 Chapter 15 of the Venerable Don Bosco, the Apostle of Youth. Vocations Multiply, Organization of the Silesian Society, Mary Matsarello. From the year 1846, when four of Don Bosco's pupils had become divinity students, to 1865, what progress? A visitor speaking of one of the boarding schools of 400 pupils with its complete course of classical studies adds, about a fourth of these scholars enter the Silesian congregation or are ordained. The first priest from the schools was ordained in 1857. A wave who had fled almost a wreck from cruel and inhuman parents to the shelter of Don Bosco's fatherly heart. His talents were found so extraordinary and combined with such natural energy, love of study and aspiration after holiness of life, that Don Bosco gave every facility to his laudable ambitions, became his director, instructor and father, and his labor of love was well rewarded, for eventually his protege became one of the most distinguished and saintly of the Turin clergy. 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, rest from them, their young captives, and bring thousands of them to fight under his divine standard. For the youthful Levites would not leave their 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. By his side they would labor, would spend the God-given talents he had discovered and brought to light, would give their lives with daily increasing ardor to the great apostolate in which he had already achieved such prodigies of moral change. And the pencil of the Holy Ghost was summoned to write the laws of this new gathering of priests. The spirit of St. Francis of Sales, always the guiding spirit of Don Bosco, was evoked. The spirit of love, a sweetness of strength, which characterized that most humble and most beloved of saints and missionaries, to drench this new offspring of his and make each of them another sales to preach and illustrate by example that Christ's gospel is one of love. Through all these years Don Bosco's ideal of organized spiritual activity grew continually. His thought and experience were always on the alert for improvement in details and humble to the heart's core. He was ever ready to seek the counsels of his early conferees, especially of Don Michel Roux, his firstly priestly conquest of Val d'Orco for the order of St. Francis of Sales, of whom he said, Observe and study Don Roux, for he is a saint. So that at last a compact body of solution rules of wonderful wisdom, discretion, and sweetness emanated from the hands of the saintly founder. Rules tried seven times in the fiery crucible of loving and heroic obedience by his ardent followers. Rules which planted the roots of sanctity deep in the vital recesses of the soul. Later to flourish and spread its branches over the whole world, laden with fruit for the healing of the nations. Hardly any story of the formation of a religious order could be more interesting, touching, thrilling in its details. And to indulge in the cumulative evidence of detail, of anecdote, of conversations, is the momentary temptation of any author who would write of Don Bosco. But space limits me, and my readers may well await in this as in all other circumstances of this mysterious life the filial revelations of Arthur Lemoine in his wonderful 15-volume biography of the Apostle of Turin. Don Bosco was truly living two lives, more in the invisible world of spirit than in the world of superhuman activities, in which, however, he seemed always plunged. Seemed, I say, for it was a divine power that guided them all. And though he was not exempt from the most cruel trials, yet was he, I may truly say, carefree in his utter infantile dependence on God. And therefore, as in ever-increasing numbers, these young, strong, soul priests, and trained professors of his own making relinquished every earthly ambition and sought to toil from the first hour of the day in this new vineyard of the Lord, so with ever-wideening zeal did Don Bosco respond to the calls from all Italy for colleges and complete oratories. The three houses of Turin overflowed to meet the demands, and from 1863 on, the Institute became permanently established in Mirabello, Montferratto, Alasio, Mogliano, Randasso in Sicily, Varice, Valsalice, and at Trent in the Tirol. But our Lady, help of Christians, was preparing afar off in the Valley of Mornice a great surprise for Don Bosco, the realization of a dream of long years. Of a noble aspiration which his mother's great heart had shared and fostered with profound interest. This was to establish institutions similar to those of the oratory, for poor little girls who Margaret had seen with sorrow roaming the streets without a shelter, Mary Matarero, an alpine girl, had grown up in the Valley of a model of angelic innocence, a virtuous labor and charitable zeal, and her beautiful influence was paramount over many of the young girls of the village. She was sixteen years of age when Don Pestorino, the pious curée, determined to form of these elect souls a congregation dedicated to Mary Immaculate. The rules were easy, prayer and good works were enjoined, but the members were left unconstrained as to their ordinary duties of life. Mary and her fervor, wishing to do more, assembled the little girls of the village in her own home, and instructed them in religious doctrine. But not long after, her generous heart prompted her to hire a workroom, where she taught them all kinds of sewing in which she was an expert. Marvelous reports of Don Bosco and his Society of St. Francis and Sales, having come to the ears of Don Pestorino, he conceived an ardent desire to become a member and to affiliate, if possible, his Little Mournese congregation to the great Silesian Society, then twenty-five years in existence. Later he visited Don Bosco, who welcomed him into the Society with joy, and he became one of the most active and zealous fathers, the Holy Apostle received with equal happiness Mary Mazzorello, and her companions, modifying the rules of the congregation, changing its name to Mary, help of Christians, and placing it on par with the Silesian Institute. What the latter was for boys, the Silesian sisters became for girls. Mary was chosen superior, and on August 5, 1872, the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows, she and her sisters, within effable joy, received the religious habit from the bishop of Aki, and pronounced their sacred vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Their life was a duplicate of the early struggling years of Valdaco, but there was not a murmur, and the work grew and was manifestly best by God, as were all the works entrusted to Don Bosco by his divine providence. Recording by Larry Wilson The Venerable Don Bosco, The Apostle of Youth by M. S. Pine Papal Approbation of the Rules and Constitutions The Spirit of St. Francis of Sales Dominates April 3, 1874, was a day of benediction, a day of sacred and perpetual memorial to the sons of Don Bosco, for on that day Pope Pius IX solemnly approved the rules and constitutions which the founder under the guidance of the Spirit of God had framed for his Society of St. Francis of Sales. The members who thus dedicate themselves to God are, quote, to study to acquire Christian perfection, to devote their lives to works of charity, spiritual and temporal, especially among children and youth, and to the education of scholars, destitute children or to receive the preference, unquote. The Society is composed of priests, divinity students, and lay students. The vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty are the same as in other religious orders, except that the vow of poverty regards only the administration of property that does not prohibit its possession. The administration of patrimonies, benefices, or property of any kind is restricted to the superior general, who is elected for twelve years, and may be re-elected but cannot hold the keys of administration unless the Pope confirms his election. The prefect, spiritual director, steward, and three counselors are elected for six years. Each house has its rector, prefect, steward, catechist, and counselors, and every foundation must have at least six Silesian members. The first vows are binding only for three years, when final vows may be taken. As in other orders, the Society is bound only to those who have pronounced their final vows, the members celebrate mass daily, or if not priests assist at the Holy Sacrifice. A half hour at least a morning mental prayer is required, with the recitation of five mysteries of the Rosary, and spiritual reading for a stated time. Weekly confession, the Friday fast, and a day's retreat every month are prescribed with an annual retreat of from six to ten days. The Constitution's remark, quote, Silesians should take particular care even of trifles, and keep clothes, beds, and cells tidy. Holiness of life is the adornment of religious. Should necessity arise, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, hard work, and contempt from men must be courageously endured, if conductive to the glory of God, their own salvation, or that of their neighbor, unquote. Shortly after Pius IX, by his bowl of approbation, had confirmed the Silesian order and brought it definitely into the great religious family of the Church, he set the seal of his solemn approval upon the rules and constitutions of the new congregation of Mary, help of Christians. This institute is for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls, his holiness declared to Don Bosco. The good master has again chosen you as his instrument. Let us humbly thank him and refer all to his grace. I am convinced that the sisters of Mary, help of Christians, will accomplish similar effects in the education of girls to those wrought by the Silesian fathers and brothers in the education of boys. And succeeding years have confirmed this prophecy of the saintly Pius IX. Don Bosco confided to the Holy Father his solicitude in regard to the maintenance of both societies. As to that, do not hesitate, the Pope said reassuringly. If the work is to last, the nuns must remain under your authority and that of your successors. They can work amalgamated with you as the sisters of charity worked with St. Vincent de Paul. Don Rua, assistant to Don Bosco, was appointed prefect of the Society of Mary, help of Christians. And the first Silesian house for girls was established under his direction about July 1874. The progress of the society, its wide expansion, was so astonishing that in ten years, 1884, more than thirty houses flourished in Italy, France, and America. Wherever an oratory for boys was founded, the people called for a similar organization for girls. In the beginning Mary Mazzarelle's nuns numbered only thirteen. When in 1884, after incredible labors and sacrifices, she died in the odor of sanctity, consumed with the love of God and zeal for the souls of his little ones, she left behind her, carrying on the supernatural work she had initiated in Mornisse Valley, more than two hundred and fifty nuns, imbued with the apostolic spirit of the founder and of his glorious patron, St. Francis of Sails. The holy bishop of Geneva has bequeathed to numbers of religious orders who serve wholly the Church of God, his name and his spirit. His own creation, which he trained from the cradle of infancy, the order of the visitation, he so impregnated with his spirit through his holy life, his oral instructions during many years, and his incomparable spiritual writings, especially the constitutions and directory he devised for his nuns, that the spirit of the