Biographical Memoirs Saint John Bosco
TheBiographical MemoirsofSaint John BoscobyR E V . E U G E N IO C E R IA , S . D . B .AN AMERICAN EDITIONTRANSLATEDFROM THE ORIGINAL ITALIANREV. DIEGO BORGATELLO, S.D.B.andREV. MICHAEL MENDL, S.D.B.Editors-in-chiefrzT' Volume XVI1883'4SALESIANA PUBLISHERSNEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORKcia‹
IMPRIMI POfEST: Very Rev. Timothy C. Ploch, S.D.B.ProvincialNew Rochelle, N.Y. 25 March 1995Solemnity of the Annunciation Copyright 1995 by the Salesian Society, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog No. 653104 rev ISBN 0-89944-016-9All Rights ReservedManufactured in the United States of America FIRST EDITION
DalicaudWITH PROFOUND GRATITUDETOTHE LATE, LAMENTED, AND HIGHLY ESTEEMEDVERY REVEREND FELIX J. PENNA, S.D.B.(1904-1962)TO WHOSEWISDOM, FORESIGHT, AND NOBLE SALESIAN HEARTTHE ENGLISH TRANSLATIONOFTHE BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRSOFSAINT JOHN BOSCOISA LASTING MONUMENT
This Volume Is DedicatedtoFATHER DIEGO BORGATELLO, S.D.B.(1911-1994)Editor-in-chiefof the English editionof The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Boscofor thirty-two years.To this project he broughtsuperior dedication, rare skilland profound love,earning the esteem and affectionof the whole Salesian Family
Editor's Preface!SAINT JOHN BOSCO, the central figure of this vastly extensivebiography, was a towering person in the affairs of both Church and State during thecritical nineteenth century in Italy. He was the founder of two very active religiouscongregations during a time when other orders were being suppressed; he was atrusted and key liaison between the Papacy and the emerging Italian nation of theRisorgimento; above all, in troubled times, he was the saintly Christian educator whosuccessfully wedded modem pedagogy to Christ's law and Christ's love for the pooryoung, and thereby deserved the proud title "Apostle of Youth."He is known familiarly throughout the world simply as Don Bosco.' His nowfamous system of education, which he called the Preventive System, was based onreason, religion, and kindness, and indicated by its descriptive name that, also ineducation, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. He always sought toplace pupils in the moral impossibility of committing sin, the moral disorder fromwhich all evils flow.To ensure the continuation of his educational mission in behalf of youth, hefounded two worldwide religious congregations, the Society of St. Francis deSales (Salesian Society) and the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help ofChristians (Salesian Sisters), which today number more than 40,000 membersconducting 2,800 educational institutions throughout the world.2To help in the difficult art of educating the young, Don Bosco planned toexpound his method of education in a book but, absorbed as he was in the task offirmly establishing his two religious congregations and in unceasing other labors,he had to content himself with a simple outline of his ideas in a golden littletreatise entitled "The Preventive System in the Education of Youth." 'Don is an abbreviation of the Latin dominus, master. It is used in Italy as a title for priests; it stands forFather.2As of 1994 there were about 35,000 Salesian priests, brothers, sisters, and novices.
