Our Patron Saint

St. John Baptist de LaSalle was a French priest who founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and is recognized as the patron saint of educators. He and his order of Brothers created a network of schools throughout France, with a focus on educating children living in poverty. St. John pioneered teaching colleges for lay people, reform schools for troubled students, technical schools, and secondary schools for modern languages, arts, and sciences.

St. John was ordained in 1678. That same year, the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, reached the Niagara River. Along with Henri de Tonti, he was the first European to see the majestic Niagara Falls. “Sieur de La Salle” translates to “lord of the manor,” and was an honorific title rather than a last name. However, the name “La Salle” became associated with the explorer’s travels and thus took on historical significance in our local community. The Village of LaSalle, where our parish was founded, bears the explorer’s name; it was annexed into the City of Niagara Falls in 1927, but is still known as the LaSalle section of the city.

When our parish became the first Catholic church in LaSalle in 1907, St. John Baptist de LaSalle had just been ordained seven years earlier. Although he and the explorer have no relation to each other, they were French contemporaries who shared the common bonds of the LaSalle name. Saint John Baptist de LaSalle was chosen as the parish’s patron saint.