1989_AaVv_The_Salesian_Brother


1989_AaVv_The_Salesian_Brother



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THE SALESIAN
BROTHER
History, Identity
Vocational Apostolate
and Formation
Rome 1989

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Translator's note
Although the term "Sales!ano Coadiutore" (“Salesian Coad­
jutor") remains in use in Italian, the term now commonly used in
English is "Salesian Brother“. In the first part of this trans­
lation the term “Coadjutor“ has been retained where it seemed nec­
essary for the understanding of the steps in the historical devel­
opment of the concept. Otherwise the term “Brother“ is used, as
in the title of the book itself.
Editrice S.D.B.
Edizione extra commerciale
Direzione Generale Opere Don Bosco
Via della Pisana, 1111
Casella Postale 9092
00163 Roma Aurelio
Don Bosco Press, Ina, Pasay Road cor. Pasong Tamo, P.O. Box 396 MCPO
1299 Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines, Tel. Nos. 816-1170 / 815-9147 Fax: 63 (2) 815-9147

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CONTENTS
Presentation
0. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 15
1. THE SALESIAN BROTHER. A LOOK AT HIS HISTORY................... 18
1.1 A BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTE....................................................................... 18
11.1 In the monastic life.............................................................................. 18
11.2 Among the Mendicant Orders........................................................... 19
11.3 In the modem religious Orders and Congregations................... 20
1.2 THE LAY RELIGIOUS IN THE SALESIANCONGREGATION........... 21
12.1 The origins. The time of Don Bosco.............................................. 21
A. How the necessity arose: the birth and need for workshops
and of schools of arts and trades in the Oratory................. 23
a. The birth of the workshops..................................................... 23
b. The work experience of John Bosco....................................... 25
c. Workshops and collaborators................................................. 27
B. Coadjutor: from lay collaborator to lay religious........................ 28
C. The first "Salesian Coadjutors" ("Salesian Brothers")............... 31
a. Some facts........................................................................ 32
b. Place of origin and occupations............................................ 35
D. The thought of Don Bosco in the last ten years of his life:
a source and term of comparison........................................... 36
a. Don Bosco's thought............................................................... 38
b. Salesian events 1880-1886..................................................... 51
c. The document of 1886 (GC4)................................................ 53
12.2 Development in the wake of the origins: from Don Rua
to Vatican II............................................................................... 54
A. Period of office of Don Michael Rua (1888-1910)....................... 54
a. From workshops to trade schools............................................ 54
b. Some statistics.......................................................................... 55
c. Documents................................................................................ 56
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B. In the expanding Congregation: from the period of office of
Fr Paul Albera (1910-1921) to that of Fr Renato Ziggiotti
(1952-1965) and to Vatican Council II.................................. 59
a. After the first world war........................................................ 59
b. Period of office of Fr Philip Rinaldi (1922-1931)............... 61
c. Period of office of Fr Peter Ricaldone (1932-1951)............. 65
d. Period of office of Fr Renato Ziggiotti (1952-1965)........... 69
12.3 In the commitment to renewal following Vatican II.................... 70
2. THE VOCATIONAL IDENTITY OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER:
SOME THEOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS............................................. 73
2.0 PRELIMINARY.................................................................................................. 73
2.1 IDENTITY: ITS MANY SENSES.................................................................. 74
21.1 Quantitative and qualitative salesian identity............................... 74
21.2 Personal and community sense of salesian identity................... 75
21.3 Relational identity................................................................................. 75
21.4 Real and ideal identity......................................................................... 76
21.5 Institutionalized identity..................................................................... 77
21.6 Expressed identity: necessity and limitations................................ 77
21.7 The historical development of the salesian identity................... 78
21.8 The sense of collective identity......................................................... 79
2.2 SOME GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE IDENTITY OF
THE SALESIAN BROTHER: CRITERIA...................................................... 80
22.1 consistency and geographical distribution...................................... 81
22.2 The terms "coadjutor", "brother" and 'lay salesian".................. 82
22.3 The influence of structures.................................................................. 84
22.4 Economic and aesthetic values.......................................................... 87
22.5 Incidence of culture on the salesian identity................................. 89
A. Culture and cultures......................................................................... 89
B. The Church, the Congregationand cultures.................................... 90
C. The places of production andthe diffusion network.................... 9T
D. A cultural system.............................................................................. 91
a. A salesian history and calendar.............................................. 92
b. A salesian geography and nomenclature............................... 92
c. A salesian ritualism and ethical sensitivity.......................... 93
d. A philosophical, theological and social consideration at
the basis of the preventive system.......................................... 93
e. A salesian "policy"................................................................. 94
f. A salesian hagiography............................................................ 95
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E. Incidence of culture on the identity of the salesian
brother....................................................................................... 95
2.3 FUNDAMENTAL OUTLINES OF THE IDENTITY OF THE SALESIAN
BROTHER ........................................................................................... 96
23.1 The SDB community an original one in the Salesian
Family ....................................................................................... 96
A. A fraternal community................................................................... 97
B. An apostolic community open to secular values.......................... 99
23.2 The vocation of the salesian brother is characterized
by its lay nature.......................................................................... 102
A. "Lay" with reference to creation..................................................... 103
B. "Lay" with reference to the Church's mission.............................. 105
C. The lay state with reference to religious life................................ 108
23.3 Characteristics of the vocation of the salesian brother............... 110
A. A vocation which is grafted into the Christian vocation.............. 110
B. A vocation which practises a radical evangelical style
of life and activity............................................................................ Ill
C. A lay religious vocation.................................................................. 112
D. A vocation at the service of the salesian mission....................... 115
E. A salesian vocation which is concrete and complete.................. 116
F. An original vocation........................................................................ 117
G. A meaningful vocation..................................................................... 118
2.4 ESSENTIAL RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LAY AND
PRIEST SALESIANS.................................................................................. 119
24.1 Vocational reciprocity........................................................................... 119
24.2 Complementary brotherhood.............................................................. 120
A. Complementarity at the level of personal awareness.................. 121
B. Complementarity at apostolic level................................................. 122
24.3 Influence of reciprocity and complementarity on identity....... 123
A. Reciprocity and complementarity characterize the identity
of the individuals.............................................................................. 123
B. Reciprocity and complementarity characterize the
Congregation and its communities....................................... 124
24.4 Participation in the life and government of the
Congregation............................................................................ 125
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A. The responsibility of the salesian brother in the structures
of animation and government................................................ 126
B. The service of the salesian superior as a priest............................ 127
2.5 APOSTOLIC ACnVITY OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER...................... 127
25.1 The foundations of the apóstolate of the lay salesian................. 128
A. The common Christian vocation to the apostolate........................ 128
B. The salesian manner of sharing in the Church's mission.......... 128
25.2 The whole life of the salesian brother is apostolic....................... 129
25.3 The "world of work", a special field of action for lay
salesians......................................................................
130
25.4 A specific contribution to the Congregation's opening to
secularity..................................................................................... 132
2.6 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE
LAY SALESIAN....................................................................
133
26.1 Spiritual life is equivalent to living the salesian spirit............... 133
26.2 The salesian brother lives, as a lay salesian, the attitudes
and behaviour proper to the salesian spirit...................... 135
A. He lives his salesian vocation with joy and gratitude................ 135
B. He lives in communion of spirit and action with priest
salesians............................................................................................ 135
C. He lives in the "world of work" some values of the
salesian spirit............................................................................ 136
D. He lives in close proximity to the young and the lay faithful
with optimism, diligence and restraint.................................. 136
E. Living and working in the salesian spirit, he celebrates the
liturgy of life............................................................................. 137
F. He lives in characteristic fashion his devotion to Mary............. 138
26.3 The spirit of the Founder, the seat of unity.................................. 138
26.4 Heroic witness to lay salesian sanctity............................................ 139
3. THE VOCATION OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER IN SALESIAN
PASTORAL WORK FOR VOCATIONS............................................... 140
3.1 PASTORAL WORK FOR VOCATIONS....................................................... 140
31.1 The pastoral element in vocational work....................................... 140
31.2 Fundamental signposts for the vocational apostolate................. 142
31.3 The tasks in the vocational apostolate............................................. 145
31.4 The process of vocational promotion.............................................. 147
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3.2 THE VOCATIONAL APOSTOLATE OF THE SALESIAN
BROTHER
............................................................................................ 148
32.1 Talk about Don Bosco......................................................................... 148
32.2 Describe the present-day experience............................................... 151
32.3 Provide some living models............................................................... 153
32.4 Explain the lay character more deeply........................................... 155
3.3 ACCEPTANCE AND FOLLOW-UP OF THE VOCATION OF THE
SALESIAN BROTHER.............................................................................. 157
33.1 Objectives of the follow-up process................................................ 157
33.2 Individual assistance............................................................................. 158
33.3 The youth group.................................................................................... 160
33.4 Welcoming and encouraging communities.................................... 162
A. The Aspirantate................................................................................. 163
B. Vocational communities................................................................... 166
C. Insertion in a salesian community................................................. 167
3.4 CONCLUSION: ANIMATION AND PRAYER....................................... 168
4. FORMATION OUTLINES................................................................................ 171
4. 0 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................... 171
40.1 An special commitment to formation.............................................. 171
40.2 The deeper reasons............................................................................... 172
4.1 THE OVERALL CONTENT OF THE FORMATION PROCESS.......... 173
41.1 The specific content............................................................................... 173
41.2 The arrangement of the contents...................................................... 175
41.3 A unified and complex process......................................................... 175
4.2 IDENTIFYING THE VALUES......................................................................... 176
42.1
42.2
42.3
42.4
In "a special Covenant"....................................................................... 177
The apostolic mission........................................................................... 180
A. The values and attitudes implied by a "pastoral sense"............ 180
B. Capacity for action........................................................................... 182
C. Functions, ministries and fields of activity.................................. 182
D. Educator to the faith in the working world................................. 185
Communion in the community.......................................................... 188
A radically evangelical style of life.................................................. 189
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42.5 The lay nature of the salesian brother: a way of being and
working....................................................................................... 192
42.6 Constant growth in "humanity"....................................................... 194
A. Good psychic health: integration.................................................... 195
B. The social virtues............................................................................. 196
C. Intellectual maturity: intelligence, ability for reflection
and judgement.......................................................................... 198
4.3 A METHOD: MOTIVATE ATTITUDES AND TRY THEM OUT....... 198
43.1 A preliminary and decisive aspect: the primary motivations... 199
43.2 "Trying them out"................................................................................. 202
A. A methodological principle............................................................. 202
B. I7ie objective..................................................................................... 203
C. Some conditions................................................................................ 203
a) In "activities"........................................................................... 203
b) Activities "motivated" by true and authentic motives.... 204
c) Experience, awareness, communication................................. 205
d) The community, the place of communion............................. 207
e) A community rich in "models".............................................. 208
4.4 SOME PHASES OF THE INITIAL FORMATION.................................... 209
44.1 The post-novitiate.................................................................................. 209
A. The objectives.................................................................................... 210
a) Integration of faith, life and culture..................................... 211
b) Maturing of the salesian vocation......................................... 211
c) More direct and specific intellectual formation................... 212
B. Study guidelines.............................................................................. 212
a) Knowledge needs to be unified.............................................. 212
b) The human sciences................................................................ 213
c) Philosophical disciplines.......................................................... 213
d) Harmony with the prevailing historical context................. 214
44.2 The period following practical training.......................................... 214
A. Principles and criteria..................................................................... 215
B. The objectives................................................................................... 215
C. Aspects of the formation curriculum............................................ 216
5.
CONCLUSION......................................................................... 219
Analytical Index ................................................................................................... 221
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PRESENTATION
Dear Confreres,
I present to you this booklet: "THE SALESIAN BROTHER", 1
which has been compiled to meet the directive of the GC22, which
called for a deeper study of the "vocational identity of the lay
salesian, and its essential significance for the life and mission of
the Congregation in the light of present-day thinking in the
Church". (GC22, 9).
It does this, as was requested, by considering the various
dimensions of this identity: the historical, theological and spiritual
dimension; and the pastoral, vocational and formative dimension;
these are distinct from one another, but united in the individual
experience of the Salesian and of the Congregation.
It is done as an act of obedience to the will of the capitular
assembly, reflecting the esteem and high value shown by the
Chapter for this form of vocation and for the Salesians who have
been called to live it.
To the wealth of reflections you will find in the book itself, I
would like to add some thoughts of my own. They will help you,
I think, to better understand the nature and purpose of this text,
and the serious practical commitments to which it gives rise.
1 . A deeper analysis, in an up-to-date manner, of the identity
and consequent practical obligations in the field of vocational
pastoral work and of formation, implies:
— taking stock, in the first place, of the present situation in a
matter which has already been dealt with at length in the
Congregation, especially in recent times;
— recalling once again the relevance of the matter for the vital
future scope not of a particular category of Salesians but of
the whole Congregation. The book is not one "on" the
Salesian Brother, nor is it intended for the Brothers alone.
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The vocation of the lay Salesian is something that goes to
the root of the Efe and mission of our Society in its essential
significance.
2. This naturally implies a knowledge of what the
Congregation and the Church have pondered, discussed and
decided in the course of their various authoritative experiences
and communications. Not unnaturally the text, as regards content
and language, has had to conform to well established criteria.
They have been culled from an analysis of the expressions with
which the GC22, in entrusting the work to the Formation
Department, has indicated the objectives to be pursued.
3. The main purpose is that of providing an up-to-date frame
of reference for an authentic and at the same time open understanding
of the identity of the Salesian Brother, considered in himself and in
his relationship to others. It would appear that the objective aimed
at by the GC22 is not that of dealing with the theme of the Salesian
Brother for the purpose of providing edifying material suitable
for spiritual animation. This aspect is not left aside, but what the
GC22 wanted primarily was a deeper analysis of the identity of
the lay Salesian, in the light of present-day thought in the Church.
The plan it asks the reader to follow combines historical and
theological aspects with those which are pastoral and formative.
This has implied a significant selection of content and problems,
of instruments and methods, not always easily made but which it
is necessary to study. Significant too is the choice of those to
whom the book is addressed. They are primarily those who have
specific tasks and responsibilities in pastoral vocation work and
in formation: provincials, provincial councillors, members of
provincial commissions, rectors, formation personnel and workers
in the pastoral field. All of these will be able to use the book as
an aid and bring a knowledge of its contents, means and methods
to the various communities so as to render their salesian awareness
more enlightened and convinced, and increase their sense of
responsibility so as to prompt them to practical and concrete
initiatives in pastoral vocational work and formation.
4. It may seem that here and there objectives are suggested
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that are too lofty and demanding, or that may appear to some extent
to have little direct reference to the real conditions of the problem.
I would say that there is a modicum of truth in both of these.
What I mean is that ideals should not be considered so much as a
judgement on a present situation as an invitation to direct our
lives to what they should become. And so the desired ideal is
rather an expression of the richness of the vocation, the sense of
a special gift which God offers us and is ready to make real and
gradually develop with our cooperation; it is not a yardstick for
the measurement of a life, our life, which we see as so limited and
far from the perfection of the ideal. And so let us not be
discouraged!
Dear confreres, I wanted to put forward these considerations
to help you to understand this text, which completes the series of
others already published that deal with figures and roles that are
important for the service of the salesian life and mission. We can
look back with satisfaction on the considerable progress the
Congregation has made as regards awareness and communication,
and we resolve to make the practical results no less efficacious.
Finally I must thank those who have contributed to the
composition and production of this final t*ext and express to you
the same desire and wish that Don Bosco expressed to the 22
Brother novices in the programme he gave them at San Benigno:
"You will grow in number; but more especially you must grow in
kindness and energy".
Let us get down to work with salesian flair and enthusiasm!
Cordial greetings in the Lord.
Rome, 24 May 1989
Fr Egidio Vigand
* Fr Barroero, Fr Midali, Fr Natali, Fr Semeraro, Fr Vecchi, coordinated by the Formation
Department.
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INTRODUCTION
The GC22 dedicated one of its few practical directives to the 2
Salesian Brothers. It was prompted to do so by a common concern
and a certain embarrassment that emerges when a keenly felt
problem exists and must be solved, though it is not easy to do so.
It was the Chapter's wish:
— that "the richness of the vocational identity of the lay
Salesian should be studied more deeply at different levels,
and its essential significance for the life and mission of the
Congregation be recognized in the light of present-day
thinking in the Church";
— that the provinces in their pastoral work for vocations and
in the work of formation be aware of the urgency of
stepping up initiatives in this field;
— that a greater insertion of lay Salesians into structures of
community animation and responsibility be promoted.1
The Rector Major, in August 1980, had already prompted a
reflection on this "vital theme" by his letter: "The lay element in
the salesian community", in which he declared that this was a
matter of concern not to the Brother alone but to each and every
member; it affected the community and its unique salesian
characteristic; it was an essential dimension of the Congregation.2
Since then there have been various meetings at provincial,
interprovincial and regional levels, at which the problem was
seriously considered, even before the mid-term Provincial
Chapters. There was a desire to complete the period of research
and clarification so as to launch efforts at practical application.
And a lot of good work was done, especially as regards pastoral
1 Cf. GC22, 9
2 Cf. ASC 298, p.3ff
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vocational work and formation. A verification was made and the
results were published.3
The Chapters had given great importance to the matter but
had indicated rather what they intebded to do in the future, rather
than what had already been done and was already the practice.
And they emphasized some common lines of formation.
There was need of:
— a spiritual formation, which would lead the confrere to be
a "man of God" and educator of the faith among the young
and people in general, in ways complementary to those of
the salesian priest;
— an apostolic formation, particularly sensitive to the world
of work and attentive to the missionary dimension;
— an intellectual formation, which with a common basis
would correspond to the specific slant of this characteristic
vocational expression.
Insistence on different aspects was determined by the local
needs of the salesian life and mission, and by the number, aptitudes
and availability of the subjects.
While these efforts are taking place, the aim of the present
publication: "THE SALESIAN BROTHER", called for by the GC22,
is to meet the need for a follow-up to those efforts and give them
added motivation.
The moment seems ripe for its publication. Reflection on the
experience of the Church and the Congregation, updated by the
very latest documents, by the information provided by the Acts of
the various meetings and encounters on the Salesian Brother as
regards the organization and progress of pastoral and formative
experiences that have been set on foot, and by direct discussions
on the theme during the Team Visits of the Superiors, has led to
the conclusion that the material now available was sufficient to
enable the present volume to be compiled and published.
The text is made up of four chapters.
The first is historical in nature: "THE SALESIAN BROTHER.
3 Cf. The formation of the salesian brother; a growing awareness and commitment;
AGC 323, p.28ff
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A LOOK AT HIS HISTORY". After a brief reference to the
beginnings and historical development of the different kinds of
lay religious in the various Orders and Congregations,
consideration is given at greater length to the origins of the Salesian
Brother and his development in the course of history and tradition.
His identity, as it has come to be defined more precisely with
the passage of time, is then considered more deeply from a
theological and spiritual standpoint, in the light obviously of all
the research carried out at the level of the Congregation and the
Church. This forms the second chapter: "THE VOCATIONAL
IDENTITY OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER".
This study and its results lead to a greater understanding of
the values of this form of vocation and relate them to the field of
pastoral work, so that in the latter they may find their proper
place in the work of proposal and follow-up. This is dealt with
in the third chapter: "THE VOCATION OF THE SALESIAN
BROTHER IN SALESIAN PASTORAL WORK FOR VOCATIONS".
Finally, in the fourth chapter, the same values are further
considered from the standpoint of the formation process.
Motivations are given and the more suitable ways are suggested
for their personal assimilation: "OUTLINES FOR A FORMATION
OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER".
We know very well that far more valuable than the pages of
a book like this are the "models" of lay Salesians who work with
holiness, joy and enthusiasm in the simplicity of their daily work.
Reading these pages may be of use to them in motivating and
nourishing their spiritual life and the appeal it has for the young.
And of still greater use will it be to those confreres to whom
obedience has given the task of working in the vocational and
formative fields.
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1. THE SALESIAN BROTHER. A LOOK AT HIS HISTORY
1.1 A BRIEF HISTORICAL NOTE.
3
The story of religious life is rich and complex. It can be studied
from many different points of view, from the charismatic to the
institutional and generational.
The succession therefore of the various forms of 'lay7 religious
life must be placed within this multiple evolution, otherwise it
cannot be understood objectively and a distorted idea will result.
We therefore insert as a premise to the real theme of this
chapter a few main ideas, and refer the reader who requires further
information to the small number of specialized works on the
subject, with the bibliographies they include. 1
11.1 In the monastic life.
4
The origins of monasticism, especially in the East, constitute
an extremely complex phenomenon, but it can be said in general
that the first monks were simply 'lay7 and the priesthood among
them was exceptional.2
In the first centuries of the Middle Ages, monasticism
developed in the West, and the evolution of Christian society
contributed to the drawing of the monks towards the clerical state,
while previously they had had a greater affinity with the laity. (...)
1 The material in this historical note is taken for the most part from the article of
M.SAUVAGE Fratello in Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione (Pellicia-Rocca) Vol.4, Rome
1977, col.762-794. Cf. also Acts of various meetings on the figure of the lay religious held
by various religious Institutes or in different geographical or linguistic areas, which have
also looked back over past centuries, e.g. T.TURRISI: La figura storica-giuridica del religioso
fratello dalle origini al Vaticano II, in II Fratello religioso nella comunit ecclesiale oggi Rome 1983
p.25-49.
2 Cf. G.M.COLOMBAS, El monacato primitivo I, Madrid 1974, p.64-68.
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The number of priest-monks in the communities increased, but it
is difficult to find precise statistics. At the end of the eighth
century priests and deacons seem to have been about 20%, in the
ninth century about 60%, and in the tenth 75%". 3
In the twelfth century, especially among the Carthusians and
Cistercians, the "lay brothers" take on their characteristic
physiognomy and develop on a large scale. "Experts differ about
the motives for the institution of the lay brothers. (...) The first
canon concerning them comes from the Second Ecumenical Council
of the Lateran (1139), where they are listed among those who
cannot contract a valid marriage. (...) The Church therefore
acknowledged for the lay brothers a religious state like that of the
monk". 4
11.2 Among the Mendicant Orders.
The Dominicans and Franciscans had at their beginnings 5
different configurations of life and mission, and there was a
corresponding difference between the figure of the lay religious
in each case.
The Order of "Friar Preachers" (Dominicans) was clerical from
its very beginnings, but St Dominic added "lay brothers" to it and
entrusted them with the material responsibility for his convents.
"In origin they are the companions of the priest members, and the
differences between the two are to be found at the level of the
kind of work they do and not at that of religious state". 5
The majority of St Francis' first companions on the other hand
were laymen, and the Franciscan legislative texts do not speak of
"fratres conversi" - the Dominican term for their lay-brothers -
but of "fratres laid.", i.e. literally "lay" brothers. Nevertheless,
among the Friars Minor too there soon developed a rapid process
of clericalization. An analogous phenomenon took place also in
the Carmelite Order.
3 M.SAUVAGE, o.c. col.766.
4 Ibid, col.766.
5 Ibid, col.768.
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"With the Council of Trent (sess. XXII, De reformatione, c.4)
all the offices of Superior in religious clerical families became
reserved to priests; the Franciscan families protested against this
decision, but subsequently were obliged to conform to it". 6
11.3 In the modem religious Orders and Congregations.
6
In the 16th century new Orders began to arise: the Theatines,
the Bamabites, the Clerks Regular of Somascha, the Jesuits, and
others too, made up mainly of 'clerics'. All of them however had
lay-religious attached to them who worked alongside the priest­
religious, but with different tasks to perform.
"In the majority of the clerical Congregations founded in the
18th and 19th centuries lay brothers are found alongside the priests,
with names that varied (coadjutors, cooperators, auxiliaries, etc.)
In general these religious took care of material concerns; in some
Orders, especially missionary ones, they were sometimes involved
in lay apostolic work (as catechists in particular), but very often
this kind of work remained no more than a desire because of
various difficulties that arose". 7
We may conclude with this remark: "The question of lay
members of religious congregations has not been the object of
much historical research. If a certain amount of attention was
given to it by the orders of ancient foundation, it has been accorded
little in general by congregations that began in the 19th century...".8
***
A brief summary in this way of a long and complex process
is bound to leave a disproportion between the various periods
6 Ibid, col.769.
7 Ibid, col.770.
8 P.STELLA, Cattolicesimo in Italia e laicato nelle Congregazioni religiose.
coadiutori salesiani (1854-19741 in Salesianum XXXVII (1975), 411.
Il caso dei
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and the forms assumed by religious life. They have been only
hinted at, and in places may have given rise to partly false ideas.
The reality of the lay religious can be better understood if inserted
into its proper context in one of the "histories of religious life"
now available in various languages, e.g. L. HOLTZ (1986) in
German, A. LOPEZ AMAT (1987) and J. ALVAREZ GOMEZ (1989)
in Spanish, J.LOZANO (1988) in English, AUGE-SASTRE-
BORRIELLO (1988) in Italian. To these we refer the reader. The
brief historical note given above is meant among other things to
encourage him to read one or other of them.
1.2 THE LAY RELIGIOUS IN THE SALESIAN
CONGREGATION
12.1 The origins. The time of Don Bosco.
The early days of the Salesian Society were lived in Turin, the 8
political centre of the well known suppressive measures enacted
against Orders and Congregations after 1848, and the economic
vertex of the first pre-industrial transformation of Italy. The
ecclesial environment had already been showing for some time
clear signs of a Catholicism in crisis and in search of a new identity.
In particular, in the setting of the traditional religious corporations,
the gravé erosion caused by the Enlightenment was aggravated
by more than a few attempts at renewal and reform which never
got off the ground at all or remained a dead letter. 9
9 The last attempt, after those of Pius VII immediately after his return to Rome from
exile, and of Leo XII, limited to Orders and Congregations in the Pontifical States, was that
of Pius IX who in 1847 set up a Congregation for the state of Regulars, and sent on 7 August
of that year to all the Bishops of the various states of Italy a circular letter asking them to
send in opportune information concerning Regulars, specifying the causes of any abuses
introduced into these religious Congregations and indicating the best and most efficacious
means for removing them". The whole documentation, preserved in the Vatican Secret
Archives, bears witness to the widespread malaise and need for a concrete re-thinking of
religious structures in the light of the new requirements of the times.
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Already in the early part of the 19th century, after the
napoleonic suppression and when the Orders and Congregations
were making a laborious revival, sensible and attentive persons
were not lacking who called for a decisive shift towards a more
balanced composition and structure. In this way they could have
been truly "useful to God and to society".
The very many Congregations that came into existence in this
period did not ignore the new demands of the times and, although
with many differences between them, fluctuated between the
"revived traditional model" and the "new model", i.e. the
traditional private lay Catholic association, where the 'laity7 were
called to carry out a role quite different from the traditional figure
of the 'oblate' or lay-brother'. The new model in fact was of a
person who testified to a fundamental gospel reality: the possibility
of holiness open to everyone without distinction of category and
with equal rights. The moral theology of the period, stimulated
as it also was by the not always sound and disinterested principles
asserted by the French Revolution, was driven to rediscover the
nuclei of ancient truths and bring them up to date. The writings
and historical experience of St Francis de Sales constituted for
ecclesiastics with the care of souls an effective point of reference
for a well founded belief in the "holiness of the laity", and for
talking about it.
Don Bosco's human and religious formation, sustained by
natural virtues and aptitudes, was marked by considerations of
this kind which found a full place in his embryonic idea of a
Congregation open (one might say 'naturally7 open) to both priests
and lay people, united in a common desire for perfection and
Christian charity.
"Hence the rise of the figure of the 'coadjutor7 cannot be
sufficiently explained by historical reasons or contingent
opportunism, nor by acquiescence to tradition or organizational
interests and reasons. The main motive was a highly supernatural
one: the desire to extend as far as possible an experience of high
and noble Christian perfection to the greatest possible number of
souls of every category77.10
10 P.BRAIDO, Religiosi nuovi per il mondo del lavoro, Rome 1961, pp.16-17.
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A. How the necessity arose: the birth and need for workshops and of
schools of arts and trades in the Oratory.
A common need, but one which was enough to prompt 9
intelligent and courageous men to set on foot some quite
extraordinary enterprises, gave Don Bosco the idea for founding
his workshops for artisans.
He was not the first in this field. In the wake of the Restoration
one can find schools of arts and trades founded by authentic
pioneers. Young John Bosco was hardly six years old when the
enterprising Canon Lodovico Pavoni of Brescia opened the Institute
of St Barnabas for poor youngsters, with an initial series of
workshops which in the space of ten years included printing and
copper-plate engraving, binding and the production of exercise­
books, carpentry, the crafts of blacksmith and silversmith, and
shoemaking.11 From among the boys formed in these workshops
Canon Pavoni found his best collaborators, who later became
priests or "coadjutor" brothers and went on teaching in the same
workshops. Pavoni died in 1849 and at the present state of the
researches there is nothing to suggest that he had any direct
influence on the future organization of the workshops at
Valdocco.12
a. The birth of the workshops.
It was in 1853 in a little place in Valdocco that Don Bosco 10
began the realization of his workshops initiative.
Concerned as he was about the material, intellectual and moral
needs of a sizable number of boys and young workers, he had
" Cf. Acts of the Congress: Ludovico Pavoni e il suo tempo, 1784-1849, Brescia, 30 March
1985.
12 Two indications can be found in a letter of Rosmini to Don Bosco of 1853, and in
a reference to a "missione bresdana" of his friend Don P.Ponte, then director of the San
Luigi Oratory at Porta Nuova, at the end of 1849. It is probable however that Don Bosco
had direct links at least with the book-publishing section of the printing establishment of
the Institute of St Barnabas, which produced among other dungs the Opera omnia of St
Franas de Sales.
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already taken steps to find them employment in various workshops
of Turin, often arranging special apprenticeship contracts for them.
In the Salesian Central Archives there are copies of the agreements
made in favour of the youths Giuseppe Bordone (1851), Giuseppe
Odasso (1852) and Felice Paoletti (1855).
But the practice of sending his boys every day to workshop
and foundries turned out to be inconvenient and full of risks.
"Very soon", writes the historian Danilo Veneruso, "John Bosco
became aware that an arrangement of this kind in no way met the
needs of youth psychology for the purpose of Christian education,
nor did it even meet the productive requirements of contemporary
society. As far as the youth circumstances were concerned, a
short-term or even medium-term intervention of this kind might
meet an immediate and urgent need, but it did nothing to solve
the problem of the boy's future. Successive experiences led him
to the conclusion that if anything was to be done for the boys,
what was needed was a synthesis between an educational
programme with a clear awareness of the objectives to be achieved
on the one hand, and on the other an active and conscious response
from the subject to be educated; a complex training period would
enable the latter, as a free and capable individual, to attain the
ability to run his own life and contribute to his personal growth
and that of society". 13
Don Bosco himself explained more than once what led him to
flank his Sunday and evening schools, begun in 1845, and the
"Society of mutual help", founded in 1850, with workshops on
the premises: "As we did not as yet have workshops within the
Institute, our pupils went to work and to school in Turin with
grave danger to their morality, for the simple reason that the
companions they met, the kind of talk they heard and the things
they saw rendered useless what was said and done at the
Oratory".14
13 Cf. D.VENEROSO, Dai laboratori agli istuti professionali in P.BRAIDO Don Bosco nella
Chiesa a servizio dell’umanit. Studi e testimonianze, LAS Rome 1988, p.133.
14 MO 205; cf. also Invito ad una lotteria d'oggetti in Torino a favore degli Oratori, January
1862.
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A start was made with shoemaking and tailoring. Don Bosco 11
hastened to write some appropriate "Regulations for the
workshops" for those teaching trades. 15 they were to "instruct
the apprentices and see to it that they did not lack work". In the
following year a book-binding workshop was added and twelve
months later had already developed to a state which enabled it to
take in work from outside. 16 At the end of 1856 the carpentry
workshop was inaugurated. Those for metalwork and printing
had to wait until the '60s because, although they figured in Don
Bosco's plans and desires from the beginning, the cost and
complexity of the machinery and equipment were too great and
they needed space which was not then available. 17 Don Lemoyne
also mentions places given over to dyers and hat-makers. 18
A complete picture of the workshops existing at the Oratory
can be deduced from a "Brief Report on the Pious Society of St
Francis de Sales" of 23 February 1874, drawn up for the Sacred
Congregation of Bishops and Regulars in view of the approval of
the Constitutions. It states: "The artisans in various workshops of
the establishment practise the trades of shoemaker, tailor,
blacksmith, carpenter, cabinet-maker, baker, book-seller, binder,
compositor, printer, hatter, musician, designer, type-founder,
stereotyper, lithographer and copperplate engraver. 19
b. The work experience of John Bosco.
The aptitude and feeling for so vast a list of trades were 12
certainly not improvised. Don Bosco's personal experience in the
days of his youth played an important part in their development.
15 Cf. BM 4,460. On the motives and manner of setting up the internal workshops at
Valdocco v. also P.STELLA Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale (1815-1870), Rome
1980, pp. 243-249, 383=386.
16 Requests in this sense can be found in some issues of the local newspaper L'Armenia
of that year; cf. MB 5.540.
17 The printing press began on 31 December 1861 and the metal workshop when
work on the Sanctuary of MHC started in 1862.
18 BM 7,72
19 MB 10,946
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Of a peasant origin and mentality, he had been able to integrate
the knowledge that came naturally to him from the agricultural
sphere with the trades experience which he acquired through
necessity in the various situations in which he found himself.
When he was 15 and frequenting the public school at Castelnuovo
he was able to do an apprenticeship in music and sewing with a
good man, Roberto Giovanni, who had him as a boarder. "I gave
myself wholeheartedly to the the art of music", he wrote later in
the Memoirs of the Oratory.... "And in no time at all I was able
to sew on buttons, make and turn hems, and do simple and double
stitching. I learned also to cut out underpants, vests, waistcoats
and trousers; and I seemed to have become a budding master­
tailor". 20
At Chieri, in the years 1833-34, to earn the money to pay for
his studies he worked as a waiter in a coffee-bar, and in a short
time had picked up all the skills of the proprietor: "After six months
I already knew how to prepare coffee and cocoa; and I knew the
rules and proportions for making all sorts of concoctions, liqueurs,
ice-creams and refreshments." 21
His scholastic commitments meant that light work of a domestic
kind was most suitable, but as soon as the holidays came round,
notwithstanding his cassock as a seminarian, he used to engage
in heavier and more demanding work: "I made shafts and small
items on a lathe; I sewed clothes; I cut out shoes and stitched
them together; I worked with iron and with wood. For my house
at Murialdo I made a writing desk and a dining table with chairs
which remain the masterpieces of my holidays at that time. I
used also to cut the grass in the meadows, reap the wheat in the
fields, thin out and prune the vines, harvest the grapes, make and
tap the wine, and so on". 22
13 Rightly would his third successor, Fr Philip Rinaldi, write:
"Providence arranged that Don Bosco should practise every trade
to some extent: he had been a farmer, tailor, cobbler, blacksmith,
carpenter and printer, so that his coadjutor sons would later be
20 MO 45
21 MO 62f
22 MO 95f
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able to say with a holy pride: Don Bosco once worked at this
trade of mine! And so our venerable Founder has become the
perfect model of our priests, and also of our Brothers too". 23
Don Bosco's experience of manual work enabled him to
understand its value for the purpose of a sound and complete
human formation. Despite his seminary studies, he never
undervalued secular activities, though he kept an eye on them so
as not to compromise ecclesiastical dignity and spirit. 24
Although Don Bosco never lost sight of this point (in fact he
would often repeat to the Salesian Brothers: You will be able to do
things that priests cannot do), he had a high regard for work
because of its educational and social value. Among the boys
work developed the sense of solidarity with companions, especially
at times of moral danger and material need, and trained them to
face problems and accept responsibility.
c. Workshops and collaborators
With the setting up of workshops on the premises, the most 14
delicate and urgent problem to be faced was that of the instructors
and educators. It was solved "through arduous experiences. Don
Bosco summed them up in 1885. He took the opportunity to do
so in a discussion in the Superior Chapter (14 December 1885); he
recalled the history of the artisans at the Oratory, (...) and listed
the various experiments that had been tried before a satisfactory
arrangement was reached. (...) Since it was impossible to do
without teachers from outside, Don Bosco took care to see that
they had no disciplinary or financial duties, entrusting these tasks
to Salesian Brothers, the first of whom were Giuseppe Rossi,
Giuseppe Buzzetti, and to Federico Oreglia who was a Knight of
St Stephen. But how was he to procure trade-masters of his own?
23 24 July 1927
24 Synodal directives and ecclesiastical literature of the 19th century dealing with
formation continually emphasize the unsuitability of a priest undertaking "servile or
profane" works; cf. A.GAMBASIN, Gerarchia e laicato in Italia nel secondo Ottocento, Antenore
Ed., Padua 1969, 330 p.
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(Among the artisans at the Oratory) there were always some who
felt a greater attraction to him, and to whom he devoted special
care in the hope that they would become his own. These found
no difficulty in deciding' to stay forever with Don Bosco, an
expression that we know had a particular significance at the
Oratory. (...) They returned as teachers to the workshops where
they had once been pupils.". 25
And so in the early days it was Don Bosco himself who was
the first "assistant" and first "teacher" of arts and trades. Then
realistically he had recourse to experts, and brought to the Oratory
qualified teachers to whom he paid a salary. In choosing these he
soon showed himself very demanding and selective: "If they are
going to teach pupils successfully they must be well above average
in morality, capability and knowledge, and in consequence must
be well paid". 26
It was not easy to find combined in the same person the
professional skill and moral and educational aptitudes he wanted.
Don Bosco began to see that the solution lay in the use of lay
collaborators, preferably resident permanently at the Oratory, who
had also been pupils there.
B. Coadjutor: from lay collaborator to lay religious
With the kind of outlook that created no barriers of any kind
in the field of Christian perfection and the apostolate, Don Bosco
enjoyed in fact from the very beginnings of his work the practical
and effective collaboration of lay people. This enabled him to
learn at first hand their value and the educative importance of
their presence among the boys.
It is true that from the testimony and documentation we have
available it is not possible to say with certainty whether the Salesian
Brother, as we know him today, is a product of the experience
and geniality of Don Bosco at the very beginnings of the
25 E.CERIA, Annali della Societ Salesiana, Vol.I, Turin 1941, p.651f.
26 From a memorandum of Don Bosco to the President of the Turin Printers' Association
in 1872; cf. Collected Letters II, p.233-4 (date incomplete).
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Congregation. It seems more likely that there was a normal and
progressive maturing of this form of vocation, developed by Don
Bosco from models existing at the time in his own environment,
and subsequently modified and coordinated by him to meet
institutional needs.
The term coadjutor is found for the first time in the register of
the names of the pupils of Valdocco in December 1854, where it
appears next to the name of the 30-year-old Alessio Peano, but
apparently implies nothing of a religious nature.27 It was a delicate
touch on the part of Don Bosco in respect of those whom others
used to call simply "servants". It showed rather the nature of the
presence of such lay people among the youngsters: they were not
simply employees but, to some extent at least, collaborators.
Although, therefore, the name does not express the substance
of what we now mean by the word, it is an indication of a
development that was taking place.
Fr Joseph Vespignani, in a still unpublished work "the history
of the salesian coadjutor", based on a diary of 1930 preserved in
the Central Salesian Archives, says explicitly that "the name of
'coadjutor' was what Don Bosco first gave to all his companions
and friends who understood the importance of the work of the
Oratories, i.e. the teaching, assistance and guidance of poor and
abandoned youth in the duties of the Christian life".
For many years the name "coadjutor" remained a general term 16
used for the collaborators who lived at Valdocco, whether they
were professed in the Society of St Francis de Sales or not. Until
the '80s the situation was what P.Stella calls "the non-uniform
early conditions, when there were coadjutors with and without
vows".28 "The lack of mention of them in the constitutions
themselves of 1888 may have reflected a tendency to leave the
situation deliberately fluid, because for the purposes of daily life
there was no distinction between diocesan clerics and those of
Don Bosco, and between coadjutors with vows and coadjutors
27 A.Peano entered the Oratory in Dec.1854; he stayed three months and left on 23
Feb.1855. Cf. P.STELLA, Cattolicesimo..., o.c. p.413.
28 Ibid.
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who were simply guests or paid workers". 29 It was only in 1883
that the GC3 reserved30 the term officially for lay Salesians.
In the first twenty years of the life of the Oratory there were
about twenty persons who were called "coadjutors", ranging in
age from 14 to 69 years, with an average of over 34. Several of
them, although paying a very small amount for their board and
lodging, earned a regular payment as servants or as workers in
Don Bosco's workshops of arts and trades. Their stay at Valdocco
lasted usually for only a short period and was not continuous.
They very likely formed part of that well known group of
youngsters from the rural areas who came to the capital city of
the region, attracted by the newly opened factories which were
beginning to take on workers. With Don Bosco they found a
provisional place to stay until they got a job; they had no religious
bonds or obligations beyond those of a good Christian.
In the framework of the various groups and categories then
existing (priests, salesian clerics, seminarians, students and
artisans), the "coadjutors" were inserted in a familiar and vaguely
defined way into the Valdocco scene, dominated as it was by the
presence of Don Bosco as confessor and spiritual father, and
permeated by his own characteristic temperament and ideals. The
atmosphere was a family one in which everyone played his part,
despite their differences in status.
In the artisans' sector the number and quality of the lay
collaborators became ever more significant and necessary. From
this group, by now indispensable and well grounded in the style
and substance of the model desired by Don Bosco, the reality of
the "Salesian Brother" began to take shape. The change, though
substantial, was an internal one and implied no change in dress
or occupation. The lay workers in fact who preferred to stay with
29 Ibid.
In the minutes of the morning session of the 6th, written by Don G.Marenco, there
occurs the following remark: The question was raised as to whether the name of 'coadjutor'
should be kept for the secular members or be changed to 'confrere'. Don Bosco, and many
others with him, thought there should be no change, but that it would be better not to give
the name of 'coadjutor' to the resident paid workers". Rome, Central Salesian Archives,
Minutes of the 3rd General Chapter held at the College of Valsalice in September 1883; cf. also
MB 16, 411ff.
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Don Bosco and remain permanently at Valdocco were almost all
from the country areas or the heavily populated parts of the towns,
areas noted for their "attachment to religion", in which the sense
of Providence was very much alive; religious observance, full
respect for the clergy, a great devotion to Mary and regular
frequenting of the sacraments were very much the order of the
day.
The new and noteworthy element that in that time of social
instability constituted a wonderful assurance for his first
collaborators, was the certainty of being able to remain with Don
Bosco, who guaranteed them "work, bread and heaven".
Fr Vespignani confirms this in the unpublished work already
referred to: "In general the coadjutor of Don Bosco, on becoming
a Salesian, never gave a thought to the acceptance of a rule and
the making of vows: he just wanted to stay with Don Bosco and
help him to do whatever he had in mind to do; in that he found
his happiness. All the rest, like the rule, religious perfection, the
profession of vows, would come later, in line with Don Bosco's
indications".
C. The first "Salesian Coadjutors" ("Salesian Brothers")
The characteristic figure of the "Salesian Coadjutor" was thus 18
becoming slowly defined during the first twenty years of the life
of the Society of St Francis de Sales. In this process "it is not easy
to determine whether the motives were all present together in
Don Bosco's mind from the outset, or whether they came to him
gradually later as his work progressively developed. (...) Don
Bosco's particular temperament, the manner and caution with
which he presented the new Congregation to the young candidates
and likely members, to the public and to the civil authorities, the
characteristically progressive method he adopted for setting his
enterprises on foot, his preponderance for moving from facts to
theory and not vice-versa and as a result the paucity of relevant
documents in the early years, all render difficult the making of a
response".31
31 P.bRAIDO, Religiosi nuovi..., o.c.. p.20-21.
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19 a. Some facts, and with them some leading figures of the first
period, can serve to give us a general idea of how, beginning from
1860, the "Salesian coadjutors" properly so called came to be
distinguished from the other so-called lay "coadjutors".
In the assembly of 18 December 1859, which formally brought
the Society of St Francis de Sales to birth, there were no salesian
coadjutors present.32 But soon afterwards on 2 February 1860
there came the acceptance of the first lay member. The minutes
of the Chapter of the Society attest that on that date "the youth
Joseph Rossi, son of Matthew Rossi of Mezzanabigli (...) was
admitted to the practice of the rules of the Society",33 a phrase
which, as used by Don Bosco, meant admission to the test of the
novitiate. Joseph Rossi was aged 24; four years later, on 19
September 1864, he made his triennial vows; these were followed
in 1868 by perpetual vows, and he died as a Salesian on 29 October
1908. In the Valdocco register his trade is given as "provveditore",
which in the context might be best translated as "Prefect's
assistant".
20 With young Joseph Rossi the term "coadjutor", already in use
as we have seen in the Valdocco registers, came to take on the
current terminology of the salesian vocabulary. In fact, hardly
three months later, in a letter of 11 June 1860, addressed to
Monsignor Fransoni, the exiled Archbishop of Turin, in which the
request was made for the approval of the attached draft of the
Rule, the title of "coadjutor"34 appears beside the names of Joseph
Rossi and Joseph Gaia, while the other signatures are followed by
"priest" or "cleric".
To these first two members others were soon added. Their
names and tasks are by themselves sufficient to indicate Don
Bosco's intention and the significance of his infant institute:
Federico Oreglia, Knight of St Stephen, "general administrator"
and Gaia, a cook, made their first vows on 4 May 1862, the date
of the first official vows of the Salesian Society. The above-
mentioned Rossi, in charge of the linen room, head of a workshop
32 Cf. BM 6,181
33 BM 6,274
34 E.CERIA, Annali, o.c., I, 36
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and assistant to the Prefect, made his profession two years later;
Andrew Pelazza, admitted in 1863 and then for nearly forty years
the legendary head of the salesian printing and paper department,
died as a Salesian on 23 September 1905. Then there was Peter
Enria, also professed in 1878, who had been with Don Bosco from
his boyhood and was later his irreplaceable infirmarian; Joseph
Buzzetti, professed in 1877, the trusted right-hand man in all the
first growth enterprises; Marcellus Rossi, Joseph Dogliani and
Dominic Palestrino, linked personally with the three key duties at
Valdocco: the doorkeeper, the music, and the sacristy of the
Sanctuary of Mary Help of Christians. There were Gioia, Scavini,
Belmonte and Molinari, who went with the first missionary
expedition to Argentina. By that time there was no work or task
of any importance in the growing and developing Congregation
where a lay Salesian was not working alongside the Salesian priest
or cleric.
"Between 1860 and 1870 the salesian coadjutors seemed to be
almost concealed or disguised among the artisans, as heads of
arts and trades and junior officers in the Oratory family, just as
the salesian priests and clerics led the same kind of life as the
diocesan clerics who lived as guests at Valdocco.
From certain points of view this situation reflected the caution 21
and discretion which characterized many of Don Bosco's
undertakings at the time. After the first missionary expeditions
he was to tell the Salesians how he had previously been reluctant
to use the term "Salesians" on a wide scale. If on the one hand
he feared that it might not go down well with his collaborators,
as was in fact the case with John Cagliero when he was first
invited during the year 1854-55 to become a member of the salesian
congregation, on the other hand Don Bosco was afraid that it
would lead to the imposition of taxes. Only after 1871, when the
security laws had been passed and there was a climate of separation
and respect, did Don Bosco push ahead to get the salesian
congregation publicly inserted into Italian society and that of the
world".35
35 P.STELLA, Cattolicesimo..., o.c. p.414f.
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Furthermore he waited for the first missionary expedition of
1875 before making a notable change. In presenting his Pious
Society to the world at that moment he put aside all circumspection
and reserve and replaced them by propaganda and information
on a wide scale.36 The letters which came back from Argentina in
the first months of 1876 produced a climate of great enthusiasm,
and confirmed Don Bosco in his opinion that the formula of
"priests, clerics and coadjutors" working together without grades
or distinctions in the common identity of "Salesians", was the best
arrangement. The Vicar General of Buenos Aires well expressed
his judgement of the situation, a new one in the history of religious
Orders, referring to the first group of Salesians who had taken up
work at S. Nicolas: "Fagnano is tireless, Tomatis fearless, Cassinis
constant, Allevena strong, Molinari indefatigable, Gioia invincible,
Scavini immovable in scientific, manual and religious work... The
college is running perfectly. The Salesian Fathers behave
wonderfully and are highly esteemed in the town; they are already
known throughout South America". 37
The realities of the life lived at Valdocco in the period 1858-
1888, the pressures arising from economic and social circumstances
(think for instance of the influx of boys from rural and depressed
areas as the industrial transformation got under way), and the
growing awareness and solidity of the salesian project in the world,
gradually shaped the more significant traits of the physiognomy
of the salesian coadjutor and his place in the Congregation, and
this is reflected in the statistics: in 1870 the coadjutors numbered
23 between professed and novices; the priests were 26.
36 This probably explains why in the more reserved documents the use of the term
'coadjutor' as a lay member of the Congregation is very clear (cf. e.g. the first draft of the
Constitutions, which certainly dates from before 1863). Only later towards the '70s in
documents available to all (e.g. the Regulations for the boys and superiors and also the
Confidential recommendations to Rectors and similar documents) is the term used without
too much distinction from the category of paid workers.
37 In Annali I, o.c., p.258. Cf. also the other letters reaching Turin after the first
missionary expedition of 1875 reached its destination: the custom is immediately evident
of combining the different categories of priests, clerics and coadjutors into the one single
reality of "sons of Don Bosco".
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b. Place of origin and occupations
It would seem appropriate too to say something of the 22
environments from which the lay Salesians came and the variety
of tasks entrusted to them.
The earliest coadjutor vocations came from outside. The case
of Federico Oreglia, Knight of St Stephen, is a case in point. But
the natural breeding ground for such vocations remained Valdocco,
with its varied world of workshops for artisans and its other
services. A systematic examination of the personal data of the
first generation of salesian coadjutors confirms this statement, and
with one or two exceptions there was a common process of
development: a chance meeting with Don Bosco or information
about him heard outside Valdocco, transfer to Turin without any
intention of remaining there, first and increasing tasks in many
different sectors according to need and the ability displayed, life
in community with the intention of staying, request for
membership, and religious profession.
One can note a gradual process, marked by clear educational
and religious signs, which transformed these fortuitous
collaborators, friends or admirers of Don Bosco (never call them
subordinates!) into full-time sharers of responsibility in various
sectors, both logistic and administrative.
Early in 1870, in fact we already find the names of Joseph
Rossi and Andrew Pelazza as legal representatives before the State
for various properties; Joseph Rossi was called to the GC4 as a
consultor for the salesian coadjutors and in charge of the schools
of arts and trades; the head tailor, Peter Cenci who, because of
his publication "Principles of cutting", had the titles of "professor"
and "knight of the Crown", was often the legal representative of
the tailoring section in various exhibitions and state contests;
Joseph Gambino, after a long and brilliant period as manager of
the "Catholic Readings", "Italian Youth Library", and the "Salesian
Bulletin", became in 1891 general manager of all salesian
publications.
Naturally not everyone was a specialist. Some were factotums, 23
like Peter Enria or Peter Nasi. They moved without any difficulty
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from music classes to the theatre, the kitchen, the barber's shop,
the seeking of work for the workshops, and to the task of
infirmarian, so that they became (as Don Bosco liked to tell them)
"not only useful but necessary". Others managed to combine two
jobs, doorkeeper and cook, both of them important because, as it
used to be said, with the rector they guaranteed the "successful
running of a salesian house". Marcellus Rossi, for example, was
doorkeeper for 48 years, while Joseph Falco, Francis Mascheroni
and Joseph Ruffatto were famous for their dedication as cooks.
But such great ability and dedication to work would not have
been sufficient of itself to make these men what they were, basically
similar in their frugality and strength of purpose to a whole series
of contemporary Piedmontese figures who were pioneers of
projects which in due course grew to large scale enterprises. The
key to the understanding of the tasks, whether humble or highly
professional, carried out by the salesian coadjutors lay in the
sharing of apostolic and educational responsibility, in the direct
or indirect help given to the priest for the salvation of souls. If
this perspective were not permanently kept in mind, there would
be a risk of emptying the work of all soul and purpose, and of
rendering completely false the idea of Don Bosco who saw in the
coadjutor an apostle and educator, indeed "a true worker for the
Gospel": as he explained in 1883 when speaking about the future
of the Congregation: "This is the idea of the salesian coadjutor;
and I have a tremendous need for a large number of them who
will help me in this way".38
D. The thought of Don Bosco in the last ten years of his life: a source
and term of comparison.
24 As has been said already, in the first years of the Congregation's
life there already existed the reality of the vitally inserted salesian
coadjutor, with tasks and attributes still not well defined but
certainly far different from the parallel figure of the traditional
38 MB 16,313
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"lay-brother" in the older Orders. But we have few formal texts
available in this connection, and those we have are not explicit.
We have already mentioned some of the factors that led to this
reserve on the part of Don Bosco. And we must also bear in mind
the still "intuitive" character of the figure of the salesian coadjutor
as a seed containing in itself in embryo subsequent developments,
and the natural concern for priestly vocations.39 Don Bosco's
undeniable prudence too 40 led him to wait for a time so as to be
sure he was doing the right thing in recruiting young artisans, i.e.
elements differing in so many ways from the students to whom
vocational invitations were traditionally addressed, though not
exclusively so.
On the other hand a typical trait in our Father's character was
that circumspection expressed, for example, in his reaction after
reading the letter from the Rector of the Montpellier Seminary
who asked him what was the secret of his pastoral work: "I have
always gone ahead as the Lord inspired me and the circumstances
seemed to require".41 Certainly in all this Don Bosco never acted
in haste. For a long time, deliberately or not, he said nothing in
public to the pupils of the Oratory on the matter. At the most, in
line with his usual strategy, he would ask some youngster if he
would like to help him, and on getting a positive reply would
lead him gradually to the practice of trusting collaboration which
would lead eventually to full dedication in religious profession.
39 Our analysis agrees with that of Fr Braido, which opened the way to reflection on
the available documentation on the figure of the salesian coadjutor; he refers explicitly to
the factors which would explain "Don Bosco's reluctance to be more explicit in the matter";
cf. P.BRAIDO, o.c. Religiosi nuovi, p.23.
40 In a conference he gave at Valdocco on 30 Oct.1876 to 228 professed members,
novices and aspirants, Don Bosco himself said: "I can assure you in the Lord's name that
all those who made their profession are undoubtedly called, because before accepting them
I made it a point to know them thoroughly (emphasis ours), and by admitting them I proved
beyond doubt that I was convinced of their worthiness for this great calling. Moreover
the superior is obliged under penalty of grievous sin to reject any applicant whom he
considers unfit" (BM 12,410).
41 MB 18,126f
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a. Don Bosco's thought.
25 Only in 1876, for reasons already stated, did a period begin
marked by innovations in the way the vocation of the salesian
coadjutor was presented and motivated.
"When on 31 March 1876 Don Bosco spoke directly for the
first time to the young artisans of Valdocco about the vocation of
the salesian coadjutor, they had already been prepared for its
understanding by two eloquent facts: 1) the practical reality:
'despite the long reserve Don Bosco had shown in speaking about
the Coadjutors, the Catalogue for that year (1876) showed that
they already included 28 perpetually professed, and 22 in triennial
vows, with 28 novices and 25 aspirants' (E.CERIA, Annali I, 707);
2) the departure of Salesians for South America, which stirred up
great enthusiasm in the Oratory, not least because of the lay
collaborators of the priests in the work of evangelization and the
spreading of the values of civilization"42.
The preparation of the first expedition to Argentina and the
departure itself provided an excellent opportunity for Don Bosco's
change of practice, and were a good example of those
'circumstances' he had referred to in his reaction to the letter from
Montpellier. In fact the news coming back from the missionaries
after reaching their destination, and from those who saw the work
they were doing there, removed every difficulty and provided an
unequalled opportunity for getting the boys to understand just
who those 'coadjutors' were who had left several months earlier
for Argentina, and why they too were 'salesian missionaries', like
the others who had left Valdocco for those far distant lands dressed
in cassocks.
26
In the evening of 19 March 1876, in a talk at which the older
artisans were present in the course of the festivities in honour of
St Joseph which they celebrated with great enthusiasm, Don Bosco
said: "Notice that when our Lord spoke of workers in the harvest
he did not mean just priests, preachers and confessors as you
42 P.BRAIDO, o.c. Religiosi nuovi, pp.24-25
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might perhaps think. AU those who work for the salvation of
souls are caUed apostolic labourers, just as aU who help in
harvesting are themselves harvesters. See how many kinds of
labourers we need to work a field... The Church too needs aU
kinds of labourers, and I mean aU kinds... What a blessing it
would be to have enough priests for every city, town, viUage and
hamlet - enough to convert the whole world. Since this is
impossible, others must lend a hand. Besides, how are priests to
give themselves full time to their ministry if they do not have
people to bake their bread and cook their food? Suppose they
had to make their own shoes and clothing? A priest must have
help, and I believe I am not wrong in saying that aU of you here
present - priests, students, artisans and coadjutors can become
true evangelical labourers in the Lord's vineyard. (...) Now you
may be saying to yourselves: 'What are you driving at, Don Bosco?
What are you trying to teU us, and why?' My dear sons, that cry
'The labourers are few7 did not resound only in past eras; it is
more imperative than ever in our present day and age. The harvest
allotted to our Congregation grows daily at such a pace that I
may well say that we do not know where to begin or how to go
about our task... Heart-rending news comes to us from Fr Cagliero
in the Argentine Republic... Yes, really, I would hope to see you
all eager to work like so many apostles. That is the goal of all my
thoughts, cares and efforts". 43
What Don Bosco said, though falling in minds already
predisposed to understand this kind of language, his nuances and
even the things he did not say, provide the immediate preparation
for what we might call the first public manifestation of what had
already been lived and tried out for a long time in the intimacy
of the religious nucleus of the Oratory.
A short time afterwards, and in fact on the 31st of the same 27
month, Don Bosco took up the same line of thought again, as
though to emphasize its chief points. Fr Ceria, reporting the fact,
43 BM 12,459f; this was a conference given in the church of St Francis de Sales to the
Salesians of Valdocco; present also were the novices, aspirants and interested artisan
students of the higher classes - 205 persons were present in all.
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does not conceal his surprise: "Never before", he wrote, "had our
Founder spoken publicly and so plainly on this subject. The
conference he gave on the feast of St Joseph may have been meant
to prepare the way, and in any case the impression it made did
create a most favourable impression". 44 Within the typical context
of a "good night" addressed particularly to the young artisans of
Valdocco, Don Bosco spoke explicitly of the vocation of the lay
religious and of the need for this to increase in the Congregation.
"I think that nearly all of you know what the Congregation of St
Francis de Sales is. It is not just for priests or aspirants to the
priesthood; it is also for artisans. It is a Society of priests, clerics
and laymen - artisans especially - who wish to work together,
trying to help one another and others spiritually. -So keep in mind
that not only those who want to be priests can be members of it,
but a sizable part is made up of people who remain in the lay
state.".45 "Anyone", added Don Bosco, emphasizing at once its
ultimate purpose, "who wants to save his soul is welcome". 46
The choice of this kind of life was based on two specific and
determining characteristics of salesian work: the apostolate, and
especially among youth, as readily appears from the entire context,
and absolute equality in the brotherly atmosphere of a common
life. In this regard Don Bosco's words were deliberately clear and
precise: "Note also that our Congregation makes no distinction
among members; all are treated equally, be they craftsmen, clerics
or priests: we regard one another as brothers; meals are the same
for all. What is served to Don Bosco, Fr Lazzero or Fr Chiala,
your director, is also served to the rest of the members". 47
28 Naturally there could not fail to be a reference to the particular
circumstances we have already referred to. "Another thing, on
joining our Congregation anyone wishing to go to South America
would have the chance to do so... You know that some companions
of yours who were here last year are now working there as
44 BM 12,120
45 BM 12,121
46 Ibid.
47 BM 12,121f
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missionaries and are doing much good. While they were here
they rated the same as everyone else, they were like you; now
they are there and living an extraordinarily happy life. You
remember Gioia. Here he was a cobbler; now I hear he has become
a famous jack-of-all-trades - he cooks, cobbles and catechizes. You
know Scavini who was an apprentice carpenter; well, he heads a
cabinet-making shop where he trains some twenty boys and in
the short time he has been there he has done wonders. And
Belmonte - remember him? We thought he had nd special talents
when he was here, but now we hear great things about him: he
is sacristan, musician, catechist, and even housekeeper of our
residence in Buenos Aires. I could also mention Molinari, who is
now studying music. Last year they were all simple artisans.
Now they are respected and honoured men in Argentina". 48
Apart from his final references to individuals involved in the
recent "American" experiences, it can be seen that Don Bosco
added nothing new or different from what salesian novices, and
especially the coadjutors, had been learning for years to feel and
live. In fact according to notes made by Fr Caesar Chiala, who
summarized a talk given by the Saint to coadjutor novices four
years earlier in 1872, the ideas he expressed then were substantially
the same as those we have just reported. "The purpose of our
Society is to save our own souls and the souls of others, especially
of youngsters... Nowhere does the communion of saints appear
so true as in a religious congregation, where anything one religious
does benefits the others. Those who preach and hear confessions
must eat. How would they manage without a cook? And teachers
need clothes and footwear; how would they get along without
tailors and shoemakers? The same is true of our bodies. The
head is more important than the leg, the eye more than the foot,
but the body needs both. If a thorn pierces the foot, the head,
eyes and hand are immediately mobilized to pull it out. Here too
the example of a watch-factory is much to the point: when all the
components are precision-made, they mesh perfectly, and the result
is a perfect precision watch". 49
48 Ibid.
49 BM 10,476f
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29
Identity therefore as regards the essential points, but there is
also a gradual adaptation to current events and the needs of the
time, even though explicit reference to the educational and
apostolic dimension is not always emphasized, as appears from
the "Circular for the seeking of coadjutor vocations", 50 which Don
Bosco compiled and sent to parish priests in January 1880. By this
time it was possible to speak freely and publicly, even outside the
Oratory, of the "Pious Salesian Society founded by Fr John Bosco",
but it was evidently the Saint's desire to make known on a wider
scale not only the existence of the lay component of the new
Congregation, but more especially the need for it. As Fr Ceria
says in presenting the circular: "The expansion of Don Bosco's
undertakings made it indeed necessary to recruit an adequate
number of coadjutors".51 What appears as abbreviated, on the
other hand, is the role allotted to these members as simply material
collaborators in the running of the institutes without any reference
to possible mvolvement of an apostolic or educational nature.
Souths were sought who were “willing to engage in any kind of
work, in farming or m the kitchen, bakery or dtaing-room; to do
housework or secretarial tasks if qualified, or to continue to ply
™rksh°ps if they were craft-masters. They
should be between 20 and about 35 years of age".
30 The circular, despite what Ceria says, - would be open to a
±X7a J
" n0‘ “™ctly Seated in a certain
co e t and understood in accordance with Don Bosco's mind. In
lus opinion the salesian coadjutor could and must be, as we have
ea y seen, an evangelical worker", and his presence and service
among e young erefore could not be limited purely and simply
to administrative functions. The apostolic and educational
dimension was in fact so implicit that not even the authoritative
Deliberations of the Third and Fourth General Chapters of the
50 MB 14,783f
51 BM 14,302
f " Ibid. According to Ceria the letter was intended to make known the "character"
of the coadjutors as distinct from the tradihonal figure of the "fratres conversi", while the
content appears in fact to do the very opposite.
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Pious Salesian Society, held at Valsalice in September 1883-86",53
dedicate more than a minimum of space to the point. There is a
reference in the IV deliberation on the "Regulations for Festive
Oratories",54 in the course of the GC3 of 1883: "All Salesians, both
ecclesiastic and lay, should consider themselves fortunate to be
able to work in the Oratories and be persuaded that this is an
apostolate of the greatest importance". This might be considered
to carry no great weight unless one examined the documentation
of the entire Chapter, which dedicates two of its "Themes" to the
salesian coadjutor: the IVth (Culture of the coadjutor confreres)
and the Vth (The line of approach to be taken with the sector of
material work in Salesian Houses and means for developing
vocations in young artisans), discussed in the sittings of 6
September of which we have a summary of the minutes which it
will be useful to record.
"6 September - morning. At 9.15 Don Rua opened the sitting 31
with the customary prayer. D.Belmonte read a report on the
studies that had been done on theme IV, concerning the culture
of the coadjutor confreres. Don Bosco joined the assembly and
theme V was read, on the line to be taken with regard to the
workmen in Salesian Houses etc. and its relationship with the
culture (of the coadjutor confreres) etc. The question was raised
as to whether or not the name of 'coadjutor' should be preserved
for the secular members or changed to 'confrere'. Don Bosco and
many others were of the opinion that there should be no change,
but that the name of 'coadjutor' should not be given to resident
workmen. In this connection it was pointed out by the confrere
Barale that there was a certain coolness between the older ones
and those arrived more recently. Don Bosco read the words of
Ch.2, art.l: "All the members shall regard each other as brothers,
etc.". Thereupon D.Bonetti suggested a deliberation in the
following terms: All the members, both priests and laymen, shall
treat each other etc. Don Bosco said that it was desirable to
preserve the words that were used by the Congregation of Bishops
and Regulars 'Fratres Coadiutores'.
53 Published by the Salesian Press, S.Benigno Canavese, 1887.
54 Quoted in MB 18,702-704.
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"6 September - evening. ... The question was raised as to
whether a separate novitiate was necessary for the artisan novices.
Don Bosco thought it better that their position be improved by
separating them from the other artisans. Nearly everyone was for
the founding of a separate novitiate. The question was left
undecided and an effort would be made to decide something at
San Benigno".55
It seems clear that the chapter assembly was concerned not so
much about the apostolic activity of the salesian coadjutor but
rather about a clearer understanding of his identity and place
within the Congregation. This can be deduced from the question
of the name, the need for a clear distinction from resident
workmen, and the desirability of a novitiate "separate from the
other artisans". Strangely enough a separation did come about,
but it was from the 'clerics'!56
32 Problems of this kind would have been inconceivable before
1874. Their sense and weight arose from the events and changes
that accompanied the settling down period of the Congregation
after the long process for the definitive approval of the
Constitutions by the Holy See. The following is a summary of the
more outstanding facts.
Already in 1875, with the departure of the missionaries for
Argentina, the first expansion took place beyond Europe, with
notable reverberations both outside the Congregation and within
its original framework. The first beginnings of the Salesian Family
were beginning to develop life and strength through the female
branch of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the lay
branch, the association of the Cooperators. Every three years
from 1877 the whole of salesian life was examined and checked
by the guidelines and directives of the General Chapters, presided
over by Don Bosco himself only until 1886.
In the meantime the solid growth of the Congregations and
the unexpected canonical enclosure for the Daughters of Mary
Help of Christians meant that there had to be an increase of paid
55 Transcription of Fr G.Marenco, Secretary of the GC3, preserved in the Salesian
Central Archives; cf. also MB 16,41 If.
56 Cf. o.c. Annali I, 470, and MB 16,413ff.
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male employees or of salesian coadjutors. These were called upon
to undertake domestic duties and offices that formerly had not
existed, or had been taken care of by women volunteers, following
the example of Mamma Margaret and Don Rua's mother who
were followed by other mothers who lived at Valdocco until 1872.
Following the controversy with Archbishop Gastaldi another 33
problem was added to the several already existing, that of the
formation of candidates for the priesthood. This led to a change
in the original physiognomy of the Oratory. Life had to be
structured in such a way as to meet the demands of canonical
visitations concerned about the ecclesiastical spirit of the young
levites. It was also necessary to establish a novitiate exclusively
for them and entrust it to Don Giulio Barberis as the master.
This series of facts: growth of the Congregation, increase in
the number of resident workers, the pointed separation in the
novitiate from the ecclesiastical branch, could not fail to have an
adverse effect on the figure and prestige of the salesian coadjutor.
The process of distinction from the clerics and priests and the
more marked use of such personnel in services reserved formerly
to resident employees (who had previously been normally called
'coadjutors') could easily deteriorate into a way of thinking which
seemed to down-grade the identity of the lay confrere.
Occasionally and in some communities, these elements of
distinction and embarrassment became more marked than usual
and were reflected in complaints of those who, although they
were Salesians on a par with others, felt that they were treated as
'workers', if not indeed as 'servants'. This was an underlying and
enduring complaint which, despite the passing of the years and
the greater awareness it brought, was to reappear more than once
in salesian documents.57
57 Don Rua's circular of 1 Nov.1906 to Provincials and Rectors on this point is well
known: "A further word about our coadjutor confreres... I would like all of you to show
them true brotherly affection, and that you show this by treating them with all kindness,
listening to them when they speak of their difficulties, showing concern for their health
and providing for their needs. We must show by deeds and not just by words that we
consider them our true brothers. It pierces me to the heart when I sometimes hear them
complain that they are considered not as brothers but servants. Avoid anything that could
possibly give them such an impression".
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34
Evidence of a feeling of uneasiness on a certain scale is found
in the words of several coadjutors who had been formed directly
by living contact with Don Bosco, and who had tasted the "honey"
(as A. Pelazza puts it), i.e. the Saint's delicate, affectionate and
understanding treatment. Many reactions too are more easily
understandable when one remembers the vastly differing types
there were among the lay Salesians: they varied from those who
were semi-illiterate, though endowed with good common sense,
to others with a certain professional training. Specific training
was almost non-existent, and the result was that if charity grew
thin problems arose. As well as this the priest had been considered
for centuries as a kind of super-christian and an authority
unchallengeable by good Christians. This culture - which in fact
was in rapid decline towards the end of the century for reasons
known to all - made the more distasteful the attitude of certain
salesian priests who treated the coadjutors as mere servants. One
has only to read some of the proposals put forward in the GC3
(1883) to realize that 'clericalism' was a fact. This is what gave
rise to Don Bosco's poignant words in support of the coadjutors.
On the other hand the problem was basically one of individuals.
Where there was (and is) a deeply lived charity, the communities
lived in peace and harmony (and do so still).
35
The documents preserved in the archives, though sober and
concise in what they say, seem nevertheless to take on strength
and colour when they report the prompt and unequivocal reaction
of Don Bosco. Whenever he sensed there was any risk in the
offing he promptly opposed any alteration and any possible
demeaning of the identity of the salesian coadjutor in his
Congregation.
His stand was clear from his ever more decisive and lucid
interventions during and after the GC3 in the last five years of his
life, and especially on the occasion of his first visit to the newly-
opened novitiate for coadjutors and of the last General Chapter
before his death.
36
An event of historic importance was the institution of the
novitiate for coadjutor novices at S. Benigno Canavese in the
autumn of 1883, which fostered the process of distinction of the
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salesian coadjutor. The talk Don Bosco gave to the 22 coadjutor
novices at S. Benigno on 19 October 1883 can be rightly called,
because of its contest and content, a milestone in the process of
the clarification of the ideal figure of the salesian coadjutor, an
idea which Don Bosco himself said he "had never had the time
earlier to explain well".58 More than one scholar has rightly seen
in this short and familiar talk at S. Benigno the "definitive
thought",59 the "true concept of the salesian coadjutor",60 "perhaps
the most important words" ever addressed by Don Bosco to the
lay Salesians.61
It will therefore be useful and opportune to reproduce here
the entire transcription of the address passed on to to us by Fr
Giulio Barberis, before picking out the more significant points.
"This morning's Gospel", said Don Bosco, "told us: do not be
afraid, little flock. You are indeed a 'pusillus grex', but you must
not fear, 'nolite timere', that you will not grow. l am very glad
that a regular year of testing has begun for the artisans. This is
the first time I have come to S. Benigno since you have been here,
and although I have come for the clothing ceremony of the clerics
and can only spend a day here, I did not want to leave without
saying something to you in particular. I will put two thoughts to
you. The first is to let you know what is my idea of the salesian
coadjutor. I have never had the time and opportunity to explain
it well. You are gathered here to learn the art and practice of
religion and piety. Why? Because I need helpers. There are
things that priests and clerics cannot do, and you will do them. I
need to be able to take one or other of you and put him in a
printing establishment, and say to him: 'You look after things and
see that all goes well'. To send another to a particular house and
say: 'Take care of that workshop or those workers, and see that
everything is in order and nothing wanting; make sure that the
58 MB 16,312
59 M.WIRTH, referring to Don Bosco's intervention at the GC of 1886 and this address
of 19 Oct.1883, says in so many words; "There, it seems, must be sought the definitive
thought of Don Bosco", Don Bosco e i Salesiani, LDC ed., Turin 1969, p.lll.
60 This is the title given by Braido to the text of San Benigno, included as an appendix
in the "Documents" section of his study Religiosi nuovi, o.c. p.62.
61 This is what P.STELLA asserts, o.c. Cattolicesimo..., p.422.
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work is done as it should be'. I need to have someone in the
house to whom I can confide tasks of greater trust, like the
management of money, or dealing with legal cases and
representing the house before outsiders. I need people on whom
I can rely for the smooth running of the kitchen and for the task
of doorkeeper; those who will see to the provision of whatever is
necessary and that nothing is wasted, that no one leaves without
authority etc. I need people to whom I can entrust tasks like
these, and you must be such people. In a word you must not just
be people who work or labour, but people who direct matters.
You must be masters and supervisors of the other workers, not
just servants. All this of course according to a rule and within the
necessary limits; but all of you must play your part in the directing
process, as though you yourselves were responsible for the
workshops. This is the idea of the salesian coadjutor. And I have
a tremendous need for many who will come and help me in this
way! And so I am happy that you have suitable and neat clothing,
that you have proper beds and cells, because you must be masters
and not servants, not subjects but superiors. And now I put to
you the second thought. Because you will have to help me in this
way in large enterprises which may also be delicate ones, you
must acquire many virtues, and because you will have to oversee
others you must first of all give good example. The presence of
one of you must be an automatic guarantee of order and morality,
and that good is being done. Because 'if salt loses its savour...'.
And so let us conclude as we began: Nolite timere, pusillus grex.
Do not be afraid; you will grow in number, but more especially
you must grow in goodness and strength. Then you will become
like unconquerable lions and will be able to do a great deal of
good. And then, 'complacuit vobis dare regnum'. A kingdom
and not slavery, but especially you will have the eternal
Kingdom".62
37 These words from the mouth of Don Bosco and in the context
of the world about him cause no astonishment nor do they indicate
any great innovations. We have drawn attention to them because
62 MB 16,312f
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of the insistence and emphasis on some fundamental ideas, and
first among them that the coadjutor brings an adequate response
to typically 'non-sacred' needs, and especially to those which a
certain theology of the priesthood prevalent at the time did not
look kindly on in presbyteries, and still less in seminaries; that the
coadjutor should do what the anticlericalism of the time would
not allow to priests in working-class areas. But tasks of this kind,
precisely because they were different from those of priests and
clerics and therefore subject to possible discrimination,63 had to be
exercised with full right and authority.
The repeated use of the term "padroni" in Italian (English:
master or 1)088') emphasizes the full equality and participation of
the salesian coadjutors in the spiritual and temporal advantages
of the Congregation. The emphasis was fully intended by Don
Bosco and its purpose, as will be stated later at length by the
witness who put on paper the document referred to, was to "raise
the depressed spirit of the coadjutor confreres".64
The second idea well highlighted in the conclusion to Don 38
Bosco's address at S. Benigno states once again a reality which is
taken for granted in the salesian plan, but which we do well to
endorse because of the twisted meanings given to the concept of
"padrone". Don Bosco was careful to recall that everything had
to be understood in an educational and apostolic sense. Outside
this environment the terms used no longer have the meanings he
attached to them. Less than forty years later in fact, dining the
GC12 (1922) some perplexity was expressed regarding the account
of the conference at S. Benigno "because there were in it some
63 Note how wisely Don Bosco extricated himself from these conflicting tensions: on
the one hand he did not want to oppose precise indications stemming from contemporary
theological principles, from the Church's law, Synods and local authorities which wanted
decorum and ecclesiastical spirit to be respected and safeguarded - this in fact had led
him to separate the novitiates, i.e. to allow a certain discrimination! On the other hand
he did not want to introduce into his religious family a stratification into categories,
because they were contrary to his idea of the laity and quite opposed to his own experience.
64 In the opinion of P.Stella the difficult situation was caused not so much by the
ecclesiastical sector but rather by the coadjutors themselves, "those better prepared from
a cultural point of view and more aware of their own professional ability and value. It
may be that these (printers, tailors, booksellers, etc.) were the ones to whom Don Bosco
was directly replying". (O.c. Cattolicesimo), p.425).
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expressions that could be badly interpreted" and that would render
doubtful its authenticity.65 The testimony that followed it however
and the kind of reflections to which it gave rise led to the opposite
conclusion, and made evident, as Don Ceria would emphasize
later in this connection ("Here Don Bosco is to be explained by
Don Bosco"),66 the importance of not taking in isolation words
and expressions used by the Saint.67
39 Hardly three years after the visit to S. Benigno, and in a much
more authoritative setting with wider reverberations - during the
GC4 at Valsalice in September 1886 - Don Bosco took up once
again and spelled out the essential points of the identity and
function of the lay Salesian. The document, which in fact bore the
title "Concerning the Coadjutors", was to constitute the response
to the second theme: "The line of approach to be taken with the
sector of material work in Salesian Houses and means for
developing vocations in young artisans". The terms used and the
literary genre of the document as it was drawn up and approved
by the Chapter reveal to a large extent the current theological
language and emphasize the clerical perspective. In particular
they well reflect the historical situation of the Congregation, very
concerned as it was about a growing institutional framework and
called upon to face up to ever wider pastoral commitments.
65 This point was first raised in the tenth meeting of the Chapter on 28 April when
Fr Pedemonte, who was presenting the 5th theme concerning the coadjutors, used the
hand-written account of Don Bosco's conference at San Benigno (which is referred to here)
from the archives of the same house. In the eleventh meeting (29 April) Fr Costa, one of
the capitulars, raised the doubts and difficulties mentioned, thereby provoking a lively
discussion on the historical value and authenticity of the document itself. Defending its
genuine character were Fr Nay (Prefect at San Benigno in 1883), Fr Giulio Barberis who
wrote it, and Fr Fascie. The Rector Major himself "confirmed what had been said by Fr
Nay, and added that in the 3rd General Chapter, when it had been proposed that the
coadjutors form a separate and lower category, Don Bosco had opposed it with deep
emotion, exclaiming: 'No, no, no; the coadjutor confreres are the same as all the others'."
(Salesian Central Archives, Minutes of 12th Gen.Chapter,1922, AS 04.
66 Annali I, 704
67 This is the conclusion that appears from the minutes of the 12th meeting of the
Chapter assembly (1 May 1922): "The meeting opened at 9 a.m. with the customary
prayer. After the reading of the minutes it was observed that it would be better to say
that the various expressions used by Don Bosco in the conference he gave at San Benigno
in 1883 should not be considered in isolation but interpreted in the sense of other
conferences he gave on other occasions": AS 04.
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The work of this last General Chapter presided over by Don
Bosco would seem more clear-cut and understandable if read
against the broad background of salesian events in the years 1880-
1886.
b. Salesian events 1880-1886.
The decrees against religious Congregations in France of 29 40
March 188068 had certainly prompted the rectors of the three French
houses then existing, Don Bosco himself69 and the whole directive
body of the Congregation to adopt an attentive and preventive
strategy. The wave of anticlerical feeling on the other side of the
Alps was a potent endorsement of the desirability of having ever
more lay Salesians available. They would be able "to do good
better and more freely" than could priests and clerics in clerical
dress.
In the meantime the closer contacts with the Holy See,
occasioned by the intense correspondence concerning the first
"Three-yearly Reports" and later the project, which subsequently
became a providential reality, of the first salesian presence in Rome
itself, certainly played a part in giving to the Congregation a
physiognomy and outlook ever more inserted into the broad canvas
of "Catholic works", which the GC of 1886 specifically dealt with.
The expansion of the Salesians, combined with that of the
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians under the guidance of
Mother Caterina Daghero after the recent death of St Maria
Domenica Mazzarello (1881), was of interest not only to Italy with
its various zones, but also to Europe with the first foundations in
Spain and Latin America, with progress in Argentina and the
beginnings of new work in Uruguay and Brazil.
68 Cf. the whole of chap.XXXII of the Annali I, 362-369.
69 The directives sent in writing by Don Bosco to Don Ronchail are interesting; the
last of them refers to the point at issue here: "Let it be clearly understood", he advised,
"that we are for agriculture, arts and trades ... to train supervisors, teachers, and especially
printers and compositors": Collected Letters IV, Don Bosco to Don Ronchail, Rome 23
March 1880.
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41
Then at the dawn of the 1880's a special importance attached
to the first entry of the Salesians into the territories of the South
American Indians,70 an undertaking which the religious
romanticism of the end of the 19th century was to support with
all the glamour and fascination it could muster. The Archbishop
of Buenos Aires, Mgr Aneyros, who had the benefit of salesian
help for the Italian emigrants in his diocese, thought that the time
had come "to offer to Don Bosco the whole of Patagonia which he
had so much at heart".71 Turin's reply was consistent with the
commitment expressed in the well-known phrase of the Saint on
the occasion of the first missionary expedition: "We are beginning
a great work".72
The missionary dream of 188373 had only served to foster the
enthusiasm and adherence to initiatives for the "new world".
The same year saw the coming of Cardinal Alimonda to Turin.
In the following year the long awaited concession of the privileges
became a fact, while in 1885 Leo XIH gave Don Bosco a Vicar with
the right of succession. The choice fell on Don Michael Rua, aged
