The road traveled by John Bosco, as child and teenager, in his quest for an education, proved to be a bumpy one, marked by frequent twists and turns and occasionally stalled by unforeseen roadblocks. But despite occasional disheartening setbacks, John’s high hopes in his pursuit of an education would prevail over disconcerting frustrations.
The present study aims, not at any new interpretation, but simply at describing some aspects of the actual circumstances of the origins on the basis of fresh documentation now available. In particular, restricting the field of inquiry, I will focus on the young people who were protagonists in Don Bosco’s work at its origin.
But if Marseilles was so close, why did “Paolino” Albera not come to Turin during those final days of January 1888? Why was he not at Don Bosco’s bedside? How did the death of his spiritual father and mentor impact on him?
In retrospect, one can appreciate why Don Bosco had become so distraught by the message that was played out in his dream (reverie?) during his Roman sojourn of 1884. His old friends, Joseph Buzzelli and Ferdinando Valfre, had demonstrated all too realistically what he could expect when the educational principles of his Sistema Preventivo and the “love environment” he strove so hard to cultivate for 40 years at the Oratory had been allowed to dissipate.
In the first part of his study on the “Bosco-Gastaldi conflict”, Arthur Lenti drew attention to another figure similarly involved in a painful controversy with the Archbishop of Turin, namely Sr. Marie-Louise-Angelique Clarac, foundress of the Sisters of Charity of St. Mary, also known as the Sisters of Charity of Good Counsel.
Mossi dallo Spirito di Dio, i Fondatori di famiglie religiose nella Chiesa si trovano a far fronte a situazioni storiche le più diverse e a volte le più imprevedibili. «Dal punto di vista storico-teologico sono estremamente varie le modalità con cui un Fondatore (o Fondatrice) ha dato origine a un Ordine o a una Congregazione religiosa. Sono pure assai diversi i gradi di coinvolgimento nella vita dell’Istituto da lui fondato».
“If Don Bosco during his student years had one special preference, it was for reading history,” noted Father Alberto Caviglia in his exhaustive study of Don Bosco’s Storia d’ Italia. “In fact, one can say he had a predilection for historical studies”.
Turin’s EXPO ’84 was to become the bittersweet culmination of Don Bosco’s remarkable and varied career as publisher, author, and printer. For almost 40 years he had been active in the cause of the Catholic press and as editor of educational publications.
In Part One of the present installment (Part Four overall), we shall discuss the last two dreams in a similar manner to the first article. Part Two (Five) will deal with the significance of the missionary dreams, with interpretative comments.
Included in the copious documentation that comprises the chronicles and annals of the early history of the Salesian Society in the Salesian archives in Rome, there is a treasure trove of diaries, journals, memoirs, and daybooks which chart the ebb and flow of the early years of the Oratory of Saint Francis of Sales.
Continue reading “Michael Ribotta – “Peter Enria Remembers” in “Journal of Salesian Studies””
La riflessione di Anita Deleidi si concentra sul senso e sulla modalità di attuazione della devozione mariana alle origini dell’istituto delle FMA. Ci permette così di conoscere con precisione e con ricchezza di dati quali siano state l ’intenzionalità e le caratteristiche volute da don Bosco nel delineare l’identità mariana dell’istituto nella sua peculiare missione educativa. Inoltre, ci consente di cogliere quale sia stato l ’apporto originale di S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello nella realizzazione di quella spiritualità mariana mornesina, destinata a superare i limiti del tempo e delle frontiere.
Michael Rua (1837-1910) was a pupil, then the lifetime collaborator and finally, the first successor of St. John Bosco as Rector Major of the Salesian Society (1888-1910). During his Rectorate the Salesians grew from 1030 members in 64 houses to 4420 confreres scattered across the globe. Don Rua’s letters to England offer the reader a glimpse of the character of their writer and of the pastoral care he took of a small group of relatively insignificant Salesians in what was very often the inhospitable atmosphere of the British empire at the height of its power.
Don Bosco then goes on to describe the nature and purpose of the Convitto. It was a kind of ‘ finishing school’ where (he says) “one learnt to be a priest.”
Una prima formulazione del presente argomento delimitava la direzione spirituale di S. M. Domenica Mazzarello all’ambito delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice: « Il carisma di Maria Mazzarello nella direzione spirituale delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice ». L’attuale formulazione estende l’ambito di tale direzione a tutto l ’arco cronologico in cui M. D. Mazzarello svolge una particolare azione educativa orientata ad aiutare diverse categorie di persone nella loro crescita umana e cristiane, il quale precede il periodo della sua vita religiosa.
Oggetto del libro è la rivista «Primavera»: si tratta di una pubblicazione delle FMA con finalità esplicitamente formative ed educative e con un target di riferimento abbastanza “mirato” (un pubblico per lo più – anche se non totalmente – femminile, composto soprattutto da adolescenti e da pre-adolescenti).
Continue reading “Elisa Tonello – L’immagine della giovane donna nella rivista «Primavera»”
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