“We have undertaken to teach secular sciences only to make it easier to teach catechism every day.” Marcellin Champagnat was born in France in 1789, the ninth child of a prosperous peasant family.

Anne-Marie Javouhey came from a family of wealthy farmers in France.

Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God (Jn 3:2). Jesus was a teacher, and taught his disciples to be teachers as well: Go and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19). To instruct the ignorant has been a preeminent work of mercy since the days of the Apostles (see Acts 6:2).