De La Salle Brother

Brothers of the Christian Schools

St. John Baptist de la Salle or Saint Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, (1651–1719), Founder
Abbreviation	F.S.C.
Motto	"Signum fidei" Latin, ("Sign of faith")
Type	Religious teaching congregation
Headquarters	Generalate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Location	Rome, Italy
Superior General	Bro. Robert Schieler, F.S.C.
Key people	St. John Baptist de La Salle – founder
Website	Lasalle.org

The Brothers of the Christian Schools (also known as the Christian Brothers, the Lasallian Brothers, the French Christian Brothers, or the De La Salle Brothers; French: Frères des écoles chrétiennes; Latin: Fratres Scholarum Christianarum) is a Roman Catholic religious teaching congregation, founded in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651–1719), and now based in Rome. The Brothers use the post-nominal abbreviation F.S.C. to denote their membership of the order, and the honorific title Brother, abbreviated Br.. The Lasallian Christian Brothers are not the same order as the Irish Christian Brothers.

There are 560 Lasallian educational institutions around the world which, assisted by more than 73,000 lay colleagues, teach over 900,000 students in over 80 countries, from impoverished nations such as Nigeria to post-secondary institutions such as Bethlehem University, Manhattan College, and the La Salle Universities in Philadelphia. The central administration of the Brothers operates out of the Generalate in Rome and is made up of the Superior General and his councillors. A number of Lasallian institutions have been accused of, and have admitted and apologised for, longstanding and serious physical and sexual abuse against their charges.

The order was founded by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, a French priest from a wealthy family. In March, 1679, La Salle met Adrian Nyel in a chance encounter at the Convent of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus. Nyel asked for De La Salle's help in opening free schools for the poor boys in Reims. A novitiate and normal school were established in Paris in 1694. La Salle spent his life teaching poor children in parish charity schools, and was canonized as a saint on 15 May 1900. In 1950 Pope Pius XII declared him to be the "Special Patron of All Teachers of Youth in the Catholic Church".

The order, approved by Pope Benedict XIII in 1725, rapidly spread over France. It was dissolved by a decree of the National Assembly set up after the French revolution in February 1790, but recalled by Napoleon I in 1804 and formally recognized by the French government in 1808. Since then its members penetrated into nearly every country of Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Australia.