To the Archbishop of Messina, Giuseppe Guarino

E VII, 3500

Grateful for the kindness he has shown the Salesian house, he asks for help in obtaining the privileges enjoyed by all approved congregations — he sends him the certificate of collector for the Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome.

From our house in Alassio, 23 September 1881

Your Excellency,

Our Prefect at Randazzo and the paternal letter from Your Excellency confirm the great kindness you hold in your heart for our humble congregation. I am grateful to you and, for my part, I assure you that I will not forget the thought that occupies you so much: a Salesian house in Messina.

It may be that this can be achieved in a relatively short time, for it is in the hearts of all Salesians to support the Your Excellency’s holy ideas.

But I want to put this to the test. You tell me that you believe you can obtain for me the faculties that may be necessary for our congregation. Good. We are still awaiting notification of the privileges enjoyed by all definitively approved congregations. If you manage to obtain this favour for me, I assure you that the day of the decree would mark the establishment of a house in the manner most pleasing to Your Excellency.

When necessary, I will send you the position of our affairs in Rome. Of course, the Holy Father loves us; everyone wants to help us, but a few individuals are of the opposite opinion.

And what about the Church of the Sacred Heart? I am sending you the certificate as collector. Do what you can. We will pray hard for you, and may you bless us all and also pray for me, who will always be, with the utmost veneration in J.C.

your most obliged servant,

Fr John Bosco