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PREVENTION, NOT REPRESSION
Don Bosco’s Educational System
Pietro Braido
Istituto Storico Salesiano – Rome
Studi – 11
January 1999

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PREVENTION, NOT REPRESSION
Don Bosco’s educational system
Presentation
Don Bosco’s educational system or, more comprehensively, Don Bosco’s preventive experience, is a
project: it grew, gradually expanded and became more specific in the different and various institutions
and undertakings carried out by his many collaborators and disciples. Understandably, its vitality can
be guaranteed in time only by being faithful to the law which governs any authentic growth: renewal,
in-depth study, adaptation in continuity.
The renewal is entrusted to the persistent on-going theoretical and practical commitment of individuals
and communities. Renewal never ceases. Continuity, instead, can be assured only by a keen
engagement with the origins.
The aim of our rapid summary is to provoke an enlivening contact with the primitive roots of Don
Bosco’s preventive experience as well as its features. Our summary has no intention of offering
immediately applicable programs; we simply wish to describe essential original elements which despite
their circumstances and limitations can inspire valid and credible projects now and in the future for
very different contexts and settings. This is essential if the legitimate aspiration of working “with Don
Bosco and with the times” is to happen without a break in continuity.
This third edition is significantly restructured and expanded; more care has been given to historical
data, less space to certain flights of fancy, more light shed on things that might be useful for an
inevitable revision and revitalisation, something hinted at by an updated bibliography.
September 12, 1998
Fr Pietro Braido

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Introduction
It seems obvious enough that the term ‘Preventive System’ as interpreted through documents left by
Don Bosco, especially in the light of his and his closest helpers’ educational experience, is an adequate
expression of everything he said and did as an educator. When it comes to how contemporaries of his
saw it, it becomes another discussion altogether.
We need to note that the terms ‘preventive’ and ‘repressive’ are perhaps not the most appropriate ones
for talking about education that implies direct, out-going activities intended to broaden the personality
of the one being educated. It has happened sometimes that ‘preventive’ was understood, and still is in
many places, as something that happens prior to education. As we will see further on, Antonio Rosmini
and Felix Dupanloup understood ‘preventing’, ‘prevention’ as one part of the overall process of
education, almost something which preconditions it. Worse still in certain literature is the
understanding of the term ‘repressive’ as equivalent to being non-educational.
It will become more obvious as we proceed that the preventive and repressive systems are two real but
relatively distinct educational systems. They have been practised throughout history, be it in families or
institutions, in diverse ways. Both are based on plausible motives and can boast of their productive
approaches and positive results. One is based on the child1 and his or her limitations of age, so on a
consistent, loving ‘assistance’ on the educator’s part. The educator is present, advises, guides, supports
in a paternal (or maternal) way. From this spring educational regimes with a family-style orientation.
The other points more directly to the goal to be achieved and therefore tends to see the young person as
the future adult. As a consequence the child is treated with this end in mind from the earliest years.
From this spring more austere and demanding regimes, schools which strictly follow the rules with
regard to law, relationships, or measures which stress responsibility; military-style schools and the like.
In reality, for thousands of years of historical experience both theoretical and practical, the two systems
have existed in profusely composite versions. Somewhere between them we find, for example, so-
called ‘correctional education’, well-known in the penal world as well as the world of education and re-
education. It has full legitimacy in historical, theoretical and practical terms. The Councillor of State
for the Kingdom of Sardinia, Count Carlo Ilarione Petitti di Roreto (1790-1850) spoke of it with
passionate commitment just as Don Bosco was arriving in Turin. We find it in the second chapter of the
broad-ranging essay The current situation in prisons and ways of improving them (1840), under the title
The history of correctional education and the current state of the art2. He also played an active role, as
we shall see further on, with young men released from the Generala after a time of correctional
education.3
At the beginning of his 1877 booklet on the Preventive System, Don Bosco himself wrote: “There are
two systems that have been used through all ages in the education of youth: the Preventive and the
Repressive”.4
It foreshadowed a similar distinction in his note to Francesco Crispi some months later: “There are two
systems in use in the moral and civil education of youth: the repressive and the preventive. Both are
1 Certainly not in the more evolved sense of the contemporary pedocentric and activist pedagogy of the new schools,
Montessori and the like.
2 Della condizione attuale delle carceri e dei mezzi di migliorarla. Trattato dle Conte D. Carlo Ilarione Petitti di Roreto
Consigliere di Stato ordinario e Socio della Reale Accademia della Scienze. Turin, G. Pomba & Comp. 1840, in C.I.
Petitti di Roreto, Opere Scelte, ed. G.M. Bravo, Turin, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi 1969, pp 319-587, chap 2, pp 361-447.
Cf. further on chap 2, §§ 2 and 3
3 Cf. further on, chap. 10, § 1.
4 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 44, OE XXVIII 422

