this issue presents a stamp with the effigy of St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, on the 300^th anniversary of his death.

The founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was born in Reims on 30 April 1651. He very soon felt the priestly vocation; at the age of eleven he received his first tonsure and in 1678 he was ordained a priest. With Adriano Nyel, a layman particularly interested in educating the poor, he opened free schools for children, assisted by local priests whom he trained for this mission. Over the years he created a religious congregation for free schools, where the vocation was based on natural and acquired abilities, as well as a “a lay consecration”. In 1684, he and the first twelve Brothers took annual vows of obedience and stability. Three years later, a seminary for country teachers and the novitiate was inaugurated in Reims with numerous applicants. Simultaneously, La Salle began to develop the rule of the congregation and to continue his pedagogical and spiritual works.

The congregation faced many obstacles and harsh trials, but with prayer and suffering the saint overcame them.  Despite often fierce opposition, the religious family developed with establishments in Avignon, Chartres, St. Omen, Grenoble, Marseille, Langres, Autun, Boulogne, Alais, Mende and Usez.

He fell asleep in the Lord on 7 April 1719.