SAINT OF THE DAY
WEDNESDAY, 31 JANUARY, 2024
SAINT JOHN BOSCO
PRIEST
(16 August 1815 - 31 January 1888)
John Bosco was born on the 16th of August 1815, in Becchi, Castelnuovo, Italy. He came from a family of poor farmers. He lost his father, Francesco, at the age of two. His mother Margherita raised him with tenderness and taught him to pray, to cultivate the soil and to see God behind the beauty of the heavens, the abundance of the harvest, the rain which showered the vines. For John, to pray meant to speak with God on his knees on the kitchen pavement, to think of him while seated on the grass, gazing at the heavens. From his mother, John learned to see God also in other faces, those of the poor or those of the miserable ones who came knocking at the door of the house during winter, and to whom Margherita gave hot soup, mended shoes.
THE GREAT DREAM: At the age of nine, Don Bosco had his first, great dream. He saw a multitude of very poor boys who play and blaspheme. A Man of majestic appearance told him: With meekness and charity you will conquer these your friends; and a Lady just as majestic added: Make yourself humble, strong and robust. At the right time you will understand everything.
John studied the jugglers, tricks and the acrobats secrets. One Sunday evening, John gave his first performance in front of the kids from the neighbouring houses. He performed balancing miracles with pots and pans on the tip of his nose. Then he jumped up on a rope strung between two trees, and walked on it applauded by the young spectators. Then he repeated for them the sermon he heard at the morning Mass. The games and the Word of God began transforming his little friends who were encouraged to pray with John.
In February 1827, John left his home and went to look for work as a farm-servant. He was only 12 but life at home was unbearable on account of the continuous quarrels with his brother Anthony, who threw away his books and belted him. He worked on the Moglia farm, near Moncucco, during three years. During the long nights of winter time and during summer, sitting under the trees while the cows stripped their leaves, he went back to his books and studies. After Anthony married three years later, John returned home and resumed his schooling. To provide for his needs he learnt different trades: tailor, blacksmith, barman, and he even coached students after classes. Soon, John founded the Happy Club for young boys. At 20 years of age, John Bosco entered the Seminary.
HE BECOMES DON BOSCO: On June 5, 1841, the archbishop of Turin ordained John Bosco a priest. He went to look for the abadoned boys in the streets of Turin. Near the city public market he discovered a real market of young workers, peddlers, shoe polishers, stable-boys, vendors of any kind, errand boys etc. These boys who roamed the streets of Turin were the wicked effect of an event that was throwing the world into confusion: the industrial revolution. It caused the gathering of great number of families below the poverty line in the slums of the cities, coming in from the countryside in search of a better life.
BOYS IN PRISON: To see so many boys, from 12 to 18 years of age, all healthy, strong, intelligent, insect bitten, lacking spiritual and material food in the prison, horrified Don Bosco. In the face of such a situation he made his decision: I must by any available means prevent boys ending up here. Don Bosco met the first boy on December 8, 1841. He took care of him. Three days later there were nine, three months later twenty five and in summer eighty. They were pavers, stone-cutters, masons, plasterers who came from far away places. Thus was born the youth centre, "oratorio". For Don Bosco the oratorio became his permanent occupation and he looked for jobs for the ones who were unemployed. He tried to obtain a fairer treatment for those who had jobs, he taught those willing to study after their days work. Twice he tried to provide lodgings in his house. The first time they stole the blankets; the second they even emptied the hay-loft.
MONEY PROBLEMS: After the youngster from Valsesia, another six boys arrived that same year. In the first months money became a dramatic problem for Don Bosco. It would remain a problem throughout his life. His first benefactor was his own mother. Mamma Margherita, at age 59, had left her house at Becchi to become mother to these poor boys. In order to provide for them, she sold her wedding ring, her earrings and her necklace. The boys sheltered by Don Bosco numbered 36 in 1852, 115 in 1854, 470 in 1860 and 600 in 1861, 800 being the maximum some time later. Some of these boys decided to do what Don Bosco was doing, that is, to spend their lives in the service of abandoned boys. And this was the origin of the Salesian Congregation.
Some employers made servants and scullery-boys of the apprentices. Don Bosco obliged them to employ them only in their acknowledged trade. Employers used to beat the boys. Don Bosco required of them that corrections be made only through words. He cared for their health, he demanded that they be given rest on feast days, that they be given their annual holidays. But in spite of all the efforts and contracts, the situation of the apprentices of the time remained very difficult.