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applied within civil society and in houses of education”.5
Don Bosco opted for the first hypothesis and for a tradition which, probably less generalised than the
other, he found more in keeping with the times and the youth he was dealing with.
From this perspective he had certainly not developed a preventive pedagogical system in theoretical
terms. However, he had knowingly tried out and reflectively adopted principles, methods, means,
institutions which allowed him to give young people a relatively complete human and Christian
education. He offered his collaborators a unified and systematic approach to education. In fact he never
understood ‘preventive’ as something purely preparatory, protective, a condition for education properly
so-called or simply limited to the area of discipline or government (Regierung) which for Herbart was
one of the three pillars of the art of pedagogy.
In the same booklet on the Preventive system in the education of the young, 1877, the positive
educational elements clearly outstrip disciplinary and protective measures in both quality and quantity.
He speaks of educators who are “loving fathers”, constantly “present” in their pupils’ lives. They speak,
guide, offer advice, “lovingly correct”. The central pillars of his entire educational edifice are indicated
as daily Mass and the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist. “Reason, religion and loving-kindness” are
considered to underpin content and method. His overall practice is inspired by the charity which St
Paul praises (1 Cor. 13).
We should mention the happy intuition of the Austrian educator, Hubert Henz, who makes explicit
reference to Don Bosco’s Preventive System: “The preventive approach is a way to educate that
prevents the moral ruin of the pupil and the need for punishments, and demands that the educator be
constantly with the pupil; total dedication to the task of education, a dynamic, complete and fully
youthful existence”. The extra that he hopes for from the Preventive System is precisely what Don
Bosco intended by his ‘preventive’: to make young people mature and responsible “upright citizens and
good Christians”. His Preventive System “looks to this objective and is not exhausted by simply
protecting or watching over”.6
On the other hand, the 1877 booklet is not the only one that speaks about the ‘Preventive System’ even
if it is the first time the term was adopted. Don Bosco would return to it in word and writing during the
decade that followed. But his clear ‘preventive’ mind-set on behalf of “poor and neglected [abandoned]
youth”, was inspired from the earliest years of his consecration by social work on behalf of poor and
neglected youth who needed to be “protected”, “saved”, beginning with ways and resources for
introducing them to and helping them grow in the world of grace as well as offering a constructive
effort at the level of sustenance, instruction, profession, moral and social growth.7
In the final years the ‘Preventive System’ in his writing becomes “our Preventive System” and even
“the Salesian spirit”.8
This is the point of view from which this work presents Don Bosco’s pedagogical experience in a
systematic way: a practical educational experience constantly integrated by reflection and real
experimentation.9
5 Il sistema preventivo (1878), RSS 4 (1985) 300
6 H. Heinz, Lehrbuch der systematischen Pädagogik. Freiburg, Herder 1964, p. 232.
7 On his first twenty years of work amongst the young and ‘Preventive System’ he followed throughout. cf. P. Braido, Il
sistema preventivo di don Bosco alle origini (1841-1862). Il cammino del ‘preventivo’ nella realtà e nei documenti, RSS
14 (1995) 255-320.
8 Cf. P. Braido, L’esperienza pedagogica di don Bosco nel suo ‘divenire’, in «Orientamenti Pedagogici» 36 (1989) 27-36
9 Cf. P. Braido, Pedagogia perseverante tra sfide e scommesse, in «Orientamenti Pedagogici» 38 (1991) 906-11

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This reconstruction can be found in the ten chapters in the second part of the book.
Since we are dealing with an experience and not an abstract theory, it cannot be understood without
explicit reference to Don Bosco’s personality. This in turn, and the preventive concept itself, become
comprehensible in the light of the context in which he worked and the long period of time over which
the idea slowly matured. That is described in the eight chapters in the first part of the book.
For the sake of greater clarity the first of these is given over to a basic description of the times and
places in which Don Bosco began his work and gradually developed his educational, pedagogical
experience. Such a way of tackling the problem of locating Don Bosco the educator in both the short
and long term comes from the belief that the ‘Preventive System’, however it might have been applied
and understood in Christian tradition, does not exhaust all possible educational systems, nor does ‘Don
Bosco’s Preventive System’ exhaust all possible versions of the ‘Preventive System’ itself. It is not a
solitary treasure. It has distant origins, primarily in the Gospel. Future developments are no less rich in
promise and outlook, if faithful to the principles and to history.

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Chapter 1
Don Bosco’s times
Don Bosco lived between August 16, 1815, and January 31, 1888. His birth coincided with the date that
marks Europe’s definitive transition from the ancien régime to modern times, helped on by the
powerful effect on the course of history wrought by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire
(1789-1814). This transition was restrained by decrees issued by the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815),
and the Holy Alliance (September 26, 1815). The former gave temporary shape to Europe’s political
geography.
But the upper hand would come from historical events so profound that by the end of the century the
face of Europe and, from many points of view, the whole world would end up being altered. Among the
most outstanding of the historical events we can single out rapid social and cultural changes, the
industrial revolution, the irrepressible aspirations for national unity which were initially overlooked and
later carried through with resolute determination in Germany and Italy, Europe’s colonial expansion
and consequent economic, political and cultural imperialism.10
What happened primarily was a gradual and diversified transition from the secular model of society
based on status (Aristocracy, Clergy, The Third Estate), to a bourgeois society based on division of
classes. This new society was characterised by growing tensions sharpened through the establishment
of an industrial proletariat aware of its own poverty, existing injustices, and also aware of its own
importance thanks especially to emerging socialist forces.
The Industrial Revolution is of enormous historical relevance. It was the most dramatic revolution
since the Stone Age11, with unforeseeable repercussions at all levels of human existence: technical and
scientific, economic and social, cultural and political. The industrial revolution, resulting from a
capitalist background, claims England as its place of origin during the second half of the 18th century.
By the middle of the 18th century it had taken firm hold, to varying degrees, in Belgium, France,
Germany, Switzerland, and in the United States of America. Italy had to wait until the beginning of the
last twenty years of the 18th century. Prior to this some phenomena of pre-industrialisation could have
been spotted in places like Turin, but with local import only.
The aspirations towards national, political unity would gradually become clear, widespread and intense,
thanks especially to the input of liberal and democratic forces. But they would find opposition from
political conservatives, advocates of regionalism, self-interested viewpoints and in Italy as well as all of
the above, from the special situation of the Papal States. We have to keep in mind that due to the
Congress of Vienna Italy, which for centuries had never achieved national unity, was actually divided
into the following political entities:
- the Lombard-Venetian Kingdom under the Austrian Empire (Trent, Trieste and part of Istria had
become imperial estates);
- the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza given to Maria Louise of Hapsburg (1815 - 1847), former
French empress (at her death it was transferred to the Bourbons of Parma);
- the Duchy of Modena and Reggio given to Francis IV of Hapsburg-Este (1815-1846);
- the Duchy of Massa and Carrara given to Maria Beatrice of Este, mother of Francis IV (when
10 Cf. J. Godechot, L’epoca delle rivoluzioni. Turin, UTET 1981, p. 929
11 Cf. C.M. Cipolla, La riuzione industriale, in Storia delle idee politiche, economiche e sociali, ed. L. Firpo, (Turin,
UTET 1972), 5, 11.

