleges of his day were calculated to give young men a knowledge of the ancient classics, and unfit them for the industrial and commercial pursuits of life ; he accordingly established colleges, in which were inaugurated special courses in mathematics, the fine arts and the natural sciences.

But it was not enough to begin all these and other innovations and reforms ; the good work should be perpetuated. For this 'purpose La Salle gathered around him men with a kindred spirit, and drew up for them a rule of life which he

• Synodal Statutes of 1686. t p|re Blain, vol. i, p. 5a.

X " Rapport sur V Instruction Primaire," by M. Buisson, p. 252. 1873.

X INTRODUCTION.

himself was the first to follow ; and he and they pledged themselves to devote their lives and energies to the noble work of educating youth. He displayed rare tact as an organizer. The rules and constitutions he prepared for the Brothers have been regarded as a masterpiece of wisdom. They embody his genius, and the more closely they are followed, the more successful is the result. He showed the way for the numerous religious orders of laymen devoted to teaching, since established in the Church, Be their names what they may, to him must they all look as their spiritual father. He was the pioneer. ** He is," says Ravelet, *'the Columbus of a new world." * He showed how such institutions might be made to flourish and do good. And we may add that in every instance La Salle was ahead of his age, and worked more for the future than for his own day. There is scarce a modern educational improvement that he did not anticipate. '' That method must be excellent/' says M. Ayma, ''which has remained the same for two centuries, and yet ceases not to suit our time, the character of youth, our present needs, and the requirements of families." f But his greatest title to the gratitude of men is that he is the modern apostle of Christian education. At no time was it more necessar)'- to lay stress upon the religious training of youth than in these days of scepticism and godless education. At no time is the Brother of the Christian Schools more called for. The schoolroom has become the battle-ground between Christianity and atheism. Therein the enemies of religion are putting forth all their strength.

* " Histoire du Ven. J. B, de La Salle," p. 5. t " (Euvre des Scales," pp. 37, 38.

Contents

PAGI.

Protestation -------- iii

Dedication --------v

Introduction - - - - - - - -vii

Book I

the preparation.

Chapter I

Historical Position of the Church as an Educator. — Some Leaves from her past Record. — The early Monks Civilizers. — Decrees of Councils in Favor of Education. — The Work of ixeligious Orders. — The Work of the Reformation. — How the Church counteracted it. ----------

Chapter II

Birth of Jean Baptiste de La Salle. — His Family. — Early Years. — He enters the University of Rheims. — First Communion. — He receives the Tonsure. — Duty of Christian Parents. — M. Dozet resigns his Canonry in Favor of M. de La Salle. — St. Sulpice. — Pere Bauyn. — Death of Father and Mother. — He returns to Rheims. — Pdre Roland. — M. de La Salle receives Minor Orders. — Ordained Priest in 1678. — First Mass. — He is sought as Spiritual Director. — His Humility. - - - - - 13

Chapter III

Abb6 de La Salle's Trials. — He desires to exchange his Canonry for a Curateship. — Mgr. Le Tellier refuses. — Death of M. Roland. — Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus. — M. de La Salle procures them Letters -Patent. — Renewed Trials. — M. Nyel and Compan-

Xli CONTENTS.

PJLGi.

ion. — Efforts to establish Communities for the Instruction of the Children of the Masses. — Gerard Groot, St. Joseph Calasanzio, Venerable Cesar de Bus, M. Demia, Blessed Peter Fourier, Peter Tranchot, P^re Barr^, M. Nyel.— M. de La Salle providentially rescued. — He lodges M. Nyel and Companion. — M. Dorigny. — School at St. Jacques. - - - r - • 35

Chapter IV

Precarious Condition of the Work. — M. NyePs Character. — M. de La Salle brings the Teachers near his Residence. — They dine with him. — ^Trials. — School at Guise. — The Teachers live with M. de La Salle.— P^re Barry's Advice.— Rethel.— Duke de Mazarin. — Schools at Chateau Porcein, Saint-Pierrie, Laon. — ^M. de La Salle retires into Solitude. — Resigns his Canonry. — Refuses to give his Resignation in Favor of his Brother. — The Ahh6 Faubert. —The Venerable distributes his Patrimony to the Poor. — famine of 1684. -.----..-56

BOOK IL

THE VOCATION.

