The preventive system expresses in an eloquent way who don Bosco is, and if in any way we want to understand the system we have to know the man.

Born in 1815 in a poor family in a place in the middle of nowhere in the north of Italy. His father died when John was two years old. Luckily there was the younger brother of his mother in the house, Michele, the reason for him being there explains the poverty of the family, he had to work for twenty months in order to make up for the dowry his sister Margarita had not been able to pay to the full at the moment her husband had died. On the other hand there were Antonio and Giuseppe, born to Francesco Bosco in his first marriage, and also their grandmother, the mother of Francesco.

He learned from his mother to be a good Christian, daily prayers, sacraments, and above all, he learned from her to be happy with what was available. The sense of joy in spite of the hard work and poverty, the difficulties which she had to go through because of Antonio' character, and her firm faith made of this young mother an excellent educator of a boy who already, from his early days desired to become a priest.

On his way to adulthood, John Bosco was assisted by a number of people who made up for the lack of protection and accompaniment he had experienced due to the death of his father, the impossibility to go to school at an early age and the absence of good friends. Soon he met with an old priest, Fr. Calosso, who took an interest in this clever boy and started helping him in his studies and was ready to pay for the studies to come. Unluckily he died too soon. From Fr. Calosso he had learned not to bother about doing penance and making sacrifices, but to work hard.

When his mother finally got him into the seminary, he met a friend. He had not really had a friend until then. Luigi Comollo was very special and gave the young seminarian a deep sense of devotion and prayer. This friend too, was taken away from him soon; he died in the seminary. Later, as a young priest he met with Father Cafasso, a spiritual director of young priests and councilor of the Bishop. Through his care the young don Bosco could start his work among the poor of the streets of Turin, particularly moved by his contacts with young prisoners whom he met together with Father Cafasso.

These are the early foundations of the future educator, who made his life's work in the midst of the young in the growing city of Turin. This was his field of action. He established a fresh way of dealing with the boys who had fled into the city in search of work, but a prey to the many exploiters in the new industrial city. He did this with the help of some priests and of other youngsters.

His work was totally determined by the social reality of his day, supported by his faith, his own experience and the guidance of our Lady, whom he called later The Help of the Christians. Taking the boys into his own home, he gave them shelter, food, education and lots of free time with their friends. This highlighted that the pillars of his educational system are games, study, prayer and work, all in community. He spent his time with them, caring for each one of them as a father, as a priest, as a friend. Of don Bosco, it was once said “You are a thief and a incorrigible one, because you have always stolen and continue to do so, the hearts of all those who came to know you” ⁴ On another occasion they said that “it was enough to see him appear on the playground, to run towards him and stand around him, the boys so much loved him and enjoyed showing him their love”. ⁵

The personal history of John Bosco made it possible to sense the needs of the young people in distress. He himself had been rejected by his stepbrother, he started school late, he had to work in a bar to earn his living while studying in Chieri. The contact with the young prisoners cleared the way for his special mission among the street dwellers of Turin. His mission is essentially a social one, caring for the homeless, especially aware of the lack of education the young had. He was convinced that the youngsters in prison were not bad at all; they just did not have the necessary education to stand up against the temptations of a decadent society. He knew there was no way to get these boys to church or to lead a decent life unless someone showed some real interest in them and offered them what they needed, and which they would eagerly accept. That is why it is said of don Bosco that he “made God enter into the hearts of the young not only through the door of the Church, but through the school and the workshop”. ⁶

It may be interesting at this point to remember what he said to the cooperators and past pupils of his time. He used to gather these lay collaborators every year and insist with them on various points, but the three aspects he used to always repeat were these: “ dedicate yourself to the education of the young especially those in danger who are dangerous for others; if among those there are youngsters who show interest in studying, give them the opportunity because there might be a seed of vocation in them; defend at all cost the good press”⁷. Social aspects therefore: care for the abandoned, cultural advancement and communications. Don Bosco was particularly taken by the difficult situation in which the young people in Turin found themselves. Not only did he want to reach out to the kids on the street, he saw the need to intervene in society, through his contacts with politicians, industrialists, families, he wanted to create an environment in which his youngsters could grow up well, in order to become honest citizens. He was able to gather around himself numerous collaborators, of all walks of life, basically for two reasons: he needed money to feed his crowd, and he needed people to accompany his boys when they left the oratory, putting them on the right path for a decent living.