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she died, the Duchy was transferred to her son in 1831);
- the Duchy of Lucca given to the Bourbons of Parma and Piacenza and later on joined to the
grand Duchy of Tuscany at the death of Maria Louise (1847), when the Bourbons of Parma
moved to the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza;
- the Grand Duchy of Tuscany given to Ferdinand III of Hapsburg-Lorain (1814-1824), brother of
the Austrian Emperor Francis I of Hapsburg (1806-1832);
- the Papal State without Avignon, given back to Pius VII (1800 - 1823);
- the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies given to Ferdinand IV of Bourbon (1815 - 1825);
- the Kingdom of Sardinia given to Victor Emanuel of Savoy (1802 - 1825 ) including Savoy,
Piedmont, Nice, Sardinia with the added territory of the former republic of Genoa12.
With the development of the stronger nations (England, France, Germany, Austria and Russia), Europe
reached its zenith during the second half of the century. During the following thirty years the
consolidation of capitalism, the intensity of the industrial revolution would give rise to sharper
economic competition and a swifter race to arms. At the same time the need to expand commercially,
politically and culturally at a global level was more greatly felt. The first and more widespread
manifestation of all this was the appearance of Colonialism, with the consequent overturning of the
‘extra-European’ areas13. This is the time when two major powers come to the fore in world history: the
USA and Japan.
We should not overlook the massive phenomenon of emigration which, from 1842 to 1914, led to some
30 to 35 million Europeans leaving the Old Continent for the rest of the world. A significant factor was
strong demographic pressure: the population of Europe, including Russia, was 180 million around the
1800s. In 1850, the population reached 274 million, and in the 1900’s, it reached 423 million.
Together with the growing complications created by economic life, new social and political orders, and
by the admittedly slow-growing expansion of freedoms, in-roads were also made by evidently
pluralistic world views, political ideologies and new moral and religious ideas. New and different
directions emerged both in ideas and activities regarding individual destiny and the way people
associated.
Besides persistent conservative and at times reactionary forces, new ideologies arose: liberal ideologies
which continued the substantially bourgeois aspect of the French Revolution; democratic and radical
ideologies more closely connected with the Jacobean expressions of the French Revolution; national
and, later on, nationalistic ideologies of Romantic origin; still later on, socialist ideologies on the one
hand, and Christian social ideologies on the other14.
For an understanding of the Italian spiritual world, its pastoral structure, the nature of the initiatives
related to social work and education and catechetical instruction it may be useful to take an historical
look at the leading Italian region of Piedmont. The reason behind this is that Piedmont had been
connected with decisive events and remarkable changes in the various fields of politics and religion in
12 The Republic of San Marino retained its secular independence.
13 On imperialism and colonialism in the 19th century cf. A. Desideri, Storia e storiografia, .2 Dall’illuminismo all’età
dell’imperialismo, (Messina-Firenze: G. D’Anna 1997), 1337; R. Marx and R. Poidevin, Dalla riuzione francese
all’imperialismo, (Milan: CDE 1990), 410; P. Cinanni, Emigrazione e imperialismo, (Rome, Editori Riuniti 1975), 258;
F. Boiardi, Storia delle dottrine politiche, . 5 Colonialismo e imperialismo (1875-1945),. (Milan: Nuova CEI 1982),
911; G. Balandier et al., Le religioni nell’età del colonialismo e del neocolonialismo, (Bari – Rome, Laterza 1990, 24),
307.
14 R. Albrecht-Carrié, Le riuzioni nazionali, (Turin, UTET 1981), 543.

