To Cooperators, readers of the Bollettino Salesiano

E VII, 3791

He illustrates and lists the works carried out and developed throughout 1882 in Europe — giving ample space to those in Latin America and in the missions — recalls the serious damage caused by the explosion of the Mathi paper mill and the fire in the church of Paysandú in Uruguay — presents the planned works and expenses for 1883 — invites trust in Providence and generosity with prayers and offerings — gives thanks and assures prayers and eternal reward

Turin, 2 January 1883

Father John Bosco to his Cooperators.

Esteemed Cooperators,

Amidst prosperous and adverse events, roses and thorns, consolations and sorrows, we have reached the end of one year and the beginning of another.

In accordance with our Regulations, I take this opportunity to address a few words to you and give you a brief account of the works that, with divine help, we have been able to accomplish during the past year, and those that remain to be done with God's protection and your charity.

First of all, we must thank the Lord for prolonging our lives until today, for almost 500 of our Cooperators, to whom I addressed myself a year ago, have disappeared from the scene of this world and have been called to eternal life. You will find their names, surnames and countries of origin in a separate list. However, while we send up prayers for their souls, we sincerely thank the Author of life and death, who in his mercy has preserved us thus far, and we pray that he will grant us time and grace to continue working for his glory, and thus better ensure our eternal salvation.

Houses in Europe

As in previous years, so too in the year just ended there were many works which, with Heaven's blessing and the support of your charity, we were able to accomplish in Europe, and especially in France. The number of young people rescued from abandonment, snatched from the dangers of immorality and irreligion, and turned away from the gates of prison and the path of eternal perdition, increased greatly.

All the houses were so full of children that there was no more room for those who applied to be accepted every day. One house alone received 5,000 applications, to which the only response was: There is no more room.

In order to accommodate a large number of them, twenty premises were repaired or built from scratch. This was done at the Hospice of St Leo in Marseilles, the Orphanage of St Joseph in Navarre, the agricultural colony of St Isidore in St Cyr, the Patronage of St Peter in Nice, the House of Mary Immaculate in Florence, the College of St Charles in Borgo S.. Martino, the Oratory of St Francis de Sales in Turin, and several other sites where dormitories were enlarged, new classrooms were built, workshops were set up, and so on. In this way, we were able to help many poor families in Veneto who were affected by the terrible floods last autumn. Distributed among our various houses in Italy, there are well over 260 young people from families in that region, reduced to the most squalid poverty.

In Rome, at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, elementary classes, a festive oratory and a recreation garden for the young people of the parish were opened.

In Turin, the crown was placed on the Church of St John the Evangelist, which was consecrated and opened to the public on 28 October. A sufficient number of priests are employed there to conduct services, preach, and administer the Holy Sacraments every day. In its basement, a spacious chapel was also opened for the children of the city, who flock there in large numbers.

In Mogliano Veneto, an agricultural colony for poor young people was established, and a church dedicated to Mary Help of Christians was consecrated.

In Malaga, Spain, we took charge of an orphanage, which bodes very well for that important city. The Sisters of Mary Help of Christians also continued their work for the benefit of young girls in the many places where they had already established themselves in previous years, and spread it even further.

Three new houses were also opened for the daughters of the people; one in Rossignano sul Monferrato, another in Incisa Belbo, and the third in Mascali in Sicily. They also opened a boarding school for young girls of civil status in their home near Bordighera.

Houses and Missions in America

We would have liked to grant the requests of many zealous bishops and several highly respected individuals, and to open more institutes, which were offered to us in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, the Austrian Empire, England and various other parts of Europe; but we had to give up due to a shortage of personnel and lack of funds. Due to this painful shortage, we also had to refrain from sending missionaries to America, where they were eagerly awaited to undertake much-desired missions. Nevertheless, even in those remote regions, the works already established continued and prospered greatly, and new ones were attempted.

In the Argentine Republic, in Buenos Aires, in the suburb of San Carlo in Almagro, the foundations were laid for a church which will soon be completed, and work began on building larger classrooms, a workshop and a festive oratory for young girls under the direction of the Sisters of Mary Help of Christians.

In Morón, near the city itself, thanks to the charity and zeal of the Archbishop of that diocese, a house of the same Sisters was also opened with schools, a workshop and a festive oratory for girls.

In Paysandú, in the Republic of Uruguay, near the Indi, two plots of land were purchased, one near the parish church, to establish classes for boys and girls; the other on the opposite side of the city, where there is nothing but a church that was started eight years ago and left half-finished. There, the church will be completed and classrooms and a hospice for young people of both sexes will be built on the purchased land.

