Fabian Mangion recounts the life and mission of the Salesian Order’s founder as his relics arrive in Malta today as part of his birth anniversary celebrations

St John Bosco (1815-1888)

John Bosco was born 200 years ago, on August 16, 1815, to peasant parents in Becchi, northern Italy. It was a time of political upheaval and economic distress.

Fatherless from the age of two, he had to struggle for an elementary education. As a boy, John lived on a farm with his family doing the only things they knew how, farming.

Family finances being what they were, his brothers felt he was wasting time, energy and money studying and that it would be better for all if he stopped going to school and instead worked on the farm. But he did not.

John thus identified with poor youngsters from an early age and personally felt the need for fatherly guidance.

His mother, Margherita, realised the importance of God in life and played a strong role in John’s formation and personality, and was an early supporter of her son’s ideals.

At age nine, John had a dream in which he saw himself changing children from beasts into lambs. He decided immediately to become a priest and devote his life to children. But his mission took a rather unique path: he haunted every circus and fair, learned to walk tight-ropes and do acrobatics, and become a conjurer at the cost of an often-broken nose.

He became known and respected as the town’s acrobat and juggler and many would assemble to witness his tricks. He was able to provide fascinating entertainment that would end with the rosary and a verbatim repetition of the previous Sunday’s sermon. And before any performance, he would ask his audience to join him in prayer. His relationship with God became powerful and slowly John prepared for priesthood.

In 1841, at the age of 26, John was ordained priest at Turin, and immediately started looking for shelter for neglected youth and instructing them in religion.

His first youth ministry was in Turin’s juvenile prisons. That experience taught him the necessity of a ‘preventive’ education. He said: “If these lads only had someone to guide them they would not be here!”

He subsequently rented an old barn in a field which he called ‘The Oratory’ for the homeless. It provided an interesting blend of wholesome recreation, religious instruction and worship, in a combination of youth hostel and job training centre. Indeed, the oratory was a welcoming home, a school, a Church where to pray and a playground where to meet friends.

He provided food, a clean bed, a word of genuine concern and an education to everyone

Youngsters from eight years of age to 18 came to Don Bosco. He provided food, a clean bed, a word of genuine concern and an education to everyone. He himself taught them the basics of useful trades, got them good jobs and became a father to each one.

In 10 years’ time, the one small oratory became three large oratories, around which developed schools and other activities. Don Bosco became a household name all over Italy, then through other parts of Europe and finally spreading to South America and the rest of the world.

He believed that prayer and confession, Holy Mass and Communion were the best ways for children to attain a sense of personal responsibility. One of the most startling aspects of Don Bosco’s approach to young people was his belief that to be young was to be able to be a saint. He regularly put through this idea to his boys.

One of his pupils, Dominic Savio, is a canonised saint, the youngest in the Church at 15 years of age. But Don Bosco, who wrote the biographies of three of his students, claimed there were many who were better than Dominic!

In a short time, other priests joined him in his work and by 1852 they were caring for over 600 boys. Don Bosco dealt with them by using a minimum of restraint and discipline, lots of love, keeping careful watch over their development and encouraging them personally. His preaching and writing, as well as the charitable support of wealthy and powerful patrons, allowed for the expansion of his work.

The need for dependable assistants led to the founding of the society of St Francis de Sales in 1859, and it continues to work today. To provide similar care for the poor and neglected girls, Don Bosco, sustained with the creative fidelity of St Mary Mazzarello, founded, in 1872, the Daughters of Our Lady, Help of Christians, a religious family popularly called The Salesian Sisters of St John Bosco.

The life of St John Bosco was full and his zeal contagious. He never got tired of talking and writing about his work for the young and their care.

Juggler, magician, acrobat, tailor, teacher and writer, John Bosco became all of these in his efforts to lead boys and girls to God. A prayer was the price of admission to his shows; a friendly contest to match skill or strength was his answer to the hoodlums who laughed at him. He would be pleased with the concern that the Church has today for education as expressed in the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Christian Education.

Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888, and was canonised in 1934 by Pope Pius XI. His work was continued by a group of dedicated people called the Salesians.

St John Bosco is honoured as an outstanding teacher and father to the young. As a priest he was known as Don Bosco, ‘Don’ meaning ‘Father’. A charismatic figure in 19th century Christianity, Don Bosco preferred to be remembered as ‘father of poor youth’. And so he was all his life. By the time he died, Don Bosco left behind 1,000 Salesians, as many Salesian Sisters, and thousands more cooperators.

For his feast day – January 31 – the Church has chosen for the Office of Readings an excerpt from one of his letters. It expresses his concern and is applicable to our times when children suffer from neglect in broken homes and in less-than-ideal social situations.

He wrote: “If we wish to appear concerned about the true happiness of our foster children and if we would move them to fulfil their duties, we must never forget that we are taking the place of the parents of these beloved young people. I have always laboured lovingly for them, and carried out my priestly duties with zeal. And the whole Salesian Society has done this with me.”

St John Bosco’s one great desire was to spend his life working with the young, and he achieved this with amazing generosity, great daring and inventiveness. Salesians and those who work alongside the Salesians in schools, parishes, hostels or camps, try to carry on his work.

Everything they do is geared towards helping the young to achieve happiness in this life and the next. The lifestyle is practical, with great emphasis on the experience of community and working with young people.