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the socio-economic field as well as in educational and scholastic fields.
1. Elements contributing to political change
The main political event is the unification of Italy as a nation, and the end of the temporal power of the
Popes. This is also why the political history of Italy is inevitably bound up with religious history15. At
the end of this evolving process (1870 marked the occupation of Rome), the nine states into which the
entire peninsula had been divided became one single political body.
It seems appropriate at this point to spell out the succession of Savoy kings:
- Victor Emanuel I (1802-1821);
- Charles Felix (1821-1831);
- Charles Albert (183l-1849);
- Victor Emanuel II (1849-1878);
- Humbert I (1878-1900).
These all took an active part in the national revolution. During the period 1815-1848 the climate of
‘restoration’ prevailed and had, at least partially, a reactionary feel to it. Liberal ideas came to the fore.
Movements and societies, often secret societies spread: they were intent on fostering more radical but
democratically inspired revolution in political and social fields: the Carboneria, the Federates, the
Students League, Joseph Mazzini’s Giovine Italia, Giovine Europa. From time to time there was an
outburst of revolutionary movements over the periods 1820-1821, 1830-1831, 1834, 1843, 1845, and
1846. These are were a prelude to the great political social and national upheavals which began in Paris
and then reached the main capitals and cities of Europe during February-June 1848: Vienna, Budapest,
Prague, Berlin, Milan, Venice, Palermo, Nola. ‘Constitutions’ were forcefully imposed or
spontaneously accepted. These Constitutions would, later on, be withdrawn by repressive authorities.
Charles Albert granted the Constitution on March 4, and led the first war of independence against
Austria (1848-1849), but was defeated and forced to abdicate.
Compared with the previous order of things most Catholics were unexpectedly forced to confront near
traumatic circumstances: freedom of the press and, therefore, freedom of religious propaganda;
competition with secular and at times anticlerical forces; the removal of secular privileges by the
Siccardi Law (1850) like the ecclesiastical forum, immunity; the expulsion of the Jesuits from the
Kingdom of Sardinia, the expulsion of the Sacred Heart Sisters, the expulsion of the Archbishop of
Turin, Louis Fransoni; suppression of religious orders and the appropriation of all their goods; then in
1855, the limitations set on schools by the Boncompagni Laws of 1848 and the Casati Laws of 1859.
The decade 1852-1861 was dominated by the President of the Cabinet (Prime Minister), Camillo Benso
di Cavour - he had already been a minister previously, in 1850. With the support of a coalition made up
of old moderate Liberals and non-extremist Democrats at whose head was Urban Rattazzi, he
conducted a vigorous style of politics aimed at secular liberalisation of the State, following the
principle of a free Church in a free State. At the same time he carried on an intense and successful
activity with the goal of internationalising the problem of Italian unity. This activity took place mostly
during the years 1859-1860 with the second war of independence (1859), the expedition of the
thousand (I Mille 1860), headed by Joseph Garibaldi, and a series of annexations. It came almost to a
complete end with the third war of independence (the annexation of the Venetian territory, in 1866) and
15 On the one hand the existence of the Papal States was seen as an Italian political and territorial issue; on the other it was
seen as an important theological issue of interest to the universal Church and involving international politics.

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with the occupation of Rome (1870).
Already on March 17, 1861,Victor Emanuel II had been officially proclaimed King of Italy, and Rome
had been officially declared as its capital: it actually would become so only in 1871 when the royal
court and the government moved there. Prior to this event, the court and government had moved to
Florence, the temporary capital of Italy, from 1865 to 1871.
The Holy See did not accept what had happened. It did not recognise La legge delle guarantigie16 (the
Guarantee Laws) and, in 1874, forbade all Italian Catholics to take part in the election of the Parliament
of a “usurper-state”[non expedit].
The historical Left in Parliament and government, made up of old leftist liberals and supported by
parties of varies hues (‘Transformism’ it was called), prevailed over the historical Right (moderate
liberals) in 1876. The historical Left, supported by various forces, gave rise to several cabinets headed
by Augustine De Pretis, Benedict Cairoli, and Francesco Crispi. These cabinets demonstrated a
somewhat secular and radical orientation.
2. Circumstances in the religious area
Even within life revolving around religion and faith one could quite clearly note the transition from a
time when the covenant between ‘throne and the altar’ was stressed to one of growing separation of the
two. This was partly brought about by political measures considered as harassment, largely brought on
by the inability to respect the necessary distinctions between the religious and political spheres, at least
in practical terms, and the final self-inflicted blow, the Papal decree Non Expedit, the consequence of
which was to sideline the Church in political terms.
However the presence of the Church and Catholics within religious and social fields was remarkable.
2.1 The situation in the Catholic Church.
Christian reconquest of society was due to Papal leadership. The Popes had gained new prestige by
withstanding persecution and revolution (Pius VI), including Napoleon’s efforts (Pius VII). The names
of these Popes are:
- Pius VII (1800-1823), elected in Venice after Pope Pius VI who died at Valence, France;
- Leo XII (1823-1829); Pius VIII (1829-1830);
- Gregory XVI (1831-1846);
- Pius IX (1846-1878), and
- Leo XIII(1878-1903).
Undoubtedly, from a worldwide perspective the Catholic Church was showing evident signs of rebirth.
Its structures found new strength and better appreciation, as did its evangelical and pastoral activity.
The setting up of Concordats meant new, broader relationships with States. There was a keen revival of
missionary activity. Doctrinal positions of varying theological import and result were adopted: Pope
Gregory’s encyclical Mirari Vos which dealt with Catholic Liberalism (1832); the definition of the
Dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854); Pius IX’s encyclical Quanta Cura and the Syllabus,
which were published in 1864 in order “to dismantle the errors of the century”; Vatican Council I (1869
16 The law of 13 May 1871 by which the Italian State intended to legitimise the occupation of Rome on 20 September
1870, the annexation to the Kingdom of Italy of the former Papal States, and the regularising of relationships with the
Vatican. The Holy See never recognised this.