Chapter I

Several Collegians enter the Society. — Removal to Rue Neuve.— Incompetent Teachers requested to withdraw. — Retreat with twelve Brothers. — They make triennial Vows. — The religious Habit. — M. de La Salle establishes a Training- School. — Duke de Mazarin. — M. Nyel retires to Rouen. — General Assembly of the Brothers in 1686. — The Venerable resigns the Generalship. — Illness of several Brothers. — Death of FF. Nicolas, Jean Paris, and Maurice. — M. de La Salle receives Penitents, and is visited by distinguished Ecclesiastics. ------- 75

Chapter II

De La Salle desires to establish a School in Paris. — ^Mgr. Le Tellier seeks to detain him in Rheims. — Pdres Barrfe and de La Barmondidre are consulted. — School in Rue Princesse. — M. Compagnon. — His Character. — Mme. de Maintenon. — Parish of St. Sulpice.— St. Vincent de Paul's Labors.— M. Olier.— The Venerable is persecuted. — M. Forbin-Janson investigates. — M. Baudrand succeeds. — M. de La Barmondidre. — School in Rue

CONTENTS. Xlll

PAGB.

du Bac. — M. de La Salle is called to Rheims. — He falls dangerously ill. — The Holy Viaticum. — M. Helvetius cures the holy Founder. — Death of Brother Henri-Lheureux. — Results for the Society. --------.--96

Chapter III

Means adopted to firmly establish the Society. — ^The Venerable retires to meditate. — He secures a Novitiate in Vaugirard. — ^The i Brothers make a three-months' Retreat. — The Normal-School Teachers replace them. — Brothers Jean-Paris and Jean-Henri. — The Venerable makes a special Vow with the Brothers Nicolas Vuyart and Gabriel. — ^The Formula. — Its Meaning. — M. Baudrand wishes the Brothers to change their Dress. — The Venerable refuses. — ^Vaugirard : its Poverty. — Famine in 1693. — Count du Charmel. ----.----.- 112

Chapter IV

The Brothers ask to make perpetual Vows. — ^Twelve are selected. — Trinity- Sunday, 1694. — The Venerable seeks to resign the Generalship. — An important Document signed. — Hardened Sinners are converted.'— M. de La Salle suffers great physical Pain. — Sister Louise. — M. Baudrand. — The Venerable rents a Dwelling. — He visits his Communities. — A young Calvinist converted. » — The Rules and Constitutions. — Death of Mgr. de Harlay. — Private Chapels interdicted by Cardinal de Noailles. — M. de La Chfetardie. — His Zeal. — Saint Cassian. — Two Schools established. —The Writing-Masters.— The Training-School of St. Hippolyte. — ^The Venerable's Plan of Studies in 1697 adopted by France in 1851. ----- ..... g^

Chapter V

rhe Venerable's Friends.— Louis XIV and the Irish Exfles.— M. < de La Salle opens a Boarding-School. — Gratitude of Tames IL — Memorial of the Clergy of Chartres to their Bisnop. — Religious Orders true Republics. — Mgr. des Marais and the Jansenists. — ^The Venerable visits his Communities. — His Reception in Chartres. — The Bishop offers to secure Letters-Patent for the Sodety. — The Venerable declines. — His Forethought— He dianges the Method of teaching Reading. — Mortifications practised bj the Brothers in Chartres ..•«.. 158

Chapter VI

The Venerable establishes Sunday-Lecture Courses for Artisans and Tradesmen. — Success of the Enterprise.— Sdiools in Calais and

XIV CONTENTS.

PAGB»

Troyes. — Brother Gabriel and a Companion sent to Rome. — Avignon and Marseilles obtain Brothers. — Envy and Discontent in Paris. — La Salle unjustly held responsible. — M. Pirot, Vicar- General, investigates the Complaints. — Patience and Humility shown by La Salle. — Cardinal de Noailles appoints a new Superior. — The attempted Installation. — Scenes. — M. Bricot refuses to accept the Position as Superior. — La Salle threatened with Exile. — M. de La Ch6tardie interferes. — The Director of Novices and his Companion abandon the Institute. - - - - 176

Chapter VII

The Venerable removes from Notre-Dame-des-Vertus. — The Sisters of St. Dominic— The Sunday Lecture-Course closed. — St. Roch. — Darnetal and Rouen receive Brothers. — Difficulties of the last Mission. — Novitiate at St. Yon. — Madame de Louvois and the Benedictine Nuns. — The Boarding- School at St. Yon. — Its Character and Regulations. — The Abb6 Hecquet.— La Salle opens a parochial School at his own Expense. — Schools for Delinquents and Culprits. -...---- 200

Chapter VIII

Troubles in Paris. — ^The Writing-Masters. — Parliament refuses to sustain the Venerable's Appeal. — St. Sulpice Schools temporarily closed. — The Brothers return. — Schools in Mende and Alais. — Protestant Scholars received. — Foundations in Grenoble, Valr6as and St. Denis. — Brother Joseph named Visitor. — The Venerable visits his Communities. — Assembly at St. Yon. — Brother Gabriel and the Roman Mission. — Famine in 1709. — The Novitiate brought to Paris. — M. Helvetius and the sick Brothers at St. Sulpice. — Brother Barth^lemy. — The Brothers in Moulins and Boulogne. — The Abb^-Clement Difficulty. — The Bishop of Avignon. — The Venerable ill at Vans. — FF. Henri and Nicolas. — M. de La Salle returns to Marseilles. ------ 227

