The purpose of this Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools is to give a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor, according to the ministry which the Church has entrusted to it.

Our Founder, St. John Baptist de La Salle, gave a new meaning to the school by making it accessible to the poor and offering it to all as a sign of the Kingdom and as a means of salvation. The Christian school is the preferred field for the activity of the Brothers. But our Institute also explores other possibilities for teaching and education more adapted to the needs of time and place.

John Baptist de La Salle, as he became aware, by God's grace, of the human and spiritual distress of "the children of the artisans and the poor" devoted himself to forming schoolmasters totally dedicated to teaching and to Christian education. He brought these teachers together in a community and subsequently founded with them our Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

We Brothers, in fidelity to the call of the Spirit and the charism of our Founder, consecrate ourselves to God in order to exercise, by association, our apostolic ministry of education.

(Adapted from The Rule of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Article 3)