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-1870) which promulgated the Constitution De Fide Catholica, and the Dogma of Papal Infallibility.
There was a remarkable wave of conversions linked with orientation to Rome and the ‘Oxford
movement’. The Oxford movement began in 1833 and was made famous by the conversion of J. H.
Newman (1801-1890) to the Catholic Church in 1845, and H.E. Manning’s conversion in 1852.
The restoration of university studies began with Leo XII in 1824. The event marked the starting point
of an upward movement of culture, and a more appropriate formation programme for the clergy which
reached its peak with Leo XIII.
Catholic social involvement found its first official manifesto in Leo XIII’ s Letter Rerum novarum in
1891, adding to the faithful’s commitment to charitable undertakings during the course of the century,
particularly in Germany and Belgium. All this was preceded by a more explicit organisational
restructuring of the apostolate of the laity.
Finally, another feature which characterised the 19th century was the proliferation of religious
congregations for men and women directed to charitable deeds, social welfare, education and
missionary activities.
The encounter with the new world seemed fundamentally positive when the Church was governed by
Pope Pius VII, assisted by Cardinal Consalvi (1757-1824). This relationship faltered under Leo XII and
Pope Gregory XVI. Initially, it looked like an enthusiastic encounter, but then, under Pope Pius IX and
Cardinal Antonelli, it became ambiguous and finally turned into a politico-religious conflict. The
amnesty granted by Pope Pius IX a month after his election (1846) was responsible for an exaggerated
enthusiasm which grew with subsequent papal decisions: the resolution to build railways (the
November 7 manifesto); the edict on the press, March 15, 1847; the setting up of a consultative body,
April 19 and October 14; the creation of the Cabinet of Ministers, June 12; the formation of a civil
guard, July 5; the setting up of the Municipal Council of Rome, October 3; the cautious introduction of
lay people into the Cabinet, December 29.
All of these events were followed by an address delivered February 10, 1848: O Great God, bless Italy!
and by the granting of the Constitution, March 14, 1848. Because of all this popular demonstrations by
people manifesting their consent multiplied and the acclamation “Long Live Pius IX” was widely heard
along with growing pressure from democratic circles17.
Pope Pius IX delivered an address April 29, 1848, viewing the cause of Italian national unity with clear
delight but unequivocally declaring the impossibility of direct intervention against Austria. This created
deeper ambiguities and misunderstandings. A fatal clash was inevitable: the President of the Cabinet,
Pellegrino Rossi, was assassinated; the Roman revolution began (November 15-16, 1848) and died
away with the creation of a provisional government after Pope Pius IX left for Gaeta (November 24)
and with the proclamation of the Roman Republic (February 5, 1849).
Pope Pius IX returned to Rome (1850), which had been recaptured by French troops the previous year.
With the help of Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli he followed an intransigent political programme which
excluded all possible negotiations with the Italian government regarding a Papal Rome and a Papal
State.
In reference to the various and keener layers of Catholic life there is justifiable reason for speaking of
Catholics facing a real ‘case of conscience’: it was already difficult to reconcile the fact of being
Catholic and a citizen of a secular state. And now another conflict had come to the fore: how to
17 During a visit to Rome in 1846 Count Solaro della Margherita “observed that no one was shouting out ‘Viva il Papa’ but
only ‘Viva Pius IX’…”: P. Pirri, ‘Visita del Solaro della Margherita a Pio IX nel 1846’, in: «La Civiltà Cattolica» 1928,
III, 509 (letter to the King Sept. 5, 1846).

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reconcile the passion for the national unity of Italy and the fidelity owed to the Pope, who was both the
spiritual leader and the governing authority of a state, the existence of which was incompatible with
such a national unity.
2.2 The situation of the Church in Turin.
Piedmont was naturally no stranger to the complex religious problems affecting Catholics in Italy. On
the contrary, because of its political position, its cultural and economic status (the region had the
highest percentage of illiterates) and the abundance of charitable undertakings, Piedmont was often a
paradigm.
Five archbishops directed the church of Turin during Don Bosco’s lifetime:
- Colomban Chiaveroti, Camaldolese (1818-1831);
- Louis of the Counts Fransoni, from a Genoese noble family, (1832-1862). He was expelled
from the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1850 and died in Lyons, France, in 1862;
- Alexander of the Counts Riccardi of Nitro, from a Biellese noble family (1867-1870);
- Lawrence Gastaldi, from Turin (1871-1883) and
- Cardinal Cajetan Alimonda (1883-1891).
The archbishops who would have more of a lasting impact on the Turin Church, because of the
historical context but also their temperament, were Chiavaroti, Fransoni and Gastaldi.
Archbishop Chiavaroti stood out because of his intense pastoral concern in a diocese which had been
tested by the revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. He re-opened the Bra seminary for the students of
philosophy, gave a definite ecclesiastical orientation to the seminary at Giaveno and in the house of the
Filippini in Chieri entrusted to him by the Holy See, and opened an adjunct to the seminary in Turin
(1829) for philosophical and theological students. Don Bosco would do his six years of study of
philosophy and theology in this adjunct seminary, from 1835 to 1841. It was during this time that the
Convitto Ecclesiastico di San Francesco di Sales (a residential institution for clergy which we can call
the Pastoral Institute, in English) opened up in the sub-alpine Capital. The one who started it, in 1817,
was theology professor Father Guala. This was the time when confrontational disputes had arisen
between the defenders of ‘probabilism’ and ‘tutiorism’, in moral theology. The Convitto Ecclesiastico
was approved by Archbishop Louis Fransoni on February 23, 1821.18
Archbishop Fransoni’s governance had more of an impact on the Turin Church and the other Italian
churches because of his confrontation with the State. Archbishop Fransoni’s main concern was the
clergy and he dedicated himself to their renewal. Statistical data from 1839 offer us this picture: 623
diocesan priests, 325 religious priests, 216 lay religious, 213 sisters. With the so-called ‘Restoration’
initiated by the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Church had reclaimed the rights and privileges of the ancien
régime, thanks to a set of strictly confessional laws with a hint of Church-State openness about them.
Ecclesiastical censure was influential and the school system was tinged with clericalism, based on the
Regolamento (Regulations) of 1822, clearly of Jesuit origin. The prevailing tendencies were
conservative and, at times, even reactionary. Liberal-leaning institutions or innovations, Protestantism,
revolutionary spirit were looked upon with suspicion: philanthropic undertakings like Il Ricovero di
Mendicità (a program to help the poor); kindergartens created by Aporti; courses on methodology (the
clash that occurred between Archbishop Fransoni and Charles Albert on the occasion of the course run
by Aporti from the end of August to the beginning of October 1844 was typical); evening and Sunday
18 Cf. G. Tunetti, Lorenzo Gastaldi (1815-1871), (Casale Monferrato, Edizioni Piemme 1983), 35-37.

