One of the more recognizable saints in the Bible, Christianity’sholiest teachings, is John the Beloved Apostle of Christ.
He wasthe chosen one of the twelve who would recieve Mary as hisMother, and the only apostle to die a non-tragc death. Mary’sbeloved apostle in the 1800s was St. John Bosco, or Don Bosco ashe is familiarly called. Throughout his life, John was theBlessed Mother’s instrument, he brought thousands upon thousandsto his Mother’s service, repaying them with the loving knowledgeof Christ and his Church.
After dying his aura lives on in thehundreds of Salesian Institutions throughout the world. Born John Michael Bosco on August 16, 18151, he came into apoor family. From birth he was endeared to the Virgin Mary by hismother, whom we call Mama Margaret. Mama Margaret, Ochienna wasoriginally her name before marriage to Francesco Bosco, was apious woman who also knew how to lay down the law and keep hesons, three of them, in line. John’s life was not ideal, hisfather died at the early age of 34, on the seventeenth of May,18172.
He didn’t have a father after that day. From then on itwas a tough road, he had to work in the farms and also try tofoster a good education. But God always came first in the Boscohome , in the early morning, the whole family was on its kneespraying In the fields, he sought to make the bad children good,when his mother asked why, he said “Because when i am with themthey behave better. ” Really, to teach them the Chatechism was hisonly intention, and he would do it by performing for them. In the fields he also had another problem, his older brotherAntonio, who derided him for wanting to learn, wanting tosucceed. He went to learn at his mother’s old school, becominghalf-farmer and half-school.
boy. When he once admitted to hisfriends that he wished to become a priest, he was formallyridiculed once more. Not giving up he trudged onward. During hisyears of study, he had a dream, one which led him to the BlessedMother.
It was also in this dream that he had recieved thecalling to minister to children, to bring them where he was, withGod and the Virgin Mary. During all of his performences, Johnmade it the rule for the audience to pray the Rosary every time,at the beginiing and the end or his show. On a Jublileepilgrimage, he astounded the priest with his knowledge and piety,recounting sermons word for word and then giving their meanings. Up until John Bosco was ordained priest on 5 June, 18413-the eveof the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, in the private chapel ofthe Archbishop of Turin. On the sixth, in that church of St. Francis of Assisi which was to be the birthplace of his Oratory,he said his first mass privately, with only Don Cafasso present.
,he never stopped reaching for his dream, and even after, hereached yet harder still. During his ministry, he always sought to remove the leprosyof the soul from troubled boys, for as real leprosy can be curedin time, spiritual leprosy only festers and grows with thepassage of time. Bartolomeo Garrelli was his first curing,teaching the boy to read, write, sing , and pray, he thus startedhis Oratory, or his place for prayer. Later Bart brought a dozenof his friends to come and see the wonders that Bosco might havedone for them, which they accepted. He brought their souls out ofthe preverbial blight, and into the splendor of God’s savingwarmth. His oratory constantly moved, is was like “transplantingcabbages” as he called it, the more you plant and replant them, the bigger and sturdier the grow.
So it was with that sermonof his, that they sought their final, “transplant” site. It was afarmhouse with dirt floors, which also came with a small shack. The shack was to be used for their chapel Now four hundredstrong, they were called an army of derelicts by the townsfolk. But John persevered, bulding his oratory, teaching trades andreligion. He spread the christian truths and catholic teachingsthroughout Italy and later his sons and daughters will spread itthroughout the world. And his oratory didgrow, seen in the Salesian schools in North America and SouthAmerica, because of a dream, his dream that the Salesians wouldcivilize the natives, and the students of Don Bosco Prep are anexample, we’ve been civilized by the Salesian influence, for themost partHis ministry to those outside of his oratory was alsoprofound.
He helped people on their way to God, who in theirpassing would find peace, serenity and everlasting life with theFather, he took Penance from all; sometimes recieving divineintervention in having it given, he built cities with the help ofGod, cities in men’s sould which housed them evil, protected themfrom sin. Mary was constantly on his side, she helped him buildthe Basillica in Turin, she helped him select his boys for theoratory, she helped him live through some of his most tryingtmes, and in the end it was her who brought him to God, and hewho will bring Us closer with her help. His message was continued by many, most notably his firstsuccessor, Blessed Michael Rua, who started in the fledlingoratory as one of Bosco’s own “cabbages. ” It is also beingcontinued by hundreds upon thousands of Salesian brothers,missionaries, sisters, lay people, and Salesian cooperators.
These people, hand-picked by the Blessed Mother themselves, arenow Bosco and the Blessed Mother’s instrument to show more boysand girls the love and power of God. In addition to being Bosco’sboys, and due to his friendship with the Pope, we are also Sonsof the Church who will strive to build it and continue fosteringthe values we were taught in Bosco’s loving attitude. BibliographynoneReligion Essays