xEDITOR'S PREFACEFortunately, The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco are amplecompensation for a book which, if written;might have given us only theories.These memoirs, a monumental work in nineteen volumes, until recently reservedexclusively to Salesians and published only in the original Italian, are now availablein this American edition not only to his spiritual children, devotees, and admirers,but also to all who are interested in education.In these volumes Don Bosco is shown inaction: not theorizing but educating.What he said and did in countless circumstances was faithfully recorded by severalof his spiritual sons, chief among them Father Giovanni Battista Lemoyne. Fromthe day he first met Don Bosco in 1864 to his own death in 1916, Father Lemoynespent his life recording words and dee& of Don Bosco, gathering documents,3interviewing witnesses, and arranging raw material for the present nineteen volumesof the life of Don Bosco, eight of which he himself authored besides readyinganother volume for the press before his death.In the compilation of The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco, FatherLernoyne's primary sources were the Memorie dell' Oratorio di S. Francesco diSales da11815 al 18554 written by Don Bosco himself, the diaries and chronicles ofvarious fellow Salesians who daily recorded what Don Bosco said or did, numerousletters of the Saint, the Cinque lustri di storia dell' Oratorio di S. Francesco diSales5 written by Father John Bonetti, S.D.B., and personally checked.by DonBosco, the proceedings of the diocesan process, of beatification, and otherunimpeachable contemporary documents and testimonies. Above all, FatherLemoyne, intelligent, conscientious, and well-informed, not only used reliablesources but was himself an eyewitness. He recorded what he personally saw andheard from Don Bosco. This enabled him to write a3AII the documents in the archives at Salesian General Headquarters in Rome are being put onto microfiche.The considerable amount published as of 1994 is available in the United States at the Institute of Salesian Studies,Berkeley, Calif. In 1980 a catalogue of all the material in the Salesian Central Archives pertaining to Don Boscoand the beginnings of the Salesian Society was published " in conjunction with the initiation of the microficheproject: Archivio Salesian Centrale, FondaDonBosco:MicroschedaturaeDescrizione,ed. A. Torras (Rome: non-commercialedition, 1980).4English edition: Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales from 1815 to 1855: The Autobiography of Saint John Bosco,trans. Daniel Lyons, SDB, with notes and commentary by Eugenio Ceria, SDB, LawrenceCastelvecchi, SUB, and Michael Mendl, SDE (New Rochelle: Don Bosco Publications, 1989).5English edition: St.JohnBosco'sEarlyApostolate,translatorunknown (London:Bums, Oates Washboume, 1934).
xiEDITOR'S PREFACEtrue history, even though hot according to modem critical methods. Heconcerned himself principally with presenting chronologically his vast selectedmaterial, and therefore his narrative is somewhat fragmentary and may lackscientific method. It is nevertheless true history, even Volume I, which dealsmainly with Don Bosco's youth and the training he received from MammaMargaret, his mother. 6 When gifted writers and scholars of the future produce acritical biography of Don Bosco, The Biographical Memoirs will still not besurpassed because Father Lemoyne lived at Don Bosco's side, wrote what he sawand heard, and eminently succeeded in giving us a living portrait of Don Bosco.In editing the translation of The Biographical Memoirs, we set accuracy andreadability as our goals. This was not easy and occasionally, as regards the latter,we may have fallen short of the mark Nineteenth-century Italian does not readilylend itself to an agile version that strives to be an accurate translation and not aparaphrase.May the reading of these Memoirs portraying the life of a man whom Pope PiusXI called "a giant of sanctity" inspire his spiritual children, to whom this work isprimarily directed, and all men and women of good will to walk their own paths oflife in a spirit of service to God and man.FR. DIEGO BORGATELLO, S .D.18 .Editor-in-chiefNew Rochelle, N.Y. Tune 5 ,1965124th Anniversary of Don Bosco's Ordination6See Francis Desramaut, S.D.B., Les Memorie I de Giovanni Battista Lemoyne: Etude d' un ouvragefondamental sur la jeunesse de saint Jean Bosco (Lyons, 1962), pp. 411ff.
A NoteConcerning Volume XVIDURING Father Felix Penna's term as provincial (19581961), theNew Rochelle Province of the Salesian Society undertook the daunting task oftranslating into English the nineteen volumes of the Memorie biografiche di SanGiovanni Bosco, which had taken three authors (Fathers Lemoyne, Amadei, andCeria) forty-one years to publish in Italian. Such an undertaking wasunprecedented; until then it had been expected that every Salesian should befluent enough in Italian to read them in the original.Father Penna commissioned professionals to translate the entire Memorie. Hissuccessor, Father August Bosio, in 1962 named Father Diego Borgatello editorin-chief of the project. Father Borgatello set up an editorial board of nineconfreres, who made some of the fundamental determinations that would guidethe work.For thirty-two years Father Borgatello worked diligently, lovingly, and patientlyto carry out his mandate. Starting with the so-called "commercial translation," hepainstakingly went over each volume line by line and footnote by footnote,rephrasing, fleshing out with first names and scriptural references, adding crossreferences and explanatory notes, and often enough retranslating from scratch.Even when the infirmities of age, in general, and cancer, in particular, made workdifficult for him, he tried valiantly to continue. This, of course, led to longer andlonger periods between the publication of recent volumes; as this is written, it ismore than five years since Volume XV appeared in December 1989.*Before his death on April 23, 1994, Father Borgatello had completed chapters 110 of this volume and substantially finished the translation of chapters 11-15, theauthor's preface, and several of the appendices. Father Michael Mendl was alreadycollaborating with him and, as soon as it was possible, undertook to complete thenotes to the unfinished chap-*Volume XV's title page bears the date 1988 because Father Borgatello had hoped to have the volumeready as a tribute to Don Bosco in the centennial year of the Saint's death and wished the date to stand evenwhen the book was not ready.
