In 2015 we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of St. John Bosco, founder of Salesians, the Father and Teacher of Youth, as Saint John Paul II called him.
St. John Bosco, or Don Bosco, as he is affectionately called by the Salesian family, was born on August 16, 1815, in Morialdo, a small place in the municipality of Castelnuovo d’Asti, in the province of Asti, 25 km from Turin, in Piedmont, Italy. Son of two peasants, Francisco Bosco and Margarida Occhiena, his life was since the beginning marked by poverty and work. He becomes fatherless before the age of two. It is in this difficult context that he begins to shape his heart as a father, an educator and a friend of youth.
It all started with a dream John Bosco had when he was 9 years old. Jesus showed him his Teacher, Our Lady, who reveals to him his mission in life: to educate poor young people in a unique, friendly, familiar and caring style, based on three elements: Reason, Religion and Amorevolezza, i.e. loving kindness. Don Bosco called this style a Preventive System, with the belief that bad behaviour could be prevented by teaching students to be good Christians and honoured citizens.
At the age of 11, John Bosco left home to go work. Young John follows his dream of becoming a priest, with a lot of determination, and already as a young priest he starts contacting with children and young people off the streets and prisons of Turin, many of them orphans. This experience impresses him very much. He wants to do something for those kids and realizes that what they need is a family atmosphere where they feel loved. With many difficulties, Don Bosco is able to create the first educational environment in which to host these youngsters: the festive Oratory.
There, he tutors, teaches Sunday school and celebrates Mass. Teaching them a profession is one of his goals, so he creates workshops for shoemaking and tailoring, and later for bookbinding, carpentry, printing and metalwork. Games, sports, music, theatre and other arts are also part of his educational project, developed in the cheerful atmosphere experienced at the oratory.
In 1859 he founded the Pious Society de St. Francis de Sales, a religious congregation known as Salesians, and in 1872 he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA), the female branch of Salesians, along with Saint Maria Domenica Mazzarello, a young Italian from Mornese. Don Bosco’s work is greatly appreciated by both the Church and society, which naturally originates supports to open new schools. While alive, Don Bosco sent some religionists to distant lands, in South America, to initiate similar works there.
Today, there are more than 15 thousand Salesians, in 132 countries, on 5 continents, with almost 2,000 communities. The work of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians has also expanded throughout the world: they are more than 13 thousand, in 94 countries, with nearly 1,500 communities.
