La Salle University - Explorer Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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SIGNS OF THE SPIRIT The Christian Brothers live by the motto Signum Fidei, which can be translated as sign of faith or spirit of faith. The visual symbol of that faith is a five-pointed star, based on the medieval pentangle and deriving from the story of the Magi. The Wise Men lived out faith in following the star of Bethlehem, and they did indeed find the Christ Child at the end of their search. Likewise, the founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Saint John Baptist de la Salle, wished the Brothers to be wise teachers and faith- fully seek out children to educate. The adoption of the motto spirit of faith goes back to the earliest days of the Christian Brothers. John Baptist de la Salle was born into a wealthy, aristocrat- ic family in Reims, France. By 1682 he had formed the firm conviction that God was calling him to be an educator. He gave his fortune to the poor and joined a group of schoolmasters who named themselves the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Although he had to fight some powerful vested interests which exer- cised a monopoly on education in France, he succeeded in founding and teaching in schools of a new kind. His experience in educating the poorest of children, va- grants who had been growing up on the streets, convinced him that only a reli- gious group strengthened by vows could find the courage needed to teach. The Brothers took vows of poverty, chastity, and obdience, and they added a vow to persevere in their vocation and to teach gratuitously. That vow obliges the Broth- ers to teach for no income and to accept no personal gifts from students or their parents. St. La Salle ' s ideal was to rely solely on Divine Providence from the start, and he later formulated the simple motto spirit of faith as an outward sign of the Brothers ' reliance. The truths of Sacred Scripture were al- ways to be the first guide to knowledge and insight through faith. The Brothers were not to allow themselves to judge the children they taught by appearance or in- nate ability; they strove to see each child as an individual unique to all human histo- ry and in need of formation by God ' s teaching. After the suspensions and persecu- tions of the French Revolution, the Broth- ers spread out to all parts of the world, bringing their spirit of faith to new coun- tries and continents. They are now in eighty-five countries, including many in the Third World. Seeking from the time of the founder on to adapt and change as needed, the Brothers have always been prepared to modify, but not to compro- mise, the spirit of faith, which is meant to be a whole way of life, not just an inspri- ing slogan. The details of the original concept have changed because theology itself has changed since the seventeenth century. The Church is a living thing, and living things change. In the early days of the Christian Brothers, the secular world was looked on as a trap, an unworthy arena of spiritual living. It was considered danger- ous, and spirituality was thought at that time to consist first of withdrawal. Unique- ly, though, St. La Salle was able to look at the traditions of spirituality and keep the best while adapting them to the demands and tasks of a modern, secular culture. In himself, he was a brilliant blend of the past and the future, because he concen- trated so intensely on the present. So his schools, too, took on his spirit, growing flexible in curriculum and teaching meth- ods. The Brothers look at the secular world in a different way now, and they participate more actively in it. Their stat- ed goal still incorporates the reliance on Divine Prodivence as they work in the spirit of faith to give a good education to everyone and leave the conversion to God. £j2ij Patty Tonelli (with help from Brothers Hugh Albright and Joseph Keenan) 10