Thus the approval of the Salesian Constitutions in April 1874 was followed by a second and more bitterly fought phase of the conflict.
Continue reading “Arthur Lenti – The Bosco-Gastaldi conflict (1872-82), Part II”
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.
Michael Ribotta – Don Bosco’s history of Italy: a morality play or an exercise in history?
“If Don Bosco during his student years had one special preference, it was for reading history,” noted Father Alberto Caviglia in his exhaustive study of Don Bosco’s Storia d’ Italia. “In fact, one can say he had a predilection for historical studies”.
Michael Mendl – A man for his times: Father Peter Ricaldone as Rector Major (1932-1951), Part I
Peter Ricaldone was a major superior of the Salesian Society for forty years, half of them as rector major.
María Esther Posada – Alle origini di una scelta. Don Bosco Fondatore di un Istituto femminile
Mossi dallo Spirito di Dio, i Fondatori di famiglie religiose nella Chiesa si trovano a far fronte a situazioni storiche le più diverse e a volte le più imprevedibili. «Dal punto di vista storico-teologico sono estremamente varie le modalità con cui un Fondatore (o Fondatrice) ha dato origine a un Ordine o a una Congregazione religiosa. Sono pure assai diversi i gradi di coinvolgimento nella vita dell’Istituto da lui fondato».
Arthur Lenti – The Bosco-Gastaldi Conflict (1872-82), Part I
The conflict between Archbishop Lawrence Gastaldi and Don Bosco may at first sight appear to have been, to put a facile contemporary label on it, a typical confrontation between institution and charism.
Continue reading “Arthur Lenti – The Bosco-Gastaldi Conflict (1872-82), Part I”
Michael Ribotta,Natale Cerrato – EXPO’ 84 and Don Bosco’s peerless-to- paper-to-print presentation
Turin’s EXPO ’84 was to become the bittersweet culmination of Don Bosco’s remarkable and varied career as publisher, author, and printer.
For almost 40 years he had been active in the cause of the Catholic press and as editor of educational publications.
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.
Arthur Lenti – Don Bosco’s Missionary Dreams (Part II)
In Part One of the present installment (Part Four overall), we shall discuss the last two dreams in a similar manner to the first article. Part Two (Five) will deal with the significance of the missionary dreams, with interpretative comments.
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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.
Arthur Lenti – Don Bosco’s missionary dreams (Part I)
Because of the vastness of the subject and of the amount of material involved, this essay will be presented in two installments.
Continue reading “Arthur Lenti – Don Bosco’s missionary dreams (Part I)”