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schools; railways, scientific Congresses. The situation grew worse, at the beginning of 1847, when the
first reforms took place and Charles Albert fired the reactionary Count Solano della Margherita. The
censure system was re-shaped together with the freedom of the press and worship, the abolition of the
right of asylum and the ecclesiastical Forum. From this moment on, the religious history of Piedmont
and the conflicts which characterised it were intertwined more and more with the history of Italy, and
this echoed far and wide.
Important during this period was the meeting of all the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Turin at
Villanovetta, from July 25 to July 29, 1849. The bishops were concerned about creating a common
front to face the new political and religious situation. Among other matters, the problem of the press
was examined. The bishops of Mondovì (Ghilardi and Moreno), had been invited “to draw up an
association plan for the press and the diffusion of better-written ecclesiastical books”.
Particular attention should be given to prevailing moral and pastoral orientations. Some elements will
be pointed out further on when we deal with the Convitto Ecclesiastico, the moral theology orientation
offered by St Alphonsus Liguori, and with youth spirituality, developed particularly by the reborn
Society of Jesus.19
3. Change in the socio-economic area
During this period the Italian economic and social situation looked like a multi-coloured map scaled
according to the various regions and political set-ups. The Italian population at the beginning of the
century was 18 million; by 1850, it was 24 million; by the end of the century, it was 34 million. The
country was based on agriculture and small business (local crafts). It would keep this structure, to a
great extent, even after the first period of industrialisation at the end of the century.20 The differences
between one region and another and especially the difference between north and south, were markedly
evident. This situation was responsible for aggravating the ‘southern question’ which was to follow.
Poverty, in different degrees, was everywhere but more so in the country and mountains than in the
cities, where the poor had migrated and together with them the inevitable accompaniment of diseases,
physical and mental, and of starving or under-nourished people.21
Partial signs of a recovery process emerged around 1850. One of the centres where these signs were
more evident was precisely the region of Piedmont and, more particularly, the city of Turin. During the
19th century, Turin, the capital of Savoy, recorded a remarkable expansion in population, economy and
building programs. This city’s population grew five-fold from 65,000 in 1802, to 320,000 in 1891. The
rhythm of growth was particularly rapid during a thirty year period, 1835-1864:(the population grew
19 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, 2, (Rome, LAS 1979/1981); and Don Bosco nella storia
economica e sociale (1815-1870), (Rome, LAS 1980). The following brief note is a guide: “We should not be surprised
if both at the Shrine at Lanzo and at the Convitto Ecclesiastico the Jesuit spirit prevailed and its characteristics marked
those spiritual gatherings directed by Guala: Ignatian asceticism, a decisive struggle against Jansenism and Regalism, a
sincere and tender devotion to the Sacred Heart, to the Madonna, to the Pope, frequency with the sacraments, moral
theology according to the spirit of St Alphonsus”: F. Bauducco SJ, “San Giuseppe Cafasso e la Compagnia di Gesù”, in
La Scuola Cattolica 88 (1960): 289.
20 Cf. the fundamental work in collaboration, ed. G. Mori, L’industrializzazione in Italia (1861-1900), (Bologna: Il Mulino
1981), II, ed., 509.
21 Cf. F. della Peruta, “Aspetti della società italiana nell’Italia della restaurazione”, in Studi storici 17 (1976) n.2, 27-68;
Timore e carità. I poveri nell’Italia moderna. Acts of the Convention on Pauperismo e assistenza negli antichi stati
italiani, Cremona, March 28-30, 1980, ed. G. P:oliti, M. Rosa and F. della Peruta, (Cremona: Ediz. del Convegno
1982), ch 14, 500; A Monticone (ed.), Poveri in cammino. Mobilità e assistenza tra Umbria e Roma in età moderna,
(Milan: F. Angeli 1993), Chap. 14, 417; F. della Peruta (ed.), Malattia e medicina, vol 7 of the Annals of Storia d’Italia,
(Turin:. Einaudi 1984, Chap. 20, 1293.

