The Letters of John Baptist De La Salle
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The Letters of John Baptist de La Salle Frontispiece: John Baptist de La Salle, portrait by Pierre Léger, dated 1734, pre- served in the Rome archives of the Institute. Photo by E. Rousset (J.-B. de La Salle; Iconographie, Boulogne: Limet, 1979, plate 5). The Letters of John Baptist de La Salle Translation, introduction, and commentary by Colman Molloy, FSC Edited with additional commentary by Augustine Loes, FSC 1988, reprinted 2007 Lasallian Publications This first volume of Lasallian Publications is dedicated to Maurice- Auguste Hermans, FSC (1911–1987), Doctor of Canon Law, former As- sistant Superior General and Procurator General of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, in appreciation for his scholarship and his commitment to Saint John Baptist de La Salle and to the Institute. Lasallian Publications Sponsored by the Regional Conference of Christian Brothers of the United States of America and of Toronto, Canada Editorial Board, 1988 Joseph Schmidt, FSC Executive Director Daniel Burke, FSC Bonaventure Miner, FSC Miguel Campos, FSC William Quinn, FSC Ronald Isetti, FSC Luke Salm, FSC Augustine Loes, FSC Gregory Wright, FSC William Mann, FSC 2007 reprint in accord with the updated French text in Œuvres Complètes (Rome: Maison Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, 1993) Paul Grass, FSC, copy editor and typesetter; Alfred Calcutt, FSC, Alain Houry, FSC, Augustine Loes, FSC, Luke Salm, FSC, consultants The Letters of John Baptist de La Salle is volume 1 of Lasallian Sources: The Complete Works of John Baptist de La Salle Copyright © 1988 by Christian Brothers Conference All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress catalog card number 87-83220 ISBN 0-944808-01-8 Cover: John Baptist de La Salle, an engraving by Jean-Claude Manigaud (before 1888) that reproduces the 1734 portrait by Pierre Léger. Photo by E. Rousset (J.-B. de La Salle; Iconographie, Boulogne: Limet, 1979, plate 6). A Note About Lasallian Publications This volume is the first in a series of publications intended to make available to the English reader the life and writings of John Baptist de La Salle together with the rich heritage bequeathed by this seventeenth-century French saint, educator, spiritual writer, and Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Lasallian Publications will include 13 volumes of the writings of De La Salle, the 3 early biographies, 4 volumes of of thematic studies of various as- pects of the life of De La Salle and the origins of the Institute, 3 volumes of current research, and several volumes devoted to Lasallian studies. These publications will be drawn mainly from the documents published and analyzed in the monumental collections known as the Cahiers lasalliens. Presently numbering some 46 volumes, that series is the result of a decision by the 38th General Chapter of the Institute (held in Rome in 1956) to sponsor Lasallian research. The inspiration for this decision came from Father André Rayez, SJ, whose essays on Lasallian studies and Lasallian spirituality appeared in 1952 and 1955 in Revue d’Ascétique et de Mystique. In the course of his research for these essays, Father Rayez took the occasion to alert the superiors of the Institute to what had already been done and what needed to be done for a more sophisticated and scholarly study of the Lasallian texts. Fortunately at that moment, perhaps for the first time in its three-hundred-year history, the Institute had the qualified men and the resources for such an undertaking. Since its inception, the Cahiers lasalliens series has been under the general di- rection and editorship of Brother Maurice-Auguste Hermans, who spent over 50 years of service to the Institute in the Generalate in Rome. Brother Maurice died in 1987. The first volume of the Cahiers lasalliens is a study by Brother Michel Sauvage of the New Testament sources for De La Salle’s Méditations pour le temps de la retraite. Volumes 2, 3, and 11, authored by Brother Maurice, treat the vari- ous aspects of the foundation of the Institute prior to the papal Bull of Appro- bation granted in 1725. Volumes 45 and 46 contain the doctoral dissertation of Brother Miguel Campos, an extensive and profound study of De La Salle’s spir- itual odyssey as manifested in specific moments of his life and expressed in the Méditations pour le temps de la retraite. The biographies of De La Salle written by his contemporaries are present- ed in their original published form, with appropriate introductory material, in volumes 4 through 9 of the Cahiers. All of De La Salle’s extant writings, with in- troduction and commentary, are to be found in volumes 10 through 25. Volumes 26 through 42 of the Cahiers lasalliens contain the published results of the lifelong research of Brother Léon de Marie Aroz. These