visitation is essentially one with his own, so much so that it has ever been deemed the distinctive mark of the order, and the spirit of love and gentleness is the keystone of the Silesian order. It is its strength, its raison d'être, I might say, the golden-winged angel who from its wide-scattered missions bears thousands of souls to the shining land. Unkindness is the chief assistant to Satan in peopling the prisons of hell, who knows what a terrible train of consequences may follow that act of unkindness. Anger lays hold of the victim, temptation, the unholy spirit of revenge, take possession of him. Unkindness hinders prayer, creates distrust of God, and uncruely flagulating the heart steals it against its fellow creatures. It may cast one into a slew of despond, from which he shall never arise. Unkindness is a negative word, its sound has grown familiar to us, and we do not realize the world of misery that vocable shuts up in its unholy bounds. But what if positive harshness and violence and contempt put stings and swords into the act? And how do you know what state of pain your victim is in already? The heart may be filled to bursting, the mind crushed under disappointment and misfortune. Oh, this is terrible, when a grown man or woman is its prey. What then is it to the child just entering on the career of life in a world filled to repletion with the riches and beauty and love of the Creator? A world where happiness with outstretched hands awaits every step of yours, eager to be led to the rough and thorny ways where toil and suffer the little helpless waves and strays, those early pilgrims of sorrow, those shorn lambs of God, shorn of all human comfort, made old with misery ere life has half begun. Ah, does not your gentle heart see and know that they should be plain in the gardens of innocent pleasure, their minds expanding in homes of learning, their souls uplifted in temples of worship and holy peace? Can you save one? Can you save many? And have you not done it? Look abroad over our free, beautiful republic, rolling in affluence, its wealth distributed over the nations of the world, a land where pleasure and luxury run riot, and where crime and poverty run riot too, and see dotting its great cities and its hillsides, prisons, workhouses, homes for feeble-minded children, reformatories for boys and girls, enter those repellent precincts and look about you upon the hapless ones whom the world has walled in from social communion with their fellows, study those young faces especially, and compare them with happy faces you know and love and surround with all sweetness earth can give. Then, if you have courage and love equal to it, question them. Ask men, ask women, ask girls and boys. What brought you here? I venture to say that one half the answers in low, bitter, conclusive tones will be unkindness. Do this, and I may well suppress my meager yet awe-inspiring knowledge. Your lifelong lesson will be learned, an appalling one, as it was learned by the young priest of Turin, just ordained and sinking into the depths of his great Christ-like heart, all on fire with the love of the Redeemer and his little ones, brought forth supernatural deeds that parallel and perhaps surpass all that history has recorded of the achievements of a single man, a miraculous man, as one of his own saintly disciples delights in calling Don Bosco. And therefore this great apostle and father of youth would have none of it. Unkindness should be banished from his homes like a serpent. His children should be conducted through ways of gentleness and love, hand in hand with prayer and virtue. His priests and brothers should be trained to the perfection of the spirit of their great titular patron and doctor of the church, and their souls daily fed on his sublime and sweetly practical doctrines. Philothea, the treatise on the love of God, the conferences and controversies, the spirit of St. Francis of Sales, the heavenly sermons and letters. With what love and devotion and masterly skill did Don Bosco study this treasured library of the church? And how penetrating and replete with divine unction were his words as he discourse to his beloved disciples in his own beautiful style of St. Francis' luminous teachings on prayer, abandonment to the will of God, and the perfect practice of the religious virtues, all comprised in celestial love. No harsh note from Salesian liar has heard. His spell is all of sweetness, yet the strong clear message rings like ancient prophet's word. Anon to his full gaze is mystery's throng, its breathings are the loved disciple's own. And now it rises like the ecstatic song of some grand seraph veiled before the throne. In the Chapter 16 Chapter 17 of the Venerable Don Bosco, The Apostle of Youth This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Larry Wilson The Venerable Don Bosco, The Apostle of Youth by M. S. Pine First Foreign Mission, The Argentine Republic, Don Cogliaro It is pleasant to know that the Venerable Don Bosco received one of the earliest and most pressing applications for his Salesian fathers from our own Cardinal McCloskey, the learned eloquent and saintly archbishop of New York from 1864 to 1885. The Italians, yearly increasing by immigration, became a cause of grave concern to his eminence, especially the youthful contingent whom he saw in danger of losing the faith of their fathers, and the entrance of the Society of St. Francis of Sales into his diocese he believed would be the solution of his difficulties. But ardently as Don Bosco desired the foundation, he could ill-spear his priests as yet from his institutions in and near Turin. He could only beg the American Cardinal to wait. Pius IX was fully aware of the pressing demands of the bishops in the various countries. For Don Bosco's devotion to the Vicar of Christ led him frequently to Rome to lay before his holiness like a docile child, his plans and inspirations, which were welcomed with the magnanimous heart of a father, considered at leisure, and finally with added lights and councils, sealed and put into operation with his sanction and blessing. The Holy Pontiff had indeed a special Christ-like love for children, and the privations and sorrows of the young had entered into his earliest priestly experience as director of the orphan asylum, Tata Giovanni in Rome. Who then could wonder at his affectionate support of Don Bosco in his enterprises for youth? The first Silesian house outside of Italy was opened at Nice in 1875. This foundation had been revealed to Don Bosco, so that when on a visit three years after to the new oratory the children were brought to welcome him at the entrance to the grounds, he said to the rector Don Perrault, I recognize this place which I have seen in a dream, and even the voice of the child singing is the same I heard in my dream. Praise to our Lady, help of Christians! But now there was question of a wider Silesian separation. The urgent entreaties from overseas must be heeded. Africa, Australia, India, America, which should it be? Pius IX decided. As a young priest, Pope Leo XII in 1823, had appointed him auditor of the Apostolic Delegate Monsignor Muzi to Chile, and their El Padre Giovanni Mastai, the loving and beloved, had left a portion of his great heart. He had traveled through broad areas and habited only by savage tribes. He had witnessed the ignorance and great decay of morality caused by revolutions and civil wars among the civilized Christian peoples. And he had lamented the probable loss of souls through the dearth of priests, for South America had been neglected from the time of the suppression of the Jesuits 1773. Another motive, however, more urgent still, carried weight with the Pope and Don Bosco. On the banks of the La Plata and along the eastern coast of South America were located thousands of Italian immigrants who had fled from Italy to escape poverty. Agriculture, river navigation, business and the trades were all represented in a flourishing manner by these energetic and industrious settlers. The venerable Archbishop Frederick Aeneiros of Buenos Aires had besought Don Bosco during many years for a foundation with liberal and large-hearted offers of support for as many Silesian fathers and sisters as he could part with to confer a blessing on that remote diocese. For the Argentine Republic, therefore, Don Bosco organized his first missionary enterprise. The heroic band was composed of ten priests and co-adjector Silesian brothers and fifteen sisters of Mary, help of Christians. Don Cogliero, now a prince of the church, a favorite disciple of Don Bosco, whom he had never left from the age of thirteen and who had become one of the most learned and saintly sons of the society, was appointed the director of the mission. And Don Fagnano, prefect of Arrice College, a man of rare wisdom and heroic virtue, was made assistant. Don Bosco, ever animated with love and loyalty to Peter's chair, made them repair to Rome, where on November 1st, 1875, Pius IX received them all with fatherly affection, having previously given a special and prolonged audience to Don Cogliero, with his blessing the Holy Pontiff addressed to each of them kindly and inspiring counsels. Speaking of the Argentine Republic, he remarked, It is a beautiful country, you will go farther to Chile, where I formerly lived, and of which I have pleasant memories. You will travel farther still, perhaps evangelize the Patagonian savages whom the Jesuits could not tame because they eat their missionaries. Have courage and confidence, you are vessels full of good seed. Try to sow it with self-sacrifice and energy. The harvest will be plentiful, and console the last years of my stormy pontificate. Returning to Turin, they celebrated solemnly the Feast of Saint Martin on the eve of their departure, receiving the blessing of Archbishop Castaldi. After Vespers Don Bosco preached the farewell sermon, his concluding words were full of pathos. Go, my dear sons, to St. Francis of Sales, with the blessing of the successor of St. Peter, Head of the Apostles, with the blessing of our venerated Archbishop. Allow my feeble hands also to bless you once more. Catholics do not forget the Father, the Church, the Pope. Salesians do not forget the family from which you are about to be separated, and your Father who received you into it, whose hearts will follow you. At these words emotion overpowered the speaker, and he was forced to descend from the pulpit. The parting between the venerable founder and his beloved Don Cogliaro was most touching. The last words of his Father and benefactor were treasured by the son as words falling from the lips of Christ himself. As Don Bosco pressed his hands in farewell, he left in them as a parting gift, a small box saying, You need not open it in a hurry. Don Cogliaro, you will think, must have performed a heroic act of mortification daily, when I tell you that the precious box remained closed for several years. Not until that day in 1884, when the mail brought to him the Holy Father's bowl, promoting him to the Episcopate, did he open it by a sudden inspiration. As he pressed the spring, a thrill of wonder and thanksgiving ran through his frame, and he dropped upon his knees, for there disclosed was a beautiful pectoral cross, and in Don Bosco's hands the words, For Our First Bishop. The vessel in which the missioners embarked, the Savoy, was filled with immigrants, Italian, French, and Spanish. Don Cogliaro instructed them in the three languages, the priest's celebrated mass, at which the captain and most of the passengers assisted. They