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from 117,000 to 218,000, and especially during the period between 1848 -1864 (from 137,000 to
218,000.22
During the most active period of the beginnings of the Oratory, Turin’s population increased by 80,000
and between 1858-1862 by 25,000. The reasons for this increase were not only social and political but
economic: famine in the countryside and the mountains, the increased number of factories in the city,
textile factories, arsenals, mills, food factories, arms factories, the coach business, tobacco
manufacturing, increased bureaucratic procedures especially for employment, expansion in the
construction area (making a lot of work available), improved communications systems (n 1858,
Piedmont owned 936 kilometres of railways, while the Kingdom of Naples had only 100 kilometres
and the Papal State but 17), extraordinary legislative provisions, initiatives created by the civic
administration to prevent the possible crises connected with the transfer of the Capital from Rome to
Florence (1865).23
All of the above explain the typical phenomenon of migration within the area which became, explicitly,
the first oratory apostolate of Don Bosco’s - a phenomenon which grew in Italy and France and which
was responsible for the setting up of several charitable undertakings in the 1870s.
4. Changes in cultural, educational and scholastic areas
The lull in the first decades of the century, especially after 1830, was followed by a gradual interest in
culture and schools for the working class. Catechetical activity was placed within the context of
remarkable expansion both pedagogical and scholastic, at a European level and also, to a certain extent,
at an Italian and Piedmontese level.24
The blossoming of the Romantic movement goes back to the first part of the century; names such as
Froebel, Pestalozzi, Fr Girardi and others belonging to the Herbart school of realism, spiritualist in
orientation, and later on to positivist pedagogy and teaching. In Piedmont the disputed acceptance of
Ferrante Aporti’s kindergartens, begun in Cremona in November 1828, became remarkably evident
from the 1930s onwards.
Later on we will mention real or hypothetical contacts between new 19th-century initiatives in the field
of education and the youth institutions created by Don Bosco.25
Looking at school organisation, following the Regolamento (Regulations) of Charles Felix (1822),
there is a decisive break from the past. This was provoked, in 1848, by the Boncompagni Law which
gave its blessing to a state monopoly in education, thus placing all public education in the hands of the
Minister, Secretary of State. The Casati Law of November 13, 1859, gave the final approval to the new
general structure of public education.26 The breathing space granted to private, non-state schools, was
curtailed by the executive board, year after year, in a way that was not legally admissible. Don Bosco
himself had experienced this while running his school. But even the progress of the Italian public
22 In the work by Fr Pietro Barico, for some years deputy mayor of the city, we find a precise picture of Turin: Torino
descritta (Turin: G.B. Paravia e Comp. 1869), 972.
23 G.M. Bravo, Torino operaia: mondo del lavoro e idee sociali nell’età di Carlo Alberto, (Turin, Fondazione Luigi
Einaudi 1968), 300.
24 Halfway through the century Italy’s population, like that of most of Europe, was suffering from the curse of illiteracy.
Don Bosco however, began his work in Piedmont, the region most literate and amongst the less poor.
25 Cf. A. Gambaro, “La pedagogia italiana nell’età del Risorgimento”, in Nuove questioni di storia della pedagogia, 2,
(Brescia: La Scuola 1977), 535-796; D. Bertoni Jovine, Storia della scuola popolare in Italia, (Turin, Einaudi 1954),
511.
26 Cf. V Sinistero, ‘La legge Boncompagni del 4 ottobre 1848 e la libertà della scuola’, in Salesianum 10 (1948): 369-
423.

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school system turned out to be very slow and difficult particularly with regard to the elementary
schools and schools for the working classes.27
27 CF. G. Gozzer et al., Cenni di storia della scuola italiana dalle legge Casati al 198 ( Rome, Armando 1982), 147; D.
Ragazzini, Storia della scuola e storia d’Italia dall’Unità ad oggi ( Bari: De Donato 1982), 276; D. Ragazzini, Storia
della scuola italiana. Linee generali e problemi di ricerca, (Florence, Le Monnier 1983), 132. On the situation in the
years immediately following the Casati Law, cf. meaningful documentation by G. Talamo, La scuola dalla legge Casati
alla inchiesta del 1864, (Milan, Giuffré 1960), Chap 7, 420; a special number of the journal I Problemi della pedagogia
5 (1959) n.1, Jan-Feb is dedicated to the Casati Law of Nov. 13, 1859, which became the law for Italian schools up to
the Gentile reform of 1923.

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Chapter 2
Better to prevent than repress
After the unforeseen and traumatic experience of the French Revolution followed by the more or less
radical overthrow of the old order resulting from Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Europe seemed
obsessed with the idea of ‘prevention’ more than ever before. It was accompanied by variously nuanced
‘Restoration’ plans depending on one or other mind-set or culture.
Various classes of conservatives, reactionaries too, took restoration and prevention to be something
based on fear, with more than a hint of repression. The fear was of new revolutionaries, sects, secret
societies, liberalism, (standing for freedom of the press, association and worship). There was also an
aura of mistrust regarding new educational experiences thought to be subversive. Even new methods of
teaching, reciprocal teaching, schools for the working class, kindergartens connected with De Maistre,
Monaldo Leopardi, Clement Solaro della Margherita, were looked upon as a threat to the principle of
authority because they aimed at training people to use their reasoning power alone and be independent
of family and Church. The accent was on strict vigilance, preventive censure, providing ‘missions for
the masses’, in order to win them back and offer them moral standards through religion and prevention
of idleness and licentiousness.
Among the moderates or the broad-minded, there was instead a tendency to reclaim what was
considered valid from the old order such as instruction, religious practices, traditional moral values, but
also a tendency to accept new contributions such as the spreading of the ‘light’ of knowledge, the
gradual expansion of primary schools and technical schools for the working classes, the re-evaluation
of work and social solidarity, the adoption of more just, more humane methods as part of the process of
confronting the chronic social diseases of poverty and delinquency, the development of charitable
undertakings and mutual social assistance, the spreading of good books, the creation of popular
libraries and so forth.
In this context, we notice a more systematic affirmation of the ‘preventive principle’, to the point where
it was translated explicitly into the term ‘Preventive System’ which would then become historical fact
at a later stage.
This term bears the distinctive marks of the century. In fact, though with different emphasis, the term
grew up within the climate of the Restoration, reflected its features and the variegated aspects of the
different groups. It could be espoused by those who were nostalgic for the ancien régime and by the
Legitimists, fully aware though they may have been of the impossibility of a simple return to the past;
it could likewise be espoused by moderates well-disposed to what was new and open, to some extent,
to modernity, as also by those who had more courageous projects in mind. Laurentie, Pavoni,
Champagnat, Aporti, Rosmini, Dupanloup, Don Bosco and many others might legitimately be
associated, at least generically, with the ‘Preventive System’. However, real circumstances, different
mind-sets, different objectives or readiness gave different nuances to the same visions or basic
experiences and offered some remarkably different features.
This is the same kind of ambiguity or ambivalence related to the ‘restlessness for prevention’ which
seemed to pervade the entire century at different times and from different points of view. Don Bosco
appeared to be in agreement with it on cultural, political, pastoral and educational levels, but in a more
moderate form. He made this evident both in his Storia ecclesiastica, 1845 (Church History) and La