volumes present v vi ✦ The Letters of John Baptist de La Salle documents pertaining to all aspects of the life and work of De La Salle: famil- ial, civil, ecclesiastical, theological, educational, and financial. Not content with the documents that were known to exist, Brother Léon conducted an intensive search of municipal, departmental, and national archives all over France. This material is published, much of it for the first time, in the Cahiers lasalliens, with photographs of the original documents, extensive introductions, and scholarly commentary. The Cahiers lasalliens series is by no means complete, and Lasallian scholar- ship continues to develop. Volume 5, dealing with the Founder’s Mémoire sur l’habit, has yet to appear. Volumes 43 and 44 presumably await further results from the research of Brother Léon de Marie Aroz. Meanwhile a new Lasallian scholar is emerging in the person of Brother Jean-Guy Rodrigue, a Canadian, whose research on the sources of the Founder’s Méditations pour les Dimanches et les principales Fêtes de l’année is soon to be published in the Cahiers. Not all the recent research and publication relative to De La Salle and the origins of the Institute is confined to the volumes of the Cahiers. A notable ex- ception is the doctoral dissertation of Brother Michel Sauvage published in 1962 in Paris under the title, Catéchèse et Laïcat. This seminal work treats of the role of the laity in the ministry of the Church, with special attention to the original- ity of the role De La Salle established for the teaching Brother in this context. Another independently published doctoral dissertation that has contributed significantly to our understanding of De La Salle and his times is the work of Brother Yves Poutet. The study, Le XVIIe Siècle at les Origines lasalliennes, com- prising two enormous volumes, was published in Rennes, France, in 1970. De La Salle’s educational and catechetical writings have been the special object of the research of Brother Jean Pungier. To date he has published com- mentaries on De La Salle’s Conduite des Écoles chrétiennes and a source study with commentary on the catechetical sections of the Founder’s Les Devoirs d’un Chré- tien envers Dieu. Brother Jean continues his research in the Generalate of the Brothers in Rome. In addition to these studies by seasoned scholars, many other monographs and essays have appeared over the last twenty years dealing with the education or spiritual vision of De La Salle. Most of these were originally research papers or dissertations written to fulfill requirements for advanced degrees in European universities and catechetical centers such as the Lateran University and the now defunct Jesus Magister Institute in Rome, the Institut Catholique in Paris, Lumen Vitae in Brussels, the Catholic University in Louvain, and the Pius X Pontifical Institute conducted by the Brothers in Salamanca. This brief survey of recent Lasallian scholarship provides a context in which to understand the timeliness of Lasallian Publications. Lasallian Publications [updated list, 2007] Sponsored by Christian Brothers Conference (Regional Conference of Christ- ian Brothers of the United States of America and Toronto), the Lasallian Pub- lica-tions project includes eighteen volumes on the life, writings, and work of John Baptist de La Salle (1651–1719), Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and on the early history of the Brothers. Lasallian Sources: The Complete Works of John Baptist de La Salle The Letters of John Baptist de La Salle. Translated and edited by Colman Molloy, FSC, and Augustine Loes, FSC. Volume 1 of Lasallian Sources: The Complete Works of John Baptist de La Salle, 1988, 2003. The Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility. Translated by Richard Arnandez, FSC. Edited by Gregory Wright, FSC. Volume 2 of Lasallian Sources: The Com- plete Works of John Baptist de La Salle, 1990. Collection of Various Short Treatises. Translated by William J. Battersby, FSC. Edited by Daniel Burke, FSC. Volume 3 of Lasallian Sources: The Complete Works of John Baptist de La Salle, 1993. Meditations by John Baptist de La Salle. Translated by Richard Arnandez, FSC, and Augustine Loes, FSC. Edited by Augustine Loes, FSC, and Francis Huether, FSC. Volume 4 of Lasallian Sources: The Complete Works of John Baptist de La Salle, 1994. Explanation of the Method of Interior Prayer. Translated by Richard Arnandez, FSC. Revised translation by Donald C. Mouton, FSC, editor. Volume 5 of Lasal- lian Sources: The Complete Works of John Baptist de La Salle, 1995. The Conduct of the Christian Schools. Translated by F. de La Fontainerie and Richard Arnandez, FSC. Edited with notes by William Mann, FSC. Volume 6 of Lasallian Sources: The Complete Works of John Baptist de La Salle, 1996. Rule and Foundational Documents. Translated and edited by Augustine Loes, FSC, and Ronald Isetti.