disembarked Rio de Janeiro on December 7. The Brazilian Archbishop, whose need of priest was a source of affliction to him, detained them for three hours with every manifestation of kindness and attention. Ah, he said sadly, if your superior could send me dozens, or rather hundreds of solutions, what a treasure for my flock! They would be my well-beloved sons. But the good prelate had to wait in prayer in hope seven years. At both a vedeo, where they stopped again, a rich chemist welcomed them. My four sons attend Don Bosco's college at Valsalis, he said. How hard it is to have to send them so far. Shall we never have a Silesian college here? In a little more than a year, his wish was realized. On December 14 the missioners arrived at Buenos Aires, where they were greeted by upwards of two hundred of their fellow countrymen, some of whom had been educated in the oratories of Turin, who escorted them with joy to the home prepared for them. Here the Archbishop welcomed these new champions and co-workers of Christ as his dear friends and children. At his entreaty they at once devoted themselves to the parochial duties of the church, Madre de Missacordia, mother of mercy, Don Congliaro remaining as rector, Don Bacino as curate, and Don Belmonte not yet ordained as organist. Don Fagnamo, with the seven others and some of the Silesian nuns, repaired to Los Arroyos. There the College of St. Nicholas was opened on March 20, 1876, by the Archbishop in person, and Don Fagnamo. The work increased, and with it the ardor and enthusiasm of the people. The progress was so rapid, the adults thirsty for the word of God, and the children growing in habits of virtue, that structures for schools and colleges arose almost by magic side by side with buildings and workshops for artisans. Large areas of land were given them for agricultural schools and farms. The results were so astonishing, indeed little short of miraculous, that Don Bosco with great willingness of heart sent almost annually new detachments of Silesians and sisters of Mary help of Christians. Buenos Aires became a mother-house, a rival of Turin, from which radiated new foundations on all sides. Had there been a hundred, near a thousand Silesians, says a historian, they would not have been sufficient. Two novitiates were opened, one for priests and one for sisters, and while postulants with strong and beautiful vocations were hurrying to give themselves to God in religion, gifted in pious aspirants to the altar were multiplying and filling the Silesian seminaries erected at Montevideo and other cities. The Silesian Apostolate in Patagonia From that ever memorable day in 1854, when Don Bosco stood by the bedside of the youthful cagliaro, dying of cholera, and beheld the realistic vision of the boy's future mission among a savage people of tall stature and fierce aspect, of copper-colored skin with thick black hair tied by a string at the forehead, his apostolic heart had gone often to the wilds of Patagonia, and their savage races had been an attraction for his zeal and prayers. And when Archbishop Anero proposed that the Silesians should attempt to evangelize the tribes, Don Bosco eagerly assented. In 1879 Don Costa Magna, with several other Silesians and sisters, became pioneers in this new field of apostolic labor, full of hardships and dangers. In 1880 Don Bosco wrote to his co-operators the Third Silesian Order, Patagonia is the most glorious field offered by Providence for your charitable works, where until now teachers of the gospel could not penetrate. But the time of mercy has arrived. The first trial, although painful and dangerous, has succeeded. Five hundred natives received baptism. He complains feelingly of a lack of money to assist this distant mission. Later in 1881, announcing the departure of twelve priests and brothers, and eight sisters, he continues, agriculture is especially developed in our Patagonian institutions. We have erected churches, open schools, built residences for priests and teachers, and hospitals for wandering Indians on both banks of the Black River. These savages are docile, easily taught arts and trades, and above all agriculture, which is still unknown among these wandering tribes. General Roca, President of the Argentine Republic, held Don Bosco and the Silesians in the highest esteem, and favored and supported them with the respect and generosity that their self-denying services to the state merited. In 1883 the Court of Rome created two ecclesiastical provinces in Patagonia. The north and centre of the country formed an apostolic provicarate, and Don Cogliere was appointed provicar-apostolic. The south, with Tierra del Fuego, and the neighboring islands, became an apostolic prefecture, with Don Fagnano as prefect-apostolic. The present Archbishop of Buenos Aires, in a pastoral letter to the Centenary Feast of Don Bosco, 1915, says of the first Silesian missionaries in Patagonia. By their intrepid zeal and conspicuous ability, they reaped an immense harvest of souls, and laid the foundations of a flourishing Christian civilization. In our own province, he continues, the two Silesian institutes educate in their 75 houses some 25,000 boys and girls, and this is all carried on in the method of enterprising charity which their founder initiated for his followers. The consoling results of this work, the numerous ecclesiastical vocations, the clubs and social work among the past pupils of both sexes, which extend into all classes of society, plainly demonstrate that the work of Don Bosco is providential in its mission, and a new manifestation of the power and goodness of Mary, help of Christians in the salvation of the world. Happily for my readers, I can again quote from the thrilling lectures of his eminence, Cardinal Cogliere in Rome, some interesting details on the South American mission. The first Silesian missionaries reached Buenos Aires on December 14, 1875. They had been called there by the Archbishop, who was the desirous of religious congregation that might take special care of the Italian immigrants, already so numerous in the young republic. They numbered only ten, and were led by me. I was not to remain there, but was only to establish them in their new mission and then to return to Italy. On the quay, two hundred Italians and the prominent citizens awaited us and gave us a wonderful welcome. Encouraged and invited by the Archbishop, I began at once to visit the places where the new establishments were to rise, and I saw what an abundant harvest the Lord had prepared for us. Just as we set foot on that Argentine territory, the government prepared a scientific expedition into unexplored Patagonia. We asked a foreign part of it, but a refusal was given to us because, it was said, it was too early yet, and that later on, when the way should be open to penetration of civilization among these barbarous and violent tribes, we should be able to commence our work. In fact, only in 1879 did the first four missionaries set out for Patagonia. But their attempt was fruitless, because the vessel on which they traveled was wrecked in the waters of Rio Negro, the great river that is the principal means of communication with Patagonia, and is ordinarily navigated by the largest warships. With difficulty, the missionaries saved their own lives. In the following year, the Argentine government suffering exceedingly from the continual incursion of the savage tribes of Patagonia into the civilized regions, prepared against them an armed expedition of 2,000 men under the minister of war himself, who was afterwards to become president of the Republic. The solutions asked to accompany the expedition, proposing to attempt by means of the cross that conquest which the Argentine troops were preparing to make with the sword. They were given place in the official headquarters and lived as the soldiers on the long march up to the lines of the unexplored and terrifying region. The first contact of the white soldiers with the advance guard of the Patagonian tribes was full of menace, an odd arrow flew, and an odd gun responded. General Roca, despairing of being able to approach the savages so as to open negotiations, was preparing for a great violent action when the missionaries insistently asked him for permission to make a fresh pacific overture with them. By the aid of gestures, for no one had an idea of the Patagonian tongue, they succeeded in making them understand they had peaceful intentions. After words having succeeded in exchanging signs, rather than words, they persuaded these wild people that their idea of opposing by force the penetration of the Argentines was vain. Since though they had lances and arrows, the whites had rifles that killed before the whites entered into action. And thus the chief heads, Sayohueke and Yancuche, surrendered and recognized the Argentine authority, accepting the conditions opposed upon them. The Casico Namancura retired with 400 lances to an angle of a distant territory. The conditions of the Argentine government were very benevolent. Foods were guaranteed for three years until the tribes have learned agriculture, then tracks of ground to cultivate and make profitable. And thus his eminence proceeded detailing missionary successes, by blood and by perspiration, as Don Bosco had foretold so long before. Now it was a sick call of 1500 miles on horseback, again catacysing, baptizing, exploring. Until today the first ten missionaries have grown into 1400, and Don Bosco's institutes, Covertilli, Brazil, Peregré, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, the Argentine, and Patagonia. Monsignor Fagnano, the first missionary companion of Cardinal Cogliaro, recently summoned from his earthly labors, September 18, 1916, to his reward, exceeding great. Christianized and civilized Southern Patagonia and Diera del Fuego, of which region he was appointed Prefect Apostolic in 1885. An athlete of body and soul, he was styled. His apostolic zeal knew no bounds. He forsook all the amenities of life, intellectual and social, all the honors that the republics would have lavished upon him, to give himself to the savage tribes of those cold and inhospitable wilds, whom he converted in thousands. This abject race he so loved that a few years ago he renounced the Episcopal dignity that he might continue to exhaust himself in their service. As a hero of Christian charity he will ever be remembered, and his name will be recorded even in the civil history of America, for the discovery of a lake which the Argentine government, in deference to him, as named Lake Fagnano. On the afternoon of Palm Sunday, April 5, 1846, Don Bosco was the prey of indescribable suffering. He stood on the side of a grassy hillock in the picturesque field near Valdoco, watching his 400 boys playing their merry games for the last time within its pleasant borders. These dear children of his festive oratory had made a pilgrimage of a mile that morning to the Church of Our Lady of Campania for mass and communion, the rosary and the litanies replacing all the way the usual merriment. For today the festive oratory must come to an end, if no home, no playground could be secured for their happy Sundays and feast days. Easter Sunday would not bring joy to these 400 little hearts. These grief-stricken hours of the watcher are feelingly portrayed by his eloquent and devoted son, Father Benetti. The distress of the peasant who sees the hailstorm destroy his only crop, of the shepherd who was forced to abandon his flock to the wolves, was nothing compared to his affliction. It was more