To Fr Pietro Vallauri, Turin

E VII, 3311

He requests a donation or a loan of ten thousand lire for the imminent shipment of sisters and missionaries to America.

Turin, 3 January 1881

Dear Fr Vallauri,

Ab amicis honesta sunt petenda, and I know this. But I must go a little further than discretion allows. So here’s the thing.

On the 22nd of this month, I am committed to sending a group of missionaries to America. Ten Sisters and twelve Salesians must go to help their confreres who are overwhelmed with work, but I find myself in a morally impossible situation due to a lack of funds.

Therefore, in suffrage for the souls of your relatives, to help the Church, sustain our missions, and relieve me of my difficulties, could you not in some way do me the charity of giving me ten thousand francs, or even just lending it to me?

I write with this confidence because I know what your desires are: namely, to devote all your resources to the greater glory of God and to saving souls.

I pray to God to keep you in good health; and commending myself and our poor children to the charity of your powerful prayers, I profess that I am, in J. C.

your most affectionate friend

Fr John Bosco