Saint John Bosco

“ Give it all up, in the name of God!"
"God's mercy has sent me these boys," answered Don Bosco heroically; "I shall not give one up; if I cannot hire a house I shall build one; and I tell you that one day, with God's help and the protection of His Blessed Mother, these children and a great many more will have a house, workshops, a college, a church and their own professors," and his eyes glowed with a supernatural light as he raised his hands toward Heaven. ”

“ In all your hearts is the answer, Nature's own answer—the mother!
And such a mission did John Bosco's mother accomplish. Upright, religious, a truly holy woman, she participated in that abundance of God that I have told you of, and by continual prayer sweetened her hard life of toil and poverty. She must have married when very young, for at nineteen she was a widow with two children of her own, Joseph and John, and a step-son, Anthony, John, the youngest, was two years old when his father died. ”

“ As years elapsed and vocations multiplied, Don Bosco, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, saw a society of priests shaping itself almost unconsciously under his very eyes into a sacerdotal phalanx destined to make war upon sin and worldliness, to conquer Christ's enemies, wrest from them their young captives, and bring thousands of them to fight under His divine standard. For the youthful Levites would not leave the dear Father and apostle who had saved them, who had led their footsteps into this new world of spiritual beauty, of glory, of undreamed-of possibilities of good ”

“ Yes, at this moment I feel as well as if I had never been sick at all. If any one were to ask the reason why, you might answer thus: Quod Deus imperio, tu prece Virgo potes! (What God does by His power, Thou obtainest, Virgin! by Thy intercession) . This is certainly not my hour yet; it may be ere long but not now.'
"This unexpected respite in Don Bosco's illness was beyond doubt the result of many prayers offered up through Our Lady in many parts of the world. ”

“ Vincent of Paul is you, Reverend Father; with your religious family, half Italian, half French, you will accomplish better than any other, the necessary work of peace and conciliation. Your place is waiting for you...... Father of Italian orphans, I appeal to your heart. You have already responded to Europe and America; here is Africa presenting desolate children whom your heart is large enough to contain." Don Bosco could not resist this appeal. ”

“ The walls of his great basilica could tell a whole history of wonders that were wrought into all parts of the stately structure, mosaics of light, of charity, visible to Mary and the angels who watch around the sacred altar. Don Bosco, the humble, the lowly-hearted peasant, still more amid divine favors and caresses than amid the earthly honors often lavished upon him, regarded them as utterly beyond his merits and inflicted upon himself more severe penances, sought a more complete death to self and courted humiliations with a deeper joy and a more solid conviction of his nothingness. ”

“ Cugliero, the priest who relates the incidents mentioned in the foregoing chapter, came to see me about a pupil of his. "Here in your Oratory," he said, "there might possibly be boys equal to him, but I can safely assert that there is none to excel him; in fact you find him to be another St. Aloysius."
At that time I used to take my boys occasionally to Murialdo. It was a little country place, where a short time was spent for the benefit of enjoying the country air and open life; and there we usually made the Novena in preparation for, and celebrated the Feast of the Holy Rosary. ”

“ The new-comer had described briefly his illness, which was concerned with a weakness of the heart, and had brought him to death's door.
"You desired very much to be cured, I suppose?" enquired Dominic.
"No, not a great deal; I only desired that the Will of God might be done."
No more than this was required to convince Savio that his new acquaintance was gifted with extraordinary piety, and he secretly rejoiced at this acquisition to the Oratory; he therefore followed up the boy's response by remarking: "Whoever desires to do the Will of God, is anxious for his own sanctification ”

“ In the evening, Bosco explained the extraordinary gift he possessed of sleight of hand and of his being able—while calling the attention of the person, with whom he was conversing, to some indifferent object or otherwise distracting attention—to abstract, by an instantaneous and almost imperceptible movement, some ornament from their person and again to be able to place, or cast it with precision, wherever he desired. ”

“ Then he opened his eyes again, and said with a clear voice, and a smiling countenance: "Goodbye, father, goodbye; the priest wanted to tell me something else, but I cannot remember it now.... Oh! what a beautiful sight I behold ...." Thus saying, with his hands joined, and a heavenly smile, his soul passed away.
Yes, go forth, faithful soul, to meet thy Creator; Heaven is opened to thee, and the angels and saints are rejoicing for thee ”

“ Let the people living in these irreligious days, see what a poor, helpless priest accomplished with the help of the Most High, and of Mary, Help of Christians. Would to God there were a Don Bosco in every large city throughout the world at the present time! What an amazing transformation we should then see! Would to God we could quickly get the means to have a good Novitiate here in the United States. We need help from the public in every possible way ”

“ The Venerable Don Bosco, as he lay dying in the Oratory of Valdocco on January 31, 1888, was the Father and Superior General of two hundred and fifty houses of the Salesian Society in all parts of the world. In these beneficent institutions one hundred and thirty thousand children were being educated and trained ”

“ Francis of Sales as Co-operators, or we should not see these religious priests, destined for such extensive, boy-saving enterprises, scattered, as they are, in a few parishes, without even a novitiate to shelter aspirants to the Saint-forming rule of Don Bosco: without a House of Studies, where their youthful clerics may pursue amid the quiet scenes of nature their final course of philosophy and theology, urged on daily more and more to the attainment of heroic virtue by the holy examples of their predecessors. ”

“ And, besides, Don Bosco never wasted time. St. Liguori, whose voluminous works are the treasure of the Church, made a vow which might well frighten the most saintly, never to waste a minute of time; and I have often thought that vow was like the fiery chariot of Elias, which bore his soul up to heaven to witness the "Glories" of divine love, and then, returning to earth, sped him over its vast spaces scattering his pages—so many sparks of fire to kindle heavenly love in the hearts of men. ”

