"In Piedmont, in Monferrato." "A winter day in 1825" "Well done!" "Come here." "What's your name?" "Giovanni Bosco." "Bosco?" " Are you Margherita's son?" " Yes, sir!" "Ah, I wouldn't have recognized you!" "And you don't remember me." "You were so little when I used to come to your house before your poor father died." "Good, Giovannino!" "Who knows how grateful that bird will be to you?" "What are you reading?" "Ah, the catechism!" "Good!" " Then you're going to school?" " No, sir!" "No?" "How so?" "Why?" "Because my brother Antonio doesn't want me to." "What does it mean "he doesn't want"?" "He says that I must work in the fields with him." "He's a quite a character." " But would you like to study?" " Yes, I would." " Are you really sure?" " Yes, yes!" "Well, listen:" "one of these days come to the canonry up there at Morialdo." "Ask of Don Calosso." "We'll see right away if you want to study." "And if be the case, I'll talk with your brother." "Do you understand?" "Then let me take care of it." "Goodbye." "Giovannino, don't forget:" "I'll be waiting for you!" "All right!" " Hello Margherita!" " Hello Michele!" " Shell we go to the fair on Sunday?" " Yes, let's!" "I'll pick you up at 6." "Is it OK or is it too early?" "No, it's perfect." "Bye, Michele!" "Good!" "Keep it up!" "Bye, Margherita!" "She's my sister." "Are we going to eat?" "It's almost ready." "Sit down meanwhile." "Are you hungry?" "When one works as I do..." "Giuseppe, tell Giovannino to hurry up." "The young master can't be hungry for what he does!" " Good evening, granny!" " Good evening, Giovannino!" "Granny, come as well!" "Antonio!" "I already told him that at least at the table I don't want to see books!" "Goodness" "In a country far away from Bethlehem, there were three very good kings, called Magi." "One night, watching the starry sky, they realized there was new, very bright star." "They said: this star surely means that the Savior was born to the world." "Let's go and seek him." "The star was by Bethlehem, where Jesus was born." "Then they took gifts to bring to the Child Jesus." "The gifts were: gold, incense, and myrrh." "Stop!" "Let me handle it." "Hear, you did it on purpose to spite me." " It's not the first time that you enjoy annoying me." " Neither the last!" "It may be." "But this time I'll teach you a lesson!" "What kind of lesson?" "You can only preach!" "Is that so?" "Hear, If I you had talked to me this way some days ago," "I would have put you to your place with these." "Today I'll do otherwise instead." "That is?" "In this way:" "I'll show you that I got good lungs through preaching, and that I have better legs than yours." "I have no time to waste!" "No, too easy!" "Look: do you see that nice road there?" "We'll do a nice race!" "If you win, you may call me good-for-nothing." " If I win..." " Let's hear what you'll do." "you'll come and read the sermon." "Alright?" "Let's go!" "Ready, steady, go!" "...and they left." "They made a very long trip." "As they walked, the star would always go further as if to show the way." "Before arriving at Bethlehem, where the child Jesus was staying, they passed through the great city of ..." "[LATIN] We should learn not for school but for life." "[LATIN] Those who cross the sea change the sky, not the soul." "Good!" "Really good!" "Have you noticed?" "We did in five months what others do in two years." "I told you so: 5 more months and you can enter gymnasium." "But it costs money to go to gymnasium!" "Of course it does." "But let it be: some saint will take care of it." "Rather, let's not become swollen-headed but let's think of the present." "For tomorrow, you'll translate from here to here." " Alright." " Did you understand?" "Naturally!" "The young gentleman stays dry!" "He must become a great man!" "So, we peasants have to slave, don't we?" "Will you stop being angry with that boy?" "What did he do to you?" "Nothing!" "But I say that if this weather lasts a little longer, there will be little bread this winter." "And those who earned it will eat it." "That's what I say." "Look now!" "It seems to get worse." "After the bad weather in the fall, a very rigid winter followed" "Famine weighed yet again over the country, already tried from the harshness of economical and political events." "Giovanni, Giovanni!" "Don Calosso is ill." "He's dying." "Go to the rectory!" "Don Calosso!" "Don Calosso!" "Are you feeling better?" "What does he have?" "Nothing." "In a little then, I'll be swell." "You, women, go outside for a moment." "Let's go, come away." "Hear... hear!" "Take..." "Take this key of that piece of furniture there." "All that you'll find inside, is for you." "There are 6,000 Liras." "6,000 Liras!" "[1740 g or 56 oz of pure gold]" "For you." "To make you study." " Don Calosso, I..." " Hush, hush, hush!" "Did you study the lesson for today?" "Yes." "Then sit at my table." "My book is there." "Read, read, read!" "[LATIN] Let us not live for ourselves but for our country." "Multi