PONTIFICAL GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF THEOLOGY

Institute of Spirituality

Doctoral dissertation

AUTHOR

GIUSEPPE BUCCELLATO SDB

IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

ROLE OF MENTAL PRAYER

IN THE FOUNDING CHARISM

OF SAINT JOHN BOSCO

MODERATOR

MANUEL RUIZ JURADO SJ

ROME - 29 NOVEMBER 1999

In the Preface to the first edition of Don Bosco con Dio by Salesian Fr Eugenio Ceria, published in 1929, the year of the beatification of the founder of the Salesians, the author wrote, with depth of feeling: “No, let no one be under the illusion that he understands Don Bosco if he does not know how much he was a man of prayer; anyone too focused on the biographical details would gain little insight regarding his remarkable life unless they delve deeply into his inner and habitual experiences.”¹

In my opinion, the bibliography on Don Bosco over the last forty years shows a considerable imbalance between the numerous pedagogical and historical studies and the few publications and articles that can be placed within the content and methodological framework of spiritual theology.

Already in 1973, Salesian historian Fr Pietro Stella noted: “Research on the spirituality of Don Bosco and the Salesians today is perhaps not as advanced as that on the educational system. This fact imposes itself on the study of the historian and on those who wish to predict the possible future developments of the Salesian phenomenon.”²

Alongside this more general observation, I feel I must note that some of the most recent biographical studies on the founder of the Salesians have been more concerned with clearing the field of any hagiographic exaggeration than with attempting to penetrate the sanctuary of his intimate life, to reinterpret his inner motivations, the principles that animated his fervent spirit of prayer, and the spiritual and significant traits of the religious life he proposed to the Salesian congregation, a project that is manifested but not exhausted in his apostolic mission.

The aid of historical criticism has made it possible to “demythologise” the history of the origins; but the attempt to re-read the lives of the saints “apart from their holiness”, that is, starting only from psychological or sociological categories, has deepened the divide between biography and spiritual life, between history and hagiography.

The theological sciences can have a different approach, in content and method, to the history of the saints because their frame of reference and epistemological presuppositions are different. In this context, the lives of these men and women can be read as a theological existence, a mission received, an experience communicated in the Spirit and by the Spirit, and, in the final analysis, as a true exegesis of the mystery of Christ.³ In the saint, in fact, there is an objective “pacification” between holiness and theology, between spiritual theology and dogmatic theology, inasmuch as holiness, as a lived, “Marian” acceptance of the divine mystery, is an exegesis of Revelation. Therefore, it can become the theological place where the kind of reflective theology which is the science of theologians can be nourished and reformulated, in accordance with the mystery of the Incarnation.

When I undertook this study, I sensed that research on the question of prayer, particularly mental prayer, could open up a privileged perspective on the attempt to “glimpse” the spiritual experience of the founder of the Salesians and his “theological mission”.⁴

However, the task soon appeared arduous. Despite the large amount of published and unpublished writings by the Turin saint, it is not possible to find either a treatise on prayer (Don Bosco is not a theorist, he is not interested in this) or a spiritual diary that “reveals” the sanctuary of his inner life. From his writings, even those that we can classify as autobiographical or from the thousands of letters in his correspondence, it is not possible to directly glean elements concerning his personal life of prayer. Don Bosco narrates, teaches, admonishes, asks for help for his works, gives thanks, blesses, but he is the jealous guardian of his innermost life.

It was therefore necessary to broaden the field to include a considerable number of texts which, at least indirectly, would give us an insight into his “feelings” on the subject of prayer. This necessity motivates and “justifies” the ample space devoted to the analytical section.

Having discarded any possibility of taking shortcuts to understand the role of mental prayer in the spiritual experience and founding charism of the saintly Piedmontese educator, I had no choice but to “resign myself” to an indirect but comprehensive approach to the abundant heritage of published and unpublished sources. In particular, it was necessary to draw on several different resources: the writings of the founder, the elements that allow us to reconstruct his life and the formation he received and imparted in relation to mental prayer, the history of the origins of the congregation and the early Salesian magisterium and, finally, the feelings and, as far as possible, the experiences of the first group of disciples, the first authoritative interpreters of the charism of the foundation.

The questions I put to the sources, however, did not concern only formal mental prayer or meditation, but also every other form of prayer that actibus internis intellectus et voluntatis absolvitur. The simple habit of constantly thinking about God, the insistence on conscious vocal prayer, the emphasis given to adoration and to devotional forms of intimate and affective prayer, night prayer... the importance given to daily meditation itself and its methods, the role assigned to certain privileged times for personal prayer such as periodic days of recollection or spiritual exercises/retreats,⁵ and, finally, the sentiment expressed towards contemplative prayer in general and the extraordinary gifts of passive contemplation.

We have thus entered the great “castle” of Salesian sources (I will say something about this briefly, comforted by the suggestion of a metaphor); without specialised guides, without privileged paths.

I had been assured that this immense manor house, perhaps one of the most abundant in terms of rooms among those that still embellish the landscape of the history of spirituality, did not possess many original rooms worthy of a scholar’s interest. Furniture of dubious taste, outdated furnishings and “borrowed” items, few “original” paintings. The wisest choice would have been to move immediately into that truly special place known as the preventive system, and live there for the duration of the visit.

