Nel periodo che precedette la prima guerra mondiale l’Europa fu attraversata da una grande ondata di liberalismo pedagogico. Essa fu ispirata dai progressi della psicologia che stavano dimostrando tutta la dannosità dei principi educativi fino ad allora seguiti e rivendicando un maggiore rispetto per la personalità dell’educando.
Nella prima udienza il papa Leone XIII, il giorno 21 di Febbraio dell’anno 1888, disse a don Rua: “Don Rua, voi siete il successore di Don Bosco: mi condolgo con voi per la perdita che avete fatta, ma mi rallegro perchè Bosco era un Santo e dal Cielo non mancherà di assistervi”. Continue reading “Michele Rua – Prima udienza avuta dal S. Padre dopo la morte di D. Bosco.”
Prompted by the visit of the Holy Father and the Beatification of Cardinal Newman in England in September 2010, the author considers Dominic Savio’s wellknown dream about England and the Catholic Faith, and, after considering the explanations provided by others, offers another hypothesis based on Don Bosco’s own considerable personal knowledge and interest in events in that country at the time.
Continue reading “Bernard Francis Grogan – Dominic Savio and England: another hypothesis”
This note is an attempt to provide the conclusions of an extensive statistical survey covering the last 120 years of Salesian vocations nurtured and cultivated in the «English Province» under its various guises, by the various communities, and with particular reference to the Novitiates during this period.
Continue reading “Bernard Francis Grogan – Novices in the history of the GBR Salesian Province”
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Il periodo compreso tra il 1900 e il 1960 fu tempo di grande espansione e consolidamento per le Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice (FMA) sia in Italia che in diversi Paesi europei, attraversati da diversi “tempi difficili”, dovuti a ideologie, guerre, dittature che misero alla prova le opere educative salesiane. Con il nuovo secolo, per iniziativa della Santa Sede si avviò il processo che portò all’autonomia giuridica e amministrativa dell’Istituto nel 1906, con l’intento però di restare fedeli ai criteri operativi propri dello “spirito dell’Istituto”.
What strategies are to be adopted to make religious communities arise from the trough of aging and the scarcity of vocations? G. ARBUCKLE in the volume entitled ‘Out of chaos’ invites superiors to ‘refound individuals’ on the basis of pointers from anthropology, management techniques and the concept of Old Testament prophecy (while merely skimming over the New Testament and the history of religious life). From this latter source on the other hand R. HOSTIE, in a volume entitled ‘Life and death of religious orders’, shows that their survival derives from their renewal. In other words, Arbuckle focuses on the pastoral needs of the present day and leaves aside fidelity to the original charism of Institutes. On the other hand Hostie studies precisely this fidelity and sees in it the only possibility of survival. The thesis of the A. regarding ‘the foundation and development of the salesian congregation in England’ (of which a concise account is given) demonstrates the solid and consistent nature of the general approach of Hostie, which is lacking in Arbuckle.
Continue reading “John Dickson – Refounding or renewal? A historical case study”
The aim of this article is to examine, first of all, what connections there were between the Oratory and England, and to try to provide some explanation for Dominic Savio’s keen interest in that far off land. Secondly, it is hoped to examine the actual circumstances which led thirty years later, to the foundation of the first Salesian mission at Battersea in London in November 1887. What this article seeks to suggest is that Dominic’s interest in England and indeed the ideas contained in his day dream can be attributed, at least in part, to the influence and preaching of Lorenzo Gastaldi and indeed that there are significant resemblances between Dominic’s account of his day dream and a notes that were made at the Oratory of the Retreat sermons given by Gastaldi, though admittedly, some time after Dominic’s death. Secondly, the article suggests that the actual foundation thirty years later had much less to do with the Catholic revival than the dream might suggest and that Don Bosco the realist was much more moved to try to improve the desperate situation of pour urban Catholics in a depressed part of one of the world’s greatest cities.
Continue reading “John Dickson – The origins of the Salesian work in London. A Centenary Lecture”
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