non dominum dominus!" "dominus!" "dominus" "Let us look at the mind of a man, not at his face." "Look, poor thing!" "He loved him as a father." "Did you see those three relatives, how they came running?" "It must be 10 years since they last showed up." "Hey, Giovannino!" "Come over here one moment." "Tell me, Giovannino:" "didn't Don Calosso hand you anything before he died?" "Didn't he talk about me, about his nephews?" "He gave me this key." "That's exactly what I was looking for." "Thanks!" "Well, if he really has a vocation..." "There's no doubt about that." "Let's send him to Chievi." "There is a school there, a seminary... but who will pay the expenses?" "A saint will provide!" "Let's hope that." "Because I, with the year we had, I can't do more than what I did." "May I?" "Come in!" "Dad sends this for Giovannino: it's wheat." "I know that also the neighbors are sending gifts." "Come, you have even too much stuff to become a good priest!" "Let's go now." "For if you have to be in Chievi tonight, there's no time to lose." "Bye, Manola." "Antonio!" "Bye, Giovannino." "And if I was wrong, so much the better." "Be good!" "Here is your way." "Bye, Giovannino!" "This is just under 5 kilos." "Return, 1.20, cheese, 2 Liras, wheat 2.50, lard, 2.50, it's ... 6 scudi." "Alright?" "6 scudi." "[135 g or 4 1/3 oz of pure silver]" "1 scudo, 10, 20, 30, 40, 45, 50." "This is arithmetic." "This is geography." "The dictionary." "This is the Latin grammar." "When you learn all this, you'll be a professor!" "Bye!" "Thus a long period of study began." "To find the means, the indefatigable Giovanni applied himself to many jobs, almost foreseeing his apostleship of work." "Why, Giovanni!" "You're still awake at this time!" "Are you crazy?" "I work by day and tomorrow I have finals." "You'll ruin your health!" "Well, well." "It seems enough for me." "Now, Giovanni Bosco." "More than excellent." "Well done, Bosco!" "The teachers' council awards you the diploma with a more than excellent grade." "Thank you." "And now what will you do?" "Are you going back home?" "No, I'd like to enter seminary." "Seminary?" "All the philosophers concede the truth of this thesis, which is that nature placed in us the desire for happiness." "It is the alpha and the omega of all our desires." "It is the principle and end of all human activity." "For next lesson, you'll prepare yourself on article 1, chapter 4." "And you, Bosco, as usual, will collect and hand me over the notes written on your notebooks." "Yes, Sir." "Comollo, my friend, you won't begin to study right now." "Come with me to the courtyard to run a little." "No, I don't feel like running." "Don't you see it's the only remedy to cure your weakness?" "Let's go!" "The intense spiritual friendship that for years tied the strong son of Monferrato to his comrade Comollo, who was sapped with an inexorable disease, would give rise to the most sensational episode in the youth of cleric Bosco." "St. Bernardin of Sienna fervently favored the zeal of Bl." "Virgin Colletta." "The Friars Minor who practiced their own rule under some clauses and dispensations obtained from the Holy See, carried, after the pontificate of Innocent IV, the name of Friars Conventual." "Bernardin, not considering this kind of possession, conceived a design of recalling..." "But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us." "Thanks be to God." "He hath made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord:" "He hath given food to them that fear him." "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end." "Amen." "Blessed be the Lord in His gifts and holy in all His works." "Who liveth and reigneth, world without end." "Amen." "Comollo is sick!" "As he was dying, he promised his friend:" ""I will come and tell you if I have come to salvation..."" "Bosco..." "I am saved!" "Two years after, on June 5, 1841, cleric Bosco was ordained a priest." "... we beseech thee hear us." "That thou vouchsafe to give eternal rest to all faithful departed, we beseech thee hear us." "Receive thou the Holy Ghost;" "whosesoever sins thou shalt remit, they are remitted unto them, and whose sins thou shalt retain, they are retained." "The Lord clothe thee in the robe of innocence." "Dost thou promise to me and my successors reverence and obedience?" "I do." "The peace of the Lord be ever with thee." "Amen." "Having become Fr." "Bosco, he celebrated Mass with deep emotion before her who had prayed and done so much for him." "Is today a holy day?" "Sure it is a holy day!" "It's Fr." "Bosco's first Mass." "He's Margherita's son." "End of first part." "Second part." "From the country exhausted for the long economic crisis, hoping for large earnings, people poured into the cities." "Generous Turin welcome that deluded crowd, which was coming to weigh on the heavy burden of its own poor." "What better field for the fervor for good that animated the young priest?" "And you, why are you here?" "Don't you have a home?" "Yes, but..." "What's