St. John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, was born, grew up, and founded his Congregation during a time of turmoil in Italy. Europe was in the later stage of the industrial revolution which still deeply effected the Italian society. The Italian peninsula had always been made up of several kingdoms, with the Papal States in the middle and surrounding Rome. During the Napoleon Regime, the Pope was imprisoned and the Papal States were controlled by Napoleon. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 marked the end of this regime and returned these states to Pope Pius VII after he was released from the imprisonment on May 24, 1814 . The Kingdom of Lombardo-Venetian in the north was ruled by the Austrian Emperor. In total, Italy during this time was made up of ten different regional states. Inspired by the French Revolution and the American Revolution across the ocean, the Italian people from all these regional states also wanted to have a unified and independent country. They did not want to have the Papal States in the middle of the peninsula; and they also wanted to end the era of absolute authority of the monarchy and of the Holy See, thus the anticlerical sentiment during the time of Don Bosco. The liberal revolution movement was to end the Austrian domination, but it also aimed at ending the absolutist rule of the monarchy. Don Bosco grew up and received all his education and formation in this period, which was also called the period of the Restoration. The liberal revolution started in 1848, led by Camillo Cavour of Piedmont, Don Bosco’s birthplace, and the military leader Garibaldi. Italy was unified in 1870 when Don Bosco was 54 years-old. His Congregation was founded only fifteen years before. Don Bosco never sympathized with the liberal movement because they attacked the Church that he loved. Camillo Cavour was a supporter of Don Bosco’s works because he saw them as good services for the society he was establishing, even though Cavour did not really care about religion and the Church. In general, Don Bosco faced a lot of oppositions from the revolutionists because they saw him as a clergy man, a priest of the Church they considered as the enemy of the unified country. The Pope who was Don Bosco’s main supporter and approved the founding of his Society, was also a victim of the Italian liberal revolution and unification, Pope Pius IX . When the revolution broke out in 1848, Rome was attacked and became the property of the radicals, Mazzini and Garibaldi. Pope Pius IX was forced to flee, but with help from the French, he was able to return to Rome less than a year later. However, the Papal authority over Rome and the Papal States was never restored. That prompted the Pope to declare in 1871 that he was the prisoner of Vatican, that he was to never leave Rome until it is given back to the Papal authority.
Family and childhood
Amidst all these upheavals, the world and the Church received a gift from heaven whose mission was to take care of the little victims of the turmoil of the time. John Bosco was born on August 15, 1816 in a small village outside of Turin, the capital of the Piedmont region in North Italy. The name of the village was Becchi. His father, Francis Bosco, died when John was two years-old and left behind his wife Margaret an elderly mother and three young boys: Anthony, Joseph and John Bosco. Anthony was actually John’s step-brother, who was not very supportive of little John in his pursuit of education and the priesthood vocation. Joseph was very close to John since childhood and remained John’s supporter throughout his life and ministry. Margaret was a courageous and holy woman who single-handedly took care of an elderly mother-in-law and three young boys to their adulthoods. She played key role in nurturing and guiding John Bosco in his priesthood vocation, and his mission to serve the poor youth later. Margaret Bosco’s cause of beatification was introduced in 1997. The family was very poor and had to rely on the little farm land they had owned from John’s grandfather’s generation. As soon as a boy in the family came of age, he would have to work on the farm to support the family. It had not always been easy for Margaret Bosco to find enough food to feed the growing boys, but she was always generously sharing what little she had to the poorer neighbors. Little John experienced the hardship of the common people from an early age; but he also learned to be charitable and generous to others from his holy mother.
At the age of nine, John had a dream that he later recognized as the vision of his future vocation. In his dream, John saw himself in the middle of a crowd of rough boys, fighting and swearing. In trying to stop them from these bad behaviors, he even used punches and kicks, which only made the situation worse. At that moment, a man dressed in noble and bright garment appeared, told John that he had to win over the youngsters not by fist but by heart. When John complained that he did not understand, the noble man pointed to a woman in glorious appearance. What John now saw was no longer a group of boys but a herd of wild and dangerous animals. Then when the woman told John to look at the vision of his future work, those wild animals had turned to lambs and sheep running around them. She then assured John that she would remain being the guide and support in his life; and he had to be humble and courageous to fulfill his mission in this world. Different people in his family took this dream differently, but only his mother Margaret saw it as a prediction of something great in the life of her bright and passionate son.