Chapter IX

Mgr. de Belzunce. — ^The Jansenists seek to bribe the Venerable. — Brother Timothy. — Novitiate in Marseilles. — M. de La Salle persecuted. — He prepares a Memoir. — Desires to visit Rome. — Love for the Holy Father. — A Jesuit defends the Venerable's Cause. — Charity for the Fallen. — The Dominicans welcome the Venerable. — The City of Mende calls the holy Founder. — The Brothers of Grenoble. — Brother Hilarion. — P^re Blain, Chaplain at St. Yon. — M. de Brou interferes with the Brothers m Paris. — The Venerable teaches School. — He revises School- Books. — Fr^re Ir6nfee. . • • - - - - . 253

CONTENTS. XV

PikGS

Chapter X

The Bull Unigenitus. — The Venerable recalled to Paris. — His Reception. — Death of M. de La Ch6tardie. — Louis XIV and his Age, — The Novices return to St. Yon. — Chevalier d'Armstadt. — His Trials. — The Venerable returns to St. Yon. — Visited by distinguished Persons. — He Visits Calais. — Devotion to Mary- Immaculate. — His Portrait secured. — Resigns the Generalship. — Brother Barthelemy elected. — Assistant Superiors named. — The Schools conducted. — Method introduced by the Venerable de La Salle. — His Views. — How to direct and to interest Children. 277

Chapter XI

The Venerable de La Salle as an Inferior. —His Humility. — He visits Paris to receive a Legacy. — Love of Truth. — St. Yon to be sold. — Death of Madame de Louvois. — Generosity of her Son. — St. Yon the Property of the Institute. — The Venerable plans new Buildings. — Fervor of the Novices. — M. de La Sailers Recollection in Prayer. — Brothers asked for Canada. — Illness of the holy Founder. — Temporary Cure. — Mass on St. Joseph's Day. — Was the Venerable interdicted ? — He follows wSt. Vincent de Paul. — He receives the last Sacraments. — Last Will and Testament. — He advises Retirement from the World. — His Prophecy. — Last Words. — '^The Saint is dead! " — Brother Barthelemy's Letters. Brother Gabriel. — The Funeral. ------ 295

CHAPTER I. State of the Institute at the Death of the Venerable. — Brother

Barth61emy's Demise. — Brother Timothy elected Superior. — Letters -Patent secured for St. Yon. — Pope Benedict XIII approves the Society. — A General Chapter receives the Bull. — The Venerable's Remains transferred to St. Yon. — Imposing Ceremonies. — Brother Gabriel returns to France. — His Death. — Brother Timothy resigns. — Brother Claude elected. — Literary Character of those Days. — Election of Brother Florence. — His Resignation. — Brother Agathon. — His Career and Sufferings. — The Revolution. — Martyrs. — Brother Frumence named Vicar- General. — School in Lyons. — Pius VII visits the Community. —

XVI CONTENTS.

Napoleon L — Cardinal Fesch. — Brother Gerbaud elected Superior. — His sudden Death. — ^Brother William of Jesus succeeds him.— School-Books prepared. — Brother Anaclet elected Superior. — ^The Preparatory Novitiate. — Evening Schools. - 3*9

Chapter II

Brother Philip. — His Character as portrayed some Weeks after his Death. — The World unites in honoring his Memory. — His Works, charitable and literary. — Letter of the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris. — The Holy Father writes the Panegyric of the deceased General. — Brother Jean-Olympe. — Success of his Government. — A Year's Administration. — ^The Society again in Tears. — Most honored Brother Irlide to continue the Work. - . - - 340

Chapter III

The Venerable de La Salle and his Work.— His Virtues.— Gratitude of the Church and her Children.— The Monument at Rouen. —Extracts from the discourses.— The one Thing still asked by the Catholic World for the Venerable de La Salle, . * ^ 360

Book I

THE PREPARATION CHAP. I.

The Church as an Educator. — Some Leaves from her past Record* — The early Monks Civilizers. — Decrees of Councils in Favor of Education. — The Work of Religious Orders.— The work of the Reformation. — How the Church counteracted it.