To comply with the wishes of the Holy Father in the empire of Brazil, a house was purchased in the city of Nictheroy, not far from Rio de Janeiro, to accommodate poor artisans; and in Parà, on the equator, the foundations were laid for a hospice capable of accommodating 400 young people; another similar one was planned for Mattogrosso, a very large province of the same.

The Mission in Patagonia

Despite its limited staff, the Patagonia Mission continued to provide great comfort last year.

In the city of Patagones, the new church, whose foundation stone was laid on 29 June 1881, has been built to a considerable height, and everything suggests that it will soon be open for divine worship. During the frequent excursions made by the missionaries to the centre of that immense region, several hundred savages were instructed and baptised, thus joining the flock of Jesus Christ.

An exploration was made on the banks of the Rio Chubut, where many Indians were found, giving rise to happy hopes of conversion. In the last month alone, well over eight hundred were instructed, and, given their good will, it is hoped that they will all be baptised and given to God and his Church. If a single soul is worth more than the whole world, what consolation must it be for us to be able to save not one, but hundreds and thousands?

Two disasters

All these things and others, which for the sake of brevity I will not mention, were like so many roses, whose sweet fragrance greatly cheered us and still cheers us today. But we must say and fully convince ourselves that in this world, good things are often accompanied by bad things, and sweetness is followed by bitterness: Sunt bona mixta malis. Sometimes God, in his inscrutable designs, sends or allows painful misfortunes to befall those very people who work for his glory and for the benefit of religion and society.

We cannot clearly know the intimate reasons for such divine permission; but it seems that we are not mistaken in saying that, in addition to exercising us in patience, God disposes things in this way in order to give some the opportunity to revive their trust in his Providence, hoping, so to speak, against all human hope, and thus remain constant and strong in the way of good; and to give others a new stimulus to open their beneficent hands to rebuild what has been destroyed, so that in this way good Christians may show the world the wonders of Catholic charity, merit an abundance of graces here below, and a more splendid crown of glory in Heaven.

Be that as it may, I must point out to your mercy that in the past year we were struck by two serious disasters. One befell us on 3 February and the other on 27 March. The first was the explosion of the Mathi paper mill near Turin; the second was the fire in the church of Payssandú in America.

After calculating the damage caused and the expenses incurred to repair things, we needed a sum of over 300,000 lire! Patience! This disaster could have discouraged us and made us abandon works that are very useful to religion and civil society, giving the devil the upper hand, so to speak; but this was not the case. Comforted by God and by your charity, we tried to remedy the situation as best we could, doing as the swallows do when they see their nest destroyed: they start all over again. The paper mill, having been completely destroyed, was completely rebuilt with new buildings, new machines and new boilers. Soon that factory will be back in operation, providing work for many people in need and paper for our and other printing works.

The church in Payssandú was also restored from the damage it suffered; all that is missing is the High altar, which is being built in the city of Buenos Ayres and which we hope to have in place for the Easter celebrations.

Works and expenses to be carried out during the current year

After briefly outlining what has been accomplished over the past year, I will now proceed to list other tasks that remain to be promoted in the year that has just begun. I will not dwell on reviewing them all, but will only highlight the most important ones and those that have already been determined.

1. The sending of at least 18 people to the new Houses and Missions in America, especially to Patagonia and Brazil; hence the necessary travel and equipment expenses.

2. The Church and Hospice of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rome, which are becoming more necessary every day, both because of the expansion of the city and the increase in population in that area, and because of the efforts made by heretics to lure adults and children, men and women, boys and girls into error through churches, schools, hospices, conferences and the like.

3. The new factory building the left side of the Church of Mary Help of Christians in Turin. This building is urgently needed. Due to the increased number of craftsmen, various workshops, especially those of carpenters and blacksmiths, have become so inadequate that it was necessary to temporarily set up some in the corners of the courtyard and in the basement of the house. The printing press also needs to be enlarged, because its six machines are no longer sufficient to meet the demands and to publish all the works entrusted to it. The aforementioned building, in addition to completing the design and decoration of the church of Mary Help of Christians, will serve to create new workshops and to provide a larger printing press sufficient for the needs.

4. The construction of the hospice and schools in Florence, which is progressing very slowly due to a lack of funds and because, in that city, once so flourishing, there are people who are willing to help but, due to the financial crisis, are unable to provide the assistance that they would certainly have provided had it not been for this unexpected setback.

