“There’s No Such Thing As a Bad Kid”

Father Don Bosco [August 16, 1815 – January 31, 1888]
Saint John Bosco, born Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco, and known in English as Don Bosco, was an Italian Catholic priest, educator and recognized pedagogue, who put into practice the dogma of his religion, employing teaching methods based on love rather than punishment. He placed his works under the protection of Francis de Sales; thus his followers styled themselves the Salesian Society. He is the only Saint with the title "Father and Teacher of Youth."
St. John Bosco succeeded in establishing a network of centers to carry on his work. In recognition of his work with disadvantaged youth he was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1934.(1)

Early Life
When he was little more than two years old his father died, leaving the support of three boys to the mother, Margaret Bosco. John's early years were spent as a shepherd and he received his first instruction at the hands of the parish priest. He possessed a ready wit, a retentive memory, and as years passed his appetite for study grew stronger. Owing to the poverty of the home, however, he was often obliged to turn from his books to the field, but the desire of what he had to give up never left him. In 1835 he entered the seminary at Chieri and after six years of study was ordained priest on the eve of Trinity Sunday by Archbishop Franzoni of Turin.(2)

Early Ministry
When he was young, he would put on shows of his skills as a juggler, magician, and acrobat. The price of admission to these shows was a prayer. Don Bosco began as the chaplain of the Rifugio ("Refuge"), a girls’ boarding school founded in Turin by the Marchioness Giulia di Barolo. But he had many ministries on the side such as visiting prisoners, teaching catechism and helping out at country parishes. A growing group of boys would come to the Rifugio on Sundays and feast days to play and learn their catechism. They were too old to join the younger children in regular catechism classes in the parishes, which mostly chased them away. This was the beginning of the “Oratory of St. Francis de Sales”. Because of all their disorderly racket, the Marchioness spared her girls the distraction by terminating Bosco’s employment at the Rifugio.Don Bosco and his Oratory wandered around town for a few years and were turned out of several places in succession. Finally, he was able to rent a shed from a Mr. Pinardi. His mother moved in with him. The Oratory had a home, then, in 1846, in the new Valdocco neighborhood on the north end of town. Next year, he and "Mamma Margherita" began taking in orphans.(3)

Don Bosco's Education System
Don Bosco's capability to attract numerous boys and adult helpers was connected to his "Preventive System of Education". He believed education to be a "matter of the heart" and said that the boys must not only be loved, but know that they are loved. He also pointed to three components of the Preventive System: reason, religion, and kindness. Music and games also went into the mix.(4)

Don Bosco gained a reputation early on of being a saint and miracle worker. For this reason Rua, Buzzetti, Cagliero and several others began to keep chronicles of his sayings and doings. Preserved in the Salesian archives, these are invaluable resources for studying his life. Later on, the Salesian Don Lemoyne collected and combined them into 45 scrapbooks with oral testimonies and Don Bosco’s own Memoirs of the Oratory. His aim was to write a detailed biography. This project eventually became a nineteen-volume affair, carried out by him and two other authors. These are the Biographical Memoirs. It is clearly not the work of professional historians, but a somewhat uneven compilation of those chronicles that preserve the memories of teenage boys and young men under the spell of a remarkable and beloved father figure.(5)

Salesians Family
The effort to keep on working the Oratory weren't enough, and after a few political, economic, and ecclesiastics conflicts, Father Don Bosco reached his dream under the advice of Urbano Rattazzi, who was the Justice Minister, who did not support the Church, but nevertheless recognized the value of Don Bosco’s work.
Todays Salesians mission is to teach young people various trades that will help them find decent jobs and become self-sufficient, contributing members of society. The Salesians insist that the needy help themselves in whatever way they can, even minimally. They do not encourage dependence or paternalism, but strive to live up to the working maxim, “helping others to help themselves.” Today, they continue their mission of caring for the poor children of the world with missionaries in over 131 countries. Following the great effort and example of Father Don Bosco.(6) (7)

(1)(3)(4)(5)(6) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bosco, John Bosco; downloaded March 21,2008
(2) : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02689d.htm, St. Giovanni Melchior Bosco; downloaded March 21, 2008
(7) : http://www.salesianmissions.org/aboutus/index.html, Salesian Missions Online; downloaded March 21, 2008

Felipe Concha