than that of a father or mother constrained to leave their little ones forever. Those who have helped me, he thought, have now turned their backs upon me and left me alone with these 400 boys, and my oratory must apparently come to an end this evening. Are all my labors, then, thrown to the wind? Have I toiled in vain? Must I disperse all these boys and bid them goodbye forever? Oh my God! Show us some place where we may go, or tell me what I am to do. Even then the grievous trial was coming to an end, for at that moment a man leaped the fence and brought an offer of what would prove to be a permanent place of meeting. It was the poor and dilapidated coach house in the Valdoko field. Valdoko, now so famous for its wonderful history and the benefits conferred on the world by Don Bosco's festive oratories, educational institutes, and industrial establishments, all diverging from that first modest oratory. From that palm Sunday of 1846 to 1916, what an outgrowth! What a marvelous train of consequences, of progenies, inconceivable to human thought! Look on this picture, then on that. Pinarity's shed converted into a pathetic chapel in a piece of meadowland, and today, dispersed through the whole world, behold 250 flourishing Don Bosco institutes with their churches and seminaries in Italy, and 520 in other countries of Europe, North and South America, Australia, Africa and Asia, in which are gathered for religious instruction, secular education and training in the arts and sciences, trades and agriculture, nearly 400,000 children and youth of both sexes, the boys tutored by the Silesian fathers and the girls by the Silesian sisters. A question arises here. One is constrained to ask, where did the human resources come from? We grant that Don Bosco was an instrument of miraculous power, but such stupendous works, the building of magnificent churches and basilicas, the construction and furnishing of immense groups of costly buildings, the support of thousands of professors and workmen and children, and the princely subsidies necessary for foreign missions. All this points to money, money and limited and ever at hand in the hour of need. And the judgment is a correct one. There was and is such an inexhaustible treasury, and it is found in the great hearts and generous purses of the noble army of Silesian cooperators, the Third Order of St. Francis of Sales, the backbone of the whole spiritual enterprise of Don Bosco, as a Silesian author has styled this union of magnanimous collaborators of the society during its activities of seventy years. My readers will not be surprised to learn that this worldwide society of Silesian cooperators, now numbering hundreds of thousands of all ranks of society, had as lowly in origin as the first and second Silesian orders of Don Bosco. From the beginning of the oratory, numbers of churren women gave their services to Mama Margaret as co-workers for Don Bosco's children, willingly washing and mending their garments, and Don Bosco himself tells that when he picked up destitute boys on the streets of Churren, some kind ladies of rank charitably closed these wretched youths, while rich young people interested in our work sought employment for them in different manufactories and shops, and were successful in placing a great number. To all these earnest laborers united in the cause of charity for the glory of God, Don Bosco gave a prudent and pious rule of life, and obtained for them many spiritual privileges. The saintly founder was preeminently an organizer, and as his works expanded, bringing with them a great accumulation of expenditures, he drew together by the magnetism of his words and personality a multitude of men and women, anyone over sixteen was eligible for membership, and established the Society of Silesian Co-operators. The rule just alluded to was remodeled in order to meet the rising exigencies, and to aid more effectually in the sanctification of these new sons and daughters of Don Bosco. To be good in themselves and to do good to others. This was the motto he inscribed in shining letters on the standard he raised before, this solid phalanx of volunteers, this noble spiritual company of men and women of the world, when he formulated for them in 1858 the final code of rules. To be good according to the spirit of Silesian Co-operators, declares the Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna, is to be good according to the spirit of the Gospel, the spirit which attains its highest point in that great precept of Christ, be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, and then to do good to others embraces a mission in some sense apostolic. Therefore if the Silesian Co-operators exclude no work which concerns the material good, particularly of the working classes and of the young from the sphere of their activity, if indeed they seem to have for these a special impulse, the chief object must ever be the spiritual and moral elevation of the people, particularly of the most neglected, to make of them truly the people of God, to form of them the Gens Sancta, of whom the Holy Spirit speaks. Dombosco submitted this revised rule to Pope Pius IX in 1874. His holiness not only gave the new society his approval and blessing, but graciously placed his own name at the head of the list of Co-operators, at the same time according to it all the indulgence is granted to the third order of St. Francis of Assisi. Leo XIII was equally favorable of the new association and claimed the honor of leading the names in this catalog of Silesian benefactors. The male members were affiliated to the Society of St. Francis of Sales, and the women associates to the Society of Mary, Help of Christians. Chapter 20 The Society of Silesian Co-Operators Co-Operators was canonically established by a brief of May 9, 1876, with which Pius IX sets forth its holy purpose, and in order that the Society may progress from day to day, he confers upon it singular spiritual favors and copious indulgences. To ensure a claim to these benefits and to a participation in all the masses and prayers of Silesian missionaries, nuns, and lay brothers throughout the world, the conditions will appear easy, since one needs be only a practical Catholic in the true sense. Members may inscribe their names at any Silesian house, and these are all written in the original register at the Mother House in Turin. They are to approach the sacraments frequently, make the practice for a happy death monthly, if possible, and strive to advance in Christian virtue. They are expected to help destitute children to the extent of their means, and to use their influence that others may contribute to this sacred charity so dear to the heart of Jesus, who said, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and again, as long as you did it to one of these, my least brethren, you did it unto me. The associates are to have a loving devotion to our Lady, help of Christians, the distinctive badge of the Silesian cooperators, to pray fervently for one another, and to contribute toward the maintenance of the Silesian missions by a monthly or yearly offering. Among their works of charity are catechetical instruction to children, the fostering of religious and priestly vocations, and the diffusion of good Catholic literature in homes. An annual conference of the cooperators is held in every Silesian center on January the 29th, the Feast of their Holy Patron, St. Francis of Siles, and the best-sacred orators have felt it an honor to address their distinguished and zealous heroes on that day during the splendid functions of the solemn pontifical mass. Moreover, great congresses of three days have long been in vogue and tour in Italy, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in other centers, where vital questions are discussed, and the ripe experiences of the most capable and influential members of the free orders are communicated for the betterment and increased success of their holy enterprises. At these conventions some of the highest dignitaries of the Church preside and take an active and interested part in the proceedings of the various sessions. The Silesian Bulletin is the official organ of the Silesian cooperators. It is edited at the Motherhouse, Tour in Italy, 32 via Cotolengo, translated to eight different languages. It has a circulation of more than 300,000 copies. The magazine is sent regularly to all the cooperators in order to keep them in touch with the happenings in the widespread Silesian institutes and missions. Its editorials are masterly, and its records and biographical notices are full of edification, instruction, charm, and interest. Don Bosco in the fullness of his heart addressed a letter yearly to his beloved cooperators, a mark of courtesy and affection which he enjoyed upon his successors. These letters seemed like a breath from the Spirit of God overflowing with divine charity, heartfelt gratitude, and paternal benedictions on their generosity, yet not without burning appeals for their continued assistance. While he promises the overflow of God's bounty upon them in their families and spiritual graces in temporal benefits, and one letter to his fellow laborers using as a text our Savior's words, may come to you friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail they may receive you into everlasting dwellings. He said, who are these friends that shall receive you into the abode of the Blessed? These friends are the numerous children rescued from perdition and saved by your charity. Christians and converted pagans, infants of infidels, baptized, and become angels in paradise, parents of children now in their arms in heaven, reclaim from vice to virtue, the angel guardians of souls, already admit it through your care, in who will be the saints joyous at their augmented number thanks to you. Finally these friends are God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the Blessed Virgin, whom you will have caused to be known, loved, and glorified on earth. One of the most beautiful and affecting human documents I have ever read is the Last Will and Testament of Don Bosco, addressed to Slasian cooperators, which I quote in entirety in a later chapter. I would that every reader of mine and perusing these few pages would lay deeply to heart the beautiful lessons contained in this dying memorial of gratitude and love. Leo the Thirteenth said one day to Don Bosco, every time you speak to the cooperators tell them that I blessed them from my heart, that their scope must be to place a barrier against the evils that beset youth, and they should form but one heart and soul to aid in gaining the ends which the Society of St. Francis of Salvis proposes to itself. And who knew better the needs of our times and had a more intimate knowledge of parochial work than our late Pontiff, Pius X, in one of his letters, Cor Adcor, to Don Ruha, the Second Superior General. He wrote, I most fervently hope that this association of Slasian cooperators will spread its organization every day, so that it may exert its influence in every village and town, and that through the zeal of the bishops the spirit of the founder of the Slasians may live and flourish, and the number of his fathers continually increase. Chapter 21 of the venerable Don Bosco, the Apostle of Youth. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Venerable Don Bosco, the Apostle of Youth, by M. S. Pine. Chapter 21 Don Bosco's Relations with His Cooperators. Don Bosco lived in a fraternal atmosphere with his cooperators. His relations with them partook somewhat of the intimate incourse that love, always the propelling force in his life, gave to his communications with his priests and brethren. Perhaps we may not attribute entirely to charity the unificence with which they met his needs. Their generosity and their spirit of emulation and making sacrifices on his behalf were rewarded by manifest favors from heaven, spiritual and temporal. He whose prayers were so potent with God and our Lady, and who gave them so freely for healing to all classes of sufferers, could not fail to obtain extraordinary benedictions for helpers so near and dear to his heart. Hundreds are recorded, many of them being attested miracles. The paralytic, the diseased of all kinds, the deaf and dumb, the blind, all were restored to their normal state, and in gratitude many of the recipients of these divine favors brought him precious offerings in jewels or money. One day a note fell due of twelve thousand francs, which he had vainly tried to procure, as he was returning to the oratory, a little heavy-hearted after his long and fruitless quest. He was met by a woman who accosted him respectfully. Pardon me, Father, but my Master is very ill, and has been asking for you. He thought you were absent from Turin. Don Bosco accompanied her to the house and found the patient in a violent fever. Greeting him with his usual cheerfulness, he sat down by his side while the sick man poured forth in treaties for relief from his sufferings. In half an hour he suddenly arose cured, and signing a check for the sum required, handed it to Don Bosco with the fervent expressions of a grateful heart. In a town of Genoa, San Pierre d'Arena, there were thirty thousand souls, yet the church was almost deserted, and one priest sufficed for the parish. It happened that a Silesian cooperator, the wife of a railway official, felt dangerously ill, and refused to see any priest but Don Bosco. Her husband, an irreligious man, was highly pleased at her exclusiveness, being fully convinced that the Turin Apostle would not travel two hundred miles to her woman's confession. To his surprise, Don Bosco hastened to her without delay, heard her confession, and exhorted her to confidence in our Lady, helpful Christians. As he rose to depart, he remarked, As I shall remain here a few days, come to church one of these mornings, and I will give you the holy communion. The husband, with difficulty, were pressing his indignation, said, Do you not see she is dying, sir? But our Lady, helpful Christians, is all-powerful, answered Don Bosco with a serene smile. And if you will pray also, we shall obtain your cure with your wives. Mine was the rather sharp rejoinder. I'm not ill. Don Bosco's response was only to kneel and recite the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Hail Holy Queen, in joining them to continue the prayers daily. A few days after, the official conducted his wife, now wholly recovered, to early mass, and with tears of pious gratitude she received the holy communion from Don Bosco's hand. After mass Don Bosco greeted them, and said gently to the husband, Now I confidently await the second recovery. The gentleman understood, confessed on the spot, and became from that time forth a fervent practical Catholic. This double miracle caused a great stir in the parish. Hearts were profoundly moved, in many remarkable conversions, consoled Don Bosco and the rector of the church, who had to call on three priests to assist him. Moreover, the happy effect of Don Bosco's brief presence in the town was rendered lasting. The pressing appeal for a foundation was made to him, a company with the offer of a suitable house. He gladly acceded to the desires of priests and people. A beautiful church was erected, and an oratory soon grew into a large and flourishing institute under the care of the Salazian Fathers. A rich Marquis, one day, lamented to Don Bosco that the loss of twenty thousand francs had prevented him from making an offering toward one of the Salazian projects. But if you recover it, what will you do, inquired Don Bosco pleasantly. Father, I will give you one half, replied the Marquis impetuously, but neither you nor I will ever get one centime of those twenty thousand francs. Who knows, my lord, laughed on Bosco. My orphans are in need, and I shall get them to pray. A few days after the Marquis sent a messenger to the oratory with five thousand francs, half of a sum he had recovered that morning. A week later, the remainder of the debt hadn't come to him. The Marquis faithfully kept his promise to his benefactor. The order of St. Francis of Salas was now widely spreading in France. Besides Nice, houses were opened at Navarre, Marseille, and St. Cyr in 1879. In 1880 the first oratory was inaugurated in Spain at Utrera. In 1883, Nito Roy in Brazil was favored with the foundation. Emissions were established at Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. In 1887, Austria opened its arms to the son of St. Francis of Salas, and the establishment of the Institute at Trent was the beginning of many blessings to the empire. During the same year, down Bosco dispatched a number of Salasian fathers to London, England, where they founded the Institute at Battersea, now one of the most prosperous houses of the society. Other flourishing foundations have since been made in England. The Salasian fathers are held in the highest esteem by his eminence, Cardinal Horn, whose reverence for the venerable down Bosco is manifested in the words I quote, It is a lifelong memory to have known personally one in whom the church already discerns tokens of heroic sanctity. It was my privilege to see down Bosco when he visited Paris in 1883 and to be a witness of the extraordinary impression which is the fame of his holiness at once produced upon that city. Two years later, after my ordination to the priesthood, it was given me to visit Turin and to see the venerable founder of the Salasian congregation and the midst of his religious family at the motherhouse of the Institute. In the autumn of 1887 I was able at his direct request to render some slight personal service to his sons on their arrival among us to found the first Salasian house in any English-speaking country. Down Bosco teaches us that God still raises up the weak things to confound the strong. The providence of God has rarely been manifested more plainly or more decisively than in the origin and growth of the Salasian congregation. Chapter 22 of the venerable Don Bosco, the apostle of youth. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. The Venerable Don Bosco, the apostle of youth by M. S. Pine. Chapter 22 Don Bosco in France. Up to his last years Don Bosco was accustomed to visit regularly his institutions in France. They had no revenue except public charity and the fathers confessed that each visit of his was to them a harvest while everywhere he enlisted new cooperators. His life during these visitations was full of activity. After his mass and breakfast the house was crowded with visitors whom he received till midday. Dinner over he again gave audiences generally from one o'clock till eight. He took his meals with the community where he was always cheerful and witty. After supper he attended to his correspondence. The male brought him daily a hundred letters or more and he scrupulously endeavored to answer all. An Italian and a French secretary read to him the letters ordinarily and received his instructions as to the answers which were read aloud to him the next morning and signed by him. He was consulted by persons of all ranks on the most diverse subjects for his judgment was regarded with unlimited confidence. He retired at eleven o'clock to spend no doubt hours of prayer and close union with the Holy Spirit after the long day of labor for God's glory. From his seminary life he had limited his hours of sleep to five. My mother taught me to do with little sleep he used to say and one of his disciples tells us that he often contented himself with less than five hours adding the most almost incredible fact that two nights of the week he slept none at all. In 1883 extended his travels through France desirous of doing all the good possible ere his health which was already perceptibly weakening should fail utterly. In Avignon the house where he was a guest was besieged in spite of the watchfulness of his hosts pieces of his soutain were clipped off his relics for he was everywhere venerated as a saint. Well if my soutain is cut he would say with a benignant smile I may hope for a new one. While awaiting dinner one day at the St. Peter's patronage, Lyon, a Silesian house, Don Bosco expressed regret that the fathers had not as yet erected a chapel more worthy of their Eucharistic guest. A Mr. Michelle present showed him a plan which the architect had drawn at an estimate of 30,000 francs. But you will hardly get that some now, father, he observed. We have had many collections and lotteries for charity here this winter. Nevertheless persisted the father. I would like to have the money today. I feel ashamed to so pour a chapel. Dinner was announced. At dessert the attorney of the house arose and addressed Don Bosco. Father, I take pleasure in informing you that a charitable donor left 30,000 francs with me for you today. Praise to our lady, help of Christians exclaimed Don Bosco with clasped hands and eyes raised to heaven. Those present were astounded at seeing in the offering the exact sum required. On the feast day of the rector, Don Ronschal, March 19, a number of gentlemen dined at the oratory. The conversation fell upon in addition which was needed at the printing house. How much will it cost, asked one. Ten thousand francs was the answer. Only that said the lawyer, taking out his memorandum. We are ten here, not counting the reverend fathers. I open a list and head it with one thousand francs. The paper was passed around and in a few moments the whole sum was subscribed. The apostle of Turin, while collecting for his own multiple charities, often accepted invitations to advocate the cause of local orphanages or other institutions dependent upon public aid. On one occasion while speaking at Lyon, a few considerations of his produced a powerful effect. After expatiating on the words of the Abbey Boussard for youth, he proceeded to point out that children are God's favorite, hence the necessity of guarding in early childhood the innocence, the virtues infused into the soul by the beneficence of God in the sacrament of baptism. Then passing to social life continued, if youth is bad, society will be bad. To save society then youth must be protected. Do you know where the salvation of society is? In your pockets. These children, whom the patronage and workshops receive, want your help and await your alms. If you repulse them and abandon them to communist theories, they will come to demand from you one day the money you now refuse, not with hat in hand, but knife at the throat. Perhaps with your money they will demand your life. His arrival in Paris was greeted with almost incredible enthusiasm. Ethel Maturgus, a saint, the Italian Saint Vincent of Paul as in our city, was the cry everywhere. For a fortnight he was the lion of the day. He preached many sermons in Paris, commencing in the Church of Notre Dame his victores. Skeptics were moved, innumerable, remarkable conversions followed in the great city. Crowds of the faithful congregated, wherever he was expected, and waited patiently long hours in order to see him and get the blessing of a saint. And I witness rights. I have never seen him in his orphanages among the priests he educated, but I have seen him among the multitude, who melted his feet, kissed his hands, bent for his blessing. But what charmed me most was the humility and modesty of the object of this demonstration, who accepted none of it as his own, but referred all to God in the Blessed Virgin. He, a peasant son, remained so, and sought no other prestige. He attributed all that he accomplished to our Lady Help of Christians. To her intercession always do. He passed along doing good and devoting himself to all, without choice, without predilection. 