When he saw the need to gather a group of people around him to continue his work he did not really think of founding a religious congregation. As a matter of fact at that time religious congregations were banned and their goods confiscated by the state. At the advise of minister Ratazzi, the very same one who banned the religious institutes, don Bosco started an “association of educators” which became the embryo of the Salesian congregation.

A description of what the oratory is may help us to understand the way of educating according to don Bosco. It was originally a way of catechesis used in the parishes in Northern Italy, don Bosco used the same method expanding it to a variety of activities and gathering the youngsters for a whole afternoon. Little by little this activity, undertaken in different localities and settling down after months at Valdocco, became a fixed place where abandoned boys were taken in; they learnt a trade, studied, enjoyed themselves and considered the place as their own home. Through the history of the Salesian activity the “oratory” has become more than just a place where young people gather for their education and enjoyment, the word became a concept to express the environment created in all kind of Salesian works, be they schools, technical training centers, youth centers, social works, parishes or universities.

Now we look at the Oratory in the following way:

° A totally welcoming place open to a great variety of young people, above all those on the margins, in a wide area, with a great variety of opportunities and degrees of belonging, characterized by the involvement of young people and personal relationships of such ‘significance’ that make it a place of reference and of outreach for the youngsters.

° A programme of missionary evangelization aimed primarily at young people on the margins of society to offer them, through the awakening and deepening of their questions about life and companionship, a way of education to the faith adapted to their situation and sensitive to the ecumenical and inter-religious climate in which they are living.

° A Christian presence in the world of youth and in civil society (frontier work between the religious and the civil, the secular and the ecclesial) capable of supplying significant educational and evangelical answers to the challenges and the most felt needs, especially those which apply to those marginalized by society; and also capable of promoting a context of openness – inter-cultural, inter-racial, ecumenical and inter-religious.⁸

The oratorian style has in fact become a trademark for all Salesian activities, and has been introduced as the first among the criteria for Salesian action in the Constitutions of the congregation.⁹

This concept is of the most importance in these days when faith and civil life are often separated. Where faith and religion are considered private and therefore have no right to influence the social environment in order to “let everyone be free”, it is here the link between the social and civil obligations and faith expression becomes most important.

In 1849 don Bosco had already expressed the objective of his pedagogical work in terms of making of his boys “honest citizens and good Christians”, this was certainly linked with the political situation in the country, as he had to prove that the main aim was not strictly speaking “religious”, as that would create difficulties to have his work approved. He needed help from the government and we may remember that this was the time that even Pope Pius IX had to flee from Rome to Gaeta. We may also recall at this point that don Bosco wanted his confreres to possess civil rights, a thing which was not usual for religious at the time. The formula means that being a member of this ecclesiastic organization is perfectly compatible with being a responsible member of a civil society. “There is no contradiction between being a citizen of the State and a member of the Church headed by the Pope”.

He was particularly attentive to the signs and the needs of the time, he says it himself: “that was the time that I personally saw to it that the boys who left the correctional house, would give themselves to a honest life, forgetting about the past, would become good Christians and honest citizens, providing they found a helping hand to take care of them, assist them during the week; someone to search for a place for them to work with a honest boss, and someone to visit them some time during the week.”²⁴

Based on the experience of the boys he would put them in contact with the gospel values, in a blend of charity and faith. The religious spirit which animated the environment was not just a label on the reality. It came from his firm conviction that the capacities of the young have their roots in the creative presence of God in their life. This made it necessary to bring the boys into contact with the God who loves them dearly, not just through exercises of religion but also through the witness of the educators who bestowed their love on to them and were ready to spend their whole life for the well being of the boys. The purpose was to reinvigorate the boys and wake them up in order to be capable to live to the full, the gifts they had received. Father Braido summarizes these gifts to the following three, to show how Christianity and citizenship go hand in hand in the pedagogy of don Bosco:

“l) The faculty of knowledge: sense knowledge and intellectual knowledge, particularly, the reasoning ability, which, as we have seen, prevents a young man from behaving like a horse and mule who have no intelligence: (sicut equus et mulus quibus non est intellectus).

2) The multicoloured emotional heritage: desires, passions and the heart.

3) The will: qualified as daring freedom, seasoned with reason, faith and inflamed by charity.

A young person is a being who is already marvellous, at the level of creation, but this being is immeasurably more splendid, since he or she has been elevated to the supernatural order, thanks to the Redemption brought about by Jesus Christ our Saviour.” ²⁵

In synthesis this concept of honest citizens and good Christians is the fruit of an integral pedagogical endeavour through which a young person reaches the utmost realization of his capacities and gifts. Fr. Braido has again a wonderful way of expressing this paraphrasing the words of don Bosco himself:

"If the educator, with the method of reason and loving kindness succeeds in getting his pupil to reason and in winning over his heart, then the pupil will respond with an increased ability to understand and a more vivacious ability to show affection.

Thanks to reasoning, the young will perceive the reasonableness of the law of work, the law of a personal commitment to build together, the satisfaction which comes from good results obtained in the classroom and in the workshops.

Thanks to his heart, he will effectively have the revitalizing experience 'of the family', evidenced by the community of superiors and classmates, by mutual trust and friendship.

Finally a joyous awareness will blossom, an awareness that it is worth living and working together, which are the initial steps needed for an effective socializing process.

Besides, the awareness that life is worth living will be strengthened, at higher and more mature levels, by the religious Christian experience, thanks to which 'success on a temporal level' will reach out, into the wider horizon of eternal salvation.”

“The basic presupposition of all the above, is the assumption of the gospel's warning "What profit will a man get if he were to conquer the whole world and then do damage to his soul?(Quid prodest homini si mundum universum , animae suae vero detrimentum patiatur?)”²⁶

When we desire to bring the pedagogical system of don Bosco to our own context and reality, we need to reflect as a community, that is, together with the lay collaborators and the Salesians who form the Educative Pastoral community in a realistic way, knowing the context as well as the patrimony of the congregation, about the resources and perspective we have. It is not an easy task to convince all collaborators about the conditions which are essential for the realization of the system, but there are a number of aspects we can in no way leave aside if we want to implement the system with success. Here are just four of these aspects on which we may concentrate our thinking and planning.

1. Know the environment and the youth context. It is not enough to know it theoretically and personally, as a community of educators. We need to observe and reflect on the situation in which our boys and girls find themselves. Recently we have been insisting upon common formation activities for religious and lay together, especially in order to know, as a community, what the real situation of the youth is and what it is that influences them the most. We need to know this otherwise we may propose activities or processes which they may not be able to understand and less still to follow. The common knowledge leads to a common formation which make “the SDBs and lay people simultaneously givers and receivers… The formation aims at rendering the individuals capable of living at the present day the experience of their own life with maturity and joy, of fulfilling the educative mission with professional competence, of becoming educators and pastors, and of being solidly animators of numerous apostolic forces” ²⁷

2. Be present among the young. The young person is at the center of the educational activity, his aspirations and his dreams inspire the educator to propose to each and every one his own process of growth. The greatest gift therefore in a Salesian setting is the educator, always there but never felt as a weight or as a control. Between the adult and the young there is such a relationship which calls for a deep trust and a mutual collaboration. A young person at times needs to hide in the heart of an adult, which should be possible in a Salesian community. Adult and young form a team in which the young are the protagonists of their own education. “The young are no longer, as in their childhood, a target group; they are allies, partners, companions on the road, collaborators of the educators, even more - as don Bosco says: they are the boss: “In a short while I will be again with you, you who are the object of my thoughts and of my concerns, with you who are the masters of my heart”.²⁸

The educator is therefore to be always present, that is his first duty, as he wants to follow step by step the process of growth of his youngsters. He is next to the young ones. In Latin the word “ad-sistere” means to sit next to, or assist, be there, and we have the classical word of “assistant” in our Salesian jargon. Both are riding the same boat, if that one sinks they will sink together, if it reaches they will reach together. An educator in the Salesian way does not stand along the sideline, outside of the stadium where his pupils are playing, neither will he be just an impartial referee. A young person on his way to adulthood needs someone to accompany him, he needs to feel the presence of a sure person who accompanies him to maturity. If this is not the case, he will get frightened and loose courage to go ahead. A person in growth should not be left alone.

3. Visibility of love, expressed in the famous phrase of don Bosco. “it’s not enough that the boys be loved, they have to know it, to feel it, to be conscious of it”. A language of love is necessary, this is probably the most ingenious intuition of don Bosco. May be the best way to make this understood is to report a dialogue between the past pupils in the dream don Bosco tells in his letter from Rome:

“But how can we re-animate these dear young friends in order to return to their old way of livelihood, of joy, of dynamism?

With love!

