Don Bosco, Vida

Saint John Bosco (Italian: Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; 16 August 1815[1] – 31 January 1888[2]), known as Don Bosco, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, educator and writer of the 19th century, who put into practice the convictions of his religion, dedicating his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth and employing teachingmethods based on love rather than punishment, a method known as the Salesian Preventive System.[3] A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of Francis de Sales, Bosco dedicated his works to him when he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco. Together with Maria Domenica Mazzarello, he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a religious congregation of nuns dedicated to thecare and education of poor girls. In 1876 Bosco founded a movement of laity, the Association of Salesian Cooperators, with the same educational mission to the poor.[4] In 1875 he published the Salesian Bulletin.[5][6] TheBulletin has remained in continuous publication, and is currently published in 50 different editions and 30 languages.[5]
Bosco established a network of organizations andcentres to carry on his work. He was canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI in 1934.
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[edit]Life
Bosco was born in the evening of 16 August 1815 in I Becchi, Italy.[7]. He was the youngest son of Francesco Bosco (1784–1817) and Margherita Occhiena. He had two elder brothers, Antonio and Giuseppe (1813–1862).[7] The Bosco ofBecchi were farmhands of the Moglia Family. John Bosco was born into a time of great shortage and famine in the Piedmontese countryside, following the devastation wrought by the Napoleonic wars and a drought in 1817.[8]
Margherita, his mother, played a strong role in Bosco's formation and personality,[9] and was an early supporter of her son's ideals.[10][11] When he was young, he would put onshows of his skills as a juggler, magician and acrobat[12] with prayers before and after the performance.[13]
In 1825, when he was nine, Bosco had the first of a series of dreams which would play an influential role in his outlook and work.[14] This first dream "left a profound impression on him for the rest of his life", according to his own memoirs.[14] Bosco apparently saw a man, who "appeared,nobly attired, with a manly and imposing bearing".[14] The man said to him:
You will have to win these friends of yours not with blows, but with gentleness and kindness. So begin right now to show them that sin is ugly and virtue beautiful.[14][15]
Poverty prevented any serious attempt at schooling. Nevertheless it is suggested that the idea to become a priest came from his childhoodexperiences.[16] At the time, being a priest was generally seen as a profession for the privileged classes, rather than farmers, although it was not unknown.[16] Some biographers portray his brother Antonio as the main obstacle for Bosco's ambition to study, protesting that John was just "a farmer like us!"[17] Nevertheless, Margaret gave her support to John and he finally left home in February 1828 at theage of twelve.[16] Having to face life by himself at such a young age may have developed his later sympathies to help abandoned boys. After begging unsuccessfully for work, Bosco ended up at the wine farm of Louis Moglia.[16] However, although Bosco could pursue some studies by himself, he was unavailable to attend school for two more years. In 1830 he met St. Joseph Cafasso, an elderly priest whoidentified some natural talent and supported his first schooling.[18]
[edit]Extraordinary Dreams
John Bosco had a series of divine dreams pertaining to his calling and work, and telling him the path the Salesians would take. These started at the age of 9 when he had his first and perhaps most important dream. He was in a field with a crowd of children who were playing. Then they started to...