John was an intelligent boy, very outgoing and very athletic. He possessed a friendly personality that attracted others easily, especially friends his age. With the great spiritual influence from his mother and with a keen mind on spiritual and religious matters, John was able to give good and practical faith lessons to the youngsters in his village when he was a youngster himself. People often found him gathering children in the village, and after entertaining them with some magic tricks or an acrobat demonstration, he made them pay him by listening to his faith instruction or his reciting of the sermon from the previous Sunday Mass that he had memorized.
Seeing this great potential, his mother made all effort to send him to school even though it was extremely hard for a poor family like hers at that time.
God providently sent different people into his life to help him fulfill his vocation. A local priest, Fr. Joseph Calosso, took John under his wing, provided all necessary means for John to receive proper education. Not having a father since the age of two, John saw in Fr. Calosso a great father figure in whom he put all his trust and affection. That was also why Fr. Calosso’s death when John turned fifteen caused him great emotional suffering. The loss of two father figures at a young age also partly contributes to John’s vocation choice later in life: the vocation to take care of poor and abandoned youth.
To continue with the pursuit of education and priesthood, John had to leave home and took on different jobs to support himself. He worked on a farm, tutored children of wealthy families, worked in a tailor shop, shoe shop, carpentry shop, print shop, etc. to earn enough money for his living and his education expenses. Regardless of his hard works, John still excelled in all areas in school due to his natural intelligence and his hard work. The labor skills that he learned during his adolescent years helped him to provide the youngsters in his future ministry with the technical skills they needed for their own lives.
Following his dream and vocation
November 1835, John entered the seminary in Chieri and started studying for the Archdiocese of Turin. Throughout his seminary years, John received many supports from friends and clergies who knew of his good nature and passion for the priestly vocation. John was, however, not always sure of his particular vocation. He only knew that he wanted to dedicate his life completely to the Lord in the priesthood. Italy during this time experienced the surplus of diocesan priests. There were so many of them that there were not enough ministries for them to do. Many fell into the comfortable life to the point of scandal. John was dismayed to see the negative effects of the clericalism of his time. He was disappointed to see how many of the priests were so distant and cold to the common people, especially the poor and the young. He wrote in his biographical memoir that he promised to himself he would never become one of those cold and indifferent priests toward young people. At one point, he even considered joining the Franciscan Order in the wish to pursue holiness, but also in a dream, he was advised not to join the Franciscans for he would not find peace there .
Beginning in the seminary years and continuously throughout his ministry, John faithfully and obediently put himself under the spiritual direction and guidance of a young priest, Fr. Joseph Cafasso. Under his direction, John made many important decisions concerning his priestly vocation and his ministry. Dead at the young age forty-nine in 1860, Fr. Cafasso had always been the strongest supporter of John Bosco’s vocation. Fr. Cafasso was canonized saint by Pope Pius XII in 1947.
Even early on in his life in the seminary, John’s life reflected a total dedication to the mission of service for others. At the retreat to prepare for his deaconate ordination in 1841, he made the following resolutions:
• I shall be rigorous in the use of my time.
• When it is a question of saving souls, I shall suffer, work, and humble myself.
• Since work is a powerful weapon against the enemies of my soul, I shall not take more than five or six hours of sleep. I shall take no rest during the day, especially after lunch.
On June 5, 1841, John was ordained priest by the Turin Archbishop Fransoni in his private chapel. The reason they did not have the Ordination Mass in the Cathedral as usual was because of the anti-clerical attitude of the government during the time. He did not celebrate his first Mass in his hometown but in the peaceful Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Turin. At the second Mass which was at his hometown and with his mother’s presence, Fr. Bosco could not hold back his tears because to him, everything foretold in that dream at nine and the subsequent dreams had fit into place. He saw his ordination as a further assurance of his vocation in life wherever it might lead. The heroic mother told him after Mass, “Remember, John, to begin to say Mass is to begin to suffer … I am sure that you will pray for me every day and I want nothing more. Never worry about me. From now on you must think only of saving souls … I was born a poor person and we have always been poor. But if you ever become a rich priest one day, I promise you I won’t step over the threshold of your door.” Fr. John took his mother’s forceful recommendation to heart and lived it for the rest of his life. Also under the guidance of Fr. Cafasso, John Bosco turned down many offers to work in wealthy ministry placements and continued his studies in ministries at the Convitto Ecclesiastico, an equivalent to school of pastoral ministry today, to better serve the people and to more clearly understand God’s specific vocation for him.
