Dear Brother Superior General, Brothers Capitulants and Partners Consultants:

For me also it is a great honour and a pleasure to be present here on this particular occasion, and I thank the Visitor of Rome, Brother Mario Presciuttini, for having given me the chance to present this book to you and to personally offer it to you as a tribute.

Being directly involved in the precise theme confided to Elena, on the relation between the composer Gounod and the Founder, I worked on the topic with her and, right from the beginning of the research, I thought about presenting the main points of the life of De La Salle, pioneer of the education of poor children, making use of what is contained in the Apostolic Letter, in the form of a Brief, written by Pope Leo XIII, Ad perpetuam rei memoriam, on the occasion of the beatification of De La Salle on the 19th of February 1888 in Rome.

The biography of the composer Charles Gounod, on the contrary, demanded a long study of numerous French texts in order to assemble the most important features of his life.

I was fascinated by these two great charismatic figures who lived at widely separated periods and had such different life experiences. I wondered what motives had incited Gounod to compose, on several occasions, pieces dedicated to La Salle, and what were the similarities and dissimilarities of the two personalities. Here are my first conclusions: the same country of origin, France, and the same spirituality transmitted by theological studies at the Seminary of Saint Sulpice. (It is a fact that Gounod spent several months at Saint Sulpice and signed his letters "Abbé Charles Gounod"). This spiritual yearning which became more and more ardent in times of crisis and interior conflict, together with the other elements, are what mostly link the musician and the Saint.

What on the contrary fundamentally distinguishes the two personalities comes from the nature of each. Gounod is wavering, wandering and aesthetically inclined, while De La Salle shows a solid constancy, persistence and humility, qualities which Pope Leo XIII himself underlines in the Brief of 19th of February 1888.

Gounod, with a concern for truth, had the merit in the latter years of his life, to recognise his own failings and make a definite move to come closer to God. In lucid old age, recalling his stay in England which was prolonged because of a marriage and moral crisis during the years of the Franco-Prussian war, he thought that he had stayed in London "in order to live out there the great error of his life".

This firmness of intention of the Founder therefore, his unwavering love of God and his example of humility, along with the untiring efforts of the Brothers for the human and Christian education of poor children, are the main factors which aroused the admiration and the attraction of the composer, to the point of causing him to create these very beautiful musical pages.

I hope that this work will be able to contribute to spreading the knowledge in present-day society of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, whose image has inspired and continues to inspire today the creative activity of great persons of genius.

I leave you now, recalling some lines which end a poem which the Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, who died a short time ago, addresses to his beloved wife: "In your hand is mine, Elsa, as we look at the snow falling slowly, and we love it". For the present occasion I offer this rendering: "In your hands are our hands, De La Salle, and together we look at your growing work, and we love it".

I recall and thank several persons present who have supported and encouraged our work: Brother John Johnston, Superior General; Brother Álvaro Rodríguez Echeverría, Vicar General; Brother Martín Corral Alcalde, General Councillor; Brother Rodolfo Meoli, Postulator General; Brother René Galière, Librarian; Brother André Rocher, Archivist; and all of you for your attention.