Not all the saints of the Church have had the gift of having their biography written by their personal doctors. Don Bosco had such a special privilege.
Don Bosco was born in 1815, while Napoleon was being defeated at Waterloo and a peaceful era was restored in Europe. His poor parents lived in Piedmont, in Castelnuovo, today known as Castelnuovo Don Bosco. At the age of two, his father died and his mother had to face the responsibility of his upbringing.
Don Bosco died in Valdocco, Torino, on January 31, 1888, aged 73.
When his doctor, Giovanni Albertotti sought permission from Don Michael Rua, Don Bosco’s first successor, to write his patient’s biography, he was told not to. Don Rua feared the publication would hinder the beatification and canonisation process.
The Salesians had to wait for 41 years to have the biography, Who was Don Bosco? Giuseppe, Albertotti’s son, published it in 1929 in Geneva through Poligrafica San Giorgio. The book contains 100 pages and speaks about Don Bosco’s fatherly attitude, why he became a priest and the difficulties he encountered to accomplish his vocation.
It illustrates his preventive system of education and contains very important details about both his health and unique character. His doctor goes into detail not only about his work as a priest but also his philosophical, physiological and pathological life.
We also find a deep study about his personality as well as details of the work Don Bosco was doing among the poor and orphaned boys in Turin. Albertotti was evidently struck by the sterling service his patient was offering the boys and young men who were homeless and unemployed.
Don Bosco hated idleness with a passion. He detested seeing young people being lazy. He was courageous enough to implement his preventive system, even for the young prison inmates of Turin, whom he often visited.
Don Bosco was an educator par excellence. Indeed, in his book, The Educational Philosophy of St John Bosco, published in Australia, John A. Morrison gives a synthesised description of what a great educator Don Bosco was.
Don Bosco was a man of unusual character, his particular personality influencing, to a significant extent, his pedagogy. His methods were associated with his talents, which had been developed deliberately to further his educative mission: preparing poor and abandoned youths to take their place in society.
He was a man ahead of his times- Fr Charles Cini
He would use his personality and skills to attract people’s attention. He would even act the fool to arouse their interest, then, by showing concern for their welfare, he persuaded them to work and learn, not only for themselves but for him. His followers, both in his time and today, felt and still do that his trust had been placed in their hands: they could not fail him.
He used different kinds of experiences to forge lessons from which his students could become, in his view, better persons: nothing was ever wasted: despair could be turned to hope, futility to aspiration, failure to a sense of fulfilment. In a sense, he was a pragmatist, using his talents to yield consistent results, which were concerned primarily with preparations for living and for life.
His personality was an attractive one. People from all levels of society admired him. Churchmen, politicians, academics, writers, journalists and educators have expressed their admiration both for the man and the part he played in the development of modern education.
The Times of London, for instance, described Don Bosco as “the Saint Vincent De Paul of the 20th century” and French author Joris-Karl Huysmans said that, together with St Vincent De Paul, Don Bosco was “the one most alive with love for abandoned boys”.
“If ever there existed a method of education adapted to inspire confidence and love, it is the method of Don Bosco,” wrote Swiss poet Joseph Zoppi.
Franklin D. Roosevelt described him as a “real educator... a master in the direction of vocations and a pioneer of professional and agricultural schools”.
Don Bosco encountered many difficulties and misunderstandings in his mission, especially at the way he looked at the young, mostly the poor and abandoned.
He was a man ahead of his times. Turin was then governed by the Savoy monarchy. He faced opposition by his archbishop, Lorenzo Gastaldi, by members of the clergy, some politicians and anti-clerical elements. They tried in every way to block his preventive and educative programme. On the other hand, he was admired and loved by Pope Pius IX, who used to seek Don Bosco’s advice.
In the biography, his doctor mentions Don Bosco’s friendship with famous people. We learn, for example, that men like Victor Hugo admired Don Bosco, as did the monarchs of Italy, France and Spain, however strange it may seem.
Towards the end of his work, Albertotti wrote: “The Salesian institute represents a colossal movement, brilliantly organised to prevent crime against young people in Italy and to help parents in the education of their children.”
In conclusion, I will reproduce what the Liberal newspaper, Popolo Romano had to say on January 22,1903:
“In the many congregations that dedicate their lives to instruction and education, few are those that, in these changing times, continue to enjoy public sympathy without exception. Among those few, the Salesians of Don Bosco are, without doubt, at the forefront.
“This is explained and proven by facts. The Salesians dedicate themselves especially to impart education to children and young people, to the poor families and to correct their children’s character, which is not always docile and disciplined. They fulfil a function which the state and other institutions are not capable to provide.”
Fr Charles Cini is a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco.