To the Minister for the Interior, Urbano Ratazzi
E I, 607
Proposed project for a hospice for children aged 6 to 12
Turin, 2 October 1862
Your Excellency,
The undersigned respectfully brings to your attention a need that has been seriously felt among us for some time; it concerns young people under the age of twelve. Those who have reached this age are provided with accommodation in this Oratory and other similar public welfare homes. But often one encounters children who are utterly poor and abandoned, with no means of support, as this Ministry has found on numerous occasions.
Moved by a sincere desire to take some action, I planned to open a hospice near this house, but with its own rules and discipline, different from those practised by these young people, who are older.
The planned hospice would take in poor and abandoned children aged between 6 and 12. There, with appropriate instruction and education, they would be prepared for the skill or trade to which they showed the greatest aptitude, in accordance with their abilities. Once they have reached the age of twelve, they would be welcomed into the Oratory of St Francis de Sales.
The main difficulty lies in finding the funds for the initial investment, and for this reason I would ask this Ministry for a loan of five thousand francs, which would be repaid by the same number of poor young people whom you would refer to this hospice.
The carefully calculated expenditure would be limited to 65 cents per day for each child, including school, food, clothing and assistance. The government would pay only 40 cents per day, and 25 cents would be used to pay off the debt owed to the same government.
Your Excellency, who so loves and promotes the moral welfare of poor youth, will no doubt appreciate this project, which you are free to modify as you see fit. In any case, the writer kindly asks you to forgive this inconvenience, assuring you that it was motivated solely by a desire to do good for our fellow man.
With the utmost respect, I have the honour of declaring myself
Your Excellency’s
humble petitioner
Fr John Bosco