During his time studying in the Convitto Ecclesiastico, John began to realize the pastoral needs to which he was called to attend. Turin was going through the delayed industrial revolution in Europe. It grew so fast in industry, in buildings and in population that the government could not keep up with the governing and services for its citizens. Such growth also caused poor and dangerous living condition for the working class, the poor and especially the young. What Fr. Bosco saw was a city filled with young workers who were taken advantage of by their bosses, who suffered from physical, emotional and spiritual dangers living in an environment without parental guidance and love. There were many boys leaving homes to move to the city because their parents could not take care of them anymore, and they had to find jobs to support themselves. Crimes among young people were increasing and the city could not control them any longer. Prisons were filled with men and minors which, during this time, did not separate one group from the other. Several times when John Bosco visited prisons, he witnessed the terrible condition in which the young prisoners lived. His heart was moved so much by this whole youth situation that he made the decision to dedicate his whole life to prevent any youth within his reach from having to end up living in this condition.
Ministry to the young in need
Seeing the need of these young boys to have a healthy and loving environment where they could be themselves and could be attended to, Fr. Bosco first gathered young workers in the city on Sundays, organized events for them to have some games, listen to stories, a little faith instruction, then attend Mass that he celebrated just for them. The number of these youngsters kept growing to the point that he had to make the decision to purchase a property where they could come during their days off from work. John Bosco saw the need of the young to be themselves: to have fun, to make friends, to be protected, guided and loved. To meet the needs of the young workers who did not have safe places to stay, he established residences. Eventually, he also added workshops and classrooms in these places so that they could attend classes and be taught trade skills to help them find work. With the help of many benefactors within and outside of the Church, he gradually built many residences like this which he called the Oratory. This model of ministry was continuously developed and modified to the current time. Wherever his Congregation is present, there is always an Oratory in which the first principles of youth ministry are taught and practiced. An Oratory is a home where youth are loved and nurtured, a school where they are taught life skills, a playground where they can be themselves and build friendships with others, and a Church where they can worship and have their spiritual needs met. Many young saints in the Church are the products of this educational system from John Bosco. Two of the prominent ones are St. Dominic Savio, who died at the age of fourteen, and Blessed Laura Vicuña, who died at the age of twelve.
Many boys who first came to Don Bosco (Don is an affectionate term for Father that the boys usually used to call him) now grew up and accepted the invitation to stay with him to help with his growing ministry. In January 1854, the first young men from his Oratories took the cassock, formed themselves around Don Bosco’s leadership and identified themselves as the Society of St. Francis de Sales. The main reason for choosing this saint to be the patron was that John Bosco admired the loving kindness in the charism of this saint, and a spirituality that was down-to-earth, easy to follow, practical for the young and the common people. Beginning from March 1858, Don Bosco started the application process for Rome to grant his Society the status of a Religious Congregation. After much persistence and revisions of the draft of the first Constitution, the Society was officiated on July 23, 1864. However, the Congregation faced so many conflicts and oppositions with the local bishops. The Bishops were concerned that Don Bosco would take away all of the prospective young men for priesthood of their territories. Don Bosco’s approach to training his clerics was so untraditional, different from the current trend of seminarian formation run by the diocesan seminaries. They demanded the Salesian clerics to go through the diocesan formation standard while John Bosco insisted on keeping them in his ministries, all the while asking the Bishops to ordain them just by the fact that they had met his own formation program. When John Bosco finally gave in to have his clerics attend the diocesan seminaries, the number of clerics who remained with the Salesian Society dropped to the critical level. Don Bosco went on to push the process to make his Congregation a Pontifical one so that they could be free of the Bishop’s control. This status was first approved for a period of ten years in 1869. The permanent approval was granted in April 3, 1874. This pontifical status did not put an end but rather intensified the conflict between Don Bosco and the local Bishops, including his long-time friend, Archbishop Gastaldi, whom even Don Bosco lobbied to Pope Pius IX to become the Archbishop of Turin . These on-going conflicts reached the ears of Pope Leo XIII in Rome. He decided to settle it in favor of the Archbishop of Turin even though he was fully aware of Don Bosco’s holiness and the wonderful ministry of the Salesian Congregation. He asked Don Bosco to submit to Archbishop Gastaldi, admit he was wrong and ask for forgiveness from the Archbishop. With humility and obedience to the Holy Father, Don Bosco worked toward the peace as Pope Leo XIII instructed. The Salesian Congregation began to grow in Turin, throughout Italy and also to foreign countries. In 1875, the first missionaries were sent to Argentina. By the time Don Bosco died in 1888, one hundred and fifty Salesians and fifty Sisters were working in seven mission centers and ten houses in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador . The first Salesian missionaries to the United States arrived in San Francisco in March 1897. Today, there are two provinces in the United States: the Eastern Province and the Western Province.
Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888. Today, the Salesians are present in 131 countries with a total of more than 15, 900 members, making it the third largest Religious Congregation for men . In 1872, Don Bosco also founded the Congregation for the Sisters to take care of the girls, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. The co-founder of this Congregation is St. Maria Mazzarello. A third order was founded for lay people and lay priests who want to commit themselves to serve the young and the poor in his spirituality, the Salesian Cooperators. There are twenty-one more independent Religious Congregations that are considered belonging to the Salesian Family because they follow the spirituality, ministry and charism of St. John Bosco. Toward the last years of his life, Don Bosco also took on projects given him by the Holy Father to build the two Basilicas in Italy, the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. John Bosco was canonized saint in1934 by Pope Pius XI. He is given the title Father and Teacher of Youth, patron of young people, of educators, and of editors (because he promoted the use of media in evangelizing).
A general outlook of Don Bosco’s spirituality
Don Bosco was taught by his mother to have a great devotion to the Blessed Lady. He witnessed the solemn declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854, the same year he began forming the first group of Salesian clerics to continue his ministry to serve the young and the poor. He grew to love Our Lady so much that he entrusted all his mission under the guidance and protection of Mary with the title, the Help of Christians. This title was given to Mary by Pope Pius VII when he was released from Napoleon imprisonment in 1814, two years before John Bosco was born. He also established that day, May 24, to be the Feast of Mary Help of Christians. When he founded a congregation for women, he named it The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians Society. The first basilica he built under the order of the Pope was the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, Italy. The way that he convoked miracles, many in number, was always through the devotional prayer to Mary Help of Christians. The Salesians today always begin their work and end their prayers with this short prayer, “Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us.”
Losing his biological father at the age of two, then a loving father figure, Fr. Calosso, at the age of fifteen, John Bosco understood the detrimental effect and emotional need of a child without fatherly love. That personal woundedness also helped him find the appropriate ministerial approach to help poor kids without parents. From this personal condition, he developed keen sensibility toward the loving kindness of God, seeing Him as the loving Father who takes care of the temporal and spiritual needs of his children. For this, he had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart, the title he used to name the second Basilica he built. He also taught his followers to see Jesus and learn from Him the model of a good shepherd in ministering to the poor and abandoned youth in their ministry. This natural inclination toward the loving kindness of God as a Father also led him to the attraction to St. Francis de Sales, a saint who promoted gentleness and kindness in spiritual life.
John Bosco also saw in the Salesian spirituality an incarnational approach to life: believing in the goodness of God in the temporal things, in the human relationships, in the fun of games, in the raw energy of youth, in the sweetness of human love . John always taught his Salesians and his students to relate to God with a natural approach, an open heart: pray to him in short, simple and natural prayers, do simple things with much love, fulfill duties with joy, and relate to others with care and kindness. This Salesian approach is not only an educational and youth pastoral approach, but also the very spiritual life of the Salesian priests, brothers, sisters and anyone who wants to follow his footstep to serve God in the poor and abandoned youth.
Bibliography
Atkin, Nicholas, and Frank Tallett. Priests, Prelates and People: A History of European Catholicism since 1750. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Borgatello, Diego, editor-in-chief. The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco by Giovanni Battista Lemoyne, SDB . Vol I: 1815-1840. New York: Salesiana Publishers, Inc., 1965.
____ The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco by Giovanni Battista Lemoyne, SDB . Vol II: 1841-1846. New York: Salesiana Publishers, Inc., 1966.
____ The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco by Giovanni Battista Lemoyne, SDB . Vol IV: 1850-1853. New York: Salesiana Publishers, Inc., 1967.
Lapin, Peter. Give Me Soul. New York: Don Bosco Publications, 1986.
Lenti, Arthur J. Don Bosco: History and Spirit. Vol 1: Don Bosco’s Formative Years in Historical Context. Roma: Libreria Ateneo Salesiano, 2007.
____ Don Bosco: History and Spirit. Vol 6: Expansion of the Salesian Work in the New World & Ecclesiological Confrontation at Home. Roma: Libreria Ateneo Salesiano, 2009.
Perrota, Louise, general ed. Live Jesus! Wisdom from Saints Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal. Maryland: The Word Among Us Press, 2000.
