This study does not go into the long process that led to Don Bosco’s beatification, which took place on June 2, 1929. The topic concerns one small aspect: the sworn testimony of eyewitnesses concerning his life of “faith.”
Michael Ribotta – “School days … golden rule days” … John Bosco’s public school years
The road traveled by John Bosco, as child and teenager, in his quest for an education, proved to be a bumpy one, marked by frequent twists and turns and occasionally stalled by unforeseen roadblocks. But despite occasional disheartening setbacks, John’s high hopes in his pursuit of an education would prevail over disconcerting frustrations.
Arthur Lenti – Key-concepts, concerns and fears of a founder- Don Bosco in his declining years
My article on Don Bosco’s last years, which saw the light of day in this Journal, was based on chronicles and memoirs held in the Central Salesian Archive. Besides these chronicles and memoirs, there are other important documents to be found in the archive relating to Don Bosco’s last years.
Michael Ribotta – Tough love is not the answer- Don Bosco’s views on punishment
In our essay we shall examine the meaning and application of “punishment” and “discipline” as found in Don Bosco’s educational writings. It was a subject to which he returned time and time again-and for good reason.
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Arthur Lenti – Don Bosco’s love affair with “poor and abandoned” young people and the beginnings of the oratory
The present study aims, not at any new interpretation, but simply at describing some aspects of the actual circumstances of the origins on the basis of fresh documentation now available. In particular, restricting the field of inquiry, I will focus on the young people who were protagonists in Don Bosco’s work at its origin.
Joseph Boenzi – Paolo Albera’s visits during Don Bosco’s last illness
But if Marseilles was so close, why did “Paolino” Albera not come to Turin during those final days of January 1888? Why was he not at Don Bosco’s bedside? How did the death of his spiritual father and mentor impact on him?
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Arthur Lenti – Don Bosco’s last years, his last illness and saintly death from eyewitness accounts
The present essay has a rather modest aim. Steering clear of the complexities of a biographical reconstruction, it will simply describe Don Rosco’s last years, including his last illness and death, with focus on the person, and with emphasis on words and attitudes.
Michael Ribotta – The Roman Letter of 1884 and its aftermath
In retrospect, one can appreciate why Don Bosco had become so distraught by the message that was played out in his dream (reverie?) during his Roman sojourn of 1884. His old friends, Joseph Buzzelli and Ferdinando Valfre, had demonstrated all too realistically what he could expect when the educational principles of his Sistema Preventivo and the “love environment” he strove so hard to cultivate for 40 years at the Oratory had been allowed to dissipate.
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Mary Treacy – Mother Marie-Louise-Angelique Clarac and Don Bosco – an idea matures
In the first part of his study on the “Bosco-Gastaldi conflict”, Arthur Lenti drew attention to another figure similarly involved in a painful controversy with the Archbishop of Turin, namely Sr. Marie-Louise-Angelique Clarac, foundress of the Sisters of Charity of St. Mary, also known as the Sisters of Charity of Good Counsel.
Arthur Lenti – The Bosco-Gastaldi conflict (1872-82), Part II
Thus the approval of the Salesian Constitutions in April 1874 was followed by a second and more bitterly fought phase of the conflict.
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Michael Ribotta – Discovering America: Father Raphael Pipemi and the first salesian missionaries in North America
A young Italian immigrant, Angelo Petazzi, watched anxiously as the English steamship, the Werra, approached New York harbor. Clutched in his hand was a letter from the then Salesian superior general, Father Michael Rua, which informed him of the impending arrival of a group of four Salesians in New York. At their head was Father Raphael Piperni.