48, of which 40 years had been spent at the Founder's side. The
appointment was made known by means of a circular which
carried for the first time the official badge of the Congregation.74
70 Fr Ceria wrote in fact that "The Salesian Missions of America, in the strict sense of
the word, began in 1879; because that year saw the first contact of salesian missionaries
with the Indians of the Pampas and Patagonia, immense areas and still very largely
unexplored": Annali I, 378.
71 "I beseech you", he wrote with expressions dear to prelates of the time, "in the
merciful bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ, to hasten to my aid for the saving of so many
abandoned souls".
72 The work done in Patagonia in only four years was in fact very considerable. The
official report sent to the Holy See, with due caution concerning the generous nature of
the figures, speaks of 500 Indian baptisms in 1883 and a total of 5328 between 1879 and
1883; it also mentions two colleges at Patagones, one for 69 boys and the other for 93 girls,
and of wide-scale explorations covering 1137 km.
73 "It was the feast preceding that of St Rose of Lima (30 August) and I had a
dream...". So began Don Bosco's account to members of the 3rd General Chapter concerning
what happened on 4 September of the same year (cf. Annali I, 423-434). The dream has
acquired a special importance and effect with the founding of Brasilia.
74 The design was that of Prof. Boidi for the church of the Sacred Heart in Rome. The
circular was first printed with the date "All Saints, 1885"; it was submitted to Don Bosco
who read and revised it here and there, and then had it printed with the date 8 December,
feast of the Immaculate Conception: cf. Annali I, 530ff.
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c. The document of 1886 (GC4).
It is within this outline of salesian life and events, which in 42
turn must be inserted into the wider context of the Church and
contemporary society, that the document "Of the Coadjutors" of
the GC4 (1886) must be read and analyzed. Against the background
of the substantially unchanged view of the identity of the lay
Salesian, the members of the Chapter at Valsalice, in terms at once
theological and ascetical, juridical and administrative, seemed to
emphasize a particular concern - that of specifying and confirming
the specific "offices" of the coadjutor confrere in the list of ever­
growing tasks of the apostolato and salesian structures: to help
the priests in the works of Christian charity proper to the
Congregation... by directing and administering the various business
concerns of our Pious Society, by becoming craft-masters in the
workshops or catechists in the festive oratories, and especially on
the foreign missions".
Although the list of functions goes back to the first and well
known idea of Don Bosco, who left the lay religious with a wide
margin of responsibility and authority, it is immediately linked
with the character and clerical nature of the Congregation, a
requirement on which the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and
Regulars had kept on insisting, both before and after the approval
of the Rule.
The separate novitiate for coadjutors, although instituted for 43
motives of access to a workshop and especially to ensure for the
clerics a specific formation in ecclesiastical spirit, was begun in
the fiery atmosphere of social vindication and advancement of the
working class characteristic of the end of the 19th century. This
could have given rise to a practical risk: that of fostering in the
coadjutor confreres a vindictive mentality, or the sense of an
inferior position with respect to the priests, who alone were
permitted by the Constitutions to attain the office of "superiors".75
75 But reference to the salesian ELENCO shows that in reality the only novitiate for
coadjutors alone was that of San Benigno, and for practical purposes it ceased to be such
during the world war. In 1919 it had only 3 coadjutor novices (ex-military personnel) and
in 1920 ceased to be a novitiate altogether. At the same time there were other novitiates
with coadjutor novices in the great majority, but with clerical novices mixed in with them.
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For this reason the chapter document devotes ample space to
the question, and uses a language and emphasis (note the use of
capital letters) proportionate to the importance of the content.
"1. (The Coadjutors) will in all times and circumstances show
respect to the Superiors and to the Priests, seeing in them true
Fathers and Brothers, to whom they must live united in the bond
of fraternal charity so as to form one heart and one soul (Reg. Ch.
n, 2).
2. They will carry out with diligence the office assigned to
them whatever it may be, remembering that it is not the importance
of the work which makes it pleasing to God, but the spirit of
sacrifice and love with which it is carried out.
3. No outside work or commitments will be taken on without
the express consent of the Superiors.
4. In every place and circumstance, in the house and outside
it, in their words and actions, let them always show that they are
good religious; because it is not the habit that makes a religious,
but the practice of religious virtues; and both God and men have
greater esteem for a religious dressed as a fervent and exemplary
layman, than for one who wears a distinctive habit but is tepid
and inobservant".76
12.2 Development in the wake of the origins: from Don Rua to
Vatican II
A. Period of office of Don Michael Rua (1888-1910)
a. From workshops to trade schools.
44
The guidelines of GC4 present a line of conduct which sums
up the various experiences as gradually revised and corrected by
76 Deliberations of 3rd and 4th General Chapters of the Pious Salesian Society held
in Valsalice in September 1883-86, S.Benigno Canavese 1887, pp.16-17.
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Don Bosco, In the education of the "artisans", as Fr Ceria notes,
our Saint did not intend to stop at workshops, but "his ideal was
to make them true trade schools; this was to be the work of a time
of which he could then see only the dawn ahead".77
It was while Don Rua was Rector Major (1888-1910) that this
transformation began to come about. The new needs in this field
were reflected in subsequent General Chapters, particularly the
7th (1895), 8th (1898) and 10th (1904).
From 1898 the professional schools came to depend on Fr
Joseph Bertello (1848-1910), who may be considered their great
organizer, not only for the impulse he gave to their extension, but
because he sought to put some regular order and method into
their technical, cultural and educational organization.
In the environment of the world of the coadjutor confreres,
these modifications led to important changes: the new candidates
no longer came in most cases from young or older collaborators,
or from resident workers already inserted for various reasons in
the web of salesian activity, but in ever growing numbers from
the "scholastic" artisan or professional sector.
b. Some statistics.
With regard to the numbers of coadjutor confreres, two 45
phenomena are met with of different kinds: one in the twenty
years from 1880-1900, and the other in the twenty years that
followed. In the period from 1880-1900 there is a notable numerical
increase: the number rose from 182 to 1061 coadjutor confreres;
whereas between 1900-1920 there was a much more modest
increase, from 1061 to 1350. As a percentage of all Salesians the
coadjutors were 30% in 1900, and had dropped to 26.4% in 1920.
There is also a sharp rise in the average cultural level (with the
complete disappearance of all illiterate members), the progressive
movement towards obtaining qualifications, and a marked falling
off in unskilled work.78
77 E.CERIA, Annali I, p.653
78 P.STELLA, o.c. Cattolicesimo..., p.420.
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c. Documents.
46
Every now and then in the documents of the time we find
concern shown for the figure and duties of the coadjutor confrere,
and an endorsement of the basic indications given by the Founder
and the General Chapters. They start from the need for an intense
work of vocational recruitment and lay emphasis on the coadjutor7s
sharing in educational responsibility, and on his irreplaceable
apostolic and missionary role.
Don Rua's circular of 31 January 1897 for the ninth anniversary
of the death of Don Bosco deals with this very point: "Because of
the particular character of our Pious Society, not only is there a
vast harvest reserved for the ecclesiastics, but our dear coadjutor
confreres are also called to carry out a true apostolate for the
benefit of the young in all our houses and especially in our trade
schools; for this reason there is need to cultivate religious vocations
also among our young artisans and helpers. The coadjutor is
specially needed for the trade schools that the Salesian Society
wants so much to establish in America, Africa, Asia and various
countries of Europe. It was precisely to prepare exemplary salesian
coadjutors from among our workers that the Fourth General
Chapter drew up many rules marked by zeal, charity and prudence
for the moral, intellectual and professional training of our pupils...
While insisting that vocations be cultivated, I am not suggesting
anything new, I am not asking for anything extraordinary, I am
asking you only to imitate the example of Don Bosco and to observe
those decisions which, in the desire of doing good, we have made
for ourselves in our General Chapters".79
Don Rua confirms the considerable change that had taken place
in the vocational sector when he sets out the practical details of
the strategy to be used: "It is absolutely necessary to observe
which young artisans show signs of a vocation, and then cultivate
them as aspirants, enable them to take part in a retreat during the
79 In M.RUA, Lettere Circolari, Turin 1910; the quotations are taken from the 1965 edtn.
p.187-189; letter dated Turin, 31 Jan.1910.
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holidays, and accept... the requests of those who want to be novices
when they reach the age of 16 or 17 years".80
In the following year, in the circular letter of 24 June 1898, 47
Don Rua comes back again on the same point: "I exhort you to
cultivate not only those young people who show good promise of
becoming clerics, but also those who can become good coadjutors
and trade-masters. You know that from all sides and especially
from the missions we are getting repeated and pressing requests
to set up workshops and trade-schools, because one of modem
society's greatest needs is the Christian education of the worker".81
Many of the young people in our colleges belonged to families
hit by the economic crisis. For many of them the figure of the
salesian coadjutor who was concerned about them and who, as a
technician and head of a workshop combined stability and the
certainty of a proper place in society with the witness of a Christian
response to current social problems, proved to be a strong incentive
for many of them to think about a religious vocation, especially
when other professional outlets seemed lacking.
It is striking that no fewer than six new novitiates were opened
in these years: at Lorena in Brazil (1890), Bernal in Argentina
(1895), Santiago-Macul in Chile (1895), Genzano near Rome (1896),
Arequipa in Peru (1897), and Burwash in southern England (1897).82
The dawn of the new century opened the salesian world to a 48
greater hope of work in the missions, because personnel was
growing in number and quality. A letter of Don Rua in the early
days of 1900 provides news and information which gives us a
more up-to-date knowledge of the situation: "I must send a word
of well deserved praise to those Rectors and Prefects of our houses
who through their industry and zeal have been able to sow and
develop the seed of a vocation among our resident workers and
cause it to take root. This is an excellent thing because, as well as
the great advantage to their souls in becoming religious, they
increase the number of our coadjutor confreres of which our Pious
80 Ibid.
81 M.RUA, Lettere Circolari, 207f; dated Turin, 24 June 1898.
82 Cf. Lett.Circolari n.18, 20 Jan.1898.
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Society so greatly feels the need. And in this connection it gives
me great pleasure to tell you that the desire I have expressed in
earlier letters to see an increase in the number of novitiates for
coadjutors and artisans were not just words thrown to the winds,
because I am happy to say that there are already seven such houses
in existence and they are producing consoling results. It is to be
hoped that they will increase still further in number, and that as
far as possible every province will have at least one of them".83
The continual growth and expansion of salesian work seems
to have led to the desire to make up by these authoritative
reminders for a certain hardly perceptible falling off of interest in
the novel aspect of the coadjutor confrere. A rapid glance through
the rich and lively vocational and propaganda material of the
time, at the topics chosen and discussed in the well 'known
Cooperators' congresses (at Bologna in 1895 and Buenos Aires
five years later) is sufficient to show to what extent attention to
the lay component of the Congregation was falling off. The very
mechanism for the preparation of the first steps in the process for
Don Bosco's canonization and its repercussions served to spread
ever more widely around the world the image of the Salesian in
clerical dress as the natural and logical prolongation of the "holy
priest of the boys of Turin". The Salesian in lay dress took a back
seat.
49
In reality the danger was rather to the external image of salesian
works. Within the communities "the aspect of harmonization
between priests, clerics and coadjutors far outweighed that of
differentiation and disagreement. In each house unifying factors
were such things as meditation in common, equal treatment at
table, shared responsibility in the assistance of the youngsters,
and the preparation for theatrical productions and festive
celebrations. At provincial level the annual retreat served an
analogous purpose. The common qualities of priests and laymen
coalesced easily in the figure of the coadjutor, outstanding for his
spirit of work, joviality and religious observance. Every house
could point to some coadjutor who reflected the models of the
83 M.RUA, Lett.Circolari, 245f; dated Turin, 20 Jan.1900.
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preceding generation. San Benigno and Turin had the master­
tailor Peter Cenci (1871-1939). Valdocco had among others the
architect Giulio Valotti (1881-1953). In Argentina Charles Cond
(1877-1947), the printer and belligerent journalist, and the architect
Henry Botta (1859-1949) were eminent. Ecuador had Giacinto
Pancheri (1847-1947), intrepid builder of roads and bridges.
Belgium had a musical expert in Antoine Auda (1879-1964).
Coadjutors continued to carry out domestic and agricultural work,
and some of them were the most spiritually mature among the
confreres. Valdocco had Joseph Balestra (1868-1942); Palestine,
the Servant of God Simon Srugi (1878-1943)" .84
All this without prejudice to the fact that Don Rua felt obliged
to intervene on 1 November 1906 to stave off, with the same energy
and depth of feeling of Don Bosco, the periodic risk of a
downgrading: "Not only with words", he wrote, "but also with
facts must we make it clear that we regard them as our brothers".
B. In the expanding Congregation: from the period of office of Fr Paul
Albera (1910-1921) to that of Fr Renato Ziggiotti (1952-1965) and
to Vatican Council IL
a. After the first world war.
After the crisis of the first world war begins that period in the 50
history of the salesian coadjutor that runs from when Fr Albera
became Rector Major (1910) to the end of Fr Ziggiotti's term of
office (1965), a path marked by new ways for seeking more
vocations and a new process of religious formation to confirm
them.
To meet adequately the demands for personnel, the documents
of the Congregation hammer away incessantly at the need for the
care and perfecting of the vocations of coadjutor confreres. "From
many different parts", we read in a circular of 1920, "pour in
insistent requests for personnel, and especially for coadjutors. (...)
84 P.STELLA, Cattolicesimo..., p.426.
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I must insist on this point, because it cannot be said too often that
the progress of our agricultural and trade schools depends to a
great extent on personnel well trained from both a religious and
technical point of view".85
The following letter of 24 December of the same year is in the
same vein: "It is especially among the humble souls", wrote the
same Councillor General for Arts and Trades, then Fr Peter
Ricaldone, "educated in an environment of simple propriety,
genuine familiarity, solid piety and work marked by a serious
approach and increased in value by the self-sacrificing dedication
of those concerned, that serious vocations appear and come to
maturity".86
51
In 1921 Fr Albera intervened with his Circular on Vocations"87
where, says Fr Braido, "he gives us some rich and significant
pages,in which he homes in with discernment and precision on
the motive for the apostolic and educational mission that the
Coadjutor has in common with the priest, with the peremptory
denial of any dualism and the decisive affirmation of his qualities
as a member of an effectively educational Congregation".88 In
this letter there appears for the first time a reference to the fact
that the seeking-out and following up of such vocations is entrusted
primarily to the coadjutors themselves: "But above all, these
coadjutor vocations must be sought and cultivated by the
coadjutors themselves, not only in schools and workshops where
opportunities may be less readily available, but in times of
recreation during which they too should be among the boys, and
take a friendly part in their games and conversations. In this field
good coadjutors can exercise a more efficacious influence than
clerics and priests; in fact the most a cleric or priest can do is
85 P.RICALDONE, in ASC 24 June 1920, p,16f.
86 Idem in ASC 24 Dec.1920, p.103.
87 P.ALBERA, Circular Letter Sidle vocazioni, Turin, 15 May 1921, in ASC 4 (1921), pp.
205-207.
88 P.BRAIDO, o.c. Religiosi nuovi, p.31. It is in this circular that is clearly emphasized
the fact that coadjutors do not constitute a second order, since in the Congregation priests
and laymen "all enjoy the same rights and privileges; the character of sacred orders
certainly imposes greater obligations but priests, clerics and coadjutors all have the same
rights".
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describe to youngsters the life of a salesian coadjutor, but the
coadjutor lives the life before their eyes, offering them a model;
and we know that 'verba movent, exempla trahunt': if words can
move, it is example that draws people along...".89.
b. Period of office of Fr Philip Rinaldi (1922-1931).
The elements put forward once again in the circular of Fr 52
Albera, and especially those which were matters of principle, in
association with other phenomena of a religious, social and
economic nature, form the roots of the complex and organic work
carried out in the decade 1922-1931. Fr Rinaldi's years as Rector
Major have been called "the most fruitful and fundamental period
for a clearer and more mature idea of the coadjutor".90
This decade saw the combined work of the Councillor General
for Arts and Trades, Fr Joseph Vespignani, and the Prefect General,
Fr Peter Ricaldone, under the inspiration of Fr Philip Rinaldi, Rector
Major.
The GC12 had as its Theme V: "On the basis of our 53
Constitutions [brought into line with recent Code of Canon Law]:
to ensure a more solid religious culture and greater professional
competence for the coadjutor confreres; to investigate what other
forms of professional school could be introduced, in addition to
those commonly in use in boarding schools".
And the Councillor General for Trade Schools (Fr Vespignani)
noted in ASC 16: "The recently concluded General Chapter (...)
has pointed out once again our lack of the personnel needed to
carry out our mission in the professional and agricultural sectors;
in other words we do not know at present how we can provide
new salesian professional personnel for the provinces. While every
year we use our best efforts to gather from every college and
oratory a group of clerical aspirants, we do or obtain little with
regard to a contribution from the trade schools, a group that should
parallel the first. We must therefore commit ourselves to the
89 Ibid, p.84
90 Ibid, p.31
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utmost to fiU the gap as demanded by our very important
apostolate, and so seek out from the very beginnings of trade and
agricultural schools, from the first acceptance of pupils, from the
first classes in trade training, those artisans and agricultural trainees
who show in some way the germ of a vocation to be cultivated,
and then lead them with loving care to our objective. And indeed
to ensure that there are suitable means for forming such pupils to
a true salesian life at the level of its professional and agricultural
culture, it will be well to give thought to centres of formation
where this culture can be not only maintained but perfected. Each
one in his own circle of operations needs first to think, and then
set about approaching, informing, fostering and cultivating
individuals who show some initial hope of success. And given
the present scarcity of qualified salesian teachers in this field, who
would have to be withdrawn from the central houses of formation
to provide for the provinces, I consider it my duty to insist with
the Superiors that this scarce element, already partly formed,
should not be scattered, but that the effort should be made rather
to keep them together so as to establish schools at a higher level,
beginning with the more important provinces or assigning a
particular house for provinces of the same language, progressing
eventually to the possibility of one or more such houses in every
country. These houses would be breeding-grounds for trade­
teachers or heads of agricultural institutes".91
Fr Vespignani provides also a historical motivation for the
marked increase in both teaching and premises in the trade and
agricultural scholastic sector decided on in 1920 for the whole
Congregation.92 Many of the things he wrote in this connection
are preserved in the Salesian Central Archives.93 Although all of
91 ASC 16 (24 Oct.1922), pp.29-30.
92 Cf. circular published in ASC of 24 Dec.1920, pointing out the need to salvage a
special prerogative of salesian work: at Don Bosco's death trade-schools accounted for
34% of salesian work; 32 years later the proportion had dropped to 14%.
93 They consist in particular of notes for conferences given at the theologate in Turin
(Crocetta), a conference to coadjutors at Sampierdarena, a "History of the Salesian
Coadjutor" already referred to in the course of the present work, and some notes for a
discussion on the 2nd theme of the GC13.
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them are written in the form of brief notes, together they present
a "History of the Salesian Coadjutor". The texts we have, apart
from their undoubted merit as a first attempt at a historical
reflection on previous events, are in fact no more than a simple
concatenation of the facts that occurred while Don Bosco was
alive, and that have been normally handed down in salesian
tradition.
In reality, "The Salesian Coadjutor in the thought of Don Bosco", 54
a fundamental letter which Fr Philip Rinaldi as Rector Major
published in the ASC 40 of 1927,94 well expresses a permanent
link with salesian tradition, and especially with that of the origins,
which sees the coadjutor confreres as continuers of Don Bosco's
mission, and at the same time it brings the coadjutor's figure up
to date by applying to it the values that theological progress had
brought to light. His words seem to echo the poignant expressions
previously used by Don Bosco and Don Rua: "In the Founder's
mind", he wrote, "it is true that the priests assume with sacred
Orders greater duties and responsibilities, but all have equal rights,
priests, clerics and coadjutors; the latter in no way constitute a
lower order but are true Salesians, obliged to the same perfection
and to carry out each in his own art, trade or profession, the same
educational apostolate which forms the essence of the Salesian
Society... He wanted the coadjutor equal to himself and to his
sons who had been raised to the dignity of priests: the means,
equipment, support, goal and merits are the same for all, as is the
daily food".95
One can detect a new emphasis or line of approach, or rather
a new way of looking at the original reality: "The Salesian
Coadjutor is not a second-best to the priest, he is not the helper
or right arm of the priests who are his brothers in religion but
their equal who, as far as perfection is concerned, may precede
and outrun them as daily experience can fully confirm. (...) The
94 In ASC 40 (1927), 572-580. This important letter was written by Don Rinaldi to
mark the foundation on 17 July 1927 of the Missionary Agricultural School at Cumiana,
thanks to the donation of a large territory by the Flandinet sisters for the formation of
missionary personnel.
95 Ibid.
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Lord's call: 'Si vis perfectus esse...' is not meant only for those
who are priests, nor only for the small number of those destined
to carry out humble services in religious communities; it is
addressed also and still more to those who have a great desire to
live the religious life to the full, consecrating themselves by vow
to teach in primary and secondary schools, to assist crowds of
boys day and night, to be teachers and craft-masters in the schools
of the many arts called for by human society, and in the agricultural
schools which prepare skilled personnel destined to teach others
the profession rendered noble by Jesus in his parables, when he
did not hesitate to call it the very profession of his heavenly Father:
Pater meus agricola est".96
55
Almost as a follow-up to Fr Rinaldi's letter, the ASC of 24
October 1930 carried a simple commentary by Fr Joseph Vespignani
on the historic address of Don Bosco at S. Benigno Canavese of
1883, "for the purpose especially of drawing attention to its
formative, ascetic and religious aspects".
An important element for the formation of the salesian
coadjutor and for a greater sensitization in his regard was the
institution and organization of the Aspirantates for Coadjutors
and of the Houses for their further training after the novitiate. To
the houses of Ivrea, Foglizzo and Penango was added with all the
weight of "a work of primary importance", as Fr Rinaldi called
it,97 the house of Cumiana for aspirant coadjutors being trained to
work in the agricultural sector. Three years later, in 1930, another
munificent donation, the Count Rebaudengo Institute (Turin)
became a centre of formation in arts and trades for the missions.
In the Bernardi Semeria Institute, which had been built at Colle
Don Bosco since 1918, there was started up simultaneously an
aspirantate for training boys in agriculture and trades, and for
providing advanced courses for young salesian coadjutors already
in possession of basic qualifications.
96 Ibid.
97 Ibid, 572
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c. Period of office of Fr Peter Ricaldone (1932-1951).
The circular of Fr Ricaldone on "Novitiate" (April 1939) 56
emphasized the validity of the single novitiate for both clerical
and coadjutor novices. The letter also contains useful material for
taking stock of the concept of the salesian coadjutor at the time
and of the relationships existing within the Congregation. "In the
first place let it be said that, although can.564, $2 lays it down that
coadjutor novices should have a separate section of the novitiate,
in our Society there does not in fact exist between clerics and
coadjutors the difference found in other religious orders.
Moreover, in order definitely to make the union between our
confreres stronger and more enduring, it is better to make clerics
and coadjutors live like real brothers right from the beginning of
the novitiate, seeing that it is a fact that afterwards in our Institutes
they will be in constant contact with one another in the carrying
out of our salesian work in all its manifold branches. Any
separation in the novitiate might seem to savour of a difference of
ideals, while in actual fact the Sons of Don Bosco must stand side
by side in cooperation, working in fraternal unity for the realization
of identical aims in the one mission for all. The salesian coadjutor,
though not a priest, is and must be in the first place an educator,
and he must carry out this apostolate motivated by the same ideas
and purposes, and generally in the same field of work and side by
side with the priests and clerics who are his brothers, working
with them in the festive Oratories, in the Technical and Agricultural
Schools, on the Missions, in assisting in class and in the workshops
for the benefit of souls. (...) The practice therefore that is in use
among us excludes the necessity of applying to the religious of
our Society the ruling of can.558, where it says that 'in Orders
where there are two classes of members, the novitiate which is
made for one category is not valid for the other7; in our Society
there is only one category of confreres. The accidental diversity
that comes about from the sharing out of occupations only serves
to complete, to perfect and to reinforce the homogeneous nature
of the purpose and body of the Congregation. Moreover, article
12 of the Constitutions, speaking of the form of the Society, says
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expressly that our Society consists of ecclesiastical and lay members
who shall live together in common. (...) It is only natural, however,
that this union of clerics and coadjutors in the one novitiate should
require that in arranging the house for their formation due account
be taken of the proper training required for the different types of
coadjutors coming from technical and agricultural schools, and
from other houses and institutes. There is no need to set up true
and large workshops. (...) In general it will not be difficult to find
facilities for tailors, shoemakers, carpenters and wood-carvers; and
as time goes on the more indispensable needs of even the
mechanics and electricians can be met. For all of them, and
particularly for those who were pupils in literary subjects, time
and opportunity can be given for exercise in drawing and
draughtsmanship. Those destined for agriculture can be given
facilities for working in the kitchen garden and on any farms that
may be attached to the house. The other coadjutors can always
give an efficacious hand in domestic duties about the house".98
Although the decision was made to have a single novitiate the
arrangement to continue with a separate aspirantate was
considered still valid, as also was the two or three year higher
course for coadjutors who already had the basic technical
qualifications.
57
Thus the GC15 (1938) approved for an experimental period of
six years, together with the regulations for all the houses of
formation also the courses for the further professional training of
the coadjutors.99 The decision was renewed in 1947 by the GC16.
The ravages of the second world war, preceded by the civil
war in Spain (1936), accompanied by the Nazi persecution in
Poland (1939) and followed by the communist expulsions from
Peking, by the internment of over 300 Slovak Salesians (1950) and
the closing of numerous houses in Europe after the Potsdam
Conference, did not weaken the resolute purpose of Fr Ricaldone
who, even during those years of violence and martyrdom, felt
that a gradual formation programme for coadjutor confreres could
98 In ASC 93 (1939), 14-15.
99 Cf. ASC 91 (Jan.-Feb.) 1939, pp.23-24.
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not be delayed. Alongside this ideal plan there always had to
continue the practice of assigning, immediately after the novitiate,
some of the coadjutors not working in specialized professional
fields to the various communities for domestic services in the
house: linen-room superintendents, cooks, assistants to the Prefect,
or simply factotums. But the figure of the salesian coadjutor which
tended to become prominent and well known in those days, thanks
to the cultural formation given in the centres for higher technical
studies, was that of the head of a workshop, a technical teacher,
or an educator of young apprentices.
In 1948 the review "The Salesian Coadjutor" was first 58
published; it offers several points for analysis. It appeared every
three months, and one of its sections of particular importance was
entitled: "Vocation and vocations".100 It contained interventions,
contributions and reflections on the identity and role of the lay
Salesian. Reading through the issues of successive years it is easy
to detect a change in approach and content from the early numbers
in which there is a more or less continual reference to the origins
and the thoughts of Don Bosco and Don Rinaldi, to those of the
period 1954-1957 where the insistence is on the "novelty" of the
vocation, on the "apostolate", and on "technical preparation". 101
In 1950 the then Councillor General for the Trade Schools, Fr 59
Anthony Candela, presented in the General congress on states of
perfection held in Rome that year, a report on the Salesian Coadjutor.
In this are clearly set out the juridical, historical, religious and
pedagogical sources which, in his opinion, give rise to the figure
of the lay salesian religious, or even the "salesian in lay attire".102
Fr Braido includes this contribution in his collection of "official"
texts on the salesian coadjutor, giving various reasons. We
100 In the ten years under consideration, from 1948 to 1957, the following sections
appear regularly: Per la Madonna; La parola del Papa; Su argomenti vari; Vocazione e vocazioni;
Giornata del Coadiutore; Oratorio e catechismo; La pagina professionale; La pagina sociale; Profili;
Mostre e convegni; Notiziario e corrispondenza; Asterischi.
101 Cf. e.g. the article: La vocazione del coadiutore salesiano (Nov.- Dec.1954); L'apostolo
dei tempi nuovi (Jan.- Feb.1955) 6; Coadiutori sacerdoti e coadiutori operai (Jan.- Feb.1956) 7;
L'apostolato del coadiutore nelle missioni (Nov.- Dec.1956) 103; Preparazione tecnica del coadiutore
(Nov.- Dec.1956) 112; Il coadiutore lavoratore ed apostolo (Mar.- Apr.1957) 29-49, (July -
Aug.1957) 67, (Sept - Oct.1957) 90; Maestri di lavoro: un problema attuale (Sept - Oct.1957) 97.
'°2 P.BRAIDO, Religiosi nuovi, p.187. note 6.
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emphasize one in particular. The contribution, he writes, "sets
out in a clear form the best results of doctrinal tradition and salesian
practice on the matter, and may be likened to a kind of 'ordinary
magisterium' of the Congregation in this vital sector".103
It will be worth our while therefore to reproduce the more
significant passages. The salesian coadjutor is presented as "a
new figure that is beginning to appear in today7s clerical
Congregations", a religious who is at the side of the religious
priest so as to share with him, according to his condition, the
labours, responsibilities and joys of the modem apostolate".
60
The novelty of these lay religious with respect to the former
"fratres conversi" is found, in Fr Candela's opinion, in two
considerations:
"a) In the tasks entrusted to them: of these there is a great
variety and they share them with their priest confreres, except
naturally for those which require the priestly character. The flexible
structure of these Societies and the multiplicity of their activities
offer to laymen a vast field of apostolate. While the less
intellectually endowed sanctify themselves in humble tasks in the
individual houses, those who are teachers do so in the classroom,
from elementary to university level; the teachers of arts and trades
in their schools and workshops, in every trade and specialized
branch; agricultural experts in the fields; others in the Festive
Oratories, as assistants, organizers of Catholic Action groups,
sporting and artistic units and others of a similar nature. And all
this not only in developed countries but also on the missions.
"b) In their number. The multiple objectives to which these
Societies direct their efforts naturally call for a large number of
evangelical workers even though they be not priests. In the old
kind of convent a few "fratres conversi" may be sufficient to ensure
that the domestic work of the community is taken care of. But
here on the other hand there is a need to open the way of perfection
to all laymen who feel called to sanctify themselves in a community
life, while carrying out all kinds of apostolate and Christian
propaganda".
103 Ibid.
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d. Period of office of Fr Renato Ziggiotti (1952-19651
The GC17, convoked in January 1952, formed a kind of 61
connecting link between the last arrangements of Fr Ricaldone104
and the first tasks of Fr Ziggiotti. Its first theme was the study of
the cultural, professional and religious formation of the salesian
coadjutor. In the ASC of October 1952 Fr Ziggiotti presents the
decisions that were made, the "directives for the course of further
training of the coadjutor confreres" and the "recommendations"
on personnel.105
All the work that had gone into an era of change, of practical
application and work of organization, came together in the
codification of all this material which in 1954 became part of the
"Regulations of the Salesian Society".106
The Congregation entered the second half of the twentieth
century declaring its increased awareness of the novelty and
essential function of the salesian coadjutor. At the beginning of
the twenty years that were to follow it was experiencing a
progressive overall annual increase of numbers of Salesians, which
reached a maximum of 21,614 professed members in 1967.
But it was precisely in those same years that there began to 62
appear, especially in western societies, the first signs of vast and
profound changes, and their repercussions were soon to be
influencing the structures and life of religious Institutes.
'°4 Died 25 Nov.1951
105 Some of these recommendations are significant and even unique: "1. Celebrate
annually the Day of the Coadjutor (...). 2. Continuity, as far as possible, in the personnel
in charge; this leads to the flourishing of vocations. 3. Foster the formation among clerics
in the studentates of Trade Groups to promote interest in artisan vocations and the problems
of the Trade Schools. 4. Let the review 'Il Salesiano Coadiutore' be promoted and if
possible published in various languages. 5. Read the life of Don Bosco to our boys, and
make known the more outstanding figures among the coadjutors. 6. Make it possible for
poor boys to be received in the Trade and Agricultural Schools. 7. Be selective in admitting
pupils, giving preference to those from large families (...). 8. Promote artisan vocations
also among the Oratory members (shop assistants, apprentices). 9. Insist that our coadjutor
confreres take the lead in fostering vocations by prayer and good example. 10. Good
coadjutor vocations can be found among-young people (and even seminarians) who have
no inclination for ecclesiastical studies but have in their heart a religious ideal and show
an ability for learning a trade."
106 Cf. edition of 1954,1st part I, section II, chap.HI: art.58-60; section IV, art.331-333.
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As far as the sector of salesian coadjutors is concerned, and
especially those assigned to the trade and agricultural schools,
there began a slow but inexorable falling off in the number of
pupils and of the work coining in from outside to purely artisan
sectors, like those of carpentry, ironwork, shoemaking, tailoring
and binding. The various possibilities for employment in industry
and the beginning of a growing automation led young apprentices
to seek openings in other directions. Changed market relations
coming into existence after the second worldwide conflict
compelled the different countries to face up without delay to the
new requirements and modify their available professional
frameworks. All this meant a revision of scholastic and workshop
structures, the revision of subjects to be taught and the
requalification of training personnel.
The salesian coadjutors were the first to bear the brunt of the
understandable repercussions of these modifications, which were
often of a radical nature.
Quite a number of them, who had always worked in a specific
sector of activity, found themselves no longer qualified, and obliged
to take up activities in sectors of apostolic and educational work
which were new, or at least different from what they had been
prepared for by their long period of training. If we keep in mind
that their average age in 1970 was 42.6 years, it is not difficult to
understand the inconvenience and imbalance caused by the
situation. The graph of the number of vocations showed a rapid
fall, with the percentage of coadjutors of all Salesians dropping
from 21% (a figure still being reached in the 1950's) to 18.35% in
1974.
12.
3 In the commitment to renewal following Vatican II.
63
At a distance of 150 years from the death of Don Bosco, the
declaration of Fr Luigi Ricceri, Rector Major from 1965-1977, which
was to become the programme for work and government, well
expresses the characteristics of the historic moment to which it
referred: "Forward with Don Bosco who lives on at the present
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day, so as to meet the demands of our time and the expectations
of the Church".107
The Congregation was then some ten years into its second
century of life and should have been capable of meeting situations
previously not faced and to some extent new and original. The
rapid changes taking place in the world, the appeals to which
they gave rise, the new conditions even within the Church itself
prompted a search for adequate guidelines. These road signs
drew their force and inspiration in the first place from the
documents of Vatican II. To remain essentially and dynamically
faithful to Don Bosco's apostolic and educational project it was
not possible to adapt old formulas, good and effective though
they had been in earlier years, but because of the unstoppable
acceleration in the speed with which ideas were changing, new
ones had to be created. The unique climate of the immediate
preparation and beginnings of the Council's work acted as a
powerful ferment within the life of the Congregation. Already
some years before 1968 when youthful unrest and expectations
were touched off by events in France, Salesians found themselves
challenged as never before in preceding General Chapters to
prepare and launch in 1965 through the GC19 their renewal and
reshaping. Among the 22 Chapter documents, the 5th bore the
title "The Salesian Coadjutor".
In the spirit of the turning-point brought about by the Council, 64
the following twenty years have seen important documents
produced on the salesian coadjutor, especially in the environment
of subsequent General Chapters. At this point we merely list
them in chronological order; they will be the subject of further
reflection in later pages.
The GC20 (1971-72) was convoked to comply with the
requirements of the 'Motu proprio' "Ecclesiae Sanctae". Prepared
as it was by two separate provincial chapters and followed by a
third, it gave rise to an intense work of sensitization of the
confreres.
107 Cf. Bolletino Salesiano, June 1965, p.164.
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From 31 August to 7 September 1975 the World Congress on the
Salesian Coadjutor took place in Rome.
The GC21 (1977-78) brought together the results of the first
period of experimentation of the renewed Constitutions. Of the
five Chapter Documents, the second has as its theme "The Salesian
Coadjutor".
The ASC 298 (Oct.- Dec. 1980) carries the important letter of
the Rector Major, Fr Egidio Viganb, on "The lay element in the
salesian community".
The GC22 (1984), as well as making a definitive revision of the
text of the Constitutions and Regulations, issued some "Practical
Directives and Deliberations", of which the 3rd refers to "The lay
component". It constitutes one of the four priorities indicated by
the Rector Major, Fr Egidio Vigano, in ASC 312 (Jan.- March 1985)
to all the Congregation.
All these events had the same purpose which was expressed
by Fr Ricceri, as he inaugurated the work of the World Congress
in the following terms: "This is the first time in the history of the
Congregation that this vital question has been taken up in full
depth and in all its aspects with complete and open freedom: The
Salesian Coadjutor, what is he and what does he want to be? In
the light of present-day reality, how does he live and feel his lay-
religious vocation in the service of the salesian mission? What are
the obstacles that hinder the realization and full development of
his vocation as 'a new apostle for a new world'?"108
***
The chapters which follow will examine the present state of
reflection on the Salesian Coadjutor who from this point will be
referred to as the Salesian Brother (cf. translator's note at the
beginning of this volume) and the overall picture of him which is
now taking shape. The purpose of this brief historical outline has
been precisely to help in the extraction from present experiences
of those forceful elements which are directly present, even though
in embryo, in the charisma of Don Bosco the Founder.
108 Acts of the World Congress of Salesian Coadjutors, Rome 1976, p.15.
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2. THE VOCATIONAL IDENTITY OF THE SALESIAN
BROTHER: SOME THEOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
2.0 PRELIMINARY
We have given a broad outline of the history of the Salesian 65
Brother. It is the story not of an idea but of a gift of the Holy
Spirit to the Church through Don Bosco. It is a gift perceived and
loved by Don Bosco himself and ever better understood and
appreciated by him as one of the riches of an original and active
community in the service of youth.
Salesian brothers have given something to the young, but from
their contact with them they have also received a gift in return,
that of being more effectively what they were before. This is
something that emerges very clearly from their history as we have
seen; they have learned from the young and the world of youth
to be more completely themselves.
It is clear from our history that every salesian vocation is a
mystery which is manifested, given, received and grows while in
contact with the situation of the young and the poor, and while
being exercised in their service. Self-sacrificing dedication to others
leads to a development of the vocation itself.
The vocational identity of the lay salesian has been
progressively redefined by the General Chapters that have followed
Vatican n and have led to a clearer vision of the figure and role
of the salesian brother: of special importance is the GC21 which
dedicated a special document to the question. The whole thought
of the Chapter was subsequently reflected in the renewed text of
the Constitutions approved by the Holy See.
The whole Congregation has been deeply involved in this far
from easy task which has been carried out following the guidelines
of Vatican n, the authoritative indications of the Rector Major,
studies by experts and, in particular, the living experience of the
lay members themselves.
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Today we have available a wealth of information. It is a
question of going into it more deeply and making it more clearly
understood, keeping in mind also the relevant reflection in the
Church which is clarifying two points in particular: 1. the many
senses and aspects of this identify, and 2. its lay and secular
components. We shall therefore turn our attention to these two
points and reflect on them more deeply.
2.1 IDENTITY: ITS MANY SENSES
A preliminary explanation of the terms we use will certainly
help our investigation and lead to a better understanding of the
delicate and complex work carried out in the Congregation over
the past twenty years to define our identity. A great deal in fact
has been said about identify in this period vis-a-vis the Church,
the Salesian Family, and in the latter our Salesian Society, salesian
priests and salesian brothers. It has been discussed in many senses,
of which some of the principal ones are indicated below.1
21.1 Quantitative and qualitative salesian identity
The salesian identify is spoken of in quantitative or numerical
terms, when questions are asked like: how many salesians are
u
the£ mcreasing or decreasing in number?, and what
about the number of salesian brothers?, what do the statistics say
about their proportional relationship to salesian priests?
..
S!JeS1tn ldentitY is spoken of in qualitative terms, on the
other hand, when questions like the following are asked: who are
we today in society and in the Church?, who are the salesian
brothers for the salesian priests and members of the Salesian
FamUy?, how are they seen by others in society and the Church?
If, as we shall see, the more important problems concern rather
the qualitative identify, those regarding the numerical aspects
1 Cf. DESRAMAUT F. Problemi di identità salesiana in DESRAMAUT-MIDALI La
vocazione salesiana, (Turin LDC 1982) 19-59.
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cannot be overlooked. Indeed in the case of salesian brothers they
reveal a panorama that can be disturbing.2
21.2 Personal and community sense of salesian identity
Salesian identity is spoken of also in a personal and in a 68
community sense. The sense is personal when there is reference to
the individual salesian considered as a member of the Congregation
and of the Salesian Family.
The sense is communal or collective when reference is to salesians
considered collectively as a body. In the Congregation relation­
ships of friendship, brotherly communion, collaboration and
solidarity, are thought of and applied as something in common,
belonging to "us" who have our own proper existence and
originality because we are welded together by the common salesian
mission and the common spirit of Don Bosco.
The text of the renewed Constitutions uses "we", thus
highlighting the communal salesian identity: the individual forms
part of the "we"; each one is a salesian not by himself but with
other salesians.
The relationships between lay and priest salesians are
constitutive elements of the identity understood in this sense. The
identity of the one group has its effect on that of the other, and
neither can be fully described and lived without a reciprocal
reference of one to the other. The presence therefore of lay salesians
in a salesian community is not accessory or something marginal.
It involves fidelity to the practical community plan of Don Bosco
and is something which touches the identity itself.3
21.3 Relational identity
The person and the group exist only in a much wider social 69
body which is the world.
2 Cf. VIGANO E, The lay element in the salesian community, in ASC 298, p.34-38; IDEM,
Report of RM. to GC22 (Rome 1983) 237f.
3 Cf. VIGANO E, Lay element...
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The traits which define the identity are intelligible only if they
form part of the tapestry of relationships which the individual or
the "we" collectively have with other persons and with the
religious universe in which we are situated.
To redefine the identity of our Society the text of the
Constitutions indicates not only its internal characteristics (the
apostolic consecration and form: C 2, 3, 4), but also the kind of
relationship with the Salesian Family (C 5) in the Church (C 6,23),
with the contemporary world (C 7) and with the religious universe
both Christian (the presence of Mary and our Protectors: C 8, 9)
and non-christian (C 7).
More precisely, the components that must be considered
include: the name and title, age, number of components, the
purpose pursued by the Congregation, its juridical structure, the
values it lives or seeks, the positive or moral laws which govern
it, the cultures in which its members live or of which they are
promoters.
We shall consider all of these.
21.4 Real and ideal identity
70
In the ensemble of relationships that constitute the qualitative
identity there is a distinction between the real identity and the
ideal identity.
The real identity is that lived and produced consciously or
spontaneously by the individual or group through the manner of
daily living or acting.
Every salesian has his identity. He lives and reveals it in his
way of working, praying and speaking, in his behaviour with his
confreres, with the young and with those with whom he comes in
contact. He may be more or less conscious of it, and become
especially aware of it in moments of difficulty and when he takes
stock of his life.
Every salesian community, local or provincial, has its identity
also. It expresses it in its daily life. It can be perceived in its daily
communal mode of living, and particularly in the various forms
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of community encounters and its external relationships in the area
in which it works.
The ideal identity is that aimed at as a goal to be attained,
because considered more perfect than the one actually being lived,
which is always defective in some way.
In redefining our identity the Constitutions have taken into
account the experience of salesians and their communities, and
hence their real, qualitative and communal identity. They have
applied the criterion of experience. But at the same time they
have sought also to define our ideal identity, so that it can conform
as closely as possible to the Gospel, the example and teaching of
Don Bosco, and the authoritative indications of the Church's
present-day magisterium.
In presenting the vocational identity of the lay salesian, we
shall refer to his real identity and especially to the ideal set out in
the Constitutions.
21.5 Institutionalized identity
The salesian is not an isolated being. He belongs to a 71
Congregation, to a communion of persons regulated by norms.
He is a member of a religious and apostolic institution.
This institutional aspect enters into the personal identity of
the individual and the collective identity of the salesians. And
this is precisely the so-called institutionalized salesian identity.
When the Constitutions and Regulations indicate the various
kinds of activities and works in which we engage as missionaries
of the young, when they describe the salesian community at
various levels and give indications and norms for the practice of
the evangelical counsels, for initial and ongoing formation, and
for the service of authority, they are in fact defining the institutional
aspects of our identity.
21.6 Expressed identity: necessity and limitations
The expressed salesian identity is the description of our real 72
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or ideal and institutionalized identity, made through statements,
pronouncements and norms.
When a salesian or a community writes or speaks of itself, its
life and activity, its relationships with others, its attitudes and
way of acting, its values and plans, it expresses its identity and
moreover does so in a spontaneous way.
But there is an authorized form of doing this, and it consists in
official statements made by acknowledged authorities like the Pope,
the Rector Major, General Chapters, and Superiors at various levels.
To do this at the present day they have recourse to the
intentions and example of Don Bosco the Founder, to tradition,
and especially to the Constitutions and Regulations which are the
approved and authoritative text in which are described the
fundamental outlines of our identity.
This kind of "authorized" discourse is indispensable and to it
belongs almost exclusively what we shall say in speaking of the
lay salesian. Nevertheless it is not a discourse to be made excluding
entirely the spontaneous description of the salesian identity.
Within its limitations, the latter often anticipates and prepares for
official pronouncements. If the confreres had not expressed and
made known their experiences and convictions, it would not have
been possible to conclude the complex work of the revision of the
Constitutions with the rich results we possess today.
We shall be careful therefore not to reduce our personal or
communal identity to the reflections we shall make on it, and
especially not to think that the identity problems it poses for priest
and lay salesians are all solved by the simple fact that they can
count on clear and distinct ideas. These are useful and even
necessary for an authentic living of the salesian vocation, but they
do not express all the varied spiritual and apostolic experience of
the Congregation, nor do they pretend to solve the often dramatic
problems they present.
21.7 The historical development of the salesian identity
73
Every discussion tends to fix the identity in a kind of snapshot.
Those who are averse to change want it to be immutable and
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seem unaware that tension between permanence and dynamism
is something vital and regulates the development of all spiritual
entities.
The identity of individuals and institutions changes with time.
At the age of fifty a person is different from what he was at
twenty: life has changed him even though his consciousness of
self remains the same. Our Congregation has a date of birth.
From that date it has gradually developed and spread throughout
the world, it has become organized in provinces and regions, it
has partly modified its juridical configuration, and has adapted
itself to different cultures and different generations of salesians.
What in fact has happened in the last thirty years, prompted by
the renewing thrust of Vatican II and the changed situations in
which we live and work, is more than evident.
This is not to be wondered at! On the contrary the
Congregation, involved as it is in historical events in continual
evolution, in order to live and make progress in its service has
had perforce to assume new cultural expressions, or readjust its
position in their regard and share or otherwise their characteristic
aspects.
Our identity therefore has a temporal dimension; it is subject to
the evolution and dynamism of history. As far as salesian brothers
are concerned, as we have already seen, this is well illustrated by
the changes and mutations that have taken place.
Our tradition has summed up this process in the expression:
"with Don Bosco and the times", while the salesian magisterium
has long preferred to speak of "dynamic fidelity".4
21.8 The sense of collective identity
In periods of vocational crisis an individual will frequently 74
question himself on the "sense" of his own life. In the years that
have followed Vatican II our Congregation has asked itself whether
the figure of the salesian brother could still have any sense in a
world so changed. Some were even resigned to its disappearance,
4 Cf. SGC, doc.2, hn.192-273.
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so little did they believe in it. It was an attitude certainly open to
criticism and was rightly denounced, but it was unfortunately
very real.5
A personal and collective identity has sense as long as its
components are consistent and meaningful for the individuals
concerned, and when its objective values are seen as credible for
others. If this consistency is lacking, if it becomes in any way
insignificant or wanting in clarity or credibility, the identity loses
all its value and goes into crisis.
The enormous amount of work done by our Congregation in
the last twenty years has been aimed at the re-establishment and
assurance for priest and lay salesians of the fact that their vocation
is relevant in today's Church in the service of the vast world of
the young, and especially the poorest of them.
2.2 SOME GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE IDENTITY OF THE
SALESIAN BROTHER: CRITERIA
75
Having now clarified the senses in which salesian identity is
spoken of nowadays, we can look at its various aspects. Some of
them are essential and determining; others are not so, but are
important none the less.
The professed objectives and values constitute without any
doubt the components which determine our vocational identity.
When the Constitutions speak of our apostolic consecration, which
includes the salesian spirit, mission, fraternal community, practice
of the evangelical counsels, and dialogue with the Lord in prayer,
the reference is to the moral and religious values in which we
believe and which nourish our life and activity.
They are vocational outlines so central and important as to
deserve separate consideration, and this we shall give them.
Here we shall concentrate on other aspects of our identity
which have an influence in various ways on the essential points
and condition them to some extent. For this reason they call for
due consideration.
5 Cf. VIGANO E, Lay element 16; IDEM, Report to GC22 237f.
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22.1 Numerical consistency and geographical distribution
The numerical consistency of salesians, priests and brothers, 76
and their geographical distribution are factors of our identity to
which the Congregation has been particularly attentive. Superiors
and General Chapters have been concerned about these points,
and have drawn from them reasons for both hope and concern,
according to the data offered by statistics. The last declaration in
this connection was made by the Rector Major to the GC22 in his
report on the state of our Society: "I must raise a cry of alarm. In
the first part (of the report) we have deliberately gone to some
length to present the statistics referring to the brothers in every
continent, and the resulting panorama is disturbing. While in the
Church the 'hour of the laity7 is often spoken of, it would seem
that male institutes of active life (ours among them) have not been
able to include this aspect in the process of renewal of their
religious communities. And we salesians, the more we address
ourselves to those to whom we have been sent, especially to the
third world, the more we feel with distress the negative impact of
the fall in the number of our brothers.
"The salesian community cannot prescind from this so
characteristic figure among our members which is one of its
constituent components. Let us list some of the grave problems
that remain open:
— in the first place, the fall in the number of brothers;
the fact that there are several provinces without brother novices;
— the persistence in many confreres, through ignorance or
prejudice, of a mentality insensitive to this urgent problem;
— a certain antagonism in some, fostered by preconceived
ideas which look at the values of the priesthood and the lay state,
beginning not from a synthesis of mutual complementarity proper
to the salesian spirit, but from general considerations that combine
to weaken the particular character of our community; [...]
— the weakening and lessening of the specific contributions
of the priestly ministry in the action of the community in
conformity with the pastoral criteria of the preventive system;
— a growing secularism in the mentality and attitude of more
than a few of our priest confreres. [...]
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"It is not so much a category of members that is in crisis but
the lay component of the community itself which is challenged
and must be rethought in fidelity to Don Bosco and the times".6
The fall in numbers is a problem, but it should not give rise
to negative attitudes marked by bitterness, pessimism and lack of
trust. It should rather prompt a renewed commitment to the task
of making known and esteemed, both within the Congregation
and in the wider area in which we work, our identity of salesian
priests and laymen, so as to give continual attention to the local
situation, its perspectives and the new possibilities opening up,
and to promote an enlightened, courageous and trustful pastoral
work for vocations.
22.2 The terms "coadjutor", "brother" and "lay salesian"
77
To choose, accept or change the name of a group is not a
matter of indifference or a mere formality. Whether we want it
or not, the name classifies an individual or group, reveals the
membership of its members in a particular cultural world and a
connected range of positive and negative values which touches
the identity itself.
We have already seen that in religious orders and congregations
which are not exclusively lay, the lay members are called by a
variety of names: 'fratres conversi', oblates, servants, brothers,
confreres, coadjutors, auxiliaries, disciples, etc. These are titles
bom in Christian contexts and recall (or recalled) to believers some
evangelical values: e.g. the 'conversi' bring conversion to mind,
the oblates self-donation, servants Christian service, brothers or
confreres religious brotherhood, coadjutors help and collaboration,
disciples evangelical discipleship.
On the other hand they were names used in specific contexts.
This meant that in addition to gospel values they also indicated
other aspects of the life and activity of lay religious, both within
6 VIGANO E, Report to GC22 237f.
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their own Institutes and in the wider setting of the Church and
society. In practice they indicated:
— the offices, simple or with varying degrees of importance,
and the roles (usually subordinate ones) of the lay religious;
— their manner of presence in community life as a separate
category or as brothers on a par with the religious priests;
— their relationship with the latter based on service, help
and equal sharing;
— their degree of formation and cultural level.
In brief, their names indicated their social, cultural, canonical
and religious status, as also their standing as a group, category or
"class".
Don Bosco, as we have seen, in designating the lay members 78
of his Congregation observed the canonical legislation of his time
and chose the name of "Coadjutor". The title was already a
problem for contemporary salesians, but he did not want it changed
in the Italian context and language.
The problem has cropped up again in the last twenty years.
In the General Chapters of the post-conciliar era there has been
fresh discussion as to whether the name "coadjutors" should be
preserved or changed.
For some, this was the name given by the founder, Don Bosco.
It carried with it values linked with our tradition and with so
many wonderful figures of lay salesians. To modify it would be
to leave ourselves open to the risk of breaking with our roots and
with the salesian and cultural heritage of our Society.
For others the name "coadjutor" poorly reflects the significance
of tradition and is entirely incomprehensible today outside our
own environments. It brings to mind too an image characterized
by a certain dependence, emargination and discrimination. This
is an image one can no longer propose to possible aspirants to the
salesian life. For this reason a change was considered not only
useful but even necessary.
In the light of these various arguments, and especially the fact
that "our Society is made up of clerics and laymen who
complement each other as brothers in living out the same
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vocation",7 the renewed Constitutions have chosen for both groups
the noun "salesian" which denotes the one vocation, to be linked
with "coadjutor" or "lay" and "presbyter" or "priest" (as adjectives),
to specify the particular vocational form.8
Translator's note: the above paragraphs are a translation of the
Italian text and therefore refer directly to the Constitutions in Italian.
The English-speaking members of the GC22, which prepared the revised
Italian text for definitive approval, decided that in order to avoid the lack
of comprehensibility referred to above, and which is still greater in English,
the word "coadjutor" would be translated as "brother" in the English
version of the Constitutions. For similar reasons the expressions “lay
salesian" and "priest salesian" are used in the present translation where
the two terms are used in apposition.
In this way was realized the desire on the one hand to be
faithful to Don Bosco's wishes, and on the other hand to harmonize
with present terminology and meet the rightful expectations of
the confreres. But the intention was above all to emphasize the
relationships of complete equality between priest and lay salesians
desired by our Founder and reiterated several times by his
successors as an original aspect of our identity.
22.3 The influence of structures
79
Structure forms part of identity; and the various kinds of
structures in the Congregation have their influence on our own
identity.
We salesians "are recognized in the Church as a clerical
religious institute of pontifical right, dedicated to apostolic works".9
This is a statement of the essential juridical outlines of our identity
in the Church.10
It should be noted that the 'clerical' character of our
Congregation should be understood technically in its specific
7 C4
8 C 45, 116, 45, 106
’ C4
,0 For an authoritative comment on this point, cf. Project of life of Salesians of Don Bosco
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canonical sense. It expresses in juridical form an aspect of the
charismatic reality. It implies in fact that the service of guidance
(i.e. of animation and government of the community which is
called as such to be the driving nucleus behind youth pastoral
work) be entrusted at the various levels to a confrere who is a
priest, qualified for the task by the grace of the priestly ministry,
personal competence and pastoral sensitivity. But the characteristic
of this service, which Don Bosco wanted and tradition confirmed
with motives, is strictly linked with a specific and positive
exploitation of the lay component. In fact in the salesian
community "clerics and laymen complement each other as brothers
in living out the same vocation", says art.4 of the Constitutions.
In it, adds art.45, "each of us is responsible for the common mission,
and participates in it with the richness of his own personal gifts
and with the lay and priestly characteristics of the one salesian
vocation".
This contribution of varied riches nourishes our family spirit
and obviates discriminatory attitudes among confreres.
Other structures have an importance in this regard which 80
should not be underrated. They are:
— operative structures: schools, oratories, parishes, centres of
higher studies, publishing houses, bookshops, mission
stations, reception centres, centres of spirituality;
— formative structures: school camps, aspirants, novitiates,
studentates, universities;
— communication structures: Acts of the General Council,
Salesian Bulletin, provincial newsletters, visits of superiors,
community meetings at local, provincial, regional and
international level, and congresses;
— government structures, such as the exercise of authority at
various levels;
— financial structures: administrative and financial offices at
various levels.
Leaving aside the government structures for the moment, it
would seem opportune to offer some reflections on the influence
exerted by the others on the individual and collective salesian
identity.
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81
The deep and rapid social and cultural changes that have taken
place in the last thirty years have sometimes called for changes of
some importance in structures of activity and formation. Their
new professional roles have required certain salesian brothers to
reach a very high level of qualification. To meet the new and
greater needs of the technical schools, publishing centres and
higher level institutes, training became necessary at university
level with the acquisition of academic degrees. On the other hand
these very requirements led to the elimination of some other
sectors. The progressive closure of certain workshops (tailoring,
shoe-making, carpentry), and of trade and agricultural schools,
compelled a certain number of salesian brothers to abandon
prestigious professional tasks which in many cases they had
practised for long years and turn to others frequently less satisfying
and for which they were less qualified. These very tasks often
rendered impossible their direct and prolonged contact with young
people; the latter in consequence could no longer meet and be in
living contact with the lay salesian way of life, with all the
significant consequences.
These phenomena led also to a certain interchange of roles:
tasks like trade teaching, direction of publishing centres, workshop
masters, which until the recent past had been the province of
salesian brothers, were taken up by salesian priests.
In short, the changes in operative structures have a definite
influence to a smaller or greater extent on the evolution of the
identity; they cause a crisis in roles and condition the flow of
vocations.
82
In the phases of initial and ongoing formation therefore it will
be necessary to give due consideration to this phenomenon for
various reasons, some of which are positive but others disturbing.
Social and cultural changes brought about by continual progress
in science and technology have caused some roles to disappear
and new ones to emerge; they call for people who have been
formed in such a way as to be open to periodic requalification, to
the assuming of new tasks and acceptance of new values without
the negative effects always associated with deep and rapid changes.
83
Today our structures are highly organized. The Constitutions.
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Regulations, the Ratio and various directories, together with the
indications provided by our secular tradition, constitute a body of
norms which give structure to our life and activity.
In addition to written norms there are also usages, customs
and practices which are not institutionalized but have an influence
nonetheless on our way of living, working and praying.
Our modified structures fulfil the purpose of leading us with
certainty to an authentic salesian life only when they are willingly
accepted and faithfully put into practice. Our identity is influenced
more by the interior acceptance of structures than by their
codification, even though for this acceptance it must necessarily
be identified as regards its values, and codified.
That our identity as priest or lay salesians is vitally affected,
positively or negatively, more by norms which are observed than
by those merely existing on paper, has been experienced - and
often suffered - in the period following Vatican n, in the extent to
which the renewed Constitutions and the deliberations of the
various General Chapters have been put into practice.
In any case, recent experience convinces us ever more that the
renovation of our structures, especially those relating to work and
formation, calls for and in fact presupposes a renewal of our
individual and communal mentality by both priests and brothers.
In the last analysis it comes down to a question of the renewal of
our identity.11
22.4 Economic and aesthetic values
Together with and in dependence on the moral and religious 84
values that are certainly central and essential and will be dealt
with later at greater length, there exist in the Congregation other
values of an economic and aesthetic kind: the useful and the
beautiful, joy and family spirit, which affect our identity perhaps
more consistently than those who are too idealistic might suppose.
” Cf. SGC 184; GC21 206; VIGANO E, Lay component, 40f; Report to GC22, 236-238.
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Economic goods play their part in the life and activity of the
members of our Society. We need only recall the importance they
assumed in Don Bosco's own life: what worry they caused him,
how much work, how many initiatives, how much correspondence
and what great trust in Providence, all with the purpose of raising
.the necessary money to maintain his boys, sustain his works and
create in them an atmosphere of joy. To leave aside this aspect of
the life of our Founder would be to render him unintelligible
from some aspects and would in any case obscure his figure as an
organizer, educator of the young and priest of divine Providence.12
Economic means are indispensable for the attainment of the
cultural, educational, pastoral, social and missionary objectives
pursued by our Congregation with its multiple works and
activities.
85
In the more distant and recent past salesian brothers have
offered (and do so still) a contribution often outstanding both as
regards their ability and industry in finding or administering these
goods, and in financing and sustaining works that are often
extremely costly.
In our present materialist culture outside observers, more or
less kindly disposed or sometimes critical in respect of religious
institutions, are particularly alert to these values. The property,
goods and chattels of an Institute can communicate a message of
poverty, of service, of sharing. On the other hand they can also
provide a counter-witness to these things. In practice they are
never indifferent; they help to give religious (be they priests or
lay) a credible image, but they can also put their identity in crisis,
together with its authenticity or force of appeal. Art.77 of the
Constitutions imposes a duty on us in this regard: "Following the
example and spirit of our Founder we accept ownership of the
means we need for our work, and we administer them in such a
way that all may realize they are being used for the service of
others. Our choice of works and their location is made in response
to the needs of those in want; the criterion for our buildings is
that they be simple and functional".
12 Cf. STELLA,P., Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale, 1815-1870, (Rome, LAS
1980).
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Orders and Congregations have also to a greater or lesser extent 86
their aesthetic values, their own architectural or artistic patrimony
of monasteries, convents, churches, schools, hospitals and houses,
characterized by their own particular style, severe and austere in
some cases, wealthy and appealing to the senses in others,
restrained and joyful in still others.
Salesian pretensions in the aesthetic sector are on the simple
side. Nevertheless they have given to the world plans for churches
and schools, illustrations and images, examples of theatrical
activity, all of which have left and are still leaving their mark on
the collective identity of the Congregation.
This patrimony is worth boasting about because it frequently
reflects popular tastes and is in harmony with them; but sometimes
it is open to criticism because insufficiently sensitive to the
architectural and iconographical forms of the countries where we
are working.
. This is an example of the many aspects of the relationship
between culture and the salesian life.
22.5 Incidence of culture on the salesian identity
Culture in effect is another of the components which play a 87
major part in the determination of our individual and collective
identity. Together with the others already mentioned, and with
which it is vitally related, it makes a big contribution to the
imprinting of the main original characteristics on the physiognomy
of the Congregation and its members.
A. Culture and cultures
The world 'culture' is usually taken to mean a collection of
ideas, beliefs, arts, usages and all the other kinds of abilities and
habitual activities proper to man as a member of society. It is the
life of a people. It includes values which animate it, the negative
values which weaken it and those which, being shared by the vast
majority of its members, unite them on the basis of a 'common
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awareness'. Factors in culture are also the forms through which
these positive or negative values are expressed and manifested:
i.e. customs, language, institutions and structures of social life,
when they are not obstructed or repressed by other dominant
cultures.
There is not just one single culture: many cultures exist; they
correspond to the variety of peoples and environments: they are
characterized by different modes of understanding life, of using
things, of self-expression and relationship with others, and
especially of attitude to the Absolute, to God. In them are to be
found elements which reveal the common human foundation and
the divine action on humanity, even before the proclamation of
the Gospel.13
B. The Church, the Congregation and cultures
88
The Church cannot ignore these cultures, even though she
does not identify herself with any of them. She needs them to
express her own faith,14 to deepen her message of salvation,15 and
to be able to make concrete decisions in her work of evangelization.
It is not difficult to understand therefore why the Church tries
to understand their elements of unity and their differences from
each other, so as to embody herself in them, assume them and
promote their purification, enrichment and transformation so as
to open them "in both continuity and discontinuity with the present
situation"16 to adherence to God and service to man.
Religious Orders and Congregations too have their particular
culture. To the extent that this depends on the Christian culture
of a specific period in history, it will be easy for the Institute
concerned to choose and display some aspects congenial to its
charism and more useful to its apostolic activity, thus becoming
a Catholic subculture.
” Cf. AG 4
14 Cf. EN 63
15 Cf. LG 13
16 EN 28
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Don Bosco and our Congregation have made their choices and
have put in circulation a salesian culture which owes much, from
so many aspects, to the Christian culture of the last century and of
our own. Their spiritual and pedagogical geniality is revealed
and expressed more in apostolic activity and in the moments of
reflection which always accompany it.
Today art.7 of the Constitutions declares: "Open to the cultural
values of the lands in which we work, we try to understand them
and make them our own, so as to incarnate in them the message
of the Gospel".
The salesian culture (or subculture) has its own places of
production, its own diffusion network, and a sufficiently complete
cultural system: place, network and system can all be identified.
C. The places of production and the diffusion network
The places where salesian culture is produced are all the centres 89
which have the task of drawing up doctrinal and operative
guidelines for those belonging to the various groups of the Salesian
Family, and hence primarily the SDB and FMA Generalates. Then
come our centres of study and formation, our publishing houses
and various kinds of schools. The need to bring about an
inculturation of the Gospel in line with our charism will be satisfied
to the extent that these centres of cultural elaboration, distributed
in various contexts and competent in a salesian and scientific sense,
exist and function efficiently and well.
Along with these production centres of the so-called "learned"
culture, there are others of due value: trade and technical schools
of various kinds; oratories and youth centres which gave rise in
the past and do so still (especially through the work of lay
salesians) to a "culture of work", characterized by solidarity,
sharing and professional attitudes; and a "popular culture" which
has now been strongly revalued.
The diffusion network of the salesian culture is constituted by 90
the means of communication it uses: the press from the time of
Don Bosco himself, and more recently by other forms of the mass
media. Our works themselves are transmitters of culture, and for
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various reasons become instruments also for the transmission (in
more or less filtered form) of rival or simply different cultures.
One need only recall the fact that in more than a few countries
our schools are linked in various ways with study programmes
laid down by lay governments and with teaching personnel who
are not salesians, and frequently not even chosen by salesians. In
such cases there is the risk of our salesian identity and originality
being lost.
Every salesian, priest or brother, is to some degree both a
receiver and transmitter. To the extent to which he himself has
assimilated salesian culture he spreads it in his vicinity, integrating
it with that of the environment in which he is working. The
power of these transmitters varies from one salesian to another.
A lay or priest salesian who has lost or gravely impaired his own
identity becomes a blocked channel of communication, with all
the consequences we know to follow in the matter of pastoral and
vocational formation.
D. A cultural system
91
This network endows the Church and society with a salesian
cultural system whose aspects vary from time to time, and which
deserves to be considered at least in its main outlines. The first
article of the Constitutions refers in a general way to this system.
a. A salesian history and calendar
The principal points in this salesian sacred history are well
known and generally remembered. They comprise certain
important moments in the life of Don Bosco, marked by the divine
presence and intervention. The Memoirs of the Oratory written by
Don Bosco and the Biographical Memoirs provide very clear evidence
of this.
Even if greater care is given at the present day to the assessment
of their content, it is undeniable that this salesian sacred history
has transmitted and continues to transmit events which form part
of the roots of our life and spirit.
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Like other religious Institutes, the Salesian Family too has its
own calendar, which is inserted in that of the Church and is
adapted to its own life. Beginning with the feast of All Saints it
takes up the cycle of salvation, emphasizing it with pious and
joyful moments: they are the feasts and commemorations proper
to our own calendar - encounters which mark in a prayerful
manner the principal moments of our day, month and year.
b. A salesian geography and nomenclature
The geography is concentrated around the places where our 92
Father and the other saints of his Family spent their earthly lives.
Their names, with those of the Sacred Heart and Mary Help of
Christians are titulars in various countries of works, institutions,
ecclesiastical and civil localities. Together with the titles by which
are designated various offices in the Congregation (Rector Major,
Councillors, Provincials, Rectors, Economers) they form, so to
speak, the salesian nomenclature.
c. A salesian ritualism and ethical sensitivity
The salesian tradition includes a religious ritualism derived 93
from popular local customs and then propagated throughout the
world: the sign of the cross on rising each morning; prayers before
and after work and meals; the daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament;
the recital of the Angelus three times a day; the three Hail Mary's
before getting into bed at night. In some countries local religious
customs have been added to or replaced those just listed.
Peculiar to the salesians is also a characteristic ethical sensitivity
which refers back to the doctrine of St Alphonsus; it shows a
particular delicacy in the matter of chastity, fosters an obedience
and even a personal love for the Pope and the Bishops, and sets
a particularly high value on the sacraments of the Eucharist and
Reconciliation.
d. A philosophical, theological and social consideration at the basis
of the preventive system
In the matter of philosophy and theology the salesians, 94
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although undertaking serious studies in their first formation and
going on to committed specialization, have preferred simplicity.
When serious and repeated demands have been made they have
given the common replies inspired by christian common sense of
the time. In the period following Vatican II they have made notable
progress, prompted by the renewal inculcated by the Council itself.
In any case the educational system left to them by Don Bosco as
a "precious heritage" has obliged them to take a stand from the
beginning concerning the lot of needy youth. This is true at the
present day more than ever before, because the practice of the
preventive system, which now forms part of the pedagogica!
patrimony of the Church, leads them to seek and use the results
of the human and educational sciences, and so respond to the
demands and challenges of the present time and conditions of
youth.
e. A salesian "policy"
95
By tradition the salesian policy is to respect ali authorities,
dvii and religious, and aim at making friends everywhere, without
this necessarily meaning in every case tolerance of the established
"order''. The "common good" rather than "power'' comes first,
and our commitment is to educate to sodai responsibility.
The Generai Chapters following Vatican II have shown an
updated sensitivity which, in harmony with the directives of
ecclesial teaching and the true sense of our tradition, define the
attitude of the salesian in this matter which is always difficult and
a source of problems: ''We labour in economically depressed areas
and for poor youth. We collaborate with them, educating them to
a sense of moral, professional and sodai responsibility. In this
way we contribute to the development of both people and
environment. We share in a way appropriate to religious in the
witness and commitment of the Church to justice and peace. While
not getting involved in ideologies or party politics, we reject
everything that encourages deprivation, injustice and violence.
We cooperate with ali who are trying to bui.Id a society more
worthy of man's dignity. The advancement to which we dedicate
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ourselves in the spirit of the Gospel makes tangible the love of
Christ which makes men free, and is a sign that the Kingdom of
God is among us".17
f. A salesian hagiography
The Salesian Family has available at the present day a rich 96
literature dedicated to the figure and work of the Founder, his
successors, the saints of his spiritual family, and other eminent
and even simple figures, all of them of significance.
Reference to such models of sanctity is important for our life
and activity. They bear witness to a salesian identity that has
produced successful results, in some cases canonized by the
Church.
A progressively deepening knowledge of theii lives, and more
especially their virtues, should become an irreplaceable factor in
pastoral work for vocations and in initial and ongoing formation.
E. Incidence of culture on the identity of the salesian brother
The "culture" factor has a considerable incidence on the lives 97
of salesian brothers and their relationships with salesian priests;
it can condition their contribution in various ways. In our history
the necessity was perceived, and is now fully recognized by the
Constitutions, of assuring for lay confreres an adequate humanistic,
theological and professional formation in line with their abilities
and aptitudes. This is an indispensable condition if they are to be
producers and competent diffusers of salesian culture, academic
or popular as the case may be, especially if placed at the service
of the world of work.
The crisis through which all religious Institutes, including lay
Institutes, have been passing in various ways has cultural roots
among others. It must be ascribed to the more or less deep
repercussions caused by the rapid cultural changes of recent times
on the religious and cultural identity of the various Institutes.
17 C 33
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Consequently the search for solutions cannot prescind from a
Hear diagnosis of the reality of the situation in the countries in
which we are working, and from its correct interpretation in the
light of faith. In this way it will be possible to accept and
understand the demands, appeals and in the last analysis the moral
imperatives destined to guide the making of options and practical
interventions.
2.3 FUNDAMENTAL OUTLINES OF THE IDENTITY OF THE
SALESIAN BROTHER
98
It has already been said that the objective and the moral values
constitute the aspects that most deeply characterize Our identity
as salesians, brothers or priests. We now take up these points at
greater length.
23.1 The SDB community an original one in the Salesian Family
In a description of objectives and values, the Constitutions
have made use of the language of Vatican II. They speak of Don
Bosco's charisma, of salesian vocation, apostolic consecration,
mission to youth, fraternal communion, the practice of the
evangelical counsels and the spirit of Don Bosco.
"Salesian vocational identity" is the brief formula used by our
official texts to express this rich collection of gifts. 18 Here we
touch on the deep reason underlying our existence and work,
what it is that identifies and characterizes us. If the vocational
identity becomes weak, the components so far listed become of
little value, even though appreciable in themselves. Rightly
therefore were the recent General Chapters concerned that the
Constitutions should redefine above all our vocational identity.
In carrying out this delicate work of discernment they referred
back to Don Bosco, his life and work, his spirit and, in general, his
18 GC21 171
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apostolic project. "We, the Salesians of Don Bosco", says art.2 of
the Constitutions, "form a community of the baptized. Submissive
to the Spirit we are resolved to carry out the Founder's apostolic
plan in a specific form of religious life."
This plan involves a vast movement of persons who work in 99
various ways for the salvation of the young. Forming part of it
are the various Groups who make up the Salesian Family. "Within
this family, by the will of the Founder, we have particular
responsibilities: to preserve unity of spirit and to foster dialogue
and fraternal collaboration for our mutual enrichment and greater
public effectiveness".19 Within this framework our identity is re­
expressed: "The salesians", declared the Special General Chapter
in beginning its reflection on the Salesian Family, "cannot re-think
their vocation in the Church without reference to those who share
with them in carrying out the Founder's will".20
In turn the vocational identity of the priest or lay salesian has
been defined from the starting point of his membership of the
salesian community: "The apostolic mandate which the Church
entrusts to us is taken up and put into effect in the first place by
the provincial and local communities. The members have
complementary functions and each one of their tasks is important.
They are aware that pastoral objectives are achieved through unity
and joint brotherly responsibility".21
It is in the context of the community that the lay salesian lives,
works, prays and bears witness to his vocation, accompanied in
fraternal fashion by his confreres and sharing responsibility with
them. There he reveals to himself and to others his true identity.22
A. A fraternal community
The text of the Constitutions presents in the first place our 100
collective identity as salesians.23 Within this picture it then
”c5
20 SGC 151
21 C 44
22 Cf. GC21 171
23 Cf. C 22, 23, 45, 46, 52
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identifies the characteristics proper to the lay salesian and the
priest salesian in so far as they receive their vocation from God in
view of their entrance into a community. "Each one of us", says
art.22, "is called by God to form part of the Salesian Society".
And he lives his vocation within it in the awareness of his common
dignity as a brother among brothers as Don Bosco wished and
salesian tradition has several times endorsed. "Among the
members of the Congregation", declared Don Bosco, "there is no
distinction: all are treated in the same way, whether they be
artisans, clerics or priests: we consider all of them as brothers". 24
Don Rinaldi wrote in 1927: "When Don Bosco began to think
of founding a new religious society he wanted all its members,
priests, clerics and laymen, to have the same rights and duties.
For him, although the priests assumed greater obligations and
responsibilities because of their sacred character, the rights are
equal for them, the clerics and also the brothers, who do not
constitute in any way a second order, but are true salesians obliged
to the same degree of perfection and to exercise, each in his own
profession or trade, one and the same educational apostolate which
forms the essence of the salesian society".25
In 1930 he further endorsed this vocational characteristic of
the lay salesian in the following words: "The brothers are not just
auxiliaries of the community but true and perfect religious, just as
much as are our priests; they too are educators and teachers in an
important part of our social programme".26
101
The text of the Constitutions puts forward this salesian
brotherhood as an expression of living faith and evangelical charity:
"To live and work together", says art.49, "is for us salesians a
fundamental requirement and a sure way of fulfilling our vocation.
This is why we come together in communities, where our love for
each other leads us to share all we have in a family spirit and so
create communion between person and person".
"God calls us to live in community", says the following article,
"and entrusts us with brothers to love. Brotherly love, our apostolic
24 BM 12, 121f
23 ASC 40, p.574
26 ASC 55, p.915
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mission and the practice of the evangelical counsels are the bonds
which form us into one and constantly reinforce our communion.
We thus become one heart and one soul to love and serve God,
and to help one another".
"The family spirit", art.51 now, "is the hallmark of the salesian
community and inspires every moment of its life. [...] In an
atmosphere of brotherly friendship we share our joys and sorrows,
and we are partners in our apostolic plans and experiences".
According to art.52, "the community receives each confrere 102
with an open heart. It accepts him as he is and fosters his growth
to maturity. It offers him the opportunity to use and develop his
gifts of nature and of grace. It provides for his needs and sustains
him in moments of doubt and difficulty, weariness and ill health.
[...] The confrere pledges himself to build up the community in
which he lives. He loves it despite its imperfections; [...] he gives
his own generous contribution to its life and work. He thanks
God that he is among brothers who encourage and help him".
In his community the lay salesian plays an equal part with the
salesian priest in the responsibility for the planning, realization
and revision of the community's educational and pastoral plan.27
He takes an active share in the communion of prayer, listening to
the word of God, and the celebration of the sacraments of the
Eucharist and Reconciliation.28 He is constantly animated in fidelity
to his particular vocation, and becomes with his brothers a credible
sign of the brotherhood founded on earth by Christ.29
B. An apostolic community open to secular values
According to the thought and practice of Don Bosco, the new 103
Society he had founded was to move not in the direction of the
monastic ideal of separation from the world but rather in that of
the apostolic religious ideal lived in close contact with the reality
of the young and the poorer classes.
27 Cf. C 65-66, 76-77, 79
28 Cf. C 85-95
29 C 24, 49, 52, 63
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Starting from his experience as a secular priest, Don Bosco
intended to start a vast apostolic movement aimed at the young
and the poor, immersed in and adapted to the social and cultural
reality emerging at the time. The oratory, in which he and his
first collaborators lived and worked, "was for the youngsters a
home that welcomed, a parish that evangelized, a school that
prepared them for life, and a playground where friends could
meet and enjoy themselves".30
When he set out to condense his ideas into a "rule", he wrote
also a chapter headed "Extems" in which the first article clearly
expressed the novel aspect of his project: "Any person", he wrote,
"even though living in the world in his own house and family/
can be a member of our Society, etc.".31
104
He showed a keen interest in opening his operative plan to
individuals living in a secular condition who carry out the salesian
mission while practising the evangelical counsels. Don Rinaldi
sought to realize this ideal. He formed and organized the group
of devotees of Mary Help of Christians which today has developed
into the Don Bosco Volunteers.
Our Founder later came to realize, through interior inspiration
and with the advice of Pius IX, that to attain his objective it was
indispensable to ensure a central animating nucleus with the
stability and consistency of a religious Congregation. And so he
shaped his Society, which is precisely a religious Congregation
bom of a secular apostolic experience and open to secular values.32
It had therefore to assume new characteristics with regard to
other religious Institutes; he had to find a means of adapting its
form to the demands of the nascent civil society. And so the
family style of living together, the structural flexibility, attitude
towards the ownership of goods, easy adaptability, dress,
terminology to be used (house, provincial, director, assistant, etc.),
the sectors preferred for the exercise of the apostolate, close contact
with the world of work, should all be expressions in line as far as
30 C 40
31 MB 10, 889. 1308
32 Cf. VIGANO E., Lay component, 30-32
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possible with certain requirements of a society which was going
ahead and developing in a manner becoming ever more marked
by a progressive process of secularization.
The various kinds of educational and pastoral activity were of 105
their nature directed to providing a witness and service open to
the realities of the surrounding world. A characteristic spirituality
which, modelled as it was on the humanism of St Francis de Sales,
inclined the salesians to action and temporal values and helped
them to ensure that their life of union with God and the practice
of the evangelical counsels gave new energy to the task of
educating the young in view of the building of a love-based society.
To put Don Bosco's apostolic plan into effect, the salesians
had to evangelize through professional commitments which were
largely of a secular nature: teaching, social and cultural animation,
social communication, tertiary activities, domestic offices and sport.
Don Rinaldi once remarked, in a statement which has rightly 106
become famous, on this opening of the Congregation to the secular
world: "The new spirit impressed on the Constitutions by Don
Bosco, a spirit which was ahead of its time, caused many obstacles
to their approval; but he worked on, insisted, prayed and got his
boys to pray, and waited patiently for fifteen years, allowing in
his Constitutions only those changes that could be reconciled with
their modem character, flexible and easily adaptable to all times
and places. He had envisaged a pious society which, although a
true religious congregation, would not have the latter's traditional
external appearance: it was enough for him that there be in it the
religious spirit, the one factor of perfection being the evangelical
counsels; for the rest he was sure he could adapt to the
requirements of the times. This flexibility in adapting to all forms
of good continually arising in humanity is the spirit proper to our
Constitutions, and on the day in which we introduced some change
contrary to this spirit, our pious Society would be finished".33
In this Congregation and in its communities, open as they are
to secular factors, the salesian brother is a characterizing presence
in virtue of his quality as a lay salesian.
35 ASC 17 (1923) 41 \\
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His is a vocational form differing in part from that of the
salesian priest but equally charismatic, says the GC21,34 because
the vocation to the salesian life as a brother is a gratuitous gift, a
charism of the Spirit. At the root of the differences between the
lay and priest salesian is not a negation - that one is not a priest,
nor the lack of an ecclesial qualification, but rather a choice in
response to a call: "the Brother has opted for a positive Christian
ideal, not determined by the sacrament of Holy Orders but
constituted by a number of values which of themselves form a
true vocational objective of high quality".35
23.2 The vocation of the salesian brother is characterized by its
lay nature
107
The salesian brothers are lay members of our Society. The lay
qualification impresses on their vocation a concrete and
complementary trait. This is the reason why side by side with the
traditional term of salesian brothers the official texts are now using
indiscriminately also the term lay salesians.
The recent General Chapters and pronouncements of Rector
Majors have helped clearly and efficaciously to clarify the kind of
lay character that marks the salesian brother because of the fact
that he is a religious, a member of a particular apostolic community.
It is a complex argument which has delicate implications for
the present and future of all members. We give it ample space
because of its interest and its urgent charismatic and historical
importance. We shall deal with it in two parts, first with general
points about the lay state and its different kinds, and then later
we shall define the kind of lay state proper to the salesian brother.
In current civil and ecclesiastical terminology the terms "lay"
and "lay state" indicate various realities often diffpring widely
from one another and presenting a whole range of meanings, some
of them precise, some rather vague, and some quite erroneous;
34 GC21 179
33 VIGANO E., Lay component, 10

