ROME: 10th January 2006 -- Fr Teresio Bosco needs
little introduction to anyone. He has done for hundreds of
thousands of readers today what Fr John Baptist Francesia did back in
the immediate aftermath of Don Bosco's death - made the Saint known and
loved all around the world. Fr Carlo Socol might need a little
more introduction. A native of Udine, Italy, he completed his
novitiate in China, after starting out at Chieri, in 1964.
Silver-haired and smiling, he might be better known by his
contemporiares in China for his financial acumen (he was provincial
economer for a number of years) but amongst his other traits is the
gift of being the popular historian. The fact that he started out
at La Moglia in Chieri, and that Teresio Bosco gives us many insights
into the actual Cascina Moglia experience not so far away in miles but
distant in memory, somehow links these two popular historians - for the
moment and for the purposes of this news item at least!
In the interests of 'fair dealing' and copyright, we
cannot give you the full texts in English of the works these two
authors are most recently responsible for, but if you go to Bosconet at
www.bosconet.aust.com and scroll down to the 'special' section on the
homepage, bottom-right, you can read some extracts from the recently
translated Mamma Margaret, by Teresio Bosco, and the
yet-to-be-published work on China's Salesian history by Carlo Socol.
The former work by Teresio Bosco is typical of his
well-known style. Trying to deal with Mamma Margaret who wrote
nothing becomes something of an evangelical pursuit. If the
Gospels managed to do it for someone who only wrote a line in the sand,
then Teresio Bosco could do it for Mamma Margaret! The trick was
to find witnesses and sworn depositions. TB has dug these up -
well, not literally - but they are there. Of course, to push the
gospel metaphor a shade further, Mamma Margaret's early days are a bit
like the Infancy narratives; TB's imagination has to work
overtime. But MM's life and work at the Oratory, now that's a
different story, and you have a sample of this that you can take a look
at.
In the case of Carlo Socol's as yet unnamed and
unpublished work, he has beavered away in historical archives in China
and at the 'Archivio Centrale' in Rome and put together what will be a
true eye-opener for very many people. We know of Versiglia and
Caravario. What we didn't know of, at least other than in
whispers, were the many other wonderful Salesians who gave their lives
for that fruitful mission. Fr Socol goes a bit further than that,
exploring some understandings of Don Bosco's missionary dreams, but all
those goodies will need to wait until he publishes, some time in
February, during the Centenary celebrations in China. It will
come out in Chinese and English. We will let you know at the time.
Two final points. The publication of the
English version of Mamma Margaret? That depends, both for
publisher and punctuality, on various discussions taking place. The
other point is that the samples you have are 'work in progress' so if
there are minor blemishes, no need for dismay. The final product
will be according to Hoyle (and the
intentions of the respective authors!)
VOCABULARY
According to Hoyle: in accordance with the
recognised rules. It was originally a book of rules for cards and
indoor games written in the 18th century, so historically appropriate
to context!
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