Love? But are these youngster not loved enough? You know that I love them so much. You know how much I suffered for them and how much I had to undergo for them during 40 years up till now. ..I have done for them what I could and they are the only affection of my life.

I do not speak about you!

Of whom do you speak then? Of those who take my place, of the directors, the prefects, the teachers, the assistants? Do you not see that they are martyrs of their study and of their work? How they offer their youth for the boys that Divine Providence has entrusted to our care?

I know that, and I see it; but that is not enough: the best thing is missing.

What is it that is missing?

That the young not only are loved, but that they themselves know themselves to be loved”²⁹

4. Joy and happiness: the famous phrase is that “sanctity here consists of being always happy”.

Joy and cheerfulness are the constitutive elements of the preventive system and they cannot be separated from study, work and piety.

"If you want to be a good one - so Don Bosco suggested to young Francis Besucco - only put into practice these three things and everything will come out all right: Cheerfulness, Study and Piety. This is a great programme, and if you put it into practice, you will live happily and do much good to your soul.” ³⁰

Lets hear again what Fr. Pietro Braido says:

“A year earlier, in l862, Fr. John Bonetti, then a student of theology, jotted down the following remarks in one of his chronicles: “Don Bosco usually tells the oratory boys that he wants only three things from them: cheerfulness, work and piety. He often repeats to his boys the saying of St. Philip Neri: at the proper time run, jump, have fun as much as you want, but, for goodness sake, don't commit any sin." Joy is an essential characteristic of a family - like environment and an expression of loving kindness (Amorevolezza). It is the logical outcome of a system based on reason and on an inner and spontaneous religious sense, which has, as its ultimate source, peace with God and living in the grace of God.

The fatherly and brotherly contact of the educator with his pupils would have neither value nor effects on the spirit of the young, without the effectiveness of a joyous life and cheerfulness. It is thanks to these that the youngster opens up to the incoming of what is good.

Before being a methodological expedient, and a means to have the pupil accept what is serious in education, joy for don Bosco is a lifestyle, which he draws from an instinctive psychological evaluation of the young and from his family spirit.

At a time, when the education imparted in a family was generally austere, Don Bosco, more than any other, understood that a boy wanted to be treated as a boy; he knew that what he mostly desires and needs is joy, freedom, through games and friendly relationships, that is why he founded the 'cheerfulness club' (società dell’allegria).

But there is more, in Don Bosco's educative experience and pedagogical reflection, joy assumes a religious meaning. The boys themselves know about this as we can see from the encounter between Dominic Savio and Camillo Gavio, when cheerfulness is equated with sanctity. It is interesting also to notice that don Bosco talks about his works in terms of “house”, (casa) and not of institutions or schools.

"Don Bosco’, so remarks Fr. Caviglia," knew the role joy played in the formation process and along the way to sanctity. He always wanted joy and good humour to prevail among his own. The invitation "Serve the Lord with gladness" (Servite Dominum in laetitia) could easily have been called the 11th commandment in Don Bosco’s house."³¹

8. A few life-experiences

At this point I would like to bring to life what happens in the world thanks to the preventive system, this to link us up with the Salesian world in its universal dimension. ³² The driving force behind all this is the style of dynamic animation the Salesians adopt wherever, based on their love for the young and on their conviction that there are an enormous amount of resources hidden within each young boy and girl, received from his or her Creator. I thought of giving a few experiences, briefly, to give a taste of what can be done when one is united around one pedagogical system.

• The Salesian Bulletin. Don Bosco insisted upon the good press. The purpose of it is to spread the spirit of don Bosco and his educational system far beyond the institutions run by the Salesians, to reach the homes of the young people, but also the reach much further to benefactors, Cooperators, members of the Salesian family and many friends of the work of don Bosco. At this moment the Salesian Bulletin is edited in about 60 nations in the local language. ³³

• Prevention in the field of drugs and other addictions. Not only do we run homes to convalesce boys and girls who have gone astray, but more importantly, we use the preventive system and the oratory methodology to prevent young people from getting involved with drugs. Often it is just a question of keeping them busy and off the street. In many cities the drug-prevention offices appeal to the Salesians to work out policies together.³⁴

• Roots in society. As said above the presence in organizations on local, national or world level has become an important reality. We go far beyond local structures and serve the territory in its needs and urgencies. In poorer countries there are lots of services for the people, in western countries a good number of Salesians are active in organisations for school systems, youth policies, both on the civil as on the ecclesiastical level. ³⁵