“ And how many saints have been privileged with the continual loving presence of the Sacred Humanity of our Saviour in the secret abysses of their soul, to instruct, guide and illumine them in the intricate and lofty ways of perfection! Blessed Margaret Mary, the lowly Visitation nun, beheld this interior vision continually. We may be sure that God granted these and other graces of a sublime order to this "faithful servant of His Divine Majesty," Don Bosco, so profoundly humble, and so skilful in hiding "the secrets of the King." ”

“ God, the Omnipotent, takes strange ways, simple and sometimes even apparently foolish ways of beginning a great and sublime work. On the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, December 8, 1841, Don Bosco was vesting for Mass when he heard the sacristan scolding a strange boy who entered the church for refusing to serve at the altar. ”

“ There was universal rejoicing over the exaltation of one so beloved and venerated, not only in the Societies he had founded but where ever his name was known.
"The welcome news of the introduction of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of our holy Founder," records the Salesian Bulletin, "passed round the globe as a message of joy. At Turin the initiative was taken by the "Circle" of Past-pupils, the Don Bosco Club, who organized, September 29, on a large scale, a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Venerable, at Val Salice, on the outskirts of the city. ”

“ With this fact I shall bring the life of Dominic Savio to a close. In an appendix other favours are related, which seem to be conducive to the glory of God and the good of souls.
But, dear Reader, before parting, I should like to propose some little resolution, which may be of service to you and to myself and to others; I should like you to join with me to a resolution to imitate young Savio in the practice of the virtues which are compatible with our state. In his own position he lived a most happy, virtuous and innocent life, which was crowned by a holy death. ”

“ A memorable feature of Don Bosco's stay in Paris was his meeting with the celebrated Apostle of Africa, the founder of the White Fathers, Cardinal Lavigerie, who, in the Church of San Pierre, pronounced a magnificent eulogy on the Italian Apostle and his works, of which the Cardinal had seen the humble beginning in Turin. Addressing Don Bosco, His Eminence said: "I live in a country where St. Vincent of Paul was carried by force and held in slavery during two years. Now another St. Vincent of Paul is wanted in Tunis, brought by love, not by force. ”

“ The interior life of our founder, in all the booklets about him, as far as I can see, has not been touched upon, because exterior deeds are what impress the world. Yet these marvelous feats of Don Bosco would absolutely have been unattainable had it not been for the divine fire that burnt in his simple heart. ”

“ Whatever devotions were practised in honour of the Blessed Sacrament, he took part in them with eager joy and delight; and would accompany the priest when taking Holy Viaticum, if he were allowed. One day a priest was passing across a muddy street with the Blessed Sacrament, when Dominic was near. There had been a great deal of rain and it was muddy all round. But the boy took no head of that. He knelt in the mud and made his act of adoration. A companion remonstrated that he need not have knelt in the mud: that God did not command it, and did not wish him to dirty his clothes in that way. ”

“ The father replied: "I am here, my son, what would you like?"
"It is time, father; get my prayer book, and read the prayers for a good death."
At these words the mother began to weep, and had to go out of the room. The father was greatly moved, but he restrained his grief so as to read the prayers. Dominic repeated them after him, and, in the proper place, said by himself: "Merciful Jesus, have mercy on me." When they came to the part which says: "But deign to receive me into Thy Kingdom where I may for ever sing Thy praises," Dominic added: "Yes, that is exactly what I desire ”

“ Each member should willingly be second to others in the wide road of charity, where there is abundant room for all. God will bless those who act thus."
More than once Margaret expressed her happiness at seeing the numbers of Don Bosco's children who now wore the soutane. "They are my children, too," she would add with a smile.
On the 25th of November the end seemed near, and the happiness of Heaven beamed upon her face. In the evening Don Bosco administered the last Sacraments to his dying mother. ”

“ May the young learn from Savio how to sanctify themselves, even in the midst of dangers, how to join holiness with cheerfulness, frankness with reserve, dignity with modesty, the interior life and intimate union with Our Lord with the diligent exercise of external duties; let them learn of him to be beloved by God and men, and thus to leave a holy memory to succeeding generations. ”

“ His few preparations for departure were soon made, though they were carried out with that scrupulous care which showed that he regarded them as the last acts he would do at the Oratory. He went to each of his companions to say goodbye, and to several he gave a little message of advice or encouragement or recommendation. To one boy he owed a few pence. He called to him and said: "Come let us put our accounts right, or else there may be trouble in settling accounts with God." ”

“ Although in life Don Bosco had attracted a multitude of persons to him by the fame of his sanctity, yet after his death there was a great increase of devotion: the learned and noble, ecclesiastics especially, were those who evinced most confidence in his intercession. And not only from Turin, but from all parts of Italy, from France, Spain, Austria, etc., and from across the ocean, the United States, Canada, and all the other countries of America, came to me letters imploring for prayers to Don Bosco. I can certainly say that these came by hundreds every week. ”

“ He therefore set to work amongst his closest friends, and proposed to them the formation of a sodality or association, to be called the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception. Its object was to obtain the special protection of Our Lady during life and particularly at the hour of death. The means proposed were to practice and promote acts of devotion in honour of the Mother of God, and the adoption of the practice of frequent Communion by all members. ”

“ On Tuesday, January 31st, at two o'clock in the morning, his agony began, and Don Buzetti called the Fathers, who had left only a short time before.
Soon the humble room was filled with priests, students and laity, kneeling in fervent prayer. The affecting scene is best described by the Salesian Bulletin:
"On Msgr. Cagliero's entrance, Don Rua gave him the stole, and went to Don Bosco's right side. Bending to the ear of the well-beloved Father, he said in a voice full of emotion: 'Don Bosco, we, your sons, are here. We ask your forgiveness for all the grief we may have caused you ”