Richard Wanner – Don Bosco’s gift to the Church: a spirituality for youth

St. John Bosco (1815-1888) was a product of Piedmont in northern Italy. His seventy-two years spanned a time of industrialization in Turin and other major cities and the complexities of Italian unification. Despite an often harsh anti-clerical atmosphere and the volatile political situation , a number of saints rose to prominence in nineteenth century Piedmont.

What was behind this outpouring of energy and enthusiasm for the Christian life which could prove attractive even to schoolboys? While exact answers are always difficult to obtain, we can at least find some hints in Don Bosco’s boyhood experiences in his years of study at the Convitto in Turin, and in the religious climate of the times.

Reference time period: 1815 – 1888

Reference institution:
Institute of Salesian Studies