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some can be properly applied to salesian brothers, some only partly
so, and some not at ah.
To list and explain all of them in detail is beyond the scope of
the present work. Here we limit ourselves to a presentation of
those more familiar and widely known and more useful for our
present purpose.
A. "Lay" with reference to creation
When speaking of the lay state, lay values and lay mentality, 108
there is often an underlying intention and desire to respect the
autonomy of earthly affairs: "all things are endowed with their
own stability, truth, goodness, proper laws and order", because
they have been created by God and are his creatures.36
It is man's task to discover them through science, respect them,
use them and order them through work and technology "by
applying the appropriate methods of the individual sciences or
arts".37
Vatican n calls all this the "autonomy of earthly affairs", and
declares that when understood in the sense just explained it is
"entirely right to demand such autonomy, because it is not merely
required by modem man but harmonizes also with the will of the
Creator".38
A correct lay mentality therefore demands a deep professional
sense which is not always easily attained. To put it more precisely,
it is concerned with the objective reality of things; it seeks
constantly to know them even if they are complex and require
deep study, modem scientific knowledge and techniques, and
careful experimentation; it is clear and precise in describing
situations, critical in evaluating them, realistic in programming
their improvement, undisturbed about verifying their results be
they positive or negative, and courageous in making modifications;
it is generous in collaboration and has a high regard for
organization.
36 GS 36
37 Ibid.
38 Cf. GS 36
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These requirements are also a positive contribution to the
process of secularization which in varying degrees has marked
our modem and contemporary period of history.
109
Applying these principles to our own case, the fact that we are
Christians and salesians prompts us not to renounce a recognized
professional quality and competence, but rather to esteem them
the more: "It is a mistake", declares 'Gaudium et spes', "to think
that, because we have here no lasting city but seek the city which
is to come, we are entitled to shirk our earthly responsibilities;
this is to forget that by our faith we are bound all the more to
fulfil these responsibilities according to the vocation of each one".39
Created things, although having a value in themselves, have
also a necessary and irreplaceable reference to God: "For without
a creator there can be no creature. In any case, believers, no
matter what their religion, have always recognized the voice and
the revelation of God in the language of creatures".40
The actual process of secularization purifies the Christian faith
from mythical and irrational visions; it avoids opposing God to
man as though they were two antagonists representing the sacred
and profane. Between God and creatures there exists in fact a
relationship of continual creation: "God by holding all things in
existence gives them their identity".41
A correct lay mentality, enlightened by the Christian outlook,
discovers in the truth, goodness and beauty of all things the
relationship which links them to God and reflects him: it knows
that to contemplate them and use them properly stimulates a
grateful dialogue with their Creator.
110
But it must be said that the process of secularization is often
accompanied by statements that defend the radical independence
of things as though they did not depend on God and men could
dispose of them without any reference to the Creator.42 Man
himself would attain his freedom because finally liberated from
39 GS 43
90 GS 36
91 GS 21, 36
92 GS36
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God. In many environments "lay" implies not lawful autonomy
but the total independence of people, society and the sciences
from any ulterior religious reference: a kind of atheistic laicism
and secularism, springing from a degeneration of what is meant
by "lay" in the evangelical sense.
In the context of a situation like this, to have a correct lay
mentality means for the salesian brother or priest being able to
resist and oppose various forms of materialism and atheistic
laicism, or of religious indifference which are unfortunately present
in many of the sectors in which he carries out his apostolate.
B. "Lay" with reference to the Church's mission
With reference to the mission of the Church in human history ill
we speak of the "lay faithful" to distinguish them from the clergy
and religious and to indicate that "they carry out their own part
in the mission of the whole Christian people with respect to the
Church and the world".43 The term "lay" is used to emphasize
the fact that such faithful carry out the mission of the Church
while immersed in the world. This is their proper secular
characteristic about which more will be said later.
It should be noted in fact that the People of God as a whole
is "sent by Christ to the whole world to be a sign of close union
with God and of unity of the whole human race".44 Entering
therefore into this unique and universal mission of the Church is
the duty "to penetrate and perfect the temporal sphere with the
spirit of the Gospel".45
But this happens in different ways: "Certainly all the members
of the Church are sharers in this secular dimension", says Pope
John Paul n in the Exhortation 'Christifideles laici' (n.15), "but in
different ways": the lay faithful share in it in one way, secular
priests in another, members of Secular Institutes in another, and
members of Religious Congregations in yet another.
43 LG31; cf. CL 9-14
44 LG 9, 1
45 AA 5
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In this context the 'world' is taken to mean not so much creation
as the 'world of men', "the theatre of human history", marked by
man's work and by his failures and successes; "the world which
has been freed from the slavery of sin by Christ, who was crucified
and rose again in order to break the stranglehold of the evil one,
so that it might be fashioned anew according to God's design and
brought to its fulfilment".46
Let us therefore look at these modes of life and Christian
commitment in the world.
a. The "lay character" proper to the lay faithful is connected with
their "secular characteristic"
112
The laity, declares the decree of Vatican II specifically dedicated
to them, have "a special and indispensable role in the mission of
the Church".47 This is due to the secular character which is "proper
and peculiar", even though not exclusive to them. It is present
in fact, in different ways and degrees, also among the clergy and
in religious Institutes, as we shall see in due course.48
The secular character of this kind, properly called 'secularity'
and not to be confused with secularization and secularism, has a
double aspect: one is anthropological and sociological, the other
ecclesiological and vocational.
The secular character in an anthropological and sociological
sense indicates the fact of being in the world, of living in the
ordinary conditions of family and social life, and the fact of having
to fulfil temporal obligations concerning the family, health,
education, science and culture, the world of work, the professions,
industry, economy, justice, politics, relations with others, and
peace. It covers all temporal human realities with the structures
proper to them and the historical evolution in which they are
involved.49
« GS 2; cf. CL 15
47 AA 1; referring to LG 30, 33
48 Cf. LG 31; GS 43; cf. CL 15
49 Cf. LG 31; AA 2. 6-8. 11-14; AG 32; cf. CL 15
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The secular character in an ecclesiological and vocational sense 113
emphasizes the Christian commitment to ensure that these same
realities are related to God, developed according to Christ, and
constructed following the inspirations of his Gospel.50 What
characterizes the Christian secular character of the simple secular
condition common to all men is the commitment to ensuring that
relationships between members of a family or work group and
civil and social relations in general be free from human sin and
evil, and meet the gospel requirements of justice, brotherhood,
freedom and peace.
The lay faithful carry out this mission by acting with direct
responsibility from within these same structures. In this sense
they animate them like ferment in an evangelical manner,51 and
must express a spirituality closely adhering to their concrete forms
of life and activity, to their abilities and aptitudes, and to the gifts
received’ from the Spirit. Among these various forms of lay
spiritual life Vatican II makes express mention of associations
which take their inspiration from religious families, as is the case
with the Salesian Cooperators.52
The salesian brother, on the other hand, is a religious and by
his religious profession modifies his secular condition, because he
leaves his own family and insertion in the common civil and social
structures in order to enter and form part of a salesian community.
He also modifies his secular mission, because he no longer carries
it out from within secular structures as do the lay faithful, but
rather within the context of salesian works, and especially in line
with his apostolic consecration as a member of a salesian
community.
b. The consecrated lay state or secularity is proper to those who 114
profess the evangelical counsels in the world, as do the members
of Secular Institutes.53 They remain in the world and operate
from within it. They do not withdraw from their secular condition,
50 Ibid.
51 Cf. LG 31; CL 15
52 Cf. AA 4
53 PC 11
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because they choose to remain in their own families and work
from within one or other of the very many civil and social
institutions. For these reasons they remain lay and secular, and
preserve their secular character in the anthropological and
ecdesiological sense already explained.
But in virtue of a specific vocation they practise the evangelical
counsels while remaining in the world, thus becoming consecrated
lay or secular persons. They have their own theological and
juridical statute, distinct from that of religious. They do not live
in community, even though they foster relationships of communion
between the members of the Institute. They do not exercise a
"confessional" apostolate, i.e. one carried out in the name of the
Church and their own Institute, because the efficacy of their secular
type of Christian witness and action is strictly connected with a
hidden and unseen presence in society. Their practice of obedience,
poverty and chastity takes on secular characteristics adapted to
their condition and mission in the world. This is the framework
within which the Institute of the Don Bosco Volunteers finds a
place.54
The case of the salesian brother is a different one. When he
becomes a religious he modifies his secular condition and mission.
He lives and works in a religious community, takes part in the
mission it carries out in the Church's name and openly practises
the evangelical counsels according to the plan indicated in the
Constitutions. All this specifies the nature of his lay state, and if
on the one hand it imposes certain limitations, on the other it
highlights it and characterizes the associated witness and efficacy
connected with particular aspects of the salesian mission.
C. The lay state with reference to religious life
115
There are in the Church some forms of the lay state and of
secularity which are compatible with a religious vocation and can
be realized within it.
54,v. DBV Constitutions
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The lay faithful who become religious do not renounce their
lay state, understood as respect for temporal realities and a Christian
view of creation, but rather strengthen it to the extent that they
are guided and sustained in the total donation of themselves to
God. By their life and activity they testify to the fact that God
alone is the creator of all things and the Lord of humanity.
When they become religious they renew the commitment,
already made in baptism and confirmation, of taking part in the
common Christian, mission of those sent to their fellow men and
of fulfilling the priestly, prophetic and regal functions common to
all members of the People of God. The various forms of religious
life do not imply a separation from the world and its problems:
"Let no one think either", declares Vatican II, "that their
consecrated way of life alienates religious from other men or makes
them useless for human society. [...] They cooperate spiritually
with their contemporaries so that the building up of human society
may always have its foundation in the Lord, and have him as its
goal; otherwise those who build it may have laboured in vain".55
Not all lay religious live their lay and religious qualifications
in the same way, but in line with the particular characteristics of
the specific religious Institute to which they belong.
Many Institutes are in fact lay in nature: "A lay Institute is one
that is recognized as such by ecclesiastical authority because, by
its nature, character and purpose, its proper role, defined by its
founder or by lawful tradition, does not include the exercise of
sacred orders".56
Other institutes, like our own, are made up of ecclesiastics
and laymen, and it belongs especially to the lay members to realize
the lay component of their original charismatic nature.
It frequently happens that certain Institutes, both clerical and 116
lay, that engage in educational, pastoral or missionary apostolates
or for the sick, are deeply and vitally inserted in the secular reality.
They are in daily contact with the young and people of the
neighbourhood, with local families and civil institutions. But above
55 LG 46
56 CIC 58, 3
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all and directly, their intention is to confess God as the absolute
value, and bring within these contexts their witness as religious
and the spirit of their founder. But from a sociological point of
view and personally, through a particular sensitivity that they
acquire in the course of their work, they take on to some extent
in their religious life the signs of a secular physiognomy. This is
the case of the lay confreres of our Society, bom at the dawn of
the industrial civilization and wholly dedicated to the realization
of a great educational or pastoral commitment for the benefit of
the young and the poor.
23.3 Characteristics of the vocation of the salesian brother
117
For a fuller understanding of this particular characteristic of
the salesian brother, we must keep in mind also some others,
which combine to define the vocation of the lay salesian.
A. A vocation which is grafted into the Christian vocation
In harmony with the teaching of Vatican n, the GC21 states:
"The vocation of the salesian brother is a development of the
consecration conferred by the sacraments of baptism and
confirmation, by which he lives integrally the Christian values of
the People of God: sanctified and sent by God the Father for the
salvation of the world, he takes part in the mission and activity of
Christ, prophet, priest and shepherd, and thus inserts himself in
the Church's mission to proclaim the Gospel and bear witness to
it". To this end he manifests and gives value to "fundamental
Christian, orientations such as awareness of our common dignity
as children of God and brothers in Christ, of our common
responsibility in the task of building up his Mystical Body, and of
our common call to sanctity; evangelical freedom, the gift of the
Spirit; a vivid sense of belonging to the local Church, presided
over by the Bishop; a sense of renewed presence in society; Christian
solidarity, especially with the poor; sensitivity and openness to
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the 'signs of the times'; creative involvement in contemporary
problems".57
These general indications are taken up and expressed in the 118
text of our Rule of life. "The salesian vocation", says art.6 of the
Constitutions, "places us at the heart of the Church and puts us
entirely at the service of her mission". "Our love for Christ",
declares art. 13, "necessarily gives rise to our love for his Church,
the People of God, the centre of union and communion of all the
forces working for the Kingdom. We feel ourselves a living part
of her, and we cultivate in ourselves and in our communities a
renewed ecclesial awareness. This we express in an attitude of
filial loyalty to Peter's successor and to his teaching, and in our
efforts to live in communion and collaboration with the bishops,
clergy, religious and laity". "The community lives and expresses
its apostolic commitment within the particular Church", asserts
art.48; and art.7: "Our vocation calls us to be deeply united with
the world and its history". Art.19 completes this: "The salesian is
called to be a realist and to be attentive to the signs of the times,
convinced that the Lord manifests his will also through the
demands of time and place".
B. A vocation which practises a radical evangelical style of life and
activity
The salesian brother is aware that God's initiative lies at the 119
origin of his vocation. By calling him to the salesian life the
Father consecrates him by the gift of his Spirit, prompts in him a
response to the call he has received, and gives him continual
support in fulfilling his obligations.
He responds to God's loving initiative by his profession: "We
live as disciples of the Lord by the grace of the Father, who
consecrates us through the gift of his Spirit and send us out to be
apostles of the young. Through our religious profession we offer
ourselves to God in order to follow Christ and work with him in
building up the Kingdom".58
57 SGC 174
58 c 3
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The consecrating action of God embraces not just one or other
aspect of the life of the lay salesian. but his entire person and all
his activity. By his active presence the Holy Spirit inserts him into
the divine life of charity; it animates him and sustains him in the
fulfilment of his mission, in living fraternal communion and in
practising the evangelical counsels.
The response too which he gives reflects not one or other
aspect of his life but the whole of his interests. By his religious
profession he offers the whole of himself to God: his being and
his activities for the salvation of the young. He commits himself
to the salesian mission and a life of communion. In the practice
of the counsels he finds a guarantee of supernatural efficacy for
his mission and a source of brotherhood and pastoral charity, of
apostolic thrust and dynamism. The vows render him completely
available for others and commit him to Eve and work with his
confreres to bear witness to the Gospel and proclaim it to the
young.
The formula of profession well expresses these new aspects of
his being and obligations: "God my Father, you consecrated me to
yourself on the day of my baptism. In response to the Lord Jesus
your Son, who calls me to follow him more closely, and led by the
Holy Spirit who is light and strength, with complete freedom I
offer myself totally to you. I pledge myself to devote all my strength
to those to whom you will send me, especially to young people
who are poorer; to live in the Salesian Society in communion of
spirit and action with my brothers, and in this way to share in the
life and mission of your Church. And so [...] I make the vow to
live obedient, poor and chaste, according to the way of the Gospel
set out in the salesian Constitutions".59
C. A lay religious vocation
120
The salesian brothers are the lay members of our Congregation.
We now take up again a reflection begun earlier in terms of the
lay character, so as to examine it more completely and at greater
depth.
59 C 24
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a. The salesian brother lives out his lay vocation as a salesian
religious
To describe the lay dimension of the salesian brother, the SGC
goes back to the teaching of Vatican II concerning the three
functions shared by all the faithful in virtue of the sacraments of
initiation, but it reshapes them beginning from the fact that the
brother is a salesian religious and this has its effect on his lay
status. The salesian brother, says the SGC:
— "lives with the characteristics proper to religious life his
vocation as a member of the laity, seeking the kingdom of
God by engaging in temporal affairs and ordering them
according to the plan of God;
— exercises his baptismal priesthood, prophetic witness and
kingly service, and in this way truly shares in the life and
mission of Christ and of the Church;
— with the intensity that derives from his specific consecration
and by 'mandate' of the Church, and not merely as a private
individual, he fulfils the mission of spreading the Gospel,
and of sanctifying in a non-sacramental manner;
— undertakes works of charity with greater dedication within
a Congregation dedicated to the integral education of youth,
especially those in need;
— as regards the Christian renewal of the temporal order,
since he has renounced worldliness he exercises this form
of apostolate as a religious in a most efficacious manner,
educating youth to the Christian renewal of work and to
other human values."60
The present text of the Constitutions takes all this for granted.
By first outlining the salesian characteristics common to all
members of the Congregation and then dealing with the identity
of the priest salesian and lay salesian only within that context, the
intention is evidently to make it clear that the brother is first of all
a salesian religious; the awareness of having embraced a specific
form of consecrated life, the salesian form, which has the purpose
60 SGC 149
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of realizing Don Bosco's apostolic project, modifies his awareness
of being a lay Christian, and both permeates it and enlivens it.61
He is "responsible for the common mission, and participates in it
with the richness of his own personal gifts and lay characteristics".62
b. The salesian brother lives as a lay salesian his communal religious
vocation
121
The GC21 makes what was said by the SGC its own,63 but also
adds something to it. It defines the lay nature of the salesian
brother beginning from his religious vocation, but it indicates also
and especially how the lay characteristic spécifiés and gives shape
to all his religious life. It is an essential co-determining factor. He
lives as a layman the stun total of the community values which
make up the salesian vocation.64 In other words the fact of being
lay has its influence on the way in which the confrere lives and
acts as a salesian religious in communion with the other confreres.
The following are the passages which concern us more closely.
This lay nature is not to be understood negatively, as though
the only thing necessary to be a layman was not to be a priest, but
positively as "the sum total of the values that constitute a lay
Christian, conditioned by the salesian religious consecration".
Neither is the lay character confined within the limitations of
specific services or functions which the lay salesian carries out in
the setting of his own community: the lay state, says the GC21, "is
not to be understood simply as a service or a function".
It extends rather to his whole life: "The lay dimension
permeates the entire life of the brother: his salesian mission, his
life in community, his apostolic activity, his religious profession,
his life of prayer, his spiritual life - all of which are lived by him
as a salesian religious layman.
122
The point is emphasized that in virtue of this lay characteristic
"his whole existence becomes focussed into a life of witness to the
61 cf. c 2
62 C 45
“ GC21 178, quoting SGC 149
“C3
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salesian ideal with regard to his priest confreres, the people who
are in his care, and various branches of the salesian family. All
this gives to the salesian community a characteristic of its own as
envisaged by Don Bosco: the enriching presence of a lay dimension
which makes it possible to meet the world in a way that is
apostolically more efficacious".65
In particular it does not isolate the community from the
associated priestly dimension.66 The Congregation is made up of
ecclesiastics and laymen united with each other by solid bonds of
unity between the members. If individual salesians were to be
considered as being outside these mutual fraternal bonds, the
danger would arise of forming an idea of salesian life that would
be individualistic or, worse still, categorized.67
The present text of the Constitutions sums up, briefly but
efficaciously, the development of this process: "The salesian
brother brings to every field of education and pastoral activity the
specific qualities of his lay status, which makes him in a particular
way a witness to God's Kingdom in the world, close as he is to
the young and to the realities of working life".68
D. A vocation at the service of the salesian mission
For the realization of his project of life and apostolic activity, 123
Don Bosco considered the contribution of the lay religious as being
very necessary.
He wanted the Society of St Francis de Sales to be a union of
"priests, clerics and laymen - artisans especially - who wish to
work together, trying to help one another and others spiritually".69
In shaping the Society Don Bosco laid it down that it be
composed not of ecclesiastics alone nor of laymen alone, but of
both of these united in a single communion of life and work.
65 GC21 178
66 Ibid.
67 Ibid.
68 C 45.
" BM 12, 121
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Faithful to this intention, art.4 of the Constitutions says: "Our
Society is made up of clerics and laymen who complement each
other as .brothers in living out the same vocation".
Every salesian, layman or priest, participates in the mission
entrusted to the community and shares the responsibility for its
realization. "The apostolic mandate is taken up and put into effect
in the first place by the provincial and local communities. The
members have complementary functions and each one of their
tasks is important".70 Art. 175 emphasizes the point: "The local
community is made up of confreres [...] who in unity of spirit
under the authority of the superior share responsibility as they
carry out their apostolic mission". And art.45 further specifies:
"Each of us is responsible for the common mission, and participates
in it with the richness of his own personal gifts and with the lay
and priestly characteristics of the one salesian vocation".
E. A salesian vocation which is concrete and complete
124
God calls each one by name and for a particular mission to be
carried out among his people at a determined moment in history.
The mission of the salesian brother, like that of the salesian
priest, is a call that God gives to the individual and makes him
what he is. "Each one of us", says art.22 of the Constitutions, "is
called by God to form part of the Salesian Society; because of this
God gives him personal gifts".
The call is not a generic one; it is specific: each one is called
to be concretely a priest salesian or a lay salesian. To realize his
apostolic project Don Bosco in fact founded a congregation "made
up of clerics and laymen". This is the form of our Society. It is
composed (art.4) of clerics and laymen who complement each
other as brothers in living out the same vocation.
Without any doubt each one always discovers his own concrete
vocation through a process of progressive discernment. Vocational
and pastoral work and the initial formation period are designed
to accompany this process.
70 C 44
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Among the People of God the Holy Spirit distributes various
gifts, all of them rooted in the common Christian vocation.71 They
represent different ways of fulfilling it, adapted to the person of
each-one of the baptized. Every vocational gift or form is therefore
complete in itself. The decree of Vatican II on the consecrated life
says in this connection: "Lay religious life for men is a state for
the profession of the evangelical counsels which is complete in
itself. [...] And so this sacred Council confirms the members in
their vocation".72
Within our Congregation there is a common salesian vocation 125
lived in different ways, the way of the layman and that of the
priest. Hence there are not two vocations differing in value or
degree, i.e. with that of the priest salesian a complete one and that
of the lay salesian incomplete, or vice versa. Art.3 of the
Constitutions assures us that that the vocation of the salesian
brother includes all the elements inseparable from our salesian
apostolic consecration: the special covenant with God, the mission,
brotherly communion, practice of the evangelical counsels, and
the salesian spirit with which this consecration is lived.
Consequently the salesian brother shares in the realization of
the plan of life and activity of the community by direct and not
merely indirect title, i.e. on the basis of his particular vocation and
the specific mandate received from the Church. "The ecclesial
mandate entrusted to us by the Church"73 is rooted in the free gift
of the salesian vocation. The Church recognizes this and tries by
her intervention to bring it to fruition.
F. An original vocation
Don Rinaldi wrote that "the salesian brother is a genial creation 126
of the great heart of Don Bosco, inspired by Mary Help of
Christians".74 He insisted on this "modem and genial element"
and suggested the reasons underlying it: "The brother is not a
71 Cf. LG 7. 12
72 PC 10
73 Cf. PC 8
74 ASC 40, 574
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second-rate person, not just a helper nor the right arm of the
priests and their brothers in religion, but their equal who may
indeed precede and outstrip them in perfection, as is amply
confirmed by daily experience".75
The GC21 in analyzing this theme more deeply further declared
that "this vocation is therefore a 'specific' vocation different from
others: both in the Church because it is at the service of the salesian
mission, and in the salesian family because it is lived by a lay
religious in a community with its own characteristics bestowed
by the Founder".76
G. A meaningful vocation
127
It has been said that if an individual or group is to remain
alive and healthy, the corresponding identity must have and
express a sense which is intelligible and active.
Certainly in the case of salesian brothers who have generously
followed out their vocation, the fact of living and working with
Don Bosco has given sense to their lives. Their daily witness has
attracted others and led them too to become lay salesians.
Although perhaps little known and sometimes not well
understood, their identity has been frequently held in high regard
both within the salesian family and also in civil and ecclesiastical
circles. And this not only because, as Don Rinaldi wrote, "it is a
kind of life of perfection and apostolate [...] accessible to all kinds
of individuals",77 but also because "it covers all life's dimensions,
and offers the possibility for a full development of the
personality",78 and as far as the mission is concerned responds
fully, in different places and cultures, to their needs and especially
to those linked with the 'world of work'.79
75 Ibid.
76 GC21 173
77 ASC 40, 575-577
78 GC21 173
79 Cf. VIGANO E., Report to GC22, 322.
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2.4 ESSENTIAL RECIPROCAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
LAY AND PRIEST SALESIANS
The network of relationships within the Congregation which 128
unites brothers and priests enters into their vocational identity.
This a theme to which our General Chapters, and especially
the GC21 and GC22, have repeatedly returned.
24.1 Vocational reciprocity
Speaking of our Society, its form and its particular purpose,
art.4 of the Constitutions declares: "Our Society is made up of
clerics and laymen". In the Church it has an original physiognomy
which is both "religious and secular" at the same time, as Pius IX
said;80 it has its own specific manner of living and acting, adapted
to the new features of the present times and the kind of pastoral
and educational service it carries out. This particular form depends
precisely on the fact that it is "made up of clerics and laymen".
"It consists of clerics and laymen", declared Don Bosco in the text
of the Constitutions of 1875, "who live in common and form one
heart and one soul...".81
This is the concrete way of life in which the same vocation
was lived with Don Bosco in the first Oratory. This "experience
of the Holy Spirit'' which our Founder began and which the Church
has recognized as a "charism",82 as a gift from God, is one of the
basic elements which make the Congregation to be what it ought
to be according to God's will.
It is our communal charisma: "each one of us is called by God
to be part of the Salesian Society",83 to live in close communion
with others by virtue of the same vocation.
Because of their baptism and confirmation salesian brothers
and priests are already united with each other in ecclesial
80 BM 13, 62
81 Const. 1875, II 1
82 ET 11; MR 11
83 C 22
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communion. The salesian vocation causes the vocational form of
each one to be linked by a new title with that of the other, so that
a real vocational reciprocity exists between the two.
129
Correlation and reciprocity do not indicate subordination or
opposition, nor loss or fusion of the specific lay and priestly
characteristics. They signify rather mutual communion and
communication between salesians having their own proper
characteristics; they imply an exchange of respective values and
an equal sharing in the realization of Don Bosco's apostolic
project.84
Don Bosco's seventh successor says in this regard: "The
differences in the image and role of the confreres are not to be
considered as limitations or degrees, but as sources of riches they
share in common; there is no question of something lacking, but
rather the integrating potential to share each other's excellence; an
harmonious contribution to a unique type of religious and apostolic
community.85
24.2 Complementary brotherhood
130
Art.4 of the Constitutions specifies: clerics and laymen
"complement each other as brothers in living out the same
vocation". It is not a question of just any kind of complementary
relationship, but of a "particular kind of organic complemen­
tarity".86 It requires a balanced dosage between the lay and priestly
components, which is not fixed once and for all time but open to
a continual revision that allows for correction and opportune
adaptation to time and place.
The phrases "the same vocation" and "complement each other
as brothers" demand in general full equality among the members
in religious profession, constitutional reciprocity between clerical
and lay members, and adequate formation for this mutually
correlated way of life.
84 GC21 194
85 VIGANO E., Lay component, 7
88 GC21 196
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A. Complementarity at the level of personal awareness
For this brotherhood and complementarity based on ideal values 131
to become founded on real values, all salesians must be fully aware
and convinced in their regard. They must be ever more rooted in
their consciousness and manifested in their internal and external
attitudes.
The Rector Major has said in this connection: "Every confrere,
be he cleric or lay, if he has a true awareness of being a 'member'
will feel that he shares the responsibility for everything, bringing
to it the gift of himself and his particular vocation. Ilie priestly
and lay components do not imply the extrinsic summation of two
dimensions each belonging to groups of confreres distinct from
each other, running on parallel lines and eventually putting
together the efforts of each group, but rather a single community
which is the true recipient of the one salesian mission.
"This requires a particular formation of the personality of each
confrere, so that in the heart of each clerical salesian there is an
intimate feeling of being linked to and co-involved with the lay
dimension of the community, and in the heart of each lay salesian
in turn there is the same feeling in respect of the community's
priestly dimension. It is the salesian community in each of its
members, which bears witness to these sensitivities and carries
out undertakings which are at the same time both 'priestly' and
'lay'."87
The community must foster and develop these attitudes since
it will be this awareness, lived in its consequences, that will do
away with any "clericalist" mentality that tends to undervalue lay
contributions, or a "laicist" mentality that opposes or at least
remains aloof from priestly values, often on emotional grounds.
Impoverished mentalities of this kind are a source of tensions and
bitterness, of discrimination and lack of communication, and they
destroy our specific apostolic communion.88
87 GC22 80
88 Ibid.
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B. Complementarity at apostolic level
132
What is implied at the level of apostolic activity by the fact
that lay and priest salesians complement each other as brothers?
Art.45 of the Constitutions says: "The significant and
complementary presence of clerical and lay salesians in the
community constitutes an essential element of its make-up and of
its apostolic completeness". Consequently the community would
not be fully itself if the presence of one or other were lacking.
Don Bosco's intention was that the young should be dealt
with through activities in which they themselves take part, but
accompanied by close collaboration between lay and priest
salesians, who are brothers in the same religious community.89
Art.44 of the Constitutions takes up this same conviction: in
the provincial and local communities "the members have
complementary functions and each one of their tasks is important.
They are aware that pastoral objectives are achieved through unity
and joint brotherly responsibility". And the following article
specifies: Each one of us is responsible for the common mission,
and participates in it with the richness of his own personal gifts
and with the lay and priestly characters of the one salesian
vocation".
133
As far as the specifically lay component is concerned, the
presence of the lay salesian enriches the apostolic activity of the
community. It reminds the priest members of the values inherent
in the lay religious vocation and recalls them constantly to an
active collaboration with lay people. It also recalls to the salesian
priest the vision of an apostolic goal and ideal that is complex in
its reality, because it goes beyond priestly and catechetical activity
in the strict sense".89b
The significant and credible presence of the salesian brother
presents to the young "the values of the lay religious vocation as
an alternative to the priestly religious vocation. To those who do
not feel themselves called to the religious life it offers a more
89 Cf. Project of life of Salesians of Don Bosco, p.384
89b Cf. GC21 195
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immediate model of the Christian life, of sanctified work, and of
the lay apostolato". It provides the salesian community with a
particular apostolic incarnation in the world and a particular
presence in the Church's mission.890
24.3 Influence of reciprocity and complementarity on identity
The reciprocity and complementarity between lay and priest 134
salesians have an influence on the identity of both, as also on that
of the community and of the entire Congregation.
A. Reciprocity and complementarity characterize the identity of the
individuals
Since they are closely related to each other in the internal
affairs of the community, the salesian brother and priest mutually
characterize and influence each other. It is not possible to define
adequately the identity of the brother without reference to that of
the priest and vice versa. The crisis of identity or the changed
perspective of the one involves and affects the other to some extent.
Their spiritual strengths enrich each other, and the poverty of
spiritual life, whether lay or priestly has a negative effect on both".90
So that the salesian community may remain faithful to its
original project and its members may faithfully develop their own
characteristic physiognomy, salesian priests and brothers must
understand each other and both must be open to the understanding
of God's gift: "Thus it will be possible to realize this wonderful
exchange, in which each one remains himself but is oriented toward
the other, and both toward the ones to whom they have been sent.
A priest who does not regard his brother confrere in this light, or
who belittles his real presence and prophetic mission, is a priest
who does not have a full grasp of his own identity".91 And vice
versa.
”c Ibid.
” GC21 196
” Ibid.
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A similar uneasiness should disturb the conscience of all.92
B. Reciprocity anã complementarity characterize the Congregation and
its communities
135
"The significant and complementary presence of clerical and
lay salesians in the community constitutes an essential element of
its make-up", says Art.45 of the Constitutions. This reaffirms the
explicit will of Don Bosco, repeatedly recalled in the cotuse of our
history, concerning the form of our Society.93
The salesian brother is a "necessary factor in salesian work",
wrote Don Rinaldi.94 The GC19 declared him "a constituent
element" of the Congregation to such an extent that the latter
would no longer be what Don Bosco wanted it to be, if the brothers
no longer existed.95
The GC21 explained the underlying reasons: "The special
religious vocation of a lay salesian affects the global tone of the
Congregation, and together with the priestly dimension defines
its identity. The theme of the brother", continues the declaration
of the GC21, quoting the sixth successor of Don Bosco, "touches
the very nature of the Congregation. To ask 'what is the brother?'
is equivalent to asking 'what is the nature of the Congregation, its
mission and irs spirit?'. Because the Congregation that Don Bosco
willed and founded cannot be thought of as other than an apostolic
community of consecrated laymen and clerics. If you look closely,
the problems of the brother are the same as the problems of the
Congregation. They are our most real and most essential
problems".
"The Congregation therefore", concludes the Chapter's
declaration, "must stay faithful to the charismatic nature that Don
Bosco gave it. This must not be just a theoretical or doctrinal
fidelity, but one that is concrete and historical. In other words, it
must not merely be said that it is both clerical and lay but it must
92 Ibid.
93 C 4
94 ASC (1927), p.621
95 GC19, p.65
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really be so, in a clear visible manner, as shown in its attitude, in
its life and external manifestations. [...] Perhaps it should also be
added that when in some provinces the proportion of brothers to
priests is seriously compromised, then in those places at least we
no longer give a complete and exact witness of what we are
charismatically" ,96
The seventh successor of Don Bosco came back on these same
points in his letter (already quoted) on the "Lay element in the
salesian community", and in his various interventions in the
GC22.97 "It is not simply a case", he said, "of this or that confrere
arbitrarily, independently and haphazardly preferring the ministry
or things temporal; no, it is a matter involving the salesian
community as a vital organism, i.e. the Congregation as such,
which has of its essence a peculiar and simultaneous sense of both
the priestly consecration and the lay dimension, each imbuing the
other and forming together a unique life of communion".98
The various reasons set out above explain the Rector Major's
"cry of alarm" at the GC22.99
24.4 Participation in the life and government of the Congregation
The structures of animation and government influence the 136
identity of both individual and group. Now that we have clarified
the relationship of reciprocity and complementarity between lay
and priest salesians in the community and in the Congregation,
we can decipher and better understand on the one hand the
responsibility of lay salesians in the structures of animation and
government, and on the other the service of the salesian priest
who is the community's superior.
96 GC21 197-198
97 Cf. VIGANO E., Lay component; Report to GC22 320-322; GC22 79-82
98 VIGANO E., Lay component, 15
99 VIGANO E., Report to GC22, 322; GC22 81
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A. The responsibility of the salesian brother in the structures of animation
and government
Our history manifests the rich and varied contribution made
by salesian brothers to the life of the community, by their presence
in roles of direct responsibility and in organisms of animation and
government at all levels.100
At local level they fill offices of responsibility in both the
religious and the educative community: we can find the brother
as the principal of a school, head of a workshop, technical director,
director of a publishing house, treasurer, etc., and as a member of
the local council.101
At provincial level he may take part in all the province's
structures of animation: consultant groups, secretariats, etc.; he
can be a member of the provincial council,102 and a delegate to the
provincial chapter.103
At world level he can be a member of the General Chapter,104
and be elected as a member of the General Council of the Congre­
gation.105
He thus makes a contribution which is not only responsible
and effective, but also correlated and organic,106 to the animation
of the fraternal and apostolic community with a true authority
founded on the principles of participation, subsidiarity and
decentralization.107
This authority he exercises "in imitation of Christ and in his
name according to the spirit of Don Bosco as a service to brothers
for discerning and fulfilling the Father's will.108
>
»» Cf. GC21 192
>
<” Cf. C 44, 45, 51, 66, 176, 178-179
102 Cf. C 161, 163-166, 169
’°3 Cf. C 170-174
104 Cf. C 145-151
105 Cf. C 141
106 Cf. C 44, 45, 51, 66
107 Cf. C 120, 122-124
108 Cf. C 121
126

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B. The service of the salesian superior as a priest
The service of the salesian superior is conceived and carried 137
out in the context of the fundamental reciprocity between lay and
priest salesians. Its purpose is to strengthen these relationships in
harmony with the specific kind of formally pastoral mission
assigned to the community.
It is a question of a service which our tradition entrusts, as
stated in art. 121 of the Constitutions, to a priest confrere who "by
the grace of his priestly ministry and pastoral experience sustains
and directs the spirit and activity of his brothers".109 All members,
of both groups, need him and his ministry.
This should ensure the pastoral aspect of our activity and
works: not only the aspect common to all the faithful in so far as
they are active elements in the Church's mission, but also the
specific aspect which is linked with the exercise of the priestly
ministry. "Every community is called, in fact, to be a kind of
'mission station' for young people. The one who guides the
community must have the discernment and sensitivity of a
'shepherd', so as to give to the common mission a particular
ecclesial slant".110
2.5 APOSTOLIC ACTIVITY OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER
Reference has already been made several times to the apostolic 138
activity of the salesian brother. To complete what has been said
and in line with the particular contents of the present chapter, we
add here some elements concerning:
— the foundations of the salesian apostolate of the brother;
— the fact that his whole life must be apostolic;
— the "world of work" as the special field for his activity.
Ibid.
1
,0 Project of life of Salesians of Don Bosco, 114f; 881-883.
127

