In an article which appeared in an earlier issue of this Journal, I described some of Don Bosco’s concerns, as he expressed them in meetings of his council and in sessions of General Chapters held during the last decade of his life.
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.
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.
Michael Ribotta – Training boys to earn a living: the beginnings of vocational education at the oratory
Don Bosco’s biographer, Father John Baptist Lemoyne, notes that most of the boys who attended Don Bosco’s evening classes were hard-working young apprentices or youths who worked wherever they could find a job.
Michael Ribotta – Peter Enria Remembers
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.
Peter Rinaldi – Blessed Philip Rinaldi as I knew him
Father Philip Rinaldi was my granduncle on myfather’s side. For us youngsters he was the tall, smiling priest who, when visiting our home, would dig into his pockets and invariably come up with all sorts of goodies.
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Michael Mendl – St. John Bosco’s dealings with the Cavour family
In carrying out his humble apostolate on behalf of poor and abandoned boys, Saint John Bosco (1815-1888) came into frequent contact with the wealthy and the powerful of Piedmontese society.
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Arthur Lenti – Don Bosco’s vocation – mission dreams
Don Bosco’s vocation dreams hold an important place in Don Bosco’s vocational development and in the process by which his lifework was determined and specified.
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Michael Ribotta – The day they shut down the oratory school
On June 30, 1879, after numerous attempts to stave off the inevitable, Don Bosco was finally compelled to shut down his oratory school in Valdocco.
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Pietro Stella – Lezione del 14 dicembre 2006
Pietro Stella fu un maestro nel senso più nobile del termine. Questo volume è una riflessione su temi a lui congeniali, in cui ha impresso un’impronta storiografica decisiva. Continue reading “Pietro Stella – Lezione del 14 dicembre 2006”
Aldo Giraudo – Le “Vite” di giovani scritte da don Bosco
La vita di Domenico Savio (1859) e i profili biografici di Michele Magone (1861) e Francesco Besucco (1864) sono tra i documenti pedagogici più significativi di don Bosco, efficaci rappresentazioni narrative delle convinzioni e della pratica formativa del santo, nel primo ventennio di attività nell’Oratorio di Torino. Offrono gli elementi essenziali per comprenderne il messaggio educativo: la religiosità come centro unificante e vitalizzante; la comunanza paterna e fraterna di vita dell’educatore con gli allievi; l’intreccio dinamico di amore, letizia e impegno; l’efficacia del coinvolgimento attivo dei giovani nella comunità. Continue reading “Aldo Giraudo – Le “Vite” di giovani scritte da don Bosco”