Si narra che, un giorno dell’inizio del secolo, alla stazione di Milano un salesiano fu avvicinato da un Reverendo distinto, che gli chiese: — Quand’è che voi Salesiani scriverete una vita di D. Bosco ? — E alla risposta « che c’era già, che l’aveva scritta D. Lemoyne e che ne esistevano anche altre », il Reverendo aveva insistito: — No, no. Una vita.
Continue reading “Eugenio Valentini – Il primo studio critico sulla vita di D. Bosco”
Nel suo primo viaggio a Roma, fatto nel 1858, don Bosco visitò anche due catacombe: quella di San Pancrazio sull’Aurelia e San Sebastiano sull’Appia Antica.
Continue reading “Antonio Baruffa – San Giovanni Bosco pellegrino alle catacombe”
The Central Salesian Archive contains numerous eyewitness reports of Don Bosco’s words and deeds, particularly in the form of chronicles and memoirs. I drew heavily on these documents for previous articles which saw the light of day in the pages of this Journal. I shall do the same for the present article.
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.
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.
Continue reading “Michael Ribotta – The Roman Letter of 1884 and its aftermath”
Included in the copious documentation that comprises the chronicles and annals of the early history of the Salesian Society in the Salesian archives in Rome, there is a treasure trove of diaries, journals, memoirs, and daybooks which chart the ebb and flow of the early years of the Oratory of Saint Francis of Sales.
When New Year’s Day dawned in Turin in 1854, the subscribers to Don Bosco’s Catholic Readings (Letture Cattoliche) were in for a pleasant andunexpected surprise.
Part I will present a biographical sketch of the man; Part II will deal with the sources and the editorial history of the Biographical Memoirs; and Part III will inquire into the historical criteria and into the method with which the author worked, for an evaluation (by way of conclusion) of the historical character of the Biographical Memoirs.
Continue reading “Arthur Lenti – Don Bosco’s Boswell: John Baptist Lemoyne-the man and his work”
Therefore, all early biography on Don Bosco, including Fr. Lemoyne’s and his successors’, should be approached with the right understanding of its popular medieval religious roots. On no account ought it to be dismissed as novelized history, which it is not.
L’obiettivo di questo contributo è quello di presentare la Confondatrice dell’Istituto delle FMA, santa Maria Domenica Mazzarello, e la sua esperienza educativa a partire dalla lettura delle fonti più antiche.
Le Memorie Biografiche sono state il testo importante sul quale tante generazioni di salesiani hanno costruito la propria immagine di Don Bosco. Di fronte alla critica storica qualcuno teme che esse vengano accantonate. svolgendo il mestiere di storico nessuno mai sogna di togliere dalle mani dei salesiani e di chiunque altro le MB. Tuttavia nemmeno è pensabile a tutt’oggi che i salesiani si possano limitare ad esse. Le apprensioni hanno forse alla radice una percezione poco chiara del momento di revisione critica che si sta attraversando in modo irreversibile. Continue reading “Pietro Stella – Apologia della storia Piccola guida critica alle Memorie biografiche di don Bosco”
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