To the Emperor of Austria, Franz Jozef

E IX, 4308

He sends 600 lottery tickets with a request to keep them for the construction of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome — encloses the Salesian Cooperator certificate and a collection of the Salesian Bulletin.

Turin, 3 February 1886

Your Imperial Majesty,

It is certainly known to Your Majesty that in Rome, in the new district of Castro Pretorio, a church is being built in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with an adjoining hospice capable of providing shelter for 500 abandoned children of any nationality who happen to arrive in Rome.

The Holy Father Leo XIII entrusted the care of this undertaking to the undersigned and his benevolent Cooperators. The work is already well underway but not yet complete; it will cost approximately three million Italian lire.

As the funds to continue the work were running low, I decided to resort to public charity by means of a lottery of small gifts. Knowing how keen Your Majesty is on promoting good causes, especially when they benefit young people, I have taken the liberty of sending you 600 tickets for the lottery.

I am confident that Your Majesty will grant me your valuable support in erecting a monument of charity and a safe haven for the benefit of those poor young people who were always so dear to our Divine Saviour and on whom the well-being of the family and of civil society itself depends.

Since the opportunity presents itself, I take the liberty, as I did for the late Empress Marianna of Austria, to enrol Your Majesty in the ranks of the Salesian Cooperators and send you the Certificate with a collection of the Salesian Bulletin, the official publication of the Pious Society of the aforementioned Cooperators, trusting that Your Majesty will forgive my boldness and accept enrolment in the aforementioned Pious Association.

Meanwhile, I pray for the most chosen blessings of Heaven upon Your Majesty, upon your Imperial family and upon your vast Empire, while with the deepest respect and the highest consideration I profess myself

Your Imperial Majesty’s

most obliged servant

Fr John Bosco