To the Minister for War, Genova Giovanni Thaon di Revel

E II, 1089

He asks for clothes and blankets for the winter

Turin, 17 September 1867

Your Excellency,

The poor young people housed in the home known as the Oratory of St Francis de Sales humbly appeal to Your Excellency’s charity, as they have already experienced in past years.

They request some items of clothing, footwear, bedding, however worn or ragged, that may happen to be lying unused in the royal warehouses of the State. Here every scrap is gathered and used to repair the rags of poor orphans. There are about eight hundred of them; many were orphaned by the deadly cholera epidemic, and many were sent by the government authorities of various Italian regions.

This year, the need is exceptionally acute due to the cessation of work, the high cost of living and the severe decline in private charity.

The young people who have been admitted here, full of hope that their miserable condition will be taken into kind consideration, especially for the coming winter season, join me in praying to heaven for abundant divine blessings upon you, while I, for my part, have the great honour of expressing my heartfelt gratitude,

Your Excellency’s

most obliged appellant

Fr John Bosco

Director