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 Levegeret, who in the Church of Saint-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 Saint Vincent of Paul was carried by force and held in slavery during two years. Now another Saint Vincent of Paul is wanted in Tunis, brought by love, not by force. This Saint Vincent of Paul is you, Reverend Father, with your religious family, half Italian, half French. You will accomplish better than any other necessary work or 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, but it was many years after his holy death that Don Rua, his assessor, was unable to fulfill his promise to Cardinal Lavergire in Foundahouse of Salaisian Fathers in Tunis. Among the many prodigies brought by Don Bosco during his journey, I must relate one, touching in its simplicity. One day, shortly after his arrival at Nice, he had set mass in a convent near the railway station when a son of the official, a boy of seven, who had never walked without crutches was brought to him by the mother, who begged him to bless her lame child. Willingly answered Don Bosco, I give him the benediction of our Lady, help of Christians. In stroke in the boy's cheek he repaired to the end of the parlor. Come to me now, my little friend, he said, but without crutches, let them fall, though be afraid. No, do not give him your hand. The little one paused while his mother encouraged him. Timently, step by step, he approached Don Bosco, who then told him to go back and get his crutches. In the excitement of his new found strength, he ran across the room, caught them up, and rushed to the station, whirling them in the air to the wonder of the passers-by. His mother, pale with emotion, followed, saying, He is my son, Don Bosco has cured him. This miracle was witnessed by Don Rohn Shull, several religious and some ladies who had come to consult Don Bosco. CHAPTER 23 Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Don Bosco in Spain In 1884, Don Bosco was the victim of so serious an illness that grave fears were felt throughout the society that they were about to be bereaved of their saintly father. In the face of so irreparable a loss, masses and prayers were offered from thousands of hearts with a fervor and earnestness of faith that won the victory. After Don Bosco had recovered sufficiently to say mass and resume some of his duties, he sent a letter of thanks through the bulletin to all those who had kindly prayed for him. With all his children, he supplicates the Lord to bless and prosper his cooperators and, in this difficult and trying time, to avert all disgrace from them and their families. Don Bosco had built many churches, some of which were splintered and imposing, out of the alms of his faithful cooperators. Pius IX, who had be held with heart-rending grief, several churches compensated in Rome, saw the need of a new place of worship on the Escaline hill, where 15,000 souls were deprived of spiritual help. Shortly before his death in 1879, he said to Don Bosco, You must build another church here in Rome. It will be the crowning work of Your career, and to win the concurrence of Providence, we will dedicate it to the Sacred Heart. Don Bosco might well have shrunk from so arduous a charge, for the foundation and support of his institutes and orphanages, now nearly 80 with his South American missions, already consumed incredible sums, but the command of Pius IX was enough. The Holy Pontiff bought the ground and initiated the work, ere he was called to the heavenly reward of his labours. Leo XIII, on his accession, confirmed the mandate of his departed predecessor, and Don Bosco set out with a tremulous heart, but with confidence in Mary, help of Christians, to collect funds for the magnificent edifice already planned. The coroner-large Bishop of Turin had appealed to all Italy, and the various provinces strove to rival one another in generosity. The construction occupied six years and cost three millions. It is a majestic temple of divine worship, worthy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This noble basilica was the chief centre of Don Bosco's activity after his restoration to health. Three years more of devoted labour, of study and attention to the finer details, for which his extraordinary knowledge and taste in all points of ecclesiastical architecture fitted him, and he had the happiness of witnessing its completion. Its solemn consecration to the Sacred Heart by the Cardinal Vicar on May 14, 1887, was coincident, as Don Bosco had desired, with Leo XIII's Sacredotal Jubilee, the first fruit of gifts from the whole world to the August Pontiff. On that day, Leo XIII gave a long and most paternal audience to Don Bosco and Don Rua, and with a full heart, thanked them and the Salacians in the name of Rome and the Universal Church. Don Bosco visited Spain in 1886. On his arrival, April 8, he remained a month in Barcelona, where a Salacian institute under the rectorship of Don John Brande was in a high degree of prosperity. With this house, a double prophecy of the saintly founder is connected. In December 1886 years previous, the founder had entrusted to Don Brande, then in Turin, a mission to Eutrera, Spain. In due time, he said, he will receive a letter from a wealthy lady in Barcelona, asking you to establish a Salacian institute, an institute intended for a great destiny. Don Brande had left Turin in January 1881, accompanied by Don Cagliero and five other Salacian fathers. It was in September 1882 that the predicted letter came to Don Brande from a lady, Donna Cera, who offered him 100,000 francs on condition that the fathers should devote their labors to the poor and desolate children of Barcelona. In 1883 a house was procured and a chapel built. March 1, 1884 saw the inauguration of the new institute, and from that day its progress was assured, its possibilities for good steadily increasing, and the fathers, with their large clientele of cooperators and youthful charges, happily working out the great destiny foretold by the founder. One day during his visit, Don Bosco was walking with Don Rua and Don Brande in the beautiful and spacious garden, when he suddenly pointed to a large field adjacent. By that ground for your garden, he said to Don Brande, for this one must be built upon. But I have no money, remarked Don Brande in surprise. You doubt Providence? questioned the founder. Nevertheless, this field must be purchased. Then, pointing to a neighboring garden, he continued, by that garden also, and established there a house of merry help of Christians to educate poor young girls as nuns for the missions. Don Brande, still more amazed, replied, My father, the proprietor has so great a love for this property, that he would not part with it for 200,000 francs. Even though you had not a centime, you must buy it. The blessed virgin desires, there should be a home here for our sisters. You will see how difficulties will vanish. The certain awe that penetrated the two fathers did not hinder Don Rua, who was his alter ego, from entreating Don Bosco to tell them how he had learned our lady's wish. The Prophet related, in the most simple manner, that two weeks before on March 2, soon after his arrival in Barcelona, the blessed virgin had appeared to him as formally in childhood, in the dress of a shepherdess. Then she foretold many works which I had since accomplished for the poor orphans of Turin. Now she has commanded the purchase of this garden and the erection of a convent for nuns. The field was bought without trouble, but the beautiful villa became the possession of the Slasians only on the death of the proprietor, which happened shortly after. His heir made generous terms with the fathers and became one of their most zealous cooperators. In November of that year, 1886, the sisters of our lady, help of Christians, were installed in their new home and heir long opened a school for poor young girls. Subsequently, a novitiate made nuns for the missions by attracting many fervent aspirants to shelter themselves from the seductions of the world under the mantle of Mary. Don Bosco achieved so many wonders and affected so many extraordinary cures in Spain that the veneration he attracted was universal. As in Paris, the words, he is a Thalmaturgus, a saint, were repeated everywhere and the multitudes who thronged wherever he was to be seen felt a heavenly atmosphere surrounded them in his presence. In 1887, the year preceding Don Bosco's death, an earthquake destroyed almost the entire country of Liguria. Several of the Slasian institutes were materially injured, though no loss of life ensued. Don Bosco remarked also that amid those terrible scenes where hundreds perished, his cooperators were preserved miraculously. His solicitations for help in the interest of the sufferers were met with instant and liberal contributions, so that the oratories were soon enabled to repair the serious damages wrought by the dread of people. End of Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Of The Venerable Don Bosco, The Apostle of Youth This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Carol Pelster The Venerable Don Bosco, The Apostle of Youth by M. S. Pine Chapter 24 Failure in Health Letter to His Co-operators Seminary of Foreign Missions Don Bosco's health and strength had been slowly but perceptibly lessening for some years. A celebrated consulting physician, after a careful examination during his prolonged illness of 1884, had said of him, Marvelous actions are reported of Don Bosco, but to me the greatest miracle is that, exhausted as he is, he is still alive. Exhaustion! Is there anything that holds pain in solution with more acute and relentless power? But the heroic sufferer was never heard to complain. His wan face, his weakened limbs, his bowed shoulders told the story to his brethren and friends. Yet he never succumbed to weakness. Retaining to the last the direction of the society, his solicitude for its spiritual and temporal well-being never flagged, nor his superhuman wisdom informing projects and laying out plans for the individual and collective good of the three Silesian orders and their worldwide charges. The saintly founder's last, long and zealous letter to his beloved co-operators contains a summary of all the year's work for the glory of God affected by the Silesian laborers. Several new foundations in Rome, England, Austria, and Ecuador, S.A., large accessions of property, new structures for the varied educational and charitable purposes of the institute, thousands of children added to the holy and willing burden of fathers and sisters, marvelous extensions of the works, especially in South America, whence letters had often come bearing sublime testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit over souls in their primeval simplicity and ignorance, letters that caused the heart to beat with new fervor and the head to bow in confusion, seeing that after years of inundation of heavenly grace, we have not so gazed upon the divine light and so felt the power of divine love as have the innocent catechumens of Tierra del Fuego and other uncivilized settlements. It is a wonderful story of progress, of sacrifice, and of heroic perseverance, recorded with loving zeal year after year by the saintly Monsignor Fagnano and his colleagues and disciples in the pages of the Silesian bulletin. Don Bosco does not conceal from his faithful friends that his life is now hanging by a fragile thread, that this will be his last word of love and counsel, recommending to their tutelary care the oratory just begun in Rome, adjacent to the newly consecrated church of the Sacred Heart. He quotes the words of Leo XIII. Devote yourselves to the completion of the oratory already commenced, that we may have the consolation of saving many poor children by teaching them to become good Christians and honest citizens. I bless you and all who aid your undertaking. Don Bosco leaves his children so dearly cherished for thoughts as a souvenir. These thoughts are elaborated with a wisdom drawn from the natural and supernatural experiences of nigh forescore years in the service of God. To my mind, it is a treatise on sociology in a nutshell. First, if we wish to take real care of our own spiritual and temporal interests, we should, above all, take to heart the interests of God and procure by charity the temporal welfare of our neighbor. Secondly, if we wish to obtain favors readily from God, we should practice the mandate of our Lord. Date at Dobby Tour Vobies. Give, and it shall be given to you. In the third advice, he impresses forcibly upon them the truth that almsgiving is not a counsel to be dispensed with if one pleases, but a rigorous precept included in the commandments of our divine Savior. It is only a counsel to give away all one's possessions, as religious do, who embrace voluntary poverty. But the precept, code superest, date laa mosinam, but yet of that which remaineth give alms, St. Luke 11, obliges the distribution of superfluity of property. He confirms his teachings by picturing for them the scene of the last day, and drawing out the parable of dives and Lazarus. Then, quoting the powerful utterances of St. James, he ends with these words, By means of charity we shut behind us the gates of hell, and open those of heaven. His final paragraph sets the golden seal of love on this memorable letter. I feel that I am leaving you, and I foresee the day approaches, when I must pay my tribute to death, and descend into the grave. Should my presentiments be fulfilled, and this letter be the last you receive from me, the fourth souvenir is, I recommend to your charity all the works which God has deigned to entrust to me during the last fifty years, the Christian education of youth, ecclesiastical vocations, and foreign missions. I particularly recommend poor desolate children to your care, who were always dear to my heart, and who I hope will be through the merits of our Savior Jesus Christ, my joy and crown in heaven. Now I invoke God's benediction on you. May he deign to pour his most precious blessings on you and yours. If my prayer is heard, you will have happy lives, lives full of merit, crowned on the day God has fixed with the death of the just. For this end, the celesions and all pupils of our institutions unite their prayers daily with mine, and through the intercession of our Lady, help of Christians, and of St. Francis of Sales, we have a firm and sweet hope of being all united in eternal bliss. Have the charity to pray in your turn for me, who am, with the deepest gratitude, my well-beloved co-operators, your humble and devoted servant, John Bosco, priest, Turin, December 1887. May we not say in all truth of the venerable servant of God what the poet Francis Thompson has said of the beloved titular patron of his society, he, the sweet sales of whom we scarcely can, how God he could love more, he so loved men. Yet, the white angel so near, and the borderland of heaven in view, his superhuman activities did not cease. At the college of Val Salice, his dream of half a lifetime was fulfilled that year, 1887, by the inauguration of the Seminary for Foreign Missions. He himself, on November 24th, in the absence of Cardinal Alemanda, gave the religious habit to three students of the Seminary, respectively of France, England, and Poland, and to Prince Sartorisky, heir of one of the greatest European families. The spectators could not control their emotion, as Don Bosco, in a feeble voice, pronounced the solemn words of the ceremonial. But in his heart there was a deep sea of joy, and his pale face reflected the happiness of the new apostles, and the ardor of the oratory students who looked forward to a similar glory in the future. French pilgrims visit Don Bosco, other visits, prophecies. Forever memorable was one of the last visits that Don Bosco paid in Turin. Nine hundred pilgrims, Catholic working men of France, on their way to Rome, stopped in Turin and solicited the happiness of seeing him. Weak and suffering as he was, he walked to the Sanyos Hotel, leading on Don Rua and Mr. Harmel. As the large hall could not accommodate all the pilgrims, Don Bosco seated himself in front of the hotel entrance, and having given them and their families a fervent benediction, he deputed Don Rua to address them in his behalf. Each of the pilgrims then knelt to kiss Don Bosco's hand, and received from him a medal of Our Lady, Help of Christians, a function that lasted nearly an hour, during which the venerable patriarch softly spoke his good wishes. May the Blessed Virgin protect you, and guide you to heaven, or to priests. God grant that you may lead many souls to him. The Silesian Bulletin, in a description of this inspiring scene, adds, On this evening Don Bosco received many proofs of a generosity which is proverbial. The French pilgrimages leave long and bright trains of faith in their wake. Scarcely less touching is the pen-picture of a personal visit paid to Don Bosco by a Belgian gentleman in December 1887. I had to go up numerous stairs, and at the top, and a very humble attic, I found him. I remarked two splendid etchings there, attesting that if the object of the institution was to educate artisans, artists too belonged to it. I met Don Bosco's principal co-laborers, Don Rua, his vicar general, the other, his assistant, Don Durando. The first, still young, I recognized at once to be an active, energetic character. The second, ascetic-looking, singularly recalled to me the emaciated countenance of Saint Vincent of Paul. As the waiting-room was full of visitors of all classes, Don Durando allowed me to pass into his cell, where I was astonished to see evidences of great poverty. Many poor are better lodged and have better furniture than this eminent clergyman. I believe the Silesian staff are contented with the lodging of a barrack. When at last I was to have the happiness of approaching Don Bosco, my heart beat more quickly than in going before worldly potentates, reflecting that I was to meet one of those rare men whom God is pleased to raise up at certain times to show what saints are and what they can achieve. Sanctity, how this word makes worldly people smile. Nevertheless, even from a human point of view, saints have had a great effect on individual lives and nations. Who would dare to say, for example, that the social influence of Saint Vincent of Paul has not been deeper, more lasting, and above all happier and more salutary than that of a Richelieu or a Massarin? Who could say that the providential originating power bestowed on Don Bosco in this intricate labor question, if it came to be generalized, would not cause unexpected solutions. While thus reflecting, my turn for admission came. I threw a rapid glance around the room, which was as miserably and poorly furnished as possible, and saw with emotion an old man seated on a sofa, bent with age and the labors of a long apostolate. His failing powers no longer admitted of his standing up, but he raised his head, which was bent, and I could see his eyes, weak but full of intelligent goodness. Don Bosco spoke French fluently, slowly, but he expressed himself with remarkable clearness. He gave me a simple, dignified, and cordial welcome. I was much touched at an aged, almost dying man, unceasingly invaded by visitors, even seeing such sincere, sympathetic interest in all. He spoke to me in moving terms of the Bishop of Liège's ardent zeal for workmen. With Don Bosco the sword had cut the scabbard, but what strength of mind still existed in the weakened body? With what a tone of regret he deplored that his feebleness prevented him from actively directing his numerous works. Who, more than he, is entitled to in tone with confidence, the canticle of Holy Simeon? Nunc Demetis Servum Tuum in Pace. The Bishop of Liège, Monsignor Doutrelleux, had long been soliciting of Don Bosco a Silesian foundation in his Episcopal City of Belgium, but in vain. A personal visit, however, late in December, brought him at last the desired consolation, the founder consented, and even fixed the time and arranged some of the details of the foundation. It is evident that Don Bosco had long foreseen the time of his death, the day, perhaps, as well as the year. It was in deference to his earnest entreaty that the consecration of the Church of the Sacred Heart was not postponed until 1888. I wish to see our Church consecrated, he said, and if it is deferred I shall not see it. When his disciples and friends alluded lovingly to the coming celebration of his gold and jubilee of priesthood in 1891, he would smile and say, You are under an illusion. In November 1887, seated one day at the bedside of a Silesian father who had received the last sacraments, he said in a tone of decision, You will not die. Your turn is not yet come. Another will take your place. The patient recovered his health, and Don Bosco, when dying, was actually placed in the bed he had occupied, it being more convenient for his attendance. A noble benefactress of his works, whose last hour was near, desired to see her holy director. Don Bosco was conducted to her and greeting her with his usual pleasantry, he said teasingly, Ah, madame la comtesse, you were to sacrifice two fat calves for my jubilee, and you are breaking your word, but I cannot find fault with you, for I shall not be there either. During the year of 1887 some of his dearest friends, among them the abbey Margotti, a staunch defender and benefactor of Don Bosco and his society for forty years, had passed through the gates of eternal life, leaving many a void in his great and loving heart. But death was to him only an angel who comes to draw aside the veil that hides the unseen. As the new year, 1888, was beginning its progress, he said to his brethren, make haste and ask a grant for my grave. It was a command which they obeyed with sorrow and apprehension. On December 6 the Silesian missionaries started for their far away destination in Ecuador, South America, and Don Bosco, aided by his secretary Don Vilniatti, descended to preside at the farewell ceremonies. Don Bonetti preached, but when the dear wayfarers passed before their venerable founder to kiss his hand, his strength failed utterly, and he had to be born to his room. The next day his beloved Monsignor Cagallero arrived from Patagonia. The emotion on both sides may be conceived, after so lengthened and trying a separation they met for a moment only to face another parting until the eternal years. This meeting suggested to Don Bosco a similar consolation for those fathers who had been