A NOTE CONCERNING VOLUME XVIxiiiters, copyedit them, and complete the index, which he had already beenIn September 1994 Father Timothy Ploch, provincial, formally appointedFather Mendl editor-in-chief. His work in the general field of Salesian studies andhis contacts with others in that field had made Father Mendl aware of the need topublish more of the documentation supplied at the end of the volumes of theMemorie; the editorial board concurred. Hence, with this volume we begin topublish considerably more of these documents in translation, both those thatpertain specifically to the current volume and those that pertain to earlier volumesbut came to light or were compiled too late to be used in their proper place.The documents to be translated were selected with several criteria in mind: (1) They should contribute to a better understanding of Saint John Bosco, asfor example the three early sermons included in this volume reveal thespirituality and the preaching style of the first years of his priesthood; variousletters reveal his manner of dealing with generous benefactors, with friends, orwith young people; and testimonials show the impression that he made on others,both young and old.(2) They should be of general interest to our readership or even of veryparticular interest: for example, correspondence referring to the proposedfoundation in Boston or to the duke of Norfolk.(3) They should not already be published substantially in the current or anearlier volume, as for example are some of the newspaper articles on DonBosco's visit to France in this volume or some of his letters to Claire Louvet inVolume XV.For the publication of The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco weowe a debt of gratitude to Fathers August Bosio, S.D.B., John J. Malloy, S.D.B.,Salvatore Isgro, S.D.B. (deceased), Dominic DeBlase, S.D.B., Richard J.McCormick, S.D.B, provincials emeriti of the Salesians in the eastern UnitedStates and sponsors of this project, and to the Very Reverend Timothy C. Ploch,their successor in office.As regards this volume, we wish to express special thanks to Father PaulAronica, S.D.B., for his very valuable editorial assistance, to Father Joseph Maffei,S.D.B., for his help with the translation of the documents comprising theappendices, to Gaspar Vibal for the typesetting and design, to Joseph Isola forcopyediting, to Robert Johnson-Lally, archivist of the archdiocese of Boston, forinformation about Monsignor Bouland, to Father Martin D. O'Keefe, Si, of theInstitute of Jesuit Sources for
xivA NOth CONCERNING VOLUME XVIinformation on certain Jesuits, and to all others who have helped in one way oranother to translate the English edition of Volume XVI from idea to reality.FATHER MICHAEL MENDL, S.D.B. Editor-in-chief ,New Rochelle, N.Y. January9,1995EDITORIAL BOARDRev. Michael Mendl, S.D.B., chairmanRev. Paul Monica, S.D.B.Rev. Emil Fardellone, S.D.B.Rev. Joseph Bajorek, S.D.B.Rev. Peter Lappin, S.D.B.DECEASEDRev. Diego Borgatello, S.D.B., chairmanRev. William Kelley, S.D.B.Rev. Joseph Perozzi, S.D.B.Rev. Hugh McGlinchey, S.D.B.Rev. Chester Wisniewski, S.D.B.Rev. Henry Sarnowski, S.D.B., secretary
Author's Preface INCE Don Bosco's visit to Paris was an event of the highestimportance in his life, this sixteenth volume of his Biographical Memoirs willrestrict itself to 1883, so as to give that visit all the prominence it merits. In theFrench capital Don Bosco granted innumerable audiences to all kinds of people,visited countless families, religious communities, and churches, preached time andagain from the city's pulpits to vast crowds, and was enthusiastically acclaimed bythe people in the streets and squares. Who could ever have fancied that as thenineteenth century waned, the people of Paris would be so openly fascinated bysaintliness, all the more so by the sight of a poor priest of humble origin andmodest appearance, lacking eloquence, unskilled in their language, and Italian bybirth? It almost reads like a page from the Leggenda Aurea [Golden Legend] oflong ago, when, no matter whence he came, a man enjoying the reputation ofholiness aroused enthusiastic demonstrations throughout Christendom. Yet ournarrative contains nothing that has not been duly documented.Bear in mind also that our full account is not the whole thing. Unfortunately,much has been