austraLasia 1370
Timely release of work on Mamma Margaret
TURIN: 29th December 2005 -- In what is
clearly an exercise in
good timing, but also one which adheres to the high standards long-ago
set by Don Teresio Bosco, Elledici has released his new 'Vita di Mamma
Margherita, La Mamma di Don Bosco' (Life of Mamma Margherita, Don
Bosco's Mother) in both hardbound and paperback edition, the latter
selling for eight euro. It comes in a context where the expected
commentary on the Strenna for 2006 (31st December) will heighten
expectations that
Mamma Margaret will finally be given the formal recognition that
Salesian tradition has given her all these years - a woman of heroic
virtue deserving the title 'Blessed'. These expectations have
already
been heightened by a not-so-chance remark of Pope Benedict XVI to the
Rector Major when the former was taking possession, for a week or two,
of the Salesian holiday spot in the Italian Alps: "Mamma Margaret's
holiness is so obvious that we wouldn't even think the entire process
is needed".
Other than St John Bosco's own reflections,
contained, passim, in
his 'Memoirs of the Oratory', the definitive 'life' of Mamma Margaret
up
till now has been the Lemoyne version published by SEI, 1956 .
Teresio
Bosco's draws on that, as also the scholarly works of Stella,
Desramaut,
Giraudi. It is significant that his bibliography also contains
reference to the
'Positio', the document with the Congregation for Saintly Causes
outlining Mamma Margaret's virtue and claim to sainthood. There
is
always a danger that a life of Mamma Margaret becomes a disguised
re-run of the life of Don Bosco. Not so with Teresio Bosco.
Naturally
the two persons are intimately connected, but Teresio Bosco keeps Mamma
Margaret on stage throughout in a way similar, perhaps, to a Chekhovian
drama where even the foreground conversations cannot be understood
without hearing the background ones.
For English-speaking readers there is good news and
bad news. The bad news is that for the moment, the work is only
available in Italian. The good news is that work has already
begun on its translation and the hope is that this will be quickly
finished so that discussions can take place on its publication in this
language. In the meantime there are two English versions of Mamma
Margaret's life available - or rather, one is likely still to be found
on Salesian bookshelves around the Region and could be dusted off and
read - Peter Lappin's 'Sunshine in the Shadows', while th other is long
out of print, a version by the Benziger sisters, Marieli and
Rita. In this regard there is further good news. Bosconet
contains the full text of this latter version - you can download it
from the homepage under 'Some Salesian texts in English
translation'. In actual fact, re-reading this version, one senses
that it is better than Lappin's and perhaps because written by women,
retains some useful insights into the motherly presence in the Oratory.
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