Brother Solomon 1745-1792

Nicholas Leclercq, the future Brother Solomon, was born in France, on 14 November 1745, to a well-to-do merchant family trading wines, spirits, salt and timber.  

His parents were good religious people and his mother in particular loved the Church and had a great devotion to Our Lady.   

The spiritual life of his family influenced Nicholas a lot The spiritual life of his family influenced Nicholas a lot. He said of his mother: “She fostered in me the desire to serve God.”

Young Nicholas attended the school run by the De La Salle Brothers in the town. He was a studious pupil and showed early signs of a preference for the quiet life of study and reading.

On finishing secondary school, Nicholas felt a call to the religious life. However, because of war and the poor economic situation, he had to wait until he was 22 years old to answer the call.

At the age of 22, he joined the De La Salle Brothers and received the Habit the following year, taking the name Brother Solomon.

After training, Brother Solomon was sent to the Lasallian school in Rennes, where he taught the youngest children. His class numbered not less than 120 boys!

After teaching for some time, he was allowed one year off to take a course of study to develop his teaching skills.

He was appointed Director of the Brothers’ Training School in 1772. He wrote to his sister asking her to pray that the Lord grant him the necessary understanding to guide the young Brothers along the right path.

In 1777, Brother Solomon was put in charge of the material needs of the house. He had to think about practical matters ranging from food for his Brothers to maintenance of the house and the properties. Although this kind of work did not suit him, he carried it out to the best of his ability.

In 1787 Brother Solomon was surprised to be appointed secretary to the Superior General. Besides secretarial work, he had to travel with the Superior General visiting schools and communities. On these travels, he noticed that the country was getting worse and the poor were almost starving.

The French Revolution erupted with the fall of the Bastille Prison on July 14th, 1789. The anger of the revolutionaries was also directed against priests and religious who were forced to take an oath to support the Civil Constitution which gave complete control to the State over the Church. Anyone who refused was imprisoned.

On the 15th of August 1792, about fifty “revolutionaries” broke into the Brothers’ house on the Rue Neuve in Paris. They took Brother Solomon and brought him to the Carmelite Prison.

The day before his arrest, he had written a lengthy letter to his sister Marie, where among other things we read “We suffer gratefully and happily the crosses and afflictions that God will send us”.

On 2nd September, 1792, Brother Solomon was killed by the sword in the monastery garden for refusing to take the oath of the Civil Constitution. He was only 46 years old.

Brother Solomon, together with a group of 151 victims of those terrible years, was beatified on the 17th October 1926 by Pope Pius XI. A miracle, through the intercession of Brother Solomon, was approved in 2016. He will be canonized on the 16th of October 2016.

Concluding Prayer: Heavenly Father, strengthen us by the example of our martyr, Brother Solomon, that we may always follow our conscience and train our students in the way of justice and peace. May we all grow in wisdom and integrity of character and develop a true sense of values. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen St. Brother Solomon Pray for us St. John Baptist de La Salle Live Jesus in Our Hearts Forever