John Michael Bosco Essays - Salesians Of Don Bosco, Salesian Order

John Michael Bosco One of the more recognizable saints in the Bible, Christianitys holiest teachings, is John the Beloved Apostle of Christ. He was the chosen one of the twelve who would recieve Mary as his Mother, and the only apostle to die a non-tragc death. Marys beloved apostle in the 1800s was St. John Bosco, or Don Bosco as he is familiarly called. Throughout his life, John was the Blessed Mothers instrument, he brought thousands upon thousands to his Mothers service, repaying them with the loving knowledge of Christ and his Church. After dying his aura lives on in the hundreds of Salesian Institutions throughout the world. Born John Michael Bosco on August 16, 18151, he came into a poor family. From birth he was endeared to the Virgin Mary by his mother, whom we call Mama Margaret. Mama Margaret, Ochienna was originally her name before marriage to Francesco Bosco, was a pious woman who also knew how to lay down the law and keep he sons, three of them, in line. Johns life was not ideal, his father died at the early age of 34, on the seventeenth of May, 18172. He didnt have a father after that day. From then on it was a tough road, he had to work in the farms and also try to foster a good education. But God always came first in the Bosco home , in the early morning, the whole family was on its knees praying In the fields, he sought to make the bad children good, when his mother asked why, he said Because when i am with them they behave better. Really, to teach them the Chatechism was his only intention, and he would do it by performing for them. In the fields he also had another problem, his older brother Antonio, who derided him for wanting to learn, wanting to succeed. He went to learn at his mothers old school, becoming half-farmer and half-school.boy. When he once admitted to his friends that he wished to become a priest, he was formally ridiculed once more. Not giving up he trudged onward. During his years of study, he had a dream, one which led him to the Blessed Mother. It was also in this dream that he had recieved the calling to minister to children, to bring them where he was, with God and the Virgin Mary. During all of his performences, John made it the rule for the audience to pray the Rosary every time, at the beginiing and the end or his show. On a Jublilee pilgrimage, 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 eve of the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, in the private chapel of the 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, he reached yet harder still. During his ministry, he always sought to remove the leprosy of the soul from troubled boys, for as real leprosy can be cured in time, spiritual leprosy only festers and grows with the passage of time. Bartolomeo Garrelli was his first curing, teaching the boy to read, write, sing , and pray, he thus started his Oratory, or his place for prayer. Later Bart brought a dozen of his friends to come and see the wonders that Bosco might have done for them, which they accepted. He brought their souls out of the preverbial blight, and into the splendor of Gods saving warmth. His oratory constantly moved, is was like transplanting cabbages as he called it, the more you plant and replant them , the bigger and sturdier the grow. So it was with that sermon of his, that they sought their final, transplant site. It was a farmhouse with dirt floors, which also came with a small shack. The shack was to be used for their chapel Now four hundred strong, they were called an army of derelicts by the townsfolk. But John persevered, bulding his oratory, teaching trades and religion. He spread the christian truths and catholic teachings throughout Italy and later his sons and daughters will spread it throughout the world. And his oratory did grow, seen in the Salesian schools in North America and South America, because of a dream, his dream that the Salesians would civilize the natives,