longest in the society, who had born with him the burden and heat of the day from the beginning, and Don Ceruti, Don Branda, Don Albera, and others were recalled to the bedside of their dying founder to the dear Valdoco of their childhood. On December 17th, thirty penitents awaited their holy guide in his anti-room, seeking mainly his decision in regard to vocations. All his life Don Bosco had been the apostle of the confessional, and it was currently said of him that no one in that age, except the sainted curiae of ours, had heard so many confessions. It is a well-known fact that often the whole night wore away in this divine ministration to souls, and those penitents who had left consoled at the midnight hour on returning early to the church per mass and communion found Don Bosco still in the confessional, the last penitents of the long line still patiently waiting their turn. His infirmities of late had indeed forced him to limit the performance of this sacred duty to Wednesday and Saturday evenings, but he would not suffer anyone to be sent away. And now, when his attendants, compassionating his weakness, begged leave to dismiss the eager group, he said gently, No, let them come in. It is the last time. He heard their confessions, advised and consoled them in his leisurely paternal manner, and they were indeed his last penitents. Chapter 26 Loyalty to the Pope in Life and Death The Closing Scenes In 1887, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Leo XIII, records the Silesian bulletin, it was proposed to bring out a special issue entitled Exultamus, containing a selection of autographs in honor of the Pope. Among others was this declaration from our venerable founder. My tribute will be to declare, as I do before all the world, that I make my own the sentiments of esteem, respect, veneration, and unfailing love, which St. Francis of Sails bore toward the sovereign pontiff, and I would repeat the glorious titles which he had enumerated from the writings of the Fathers and the Councils, forming a crown of precious jewels to adorn the pontiff's head, some of which are Abel in his favor with God, Abraham in his office of Patriarch, Melchizedek in his sacred orders, Aaron by his priestly dignity, Moses in his authority, Samuel by his office of Judge and Arbitrator, Peter by his power, and some forty others equally honorable and appropriate. It is my desire that the followers of the Congregation of St. Francis of Sails should never swerve from the principles of our patron, which guided his contact toward the Holy Sea, that they should accept readily, respectfully, and with simplicity of mind and heart, not only the decisions of the Pope concerning dogma and discipline, but that incontroverted and open questions they should accept his opinion as a private doctor of the Church, rather than that of any theologian in the world. I hold too that this should not only be a rule for the Silesians and their co-operators, but for all the faithful, and especially for the clergy, for besides the duty of a son toward a father, besides the duty which all Christians have of veneration for the vicar of Christ, the Holy Father has a special claim upon our fidelity and deference, as being chosen from among the most enlightened and prudent, and the most conspicuous for virtue, and because in directing the Church he is guided by the light of the Holy Ghost. Don Bosco's whole life and work, as the reader must be convinced from the foregoing pages, bore the impress of his loyalty and constant devotion to the successor of St. Peter. A beautiful and touching emphasis was placed upon this loyalty as he neared death, for which the Silesian Bulletin is my authority. In the evening of December 23, 1887, just before he received the Holy Viaticum, he was visited by his Eminence Cardinal Alamanda, and on receiving the cardinal salutation, Don Bosco raced his barretta and said, Your Eminence, I beg you to pray for me, that I may save my soul. And then he added, I recommend to you my congregation. The cardinal encouraged him, speaking of submission to the Holy Will of God, and reminding him of all the labour he had undergone for his greater glory. Don Bosco, with tears in his eyes, answered, I have done what I could. May the Holy Will of God be accomplished in me. Few, observed the cardinal, are able to say that when they come to the end of their life. Don Bosco exclaimed, I have lived in troubleous times. But the authority of the Holy See, I have just commissioned Monsignor Colliero to tell the Holy Father that the Silesians are to be a bulwark to the authority of the Pope, wherever their labours may call them. The diary of Don Bosco's last illness, under the date January 7th, 1888, reads thus, This evening, with the doctor's permission, we began to give Don Bosco some food. Before taking it, he uncovered his head and prayed, evidently affected. The bystanders feared that the food might prove hurtful to him. But he bore it very well. Afterwards, with unusual liveliness, he began to ask a thousand questions. He inquired after news from Rome about the Pope and his sacerdotal jubilee. Then he asked for information about the oratory, and wished to speak with some of the brothers. He never felt so well. Toward six o'clock he sent to Father Lemoine the following message. How do you account for this, that a person lying sick in bed for twenty-one days, almost without food, with his mind extremely enfeebled, all on a sudden recovers, understands everything, feels strong and almost able to get up, to write and to work? Yes, at this moment I feel as well as if I had never been sick at all. If anyone were to ask the reason why you might answer thus, quote Deus Imperio, to Preche Virgopotes, what God does by his power thou obtainest, O 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, and many parts of the world. He was thus enabled to set in order many affairs, to give directions for the management of the oratory, and to decide about the personnel of our houses. He would often joke about his sufferings, and alluding to his spine, which bent more and more painfully, he would repeat laughingly the refrain of a Piedmontese song. O sheena povrashina, tasfini de portafasquina, O back, my poor back, thou hast ceased to bear burdens. Hope springs eternal in the human breast, so the poet, and his saying is confirmed by experience. Don Bosco's brethren and friends still looked for an amelioration of his condition, a hope which was re-echoed by all Turin, and indeed by the whole Catholic world. But his positions never shared these illusions. Dr. Fissore asserted, Don Bosco is dying. He is attacked by a cardiopulmonary affection. The liver is affected. The spinal marrow presents a complication, causing paralysis of the lower limbs. This illness has no direct cause. It is the effect of a life exhausted by labor. The lamp dies out for want of oil. Cardinals and archbishops and many persons of the highest rank, as well as pilgrims from Rome, besought the honour of seeing the venerated invalid. The archbishop of Paris, Monsignor Richard, visited him on January 24th, and having given him his blessing, he knelt humbly to receive that of the father of orphans. Yes, said Don Bosco, I bless your grace, and I bless Paris. And I, said the archbishop fervently, shall tell Paris that I bring Don Bosco's blessing. On the following day, the feast of St. Paul, the patient fell into intermittent delirium, his unconscious lips breathing prayers, and the names of his benefactors. The Holy Viaticum, an extreme unction, were administered on January 29th, the feast of St. Francis of Sales. During the day, he frequently raised his arms toward heaven, repeating Fiat Voluntas Tuah. But gradually paralysis seized the right side, and speech failed. On Tuesday, January 31st, at two o'clock in the morning, his agony began, and Don Bosetti called the fathers, who had left only a short time before. Soon the humble room was filled with priests, students and laity, kneeling and fervent prayer. The effecting scene is best described by the Salesian Bulletin. On Monsignor Caliero'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. In token of pardon and paternal love, bless us once more. I will guide your hand, and pronounce the form. What a scene of emotion! All heads were bowed to the ground, and Don Rua, with all the power he could muster in this agonizing moment, pronounced the blessing. Raising at the same time, Don Bosco's already paralyzed hand, to invoke on all present and absent Salesians the protection of our Lady, help of Christians. At about three o'clock the following telegraph arrived from Rome. The Holy Father, from the depths of his heart, gives the apostolic benediction to Don Bosco, Cardinal Rampola. Monsignor had already read the profisci scari, and half past four o'clock the Angelus Bell rang from the Church of Our Lady, help of Christians, which all around the death bed recited. Then Don Bonetti made a short aspiration, Vive Marie, which the venerable invalid had repeated several times during the preceding days. Suddenly the weak rattle ceased. The breathing was regular and quiet, but for a very short time Monsignor Caliero said the last prayer. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I give you my heart, my soul, and my life. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, may I die in peace with you. Then were heard three scarcely audible sighs. Don Bosco was dead. His age was seventy-two years, five months and fifteen days. The hour was for forty-five a.m. Don Rua, in a few broken sentences of filial veneration, found strength to allude to the simplicity of this death, crowning a noble life. Monsignor Caliero entoned the Suvenite, Sancti Dei, in a voice trembling with emotion. Then blessed the venerated remains, praying for the repose of his soul. He took off his stole and put it on the dead body, placing the crucifix, which had so often been pressed with unspeakable fervor to the lips of the dying, in the clasped hands. The day profundus recited kneeling was only a long sob. Leo XIII, on receiving the telegram announcing the death of Don Bosco, exclaimed, raising his eyes to heaven, Don Bosco, e un santo, un santo, un santo. Don Bosco is a saint, a saint, a saint. A letter from Don Rua conveyed the sad tidings to the Silesian co-operators, fifty-three thousand copies of which were not enough. All Turin was deeply impressed by the death of its saintly apostle, and most of the stores were closed through respect. The body, robed in sacred vestments, was born to the church of St. Francis of Siles, and while it remained exposed to the veneration of the people, many extraordinary favors and cures were obtained. On Thursday, February 8th, the funeral ceremonies took place in the basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians. The chanting of the office was followed by the solemn requiem mass sung by Monsignor Calguero. The music, composed by him, was rendered by singers who were all Don Bosco's orphans. Three bishops and all the clergy and religious orders of Turin and vicinity who could attend formed a part of the funeral cortege to Val Salice. Eight Silesians bore the coffin, which was preceded by a procession of all the students of the schools and oratories, and thousands of Don Bosco's former pupils of all professions and trades. Over a hundred thousand was believed, did honor to the mortal remains of this ardent lover of God, this loyal priest of his holy church, this guardian angel of Christ's little ones, the venerable Giovanni Bosco, the apostle of Turin.