the matter?" "I know: you did something stupid and don't have the heart to return home." "Isn't it so?" "Tell me, what's your name?" "Carlin." "Where do you live?" "Tell me, where do you live?" "Excuse me, does Carlin live here?" "Just there." "Good morning." "Are you Carlin's mother?" "Yes, why?" "I came to visit him." "Is he home?" "No, he's not." "He's never here." "Even now he must be at the pub." "Come in, Father!" "Carlin!" "It's he!" "Carlin, Carlin!" "Don't hurt him!" "Come and help us!" "Carlin!" "O Our Lady, help!" "It's nothing!" "O Our Lady!" "A little fight is nothing serious." "So, are you convinced he didn't do it on purpose?" "And if you hadn't provoked him, you wouldn't be here?" "Tell me, are you convinced?" " Yes, but he shouldn't have!" " But, but, but..." "I repeat that he's very sorry and you must not deny him your forgiveness." "Now I'm going to visit him in prison." "I'll tell him that, when you meet again, you'll shake hands like good friends." "Hey, you!" "Stand up!" " Don Bosco, I'm going to tell the others that you've come." " Alright." "I've good news to tell you." "Silence!" "Where do you think you are?" "At the pub?" "Bunch of rascals!" "Is there anyone who wants to make a Confession?" " It would be better if they brought..." " Silence!" "And you, with that grimace?" "Nothing, then!" "Nobody." "All to Hell." "But the confessor is Don Bosco!" "What's up?" "Call Don Bosco!" "Did you hear?" "Remember what I told you and, as soon as they set you free, come to me." "Bye, Luciano." " Don Bosco..." " I heard it." "He's a condemned to death." "Leave us alone." "Don Bosco!" "My son!" "Put your hands between mine." "This way." "Do you feel more composed now?" "Then say with me:" "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." "Blessed art thou..." "Don Bosco, this is utopia." "The world is this way:" "there are the poor and there are the rich." "Yet, my dear Tonin, something must be possible." "I haven't it clear in my mind yet." "But I'm sure that, with God's help, I'll be able to." "What are you doing there?" "What do you want?" "Did you come to serve the Mass?" "No, I can't do it." "Then, what did you come her for?" "Can you believe it?" "Away, away!" "What taught you to enter sacristies without permission?" "I'll teach you some manners." "Away, away!" "Tonin!" "Listen, don't send that boy away." "Come back." "Come in." "Tonin, do you think that's the way to treat my friends?" " Your friend this?" " Of course he's my friend." "I'm sorry, Don Bosco:" "I didn't know." "Ah, Tonin!" "They wanted to send you away, didn't they?" " What's your name?" " Bartolomeo Garelli." "Do you have a father and a mother?" "O poor thing!" "Do you work?" "Sometimes." "What are you?" "I'm a bricklayer." "A bricklayer!" "And what do you do on Sundays?" "Nothing." "That's bad." "I'll find you a way to spend your Sundays henceforth." "Can you read and write?" "No." "Do you know the catechism?" "Well, you must know something!" " Can you sing?" " Yes, of course!" "Finally!" "The first Oratory, formed on December 8 of that year from the meeting of that boy sent by Providence, in a few months..." "Very well done!" "And now outside to play!" "Yes, that's true." "One moment!" "Stop!" "Listen, the oratory has been open for six months and I can't tell you the complaints and troubles caused by your cheerfulness." "Especially that of the soccer players." "Understand that I don't want to see long faces." "But neither too many broken windows!" "Do we agree now?" "Yes, sir." "Go and play then." "See, Borrel." "This is a new show for you." "I've been enjoying every moment for some years." "Only God knows how much good will it costs me to put it together." "I understand, Don Bosco." "If you want to help, as you said, you only need, at least at the beginning, a lot of patience and good lungs!" "O yes!" "Always so." "For example, do you see now?" "You, there!" "I already told you not to cross that ditch!" "The meadow is not ours." "How can I explain it to you?" "Bless the boys!" "Excuse me, Father, are you Don Bosco?" "The commissary of Porta Palazzo would like to speak with you now, if possible." " The commissary?" " Yes!" "Beside the fact that it is only you who understand and justify the gathering of 5 or 6 hundred boys, here are written complaints of most respectful citizens who considered themselves harmed by the behavior of your thugs, or rascals as you'd call them." "Wait, I'll read you some of them." "Here." "You Honor, I inform you that on the 12th of this month some boys lead by a priest trespassed into, trampled on, and ruined a field of mine, causing damages for 245 Liras." "Another:" "I inform Your Honor that a horde..." " a horde!" " of boys devastated a hedge along 50 meters." "There is one that is so cute." "Where..." "Here it is!" "I saw that the cherry harvesting in my orchard had already been diligently completed." "I spare you from reading all these other charges." "Dear Father, I am