Author: Annacarmen Losco

Giovanni Bosco – “Formation of the Salesians through conferences and dream accounts” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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The years of foundation and consolidation of the Salesian Society and the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians are ones where Don Bosco’s horizons expanded in an impressive manner. The priest of Valdocco, ever more aware of having received a divine mission, feels that he has been transported into a huge field of activity, given a charism that makes him father and founder of a movement of apostles, consecrated men and women who are destined to spread over space and time. His spiritual magisterium deepens, his proposals become more radical, all-embracing.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Personal letters to Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of christians” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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These brief items of correspondence, written in familiar tone, contain simple advice on spiritual life. Don Bosco knew those he wrote to, their character, defects, the circumstances in which they worked. In a practical way he invited them to focus on concrete attitudes essential for nurturing their attachment to their Salesian vocation, constantly keeping their hearts leaning to God and charity.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Circular letters to Salesians and the daughters of Mary Help of Christians” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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Don Bosco’s Circular letters to the Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians are small masterpieces of spirituality. The Saint expresses in them a vigorous view of consecrated life: by the vows we give ourselves completely to the Lord, ready to follow him through tribulations until death, courageously facing up to fatigue and difficulty in order to win souls for God. Seen this way the Salesian and the Salesian Sister are encouraged to remain firm in their vocation; to flee worldly spirit; to practise obedience and poverty magnanimously; to cultivate union with God and confidence in their Superiors; to know how to put up with all kinds of inconvenience serenely to “save souls”; to faithfully observe the rules.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Constitutional documents” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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The first document contained in this part (no. 225) is the oldest text of the rule that we have. It was written in beautiful handwriting by cleric Michael Rua between 1858 and 1859, beginning from an earlier draft by Don Bosco which has not been preserved. From this draft came all the other constitutional drafts up to the definitive document in 1874. To draw it up Don Bosco, who had no experience of consecrated life, had recourse to constitutions of other religious institutes.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Don Bosco’s ‘theology’ of religious life” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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As an introduction to the first Italian edition of the Salesian Constitutions, published in 1875, Don Bosco wrote a wide-ranging letter To the Salesians, to guide them in interpreting the rules and to infuse in them a correct idea of religious life. He later refined and extended it with the help of the master of novices, Fr Barberis, for the third Italian edition of the Constitutions (1885). It is a relevant document from a spiritual point of view. “One can think of it as a brief summary, the most complete one, of what could be called Don Bosco’s theology of religious life. Ideas flow together in it which had matured in him little by little, beginning from when he wrote the history of the Church and the Popes, then as he drew up the Constitutions and documents written to gain approval, further enriched by local and general conferences, instructions given at retreats in the late 1860s and early 1870s, and expressed in individual letters and circulars and in private advice.”

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Giovanni Bosco – “Spiritual formation of the young through preaching, “goodnights” and dream accounts” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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In Don Bosco’s educational system preaching has special importance, both that which is bound up with the liturgical or catechetical context, and that of the informal, familiar kind. The saint often addressed the community of young people with brief and fervent talks aimed at stirring up their emotions, nurturing their minds, encouraging good resolutions and devout sentiments, and looking ahead to stimulating horizons.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Sodalities and spiritual friendships” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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Christian education of youth in popular works with a markedly missionary character like the Oratories on the outskirts of Turin, frequented by boys who were mostly abandoned and uneducated, required processes that were gradual and geared to each one’s possibilities. The Companion of Youth offered a complete but essential proposal adapted to everyone. Starting with this, Don Bosco used the sacrament of penance, personal chats, suggestions of optional and practical devotions and offered books to read and meditate on. He set up personalised processes which were more adapted to youngsters who were more capable of greater moral and ascetic effort. Continue reading “Giovanni Bosco – “Sodalities and spiritual friendships” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”” →

Giovanni Bosco – “Spiritual counsel in Don Bosco’s letters to boys and older youth” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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St John Bosco’s correspondence mirrors his manifold activities as a promoter of educational and welfare type work, publishing and missionary enterprises. Also documented is the broad network of relationships he had built up. His letters are those of a man of action, the tireless organiser, avid communicator, religious founder and a passionate animator of Catholic initiatives. Little space is given to spiritual aspects which he prefers to deal with in preaching, personal talks or in the context of the Sacrament of Penance.

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Giovanni Bosco – “The companion of youth” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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The first edition of Il giovane provveduto (in English The Companion of Youth) appeared in 1847 and was Don Bosco’s greatest publishing success. The year he died it had reached its 119th edition. It was reprinted with minor adaptations until 1961. It is also the book which Don Bosco most liked and constantly recommended.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Appeals to private charity” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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The financial contributions asked for and obtained from public authorities and institutions were certainly not enough to help him confront the huge expenses of the Salesian Work. It was necessary to appeal to private charity. Logically, Don Bosco turned especially to families and individuals who had financial possibilities, meaning those belonging to the nobility, mostly large property owners, and the upper and middle class of the time who were notably ready to dispense charity. Some of these, albeit modest in their private savings, could actually find an outlet in educational and charitable works such as those of Don Bosco.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Recourse to public charity” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected work”



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As we have just said, for the financial resources needed to supply the everincreasing costs of his work, Don Bosco appealed to institutions: the Royal family, Government authorities, public officials (local council, provincial, state …), existing charitable organisations locally, the National Bank, parishes, dioceses, the Holy See itself through his best supporters, including the Pope.

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Giovanni Bosco – “A missionary project in rapid development” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected work”



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What were Don Bosco’s missionary plans for Argentina once he had set foot in that land? With the information in his possession thanks to research by Fr Giulio Barberis, and to correspondence with local authorities and Salesian missionaries, six months after the first expedition Don Bosco was able to send the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Alessandro Franchi, a first report on the immediate results of the work of Salesian missionaries in Argentina.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Difficult relationships with the Archbishop of Turin” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected work”



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Relationships between Don Bosco and Archbishop Gastaldi went through two different stages, one of great understanding and cooperation, and another of notable difficulties and conflicts. The watershed could be considered to be Gastaldi’s transferral from the Episcopal See of Saluzzo to being Archbishop of Turin in 1871.

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Giovanni Bosco – “Interventions to solve the matter of Bishops’ ‘Temporalities’ (1872-1874)” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”



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The Law of Guarantees on 13 May 1871 and decrees applying to this required that for newly appointed bishops to enter into possession – the so-called temporalities – they had to present the Minister with the original decree of appointment and formally ask for the exequatur to be granted. This act, in the Holy See’s judgement, implied recognising the Kingdom of Italy which came into being in 1861, and included part of the Papal States ‘illegally’ taken from the Pontiff.

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