• Presence among different cultures and religions. The oratory system reaches also far beyond the Christian environment. It is not so much concerned to bring a youngster inside the Church, as to invite the young person to lead a decent and honourable life. In several Islamic countries we have been asked to take up oratories or youth-centres, provided we do not make any effort at conversion; in communist countries we run many social centres and vocational centres. The service we offer fits well into the system as we care for the boys and girls in their free time, when parents and institutions are not ready to take them in. We often fill gaps in the educational systems that countries themselves have put into place. In practically all cultural and religious settings the oratory is a wonderful instrument to fill gaps the society cannot fill. In many non-Christian environments the preventive system allows to speak about Christ without mentioning His name, as this would not be allowed. Also, in western countries the tendency is growing that it is no longer allowed to speak about one’s own religion nor to celebrate religious feasts on school premises. Don Bosco's system does not need to explicitly speak about the person of Christ or of don Bosco. The purpose is to communicate the values given in the gospel and this can be done in many ways. The only condition is, that the educator, not to loose any opportunity of saying the right word to the right person at the right time, will have to be together with the young all the time. ³⁶

• A school is more than an institution for communication of knowledge. In certain high schools the older students are prepared to animate the younger ones. In a number of schools there exists the custom of animating the recreation time. The whole province organizes courses for animators, who then in turn animate at regular time the recreation periods of the whole school.³⁷

• The street children approach. In many countries a similar approach has seen the light. Due to the fact that the street children have to be dealt with at their own pace and readiness, works have developed in different locations of the same city, in order to give them the chance to come in contact with a system without being frightened and leaving them the time to join whenever they are ready. Contact is made with them on the street, after which they are invited to come and see and wash and dine, there they meet friends and little by little they get acquainted with an environment and with friends, until they feel in themselves the need for a shelter, a home, a loving place. Finally they add themselves to the creation of a home, a positive environment. ³⁸

• Communication centres. In countries where being together with the people is not possible due to difficult communications or to the existence of small units of people and a great variety of languages, a solution has been found to educate through the radio system. Schools are run by radio, educational programmes are taught through the radio, religious education and preventive medical instructions are given through radio programmes. In certain places TV stations do the same.³⁹

• In Thailand - I happened to visit the place just two weeks ago – we have a technical school, named don Bosco in Bangkok, with about 1000 students in various courses and departments. The school does not ask any fees, and there is a spirit of solidarity among the students and the teachers which strikes when you visit. Asking for the reason of this particular spirit in the school the answer was this: “90 % of the staff is composed of past pupils of this school, whom we have prepared and got through higher studies”. The very fact of having a past-pupil movement proves the value of the school itself and the attachment of the students to their teachers and the school.⁴⁰

• The educative and pastoral community. Working together with many collaborators a concrete plan had to be thought-of in order to work on the same lines and in the same spirit. The educational and pastoral plan (EPP) was worked out on the local as well as on the provincial and national level to guarantee the Salesian inspiration in the educational and pastoral activities. In certain schools there are a number of Salesians and lay collaborators who take charge of the spirit in the school, among the staff and among the students. Even without official responsibility in the school they are present and form a kind of an inspiration on the playground, in the corridors, in the teachers’ room. They may coordinate cultural and religious activities and make sure the environment is positive and that coordination structures function well.⁴¹

May be the best conclusion to this reflection would be to go back to the gospel and see how Jesus himself treated the young. There are many pages in the gospel where we meet Jesus the educator, and certainly don Bosco found his inspiration in many stories of the bible. One short sentence in Saint Mark is particularly interesting in this regard, while it expresses in just a few words what we have been describing all through this presentation.

At one time the people brought children to Jesus “for him to touch them”. After scolding the disciples who tried to prohibit the people from disturbing Jesus he “embraced them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing” (Mc. 10,16).

Embracing the children he showed them, made them feel, his love: it is not enough to love them, they have to be aware of this, don Bosco would say.

Blessing them he encourages them, praises them, makes them feel good and worthy, this comes from bene-dicere (speak well of).

Laying his hands on their head he wants them to feel his protection, his support while he is sending them on their way, on their mission as responsible people in society.

Blessing is an act of a Father, an educator, representing the blessing which originates from God.

Embracing is a sign of love, reminding of the source of love, which is God.

Holding the hands on top of someone is the gift of protecting the people, as God protected the people in the desert covering them with the cloud of his presence.

6.1 23 Cf. CG24, 87-88.

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