JOHN BOSCO, Saint. - B. in a rural hamlet of Castelnuovo d'Asti (today Castelnuovo d. Bosco), on 16 Aug. 1815 and d. in Turin on 31 Jan. 1888. Ordained a priest in 1841, he completed his intellectual formation at the Turin ecclesiastical boarding college, under the guidance of St. Joseph Cafasso, and began to give moral and religious assistance to poor young people, especially to workers, living far from their families. Thus from 1841 arose the work of the Festive Oratories. Having settled in 1846 in a locality called Valdocco, with the help of public charity, the Saint founded the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales, to which he soon added a hospice for students and artisans, which within a few years was transformed into a college with classical and vocational schools, until it became the center of the Salesian Works. In fact in 1864 the Saint, greatly favored by the understanding and benevolence of Pius IX, gave beginning to the Society of St. Francis de Sales, which is composed of priests, clerics and laymen and has as its purpose, besides the Christian perfection of its members, the education and instruction of youth, especially the less well-off, in festive and daily oratories, in schools of arts and crafts and agricultural colonies, in primary and secondary institutes with resident and non-resident pupils, and in houses for aspirants to the priesthood. The Salesian Society also devotes itself to the pastoral ministry, to catechetical and social activities, and from 1875 to the missions among the infidels. Alongside it, in parallel, with the collaboration of some pious young women at whose head stood the b. Maria Mazzarello, the Saint also founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, for the assistance and spiritual, domestic and intellectual formation of girls of the people. He added lastly the Pious Union of Salesian Cooperators, as a third order living in the world, both for the increase of Christian life and for the support of his institutions.
After the first, he opened other oratories, hospices and colleges in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Austria, England, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador; and at his death he left 64 houses with 863 professed religious and 276 novices. He also published, especially in the early times of his apostolate, numerous writings of a popular character aimed at the defense of Christian doctrine against Protestantism, and at the sound education of the popular classes; the most notable are: Storia Ecclesiastica (1845); Il giovane provveduto per la pratica dei suoi doveri religiosi (1847); Il cattolico istruito (1853); Storia d'Italia (1856) and Vite dei papi dei primi secoli (1857-65); he also founded the Letture Cattoliche in monthly installments, a Biblioteca della Gioventù Italiana to present morally expurgated classics, and the Bollettino Salesiano, organ of his Works. He erected great churches, among them the sanctuary of Mary Help of Christians in Turin and the basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rome. He maintained contacts with the most distinguished political men of Piedmont and Italy, and enjoyed the trust of Pius IX and Leo XIII, so that in the difficult years, before and after 1870, he was able to act as intermediary both for the appointment of bishops and for the Conclave of 1878.
Pius XI, who drew close to the Saint and decreed for him in 1929 the honors of beatification and in 1934 those of canonization, hailed in d. Bosco a forerunner of the reconciliation between the Holy See and Italy. In the history of modern spirituality, the Saint represents the type of apostolic action according to the needs of the times, having sought and attained perfection through work for the spiritual benefit of his neighbor. His feast is celebrated on 31 January.
Bibliography6 works
Luigi Castano
PEDAGOGY
G. B. was not a theorist of pedagogy as a science, and, while not ignorant of it nor failing to recognize its importance, he did not expressly occupy himself with the various speculative problems it involves, nor did he leave dissertations or didactic lessons on the subject; but, following his eminently practical character, made up of love for youth and of good sense, he embraced the "preventive method" offered him by tradition, preferring it to the "repressive method," because it is more founded on reason, on piety, and on affection. Yet he neglected nothing to make himself master of it, to make it truly his own, animating it with his spirit and with his experience, vivid and lived from his earliest years, consulting to that end also authoritative works and persons, visiting institutions and informing himself of their regulations and programs. But not even regarding this method did he leave great writings (he used to say to anyone who questioned him about it: "Do as you see d. B. do"); but only a few thoughts, very precious for their simplicity and practicality, for applying it fruitfully, with the addition of some warnings about punishments, should the case arise of using them. The fact is that more than anything else he had at heart the art of education, and in this he left the mark of a truly imperishable master.
His thought can be summarized thus: in the preventive system the young person sees in the act of the person who anticipates him a demonstration of affection; indeed, it is not rare for him to commit faults precisely because a friendly person has not called his attention to the gravity of that particular course of conduct; the system also serves to bring the souls of the pupil and the educator into harmony, because the latter demonstrates his desire for the good outcome and the honor of his protégé; it serves, moreover, to win more easily the heart of the pupil, thus opening the way to a greater, deeper influence, lasting even a whole lifetime. For all this there is certainly required in the educator a lively zeal and a full dedication to his mission, because he must never separate himself from the pupil, but exercise a continuous vigilance, gentle and not burdensome, yes, but watchful, and participate in his whole life, even in games.
In particular, then, G. B. had recourse to simple little aids, which nonetheless knew how to take hold of souls: a little word in the ear of one who left somewhat to be desired; a fine maxim written on a slip of paper; a note handed over at the opportune moment; the association of the best to draw the others along by their example; the last greeting of the evening, after the prayers before going to bed: two practical words spoken by the superior about a normative thought for the spiritual life. Two means he judged indispensable: constancy in religious practices and the Sacraments. He said, in fact, to Lord Gladstone, who marveled at the results achieved in his institutes: "I know only two means of education: Communion or the stick; I have renounced the stick and have chosen Communion." There are added: excursions, in which amusement must be joined to the formation of the spirit and of character (famous places, sanctuaries, castles, battlefields, workshops); the institution of musical bands and of companies of actors; the great importance given to the press, which was to provide books of every sort, from the classics, from history and from biographies to stories, dramas, comedies and farces.
(by courtesy of d. L. Castano)
GIOVANNI BOSCO, saint - Autograph.
A full fusion, therefore, of piety and study, of work and of just relaxation, with the sole aim of the full formation of the Christian, of the professional man or craftsman, of the citizen. It is natural that a pedagogy so total and watchful, seasoned with so much understanding and trusting goodness, should have been able to give and should still give so many marvelous fruits, recognized in every field.