One of the more recognizable saints in the Bible, Christianity’s
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. Mary’s
beloved apostle in the 1800s was St. John Bosco, or Don Bosco as
he is familiarly called. Throughout his life, John was the
Blessed Mother’s instrument, he brought thousands upon thousands
to his Mother’s 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. John’s life was not ideal, his
father 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 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 mother’s 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 God’s 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, and the students of Don Bosco Prep are an
example, we’ve been civilized by the Salesian influence, for the
most part
His ministry to those outside of his oratory was also
profound. He helped people on their way to God, who in their
passing would find peace, serenity and everlasting life with the
Father, he took Penance from all; sometimes recieving divine
intervention in having it given, he built cities with the help of
God, cities in men’s sould which housed them evil, protected them
from sin. Mary was constantly on his side, she helped him build
the Basillica in Turin, she helped him select his boys for the
oratory, she helped him live through some of his most trying
tmes, and in the end it was her who brought him to God, and he
who will bring Us closer with her help.
His message was continued by many, most notably his first
successor, Blessed Michael Rua, who started in the fledling
oratory as one of Bosco’s own “cabbages.” It is also being
continued by hundreds upon thousands of Salesian brothers,
missionaries, sisters, lay people, and Salesian cooperators.
These people, hand-picked by the Blessed Mother themselves, are
now Bosco and the Blessed Mother’s instrument to show more boys
and girls the love and power of God. In addition to being Bosco’s
boys, and due to his friendship with the Pope, we are also Sons
of the Church who will strive to build it and continue fostering
the values we were taught in Bosco’s loving attitude.
Bibliography
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Religion Essays