ready to be very lenient, but I foresee that all these people, these complaints, will eventually draw the attention of the city accounting office of this city accounting office, which has heretofore shown" "how it can protect with such fervent zeal the state of quiet and city order." "It is not partisan hatred, gentlemen, urging me to defend the immortal principles, which are the bulwark of modern nations." "Nothing forbids us to think that this priest, faithful to the policy of temporal power, has the intention to transform at the right moment these loafers of his in a band of conspirators, even furnished with weapons." "Therefore I formally propose that we should proceed with a thorough search in the house of theologian Giovanni Bosco." "Look at how they left my room!" "And you, did you say anything?" "I?" "What should I have said?" "When I saw them convinced that the most compromising papers were the baker's and the butcher's bills," "I proposed that they should pay them, but they wouldn't agree." "Come in!" "What's the matter now?" "Come, come!" "The Filippi brothers." "Dear Fr." "Bosco," "We are sorry to let you know..." "Definitely a bad day for our oratory!" "We are sorry to let you know that our meadow, which you rented as meeting place for your boys, must be vacated within 15 days (that is before Palm Sunday)." "We are forced to this because of the complaints from the neighbors, who are annoyed by the boy's cries, and because of the damages that they have caused to our property." "Very truly yours," "One moment!" "Excuse me, can I help you?" "I didn't mean to intrude." "Say, come forward!" "One moment." "Father, they told me you were looking for a new place for your boys." "Yes, it's true." "Why?" "Because I have some land near here." "It has also a canopy." "It might suit you." "It's really at walking distance." "When you wish to, we can go and see." "Thank you!" "I'm coming right away." "See, Don Bosco:" "your boys will be protected from the sun and the rain." "My property extends till there, then to that line of three, then to that wall." "It's large, isn't it?" "Yes, the land is fine." "But this canopy must be completely rebuilt." "I understand we don't lack good will but..." "If it is an opportunity for the boys, masons and carpenters will excel in this work." "Now there was a house, there were the boys;" "a mother's care would soon be necessary." "Don Bosco brought his mother, Margherita, who for the first time left the country where she had been born..." "Here we are!" "What do you say, mom?" "It's large, isn't it?" "It's large but everything is missing." "Everything is missing?" "Comforts are missing but... the essential is here." "Besides, look:" "She's here!" "Look how beautiful she is!" "With her and your help, you'll see how all will change here!" "Stand up and let me do it!" "Here's how one does it!" "See?" "And from the modest workshop richer in faith more than in means, the resounding poem of the professional and agricultural Salesian schools took origin and echoed throughout the world." "Agricultural Salesian School." "Typographical Salesian School, Turin." "...but let us return to the time when the means of the first printing office were enough to spread this educator's thoughts, which was lovingly turned to the young and clearly expressed in that PREVENTIVE SYSTEM that interested also governments..." "The Preventive System" "I read your book, Don Bosco, and I much appreciate your theories, but I doubt about their application." "Your excellency, I'm here especially to give you a demonstration." "The proposal made, to lead for a walk the 300 rogues of the juvenile detention center, made "veins and pulses shake" to our good director of the detention center." "Did you think about the responsibility we are assuming?" "What if someone runs away, for example?" "Don't worry, excellency:" "nobody will run away." "Rather I explicitly pray you not to send any guard, neither in plain clothes nor in uniform." "I will take all responsibilities." "Trust me. excellency!" "All right, I wish to please you." "Thank you." "So, boys, today I and the guards will rest." "Don Bosco obtained from his excellency the minister for you a whole day of freedom." "Silence!" "Let it be clear:" "a day of freedom which terminate exactly at 5." "5." "Do you understand?" "I will recommend you only one thing:" "think of the great responsibility he's assumed." "Alright?" "Now, dear Don Bosco, may Heaven help you!" "Attention!" "No, no, thank you." "Let me do it." "Come along with me, relax, and be merry!" "This is out of this world!" "As you've seen, five are still missing." "You were too optimistic, father!" "You see in this fact a mere delay, instead I see a real escape." "Allow me to remind you that I know those youngsters." "I cannot admit that they really wanted to run away." "As for me, I find further waiting to be useless." "I know my chickens much better that you do, father!" "Be sure they won't come back." "Instead