The
beginnings of the Oratory: Fragments and documents
VALDOCCO: 25 October 2012 --
While
it is all part of an ongoing translation process regarded as
absolutely essential in this period when we are approaching
the
Bicentenary of Don Bosco's birth, the
pages you can now have access to in English can, in some
ways, stand alone as a valuable collection put into English
for the first time.
We are talking about Part 1 of Braido's Don Bosco the Educator,
where he collects and comments (in one place with the help of
Antonio
Ferreira da Silva) on 'fragments and documents' regarding the
early
days of the Oratory before and after Don Bosco had been able
to set up
at Valdocco.
Some bits and pieces of these documents already existed in
English
translation - the Lenti seven volume series had one or two,
and the
Rattazzi-Bosco conversation existed in digested form (as
translated by
Fr Pat Laws some years back but not, it turns out, the
complete
document).
So what do we have here? The preface to Don Bosco's Church History
(1845), along with a review that appeared at the time of
publication;
DB's letter to Michael B. Cavour asking for permission to
transfer to
Valdocco - and Cavour's positive response; a letter to a local
newspaper indicating some early positive reactions to the new
Oratory;
the introductory part to the Companion of Youth (1847 edition); preface
to DB's Bible History
(1847) and as adjusted (the preface) in the 1853 edition; a
review of the Bible History;
an 1849 article in the Catholic paper, L'Armonia, on the
Oratory; and a similar article in Il Conciliatore Torinese
- of particular interest is the fact that this article was
written in
1849 by a certain Lorenzo Gastaldi when he was a newspaper
editor - it
wasn't until 1871 that he became Archbishop of Turin! In the
same
newspaper and the same year (so same author?) a review of DB's
work on
the metric system 'made simple'; again in 1849 an article on
the
Oratory in a teachers' journal; the letter DB wrote to King
Victor
Emmanuel seeking financial aid (which he received), and a
report from
the Treasurer General of the Realm backing the petition; DB's
(and
other petitioners') appeal to the Royal Institute for the Education of the Destitute
for funds; a report (favourable) on Don Bosco's appeal for
public
(government) funds, along with other petitioners; Don Bosco's
request
to run his first lottery where he boldly asks a city authority
not only
to give permission but to throw in some items as prizes; the
conversation with Urban Rattazzi.
It
makes a fine collection of primary sources to have access to,
along
with the detailed footnotes and line-by-line commentaries on
certain
documents.
The pages, which are now in fact added to the earlier
translated 'introduction' by Braido to his Don Bosco, Educatore,
mean that about a quarter of this long and detailed work is
now in English.
Just a technical note: you should take the pdf version if you
want all
the footnotes and line-numbering. The extracted text-only
version will
not give you those details.
If for any reason you cannot access the hyperlink above,
just got to SDL, English collection and look for Braido under
'Creator'.
