John Bosco

"Don Bosco" redirects here. For other uses, see Don Bosco (disambiguation). For schools of that name, see Don Bosco School.

Saint

John Bosco

SDB
Bosco in 1880
Priest and Confessor
"Father and Teacher of Youth"
Born(1815-08-16)16 August 1815[1]
Castelnuovo d'Asti, Piedmont, Sardinia-Piedmont
Died31 January 1888(1888-01-31) (aged 72)
Turin, Kingdom of Italy
Venerated inCatholic Church
Anglican Communion[2]
Beatified2 June 1929[3], Rome by Pius XI
Canonized1 April 1934, Rome by Pius XI
Major shrineBasilica of Our Lady Help of Christians, Turin, Italy
Feast31 January
AttributesCassock, Biretta
Patronage

John Melchior Bosco, SDB (Italian: Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; Piedmontese: Gioann Melchior Bòsch; 16 August 1815[4] – 31 January 1888),[5] popularly known as Don Bosco (IPA: [ˈdɔm ˈbɔsko, bo-]),[6] was an Italian Catholic priest, educator and writer of the 19th century. While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the ill effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment, a method that became known as the Salesian Preventive System.[7]

A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of Francis de Sales, Bosco was an ardent devotee of the Virgin Mary under the title Mary Help of Christians. He later dedicated his works to de Sales when he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco, based in Turin.[8] Together with Maria Domenica Mazzarello, he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, now commonly known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, a religious congregation of nuns dedicated to the care and education of poor girls. He taught Dominic Savio, of whom he wrote a biography that helped the young boy be canonized. He is one of the pioneers of mutual aid societies that were initiated as collaborative financial support to young migrant Catholic workers in the city of Turin. In 1850, he drew up regulations to assist apprentices and their companions when any of them was involuntarily without work or fell ill.[9]

On 18 April 1869, one year after the construction of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, Bosco established the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) connecting it with commitments easily fulfilled by most common people, to the spirituality and the mission of the Salesian Congregation (CG 24 SDB, 1996, NR. 80). The ADMA was founded to promote the veneration of the Most Holy Sacrament and Mary Help of Christians (Don Bosco, Association of the Devotees of Mary Help of Christians, San Benigno Canavese, 1890, page 33).[10]

In 1875, Bosco began to publish the Salesian Bulletin.[11] The Bulletin has remained in continuous publication, and is currently published in 50 different editions and 30 languages.[12] In 1876, he founded a movement of laity, the Association of Salesian Cooperators, with the same educational mission to the poor.[13] Bosco established a network of organizations and centres to carry on his work.

Bosco's sainthood cause was opened after his death, and following his beatification in 1929, he was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934.

  1. ^ "Saint John Bosco | Biography & Facts | Britannica". Britannica.com. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  2. ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Catholic Encyclopedia: St. John Bosco (Don Bosco)". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  4. ^ Lemoyne, Amadei & Ceria 1965–1988, Volume I, 1815 – 1840, p. 26
  5. ^ Coulter, Myers & Varacalli 2012
  6. ^ Luciano Canepari. "Bosco". DiPI Online (in Italian). Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  7. ^ Morrison 1999, p. 51
  8. ^ Farmer 2004, p. 121
  9. ^ Lemoyne, John Baptist (1967). Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco. Vol. IV. New Rochelle, New York: Salesiana Publishers. pp. 52–56.
  10. ^ "ADMA - Association Mary Help of Christians, Torino-Valdocco | 16". donbosco-torino.it. Archived from the original on 19 November 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  11. ^ Lemoyne, Amadei & Ceria 1965–1988, Volume XIII (1877–1878), p. 191
  12. ^ "The Salesian Bulletin in the World". Eircom.net, Dublin. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  13. ^ "Salesian Cooperators". Salesians of Don Bosco, Province of Mary Help of Christians, Melbourne. Archived from the original on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2012.