The author who undertakes to write a faithful history of one of those distinguished characters that the Catholic Church can alone produce, finds a preparatory task before him. Prior to building up, he has to clear away the historical rubbish. De Maistre has truly said that history, for the past three centuries, has been a conspiracy against truth, and he who would determine what any Catholic undertaking or Catholic character has been, must first find out what each has not been. Thus, when we peruse the pages of history, as written by the greater number of authors, we find them almost unanimously proclaiming that the Church is the enemy of popular instruction, and that she dreads lest her children become intellectually vigorous. Were we to believe these writers, we would conclude that she has hold only upon ignorance ; that, in these days of enlightenment, she is a fossilized institution, whose life and energy have all passed from her ; that she only cumbers the ground, and shuts out the light. But the fact that learning still exists, that it flourishes as a vigorous tree, whose branches outspread themselves more and more, and that all the nations of the earth now take shelter under its protecting shade, is the living refutation of the monstrous pretension that the Church allowed instruction to perish, or that she was the enemy of learned men, and of the sciences they developed.

Justice requires us to judge men, not only by the results of their actions, but also by the principles which have directed them. This rule is of general acceptance, when applied to the individual ; it is equally applicable to society at large. Now, it is the Church that has moulded the better phases of modern society, and inspired the humane elements in the laws by which she is governed. She may not have given it all the finish that modern reformers think it might have attained ; but we must not forget that, in this case, the Church is much like the skilful master, who gives his scholar, not all the instruction that he would desire to impart, but all that the latter has aptitude to receive. Moreover, society when properly constituted, depends for the legality of its existence upon the principles of which the Church is the guardian and best exponent. But though a Divine institution, we must not forget that this Church accomplishes her mission to men, in part, by human agencies. She forms and associates, she fosters and encourages; but it is not given, even to her, to create. This is why the work of the Church is not an absolutely perfect work, in all its details. But let us be just ; let us judge her as we would judge any representative body ; let us consult her official declarations, and examine the efforts she has made to render these declarations effective ; above all, let us not forget the feeble instruments with which she has worked, and the great obstacles she has had to surmount.

We shall not attempt to speak of those famous universities, the names of which are known to every educated person, and which owed their vigor and intellectual prowess to learned priests and monks ; we prefer to see whether the masses of the people were provided for ; whether they were left in ignorance and servility, or if the Church raised her voice, and employed her power and influence to ameliorate their condition.

Primary Christian education begins with the organization of the Church. Christ was Himself a primary teacher; His apostles were the earliest Christian educators. " Suffer little children to come unto me/* said the Divine Master; thereby He made of His Church a grand school, in which there is room for all. None are exempt from the invitation ; for the sublimest genius, as well as the most limited intelligence, is that of a child when there is question of the mysteries of our holy religion. A sublime origin is this of Christian education. The foundation was laid ; the erection of the superstructure was only a question of time. During the first three centuries the work of instructing had to be done by stealth. The Church was recognized only to be hunted down. Under the ban of persecuting emperors and blood-thirsty governors, her home was the catacombs, her pulpit the executioner's block. The only privilege granted her was an occasional apology ; ,, her rights were limited to that of sealing her faith, and watering the seed of her belief, with the blood of her children. But, the first ages of persecution ended, she walked abroad among the peoples, scattering her benefits to all ; she renewed her educational efforts, and proved her love of learning b}^ the schools she established in all principal cities. " The Church and the school have been always inseparable for the people."^ As time rolled on, and revolution followed revolution, she still clung to her divine mission. Driven from their cells and their monasteries, her sons seek new retreats. Even when success crowns their efforts, and princes encourage their labors, these pioneers forget not their vocation. When more than sufficiently numerous, they form colonies, and are not afraid to exchange the comforts of an established home for the miasma of the marsh, and the terrors of the forest. Everywhere the children of Benedict and Bruno, of Columba and Clement, spread the good odor of Jesus Christ, and saved the world from falling into barbarism. But, as our object is to draw attention to the efforts that prepared the way for the work of the Venerable de la Salle, we limit ourselves chiefly to the consideration of what had been accomplished in France previous to his time.

The decrees of the early councils in France furnish us with positive evidence concerning the

* Gregory VII, p. 216.

aniversality of schools in that country during the fifth and sixth centuries. But this did not last. Under the degenerate sons of Clovis, learning and sanctity became buried in the disorders that prevailed throughout the kingdom. The genius of Charlemagne remedied the evil.

He collected a body of learned men about him ; he required the bishops and the abbots, in his dominions, to establish schools for the education of the people. His orders vs^ere faithfully obeyed. France became a nursery of learning ; throughout the empire, from the court to the remotest village, schools v^ere established, in which reading, writing, the psalter, singing, computation, and orthography, were taught.

The schools then founded were of various grades : there were those of country curates, in which the parish children were to be gratuitously taught, and especially instructed in the elements of Christian Doctrine ; those attached to bishoprics or abbeys, where the instruction was of a higher grade, chiefly inteiKied for youths who were preparing for ecclesiastical duties ; finally, the school established in the emperor's palace, where the most distinguished men of the empire assembled, and where the emperor personally took part in their literary labors.