This great champion of the education of the poor was born into and for a time embraced a life of comfort that gave no indication of the direction in which a chance encounter was to steer him.

In 1679 a layman Adrien Nyel who had opened four free schools for poor children in Rouen asked him for help in opening a similar school in Reims. He trained many teachers for this task.

He wanted to develop a community devoted to Christian teaching but not ordained priests. He and twelve teachers took a simple vow of obedience and called themselves ‘Brothers of the Christian Schools’. Their success was immediate and considerable to the extent that that they were seen as a threat by fee paying schools. His congregation expanded greatly. He was canonized in 1900 and in 1950 he was declared patron of all teachers of young people.