John Bosco
John Bosco Birth 16 August, 1815 (Italy)
Death 31 January, 1888 (Italy)Declared Saint 1 April, 1934
Establishment of the society of Don Bosco 1859
Establishment of Don Bosco Secondary School
(Salawad Khurd) 19 June, 2006
DON BOSCO : LIFE AND WORK
John Melchior Bosco, was born into a
family of a poor farmer Francis and Margret Bosco on August 16, 1815 at Becchi,
a hamlet near Turin, Italy. He was orphaned of his father at the tender age of
two. His mother, Margaret took on the task of bringing up her three children
Anthony, Joseph and John with love, discipline and great courage. She taught
them to till the soil and to see God’s presence in all things – in the beauty
of the sky, in the abundant harvest and in the storm which destroyed their vines.
A mysterious dream at the age of nine,
left an indelible stamp on his life. He saw himself amidst scruffy street kids,
who were fighting and using abusive language. He jumped in to stop the
commotion, hitting out widely with his fist when a majestic
personage, who introduces himself as
Jesus, stopped him short. He promised to give a teacher who would show him, how
to deal with the ragamuffins who, to john’s horror, had metamorphosed into
ferocious beasts.
At that instant a beautiful lady appeared,
Mary the mother of Jesus, “Not with blows”, she said, “but with loving kindness!”
And as she spoke the wild beats become gentle lambs. She left him an agenda for
life – Make yourself humble, steadfast and strong. “
John
saw in the dream a divine commission to work for poor and abandoned urchins.
The long years that followed were filled with an amazing enthusiasm to make
that dream come true, which was not without its share of humiliation and hardship.
On order to pursue his dream he began his
studies for the priesthood. John had to leave home to join the city school.
Being bigger than his classmates, he was often the object of much ridicule.
Little did they know what it cost him earning whatever he could after school
and studying by the light of a candle at night.
He was ordained a priest in 1841 and took
as counselor Don Joseph Bosco Cafasso, a teacher with a very down-to-earth spiritually.
On his advise, young Bosco explored human misery through the by-lanes and
market places of Turin and was deeply disturbed.
Everywhere he looked he saw young people –
unemployed, sad, roaming the streets. His visit to the prisons disturbed him
even more. He made up his mind, at all costs; I must stop boys from ending up
here. “
From then on be began a relentless search –
through factories, market, taverns and piazzas – for boys in need of food, shelter
and education.
One December day in 1841, Bartholomew
Gareli, a migrant from a village called Asti, entered the church to seek warmth
from the biting cold. The angry sacristan drove the boy out. Don Bosco ordered
him to bring ‘his friend’ back. Then putting a warm arm around Bartholomew, he
sat him down and began teach him how to whistle and to pray.
He invited the boy to come again on the
condition that he brought his friends to. Three days later ha had around him
nine urchins, a month later, and twenty five that grew to eighty. And by the
summer of 1842 he had over 300 boys. This large following of street kids
angered the neighbor’s. It lost him a lucrative job as the captain of a rich
countess. It enticed the political insurgents to consider using his boys to
further their prospects for an independent Italy. The impending political revolution
and the possibility of the boys joining the rebels instigated some bureaucrats
to dissuade Don Bosco from gathering his boys. it incited some of his superiors
to question the meaning of his priesthood. It even made his fellow clergymen
arrange to lock him up in a mental asylum ‘for his own good’.
Meanwhile, the boys who frequented Don
Bosco’s club began to accept him as their father and guide. Some expressed their
desire to become like him. And so, the Salesian Society, comprising of priests
and lay brother, was born.
(the word ‘ Salesian in from the name of
the patron, “St. Francis de Sales”, A saint much admired by Don Bosco for his conversion
from an angry young man to a kind and entle
bishop.)
As this work acquired recognition as
spread beyond the confines of Italy, Don Bosco felt inspired to began new initiatives
in order to embrace many more young eople. He founded the society of the
Daughters of Mary help of Christian’ to extend his educational services to girl
as well. The union of Salesian Co
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