irretrievably lost to scholarship, for after the event no oneundertook a timely, methodical investigation which would have guaranteed tofuture generations the full details of the countless happenings involving DonBosco during his four months on French soil Belated gleanings have given us justenough information to catch a glimpse and bemoan the loss of many otherincidents in the rush of time.1 The newsy accounts, however, which fifty years agopoured into Our archives in the form of letters, newspaper articles, and pamphletsare not insignificant; they suffice to enable us to weave a fairly extensive andreliable narrative.Many vivid memories of Don Bosco still linger in Paris—a manifest sign thathis stay in that famous metropolis kindled more than a momenlThrough the Bulletin Salesien and other sources, Father [Augustine] Auffray [1881-1955] succeeded inunearthing precious details which have been taken into account. [Author]
xviAUTHOR'S PREFACEtary flicker of popular admiration, though that too would have been, if nothingelse, a striking phenomenon. In such a cosmopolitan city, any novelty mustcertainly be newsworthy if it is-to hold the public's attention for even a briefhour. What are we then to say of events which left such a deep and lastingmark on the minds of those who witnessed them? It is a fact that, even today,we keep receiving letters recounting hitherto unknown episodes, and we stillkeep meeting persons, clerical and lay, noble and middle-class alike, who withvivid clarity and genuine warmth tell us about some long-past incidents whichthey witnessed. Thus we are moved to cry out, indeed, that "the just man shallbe in everlasting remembrance." [Ps. 112:6]Don Bosco's going to Paris was truly providential in several ways. To manyhe brought physical healing; to countless others the light of counsel in theirdoubts, Christian strength in life's hardships, or a spiritual conversion. Inaddition, funds were poured into his hands, enabling him to expedite the laggingwork on the Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome, to consolidate his institutionsin France and elsewhere, and to pave the way for a Salesian house in Paris. Thedaily press, in addition to his own extensive private correspondence, soadvertised his works that they became known even in the most remote quartersof the civilized world. This publicity substantially facilitated his mission, whichwas not restricted to a few European nations but was destined to transcend thenational boundaries of both the old and the new worlds.Hardly six weeks after his return to Italy, a widely publicized eventrefocused upon Don Bosco the attention of France, and consequently of thewhole world: the illness of the count of Chambord, which was sudden andbrief, took place on Austrian soil but was preeminently a matter affectingFrance. The international press seized upon it eagerly and thus contributed veryconsiderably to the spread of Don Bosco's fame. The episode is so welldocumented that we have devoted to it an entire chapter, which will certainlyprove of interest to the reader.In addition to the unit of six lengthy chapters recounting Don Bosco's journeythrough France, France continues to crop up in the rest of this volume. Still,France did not absorb all of Don Bosco's energies in 1883; other very importantundertakings engaged him throughout that year. These included his sons'expedition to the empire of Brazil and his persistent endeavors, finally crownedwith success, to win canonical standing for the Salesian missions at the southernextreme of South
AUTHOR'S PREFACExviiAmerica. In addition, this volume will deal with other less important matters,which, as we have done in the past, we shall faithfully recount.