But I was motivated more by a desire to learn about the castle’s supporting structures, which explain its solidity and rapid and harmonious expansion, and, through them, to recognise the mind, heart and tastes of its architect, than by any interest in art. From this point of view, therefore, even the least original rooms of the castle and the borrowed furnishings acquired their value in their ability to transparently reveal the inner world of their creator.

From this perspective, even the problem of the controversial, or rather, alleged lack of originality of a certain part of Don Bosco’s literary production was secondary to the objective of understanding the “feelings” of the founder. Even the occasional edifying exaggerations, linked in particular to the only “libri scritti senza altri libri” (“books written without other books” – the expression is Fr Caviglia's), exaggerations that disturb the historian’s reconstructions, reveal, sometimes in an eminent way, the particular model of holiness constantly presented by Don Bosco to his followers and, more specifically, the role that prayer is “assigned” in this model.

Anticipating the conclusions of the study, we could say that the analytical examination of the sources in relation to the role of mental and formal prayer in the founding charism of St John Bosco has revealed a broad convergence at several different levels.

– First of all, we can observe a vital harmony between the formation Don Bosco received and the traits of his spiritual experience that we can glimpse through his writings, both autobiographical and otherwise, the story of his life and the testimonies of those who shared a significant period of his human journey with him.

– Secondly, the same consistency can be observed in his numerous spiritual writings which, although not theological treatises but rather popular or edifying writings, reveal throughout his life his constantly positive judgement on the value of mental prayer in Christian and religious life.

– Another important indicator of continuity can be found in Don Bosco’s long pastoral experience and, in particular, from his “project” of educating young people to prayer, which can be reconstructed from his educational practice and from the analysis of some widely read manuals and biographies.

– A final indicator of continuity, and the most important in relation to focusing on the founding charism, is the consistency that guides the gradual manifestation and development of the foundation project, as emerges, in particular, from the first constitutions, from the texts that accompany their publication and facilitate their correct hermeneutics, from the teaching that guides the consolidation of the foundation, from the teachings of the first novitiate and also from some aspects of the spiritual experience of the first Salesians, the most authoritative “interpreters” of the founder’s charism.

These four complementary aspects then converge towards a coherent unity of thought and practice, which allows us to interpret some fragments of his spiritual experience, his literary production and the testimonies of his life of prayer within an overall totality that brings us closer to knowledge of the founder and then returns to shed light on each individual fragment, restoring it to us as part of an orderly and coherent whole.

The extensive analysis points towards an appreciation of the contemplative dimension in the spiritual experience of St John Bosco and in the charism of the foundation of the Salesian congregation.

Far beyond the essential nature of certain obligations formalised in the constitutional dictates, the founder’s proposal emerges, moving towards a concept of Christian and religious life lived in the constant presence of God. Beyond formal mental prayer, which is strongly recommended, the spirituality of the founder of the Salesians encourages diffused mental prayer, continuous thought of God, affective and silent prayer “without time limits”, and does not exclude the horizon of contemplative experience. This fact is even more relevant in the context of 19th-century Piedmontese spirituality, which was not particularly inclined towards manifestations of the mystical life.

The charism of the founder of the Salesians and the project he proposed to the spiritual movement he began, do not contrast active life with contemplative life, but rather combine both as different manifestations of the same love for God that Don Bosco himself, according to what the Church declared when canonising him, lived in a heroic way.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the beatification of Dominic Savio, a pupil of the oratory who died in 1857. It was the time when Don Bosco was preparing to write the first draft of the constitutions for the nascent congregation. Two years later, in 1959, he wrote in The Life of the Young Dominic Savio: “his thanksgiving was liable to have no end to it. If he were not reminded he would forget about breakfast, recreation and even morning school, so caught up was he in prayer or rather, in contemplation of the divine goodness who wonderfully and mysteriously passes on to mankind the treasures of his infinite mercy.”⁶ “The innocence of his life, his love of God and great desire for the things of God so developed Dominic’s mind that he came to be habitually united with God.”⁷

Are these hagiographic exaggerations? In any case, these writings give us an idea of the spiritual “climate” of those years: this is the model of holiness continually proposed, without distinction, to young people as well as to that first, unique group of religious, many of whom were still just teenagers.

It is this educational environment, made up of emulation and love of prayer, that constitutes the hermeneutical setting for interpreting the first constitutional dictum, but also the rapid expansion of the congregation: a single piety for all, young people and Salesians, towards a “high standard” of Christian life.

I am publishing this study a few years after its completion, leaving it unchanged due to its particular nature and in accordance with the requirements of the series in which it finds its natural place. At the conclusion of this experience, my personal and most heartfelt thanks go to the moderator, Fr Manuel Ruiz Jurado, S.J., whose careful guidance and constant support have made the completion of this work possible. I also express my deep gratitude to Fr Giuseppe Troina, my former provincial, to my confreres Fr Salvatore Mangiapane and Fr Biagio Lazzara for their patient re-reading, to my confreres at the Salesian Central Archives and to Fr Cosimo Semeraro, director of the Centro Studi Don Bosco, for their availability during the consultation of sources.

I dedicate these pages to my mother and my brother, but also to all those young Salesians who feel the urgency to set sail in the new millennium without considering the spiritual history of our origins to be useless ballast.

Finally, I would like to remember all those who have been my companions on the journey in times of difficulty and suffering, but also in the joyful discoveries of these years.

Rome, 31 January 2004

Fr Giuseppe Buccellato