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25.1 The foundations of the apostolate of the lay salesian
139
The foundation of his apostolate is the consecration received
in baptism and confirmation. It finds its full and practical
fulfilment in the apostolic consecration of the salesian profession.
A. The common Christian vocation to the apostolate
The salesian brother is called, as are all Christians, to take part
in the Church's mission by virtue of the sacraments of baptism
and confirmation. This is a truth emphasized several times by
Vatican II. Here are some examples of the Council's declarations:
"The Church on earth is by its very nature missionary".111
"The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate
as well".112 "There is no such thing as a member that has no share
in the mission of the whole Body".113 The pastors "know that
they themselves were not established by Christ to undertake alone
the whole salvific mission of the Church to the world".114
In the sacraments of baptism and confirmation the faithful are
conformed to Christ the priest, prophet, king and Lord.
Consequently they have the right and duty to exercise an apostolic
activity that is sanctifying or cultual, prophetic and witness-bearing,
regal and contributing to the renewal of the temporal order, so
that they can be conformed to God's plan.115
B. The salesian manner of sharing in the Church's mission
140
There is a whole variety of specific vocations and hence
different ways of participating in the Church's mission and of
carrying out apostolic activity, common to all Christians.
Our apostolic consecration is the salesian manner of living the
consecration received in baptism and confirmation. Our mission
,n AG 2; v. also AG 35; LG 9, 17.
1,2 AA 2
1,3 PO 2; v. also LG 13, 17, 30, 32; AG 5, 6, 10, 35-37.
1,4 LG 30, 32
1,5 Cf. LG 10-12, 34-36; AA 2, 3.
128

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to the young and the poor is the salesian way of sharing the
mission of the Church. Our educational and pastoral service to
the young and the lower classes is the salesian way of sharing the
evangelizing action of the Church.116
The Christian who becomes a salesian brother commits himself
to carrying out the Church's mission and the three functions proper
to Christ by sharing in the realization of Don Bosco's apostolic
project as a member of a community who is both an educator and
evangelizer.
His apostolic consecration received at religious profession is
the salesian way of living his baptismal consecration and realizing
his calling to the apostolate.117
25.2 The whole life of the salesian brother is apostolic
The whole of the life and activity of the faithful Christian must 141
be apostolic, and not just some moments of it. In the same way
the whole life of the salesian brother and all he does must be
transformed into apostolate. ’
Apostolate is not reducible to certain actions, like catechesis,
preaching and the administration of the sacraments. Vatican II,
referring back to the Bible, includes in apostolate every action
aimed at ensuring that the whole world be oriented to Christ, or
in other words that those concerned live and work in communion
of faith, hope and love with God and with each other, following
the example given us by the Lord Jesus.118
Let us look briefly at two practical consequences.
The first consists in the fact that the tasks carried out by lay 142
salesians (domestic services, tertiary activities, cultural and
educational work) cannot be considered only as trades or
professions or non-sacred activities. A correct Christian mentality
cannot accept this watering down, because it would amount to
1,6 Cf. C 6, 31
1,7 Cf. ibid.
1,8 Cf. AA 2
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accepting, even unconsciously, a kind of attitude and approach
reflecting laicism. To transform them into apostolate a right
intention is not by itself sufficient. To offer the day's activities to
God is an element contributing to the good quality of an action,
but it is possible for a person to act with a right intention and at
the same time do a work badly through incompetence. Work
must be looked upon as a task entrusted to each one by the Creator,
to be performed in an honest and competent maimer and directed
to the service of other people. Professional competence remains
an important aspect of every authentic apostolate.119
143
The second consequence lies in the fact that the activities of
lay salesians are not a kind of indirect apostolate, but an active
and conscious participation in the direct apostolate of their own
community. The Gospel is proclaimed so that it may be lived,
and living the Gospel means inserting in personal relationships
the values it poses.
The salesian brother who in the fulfilment of his office sees to
it that his relationship with those working with him, or to whom
his service is directed, are marked by respect, understanding, a
keen sense of justice and sincere fraternal charity, transforms his
activity into apostolate because he lives the Gospel, bears witness
to it by deeds, and reflects it in his behaviour.
Rightly did the GC21 emphasize the need to confirm and
specify "the apostolic dimension of the work entrusted to the
brother and of his educational activity in the school scene, avoiding
the pitfall of entrusting him with only the professional training of
the students".120
25.3 The "world of work", a special field of action for lay
salesians
144
Some activities, of their nature and because of the social and
cultural environment in which they are carried out, can be more
meaningful for the salesian brother and better suited to his lay
a. GS 67, 72
120 GC21 182
130

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identity, provided he fulfils them as a salesian religious, and hence
as an active member of an educational and evangelizing
community. The GC21 in particular had a good deal to say on
this point.
"Considering the importance and incidence of the working
classes in many countries, it is clear that activities connected with
this area will certainly be the most significant apostolic field of
action for the brother in these regions, even if not exclusively
so".121
"With his usual sensitivity to the needs of the times, Don Bosco
had already emphasized that one of the distinguishing tasks of
the brother was to inject Christian values in the world of labour,
from which he himself had reaped virtues some of which are still
valid today: for instance, the spirit of competition, strict self­
discipline, the sound and enriching apologetic value of a religious
workingman in the face of a public opinion that is particularly
sensitive to the meaning of human labour".122
At the present time the concept of the "world of work" has
progressed a long way, of its nature and because of the reflections
provoked by a series of ecclesial documents, from "Rerum
novarum" of Leo X1H and "Quadragesimo anno" of Pius XI, to
"Mater et magistra" of John XXDI, "Gaudium et spes" of Vatican
n, "Populorum progressio" of Paul VI, and finally "Laborem
exercens" and "Sollicitudo rei socialis" of John Paul II.
It appears as a vast and complex phenomenon that has given
rise to numerous social categories with their own specific
characteristics, interdependent on each other and often shot
through with tensions and conflicts. It is also a source of rights
and corresponding duties. It creates new cultural models and
forges new types of humanity. It is a powerful factor in the
development of the individual. Situations of exploitation,
emargination, unemployment or employment only part-time, all
pose grave educational and pastoral problems especially in the
youth sector.
121 GC21 183
122 Ibid.
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For Christians it is an area in which they can live and give
expression to a specific spirituality. By their labour in fact the
faithful participate in the work of the Creator, follow Christ - the
"man of work", share his painful journey marked by the cross,
but sustained by the sure hope of resurrection.123
The lay salesian is a constant reminder to all the community
of the urgent responsibility towards the world of work that we
have in common.
25.4 A specific contribution to the Congregation's opening to
secularity
145
The contribution by means of which lay salesians cause our
Society to take on characteristic secular traits compatible with the
religious spirit is indeed important.
Their functions and activities, about which more will be said
later in connection with formation, are largely secular in character,
i.e. common to those usually carried out by people in the world.
The works in which they are engaged, whether salesian or non-
salesian, are prevalently temporal and mundane, e.g. technical
and trade schools, youth centres, educational and cultural works,
all of them by now widely open to the social and cultural
environment in which they are inserted.
The need also to live and work among young people implies
the acceptance of certain conditions of life proper to seculars, with
ample possibilities and opportunities for cooperation with them,
with lay collaborators, with the parents of pupils, and with the
very many clients of our numerous works.
In addition, because of the need at times to make contact with
youth and the poorer classes in their own environment so as to
get closer to them, to love them in Christ and to remedy their
needy situation by sharing their lawful aspirations for a more
humane society, lay salesians are led by this very service to live
in a secular condition and give it Christian animation.
123 Cf. e.g. LG 25-27
132

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To sum up, the secularity of salesian brothers, though
necessarily limited by the fact that they are religious, is still very
wide from other standpoints and is often much broader than is
possible for salesian priests. "There are things", said Don Bosco,
addressing brothers, "that priests and clerics cannot do and you
will do them";124 they are precisely the things that the condition
of the lay salesian allows and enables him to do.125
2.6 SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF
THE LAY SALESIAN
By the expression "spiritual life" we mean here the practical 146
way in which the believer accepts, experiences, develops and lives
the presence in him of the Holy Spirit. Understood in this way,
the spiritual life is the sum total of the interior attitudes and
external expressions and behaviour by which the Christian lives
his specific apostolic vocation in the Church and in the world, in
docility to the Lord's Spirit.
26.1 Spiritual life is equivalent to living the salesian spirit
In the Church there are many ways of living an authentic 147
spiritual life in conformity with the Gospel. For us, the sons of
Don Bosco, spiritual life is immediately linked with the salesian
spirit, i.e. the original style of life and activity lived by our Founder,
and passed on to us as a precious heritage.
It is not only a doctrine (though this it obviously is) but rather
the ensemble of attitudes and ways of acting assumed and
expressed by Don Bosco's followers as they live and work for the
realization of his apostolic project.126
The salesian brother is called to live and bear witness in the
community to an evangelical experience which corresponds to his
124 MB 16, 313
125 Cf. VIGANO E., Lay component, 17, 26, 32-34
126 Cf. C 12
133

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specific vocational form. He is called to live the salesian spirit as
a lay confrere.
In harmony with the principles of the salesian spirit, the centre
and quintessence of the spiritual life of the salesian brother is
"pastoral charity characterized by youthful dynamism ...; it is an
apostolic impetus that makes us seek souls and serve God alone".127
Drawing his inspiration from the example and teachings of
his Founder and father, he "finds in the very heart of Christ,
apostle of the Father" "the model and source" of all his spiritual
and apostolic life. He is grateful to the Father because he calls all
to salvation; he is aware of sharing in Christ's predilection for
poor youth; he is conscious of being one of God's collaborators, a
humble instrument but a necessary and efficacious one; in his
actions he makes his own the "preoccupation of the Good Shepherd
who wins hearts by gentleness and self-giving"; he has a deep-
rooted sense of human brotherhood and lives in fraternal
communion with all, following the example of the Lord Jesus.128
As he works as a lay salesian for the salvation of the young,
he "experiences the fatherhood of God and continually reminds
himself of the divine dimension of his work. [...] He cultivates
union with God, aware of the need to pray without ceasing in a
simple heart-to-heart colloquy with the living Christ and with the
Father whom he feels close at hand. He is attentive to the presence
of the Spirit".129
He carries out the apostolic mission, lives in fraternal
communion, and practises the evangelical counsels "in a single
movement of charity towards God and towards his brothers".
This is the 'da mihi animas' which characterized the life and activity
of his Founder and his manner of contemplating God; it is the
concrete way, following Don Bosco's example in which the salesian
brother meets God, who works through human beings and
manifests himself in daily events for the salvation of the human
race.130
127 c 10
128 Cf. c 11
,2’ C 12
130 C 3, 12, 19, 21, 95
134

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26.2 The salesian brother lives, as a lay salesian, the attitudes
and behaviour proper to the salesian spirit
A. He lives his salesian vocation with joy and gratitude
He is grateful to the Father for the precious gift of his vocation 148
of which he is fully conscious. He lives it with joy as a lay salesian
and considers it a value which is positive and complete, meaningful
and essential for the Congregation.131
Aware of his responsibility, he entrusts himself to the fidelity
of God who first loved him, and he daily renews his response to
the special Covenant the Lord has made with him by his religious
profession. He makes of this the whole reason of his life, his only
path to holiness.132
B. He lives in communion of spirit and action with priest salesians
Called as he is to share with his confreres who are priests in 149
carrying out the common apostolic project, and to live with them
a life of brotherhood, work and prayer, he has a sense of 'we' and
identifies himself with the life of the community.
Moved by this conviction, he commits himself to ensuring
that his spiritual life and apostolic activity are characterized by
relationships of close communion and effective collaboration with
salesian priests.133
He is careful to eliminate from his way of thinking, speaking
and acting any idea, gesture or expression that could reveal in
any way either a sense of unease or recrimination, or worse still
of resentment or aversion. He is generous in forgiving and
forgetting any slights or wrongs he may have suffered.134
He expresses in a practical manner his living sense of the
Church as a family in which all are children of the same Father,
131 V. above at 24.3
132 Cf. C 2, 14, 22, 196
133 Cf. C 16, 44, 45, 49-52
,34 Cf. C 52, 90, 91
135

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brothers in the one Lord with equal responsibility, even though
with different roles and ministries, in building up the Body of
Christ and in extending his Kingdom.135
He is aware of the original nature of his contribution, and on
this account of his need for help.136
C. He lives in the "world of work" some values of the salesian spirit
150
The "world of work" is usually the special field for his apostolic
activity. In it he comes in contact with various phenomena which
characterize that world: solidarity, concrete situations, adaptability,
and various forms of tension and conflict.137
All this enables him to acquire personal and particular
experience of certain values of the salesian spirit and to bear
witness to them in such settings: the sense of the concrete and of
urgent needs, the spirit of initiative and creativity, a critical ability,
effective solidarity, and the family spirit.138
D. He lives in close proximity to the young and the lay faithful, with
optimism, diligence and restraint
151
His lay condition and the kind of work he usually does enable
him to be close to the young and the lay faithful in characteristic
fashion.139 He practises the salesian style of relationships in an
original manner: simplicity, openness and cordiality, delicacy and
tact in dealing with others. And he cultivates the social virtues
recommended to the lay faithful by Vatican II: "uprightness, the
spirit of justice, sincerity, courtesy, strength of will, the art of
living with others, of cooperating in fraternal fashion, and of being
able to dialogue".140
135 Cf. C 4, 13, 57
136 Cf. C 44, 45, 49-51
137 V above at 25.4
138 Cf. C 18, 19, 79
139 V. above at 25.4
140 Cf. C 15-17
136

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The kind of work he does keeps him close to creation, to art
and technology, and prompts him to the practice of salesian
optimism. He knows how to perceive and make grateful use of
terrestrial values; he admires creation and in it the power God has
entrusted to man; he rejoices at progress made in science and
technology. On the other hand he is also well aware that
unfortunately such progress is not always accompanied by a
corresponding human, moral and religious development. And so
he adopts an enlightened attitude and critical approach without
giving way to pessimism, distrust or lack of effort. In meeting
difficulties and problems in his work he remains always cheerful
and undisturbed.141
Following the example of Don Bosco he "gives himself to his
mission with tireless energy, taking care to do everything with
simplicity and moderation, He knows that by his work he is
participating in the creative action of God and cooperating with
Christ in building the Kingdom. Temperance gives him the
strength to control his heart, to master himself and remain even-
tempered. He does not look for unusual penances but accepts the
daily demands and renunciations of the apostolic life. He is ready
to suffer cold and heat, hunger and thirst, weariness and disdain
whenever God's glory and the salvation of souls require if'.142
"In his daily labours he is at one with the poor who live by the
sweat of their brow, and bears witness to the human and Christian
value of work".143
E. Living and working in the salesian spirit, he celebrates the liturgy
of life
Consecrated as he is by the Spirit, the salesian brother becomes 152
a spiritual temple, shares in the priesthood of Christ and is able
to offer to God as a "spiritual sacrifice" all of himself, his work,
his apostolic initiatives, his daily toil, his spiritual and bodily solace,
and even the trials of life.144
141 Cf. c 17
142 c 18
143 C 78
144 Cf. LG 10, 34
137

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In his life and work he strives to attain that "tireless industry
made holy by prayer and union with God that should be
characteristic of the sons of St John Bosco", and so celebrate the
liturgy of his life.145
F. He lives in characteristic fashion his devotion to Mary
153
Religious profession has "the power to conform the Christian
more fully to that kind of poor and virginal life which Christ the
Lord chose for himself and which his Virgin Mother embraced
also". So asserts "Lumen gentium".146 And the Decree
"Apostolicam actuositatem" adds that the laity find in Mary the
"perfect model of their spiritual and apostolic life".147
In her are present to perfection both the religious and lay
dimensions. Imitation and harmony with her become two
requirements of the vocational form of the salesian brother. As a
son he venerates Mary as Help of Christians and Mother of the
Church, imitating the intimate apostolic relationship of Don Bosco.
26.3 The spirit of the Founder, the seat of unity
154
The two vocational forms of the lay and priest salesian, and
their consequent spirituality belong constitutionally to disciples
whom the Spirit has brought to birth for Don Bosco and his
mission.
The reality which allows salesians, both brothers and priests,
to unite at the level of reflection and life their distinct spiritualities,
the one lay and the other priestly, is the salesian spirit. The SGC
described it as "our own style of thought and feeling, of life and
activity, in putting into operation the specific vocation and the
mission which the Holy Spirit does not cease to give us".148
C 95
146 LG 46; PC25
'"AA4
148 SGC 86
138

