St. John Bosco, Priest

Readings: 2 Sm. 12:1-7, 10-17;

Ps. 51:12-13, 14-15, 16-17;

Saint Mark 4:35-41.

Some Notes on St. John Bosco (St. Giovanni Melchior Bosco)

1. He was a follower of the spirituality and philosophy of St. Francis de Sales and was an ardent devotee of the Virgin Mary under the title, Mary Help of Christians. He founded the Salesians of Don Bosco. Together with St. Maria Domenica Mazzarello, he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, popularly called the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco. He taught Dominic Savio, of whom he wrote a biography that helped the young boy be canonized.

2. John Bosco was born on 16 August 1815, the youngest of three boys, in Becchi, Italy, in a region that was called Castelnuovo d’Asti, later renamed Castelnuovo Don Bosco in his honor. His father died when John was two years old.

3. He was reared in poverty by his pious, hardworking mother, Margaret 0cchiena Bosco. When he was 9, he had a dream. He saw a multitude of very poor boys playing and blaspheming. He also saw a man of noble bearing who told him to win the poor boys with gentleness and kindness as his friends and “to show them that sin is ugly and virtue beautiful.” This dream would have a great influence on his life and outlook.

4. As a young boy, he felt called to become a priest, a profession more for the privileged classes than for farmers. In 1830, he met Don Joseph Cafasso, a young priest, who would be canonized as a Saint in 1947. Don Cafasso supported his 1st schooling and helped John enter the major seminary. John was 20 yrs old.

5. During his studies, he accompanied Don Cafasso in visiting prisoners. He also began teaching catechism to orphaned and abandoned boys and helped them look for work. After six years of study, John was ordained a priest by the Archbishop of Turin in 1841. He was 26 years old. Don Cafasso secured work for Don Bosco at the Rifugio, a girls’ boarding school in Turin. In 1841, he met Bartholomew Garelli, a homeless boy, and ended up offering Garelli and his friends, food, games, and catechism lessons.

6. He found the traditional form of ministry insufficient. And so he began to meet the boys where they worked and gathered in shops and marketplaces. He looked for jobs for them and then began providing lodgings for them in his own home or oratory in the slums of Valdocco. His mother served as a housekeeper for them until her death.

7. He began taking in orphans. By 1861, the boys sheltered by Don Bosco in his oratory was 600. The maximum of 800 was reached sometime later.

Don Bosco gained powerful patrons, such as Abp. Franzoni of Turin and Count Camilio Cavour. He set up workshops for shoemaking and tailoring at the oratory.

8. He obtained a printing press and wrote catechetical materials for youth. His reputation as a preacher became widespread and miracles were attributed to his intercession.

9. Having difficulties in retaining young priests to help him, he began training his own helpers. In 1854, his group of helpers bound themselves together under the patronage of St. Francis de Sales. In 1857, with Pius IX’s encouragement, Don Bosco gathered 17 of them and founded a religious congregation that received papal approval in 1868.

10. The Salesians spread quickly throughout Italy. Their apostolate included work on the missions as well as the education of boys. In 1872, with St. Maria Mazzarello, Don Bosco founded the Salesian Sisters to work among girls. He also established a group of lay Salesian Cooperators to assist in this work.

11. His educational approach was known as the Salesian preventive system. It rejected corporal punishment that was common in his day and strove to place youths in an environment that would prevent them from committing sin. “Frequent confession, frequent Communion, daily Mass: these are the pillars which should sustain the whole edifice of education,” he wrote. He united their spiritual life with their study work. His insistence of teaching trade to the boys became a pioneer in modern vocational training.

12. In January 1888, Don Bosco, completely exhausted, took to bed with a fever. He died on 31 January 1888. Thousands attended his funeral. His remains are at the Basilica Santuario di Maria Ausiliatrice, Turin. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934, who gave him the title of “Father and Teacher of Youth.”

13.Prayer — O God, who raised up the Priest Saint John Bosco as a father and teacher of the young, grant, we pray, that aflame with the same fire of love, we may seek out souls and serve you alone. This we humbly ask through Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.