3195 Documents and Writings from the Last Five Years (1883-1887)
austraLasia #3195
Documents and Writings from the Last Five Years
(1883-1887)
ROME: 17 February 2103 -- The
fourth
and final section of Peter Braido's 'Don Bosco, Educatore'
(third and most recent edition, 1997) is now in English
translation and
is available in pdf format from SDL (cf. link above, or go to
the
English collection of SDL and look up Titles - Don Bosco,
Educator,
Documents and Writings from the Last Five Years (1883-1887).
Given
not only that this final section was the longest of all (106
pages),
that it contained a number of diagrams and very many pages of
critical
apparatus, all of which has been translated and adapted (line
numbering
for texts obviously different from the original printed
Italian text),
this was something of a nightmare translation and took time!
But the
good news is that we now have the full text for this
particular edition
of Braido's - which includes the work of da Silva Ferreria,
Motto and
Prellezo as well.
The Fourth section contains:
- the circular letter attributed to Don Bosco on punishments
(Prellezzo)
- the social and pedagogical nature of the preventive system
(Braido, a variety of shorter texts)
- the two letters from Rome (Braido - many people think there
was only
one, and that Don Bosco wrote it. There were at least two and
just to
what extent Don Bosco 'wrote it' is explored in detail in this
long and
fascinating excursus)
- the Memoirs from 1841 to 1884-5-6 (Motto. Parts of this are
cited in
the appendix to the Constitutions, but a full translation of
it has
never been available in English until now).
- three letters to Salesians in America (Motto, who claims
that it is
in these that we begin to see Don Bosco developing the
preventive
system into a spiritual and religious way of life for his
Salesians.
Clearly this fourth section, but not to overlook the material
already
available in the three sections earlier posted to SDL, is of
very
special value in a year when we are focusing on Don Bosco's
pedagogy.
Just
note that while there has been an effort to eliminate typos or
other
small errors, this is not a fully-proofed, ready-for-print
edition as
yet. That will come when and if someone decides it is worth
printing.
In the meantime it is important that the substance of these
studies is
available to those who want and need it.
Happy reading.
ps: thanks to the collaboration of Fr Mike Mendl, the other
major item now in translation (Braido's Prevention, not Repression),
is now available on SDL (search for it under that title in the
English collection or under author) in a proofed edition