BASHING LEATHER AND PUSHING AN AWL: In autumn 1853 Don Bosco begun shoemaking and tailoring shops in the Oratory at Valdocco. He taught them how to manage an awl and pack-thread. Don Bosco built other shops aimed at training book-binders, carpenters, printers and mechanics; six shops in which the privileged place was reserved for orphans, the poor and totally abandoned boys. To take care of these shops Don Bosco invented a new type of religious: the Coadjutors or Salesian Brothers. Similar shops were very soon built in other Salesian presences outside Turin. The Salesian Brothers have the same dignity and rights as those of the Salesian Priests and clerics, but they are specialized people for professional schools. (At the time of Don Bosco's death, the Salesian professional schools numbered 14 in all. They existed in Italy, France, Spain and Argentina. The number later would grow to 200 across the world).
DEVOTION TO MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS: For Don Bosco, the Immaculate Virgin, Mary Help of Christians, was the ever-present Mother who helps her children daily, going to their rescue and leading them to Jesus. "Be devoted to Mary Help of Christians", he would often say, "and you will see what miracles are!" According to Don Bosco, Mary is the powerful Helper who defends the Church and the Pope from every kind of danger.
DON BOSCO, PREACHER: Don Bosco was in constant demand as a pulpit preacher. He accepted all engagements for the sake of the excellent public relations thus established for his work. Valuable lieutenants were drawn to devote their lives to his work, among them Dominic Savio, John Cagliero who, before becoming a Cardinal, led the first missionary expedition sent forth by the Salesians, and Paul Albera, destined to be one of his successors as the Head of the Salesian Congregation.
DREAMS AND VISIONS OF DON BOSCO: Through Dreams and Visions, God used to reveal His will for the Saint and for the boys of the Oratory, as well as the future of the Salesian Congregation. Not only did his dreams lead and direct the Saint, they also gave him wisdom and guidance by which he was able to help and guide others upon their ways. He was just nine years of age when he had his first dream that laid out his life mission. Through dreams God let him know the boys' state of their souls. On February 1, 1865 St. John Bosco announced that one of the boys will die soon. He knew the boy through the dream the night before. On March 16, 1865, Anthony Ferraris passed away after receiving the Last Sacraments. John Bisio, who helped Anthony and his mother during the former's last hour, confirmed the story of his part in this episode by a formal oath, concluding as foIlows: "Don Bosco told us many other dreams concerning Oratory boys' deaths. We believed them to be true prophecies. We still do, because unfailingly they came true. During the seven years I lived at the Oratory, not a boy died without Don Bosco predicting his death. We were also convinced that whoever died there under his care and assistance surely went to heaven." Among his more intense dreams, were the Dreams of the reality of Hell and the Two Pillars, the Eucharist and Mary.
I HAVE DONE NOTHING: Besides the Salesians, Don Bosco founded the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Salesian Cooperators. He built the Sanctuary of Mary Help of Christians at Valdocco and founded 59 Salesian houses in six nations. He started the Salesian Missions in Latin America sending there Salesian priests, brothers and sisters. He published a series of popular books for ordinary Christians and for boys. He invented a System of Education founded on three values: Reason, Religion and Loving kindness. Very soon people saw in it an ideal system to educate the young. When somebody would tell Don Bosco the list of the works he performed, he would interrupt the person and immediately say: I have done nothing by myself. It is the Virgin Mary who has done everything. She had traced out his road in the famous dream he had when he was nine. Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888, at dawn. To the Salesians who were keeping vigil around his bed he said in a whisper these last words: Love each other as brothers. Do good to all and evil to none... Tell my boys that I wait for them all in Paradise.
PATRON: Apprentices; boys; editors; laborers; schoolchildren; students; young people.
PRAYER: O glorious Saint John Bosco, who in order to lead young people to the feet of the divine Master and to mould them in the light of faith and Christian morality didst heroically sacrifice thyself to the very end of thy life and didst set up a proper religious Institute destined to endure and to bring to the farthest boundaries of the earth thy glorious work, obtain also for us from Our Lord a holy love for young people who are exposed to so many seductions in order that we may generously spend ourselves in supporting them against the snares of the devil, in keeping them safe from the dangers of the world, and in guiding them, pure and holy, in the path that leads to God. Amen.