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The salesian spirit not only embraces and informs lay and
priestly religious spirituality, but builds them into a unified project
with salesian characteristics. This uniting and specifying role was
keenly understood by Don Rinaldi, who wrote: "Our holiness
consists not so much in the kind of life embraced by salesian
profession, nor even in the imitation alone of the virtues of our
Father, but in ensuring that the salesian life we have embraced
and the imitation of Don Bosco's virtues be animated by the spirit
in which he himself lived and practised them".149
26.4 Heroic witness to lay salesian sanctity
The outlines of spiritual life presented so far are not an abstract 155
ideal. They represent values that have been lived in practice by
those salesian brothers who have been faithful to Don Bosco and
are faithful to him still.
Deserving of quotation here is an authoritative declaration of
the GC21: "When the spiritual life of the salesian leads him, in
imitation of Don Bosco, to practise charity to an heroic degree,
then we can say that he has reached the summit and becomes a
source of enrichment for the entire Congregation. We have reason
to believe that this gift has been granted to several salesian brothers.
Each one of us knows some confrere who has attained this fullness
in different places and under varied circumstances, sometimes in
the most hidden and self-sacrificing ways. Many have found a
place in the annals of the Congregation. Some of them, martyrs
for the faith or heroes of charity, have become candidates for
canonization.
"All these instances give further evidence of the charismatic
richness found in the salesian lay vocation".150
ASC 10 (1929), p.733
150 GC21 191
139

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3. THE VOCATION OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER IN
SALESIAN PASTORAL WORK FOR VOCATIONS
156
The GC22, while seeking to take stock of the situation as
regards the salesian brother, pressed also for greater practical
efficiency in both pastoral work for the fostering of vocations and
in the formation sector. God gives his gifts so that when used in
his service they may bring about an extension of his Kingdom.
History has shown us the birth and growth of a vocational
form in view of a mission; and the deeper analysis we have made
of it has revealed its originality, beauty and practical efficiency.
This gift must therefore be sought where it is to be found.
Whoever has it must recognize the fact and consciously and
deliberately develop it in himself. He must willingly set about
working so that he can identify and assimilate interiorly its
component values. Theology, pastoral work for vocations, and
formation all have a share in a task which is a specific one and at
the same time necessary, progressive and continuous.
3.1 PASTORAL WORK FOR VOCATIONS
31.1 The pastoral element in vocational work
157
Behind every invitation addressed to the young to adopt a
particular Christian life-plan lies a basic vision, not always explicitly
formulated, of vocation in general and vocational pastoral work.
It will not be necessary for our purpose to go fully into the vision
as it appears in the present thinking of the Church and the
Congregation.1
' Cf. Sviluppi della cura pastorale delle vocazioni nelle Chiese pasticolari: esperienze del
passato e programmi per l’avvenire, General theme of 2nd International Congress for Voca­
tions. Concluding document, Rome, Ed.Rogate Ergo, 1982.
* Youth Pastoral Dept. Outlines for a provincial plan for vocational pastoral work, Rome 1981.
140

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Here our argument is specific and restricted: it concerns the
lay salesian vocation. It therefore takes the general basic facts as
already known and accepted. A brief reminder of some of the
fundamental concepts of vocational pastoral work will help to set
our reflections on the right lines and give shape to the initiatives
for fostering this particular vocation. We have used the word
"pastoral", a term which makes us think automatically of the
Church. Pastoral work is in fact the action of the Church and, in
communion with the Church, of individuals and communities,
which tends to stir up faith in Christ, to form and consolidate
communities of believers, and to bring the ferment of the Gospel
into human history. In this way men become aware of the saving
presence of God in their lives, and when they respond to this
grace by their conversion they enter into communion with the
Lord and with each other.
To this end is directed the task of enabling individuals to
perceive the particular dialogue that God initiates with each of us
from the first moment of our existence and throughout our lives,
so as to incorporate us in an active way into his plan of salvation.
The Church therefore is the environment within which God's call
is felt, and where one discerns the originality of different vocations;
the place where vocations arise, are recognized, mature and become
committed in the service of the community.
In this sense the vocational apostolate is a special help and 158
assistance given by the Christian community to each of its members
and all men of good will, to enable them to discover God's plan
and realize it in their lives.2 It is therefore addressed to every
individual throughout his life, in accordance with his state and
circumstances. The response to the Lord's call cannot, in fact, be
considered as something made once and for all time; it must be
continually renewed.
But pastoral vocational work is particularly concerned with
the period of youth when, in the process of the maturing of the
personal identity of an individual, decisions are taken that mark
the course of his future existence.
2 GC21 106
141

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Vocational orientation and personal growth are so
interconnected that they cannot be adequately distinguished one
from the other. The objective of human and Christian maturing is
in fact that of enabling the individual to make free and valid
choices. For this reason the vocational apostolate is closely linked
with pastoral work for youth, i.e. with the collection of initiatives
directed to the education of young people to the faith, lived in the
ecclesial community. This is one of the definitive conclusions of
the present practice: "pastoral vocation work finds its vital space
in the field of pastoral work for youth. The latter becomes complete
• and efficacious when it is open to the vocational dimension".3
The statement is concerned less with organization than the
concept of vocational pastoral work, and is to be understood in a
double sense: in the sense that every vocational development is
founded on a progressive spiritual maturing of the individual as
he places God and his will at the centre of his own experience:
"The vocational apostolate is the ministry offered to adolescents
and young people in the formation of their Christian identity-
showing respect for the action of the Holy Spirit which reveals
itself throughout the individual's life, within the unique situation
of his personal and social history";4 and in the sense that in every
pastoral activity directed towards the young must be inserted
explicit and systematic vocational guidance as an essential
dimension of our apostolate.5
31.2 Fundamental signposts for the vocational apostolate
159
This activity of the Christian community is animated from
within by certain convictions.
The first regards the very nature of the vocation. It is, and
must be thought of as such in connection with its practical and
operative effects, a gratuitous initiative on the part of God who
reveals himself in the individual conscience as a personal call of
love.
3 Sviluppi..., o.c. n.42
< GC21 112
5 GC21 113
142

