Don Bosco is a
visionary man. He is able to read the
needs of the signs of his time. He is able to foresee the need of the future of
the world. This has made him to start many activities which no person of his
time would think off. Don Bosco sees the situation of the world in which he
live and the plight of the youngsters made him to develop his predilection
toward them. We see the whole life of Don Bosco right from his childhood is
gear toward helping his friends. He taught catechism, entertained them with
tricks and other form of entertainments. This carries on till the time he
became priest and started his own work at Valdocco. This does not stop only in
his own place but he is able to spread his good works and influent the world.
There are so many things to learn from this great man for our apostolate.
The
Basic Aim is to Form Good Christians and Honest Citizens:
One of the
things that we need to learn from Don Bosco is his passion for youth and their
salvation. As the constitutions say that he takes no tasks that are not
directly involve in the salvation of youth. His aim of expanding his mission
outside Turin and other part of the world is to reach out to many people
especially the young. Don Bosco sees that the best way to get in touch with the
youngster is through education. His method of
education took the form principally of the
(boarding) school with a liberal arts curriculum chiefly at lower secondary
level. To start his mission Don Bosco start with the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales. Oratory work and other forms of Salesian engagement
usually went hand in hand with the work of the school; but Don Bosco's decision
had been to enter the field of education through the school expressly. Within
a few short years this "new" apostolate became quantitatively the
chief work of the Society. It is also remarkable that some of these schools,
and ideally all of Don Bosco's schools, functioned as junior seminaries. Therefore,
analyzing the work of Don Bosco we see that his basic aim is to form a good
Christians and honest citizens.
Option
for the Poor and Abandoned Youth:
For the very beginning we see that
Don Bosco has in mind his option for the poor and abandoned youth. The mission
that Don Bosco started is to take care of the poor and immigrant youth of his
time. The oratory is a place where the young people working around Turin could
come to enjoy and attend Mass and other catechetical teachings. Don Bosco sees
the sharp decline in public and private charity due to political and
socio-economic factors. The situation in Turin had changed considerably from
that in the 1840s and '50s. In the 1860s the flow of immigrant and seasonal
workers did not present the problem of earlier years. Industry and the new
economic system were being systematically organized, guaranteeing greater
permanency and steadier employment. In
spite of this Don Bosco saw that young people in Turin had changed in that they
had acquired greater sophistication and showed a diminished interest in feast
day activities of the type provided by the oratories. So Don Bosco sees that
the other possibility is to open private schools in Turin itself. This became
the solution where Don Bosco aims to impact the largest possible numbers of
young people.
Search
for Help and Sponsorship to Our Works:
Don Bosco
always insists of getting help from the people of the place itself with regard
to the starting of the work and the continuation of the same. We see this
aspect with regard to the boarding school had been in operation at Lanzo. Don
Bosco makes sure that he is able to get the support of the people of the place.
So much so that the boarding School at Lanzo began under city sponsorship and
run under various administrations for about 50 years. Two buildings were
available, but they were in a state of utter disrepair. The other example for
this is the house of Trofarello (1865-1870). The house was the gift of a
benefactress. In 1866 it became the retreat house for Salesians. But later the
property was sold away as it cannot contain the growing number of the
participants. The summer re- treats were relocated at Lanzo.
Boarding or Schools as Formative Experience and a Hub for Promoting Vocations:
Don Bosco learned from his experience. He sees the boarding schools as one of the best place to form the boys toward priesthood. The boarding school at Valdocco provided a most important formative experience for Don Bosco. Don Bosco had young men whom he could hope to enlist as helpers or to send on to the priesthood. Don Bosco was so convince of this because of the educational relationship. The boarding school presented Don Bosco with a stable and controllable student community which guaranteed the possibility of sustained contact and influence, as well as of experimentation and revision on the part of the educator. This is call the ‘Don Bosco's educational method’. No doubt this initial successful and enriching experience at Valdocco was one of the reasons why Don Bosco moved so decisively into the field of the boarding school. All the Salesian schools then became proving grounds of Don Bosco's method. This is the aim of Don Bosco in starting the schools. It is sad that in today’s contexts our Salesian schools fail to carry out this need of promoting vocations very few vacations we get from our own schools.
Put
the Best Staff in the Work
The aim of Don Bosco is to provide a
full fledge education. He tried his level best to prepare people for the task.
He sends many people to qualify themselves in various fields. We see in many
places where he started a boarding schools Don Bosco would put together the best possible staff to run
the school. In the community of Lanzo
for example Don Bosco put Father
Domenico Ruffino (1840-1865: 24 years. of age), as Director; and seminarians
Francesco Provera (1836-1874), Pietro Guidazio (1841-1902), Francesco Bodrato
(1823-1880), Giuseppe Fagnano (1844-1916), Nicola Antonio Cibrario (1839-1917),
Giacomo Costamagna (1846-1921), Antonio Sala (1836-1895) and others as
"teachers and assistants"-12 Salesians in all. This is not the only
place where Don Bosco put the best staff but in every place he started he did
the same. We see this in the case of the community of Alassio
(Province of Savona, Liguria) (1870) and Varazze (Province of Savona, Liguria)
(1871). Thus Don Bosco wants to give the best to the boys and to the works the
started.
Criteria
for Selecting the Place to Start the Mission or Schools:
Don Bosco has his own criteria in
selecting places and mission to carry out his work. One of the criteria which
Don Bosco had in mind in selecting the place is to go to the poor place where
there is good communication and transport. Don Bosco realized that when there
is no good transport and good communication there will be the problem for the
student or youngsters to come into our schools and we will be in isolation. A
place where there will be good audience and that there is a greater chance of
influencing people in great number. The
place must not be isolated and small town where there is limited influence on
the people. Don Bosco aims is to reach out to the greater number as possible.
He would choose the place where there is already someone he knew and with the
help of that person he would choose the best possible place. Don Bosco learned
from his experienced would always make an agreement with the people of the
place in order to get the permanency of the work and the support of the people.
He would not take any tasks if he is not
able to get the support of the local people even if it is the wish of the
Bishops of the place. He would make sure that he get the support of all those
who want him to start a school or an orphanage, etc.
Conclusion:
