caviglia


caviglia

1 Page 1

▲back to top
DON ALBERTO CAVIGLIA
Source:
SEMERARO Cosimo, Don Alberto Caviglia, Torino, Società Editrice Internazionale,1994.
Author:
Fr. Cosimo Semeraro is a professor of “Metodologia Critica” and “Modern and Contemporary History” at
the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome. He undertook his studies at the Faculty of Church History at
the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the National Archives in Paris.
Purpose:
Don Semeraro did not write a biography nor a hagiography. His stated purpose was to study the private
library and archive of Don Caviglia in order to facilitate a better understanding and analysis of his context
and of his thought (p. xiii).
Content:
1. Contribution Toward a Reconstruction of a Biography (pp. 3-74)
1.1. The beginnings
1.1.1. Alberto Luigi Giuseppe Caviglia was born on January 10, 1868. His parents were Pietro Luigi and
Antonia Adelaide Bianco. His sister who was three years older was Ludovica and was also called Vica.
1.1.2. Alberto is reserved regarding his family.
1.1.3. Alberto is silent about his mother but was certainly close to his father. On the title page of the first
volume of Jesus Christ written by Henri Didon we find written: “Dono di mio papa’. Sac. Caviglia” (Gift of
my father. Fr. Caviglia). This was something rare for Caviglia to do and therefore, underscores the love
between father and son.
1.1.4. Without the mother (dead?) the family moved to Brazil in 1899 where the father died without
seeing his Alberto. Alberto remained at the Oratory.
1.2. Valdocco: an important encounter with Don Bosco
1.2.1. If Caviglia was reserved about his natural family, it was the opposite about the Oratory. He often
spoke vividly about it. He recalls Don Bosco saying: “Caviglia, Caviglia, fara’ maraviglia!” (Caviglia,
Caviglia, he shall be a wonder!) He particularly relished recalling the climate in which they lived at the
time of Don Bosco. “We felt that he loved us and we loved him in return.” Caviglia became a witness and
depository of this experience for future generations.
1.2.3. Having finished the scholastic program at Valdocco, Caviglia decided to “stay with Don Bosco”.
1.3. Formative journey in the Salesian family
1.3.1. He had his novitiate under Don Barberis in San Benigno Canavese.
1.3.2. For philosophical studies, he transferred to Valsalice, called at that time “seminary for external
missions”. At the end of his second year, he also passed the examination for his “licenza” (equivalent to
the “high school diploma” today).
1.3.3. He did not go for practical training since it was not yet part of the formation program at that time.
Instead, he went straight to theology in Lanzo (Oct. 1887).
1.4. Human and cultural formation in view of the priesthood
1.4.1. He was a voracious reader and had a great love for the classics.
1.4.2. He loved to study because he was convinced that by increasing one’s knowledge, one can do more
good.
1.4.3. This love for study, for knowledge and for culture has its limits which are determined by the fact
that a Salesian is first an educator before being a scholar.
1.4.4. He was and remained a man of culture. He preferred the chair and the writing desk.
1.5. Young teacher and “old” university student
1.5.1. In those years the school of “historical method” took root and influenced Caviglia in no small
measure in his choice of research method.
1.5.2. While he loved classical culture, his inclination was historical research.
Caviglia, Page 1 of 3

2 Page 2

▲back to top
1.5.3. In 1926 he was relieved of teaching in order to devote himself fulltime to the study of the published
and unpublished writings of Don Bosco.
1.6. Historian of Don Bosco and of the Congregation
1.6.1. He was not content to enumerate events and to make a chronicle of facts to be narrated. What he
did was to analyze the documents, that is, the testimonies and sources in question.
1.6.2. Don Giuseppe Borino identified the limitations under which Caviglia was working. Caviglia was too
near the facts he was studying and he also did not have at his disposal all the necessary documents. For
these reasons, Don Caviglia cannot write a true history.
1.7. His cultural world
1.7.1. He was not a man of one book. He was a versatile genius. He was interested in every branch of
knowledge and sought to extend his knowledge of them.
1.7.2. He had an interest in art. For example, he taught Christian archaeology and sacred art to the
Salesian theology students of the International Institute of Turin (Crocetta) and of the Metropolitan
Seminary.
1.8. The Giver of conferences on the Salesian Spirit Il “conferenziere” dello Spirito Salesiano
Don Bosco’s beatification and canonization was a favorable time to highlight the figure of Don Bosco, his
sanctity and his method. The Congregation found in Don Caviglia the right man to do this. And so came
into being the conferences on the Salesian Spirit, given during the retreats of the confreres.
1.9. Cheerful disposition and a tireless worker
1.9.1. He was a sought‐after preacher and speaker because of his cheerful character. His jokes and his
quips came easily.
1.9.2. He was and remained an exceptionally tireless worker following the example of Don Bosco. His
work table is a witness to this. When he had to take to bed because of sickness, his complaint was that he
could not work.
1.10. Death of Don Caviglia
1.10.1. Don Caviglia was struck down by celebral paralysis on October 25, 1943 and died a few days
afterwards.
1.10.2. Don Ricaldone, then Rector Major, ordered the room of Don Caviglia to be sealed in order to
prevent the loss of his materials. He had Don Ziggiotti to study what to do with those materials.
Unfortunately it was decided to disperse the materials. The manuscripts were sent to the archive of the
Generalate and the library to the faculty of theology of the Ateneo Salesiano. The books, more than a
thousand, were also sent to these two places and in addition to the studentate of Philosophy of Foglizzo
and the scuola media of San Giovanni.
2. Patrimony: Documents and Library (pp. 75-86)
2.1. Introduction
The thought of an author has the same value as the sources which he has used. Knowing the sources
constitute the first step and privileged instrument in order to be able to enter the fascinating world of
reconstructing what he has written.
2.2. Important sources
2.2.1. Don Caviglia states: “Among so many authors, the one which I have found to be nearest and parallel
to Don Bosco is his contemporary P. Faber, who, like St. Francis de Sales and Don Bosco, is well informed
of the spirit of St. Philip Neri.”
2.2.2. Other references of Caviglia were: St. Francis de Sales, Adolph Alfred Tanquerey, St. Alfonsus M. de
Liguori, Calumba Marmion, and Jules Segond. He often used as comparison the life of St. Therese de
Lisieux and St. Aloysius Gonzaga.
2.3. The type of Salesian culture in the view of A. Caviglia
2.3.1. The educative mission, the needs of the community and structure and specific circumstances may
mean the sacrifice of personal cultural interests in which the Salesian might excel.
2.3.2. To know what is necessary in order to do good to the young and to the people is the measure of the
Salesian culture.
2.3.3. Mediocrity, sobriety, and almost cultural poverty which is proposed to the Salesian as one of his
traits is nothing else but ignorance or sloppiness, or superficiality and coarseness.
Caviglia, Page 2 of 3

3 Page 3

▲back to top
2.4. Brief conclusion
2.4.1. Don Caviglia should be seen as a scholar of spirituality, of pedagogy and of the writings of Don
Bosco.
2.4.2. He is a man of no mean intellectual capacity, of many diverse cultural interests and animated by an
uncommon drive to know.
3. The Books of Albert Caviglia. The Reconstruction of his Personal Library. (pp. 87-
96)
3.1. Identifying Caviglia’s book was made simple by the fact that he wrote in pencil on the margins of the
book his annotations, corrections, additions and comments. He rarely wrote with a pen and more so his
name on his books. An example of a rare instance when he did write with a pen was on the book “Gesù
Cristo”. On the title page he wrote: “Gift of my papa. Sac. Caviglia”. Usually he marked his books with
“DAlC” (D[on]Al[berto]C[aviglia]) in pencil.
3.2. When a hapless author attributed a well‐known text of Saint‐Cyrian to a certain “S. Civan”, Caviglia
wrote this annotation: “Ma l’asino che ha fatto questo ‘Compendio’ non seppe il nome e lo credette… chi?”
(But the donkey who made this ‘Compendium’ does not know the name and he believed it....who?)
3.3. The books of Don Caviglia were distributed according to the criterion of immediate use and
usefulness. For example, everything that was strictly of Salesian interest was sent to the Central Archive
of the Mother House in Valdocco. Some books did not find their way to their proper destination. “S. Teresa
di Lisieux ossia una rinascita spirituale” was an example. But fortunately this was finally found in the
seminar library of the Institute of Spirituality of the Salesian University.
3.4. After compiling the catalog of the books of Caviglia, one becomes well aware of the context in which
he lived and studied. One is also surprised at the number and quality of the books that were housed in his
room, which was remembered as “bare, simple and poor”.
3.5. Don Caviglia was not a rarity with regards to knowledge and love of books. There were other
Salesians of similar calibre: Don Paolo Ubaldi, Don Giovanni Borino and Don Antonio Tonelli.
3.6. One day Don Caviglia confided to a younger confrere, Don Palieri: “At my death someone might find
himself in front of a sizeable mass of books that I have left behind. But no one will ever know how many
books Don Caviglia has read and how he was able to read them…by reading the whole night.”
4. Appendices (pp. 99-318)
The appendix contains 65 appendices. The longest is appendix no. 65 entitled: “Catalogo sistematico e
annotato dei libri posseduti da A. Caviglia.
Evaluation:
1. The author stated that he does not intend to write a biography. And in fact, the book is not a biography
of Don Caviglia. Nevertheless, he did write about his life. Chapter 1 is the longest chapter of his book. It
begins with his birth and ends with his death.
2. By examining the books, manuscripts and documents Don Caviglia left behind, the author was able to:
2.1. Paint a portrait of Don Caviglia, the man, the Salesian, the scholar, the teacher, the speaker.
2.2. Provide us with a background of certain important events in the history of our congregation. For
example, his correspondence with Don Ceria gave us an idea of what went into the writing of “Don Bosco
con Dio”.
2.3. Point out the factors (books, for example) which influenced his thought. The author pointed out a
writer, P. Faber, and a book, “S. Teresa di Lisieux ossia una rinascita spirituale”. The latter was dear to Fr.
Caviglia and was a valuable documentary evidence for it contained a lot of annotations from his own
hand.
3. The appendix of this book would be most valuable to researchers and it is perhaps here that that author
has rendered the greatest service. For the author has already gone through the trouble of making an
inventory and catalog of Don Caviglia’s books, manuscripts, and other documents.
Caviglia, Page 3 of 3