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This is what appears from Scripture and especially from the
Gospels: "Come and follow me"; "You have not chosen me, but
I have chosen you". Christ calls people to "stay with him";6 he
calls them to a vibrant knowledge of his mystery and a total
adherence to his person, extending to a radical choice of his love.
At the same time he invites them to collaborate in the salvation of
men through a mission. "And he called the twelve together ...
and he sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal".7
This consideration of vocation takes us back to the underlying 160
motivations which are at the foundation of its authenticity; they
must be already present, at least in embryo, in the invitation itself
and be purified during the follow-up process. It also provides the
fundamental criterion for discerning the ways of a true vocational
apostolate, and to single out the attributes that must characterize
vocational promoters. It must all be seen as a "grace", a mysterious
encounter between God and the young person in a setting of
freedom.
From this first conviction there follows a second: the person
called carries the main, and at certain times the exclusive,
responsibility for the process and decision concerning vocation.
Unless the latter matures in his heart in freedom and generosity
it will lead to an incurable inconsistency in his relationship with
God and in his own life.
The discovery and acceptance of God's initiative, in fact, is
realized through a deep exchange in which the subject must listen
and make a personal response. The vocation, which is a divine
initiative and call, emerges and develops within the texture of
life's experiences through the dynamism and free choice of the
individual. It is deeply rooted in his history. Its manifestation in
his conscience and its subsequent clarification are favoured or
impeded by everything that serves to define him in the face of
God and his grace.
From this follow two fundamental pedagogical indications.
6 Cf. Jn 1, 39
7 Cf. Lk 9, 1-2
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Conditions must be created around the person that favour listening
and docility. And at the same time there must be a guarantee that
decisions made are personal, internal and properly motivated in
proportion to the age of the individual concerned.
To these two indications responds vocational direction, which
must make suggestions and at the same time keep in mind that
the principal role is played by the subject.
161
The process must be understood as an interior development
of the subject who verifies his own availability, faces up to the
signs of God's call, and accepts the obligations that make a response
possible. It is he who takes the decision about which way to go.
The animator or promoter helps the process along by providing
support and guidance. He does not take the place of the subject
and is careful not to make the latter dependent on his decisions.
His task is to foster the freedom which must overcome conditioning
from both the individual and the environment, the generosity that
must extend beyond immediate interests albeit lawful ones, and
the intelligence which must be able to grasp the horizons of God
and learn to interpret the relevant signs.
And so there emerges a third broad and specific element which
is indispensable in all vocational apostolate: the need and tasks of
"mediations", i.e. of those communities or persons whose purpose
it is to help the individual in perceiving the call of God and
responding to it. To everyone is given in embryo from birth a
collection of qualities and aptitudes to be brought to fruition.
Environments, persons, teachings and activities of various kinds
develop these germs, revealing new possibilities for the expression
of love and opening up horizons for commitment.
Pastoral work for vocations consists in providing efficacious
mediation at the right time. Some stimuli can come only from the
community, others from those charged with such work or
particularly gifted in this field. These are in fact two
complementary kinds of mediation, both of which are necessary.
To concentrate on "seeking" vocations by individual promoters
without attending to the witness and environment of the
community or the candidate's relationship with the community,
provokes credibility crises.
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On the other hand, to exdude any personal invitation and
expect everything to come from the environment or from interior
inspiration is to misunderstand the laws of incarnation and
endanger the flourishing of many good dispositions.
Christ gives us the example of vocational mediation. To the
fascination of his human person, he added a direct appeal made
to individuals.
31.3 The tasks in the vocational apostolate
After clarifying the fundamental prindples from which pastoral 162
work for vocations draws its inspiration, we must now set out its
tasks. These can be summed up in the four words: pray, proclaim,
call, welcome.
"Prayer is not a means for receiving the gift of divine calls but
the essential means commanded by Christ".8 The example of Jesus
and the practice of the Church, expressed today in authoritative
invitations at world level (cf. the World Day of Vocations) and in
a whole variety of group initiatives, put prayer in the first place
as a means for obtaining vocations, as an experience provoking
their materialization, and as a step towards their maturing.
The proclamation of vocation takes place through witness and
the word.9 It consists in presenting in practical form, rather than
by the mere provision of information, Christ's great and universal
call to life and faith and, linked with this, the further call to a
greater love and to sanctity. A progressive catechesis will
demonstrate the gifts of the Kingdom which become riches of the
community: the priestly ministry, the radical 'sequela Christi',
secular consecration, the missionary possibility. It also shows their
mutual relationship for the building of the community, so that
they be not understood as individual privileges. They bring an
awareness of the world's needs, through which God calls others
to share his love for man, and of the different opportunities for
service that exist in the Church.
8 Sviluppi..., o.c. n.23
’ Ibid, n.25-
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163
The document of the second World Congress on vocations
speaks of "evangelizing vocations" and explains the meaning of
the expression as follows: "A catechesis is needed which is first of
all able to guide believers (and especially the young) in seeing the
Christian life as a response to God's call. The whole of catechesis
thus acquires a vocational dimension. Specific catechesis in turn
highlights the particular character of vocations to the priesthood,
diaconate, religious life, the missions, and consecrated secular life,
so that the believing community may understand their importance
for the Kingdom of God".10
But proclamation is not enough. There are times when the
promoter or animator must provide the personal call, and will do
so when he sees that the necessary conditions exist in the subject.
Failure to open a horizon of love and commitment through
excessive caution, or through fear of becoming implicated in an
individual's future with its uncertain aspects, is to deprive the
young person of a possibility to which he has a right.
Because of this, a period of excessive caution has given way at
the present day to talk of "regaining the courage to give a call".
The GC21 expresses this as follows: "To respect God's plan for
each person means that, besides leading everyone to a knowledge
of himself and of the human and ecclesial situation of the
community in the light of faith, we should have the courage of
total honesty and integrity to help him to be open in generous
availability to all vocations in the Church... A Christian youth
may not refuse to consider the hypothesis of a consecrated life
and of the priesthood. Not to propose to him such possibilities
would limit rather than respect his freedom.11
Finally there is welcome and follow-up. "It is a service of
listening, of sympathetic understanding, of hope...".12 The
fulfilment of this obligation requires in animators and promoters
respect for the freedom of the young person, doctrinal knowledge,
practical experience of discernment and spiritual direction, and
attention to the signs indicative of various vocations.
10 Ibid, n.15
" GC21 113
12 Sviluppi..., o.c. n.131
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Welcoming acceptance is expressed in solidarity by all who
come in contact with a vocation, even though the process of follow­
up be subsequently carried out by particular individuals or
communities.
31.4 The process of vocational promotion
Through these tasks pastoral work helps young people to 164
follow a process that is typical in vocational maturing. ¿1 the first
place it creates in the youngster the desire and taste for a committed
form of Christian life and disposes him to listen to God's voice. It
means the joyful acceptance of the reality of God in his own life
as a dominant relationship and determining presence.
When the candidate begins to feel attracted towards a broad
area of values, models and activity, the promoter assists with
information and experiences.
When his attention becomes concentrated on a particular kind
of life or person, which he sees as corresponding to his own
existential expectations, the task of pastoral work is to accompany
him in his first steps towards an initial decision.
In this process a part of the greatest importance is the
discernment of the signs which make God's call perceptible in the
one who receives it and by those who, in the Church's name,
must judge of its presence and authenticity.
The main such signs are: interest, the absence of absolute or
prudent counter-indications, the general dispositions which
guarantee the development of a religious personality and the
specific ones for the type of life to which he aspires, and the
motivations which need to be sifted to assess their validity and
authenticity.
As well as making a judgement on the objective existence of
the signs, it is part of vocational work to follow up the free response
to the call on the part of the subject. This is something dynamic
and progressive. It may suffer arrest and regression. It is on this
dynamism more than on natural aptitudes, valuable though they
may be, that spiritual formation and openness to grace exert an
influence.
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3.2 THE VOCATIONAL APOSTOLATE OF THE SALESIAN
BROTHER
165
Keeping in mind the above-mentioned criteria, which serve as
guidelines for the whole of pastoral work for vocations, we can
explain in greater detail some particular aspects proper to the
promoting of the lay salesian vocation. They are concerned
especially with two tasks or phases: the proposal or suggestion,
and the follow-up process.
There is a certain difficulty in presenting to young people the
religious, spiritual and apostolic physiognomy of the lay salesian
in all its richness, in a manner which they can understand and
may meet their aspirations.
Various congresses on the vocation of the lay religious have
sought to specify the causes for this: the somewhat obscure role
played by the lay faithful in the Christian community, the scarcity
of models with whom to identify, the "clerical" mentality of some
religious communities, the lack of distinctive signs about the lay
religious, a history which at times may have made him look like
a secondary figure in religious families predominantly priestly in
character, the line of approach in the vocational apostolate, and
the natural tendency of young people to link vocation with
religious service to people.
In the Congregation suitable ways are being sought to help
youngsters to understand the original nature and splendour of
this vocation.
32.1 Talk about Don Bosco
166
The first of these ways is to tell young people the story of Don
Bosco, of his intuitions, the founding of the salesian Congregation
beginning from an original experience of pastoral charity. Love
for youth living in situations of poverty led Don Bosco to concern
himself about every aspect of their lives by means of a project for
their overall advancement. He thought of their eternal salvation
in the first place, but he saw this as linked with immediate
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problems of their earthly existence, such as work, education, and
a place to live.
When his work became extended to poor people in general he
maintained the same characteristics: together with the priestly
service of preaching and religious care, he took to heart such
problems as emigration, the spreading of Christian culture through
the printed word, and the organization of collaboration for social
objectives.
And so he started and developed a work which in its material
structure embraced not only the church, but also workshops,
schools and playgrounds; where prayer, catechism and the
frequenting of the sacraments were taught; but where one could
also learn trades and youngsters were instructed in other matters
too and prepared for life in society; where music and the theatre
were cultivated and other forms of expression promoted.
In this way Don Bosco intended to form "good Christians" for
the ecclesial community through the means the latter has available,
but also (and especially when dealing with Christians) "upright
citizens" for civil society, able to work responsibly and play their
part in renewal.
The initiative was looked on by believers as a "pious religious 167
work", linked to the Church; all others saw it as an educational
enterprise of human solidarity, social concern and advancement.
Don Bosco liked to present his work as "something civil society
deserved", and sought the collaboration of believers or of anyone
who had even merely humane feelings. He prompted the interest
of secular forces, entered cultural fields and made contact with
persons and organisms at State level, always with a view to the
good of his boys.
To realize his complex project for the young and the poor, he
gathered around him from the outset other priests and clerics.
But he also sought and obtained the collaboration of numerous
other people who were neither one nor the other and who, together
with their friendship, contributed also their skill, apostolic
enthusiasm and social prestige.
And so when through God's inspiration he began the salesian
Congregation, his intention was to found a union of "priests, clerics
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and laymen (especially artisans) who wish to work together trying
to help one another spiritually".13
168
The salesian Congregation was bom, as we have seen, with
two components which intimately complete each other, and which
appear as mutually necessary for the fulfilment of the original
mission among the young and the poorer classes: priests and
laymen.
From the very beginning all of them were called to the radical
following of Christ and to holiness; they lived in equality and
brotherhood under the fatherly guidance of Don Bosco; they
contributed their own specific abilities for the attainment of a
single objective, inspired by the same pastoral charity: for some it
was in the ministerial priesthood, for others in administrative
offices or public relations, the direction and management of
workshops, offices of trust in domestic affairs, or artistic activities.
The figure of the lay religious (given the name "coadjutor" in
Italian by Don Bosco, and now generally known as "salesian
brother" in English) was something that concerned him all his
life. It had come to him by divine inspiration as a requirement in
his mission to youth, and he gradually perfected it as new horizons
for work opened up before the Congregation and new candidates
enriched the brother's image with the new things they were able
to do.
The brother was not a marginal addition but a constituent
element of the Congregation's identity. Don Bosco considered his
lay religious just as essential as the priests for the fulfilment of the
mission God had entrusted to him. We can recall in this connection
his whole demeanour towards the brothers, his complete trust in
them, his words concerning the importance of their duties and
responsibilities and their participation in the life of the
Congregation.
169
This is how the salesian vocation developed, and how it can
be lived at the present day in two vocationally distinct forms: the
priestly form, expressed mainly in the ministry of the word,
sanctification through the sacraments and animation of the Christian
13 BM 12,121
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community; and the lay form, which places secular sensitivity
and aptitudes at the service of charity, witness and the
proclamation of Christ.
Each of these forms concentrates and expresses a characteristic
which extends throughout the Congregation, present in every
community and active in every member.
Every salesian priest has in fact, like Don Bosco, the gift and
ability to take up the problems in the lives of the young, and not
only their insertion in the Church. He is an educator. And every
brother is a proclaimer of the Gospel, able to bring the young to
Christ and not only teach some art or trade. He is an apostle.
Together, in the organic structure of the same community,
they carry out the service of the integral development of the young
through complementary attributes, sensitivities and approaches,
all of them necessary for the attainment of the single objective.
But the brother also assumes, keeps alive, expresses and
concentrates the ability of Don Bosco and the Congregation to
work in the midst of secular realities, the ability to contemplate
secular realities in a way which is both pastoral and technical,
keeping in close contact with men and their temporal activities
which are necessary for the development of life.
In this way he gives to the community an original
physiognomy, making possible its insertion in the Church and in
the world in many different ways. A salesian community is not
one of priests but of persons who follow Christ for the benefit of
youth, for whom they want to be signs and bearers of the love of
God.
32.2 Describe the present-day experience
After setting out an appropriate image of the salesian 170
community's apostolic identity through the story of Don Bosco
and his work, one can pass on to another point and dwell on the
practical life of the salesian brother at the present day: who he is,
how he lives, what he does, and how he develops spiritually.
He hears a call from God. His is a true and original vocation:
he gives himself totally to God, making available for the Kingdom
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his human abilities and qualities and his professional skill. All of
these, taken up into the radical following of Christ, become directed
by love to the salvation of the young.
By railing him, God consecrates him and unites him to himself
in a particular way, communicating the Holy Spirit to him so that
he may live in all its fullness the grace and faith he received in
Baptism.
In this way the brother, like the salesian priest, is placed in the
heart of the Church in whose mission he publicly shares through
the commitment of the Congregation to the young and the poor.
By the Church's mandate and in her name he educates and
evangelizes in the sectors entrusted to the salesian apostolate and
in its particular style.
And through this publicly recognized apostolate he gives
Christian animation to the temporal order, to which he associates
his lay vocation even after religious profession.
171
His apostolic activity takes on many forms according to the
present-day requirements of the salesian mission for the benefit of
the young. He is always seen therefore, with specific skills and
apostolic spirit, engaged in training youngsters for work; involved
in teaching and the animation of free time; busy in planning,
administration and maintenance; occupied in social communication
for the education and evangelization of the poorer classes;
dedicated to the social development of needy areas, practically
interested in scientific research and artistic creativity; and providing
an irreplaceable contribution to work in missionary territories.
But in his work for the benefit of youth, in union with his
priest and lay confreres, he enjoys a deep experience of Jesus
Christ and develops a spiritual life in which his religious
consecration and lay character become fused in a unity of life
characterized by the salesian spirit.
He reproduces in himself and brings to life again at the present
day the heart and style of Don Bosco, and is called to resemble
him just as much as are the priests. He feels himself identified
with Christ whose patient love he shares in teaching, healing,
welcoming the young and the poor, and in building a new world.
He is aware, and rejoices in the fact, that he is one of God's
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humble collaborators in the salvation of men, and especially of
needy youth; he lives a deep attachment to the Church, and feels
his communion with all the forces working for salvation; he feels
the apostolic brotherhood existing in the salesian community,
conscious of the contribution he himself can make and grateful
for what he receives from his priest confreres; he develops the
experience of the values linked with his lay state, of which we
have already spoken.
All this renders him and his mission particularly genial and 172
attractive to the young and the poorer classes. He makes himself
loved, and is always available to lend a hand when his ability and
humanity can be of help.
For this mode of being, living and working, he has a
preparation which includes at one and the same time: a salesian
religious formation, an apostolic qualification which enables him
to do pastoral work, a cultural and educational competence which
helps him to promote the growth of the young in faith and
humanity, and a professional qualification suited to his lay religious
character.
32.3 Provide some living models
The most efficacious way for making these points intelligible 173
and credible is by experience, i.e. by contact with a salesian
community and some model brothers.
In the community can be perceived the complementary nature
and the fusion of the vocations which ennch the salesian mission,
and one can also observe the brotherhood which imites all the
members in equality, brotherly love, joy and the service of God.
Its awareness and witness of its own lay and priestly originality,
the adequate expression of its mission, and the relationships
existing between its members, are more efficacious than any
invitation in words.
Here we may recall one of the directives of the GC21 concerning
the vocational apostolate: "Beginning with the person of the
salesian and his community life... the authenticity of our Christian
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and salesian life is fundamental, and so is the image of a
Congregation which presents a clear salesian identity truly sensitive
to the needs and aspirations of youth and expressing itself in
joyful self-giving. The apostolic witness of each confrere will
always be the most powerful incentive and the most efficacious
mediation to inspire youth to make a generous response to
Christ".14
The models show, albeit with the limitations inherent in every
life, the characteristic features of the lay salesian vocation. They
can tell of their own experience, explain why they made the choice
they did, and describe their own life since that time. For this
reason it is hoped that in making plans for vocational pastoral
work, in every team, or at least in every initiative for promoting
vocations, there should be a brother involved whose presence
may appeal to the young and provoke their response: an invitation
to think about the value of a lay salesian vocation, and a response
to their concrete questions about its nature and realization.
The witness of models is completed by contact with the settings
in which they carry out their more characteristic activities: trade
and technical schools, youth centres, centres of social
communication, etc. They provide a first-hand idea of what is
implied by a lay competence and ability assumed into religious
consecration and an apostolic mission. For this reason, from the
early days of the Congregation the preferred sectors for seeking
lay salesian vocations have always been the environments where
the young were being trained to enter the world of work, or where
adults were already committed in a religious manner in the world.
Side by side with living models one may also present
exemplary figures of brothers from the past, emphasizing those
traits and events that show in more striking fashion the originality
and splendour of a life consecrated to God for the young. The
Congregation has available printed collections from which emerge
singular figures of brothers of different periods and every region,
who worked in the most unexpected circumstances and in widely
varying apostolates.15
14 GC21 112b
15 Cf.*CERIA E., Profili di 33 coadiutori salesiani LDC. Colle Don Bosco 1952.
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Outstanding among them are some, considered "saints" in
their neighbourhood and by their confreres, who reveal the
heroicity of charity and the intensity of the experience of God to
those who have this vocation, when the response is generous.16
These biographies, when presented and studied in pedagogical
form, constitute the most real, efficacious and complete "vocational
catechism" of the salesian brother.
32.4 Explain the lay character more deeply
Behind the story of Don Bosco and his work, the description 174
of the life of today's salesian communities and the presentation of
models of today and of yesterday, always taken for granted is a
certain idea of the lay state and what it implies: the nature of the
lay commitment, the relationship existing between temporal
realities and salvation and holiness, and the possibility of
combining an authentic lay character with a radical and public
religious consecration.
Anyone explaining the different vocations must be able to
inculcate a correct and rich impression of the lay experience. His
images and references, even though taken for granted, must be
verified so as not to give any support to the idea of detachment
and incompatibility between the world and religious experience
which is all too common in the modem mentality.
The realities which make up man's life in the world
(environment, work, family, culture, science, art, technology,
politics) can be the place and objective of a total donation by an
‘BIANCO E., La mono laica di Don Bosco. Il Coadiutore salesiano, LDC, Turin 1982.
‘BLANCO E., RICO J.E., Salesiano Coadjutor, Ed.CCS, Madrid 1984
’FORT! E., Fedeli a Don Bosco in Terra Santa. Profili di otto coadiutori salesiani, LDC Turin
1988.
16 Cf. ‘ENTRAIGAS R., El pariente de todos los pobres, Ed.Don Bosco, Buenos Aires
1961.
‘BIANCO E., Artemide Zatti, il parente di tutti i poveri, LDC Torino 1978.
‘FORTI E., Un buon samaritano. Simone Srugi, Salesiano Coadiutore, Scuola Grafica Don
Bosco, Ge-Sampierdarena 1967.
‘FORTI E., Da Nazareth qualcosa di buono. Servo di Dio Simone Srugi, Ed.SDB Rome 1981.
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individual to the Lord. They are not just "external" circumstances
of the relationship with God but part of the story of the individual's
salvation.
In effect they bear the sign of God's creative action: they were
assumed by Christ when he became totally man; they are situations
in which the saving presence of God is at work through human
mediation; they are capable of consecration through the fulfilment
of God's design for them.
In them Christian charity is radically committed to bringing
about their transformation by directing them to God and applying
them to the temporal and eternal good of man.
175
The lay experience can be lived in various forms but here we
shall concentrate on the consecrated form, leaving the others to
what has already been written. This form is proper to those who,
without abandoning a substantial connection with secular realities,
emphasize that they are ultimately ordered to salvation, and bear
witness to the fact that they can be directed to man's good only
through the spirit of the Beatitudes and reference to Christ. And
so they make a public profession to follow Christ through the
evangelical counsels, they join a religious community and take on
an apostolic work that includes their lay option.
The radical following of Christ is not linked especially to the
priestly character. The lay condition can be chosen in imitation of
Christ and to identify with him. And it is no less radical or less
meaningful through not being linked with the priestly ministry.
In confirmation of this one could quote the many forms of
religious life, the many ways of being "disciples of Christ", right
down from the first ages of Christianity (cf. Chap.l). Some passages
from Vatican II also lend it support: "Lay religious life is a state
for the profession of the evangelical counsels".17 God calls both
priests and laity "to enjoy a special gift of grace in the life of the
Church and to contribute, each in his own way, to the Church's
saving mission".18
It seemed to us particularly urgent and necessary to insist on
17 PC io
18 LG 43
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the content of this vocational plan: salesian spirit, religious
consecration, lay character.
The terminology used will necessarily vary in speaking to
children, young people and adults, according to the catechetical
level each group has reached. Sometimes it will be helpful to use
pictures, stories, experiences, models and audiovisual material.
But it is important that whatever material is employed should
express the true message that derives from a correct understanding
of the Church and of the salesian religious vocation in particular.
3.3 ACCEPTANCE AND FOLLOW-UP OF THE VOCATION
OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER
33.1 Objectives of the follow-up process
As is the case with every other vocation, that of the salesian 176
brother needs to be encouraged and fostered, so that the
dispositions of the subject mature towards a conscious and
definitive choice. "When a young person or an adult becomes
aware of the divine call, and seeks and receives advice, he feels
the need and usefulness of help and guidance to enable him to see
the road ahead of him with growing clarity and to follow it. It is
the problem of support and follow-up".19
This work of encouragement and support has a double
objective. The first is more general and concerns the aptitudes
and conditions which predispose an individual to listen to God's
voice and be generous in responding. This is the principal
objective. It is a matter of spiritual formation through participation
in the life of the Christian community, the interior assimilation of
the fundamental evangelical attitudes, and the practice of the
Christian life: the sense of the presence of God, existential reference
to Christ, assiduity in prayer, attention to the word of God, the
life of grace, ascetical efforts, frequenting of the sacraments, and
apostolic commitment.
” Sviluppi..., o.c.
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This should form the foundation of a well balanced personality,
whose development is governed by an objective self-image and
calm self-acceptance, by the positive composition of interior
tendencies (promptings, ideals, plans), and by self-sacrificing
openness to others; this last is manifested in the ability to make
sincere and enduring relationships, in a rich contact with reality
and broadening cultural horizons, and in an ability to look to his
own future and its realization in evangelical terms.
177
The second objective is more specific and aims at cultivating
aptitudes, providing an organic body of knowledge, and
developing skills typical of a particular vocation.
The two objectives are complementary and interdependent.
There can be no vocational clarification without processes of faith
and interior growth in Christ. And vice versa every sincere effort
to discern God's will in our life is accompanied by an opening to
grace.
But there are periods in which particular attention must be
given to just one of these objectives according to the phase of
development reached by the subject.
In the initial support process the first objective is particularly
necessary. Solid bases of human and Christian formation must be
laid down which guarantee an authentic response to any vocation
involving special consecration. Into this main effort, which leads
especially to generosity and predisposes to discernment, is
gradually inserted through information and experience what is
characteristic of the lay salesian.
Support and follow-up is realized in various forms and
activities which take place simultaneously: personal spiritual
assistance, maturing experiences in line with the particular vocation
of the subject, sharing in an environment suitable for the
development of the germs of a vocation and their development,
which will lead to a sufficiently well motivated first decision.
33.2 Individual assistance
178
Individual support and follow-up is always necessary, even
when a candidate is placed in an environment designed for the
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purpose. Often it may be the only form of support possible. It
develops into spiritual direction even when it begins only as a
pedagogical dialogue and guidance consultation. It has been
described as "a service of listening, help for interior clarification,
experience of spiritual life and hope", on account of which "the
person carrying out such a ministry is respectful of the freedom
of the young person in following out what is always -a personal
process".20
Its specific objectives are quite clear: to create an interpersonal
situation, through which the individual can acquire greater
freedom to understand the reality challenging him and the signs
of God calling him; to offer him elements for an unclouded vision
of his own interior feelings and the motives behind his behaviour
and aspirations; to make him aware of the grace of God and help
him to verify his own response, laying the foundations of a solid
Christian spirituality; to accompany and direct the effort of
conversion of mentality and attitude (criteria of life, ascesis,
virtues); to control those tendencies not in harmony with Christian
growth (lack of constancy, permissiveness, scruples, devotional
excesses, etc.).
This is a service that can be carried out by any salesian who 179
dedicates himself to the Christian formation of the young: rectors,
confessors, catechists, pastoral animators, teachers. "Every pastor
of souls or other responsible person should feel the need to be
concerned about young people and adults who show an interest
in their own particular qualities... The awareness of what concerns
the recognition of signs of a vocation, and training in the art of
discernment and spiritual direction, belong to the formation
programme and the ordinary field of activity of the pastor of
souls and others responsible for the fostering of vocations".21
Apart from what appertains to the administration of the
sacraments, it is not required that the one encouraging and guiding
a priestly or lay vocation in its first stages be either priest or
layman.
20 Ibid, n.50
21 Ibid, n.50
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But such a service requires of the one carrying it out, whoever
he may be, that he accept the responsibility for assisting a
vocational process, putting himself too in an attitude of prayer
and listening; of testifying to a mature personality and joyful
experience of his choice in his own case; of keeping up to date his
theological formation and acquiring a certain knowledge of youth
psychology in general and of what regards vocation in particular;
of conforming to the indications of those who speak authoritatively
in this sector; and of exercising a true function of support in the
seeking process, ensuring the presence of the conditions that make
it authentic.
In salesian practice, behind every individual who carries out
this work there stands the community which, under the guidance
of the rector, lays down common criteria, suggests opportune
methods and helps in the discernment process.
33.3 The youth group
180
"In the various particular Churches there are examples of many
different kinds of group activity: groups for exchanging experiences
of faith and apostolate; groups for reflection concerning ways of
life; groups for deepening knowledge of vocation in the choosing
of a consecrated life style".
"The group can play a particularly efficacious role in the
process of human and Christian maturing and in the acquiring of
affective balance; and also for the consolidation of faith, especially
in situations where the environment is marked by widespread
indifference and disbelief'.22
In salesian practice two kinds of group are commonly met
with: educational and apostolic groups on the one hand, and those
specifically vocational in character on the other.
There are many vocational factors present in both. A first
elementary experience of community which leads young people
to see, judge and act together creates a habit of vigilance that
22 Ibid, n.51
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enables the individual to react in a Christian fashion in the face of
various phenomena. The apostolic activity which the group
promotes constitutes a first manifestation of self-donation, a contact
with the needs of others, and an experience of the transforming
power of the presence of God. In the groups takes place the
personal encounter necessary for the process of identification with
the various vocations in which the Church's mission is expressed:
priests, laity, religious, parents, leaders.
The climate of reflection trains the person to work joyfully in
options made in view of the good of men, of the Church and of
its saving mission. Within the group a personal relationship can
easily arise through which educators discover the dispositions
and inclinations of the young members and help them to realize
their ideals in practice.23
Vocational groups add some further and more specific 181
elements. They are made up of boys and young people who want
to reflect more deeply on their calling in life. They are therefore
structured in a way that fosters a searching for God's will in
respect of the future of the members.
The programme includes a study plan based on the two
vocational objectives we spoke of earlier. Regular meetings for
study give to these groups the characteristics of an environment
of vocational reflection. They are guided by a vocational animator,
who follows the individual members with particular care as they
slowly move towards the choice of a state of life, and when
necessary he passes them on to a spiritual director. The
commitments of the group and of each member are selected in
line with the vocational objectives. While maintaining the greatest
possible openness, those experiences are chosen which are more
significant and indicative from a vocational standpoint.
As far as the maturing of the seeds of a lay salesian vocation
are concerned, the groups provide an opportunity for meeting
models and experiencing various settings, and offer the possibility
23 Cf. Youth Past.Dept. Outlines..., o.c.
Sviluppi..., o.c. n.51
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for presenting the doctrinal, historical and practical elements we
have spoken of.
Emphasizing the complementary nature of the different
vocations, the groups can try them out in working camps which
develop attitudes typical of lay vocations: the orientation of
educational settings, voluntary work, cooperation in social
development, active presence in the neighbourhood, etc. All of
these help to perceive the incidence of faith on worldly realities.
But no activity is formative or will provide inspiration on
account of material elements alone. The animator must provide
the necessary motivations and enlightenment so as to make evident
the inherent values, the activating energy, the motivations and
the objectives, which give particular evangelical significance to
the activities and tasks.
33.4 Welcoming and encouraging communities
182
Finally thought must be given to the provision of environments
suitable for the development in candidates of the seeds and
dispositions of a lay vocation.
Such environments are of various kinds. They are in fact
adapted to the conditions of the subjects, e.g. number, age,
desirability or otherwise of separation from family or local
surroundings, and the programme of studies that needs to be
followed. But one must begin from an objective view of the salesian
vocation that will suggest a pedagogical line to be followed as
regards the form and style of the community, the contents of the
programme, and the educational experiences possible.
The General Regulations24 and practice of the Congregation
indicate three kinds of environment for the purpose: the
aspirantate,25 the community designed for older youths,26 and a
salesian community in which the young candidate is inserted.27
24 Cf. R 16,17
25 R 17
26 GC21 118
27 R 16
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A. The Aspirantate
The nature and purpose of the aspirantate are described in 183
Reg.17: it is "a centre of vocational guidance. It keeps itself open
to the neighbourhood and in contact with families, and helps older
boys and young men who show an aptitude for the religious and
priestly life to know their own apostolic vocation and to correspond
with it".
The specific elements of its educational plan can be summarized
as follows:28
— a community of prepared educators available for vocational
guidance;
— a setting in which the characteristics of the salesian spirit
and style of education are cultivated and lived together by
educators and young people;
— specific objectives, periodically verified, which include basic
human and Christian formation, the development of the
seeds of a salesian vocation, and a preliminary personal
choice through the discernment of signs, with a view to
entering the novitiate;
— a programme of human, Christian and salesian content
suitable for the realization of objectives, e.g. information,
experiences, capabilities;
— a programme of studies, similar to that of their
contemporaries, of civil value, opportunely complemented
with cultural and religious elements;
— normal openness to families, human and ecclesial
environments, and lawful manifestations of youthful life.
The manner in which these fundamental points are put into
practice depends on many factors, among which the principal
ones are the age of the candidates and the degree of vocational
decision they have reached (dispositions, intentions, signs already
shown).
If in particular circumstances it be thought better to organize
a similar setting for candidates ranging in age from pre-adolescence
to the immediate pre-novitiate, it is considered necessary to divide
28 Outlines..,, o.c. n.49-50
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it into at least two phases: one of "general guidance and seeking;
and a second more clearly centred on the hypothesis of a salesian
vocation".29
The difference between the two phases concerns the style of
the community (shared responsibility by the candidate,
development of personality, possibility of self-determination,
apostolic commitments), the selection of candidates from whom a
progressively more explicit intention to embrace the salesian life
is required (even though it be not yet totally firm and decided),
and a more committed attention concerning the vocational content
that directly concerns them.
The differences between the two phases as regards the manner
of organization suggest the creation of settings which are distinct
and different. As far as arrangements for candidates wanting to
become salesian brothers are concerned, there are two possibilities:
the specific aspirantate and the integrated aspirantate.
184
The specific aspirantate aims at the consolidation and maturing
of the germs of a lay salesian vocation. It follows the line indicated
in Reg. 17 and the further practical indications given in documents
of the Department for Youth Pastoral Work. But it realizes them
by altering some of the typical elements of an aspirantate. In the
community there is a preponderant and significant presence of
brothers. The programme of studies and qualifications leans
towards technical and professional training. A more careful
attention is given to the history and characteristics of the lay
vocation, and greater emphasis is placed in the life of the
community on certain attitudes and abilities typical of such a
vocation.
But as in the case of aspirantates for candidates to the salesian
priesthood, so too in those for brothers the salesian vocation is
presented clearly and positively in its two possible forms, and
openness is maintained as regards a wide vocational perspective.
This formula would envisage a more frequent and direct contact
with brother models, a more direct experience of the traits of the
lay salesian vocation, and the possibility of a more specific kind
29 Cf. GC21 118; Outlines..., o.c. n.48
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of guidance. It is also desirable to avo the danger that the
dispositions appropriate to this vocatior lay be suffocated in
some candidates by an environment which, through an
unsatisfactory pedagogical set-up, prema e stimuli towards the
priestly ministry may prevail.
This formula works well when the candidates are relatively
numerous (e.g. where the birth-rate is high, vocational promotion
is successful, and families are cooperative) so that a specifically
structured environment can be set up; and when the age and
development of the candidates is such that they already have a
well motivated intention, and the programmes of study differ to
some extent from those followed in aspirantates for candidates
for the priesthood.
Many provinces however are compelled by circumstances to 185
adopt the integrated form of aspirantate in which all candidates
for the salesian life, priestly or lay, are gathered together in the
same environment.
The basic reasons for this go back to the guiding criteria for
the educational and pastoral project itself: to provide for Christian
formation and follow up the first inclinations of vocations founded
on the common basis of salesianity, leaving time for the
development of a more mature option as to how to live it.
The advantage to be expected from this is that it may render
more effectively understandable the character of the single call to
an apostolic consecration according to Don Bosco's plan which is
for everyone; and will accustom all candidates to live from the
outset in mutual esteem and complementarity in the style of a
salesian community.
In assessing the circumstances due weight will be given to the
number of candidates and to the possibility of meeting in a single
environment the different study demands, which will depend very
much on the social and cultural context.
When this kind of set-up is adopted, steps must be taken to
ensure that among the formation personnel there is a consistent
and qualified presence of brothers, with some of them in important
roles, and an environment which does not give undue emphasis
to priestly motives, which in any case are inappropriate at this
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stage. The spotlight should be on the salesian vocation to a
consecrated life and mission to the young, while each one is helped
and guided in making his personal option.
B. Vocational communities
186
"The timely care of these youths can be undertaken also in
other ways: communities of vocational referral..."30
The working document prepared for the second International
Congress on Vocations (1982) states: "The minor seminary should
not be considered the only kind of structure in which a vocation
can grow and mature. Indeed it is necessary to intensify vocational
work with boys and adolescents through new forms and
experiences which complement those of the seminary itself'.31
These alternative forms belong to the tradition of religious life
and are increasing in frequency once again at the present day.
Religious life has found its own communities, especially in these
days of marked charismatic interest, the best environment for the
growth of vocations. The example of Don Bosco's Oratory at
Valdocco is eloquent in this respect.
Local circumstances and pastoral requirements may suggest
the creation of a small reception community for a purpose identical
with that of the aspirantate, but with a different approach that
corresponds better to the situation of some young people from
particular cultural and ecclesial contexts.
Such communities, characterized by personal relationships and
shared responsibility, pay due regard to the diversity between
candidates, keep them in contact with their own family and
youthful setting, take advantage of the many scholastic structures
frequented by the candidates in line with the various kinds of
education in which they have been already involved, and can
evaluate their capacity to react in the face of current positive or
negative stimuli.
30 GC21 118
31 Seminarium, Oct-Dec.1981. p.991
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But it is indispensable that these communities ensure and guide
the vocational process, and that their programme and methods be
not left to the decisions of individuals, but be assured under the
responsibility of the provincial community.32
In these communities too, as in the aspirantates, candidates
for the salesian lay and priestly consecrated life may be separated
or kept together. The reasons in favour of one or other of these
solutions are identical with those already given.
C. Insertion in a salesian community
Finally there is the insertion of the candidate in a community 187
involved in normal salesian work, and considered suitable for
encouraging and following up a vocation.33
As a general rule every community in a province could and
should be able to provide a suitable environment, example and
support for new vocations. Each community in fact lives the
characteristics of the salesian mission which combines the priestly
and lay vocations in a single religious type, and is called upon to
assume that kind of service typical of salesian pastoral work which
is the care of vocations.34
They can therefore be expected to offer candidates
opportunities for gaining authentic experience, information about
the salesian life, and spiritual assistance.
But whatever choice be deemed most opportune, a thing to be
avoided is any division of communities into those capable of such
vocational accompaniment and those not. The GC21 recommended
that the problem of vocations be tackled starting from the person
of the salesian and the life of the community. "The authenticity
of our Christian and salesian life is fundamental, and so is the
image of a Congregation which presents a clear salesian identity
in its evangelical motivations, in the persons for whom it is
intended and in its educational outlook... The apostolic witness
32 Cf. GC21 118
33 Ibid.
34 Cf. C 28, 37
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of each confrere will always be the most powerful incentive and
the most efficacious mediation to inspire youth to make a generous
response to Christ".35
For those with an inclination to the lay salesian life those
communities will be preferred in which this vocation finds more
important and appealing expressions.
3.4 CONCLUSION: ANIMATION AND PRAYER
188
What we have been saying is entrusted to particular
responsibilities fulfilled in a community fashion. Because the
vocational apostolate involves multiple convergent interventions
it calls for shared convictions, the active involvement of the
community, programmes realized together and coordination of
roles - and with everything sustained by a complete trust in grace
and prompted by the desire to serve God, the Church and the
young. Vocational pastoral work implies and supposes spiritual
attention, updated knowledge of specific questions, an
acquaintance with modem methods, and organizational and
practical support.
Animation too is seen to be necessary, and in it one must pass
from mere individual action to community involvement, from
occasional interventions in different areas to stable and organic
plans, from an unattached vocational "sector" to integration into
a complete programme of youth pastoral work, from a functional
character of our interventions (to gain more confreres) to an
educative criterion (to help the individual to grow in accordance
with God's plan for him).36
At both provincial and local level, animation puts on the line
both responsibilities in government and supporting roles.
The first define the shape of pastoral work for vocations, and
guarantee a prominent place for it in the overall youth pastoral
35 GC21 112b
36 Outlines..., o.c. n.53
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work. This is the obligation of the Provincial and the Rector with
their respective councils. To the second belong the tasks of
activation, stimulation, support and coordination. These roles can
be played by individuals or by teams, but "more than persons
delegated to perform certain actions they should be channels of
communication supplying new ideas and information to the
various communities".37
As far as the vocation of the salesian brother is concerned,
animation will aim primarily at ensuring the mentality and witness
of the individual communities.
Mentality includes a proper view of the originality of the
charism, mission and salesian community as shown in verbal
expressions, organization and evaluations.
Witness refers to the life of the community, to its internal
relationships, and to its esteem for lay aspects in attaining the
educational and pastoral objectives which belong to salesian
activity.
But in addition to mentality and witness care must be taken to
see that vocational guidance is explicitly included in the
educational and pastoral plan at three levels with various activities
at certain times: for all boys, for those who show signs of particular
vocations, and for those who are aiming at salesian life.38 And to
all of these should be presented the lay salesian vocation in the
richness of its many possibilities.
It will be necessary therefore, always with the coordination of 189
animators and those in charge, to translate guidelines into
objectives attainable by the particular individuals to whom they
are addressed; in practicable experiences in which all elements of
the community are involved, albeit with different contributions
(setting, relationships, personal dialogue, specific moments).
Essential too are periodic verification and replanning. This
will enable profit to be made from whatever has been found
successful, and new ways for presenting the vocation of the salesian
brother to be tried out.
37 GC21 114
38 Cf. C 6, 28, 37
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But the main point about animation is the keeping of the
community in a permanent state of prayer for vocations. We
have already spoken of this as a fundamental task in the vocational
apostolate.
Prayer is invocation and petition, but it also includes an effort
at conscious awareness in God's sight, meditation, openness to
his designs, communion with those who have gone before us on
the path we are trying to follow. Intentions, prayer formulas,
readings, intercessions (the salesian brother Servants of God!)39
will help to include our concern for the salesian lay vocation in
the prayer we address each day to the Lord that he will "send
labourers into the harvest".
In particular we must never forget what the Constitutions say
about the joyful family atmosphere of the salesian community:
"This is a witness that enkindles in the young the desire to get to
know and to follow the salesian vocation".40
39 Salesian Brothers Artemide Zatti and Simone Srugi. Cf. biographies in note 16
40 C 16
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4 . FORMATION OUTLINES
4 .0 INTRODUCTION
In his closing address to the GC22 the Rector Major, 190
commenting on the originality of the figure of the salesian brother,
invited us to be converted to a more authentic salesian sensitivity
and a really renewed formation. He pointed out that in the
Congregation there are some problems that still remain open: those
of numbers and vocations but also, and more seriously, a certain
lack of sensitivity and a false criterion in the understanding of the
aspect proper to our vocational identity (the "lay dimension"),
linked with the particular make-up of our communities and the
realization of our mission.1 It was not just a matter of things to be
done, though of these some certainly remained, but of something
deeper - a conversion and more authentic salesian sensitivity
accompanied by the need for appropriate interventions.
40.1 A special commitment to formation
Formation, all formation - both initial and ongoing, and the 191
formation of all, helps in the realization of this conversion: "I
want to insist on responsibility in the task of formation. After all
that has been said, it is plain that this is not limited to young
brothers, but extends to all confreres, both brothers and priests,
and embraces initial and ongoing formation. Without extraordinary
and earnest emphasis on formation I believe it impossible to
achieve radical change in a short time. But if the formation is
given in a thoroughly renewed fashion, especially for the younger
generation, there is good promise for the future".2
1 Cf. GC22 79-86
2 ASC 298, p.43
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The common commitment in the Congregation is a serious
one and is directed to these objectives. The results of an analysis
of the provincial directories lends support to this view. The
provinces are trying to coordinate among themselves the flexible
organization of formation curricula; they make it clear that they
want to do at once everything that is possible, as though they
have finally entered on a period of greater practical application:3
they accept the challenge that first steps cannot produce guaranteed
results and will moreover be bedevilled by some people's
indifference; and finally, there is a conviction emerging about the
need for interprovincial collaboration, to ensure more easily the
realization of all the various conditions needed to make the
different phases really formative.4
The provinces therefore have moved towards a "creative
reaction"5 and the realization of the "special commitment to
formation" referred to by the Rector Major, and so are helping
themselves to improve both its content and structures.6
40.2 The deeper reasons
192
This whole enterprise is based on deep underlying reasons
and is urgent in character. This is evident from the nature of the
salesian vocation, the environment, and the condition of the world
of youth. The formation of the salesian brother is directed not
only to the realization of his specific vocational form, but also to
enriching that of the salesian priest and the community. When
the gifts proper to one or other are missing or weakened, the lay
or priest salesian suffers personally as a result, as though he were
no longer what he should be. And the community, as the operating
area of the two forms, suffers as well. No one can be a priest
salesian or a lay salesian in isolation. Each vocational form is
3 Cf. GC22 9; FSDB 407. 474
4 Cf. FSDB 412
5 Cf. AGC 323, p.27-37
6 Cf. ibid.
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concrete and complete in itself, but part of its concrete and complete
nature is its relationship to the other.
That is our charismatic characteristic.7
This is a first motive for our formation. It is a reason which is
internal to our charism, so to speak. But there are others too, that
we could call "environmental reasons".
Cultural pluralism, and the ever more accelerated rhythms
and rapid transformations in the world, force everyone to continual
re-adaptation. Ours is a form of life which accentuates the search
for a characteristic pastoral charity that takes into account the
innovations emerging in the world of youth and the conscience of
the Church.8 As educators, in fact, our efforts are directed to that
part of humanity, the young, so inexperienced and sensitive to
change that we cannot dedicate ourselves to their service without
a permanent effort at updated and creative formation.
In this connection art.19 of the Constitutions should be kept in
mind. It is entitled: "Initiative and flexibility" - one of the traits
of our spirit.
4.1 THE OVERALL CONTENT OF THE FORMATION
PROCESS
Following on what the Rector Major has written in his letter: 193
"The lay element in the salesian community", in the ASC of Oct.-
Dec. 1980, we would like to make some remarks about the global
framework enshrining these "Formation Outlines" for the salesian
brother.
41.1 The specific content
The Rector Major echoed a concern of the GC21, that of a
certain "absence of contents typically salesian" in the formation of
7 GC21 237f.
8 Cf. FSDB 74-8
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the salesian brother,9 and he indicated certain points to be kept in
mind in every phase, with the constant integration between study
and reflection on the one hand and experience and practice on the
other.
They are:
— a religious and salesian formation that will help the brother
to understand the original nature of our Society;
— an adequate human, pedagogical and salesian preparation;
— a sufficient apostolic competence and an appropriately deep
knowledge of theology and catechetics;
— a technical and professional preparation, according to the
capacities and possibilities of each individual in line with
the educational and pastoral character of our vocation.;
— a social and political education which prepares him for
some specific educational activity, in particular in the
working world.10
Naturally in all this, he concluded, account must be taken of
the many different facets of the lay dimension and the practical
circumstances of each individual.11
Some of these indications refer to human values and those of
grace; others are attitudes prompting action, while others denote
skills to be acquired.
We therefore require a formation process which will help in
identifying the values of the lay apostolic consecration, already
expressed to a large extent in previous pages; a process moreover
that will render such values personal, make them the primary
motives for thoughts, desires and work, and the primary reasons
underlying attitudes and behaviour, with appropriate ways and
means.
Discussion of this matter will be all-embracing ("it is necessary
in all phases of the formation process", wrote the Rector Major),12
even though for some of them (the post-novitiate and the period
9 GC21 247
10 Cf. GC21 302
” Cf. Lay component..., ASC 298, p.46
12 Ibid, p.45
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immediately following practical training) it will need to be more
detailed and direct because of the complexity and importance of
these particular sectors.
41.2 The arrangement of the contents
We shall consider therefore in order:
— the values and attitudes proper to the apostolic consecration 194
of the salesian brother. After identifying them in a general
way (in "the special covenant that the Lord has made with
us"13, the mission, fraternal community, and radical style
of evangelical life), we can highlight some of those more
decisive from the standpoint of formation;
— the constitutive dimension and characteristic sensitivity
with which the brother lives them: his own lay nature;
— his humanity, into which the values and attitudes of his
apostolic consecration are engrafted as a gift, and through
which they are expressed in witness, proclamation and
pastoral charity;
— the method by which he makes them his own. No
vocational value is valid merely in itself, but only if it
becomes part of his life and the primary motivation of his
options;
— his intellectual formation and study programme, especially
just after the novitiate and again after the period of practical
training.
41.3 A unified and complex process
It is not difficult to see that the process must be a unified one: 195
"All formation tends to the development of the vocational identity
of salesians" and finds in it the "roots of its unity".14 Hence the
need for the truest and most certain idea possible of the salesian
identity.15
13 C 195
14 GC21 242; C 97. 102
15 Cf. GC21 242
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But it is a complex process too. It has a single objective, but
is lived in specific and complementary vocational forms. Educators
and evangelizers of the young become so either in the lay form or
the priest form. It is a common vocation, equally salesian in both
forms but distinct and complementary as regards service and
ministry.16
For this reason both the one and the other, the priest-salesian
and the lay-salesian, receive the same kind of initial formation
with "curricula of equivalent level, with the same phases and
similar content and objectives. The necessary differences are
determined by the specific vocation of each one, by his personal
gifts and inclinations and the duties of our apostolate".17
The formation process is complex for another reason also; it
aims at developing in the individual in their totality the dimensions
which go to make up his vocation, harmonizing them in a balanced
and vital humanity without any fragmentation.18 Its purpose is
also to guarantee their assimilation by the adoption of suitable
ways and means, once possible impediments have been removed.
This is a decisive point of great interest if our aim is that of
"renewed formation".
4.2 IDENTIFYING THE VALUES
196
Art.3 of the Constitutions provides a good frame of reference.
There the values are clearly listed in a certain order, distinct from
each other but inseparable nevertheless, and hence mutually
influencing each other and irreplaceable: "We five as disciples of
the Lord", says the article, "by the grace of the Father, who
consecrates us through the gift of his Spirit and sends us out to be
apostles of the young. Through our religious profession we offer
ourselves to God in order to follow Christ and work with him in
building up the Kingdom. Our apostolic mission, our fraternal
16 Cf. C 98. 4
17 C 106
18 Cf. C 102, GC21 262
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community and the practice of the evangelical counsels are the
inseparable elements of our consecration which we live in a single
movement of love towards God and towards our brothers. Our
mission sets the tenor of our whole life, it specifies the task we
have in the Church and our place among other religious families".
42.1 In "a special Covenant"
In a "special Covenant" the apostolic mission, fraternal 197
communion, and a style of life lived in a radical evangelical
manner, are the values proper to the salesian's consecration.
These are the values which make him authentic and motivate
him in his life and activity, when he lives them "in a single
movement of charity towards God and towards his brothers".
It is useful to recall these things. They should not be taken for
granted, because without them everything becomes falsified.19 The
point was emphasized by John Paul H in an address to the plenary
session of the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes:
"It is necessary to emphasize that formation of religious must aim
at 'wisdom of the heart7, that gift of the Spirit which makes one
truly intimate with the Lord and have a profound knowledge of
his will. This wisdom contributes much more to the salvation of
the world than a multiplicity of external activities not animated
by the supernatural spirit".20
The grace that was given to Don Bosco and shared with his
sons is something inherent in a mystery of Covenant.
Fundamentally it is a particular theological experience, into which
enter the following of Christ so as to build up the Kingdom of
God in the young and in themselves,21 union with the Father who
consecrates us and sends us,22 and attention and docility to the
Spirit, the source of sanctification and renewal.23
” C 3; cf. C 3. 23. 26. 40. 49. 50. 63. 64. 73. 82. 85. 88. 125
20 Oss.Rom.. (Eng.edtn.) 19.12.1988
21 Cf. C 3. 11. 23
22 Cf. C 3
23 Cf. ET 11. 12; SGC 3; C 1
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198
If the mystery is to remain alive and be the driving force behind
every activity, the corresponding attitudes must be cultivated.24
They are: the absolute nature and central position of Christ the
Lord who communicates in the Father and the Spirit his strength
and love; the gift of the fatherhood of God who continually gives
new life to the divine dimension of our activity; the feeling of his
own condition as God's son, manifested by his participation as a
lay salesian25 in the Church in God's fatherly love, finding in it
"the ultimate origin and fount that permanently nourishes the
salesian mission";26 and finally the presence of the Holy Spirit,
always ready to welcome every initiative and activity leading to
growth in love for God and young people.27
It should not be thought that all this will be immediately
realized once the values are known, esteemed and earnestly
cultivated, or when enthusiasm for them begins to grow. They
are all good things, but by themselves they are not sufficient.
After recognizing what it means to be a salesian (as far as values
and attitudes are concerned), it is then necessary to become one
"by living and working for the common mission" under certain
conditions.28 This means that each one must follow the process
for his own formation, using those ways and means that the
educational sciences and our own tradition consider to be most
congenial to our spirit and efficacious for attaining the purpose
intended.
Neither must we think of them in a general and abstract way,
as though the values exist as things in themselves. They are lived
in vocationally distinct forms. The salesian priest lives them as a
24 Cf. ASC 296, p.5; C 23
25 Cf. C 12
26 GC21 579
27 Cf. - 1. Participation in liturgical life: C 87. 88. 89; SGC 283-288. 340. 540. 664;
- 2 Listening to God's Word: SGC 494. 540. 557; SRM 240-242;
- 3 Personal prayer: C 83. 88. 93; SC 7. 10. 11. 14. 19.48; DSM 186; SGC 574-579;
- 4 Eucharist and Divine Office: C 88. 89; SGC 542-544; SC 10. 47-48; LG 11; PO 5. 6;
- 5 Life and activity as prayer: C 21. 86. 95; SGC532-537. 550. 555f. 677;
- 6 Sense and use of sacrament of Reconciliation: C 84. 90; RFIS 55; PO 18;
- 7 Times of renewal: C 91;
- 8 Salesian devotions: Mary Help of Christians: RG 74; SC 13; SGC 531-545: Vigano E.,
Mary renews the Salesian Family 1978.
28 C 99
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priest, the salesian brother lives them as a lay religious, as
components in their turn of a community which itself has
characteristics so original that it needs their presence in order to
be salesian.
And they are lived in a precise historical context. This "special 199
Covenant", sealed by perpetual profession, is made at a specific
point in time. It has a date, i.e. it is situated in a historical context
which continually provokes and sensitizes man's experience as he
continually seeks self-interpretation. To evangelize and to be
evangelized means to translate into a credible cultural project the
interpretation given by the Lord of human existence, so that it can
be lived.
Culture must be rethought in the light of revelation, and
revelation in the light of human advancement.
Modem man, and today's young people, are more realistic 200
and pragmatic. No one approaching them with the offer of a plan
of salvation can ignore the concrete practical aspects of their life,
their sensitivities, the factual situations, the relationships that exist
in the economic, social and political worlds. They must seek the
response that the Christian message can offer to these problems
which are personal, but at the same time becoming ever more
social, public and interpersonal, and ever more concrete and
practical. Terrestrial realities, work, peace, development, politics,
games and culture have all become more or less fortunate objects
of theological reflection and of the theology of the religious life.
Such reflection has gradually moved from an interest in the realities
considered in themselves to man and his advancement.
The change has been prompted by the new way of looking at
the relationship between man and the world, as presented in the
Introduction to 'Gaudium et spes'. There the world and terrestrial
realities are no longer compared with man for the purpose of
vindicating their own sense. They are considered rather as in
relationship to man as a means for his development. Attention is
focussed on man, on his ability to do things and (in this connection)
on his social importance. Some problems in fact, e.g. those
connected with development, are tackled in the broad perspective
of society and the great masses, and from this standpoint become
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transformed from problems of individual ethics to those of social
ethics.
Whoever has by vocation the gift of predilection for the young
will have to live a concrete experience of faith and humanity, and
bear witness to and proclaim an absolute God who saves in this
context, using to best advantage the typical elements of a religious
vocation which, being lay in character, make it easier to understand,
more personally acceptable and more easily put into effect.
42.2 The apostolic mission
201
This Covenant, as an unfailing source, automatically gives rise
to the mission, with a rich complement of actual grace and
adaptability.
Dedication to the young, and especially the poorer ones among
them, was for Don Bosco the path along which his consecration
was realized. He was consecrated by God for the young, and
offered to God in the young. He was dedicated completely to
them, reserved exclusively for them, and at the same time realized
in them. Loving the young did not mean for him merely arousing
their affection, but also feeling their attraction, being held in thrall
by them and being aware of their irreplaceable role in his own
life.29 In the unity of pastoral charity, the fruit par excellence of
religious and human formation, the two poles around which the
salesian revolves - God and the young - find sense and unity. He
perceives in himself the need for an intense presence to God who
sends him, and at the same time to those to whom he is sent.30
Rendering these aspirations concrete as to where and how the
mission is to be realized means also giving space and significance
to the originality of the salesian brother.
A. The values and attitudes implied by a "pastoral sense"
202
The desire to be deeply present to the one who sends him will
urge the salesian brother to share the great concern of Jesus for
29 Cf. STELLA P., Don Bosco nella storia della rei. catt. n, p.473
30 Cf. FSDB 74; DGC 26
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the coming of the Kingdom:31 to perceive in history God's design
working for man's salvation, and the mystery of sin which opposes
it. To this end education will be directed to a strong sense of
Church, because "evangelization is for no one an individual and
isolated act: it is one that is deeply ecclesial... An evangelizer
cannot be the final arbiter of his own activity".32 He will be able
to grow in the eucharistic and marian spirituality which make
him God's collaborator: "The most divine of all divine things",
Don Bosco used to say, "is to cooperate with God in the salvation
of souls".33 In the spirit of prayer he will discover and esteem the
laws known as "apostolic"34 which demand all the fervour of our
ability and competence. Finally he will nourish his own life of
trust, resourcefulness and joy, even when the going is hard.35
The desire to be closely present to the young to whom he is
sent will prompt his practical sense to promote in the community
and in himself a certain sensitivity to the extent of their needs.
And what are these needs?
They are:
— man's sense of freedom, e.g. to plan his own life and use
the world as something set in movement by his own
creativity;
— the moral sense which sees the making of history as a task
and responsibility;
— the sense of sharing, which leads to the awareness at the
present day of human culture as a "socialized culture", in
which efforts at building or defending the terrestrial entity
will be either communal or else ineffective;
— the sense of future perspective which wants history to be
a process of progressive and integral liberation, where
salvation and the making of history are both dimensions
of the same "freedom".
The community will then appear as a brotherhood come down
from heaven, but which operates also on earth because the Son of
31 Mt. 6,10
32 EN 60
33 BM 9, 220; 13, 490
34 Cf. FSDB 77
35 Cf. FSDB 75-77
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God in order to save us "stripped off his glory and took on the
condition of a servant, becoming like to men"; a community made
up of individuals who are signs of other Persons, the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit: individuals who regard each other as a
sign and want to be an example and prompt a response from
those around them.
B. Capacity for action
203
The "sense of the concrete" and the desire to offer salvation,
or to foster it where it is already present in embryo, leads the
salesian to acquire the practical skills he needs, i.e. the ability to
analyze and critically evaluate particular pastoral situations; to
draw up in a creative and realistic way a strategy for intervention
with precise objectives, times, workers and roles; to make use of
the means of social communication; to be awake to the problems
of the working world understood as a productive process, not
necessarily industrial, which are automatically part of the life of
so many young people in need.
And it leads him to avoid a risk as well! Specializations are
unavoidable. Good will alone is not sufficient for evangelization
purposes. But specialist activity must always prompt attention to
the Spirit and not detract from it. If the Spirit's inspirations are
not in harmony with the organization of what he is doing, it
would turn him aside from the perspective of holiness, the
"wisdom of the heart" would be lost, fissures would be caused in
the visible unity of the mission, and there would be serious motives
for fearing the appearance of crises of many kinds.
C. Functions, ministries and fields of activity
204
The lay vocational form in its specific pattern is realized in a
variety of sectors of activities and different roles filled by brothers,
for which they prepare themselves. In more than a hundred years
of history lay salesians have carried out a vast range of activities
which can be gathered for the most part into three categories:
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— educational, social, formative and pastoral activities: directive
responsibility in various sectors; scholastic and cultural
activities, especially in trade and technical schools;
evangelizing work in the missions; animation of
associations and apostolic circles, and of sporting, musical
and dramatic groups; the animation of free time; production
and use of the various instruments of social communication;
training for entry into the working world, and social
formation.
— so-called tertiary activities: bursars, accountants, procurators,
secretaries, sectional representatives, infirmarians,
sacristans, supervisors of domestic workers;
— domestic services: collaborators in our houses, ready to take
on any work within their abilities: in charge of order and
cleanliness, agricultural work, cooks, bakers, electricians,
doorkeepers, or invaluable factotums.
Here we are concerned with activities and services which call
for different aptitudes and separate preparation.36 These, let it be
said again, must not be reduced only to trades or professions.
They must be considered and lived as apostolic occupations: they
have in fact an educative and pastoral sense within the apostolic
community, they constitute a true communal witness, they are
deeply linked with each other and are all directed in the last
analysis to the realization of the good things of the Kingdom of
God.37
In his Apostolic Exhortation dedicated to the subject of 205
evangelization, Paul VI saw a positive value in the fact that in
many churches groups of religious and laity were showing
themselves open to non-ordained ministries, thus ensuring the
provision of special services able to rejuvenate and strengthen the
dynamism of evangelization.
As examples he cited various ministries: "catechists, directors
of prayer and chant, Christians devoted to the service of God's
Word or to assisting their brethren in need, the heads of small
36 Cf. FSDB 58-66. 78
37 Cf. C 21
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communities, or other persons charged with the responsibility of
apostolic movements".38
He recognized too that "the laity can also feel themselves called
to work with their pastors in the service of the ecclesial community
for its growth and life, by exercising a great variety of ministries
according to the grace and charism which the Lord is pleased to
give them".39
In the history of our Congregation there have been in fact
more than a few brothers who have exercised one or other of the
functions listed among the non-ordained ministries. In the period
that has followed Vatican II some have practised the ministries
of acolyte, lector and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist,
now expressly recognized by the new Code of Canon Law and by
the Apostolic Exhortation "Christifideles laici" as accessible to the
lay faithful.40
The GC21 accepted the invitation of Paul VI and hoped that
"the brother properly prepared will be able to exercise those
ministries not linked to sacred orders that the evangelizing action
of the salesian community will require".41 This fact does not seem
to smack of a renewed form of "clericalization". It is a matter
rather of a lawful reassignment of non-ordained ministries which
in the Church's history, and especially in the first millennium,
were generally exercised by the lay faithful. It is understood that
those exercising such ministries must ensure that they have the
necessary aptitudes and the help of competent formation guides,
who can help in discernment and provide a suitable theoretical
and practical formation over a sufficient period.42
The list of the many traditional functions of the salesian brother
and of non-ordained ministries is only indicative and not
exhaustive; it is open to integration by other functions and
ministries. The need to respond with a new evangelization and
pedagogical creativity to the urgent demands of the emerging
38EN73
3’ Ibid.
40 Cf. ac 230
41 GC21 182
42 aC 231
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cultures may suggest new or renewed functions and ministries.
According to the mind of Don Bosco, expressed again by the
GC21, the brother "can qualify for all educational and pastoral
assignments proper to a salesian, provided they are not connected
with a service that requires priestly ordination".43
The text of the Constitutions takes up the same point: he
works in "every field of educational and pastoral activity" with
tasks of a cultural, professional, social and economic kind, as well
as those of a catechetical, liturgical and missionary nature, to which
he brings "the specific qualities of his lay state, which make him
in a particular way a witness to God's Kingdom in the world,
close as he is to the young and to the realities of working life".44
D. Educator to the faith in the working world
The "working world", understood as a productive process not 206
necessarily industrial, is one of the preferred fields offered to the
competence and responsibility of the brother by tradition and the
urgent requirements of the present day.
From the characteristics of the educational plan he can deduce
the content and attitudes which, as an educator, he is called upon
to make his own if he is to be fully competent for his task.
The educational plan in fact should be bom of a human project
that brings together every aspect of individual and collective
human experience and takes notice of other projects, with continual
reference to the values of Christian experience.
But this is not enough. In contact with the environmental
conditions of work and of the young people who are preparing to
enter and play their part in them, this project must be capable of
translation into a culture, the "culture of work". In this way it
must become an educational plan of the work culture.
It is important therefore to put the question: what are the
contents and requirements, positive and negative, of this "work
43 GC21 182
44 C 45
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culture"? It would seem that on the negative side we might
include: the absence or decay of a work ethic worthy of man; the
disinclination for work as the effect of a consumerist attitude to
life; and the projection into the work sector of strongly selfish
attitudes which produce to a greater or lesser degree the tendency
to keep on making further claims, absenteeism and lack of interest.
On the positive side we may note: a recovery of the human
dignity of work; the need for sharing and control; the effort to
revise productive processes in a meaningful way; and the demand
for formation.
207
These contents must be promoted by intelligent methods. Don
Bosco and our tradition have always supposed an awareness of
the real needs of the workers, and that any intervention be made
with due attention to its educational and evangelizing aspects.
This requires the harmonious combination of two aspects: that of
listening to the formative demands that emerge from the youth
condition and the poorer classes; and that of the comprehensive
solution of their problems, by the offering of bread and of the
Word, of work and culture, of guaranteed rights and motivations
for doing one's duty.
In this way the purpose, style and objectives of the plan are also
laid down.
It is a case of promoting simultaneously the whole of the
worker and the whole of the Christian, and returning the task to
the ethical sphere:45 this is the purpose.
The preventive criterion will be applied, programming times
and rhythms of growth so that the young worker is ready to meet
the risks to which the unprepared are exposed, in the pragmatic
and ambivalent atmosphere of the commercial and industrial
world. An educational environment will also be adopted in which
stimuli abound (family spirit, joy, optimism, creativity and
spontaneity, a natural approach to commitment and sacrifice) for
an untroubled interior acceptance of the severe ethic of work: this
is the educative style.
45 Cf. JOHN PAUL n, Laborem exercens, 1981
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Primacy will be given to the person of the young worker,
rather than concern for productive efficiency; efforts will be made
through positive suggestions to convince him not to reduce his
professional formation to indoctrination or a dangerous
pragmatism, but to aim rather at becoming a leader, able to choose
and direct his own dedication to work problems as a vocation and
service. These are the objectives.
And so the work of professional formation becomes an opening 208
for education to the faith, i.e. the experience in which it is expressed
and verified. Lay salesians in the working world become "working
men" of the ecclesial community and also of our Family (animators
of working Cooperators and Past-pupils);46 a charism which Don
Bosco and salesian tradition of today do not want to lose.47
The different forms of presence of the brother, if they are to be
significant in respect of his lay identity and contribute efficaciously
to the personal realization of this plan, must respect certain
conditions which the GC21 describes in the following terms:
— he should never forget that he is always and everywhere
a salesian educator. His main objective should be to focus
the different elements of that social reality that we call
'work' towards those values, individual and collective, that
refer to the person of the worker, so as to open up to him
the possibility of finding the full and total fulfilment of his
personality in adherence to the faith;
— he should be faithful to his identity as a lay salesian
religious.
This implies many obligations:
• He will know how to capitalize on the many positive values
present in the Working world (such as the spirit of
brotherhood, solidarity and community, combined with
respect for the personality of the individual), and at the
same time he will know how to point out the evils that
threaten him (a materialistic concept of life, resistance to
spiritual realities, individualism, envy, sentiments of
hostility, temptation to violence).
46 GC21 185
47 Cf. C 42
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• He will know how to defend and promote the good of the
workingman. As a religious wholly oriented towards
Christ, who is the foundation and summit of all human
values, he will be able to identify the dangers that beset
these values and help people to overcome them.
• By reason of the concern that he shows and the love that
he unceasingly gives to others, he will be able to bear
witness to a profound and universal brotherhood that
dispels all forms of egoism, exploitation and self-interest.
• He will reveal the Kingdom of God already present in the
world and in the history of man, and in this way proclaim
the Kingdom that is to come.48
42.3 Communion in the community
209
The "special Covenant that the Lord has made with us"49 refers
not only to the mission but, as an unfailing source that never runs
dry, automatically brings to birth with rich actual graces
communion in the community, a radically evangelical style of life
lived in prayer.
Don Bosco, active saint that he was, emphasizes the efficacious
character of the commandment of charity. Charity builds unity
and communion at deep levels in the community.50 In it there is
a particular theological density which has practical aspects but
which in the last analysis gives preference to a kind of organization
which has in view a combination of "being" and "living" rather
than of simply "doing".
Don Bosco called the Congregation the "Society of St Francis
de Sales", thereby emphasizing the double element in our
communion: that of "church" and that of "human reality7', knit
together by shared ideals lived in brotherhood. An "authentic
manner of living together" for an "authentic proclamation".51
18 GC21 184
« C 195
50 Cf. C 49. 50
51 GC21 37; cf. C 51; 88; 57; 90; 58; 59; cf. FSDB 80. MR 30, CP 106. 177
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42.4 A radically evangelical style of life
"By religious profession we mean to live the grace of our 210
baptism radically and more fully".52
The evangelical counsels, lived in the spirit of the beatitudes,
become the sign of an existence based on hope: "The offering of
his own freedom through obedience, the spirit of evangelical
poverty and the love which becomes a gift in chastity, makes the
salesian a sign of the power of the resurrection. The evangelical
counsels, fashioning his heart entirely for the Kingdom, help him
to discern and welcome God's action in history; in the simplicity
and hard work of daily life they transform him into an educator
who proclaims to the young new heavens and a new earth,
awakening in them hope and the dedication and joy to which it
gives rise".53
The real question at the present day is not, as might be thought,
whether it be possible for a radically evangelical life to be lived by
men like us in a world like ours; it is rather whether such a project
is not, because of an apparent break with the ordinary situation
of men (and especially the young), the very condition that will
save this world.54
To be obedient in faith through the Superior to God's plan, as
free creatures who invoke and seek his will, raising the eyes to
heaven but lowering them to the young who seek salvation, places
obedience at one and the same time within the mystery of God
and at the same time within the mystery of the world, where it is
carried out. It is a sure liberation from the absolutism falsely
associated with the "idolatry of power"55 and communicates its
strength to the young so that they too may realize this freedom.
To be evangelically poor is no longer a personal virtue. It is 211
also a refutation of a world organized on principles of production
and consumption, and which for this purpose continually creates
52 C 60
53 C 63
54 Cf. J.THOMAS, Travail, Amour, Politique, Paris 1972
55 C 62
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the domination of man over man and of things over all men,
whether dominating or under domination. It is an evangelical
virtue because, going beyond the brief extent of our techmeal
knowledge, it shows that by following Christ it is possible to exist
in a way other than that dictated by the world, a world
emancipated from security of too mundane a nature, a world
precisely of poverty.
It will certainly free the salesians, and the young as well, from
the absolutism of the "urge to possess",56 provided that we set
about forming in ourselves a mentality and spirit that is
"evangelically poor".
To be evangelically chaste opposes a certain kind of psychic
fatalism which derides the force of freedom as an abortive effort
in a world of irresistible needs, and denies the possibility of growth
and self-donation through a break with so-called necessities.
The salesian offers to Christ and the Father his physical and
affective forces as a witness of a full love of communion and of
availability for the Kingdom.5? Consecration in chastity opens the
heart to spiritual fatherhood,58 it gives freedom and power to the
ability to make oneself all things to all men, fosters true friendships
and helps to make the community a true family.59 It is a love
which does not stop at itself but becomes a transparent sign of the
love of God for the young, who know they are loved and give
back the same love in return.60
212
To be men of prayer! The GC22, in placing prayer at the end
of Chapters IV, V and VI of the Constitutions, almost as a
conclusion to them, wanted to make it clear that the consecrated
apostolic life of the salesian, with the variety of his commitments
among youth, the brotherhood lived in community, and the
demands of obedience, chastity and poverty, has a character so
supernatural that it is not only impracticable but even impossible
56 Ibid.
57 Cf. C 80
58 Cf. C 81
59 Cf. C 83; ASC 285, p.26-27
60 Cf. C 81
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without the grace of the Spirit which is continually given through
prayer and the sacraments.61
Our "Covenant" encounter is expressed, celebrated, and finds
its force in dialogue with the Lord in prayer. This dialogue involves
the whole vocational experience and receives from it, through a
process of creative affinity, the specific style and criteria which
enable it to create and choose the most congenial forms of prayer.
It is the dialogue of an apostle who, when he prays, responds
to the Lord's invitation and revives the awareness of his intimate
and vital union with him and his mission of salvation.62
The ways in which salesians live these values, in a lay manner
in one case and a priestly manner in the other, are specific and
complementary. If we were to stop at the manner and ignore the
common content we should have an empty form, a fine thing but
with no substance; and if we were to attend only to the content
without considering its mode of expression we should fall into
abstract generalities and have a community with no original
characteristics.
We have thought it well to recall these values, despite the fact
that we have deliberately developed the concept of the mission at
greater length, because the mission itself needs them as an
irreplaceable condition for its efficacy and because, by committing
themselves to the internal assimilation of the corresponding
attitudes and the use of the appropriate means,63 salesians shape
their life by them for the education to holiness of the young people
who are seeking it.
61 Cf. Commentary on Constitutions, p.662
“ Cf. FSDB 64; C 85
“ Community: cf. FSDB 79-80;
Obedience: cf. FSDB 82-84;
Poverty: cf. FSDB 85-90;
Chastity: cf. FSDB 91-93;
Prayer: cf. FSDB 95-111.
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42.5 The lay nature of the salesian brother: a way of being and
working
213
Institutes of active life, so different one from another, take on
in different ways a true secular dimension and in it reflect a part
of that historical realism which belongs to the whole Church in
her mission as the universal sacrament of salvation. In our Society
it is the brother who ensures a lay presence and the playing of
roles that manifest this dimension and put it into practice. It
forms part of their vocational form, and is not just a simple trade
or service.
Our Congregation "cultivates an 'interest in the temporal' in
our restless apostolate among men: we live religiously immersed
and interested in the day to day vicissitudes of human society".64
What John Paul n, in the address already cited, judged to be
"opportune" and "necessary in certain particularly serious
situations", i.e. commitment in the vast field of human solidarity,
has become customary for us and the normal thing if referred to
the educational and social sectors.
The very spirituality of action, explicitly concerned with temporal
values, translates the riches of the contemplative dimension and
religious values into forces for education. More particularly the
mission to the young and the poor prompts the brother to be a
social educator by opening the horizons of human growth to the
indispensable ministry of Christ.65
The dynamics of his consecration are directed in a special way
and inseparably united manner to particular problems of human
advancement. For this reason he must know, esteem and make
his own the values and attitudes of the consecrated laity.
He proclaims directly in an overall manner as a religious the
definitive values of God's Kingdom, the beatitudes. Through his
experience and because of their radical witness value, he renounces
certain worldly means and structures, e.g. marriage, and creates
others which express the sense of his vocation in a visible manner
64 Cf. VIGANO E„ Lay component..., ASC 298, p.31
“ Ibid, p.33
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and are justified through strength of faith, e.g. the fraternal
community.
But as a lay salesian he profits by all the occasions offered him
by his lay character66 to find in his charism, which has an essential
educational projection, space for his own secularity, but in the
most ample and comprehensive way possible because in it lie the
educational possibilities in view of the evangelization of the young. 214
More in detail, he "brings to every field of education and
pastoral activity the specific qualities of his lay status, which make
him in a particular way a witness to God's Kingdom in the world,
close as he is to the young and to the realities of working life".67
If these values are assimilated, they will give rise in him to a
certain number of fundamental dispositions. Some of them express
rather his place with reference to the world, others the quality of
his interpersonal relationships.
The following are examples of the first kind.
He cultivates the desire and aptitudes needed to make him a
useful presence in history, opting courageously for man, for poor
youth especially and for their difficult future. He considers the
world as the place where he can live out his life of faith and
pastoral charity. He refuses to settle for a superficial and abstract
Christian commitment far removed from situational demands.68
He is concerned about the objective reality of things, he wants to
know about them even though they be complex and need both
study and careful experimentation with a professional approach.
He is firm as regards objectives, but flexible in the choice of means
and strategies for attaining them. He fosters a knowledge of the
working world and of its culture.
Examples of the second kind include the following items.
He develops a sense of what is possible and probable in social
and cultural vicissitudes. In consequence he is not dogmatic about
what is uncertain and still open to discussion. He respects opinions
that differ from his own and is willing to dialogue with all. He
66 Cf. GS 36
67 C 45
68 Cf. VIGANO E., Lay component..., ASC 298, p.24
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grows in initiatives, in pedagogical ideas and in pastoral creativity.
He is generous in giving his collaboration and has a high esteem
for organization. Finally he feels that he is participating in a
project of life, the salesian plan, that is able to educate needy
youth to the faith even in profane circumstances.69
215
The lay nature of the salesian brother as gleaned from these
rich outlines is, as we have said, a lay character which is
complementary. It is expressed in experiences and activities which
integrate those of the salesian priest in view of the common life
and common mission.
But it should be noted that "in the salesian community there
are no zones or activities that are the exclusive preserve either of
the brother or the priest, with the sole exception of those ministries
and roles that are specifically priestly or lay''70 In fact "it is desirable
that certain transient daily domestic chores should be increasingly
performed together by all members of the community as simple
acts of solidarity".71
In all these cases, the GC21 recalls, the specific contribution of
the brother "will consist rather in fulfilling the various salesian
assignments or service roles with a style, spirit and dimension
that is either lay or priestly".72
42.6 Constant growth in "humanity"
216
The values and trends of activity proper to our apostolic
consecration are gifts of God but they do not exist in a vacuum:
they are engrafted into the elements of dynamism in the humanity
of the brother and are expressed through this same humanity in
the witness and exercise of pastoral charity.
The holiness of consecrated life certainly does not depend on
the indications of the human and educational sciences; it is the
result of the gratuitous action of God. But the virtues and human
69 Cf. CNOS, Per una pastorale giovanile nei CFP, Turin, p.25
70 GC21 182
71 Lay componevi..., ASC 298, p.10
72 GC21 182
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aptitudes, by their presence or absence, can dispose an individual
to receive God's action more or less favourably and, still further,
to work in a more or less efficacious way in educational activity.
These motives, especially if referred to a vocation like our
own which is both educational and evangelizing at the same time,
explain the importance attributed by the Constitutions to human
values and to their relationship with transcendental values: "We
try to grow in our human qualities"73 and, at the same time, "to
conform ourselves more closely to Christ and to renew our fidelity
to Don Bosco so that we can respond to the ever new demands
arising from the situation of the young and the poor".74
Good health and physical resistance, intellectual maturity and
a progressive ability for reflection and judgement, balance and
psychic adaptability are among the values and attitudes most
needed in our formation process.75
On some but not all of these we shall dwell at greater length,76
taking into consideration also the social situation which, to a greater
or lesser extent depending on the locality, activates mechanisms
which can retard the normal development process.
A. Good psychic health: integration
The ever greater and better unification of the person around 217
his own life project is both the cause and effect of good psychic
health. To build up a clearly integrated personality, so as to live
freely and faithfully one's own apostolic consecration, carry out
an efficacious work of education and live a serene community
life, is a need felt by Don Bosco himself who is the prime model
of a "splendid blending of nature and grace" combined in a
"closely-knit life project".77
73 C 118
74 Ibid.
75 Cf. FSDB 58-66
76 Cf. FSDB 58-66. 78
77 C 21
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The brother must therefore develop:
— the ability to know and accept reality, and to make objective
judgements on persons, things and situations;
— . interior stability in convictions, no longer influenced by
conformism, superficial enthusiasm or delusions;
— a well adapted social attitude and the ability to be himself,
while integrating with the group to which he belongs;
— an emotive and affective disposition revealing a balanced
character, dominion over fear and melancholia and over
instinctive attraction or repulsion; a mode of conduct able
to mortify "any disordered tendencies, especially anger and
sensible affections"78 and the tendency to laziness or
gluttony;79
— a sufficient capacity for self-control, for responsibility for
his own life, for initiatives and well thought out decisions
freely made, for courage in facing obstacles and accepting
his limitations and failures, and for persevering in decisions
taken.
Society does not help in the acquiring of these dispositions. In
fact it frequently puts in their way very difficult obstacles which
at first sight may seem insuperable. They freeze the individual in
a state of uncertainty and doubt which usually prevents him from
facing up to his responsibilities. He looks for points of reference
and support, but these too are generally very superficial.
There is no doubt that our young salesian brothers, to ensure
their own perseverance and become models for helping the young
towards liberation and self-building, must develop a personality
still more balanced and mature.
B. The social virtues
218
Formation to communication and the social virtues is the other
aspect of a humanity which seeks to grow and be efficacious in its
78 Old Regulations 260
79 Ibid. 292
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service. The brother is called upon to acquire a great ability for
contact with others, and a style of relationships marked by
simplicity, delicacy and composure.
Valid also for him is the statement found in a different context:
"he should learn to value those good qualities which are esteemed
by men and render him acceptable".80 He will also have "to
cultivate in depth the ability to make contact with men of different
conditions. He should learn especially the art of speaking to others
in a tactful manner, of listening patiently and communicating with
them, animated by humble love and with the greatest respect for
every kind of person"81
In the face of those so-called "liberal" opinions which dignify
outlandish and vulgar modes of behaviour as free and authentic,
the salesian brother is able to combine "spontaneity with delicacy",
especially in working environments.82
In any case his community is the place where, more than
anywhere else, his formation takes place to the salesian style of
relationships. The brother is able to evaluate the quality of his
daily relationships, and recognizes the importance of contributing,
at the cost of courageous renunciation, to the formation of a climate
of true brotherhood in which obedience is harmonized with
freedom, natural likings and antipathies are overcome, each
individual's richness and value are recognized and fostered, and
friendship made possible.83
Since society is frequently at variance with the attainment of
these objectives, we now refer briefly to the activities and means
proposed by our own 'Ratio' for improving the unity of the lay
salesian's own life and his formation to the social virtues.84
80 or ii
81 RATIO FIS 51; cf. FSDB 113. 502. 535A. 544
82 SGC 669; cf. FSDB 65
83 SGC 669
84 Cf. SGC 673. 674. 679a; FSDB 115. 118. 147. 154. 160-162. 173. 306. 502; OT 11; C
70; ASC 285 p.43-44
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C. Intellectual maturity: intelligence, ability for reflection and judgement
219
The SGC expressed the hope that the Congregation would
have "a new type of man, capable of overcoming the uneasiness
caused by changes, and of continuing to look for solutions rather
than to take refuge in ready-made answers; disposed to learn and
to face up to new situations, to enter into dialogue with an open
mind, to accept the fact of interdependence and to practise
solidarity; capable too of distinguishing what is permanent from
what is changeable, without going to extremes".85 This is a kind
of man who is helped in the attainment of these dispositions also
by the maturing of his intelligence, and by reflection and
judgement, two important endowments which are much more
than a mere collection of ideas.
Intelligence is cultivated by matching how to study and what
should be studied to personal inclinations, personal abilities, the
vocational choice, the kind of commitment lived in the mission,
and the needs of the provincial community.
The vocational intention, clarified and deepened through the
study of salesian disciplines, will motivate the studies done and
the attitudes suggested. The vocation with its demands directs
the choices, motivates the individuals and their work, unifies the
multiplicity of studies, and gives wisdom to reflection and
judgement.
We shall see this question better a little later when we deal
with intellectual formation in the post-novitiate and immediately
after the practical training period, the two newest phases in a
certain sense for the initial formation of the salesian brother.
4. 3 A METHOD: MOTIVATE ATTITUDES AND TRY THEM
OUT
220
Up to this point, as we have looked at the gifts of nature and
grace of the lay salesian together with the corresponding values
and attitudes or dispositions, we may have formed two
impressions: that on the one hand the formation process is rich
85 SGC 665
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and complex, and in consequence far from easy; and that on the
other hand a method must be sought for carrying it out in such
a way that these values may motivate the attitudes and dispositions
and not merely remain in the mind, adding to the notions already
there but doing nothing else.
Any doubt or uneasiness of this kind should be overcome
without delay. Once the mind has an overall view of the whole
process, work should be begun on some important dimension of
the person, perhaps one that is still lacking. The relationship with
the rest will gradually involve others as well.
43.1 A preliminary and decisive aspect: the primary motivations
A more important point on the other hand is the effort to 221
grow in the ability to be personally motivated in life by these
values. This is the objective of the formation process and it is
fundamental, because the brother can do good and achieve self­
realization only on this condition. It is an objective that is not
spontaneous nor easily attained. It is not sufficient to have an
intellectual knowledge of these values, nor to accept them
emotionally. They must constitute the primary motivation of every
disposition and attitude. But in reality the situation is often far
different from this:
— one can be obedient (this is one of the attitudes) so as to
renew in the Church, for the benefit of the young, a full
availability to Christ, apostle of the Father and servant of
the Kingdom (this is the motivating value); but one can
also obey in servile fashion through fear of personal
responsibility or negative consequences, or to satisfy a need
for security which, if it became the primary motive for
personal obedience, would render the latter inconsistent;
— one can be faithful and persevering so as to respond in an
ever new way "to the special Covenant that the Lord has
made with us",86 but also through fear of facing up to
everyone's life situation;
86 C 195
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__ the liturgy can be celebrated as a mystery embedded in
the Passover of Christ,87 but also as an expedient for
gratifying a need for dependence on the particular reference
group;
— the sacrament of Reconciliation88 can be lived as a means
for passing from selfishness to love,89 but also as a means
of self-tranquillization and shedding guilt feelings;
— one can enter a community for an authentic experience of
genuine and reciprocal opening to individuals and to the
group90, or else to find a place where everything is hazy,
acceptable and safe;
— one can work for the young, moved by charity and the
good use of one's own pastoral ability,91 or one can do it
through a desire to be admired and accepted;
— one can strive to reform the life of the community through
love of Christ and the Church;92 but one can also try to
unload personal aggression in a socially acceptable way,
or to gratify one's more or less consciously recognized
needs for exhibitionism or domination.
222
The difficulty of living these attitudes motivated primarily by
values is present to some extent in everyone, even in "normal"
individuals. It is important therefore to have a clear understanding
of what we mean by 'primarily' in this context. It means that the
values must be the primary motives for living, thinking, loving
and acting. They may be so in themselves, but they may be so
also through using the psychic energy of some need consistent
with the vocational values and thus help the experience. But this
energy and its reference to need must never be the first reason for
what is done.
As the individual grows and matures, the influence of
motivations of an affective and perceptible kind is reduced, and
87 Cf. SRM 194
88 Cf. FSDB 106
89 Cf. C 90
90 Cf. FSDB 79-80
91 Cf. FSDB 74-78
92 Cf. FSDB 72; C 13
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the vocational motives increase in strength until the subject,
without abandoning his affective richness, builds his life on the
solid basis of the "right intention".93
When on the other hand this does not happen and the primary
motivations arise through negligence or interests from needs and
prevail over motivations, from values, normally the needs:
— prevent the attainment of a sufficient vocational maturity:
on the one side there are the values and on the other the
needs, more or less consistent with the vocational values
but without ever integrating them in the unity of the
individual;94
— foster an arbitrary interpretation of objective values, to such
an extent that they become twisted to justify the subject's
behaviour;
— contribute to the formation of non-realistic expectations, of
a world of utopian hopes and ideals which it is thought
will be eventually realized through various roles and
functions of the subject, with great and continual
disillusionment;
— render it impossible, finally, to read the "signs of the times :
the real problems are no longer perceived and refuge is
taken in situations as though these were sufficient in
themselves to change man and realize his plans.
This matter of true and authentic primary motivations is a
preliminary and decisive condition for all formation, and so also
for that of the salesian brother. He will feel himself fulfilled as a
consecrated person if he lives faithfully the evangelical values
that form the primary motivation for his life; and he will feel
fulfilled as a man if he gives a consistent and harmonious direction
to the force of his needs in view of the education and evangelization
of the young.
93 Cf. CHAMPOUX R., Nuove prospettive nella formazione religiosa: un'integrazione della
spiritualit e della psicologia del profondo, in "Civili Cattolica", n.3026, 1976
94 Cf. L.RULLA - F.IMODA - J.RIDICK, Elementos de predicci n y criterios de persever-
ancia vocacional, CONFER 74 (1981), p.316-318.
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43.2 "Trying them out"
223
Once the vocational "inconsistencies" have been eliminated or
have been brought to the surface and overcome, or (if that is not
completely possible) when they have been accepted but with the
necessary care that they be not given decisive weight in life and
its options, the possibility arises of trying out the vocational values.
This is an important fact because it is through experience, under
certain conditions,95 that the same values become internally
assimilated.
What is meant by 'experience', here?
Experience means living the vocational values with one's whole
being, in thought, will and feelings. It is the result of active
construction by the subject of the conditions, and of the gift he
receives - the vocational values. It is the living unity, the meeting
of both components, "a force, an energy, a value which is prior to
any interpretation".96
A. A methodological principle
224
Experience is therefore a fact of life, but it is also the criterion
that guides the whole of the formation process and unifies its
multiple components. The Constitutions of 1972 were already
speaking of "experience of life and work".97 The first edition of
the FSDB specified at greater length: "Such a transformation can
take place only by means of an inner experience which may bring
one to imderstand and vitally absorb the values and ideals which
are distinctive of the choice of salesian religious life".98 Finally
art.97 of the 1972 Constitutions, concluding and giving authority
to these indications, says that formation means "gaining experience
of the values of the salesian vocation", and art.98 added: "by
living and working for the common mission".
95 We mention only some of them, referring the reader to FSDB c.4 for a fuller list.
96 GIUSSANI L., Decisione per l’esistenza, Ed. Jaca Book, Milan, p.20-23
97 C (1972) 102
H
98 FSDB (1981) 155
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B. The objective
This then is the way to become an "educator and pastor of the 225
young" or, as stated elsewhere, "an apostle of the young"99 in the
lay form proper to the salesian brother. 100
An 'apostle' is a witness to Christ's resurrection101 ("a sign of
the power of the resurrection", as the Constitutions put it).102
And a 'witness' is one who lives the experience of the presence
and revelation of the Lord and is capable of announcing it, telling
its story,103 proclaiming to the young "new heavens and a hew
earth, awakening in them hope and the dedication and joy to
which it gives rise".104
C. Some conditions
We have described the general purpose and fundamental 226
characteristic of the method: our vocation "calls for a kind of
formative action which promotes a true experience of life".105 But
under what conditions can all this be realized?
Our Constitutions provide us with some practical indications:
a) In "activities"
The salesian is formed in 'activities', "as he lives and works
for the common mission".106
The term 'activity' has a whole variety of meanings. For us it
is a certain event or facts, or relationships with facts and persons,
that generate an active process, i.e. set free the energies of the
individual and prompt a response. We have in mind relationships
” Cf. C 97
100 C 6. 95
101 Acts 3,1-10
C 63; cf. C 34. 61
105 Cf. C 61. 62
,M C 63
105 FSDB (1981) 3
io« c 99
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with God, with Mary and Don Bosco; those to whom our apostolic
work takes us (in the Congregation, the local Church, the
community, with confreres, with the young); and even what
happens in an environment and, on a still wider scale, in a culture.
They are factors and relationships which provoke a reaction
and demand a decision.
All this is activity.
b) Activities "motivated" by true and authentic motives
227
Not every activity is formative, but only those based on true
and authentic motives.107
The "true" motives belong to the salesian charismatic
patrimony108 or are taken from history through attention to the
presence of the Spirit:109 "The salesian is called to be a realist and
to be attentive to the signs of the times, convinced that the Lord
manifests his will also through the demands of time and place...
Timely response to these needs requires him to keep abreast of
new trends and meet them with the well-balanced creativity of
the Founder; periodically he evaluates his work".110
There is a functional perception of things which considers
things precisely as things; but there is also a deeper vision, a
sacramental perception, which discerns the action of God in history,
and so experiences a continual and progressive expansion of the
sense of faith within the cocoon of the historical sense.111
The true motives become "authentic" when the individual
makes them his own and wants them to constitute the primary
driving force behind his options, diminishing the influence of the
needs. "A right intention means doing what pleases God", as
Don Bosco would say.112
107 Cf. 101. 103-104. 112; R 85. 88. 89. 94. 98. 100-103
108 Cf. C 96; FSDB 134-136
109 C 12
1,0 C 19; cf. C 62. 63. 85. 86. 94. 117
Cf. EN 21
1,2 MB 9, 986
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c) Experience, awareness, communication
Formation takes place to the extent that the person is aware of 228
his own experience and communicates it: "ongoing formation
requires that each confrere develop his capacity for communication
and dialogue; he should form in himself an open and discerning
mentality7'.113
To express in words one's own experience is the fruit of the
effort to re-examine it carefully, so as to symbolize what has been
lived through and so render it clear and perceptible and insert it
in a coherent framework of values. Men develop in silence, but
also through words. Experience requires to be known, but also to
be communicated. Awareness makes communication possible,
and communication intensifies awareness. When an individual
has a proper awareness of his own experience and this awareness
is expressed in communication, then there is real authenticity and
the values are assimilated.
A speaker may easily feel that what he is communicating and
others are receiving is not really what he wants to say. And so
he is tempted to remain silent. And yet when an individual does
not manifest, at an appropriate time and place, the important
dimensions of his life, his world becomes restricted, his vitality
dries up, his possibilities for maturing are extinguished, his
language becomes impersonal and technical, and sometimes even
commonplace and trivial. When on the other hand he talks about
what has happened to him, he makes available for himself and for
others a particular formative energy. His account of his experiences
realizes around him the signs of the love of God and of his
salvation. The experience of life becomes a message, and the one
detailing it knows that he is competent to do so because he has
already been saved by the event he is narrating. His is a sign
which not only informs but is evocative of a response and prompts
a decision affecting life. It as though by his account the force and
truth which it encloses are set free.
r 1'3 99
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229
This kind of thing happened not infrequently to Don Bosco:
"Even during recreation time", notes his biographer, "if the
conversation turned to the subject of the Holy Eucharist, he would
beam with holy ardour ... and his words made the boys more
convinced than ever of the truth of the real presence of Jesus
Christ".114
The most common difficulty at the level of formation lies in
the inability to find words and expressions that coincide with the
facts experienced and with the awareness the subject has of it, so
as to be able to communicate it.
The lack of this narrating ability sometimes gives rise to a
personal crisis and inadequate apostolic activity: "the crisis in
young people stems from the fact that they have had imposed on
them symbolic worlds foreign to their ¿ved existence, and so
lacking in meaning that they cannot be used for narrating their
own life story".115
This needs to be kept in mind when educating young people
for the working world. It is well known what factory-language is
like: paucity of words, ho abstract terms, and with immediately
applicable meanings which make difficult any reference to more
"remote" values. What is important to such people is the
immediate value of the facts in which they are involved. Every
thought is directed to what has just been done or is about to be
done for some personal interest. The connection between thought,
action and self-interest is unbreakable except through a life, that
of an educator, which is wholly a freely given service, and in
which the person concerned finds words and expressions to make
himself understood.
For these reasons everything that brings about growth in
communication must be considered important:
— the systematic practice of reading and studying in the
sciences related to the mission, availability for prayer and
114 Cf. BM 4, 317
1,5 MOLARI C., Per una comunicazione che faccia spazio alla narrazione, in "Note di
Pastorale Giovanile" 10 (1981), p.35.
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meditation;116 periodic requalification when necessary;117
periods of suitable length for the renewal of salesian
religious life from a pastoral and professional point of
view;118
— the frequent talk with the Superior, a brotherly chat, a
particular moment for "speaking with confidence of his
life and work" for his own good and the well-being of the
community;119
— personal and communal spiritual direction, especially in
the initial phases of formation.120
d) The community, the place of communion
This is another of the fundamental conditions. When such 230
items as assemblies, revision of life, colloquies and spiritual
direction, each according to its own nature bestowed by the
Constitutions or by free choice, are encounters in which experiences
are expressed or received; one has "a family of brothers around
their father"121 and "the very life of the community is itself a
factor in formation".122 The community becomes an environment
which "fosters his growth to maturity",123 socializes values and
spreads models and approaches.
It becomes a family environment in which each one, able to be
himself, willingly accepts the risk of being open; an environment
where there is a willingness to listen, where there is a rich empathy,
i.e. where each one tries to reproduce in himself the feelings of
others. It becomes a setting in which one can check whether
others have understood what one has said. When a speaker hears
his own story coming back to him because someone who was
really listening refers to it in some way, he feels that he has been
ns R 99
”7 R 100
Ibid.
C 70; R 49
120 Cf. C 105. 109, 112, 113; R 78-79. 175
121 BM 8, 356
122 C 99
123 C 52
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really accepted and understood. In turn he accepts himself and
gradually realizes a sure and vital communion with that person
and with all he represents.124
The community becomes an environment which helps in the
vocational discernment of the experience itself. The experience
narrated must be recognized and verified in its relationship with
the vocational ideal: "Life in the Holy Spirit and the grace of
Christ is a vital dynamism, shaped always by contemporary and
competent people who carry out a sacramental function of
mediation".125 The community of life becomes a community of
faith which compares itself through these mediations with that
"Covenant" from which stems the first and last sense of itself and
the truth of its lived experience. The community of life fosters the
community of faith, and the community of faith consolidates the
community of life, always provided that the latter be a community
rich in models.
e) A community rich in "models"
231
The first salesians found their model in Don Bosco. "We too
find in him our model".126 This is how the chapter on formation
begins in our Constitutions. And they go on to exploit this aspect:
the formation guides in formation communities have to be "capable
of a living communication of the salesian ideal".127 "As mediators
of the Lord's action", "they have a serene knowledge of their own
salesian identity and a deep enthusiasm for the vocation, whose
values they live in such a way as to bear witness to them and
communicate them in a vital way".128 Finally, every salesian
through prayer and personal witness contributes to the sustaining
and renewal of the vocation of his confreres.129
The vocational ideal and his experience are normally perceived
by interaction with models that embody them and which,
124 VAN KAAM A., Existential foundations of psychology, New York 1969, p.336-337
125 VIGANO E., Commentary on Strenna 1983
C 21. 97
122 C 104
128 FSDB 142; cf. GC21 245
129 C W1
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considered as a response, make easier his original self­
identification.
They continually move us in fact from the sense of being at
ease with them to the challenge they offer to our abilities, and to
the free and original acceptance of the values they propose to us
by their lives.130
4.4 SOME PHASES OF THE INITIAL FORMATION
These are phases each of which, against the background of the 232
vocation of the salesian brother (considered always in its overall
physiognomy) emphasize a particular and specific objective to be
attained. They accentuate various aspects therefore from the
standpoint of both the contents and the corresponding intellectual
preparation.
The interventions are progressive and in line with a double
criterion: that of the basic equality between brother and priest
salesians, and that of their specific difference.
44.1 The post-novitiate
For the lay salesian, as for others, it is a matter of maturing his 233
own faith through a progressive integration of faith and life and
faith and culture; the developing of the salesian vocation through
an adequate preparation in catechesis and pedagogy; and the
extension of his intellectual formation, so as to develop a
"pedagogical mentality" in line with his own culture.131
But it is also a matter of what is specific to the brothers which
must be given special attention in the obligations associated with
this phase. Among the objectives in fact are:
— to better ensure the sense and value of their consecrated
lay character;
”• Cf. SRM 97
131 Cf. FSDB 288-289. 332
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— to devote greater attention to the formation of the educator
through a suitable pedagogical, humanistic and salesian
preparation; and of the educator to the faith through a
catechetical and theological initiation which leads to a better
understanding of the vocation of the lay salesian in its
relationship with God's presence in the world;
— to promote gradually from this point their professional
competence and their social and political education, so that
by making good use of the social teaching of the Church
they may become properly equipped to become educators
and evangelizers of the working world.132
234
Accepting these general objectives, both common and specific,
and referring more particularly to the study programme, we may
ask:
— how can we follow them in the progressive development
of their apostolic consecration, and educate them also to a
social and political sensitivity and prepare them for
educational activity in the working world?
— how can we avoid the risk, greater in the case of brothers,
of a devaluation of the reflexive aspect in the face of a
more urgent call for action? What kind of balance can we
create between intellectual activity and manual work?
— what criteria should be adopted concerning matters to be
studied in view of the attainment of these objectives?
— are separate communities and study-plans preferable, or is
it better to have the experience of common life with a
unified programme of studies and with the necessary
differences and integration?
A. The objectives
235
The FSDB draws attention to the obligation assumed in
temporary profession, which "must be translated into an authentic
living out of vocational values in a daily adherence to them, a
132 Cf. FSDB 338. 408-410
210

