Juan María de la Mennais was born in 1780 in Sain Malo, France. He was ordained as a priest in 1805 and later became Bishop of Sant-Brieuc in 1815. In 1819, he founded the Institute of the Brothers of Christian Instruction along with Gabriel Deshaves. By the end of his life, the order had grown to 852 brothers running 349 schools, as Juan María worked to establish education for all people. He died in 1860.