I'm sure they will come back." "Much better." "Wait for them here then." " Good night and good luck!" " Good night." "I pray that you live many, many years, but, when you die, what will happen to your works?" "Actually I thought about forming a group of people marked with my spirit, who would live from now on at the Oratory." "But since the government has suppressed many religious congregations and thinks of suppressing more, how can one think of forming others?" "Let me handle it." "I know the suppression law well." "It does not hinder you at all." "It's enough that you establish a corporation in which each member maintains his civil rights, be subject to state laws, pay taxes, and so on." "In the Oratory of St. Francis of Sales and in the room of Fr." "Giovanni Bosco, as he summoned them and is present, the following gathered:" "Vittorio Alasonatti, priest;" "Angelo Savio, deacon;" "Michele Rua, subdeacon;" "Giovanni Cagliero," "Giovan Battista Francese," "Francesco Rovera," "Carlo Divarello," "Giuseppe Lazzero," "Gionanni Bonetti," "Francesco Cerruti," "Celestino Durando, clerics;" "with the purpose of kindling and preserving the spirit of true charity that is requested in the operation of the oratories for the abandoned and precarious youth, therefore they decided to establish a corporation." "On the 18th of December of the year of Our Lord 1859" "1859: 22 Salesians, 1 house 1935: 20,000 Salesians, 2,000 houses, millions of students and alumni" "18 years after the constitution of the Salesian Congregation, in 1872 Don Bosco completed his educational program by forming the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, to whom he committed the task of helping young women." "Come in!" "Oh, it's you Ruan!" "Why, Don Bosco!" "Another trip?" "Yes, but this time I won't be taking it." "Do you remember that dream I had so long ago, about those savages in strange, mysterious lands, who in the presence of our priests would throw away their weapons, kneel, and pray with them at the foot of a large cross?" "Yes, I remember very well." "Good!" "I've spent months asking Providence to enlighten me on the meaning of those visions." "Today my prayers have been answered." "Look, read:" "The consul from Argentina invites me to send some of our priests to Patagonia." "To Patagonia?" "Down there Christ's word has not arrived yet, but we'll take care of sending it." "We need brave young men, zealous, and full of faith." "I said we needed brave young men, zealous, and full of faith." "It is for this that I chose you, that chose you, Calliero." "you, Fagnano, Cassinis, Tomatis, and Allavenna." "And you, coadjutors and vocational teachers." "You, although few, will be like the biblical seed, which, when it is grown up, will become a great tree." "Go!" "Once again I recommend to you with particular solicitude the painful situation of many Italian families, which live scattered on those lands." "To them, which ill fate or poverty placed in a foreign land, be like brothers." "On the footsteps of those first 11 pioneers, ever more numerous groups of missionaries and sisters, heedless of any danger, brought civilization and faith to the farthest and unexplored lands." "Miracles were added to the prodigies of the organization." "Don Bosco's name crossed the Alps and the oceans." "The greatest foreign cities contended for the honor of hosting the Italian priest in his old age, honoring him as a saint." "Turin greet tired Father's return with uncontrollable affection." "See, even walking I share half with you." "But, dear Rua, you'll be soon alone doing all." "I'm so tired!" "Why don't you take some rest?" "Rest?" "Yes, my true vacation is about to start." "Don Bosco, the things you say now!" "Yes, what is left to Don Bosco is to come to a good conclusion." "Do sit down, Rua, and don't be afraid." "There will be many labors and sacrifices, but think that here we are in the little house of Nardi, where 40 years ago my good mother, coming in for the first time, looking around worried, said:" ""Everything is missing here!"" "She was right, you know." "But she was already there waiting for us." "To her I turned morning and evening." "And everything that has been done is her work." "Also what is left to be done, which you and those after you will do, will be her work." "Oratories, laboratories, schools, and missions will multiply." "You will be thousands." "New cities and new lands will see your good work." "You look at me as did 40 years ago somebody who thought I was crazy, but you know if I was right." "Believe me:" "the key of the secret is always this:" "praying and working, praying and working." "So the day of the "good conclusion" came, which had been foreseen with such serenity. ‌" "All over the world, his children knelt in fervid prayer and in the humble room of Valdocco, in Turin..." "On January 31, 1888, at the first hours of the morning.... 46 years after, on April 1, 1934, H.H. Pious XI canonized him." "The End."