SALESIAN SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN BOSCO. - It is among the major modern religious Congregations whose purpose is the Christian education of the youth of the middle and working classes, in elementary, middle, gymnasium and lyceum schools; in institutes of arts and crafts, with technical and industrial schools; in parish and interparish Sunday oratories; and in the missions. Its founder was St. John Bosco (v.), who began the work in Turin on Dec. 8, 1841, catechizing in the church of St. Francis of Assisi a poor young mason's apprentice from the Sesia valley.
Drawing inspiration from the Milanese traditions of St. Charles, but with his own criteria, he first conceived the Sunday Oratory, then the Hospice and the trade schools, then the College, placing at the foundation of all his manifold educational activity the so-called "preventive system," which is based on the practice of charity, reason and the fear of God. To make oneself loved in order to make oneself feared was the cornerstone of his pedagogy. The first permanent seat of his work was a poor shed in Turin - Valdocco - where the oratory of St. Francis de Sales now stands, the Mother-house of the S. S., with numerous buildings, and the grand, enlarged sanctuary of Mary Help of Christians. There, with 17 members, chosen from among the pupils who remained to assist him, Don Bosco founded the S. S. in 1859. Pope Pius IX, who had encouraged the work, granted it the decree of praise on July 23, 1864; on March 1, 1868 he gave it definitive apostolic approval and on Apr. 3, 1874 he sanctioned its rules. After the death of the founder, who had spread it in Italy, France, Spain and various countries of South America, the S. S. continued to develop rapidly under the government of his successors: the servant of God Don Michele Rua (d. 1910), Don Paolo Albera (d. 1921), the servant of God Don Filippo Rinaldi (d. 1931) and Don Pietro Ricaldone (d. 1951).
It has given the Church two cardinals and 57 archbishops and bishops. At present it numbers 16,364 members, namely: 7,274 priests, 5,661 clerics and 3,429 coadjutors (lay brothers). The foundations number 1,076, distributed as follows: 531 in Europe, 383 in America, 129 in Asia, 26 in Africa, 7 in Oceania. They comprise the following works: 576 Sunday or daily oratories; with evening schools, after-school programs, mutual aid funds relief or savings, scout sections, gymnastic-sports societies, associations for vocal and instrumental music, drama, etc.; 121 hospices for poor students, artisans, orphans and farmers, with 640 vocational schools for arts and crafts, and 92 agricultural colonies; 259 among boarding schools, residences and semi-boarding schools, for primary and secondary students, with attached schools; namely: 521 elementary schools, 385 middle and grammar schools, 127 high schools, 16 teacher-training and 76 technical and industrial schools; 160 houses for the formation of Salesian and missionary personnel, namely: 67 for aspirants, including the work of Mary Help of Christians for late ecclesiastical vocations, 43 for novices, 39 for students of philosophy and 25 for students of theology.
(Int. Secretariat of the Superior Chapter - Turin)
The missionary centers of the S. S. number 73, the principal ones being in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, in Paraguay, in Brazil, in Ecuador, in the Belgian Congo, in India, in Siam, in China, in Japan and in the Near East. In Colombia the S. S. is in charge of various leprosariums. Furthermore it provides for 348 parishes, 202 public churches, excluding the semi-public oratories for resident pupils; it has 40 centers for assistance to emigrants, of which 28 for Italians; it promotes the diffusion of good literature through the publication of 627 various periodicals. The current number of young people entrusted to the care of the S. S. amounts to 432,046, including the 134 deaf-mutes educated with the most modern methods in the house of Naples-Tarsia.
Characteristic is the organization of former pupils, united in an international federation with headquarters in Turin.
The Works of the S. S. are maintained and prosper thanks to the charitable and generous support of the Salesian cooperators, established by St. John Bosco in 1876, and forming a kind of Third Order extended throughout the world, and enriched by the Holy See with many spiritual favors. Their official organ is the Bollettino salesiano, which is printed in 17 languages with a circulation of 576,500 copies.
The S., after those of the founder and of St. Mary Mazzarello, has thirteen other causes of beatification and canonization in progress, among them those of the blessed Dominic Savio, and of a large group of martyrs of Spain. - See plate LVI.