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deeper understanding of them, and the discovery of their punty,
harmony and organic nature".133
a) Integration of faith, life and culture
In this perspective, in addition to the corresponding formation
to motivated attitudes and dispositions, the study programme
should contain in due proportion some contents proper to the
disciplines of theology, e.g.:
— An introduction to salvation history and the mystery of
Christ;
— An introduction to the Old and New Testaments;
— Questions of Church history;
— Questions of systematic theology;
— Moral questions;
— The social teaching of the Church,
— Hagiography;
— Theology of the rehgious life;
— Liturgy;
— Catechesis.
b) Maturing of the salesian vocation
Alongside the specifically salesian disciplines (which in this 236
phase will give great importance to the preventive system and its
realization in practice) the need will be emphasized to bring the
following together in harmony from a pedagogical standpoint and
as an immediate preparation for the practical training period:
Philosophy of education,
General pedagogy/
— Psychology of evolving age;
Sociology of youth,
Preventive system,
— Youth pastoral work.
FSDB 333
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c) More direct and specific intellectual formation
237
The study programme foresees a particular attention to
disciplines in the sectors of philosophy, humanities and languages
in an anthropologically unified perspective, with the object of
overcoming any break between real life and reflection. Study
must be motivated and stimulated by real life, and practice must
be enlightened and guided by reflection.134
Every downgrading of reflection and study in favour of
experience and life compromises an adequate recognition of the
values of the individual, of the lay dimension of life, and does
nothing to help the formation of a true "spirituality of work".
For a person who has previously followed a regular course of
studies and has sufficient ability, the normal arrangement of studies
in a common community structure is recommended. The
experience of common life between candidates for the priesthood
and lay salesians highlights the two ways of living the one salesian
vocation: this "is desirable", says the FSDB.135
But more frequently it happens that, given "the many different
possibilities grouped together under the denomination of lay
salesian",136 philosophical, pedagogical and catechetical preparation
will have to be proportioned to the different situations.
B. Study guidelines
238
a) Knowledge needs to be unified from an anthropological
standpoint. The unifying perspective of the mystery of Christ is
absolute, but it is nevertheless essential within this framework to
emphasize the unifying perspective of man, with the intention of
rediscovering and founding on a cultural basis the primacy and
centrality of the person and the obligation of human maturing
and development. This will follow from a study programme that
links the human and philosophical disciplines with the human
134 Cf. FSDB 230
135 FSDB 397; GC21 303
136 FSDB 410; GC21 301
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sciences, and contributes to the development of an opening to
pedagogical problems.137
.
b) The human sciences are considered indispensable for an
immediate and phenomenological reference to reality.138
A possible selection, which takes account of the rich indications
suggested by the Ratio, could be:
— General Pedagogy;
— General and dynamic psychology,
— Psychology of the evolving age,
— General sociology;
— Sociology of youth;
— Introduction to economics,
— Elements of finance and administration;
— History of religions;
- Introduction to social commumcaUon.
Sociology and Psychology serve to throw light on age ranges
of particuto interest for our mission: pre-adolescence, adolescence
and early manhood, and prompt attention to the expenence and
d^nds to which they
,,global„ „radical„
charaet osophic
P iead salesian brothers towards the
of the world, of man and of God,
and i™ ^Ot pe
maturity of judgement. Those without
« S”“8 ‘S
courses in thefr «tirety, could follow a few of the fundamental
ones such as:
,
— Introduction to philosophy;
— Philosophy of education;
— Seminar on atheism;
Methodology of scientifi
137 Of. FSDB 340
138 cf- FSDB 224
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d) "Harmony with the prevailing historical context" is a
requirement that accompanies man throughout his entire life, and
hence also in the realization of his intellectual formation. 139
The lay salesian's social and political education meets this
requirement. Wide and deep use will be made of the social
teaching of the Church, in view especially of an educational service
in the working world.140
Attention will also be given to achieving a wise balance
between manual work and intellectual activity. The presence and
significance of manual work must be rethought with a view to its
harmonization with intellectual activity in the development and
realization of personality.
240
The emphasis on manual work as compared with
professionalism and intellectual activity is justified also by the
need to avoid imposing a heavy burden on those brothers who
have not completed a full programme of secondary studies, and
are consequently without any specific title or professional
qualification.
In conclusion, the arrangement of studies in the post-novitiate
phase considers as "essential, original and having priority" the
nucleus of humanist and philosophical disciplines, linked with
the educational sciences but organized and directed in the manner
indicated. Consequently a regular course of technical, scientific
or professional studies in view of a qualification can be begun or
continued only when the development of this main nucleus has
been substantially assured.141
44.2 The period following practical training
241
The Acts of the General Council, analyzing what the Provincial
Chapters and Provincial Directories had decided in connection
with the formation of the lay salesian, concluded with these
observations: The period following practical training is still almost
135 Cf. FSDB 229
Cf. FSDB 338; GC21 302
141 Cf. FSDB 403
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entirely at an experimental stage; the duration, the kind of
formation community, the content of this phase of specific
formation, all vary a great deal from place to place and also from
one person to another, but it must ensure as a primary requirement
in every case the development of the pastoral dimension and
capacity in the young confrere.142
A. Principles and criteria
In view of the variability of the situation and to help the
experiments now in progress and give them a certain security, it
should be noted that the main principles and criteria which govern
this phase of formation and the characteristics of the associated
studies are two in number: the particular vocational form of the lay
salesian, and the wide flexibility of the curriculum to meet the
real possibilities of the candidate, the diversity of starting situations,
and the spiritual process so far followed.
While keeping in mind art. 106 of the Constitutions, there is in
fact a whole variety of possibilities open to lay salesians, and this
diversity calls for special consideration. Thought must therefore
be given at provincial and interprovincial level to a "serious
formation programme, but one that is flexible and adjustable,
recognizing both the special nature of the various responsibilities
and the actual possibilities of the candidate".143
B. The objectives
The objectives require those responsible:
242
a) to give due weight, even in the area of intellectual
formation, to the presence of a theology which of its nature
permeates the culture of the brother, while leaving space for the
area of technical and professional formation;
b) to enrich by motives and values the complementary nature
of the two vocational forms, both in fraternal life and apostolic
142 AGC 323, NATALI P., Formation of the salesian brother
143 FSDB 410; GC21 301
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activity; to give greater certainty and truth to the particular
sensitivity of the lay salesian to the worlds of work, technical
development, art, finance, social communication and human
relations; to help him to live the "liturgy of life" so as to exploit
pedagogical and pastoral experiences through the richness of his
lay characteristics;144
c) to guide him to draw greater profit from the non-ordained
ministries, instituted by the Church for the laity as a service to the
community, and which reveal their usefulness in the setting of
liturgical celebrations, the organization of activities for the purpose
of evangelization and catechesis, and in the much broader area of
the practice of charity in general.145
C. Aspects of the formation curriculum
243
"The specific formation of lay salesians, referred to in art.116
of the Constitutions and art.98 of the Regulations, must be
programmed in concrete fashion by the provincial with his council.
In some cases it may be possible to avail of already existing
structures at interprovincial or world level",146 or new ones can be
created.
The manner in which the provinces concerned are involved
must be clearly expressed. It will form an index of the provinces'
understanding of their formative responsibilities, and of their
participation.
There are two fundamental aspects to the formation curriculum:
that of pastoral formation, and the technical and professional
aspect. The structure of the communities is based on what the
FSDB calls "formational" criteria, because of the conditions
involved.147 But it will be subject to those modifications in
personnel and initiatives that will will enable a certain priority to
be given to theological and catechetical formation "in line with
the consecrated lay character".148
144 a. FSDB 454
145 Cf. FSDB 455; CIC 230,1
FSDB 475
147 FSDB 160-163
148 C 116
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When it comes to specialization and suitable environments for
carrying it out, timely thought will have to be given to the
preparation of lay salesians capable of insertion among the
formation personnel. "Whenever possible the lay salesian should
be present in formation structures with his particular witness, and
when necessary also as a teacher in the cultural and technical
sectors".149
The content of the intellectual and professional formation will
be open to the requirements of the pastoral and professional role
of each one, with due attention to the possible choices offered by
the way this phase is arranged with regard to persons, courses,
and local situations and experiences.
They can be distributed normally over four semesters for an
overall duration of two years calculated as the number of hours
or credits required, but with the possibility of an extension when
personal conditions are such as to allow of the frequenting of
courses at university or pre-university level. In such a case the
distribution of the various disciplines, made under the
responsibility of the provincial, or of the "curatorium" in the case
of an interprovincial structure, must be such as to permit the
attainment of the objectives indicated.
In the light of the criteria set out above, and after previous
consultation with the formation communities in which the
candidates had lived previously, so as to harmonize the post­
novitiate programme with that proposed for this present phase
following the practical training period, and to avoid duplication
or overlapping, it would seem that the following contents could
be adopted, in line with the five areas proposed by the FSDB:150
1. Salesian formation
244
— A deeper knowledge of the life of Don Bosco and the first
Salesians;
— A critical study of some of its aspects;
— The history of the salesian brother;
149 FSDB 181
150 FSDB 338
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— Salesian spirituality in the consecrated lay state;
— Community life and human relationships;
— Elements of didactics and pedagogy;
— Elements of catechetics and of pastoral work for the young
and for vocations.
2. Theological and catechetical formation
— An updated and deeper knowledge of the theology of the
religious life;
— A deeper awareness of the biblical background to certain
themes;
— Introduction to the liturgy and the divine office;
— A course in catechesis.
3. Social and political formation
— Social teaching of the Church;
— Economics, sociology and politics of work;
— A knowledge of other aspects of the working world:
anthropology and theology of work;
— History of political doctrines.
4. Perfecting of professional formation
— Information technology;
— Other topics according to the personal competence of the
candidates.
5. New requirements
— Social communication;
— Music;
— Techniques of animation.
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5. CONCLUSION
In discovering the figure of the salesian brother, we have 245
followed to a great extent the same path as that taken by Don
Bosco in his own time, and have continued it down to the present
day.
Historians think that Don Bosco's first intuitions, formed under
the pressure of circumstances and God's enlightenment, have been
gradually made more specific and precise. It is not only a question
of discerning and fixing the characteristic elements of the figure
of the lay salesian; nor is it a matter of merely bringing it up to
date to the point at which by the competent filling of certain roles
it would respond to the real and nearly always urgent needs that
the youth condition and the unique configuration of salesian
communities and the Congregation demand. It is a question above
all of understanding and accepting in its authenticity the gift of a
vocation which has gradually been manifested, and which has
gained assent and adherence because of its novelty and utility.
The development of this idea was neither easy nor
uncomplicated, as we have seen.
It is certain however that in all this field of interests,
perspectives and significance, the figure of the salesian brother
has always been well loved throughout our history, in times of
success and in times of crisis. This is true in the first place of Don
Bosco, and to a greater degree than anyone else.
It is this same love, we believe, that has led to the compiling
of the present volume. Our purpose was to retrace the historical
figure of the lay salesian, so as to give him his proper place with
all his rich qualities in the life of the Congregation and the Church,
in the hope that others, even through the witness and vocational
care we are asked for, may feel called to five the same vocation,
to foster its growth in themselves, and to persevere in it.
Even in the saddest moments the problem was never that of
talking too much, but of soldiering on, of persevering, convinced
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of what one believed in and living it consistently, without distrust
or feeling it a burden, and with a faith that overcomes the world.
The poet Giulio Superville, contemplating the donkey that
carried Mary so swiftly, comments: ‘"Mary weighed very little,
because all her thoughts were on the future she bore within her".
We are emerging from a past that has had its high points and
its crises. Let us shake off the latter and retrieve the former,
regaining especially our hope and trust.
May Mary, whom our Constitutions invoke as "She who gives
us courage" help us today in the commitments asked of us, and
nourish our hopes for the future.
Especially may she bring about through her intercession that
Don Bosco's desire may be realized: "I have such great need for
many of you to come and help me in this way".
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ANALYTICAL INDEX
(The numbers refer to paragraphs, not pages)
(SB = salesian brother)
Addressees:
- Those for whom the present publication is intended 1.
Aesthetics:
- values of - , and influence on identity of SB 84-86.
Albera (Don Paolo):
- SB during his period as Rector Major 50-51
Animation:
- responsibilities of SB in structures of - and government 136;
vocational - of SB 139-140; - as a ministry and field of action of SB 204-
208.
Apostolate:
- foundations of - of SB 139-140; whole life of brother as 141-143; v.
also Mission, Pastoral work.
Aspirantates:
- for SB vocations: institution of first - 55; present characteristics 183-
185.
Assistance:
- individual - of SB candidates 178-179.
Bertello (Don Giuseppe):
- first organizer of salesian trade schools 44.
Book "The Salesian Brother":
- nature of the publication 1-2; points of reference 2; those to whom
it is directed 1; contents: overall perspective 2.
221

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Bosco (Don):
- and origins of SB 8-23,255; his working experience 12; - and the first
workshops 9-10; - and the first SBs 18-23; the thought of - on the SB
from 1876 to 1886 24-43; speak of - a way to present vocation of SB
166-169; service in salesian structures according to - 79-83; Eve the
spirit of - 147; spirit of - source of unity 154.
Candela (Don):
- report of - on SB at Congress on states of perfection 59-60).
Catechesis, Catechetics:
- vocational - of SB 163.
Chapters, General: interventions on SB:
GC3 (1883) 30-35
GC4 (1886) 39, 42-43
GC12 (1922) 53
GC15 (1938) 57
GC16 (1947) 57
GC17 (1952) 61
GC19 (1965) 63
GC20 (1971-72) 64
GC21 (1977-78) 64
GC22 (1984) 64; guidelines of - for production of present volume 1-2.
Chapters, Provincial:
- and guidelines of GC22 on SB 2.
Church:
- and culture 88;
- the field for vocational apostolate 158; laity's part in mission of -111-
114; participation in mission of - 140; SB lives an experience of - 170-
171.
Coadjutor (name):
- meaning of, and first applications 15-17; in GC3 30-31; the first
"coadjutors" 18-21; some figures 19; source and occupations 22-23;
the name - and the identity of the SB 134-135.
222

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Communication:
- of personal experience in formation of SB 228-229.
Community:
- identity of SB in - 68; the SDB - an original - 98; a fraternal -100-102;
an apostolic - open to secularity 103-106; a - rich in models 231;
welcoming and reception - for SB 182; aspirantate 183-185; vocational
- 186; insertion in a salesian - 187; communion in - a value for
formation of SB 209, 226-231.
Complementary nature:
- of SB and salesian priest 68, 121-122, 130-135, 149; influence of - on
identity of SB 134-135; v. also Reciprocity.
Council (Vatican II):
- identity of SB after - 63-64,74; use of language of in Constitutions 98,
to describe lay dimension of SB 120.
Counsels (evangelical):
- components of identity 119; values of - as guide in formation of SB
210-212.
Covenant:
- mystery of - in consecration of SB 197-200.
Creation:
- lay character with reference to - 108-109.
Criteria:
- for this publication 1.
Culture, cultures:
- of SB in GC3 29-31; influence of - on identity of SB 87; Church,
Congregation and - 88; place of production and network of diffusion
89-90; salesian cultural system 91-94; incidence of - on identity of SB
97; - of work: content and pastoral educational requirements 206-208.
Direction, Spiritual:
- of candidate to SB 178-179.
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Directories:
- provincial - , analysis of as regards SB 2, 191, 241.
Economy:
influence on identity of SB of values of - 84-86.
Experience(s):
- of vocational values as formative method 222: methodological
principle 224, objective of 225, conditions 226; presentation of present
experience of SB, a vocational path 170-172.
Family, Salesian:
the SDB community in - and place of SB 98-99, 103.
Fidelity:
dynamic - in salesian identity 73.
Formation:
- of SB in provincial chapters 2; lines of - of SB 190f: a 'special
commitment7195; deep reasons for -192; overall content of - 193-195;
guiding values 196-219; a method of - 220-231; some phases of initial
- (post nov. and post tirocinium) 232-244.
Further formation:
houses for - of SB after novitiate 53, 55-57.
General Chapters:
v. Chapters, general.
Gospel:
style of - in life and activity of SB 119; v. also Counsels.
Government:
- sharing of SB in life and - of Congregation 136; service of salesian
superior as priest 137; - and vocational animation of SB 188-189.
Group(s):
vocational role of youth - 180-181.
Health:
good psychic - : integration 217.
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History:
brief - of lay religious 3-6; - of SB 8-64; publications on - of religious life
7; "salesian sacred -" 91.
Holiness (v. Sanctity!
Holy Spirit: -
- the source of the charism of SB 95; - and mystery of the Covenant
197; v. also Spiritual life
Humanity:
- constant growth in - a fundamental value of formation of SB: good
psychic health 217, social virtues 218, intellectual maturity 219.
Identity:
- of SB: deepening of - as purpose of this publication 1; deeper
theological understanding of - 65; the many senses of - 66f; general
aspects and criteria 75f; basic outlines - 98f; essential reciprocity
between lay and priest salesians 128f; apostolic action of SB 138f;
features of spiritual life of SB 146f; Quantitative and qualitative - 67;
personal and communal - 68; relational - 69; expressed - 72; historical
- 73; collective - 74; aspects of - which affect essential figure 73:
numerical consistency and geographical distribution 76, names 77-
78, structures 79f, economic and aesthetic values 84-86, culture and
cultures 87; fundamental outlines of -: in an original community 98f,
the lay nature 107f, a characteristic vocation 117f; - in the report of
Don Candela (1950) 59-60.
Lay state, laity:
- role of - in 19th century 8; vocation of SB characterized by - 107f; -
with reference to creation 108-110; - with reference to the Church's
mission (secular characteristics, consecrated laity) 111-114; - with
reference to religious life 115-116; deeper study to be made of - in
vocational apostolate of SB 174-175; - of SB a guiding value in
formation 213-215.
Life (spiritual):
v . Spiritual life
Magisterium:
v . Further formation
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Mary:
devotion to - lived in characteristic fashion by SB 153.
Mediation(s):
- vocational - 161.
Method(s):
- formation - of SB: motivate attitudes and profit by experience 220;
primary motivations 221-222; "trying things out"; principle, objectives
and conditions 223-231.
Ministries:
- non-ordained ministries, field of action for SB 205.
Mission:
- apostolic activity of SB a sharing in - of Church 139-140; vocation of
SB at service of salesian - 123; shared responsibility of priest and lay
salesians in -124; apostolic mission as a value in formation of SB 201:
values and dispositions of "pastoral sense" 202, capacity for action
203, ministerial function and fields of activity 204-205, educator to
the faith in working world 206-208. v. also Apostolate.
Models:
— value of - 2,49,51; presentation of - of SB 173; formation community
to be rich in - 231; heroic - of salesian lay sanctity 155.
Monasticism:
- and lay religious life 4.
Motivation(s):
- primary objective of formation of SB 221-222; serious and authentic
- of activities 227.
Name:
- of SB 77-78; v. also Coadjutor.
Nature:
- of present publication 1.
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Novitiate(s):
deliberations of GC3 (1883) on - for SB 31;
- for SB novices at S.Benigno Canavese (1883) 36, Don Bosco's talk to
SB novices 36-37; other - at time of Don Rua 47; circular of Fr Ricaldone
on - 56.
Number:
v. Statistics
Objective(s):
- of present publication 1.
Occupations:
- of first SBs 22-23; of SB in document of GC4 (1886) 42, in letter of
Don Rinaldi (1927) 54; big changes in - and difficulty of requalification
62; - of SB and apostolic life 141-143; - of SB and "liturgy of life" 152;
kinds of - for SB and their educative and pastoral sense 204-205.
Orders:
- mendicant
- and lay religious life 5; modem
- and lay religious life 6.
Origins:
- of SB at time of Don Bosco 8-43; - of first SBs 22.
Pastoral, pastoral work:
formation of SB to - sense 202;
formation of SB to - activity 203-208;
- vocational - of SB 156f: fundamental features of -156, and of vocational
- 158, tasks of - 162-163; vocational - of SB 164; speak of Don Bosco
166-169; present actual experience 170-172; put in contact with models
173; deeper explanation of lay character 174-175; welcoming and
follow up of SB vocation 176-187.
Period following practical training:
the - for SB 241; principles and criteria 241, objectives 242, aspects of
formative curriculum 243-244.
Policy: salesian - 95.
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Post-novitiate:
for SB 233-234, objectives 235-236, study guidelines 238-239.
Prayer
and vocation 162; - and vocational apostolate 188-189; formation of SB to
- 212.
Presentation:
- ways of - of SB vocation to the young 164: speak of Don Bosco 166-
169; - of actual experiences 170-172; put in contact with models 170-
172; explain lay character more deeply 174-175.
Problems: - still open about SB 76, 190.
Process:
- formative - of SB: characteristics 193. specific content 193, arrangement
of contents 194; unified and complex - 195; v. also Formation, Values
Professionalism:
- of SB as aspect of apostolate 108, 142-143, 203, 208.
Profession (religious):
first - (also of SB) in Salesian Society 19; the - of SB 119.
Project:
vocational apostolate of SB in pastoral and educational - 188.
Provincial:
- with his council must programme specific formation of SB; aspects of
formative curriculum 243-244.
Provincial Chapters:
v. Chapters, Provincial
Qualification:
- of SB in last thirty years 81-83, 108;
v. also Formation, Occupations, Further formation
Reception (and Follow-up):
nature of - 163-164; objectives of - with reference to vocation of SB 176-
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177; - and individual assistance 178-179; in youth groups 180-181;
community of - 182; aspirantate 183-185; vocational communities 186;
insertion in a salesian community 187.
Reciprocity:
essential - between lay and priest salesians 128f; vocational 128-129;
fraternal complementarity at level of personal and apostolic awareness
130-133; influence of - and complementarity on identity 134-135;
participation in life and government of Congregation 136-137; v. also
Complementary nature
Rectors:
care of SB vocations by - in circulars of Don Rua 47-48.
Relationships:
formation to the social virtues 218;
v. also Complementary nature, Reciprocity
Review "Il Salesiano Coadiutore":
publication and contents of - 58.
Ricaldone (Fr Peter):
circular of (as Councillor for trade schools) on SB vocations 50; SB during
period of - as Rector Major 56-60.
Ricceri (Fr Luigi):
SB during period of - as Rector Major 63.
Rinaldi (Fr Philip):
SB during period of - as Rector Major 52-55.
Rua (Fr Michael):
SB during period of - as Rector Major 44-49.
Salesian Family:
v. Family, salesian
Salesian name:
use of name 'Salesian' by Don Bosco 20.
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Salesian spirit:
v. Spiritual life
Sanctity:
- of lay people and Don Bosco's ides of the Congregation 8; heroic
witnesses to salesian lay - 155; - and constant growth in humanity
216; v. also Models.
Schools:
- first - of arts and trades of Don Bosco 9-10; - as a work of Don Bosco
10-13; salesian professional - , beginnings of 44.
Secularity:
- salesian communities open to -103-104; - and lay character proper to
lay faithful 112-113; consecrated -114; contribution of SB to opening
of Congregation to - 145.
Spiritual Direction:
- of candidates for SB 178-179.
Spiritual life:
- some features of - of SB 146; - means living the salesian spirit 147, as
a lay religious with attitudes and dispositions proper to salesian spirit
148-153; spirit of Founder as source of unity 154; heroic witness of
lay salesian sanctity 155.
Spirit, salesian:
v
. Spiritual life
Statistics:
- on SB (from 1880 to 1920) 45; drop in vocations in 70's 62; reflections
on numerical consistency and geographical distribution of SBs 76.
Structures:
- influence of - on identity of SB 79-83.
Studies:
- guidelines for - in post-novitiate 235-240; - in post-tirocinium 244.
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24 Pages 231-240

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24.1 Page 231

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Theology:
deeper analysis of - of vocational identity of SB, chap.2.
Values:
formation to proper - of apostolic consecration of SB 196: in a special
Covenant 197-200, the apostolic mission 201-208, communion in the
community 209, a radically evangelical life style 210-212, the lay nature
213-215, constant growth in humanity 216-219; v. also Aesthetics,
Economy, Motivations
Vatican II:
v. Council (Vatican III
Vespignani (Don Giuseppe):
writings of - on SB 15, 53.
Vigan (Fr Egidio):
presentation of this publication by - 1; letter of - on lay component of
salesian community 2, 64; SB as a priority 64; problem still open on
SB 190, 193.
Vocation:
characteristics of - of SB 117: in the Christian - 117-118, radical - 119, lay
religious - 120-121, at service of salesian mission 123, concrete and
complete 124-125, an original -126, a meaningful -127; v. also Pastoral,
pastoral work
Work:
Young John Bosco's experience of -12-13; working world a priority area
for SB 144, 150; formation of SB as an educator to the faith in the
working world 206-208.
Workshops:
beginning of - in Oratory at Valdocco 10-11; collaborators for Don Bosco's
- 14; from - to professional schools 44.
World Congress (Brothers): 64.
Ziggiotti:
SB in period of - as Rector Major 61-62
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