ROME: 10
January 2012 --
'That' time of the year has arrived again! I am referring,
actually, to
the unending list of request emails (all of which we do our
best to
reply to) from Salesians or Salesian Family members getting
ready for
the five major Salesian festivities that begin midway through
January:
Blessed Louis Variara (15), Blessed Laura Vicuña (22),
St Francis of
Sales (24), Blessed Bronislaws Markievicz (30), Don Bosco
(31). Some
want photos or art work, others want liturgies, novenas, still
others
would like any music we might have, and so on and so forth.
So
I thought it might be a good idea to get in early this year,
and offer
a wide range of resources with direct links to them to save
you
searching. If you are looking for it, whatever
'it' might be, and you
do not find it in these links or in associated links once you
get
there, then it probably does not exist!
On
the other hand - and this is really quite important - you may
have some
material that is not discoverable here, some resource that has
been
built up locally and may be of interest to others. Would you
be ready
to send it to me so it can be made available to others?
While I will
be suggesting material in English here, we would be happy to
have
anything in any language, if you have it and we don't!
Let's begin with the two major items, the 'Feast' (24) and the
Solemnity (31). For Francis of Sales, the best
set of resources we
have are kept on sdb.org. That link will also remind you of
the fact
that we do not 'own' Francis of Sales. We are part of a larger
Salesian
family. In addition to some smaller items, some images and the
like,
you will find our Salesian liturgical material for that Feast,
but also
resources held in a range of other 'Salesian' links from the
wider
family. A useful item on spiritual direction (De
Sales and De Chantal) can be found in SDL.
For the Solemnity of St John Bosco, there is of course endless
material. A good starting point might
be an SDL link.
This will give you a wide range of choices including some
sheet music.
We could add a recent effort by Fr Rudolf Osanger, AUS
Provincial (in
English) here. There are literally hundreds of images,
some on the link given here but
others at this link.
You probably will not find better than this. In recent times,
some very
fine material of a study nature (in view of the Bicentenary)
has been
prepared by the folks at Berkeley, Don Bosco Hall SUO. You
will find
the October-December set
of 3 from last year here. Don't overlook the work done
in our own Region, for example Giraudo's contribution to the Salesianity
Seminary in Thailand in 2007,
kept in Bosconet. Once the Salesian Spirituality Days begin
later this
month there will be other material - but we can hardly provide
that
before it happens (even though we have it in hand at the
moment). Of
course, if you can manage Italian, there are two SDL
collections
entirely devoted to Don Bosco, one with hundreds of graphics
and
documents (called simply 'Don Bosco', the other with all his
published
works (Don Bosco - Opere edite)
Whatever we have of a liturgical
nature for all our Saints and Blesseds can be found in
SDL, be it official or otherwise.
Anyway, take a look. If it is not there then it may not
be traceable online anywhere else.
As
for the others, Variara, Vicuña and Markievicz, we are
a bit light on
other than the liturgical material already alluded to. Any
help in
these areas would be appreciated, so we can build them up.
There is an
interesting set of
actual photos of Laura, now authenticated, which
demonstrate quite some difference from the 'hagiographical'
set!