* * *We shall do all this without deviating in the slightest from the method we havehitherto followed. In evidence that this method was a wise choice on our part, wehave the commendation, among many others, of no less a weighty authority andscholar than Cardinal [Ildefonso] Schuster, archbishop of Milan, who, afterreading Volume XV, wrote: "This is a unique achievement in its field, for, withno bibliographical pretensions, the author has given us not a photograph but amovie of Don Bosco's life as he really lived it and became holy."2 Such, indeed,was our intention from the very start.Thus, God willing, a genuinely authentic and gigantic portrait of Don Bosco isin due time emerging within the framework of real history. As for "bibliographical pretensions," we could have none, both because we workedwith primary archival materials and because the wide range of biographies, all ofthem generally deriving from the same source, Father [John Baptist] Lemoyne,3had nothing new to tell us. Biographies written in Don Bosco's own lifetime wehave always carefully cited, less as sources than as factual accounts taken fromFather [John] Bonetti's Cinque lustri di storia dell' Oratorio, which he publishedserially in the Italian and French editions of the Salesian Bulletin and whichFather Lemoyne later incorporated in his nine volumes of The BiographicalMemoirs. Likewise, he drew, within the proper context, from Father [JohnBaptist] Francesia's monographs on Don Bosco's autumn outings and a journeywith Don Bosco to Rome,4 whose topics antedate 1875, whence I took up the[biographical] task. Archbishop [Charles] Salotti's biography of Don Bosco5 wasthe only one to present new insights and2Letter to Father Louis Colombo, Salesian provincial, October 3, 1934. [Author]Namely, the first nine volumes of The Biographical Memoirs, covering 1815 to 1870, and his twovolume life of Don Bosco. [Author]The nine volumes, of course, have been translated as the that nine volumes of the present series. The twovolume life is Vita del Venerabile Servo di Dio Giovanni Bosco (Turin: SET, 1911-1913, with variousreprints and at least one new
Bosco's visit to France in this volume or some of his letters to Claire Louvet in Volume XV. For the publication of The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco we owe a debt of gratitude to Fathers August Bosio, S.D.B., John J. Malloy, S.D.B., Salvatore Isgro, S.D.B. (deceased), Dominic DeBlase, S.D.B., Richard J.
In the compilation of The Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco, Father Lemoyne's primary sources were the Memorie dell'Oratorio dal 1835 al 1855 (Memoirs of the Oratory from 1835 to 1855) written by Don Bosco himself, the diaries and chronicles of various Salesians who daily recorded what Don Bosco said or did, numerous letters of the Saint,
Don Bosco’s “Memoirs of the Oratory”and Bonetti’s “Storia dell’Ora-torio” 127 I. Don Bosco’s “Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales” 128 Origin and Publication of the “Memoirs” and Related Questions 128 Don Bosco’s Agenda in the “Memoirs” and their Historical Character 140
For the publication of The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco we owe a debt of gratitude to the Very Reverend Augustus Bosio, S.D.B., Provincial of the Salesians in the .eastern United States, who sponsored this project. In the preparation of this volume we are indebted to Genevieve M. Camera, Ph.D., John Chapin, Rev. Paul Aronica, S.D.B., and Rev. Joseph Bajorek. S.D.B., for editorial .
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bosco, Giovanni, Saint, 1815-1888. [Memorie dell'Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855. English] Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales from 1815 to 1855: the autobiography of Saint John Bosco / translated by Daniel Lyons; with notes and commentary by Eugenio Ceria, Lawrence Castelvecchi, and Michael Mendl. Includes .
Editor's Preface to the First Nine Volumes /SAINT John Bosco, the central figure of this vastly extensive biography, was a towering person in the affairs of both Church and State during the critical 19th century in. Italy.
St. Zachariah, pray for us. Saint Joseph, Protector of the Church, pray for us. Saint Peter, pray for us. Saint Paul, pray for us. Saint Andrew, pray for us. Saint James, pray for us. Saint John, pray for us. Saint Jude, pray for us. Saint Christopher, pray for us. Saint Timothy, pray for us. Saint Andre Besette, pray for us. Saint Thomas Aquinas,
A CAMINO WITH DON BOSCO . Novena in Preparation for the Feast of St John Bosco . Fr Gerry O’Shaughnessy SDB . Recommended reading: Jesus and Young People by Fr Michael Winstanley SDB, Don Bosco Publications, Bolton 2020 . Don Bosco's Dream by M Borgani via sdb.org . 2 . Welcome! One of the great traditions of our Catholic Church is the idea of NOVENA. With a name derived from the Latin for .
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