5. To the expenses for all these works, I add the sum of 30,000 lire, which still remains to be paid to settle the debts incurred for the Church of St John the Evangelist, and 80,000 lire for the debts that still remain at the Mathi paper mill.

6. I omit to mention here other expenses to be incurred in France and America, as well as the possible and uncertain expenses that will be required for the Houses in Italy. I cannot specify them at this moment, but I can say right now that every month there will undoubtedly be many and substantial ones. Among others, these will be the essential expenses for providing food and clothing to several thousand poor young people sheltered in our charitable homes, who, because they have been abandoned or are orphans, depend entirely on us, and to whom we must provide food like a hen to her chicks, and clothing like a mother to her children.

Trust in God

But isn't wanting to take on so many projects tempting fate and acting imprudently

I believe not. God showed his approval of our conduct in many ways. He showed his approval by sending us words of encouragement from venerable prelates, eminent figures and the Supreme Pontiff himself, his Vicar on earth; he showed his approval by blessing the works undertaken in the past and helping us to undertake new ones every year; he showed his approval above all by securing the goodwill of many good people and inflaming the charity of our Cooperators, making them instruments of his Providence in our favour. A very clear sign that God blesses and approves our works are the continuous graces and marked heavenly favours that divine Goodness and the august Mother of the Saviour have granted and continue to grant to those who come to our aid with their charity. It is also touching and comforting for me and for all Salesians to see so many people from various cities and countries now bringing or sending the fruits of their savings, the surplus of their goods, to support the works we have in hand.

This offering, they say or write, is for his young people for graces received – this one is for the Church of the Sacred Heart – this one is for the Missions of Patagonia – this other one is for the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in thanksgiving for favours obtained – this one is for books – this one is for the Bulletin – this one is for Catholic Readings – and so on and so forth.

We witness these events not only every week, but every day, and even several times a day. Now, if God is pleased to speak in such an eloquent and effective way, we must not fear; on the contrary, we must open our hearts to the greatest hope and continue to concern ourselves with his glory, confident that he will not fail to favour us according to our needs.

A plea

I have told you what has been done and what remains to be done; I have also opened my heart to you in complete confidence. Now all that remains for me to do is to plead with you for this good cause, and to beg you to continue to be the channels of divine Providence.

By now you know what your charity, your alms in the hands of Don Bosco, is used for. It serves to gather many poor young people from the streets, to give them the bread of life, the food of the soul, to instruct them in religion, to set them on the path to a trade or some honourable career, to form them into good sons of families and wise citizens; it serves to give civil society useful members, the Church virtuous Catholics, Heaven fortunate inhabitants; it serves to create good teachers for young people, zealous priests for Christian populations, and courageous missionaries for savage peoples; it serves to raise sacred buildings to gather the faithful and teach them religion, comfort them with the sacraments and make them bless God, in order to compensate him for the horrendous blasphemies with which the wicked curse him; it serves to publish and distribute thousands of good books, to sow sound principles in the world, to combat errors, to strengthen souls in the faith, to call back those who have strayed to the right path and to strengthen them in virtue; in short, it serves to expand the kingdom of God on earth, to make Jesus Christ reign in individuals, families, cities and nations, to make him known and loved, if possible, from one end of the world to the other, so that the prophecy may be fulfilled which says: He shall reign from sea to sea: Dominabitur a mari usque ad mare.

Therefore, be generous in your support of these works of religion and true civilisation, and rest assured that if you cooperate in the good of the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, God will reward you worthily and in kind.

If you are priests, God will reward you by making your sacred ministry more fruitful; if you are fathers and mothers, he will reward you in your children; if you are superiors, he will reward you in your communities and families. Whatever your state of life, God will reward your sacrifices by blessing you in your person, in your temporal affairs, in your spiritual affairs, and what is most valuable, he will give you great consolation at the point of death, as a wise foretaste of those sovereign delicacies that he has prepared for you in Heaven.

I end this letter by reminding you that in all the Salesian Houses of Europe and America, our young people and all the Salesians pray every day for their benefactors. I will join my prayers to those of my dear children, and every morning at Holy Mass I will make a special memento for all of you, praying for God's mercy, that through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ and Mary Help of Christians, he may grant you in this world everything that a good soul can desire, especially the grace of being able to find ourselves all together one day to praise and bless him in the homeland of the Blessed.

Please pray for me too, and believe me when I say, with all respect and deep gratitude, that I am,

worthy Cooperators,

your most obliged servant,

Fr John Bosco