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Storia d’Italia 1855 (The History of Italy).
Q: Who began the French Revolution? A: The secret societies, some fanatics called the
‘illuminati’ or The Enlightened, who had joined some philosophers pretending to be able to
reform the world by providing everyone with Equality and Liberty. These are the ones who
are responsible for fomenting the persecution which began in 1790 and lasted 10 years and
caused much bloodshed.28
For a period of almost fifty years, peace reigned supreme in Italy, and almost throughout
Europe. It was this peaceful atmosphere which allowed many worthy minds to enrich the
sciences and the arts with useful contributions but it also granted secret societies an easy
way to accomplish their plans.
These secret societies are generally known as Carbonari (the coal-people), Franchi
Tiratori (Franchs Machons - Sharp Shooters), Jacobites, Illuminati (the Enlightened) and
took on different names at different times, but they all had the same goals. They aimed at
overturning the present society which they did not like, because they did not find the
appropriate sustenance for their ambitions, nor enough freedom to unleash their passions.
To destroy society they made every effort to knock down every religion and remove all
moral sense from the hearts of men, to destroy all kinds of religious and civil authorities,
meaning the Roman Pontificate and the [Kingly] Thrones … Many were easily led to give
their names to these societies because, in the early stages, there was no indication of the
wickedness of their goals… The only things up for discussion were brotherhood,
philanthropy and the like … It was the middle-class, namely the bourgeoisie, which began
the Revolution by using the lower class who, in turn, decided to continue it and make it
general, as actually happened. It was then that hundreds of the middle-class who had
condemned priests and nobles to death, were themselves thrown to the gallows. Because of
this Revolution, what was on top in society was thrown down, and what was on the bottom
came to the top of society: that’s how the anarchy of the mob came to rule. The secret
societies, which were responsible for the French Revolution, had already found their way
into Italy, and, through them, the seductive ideas of liberty, equality and reform were spread
all over”.29
The answer to the question makes it evident that the ‘enlightened century’ was not entirely negative. As
a matter of fact, the sound and relevant side of it “allowed many worthy minds to enrich the sciences
and arts with useful understandings”. As it turned out, this made an enormous contribution of new ideas
which would find their ideal and effective place among the positive elements of the ‘Preventive
System’, together with moderate requests for rationality (understood more as ‘reasonableness’)
freedom, brotherhood and humanity which make up the content of philanthropy and humanitarianism
28 G. Bosco, Storia ecclesiastica ad uso delle scuole utile per ogni ceto di persone, (Turin, Speirani e Ferrero 1845), 342-
343. OE I 500-501
29 G. Bosco, Storia d’Italia raccontata alla gioventù da’ suoi primi abitatori sino ai nostri giorni, (Turin, Paravia e
Comp. 1855), 455-457, OE VII 455-457. The ‘sectarian’ plan, according to Don Bosco, carries on after the Congress of
Vienna: “At the same time those secret societies that had thrown France into turmoil formed a new and strange plan to
set up a single republic of all the kingdoms of Italy. To succeed, you can easily see, they had first to ruin all the Italian
kingly thrones and religion itself…meanwhile they looked into ways to have the people turned against their kings,
asking for a constitution the same as had been granted in Spain, thanks to which the Prince handed over some of his
power to the people and all people were equal before the law” (G. Bosco, Storia d’Italia, 476, OE VII 476).

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attuned to Christian truth.
During the course of the 19th century, the global phenomenon of “restlessness for prevention” would be
expressed at the following five levels: political, social, juridical and penal, welfare and finally,
scholastic, educational and religious.
1. Political prevention
The ‘preventive principle’ was an inspiration for those taking part in the Congress of Vienna: they had
gathered, yet again, to draw up the political map of Europe after the Napoleonic fire-storm. Their aim
was to restore the old order, keeping however the positive or non-disposable elements that new ideas
and new times had generated.
At any rate, generally speaking the following were reaffirmed, at least substantially: the religious and
strictly paternal concept of authority at all levels, ecclesiastical, civil and domestic; the observance of
law and obedience as an essential balancing element in interpersonal relationships; the well-being and
happiness of the people looked after by a State administration expected to be solid, just and guaranteed
by a strong centre; responsibilities and powers assigned according to the social, spiritual and economic
prestige of the individuals called on to share them; and finally the social, regenerating power of
Christianity.
Nevertheless, along with absolutist orientations and repressive realities, innovation also made a strong
showing. England, France, followed by Norway, the Netherlands and some German states, made their
importance felt in this matter.
The restoration of all the legitimate powers did not mean a return to a pure and simple old order. This
was the suggestion made by Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, the intelligent French
representative at the Congress of Vienna. Making his point, the French representative said: “Universal
opinion today (unlikely to falter), is that governments exist only for the people… and that a legitimate
power is the best power suited to guarantee their happiness and peace… And it is no less advantageous
to the sovereign than to his subjects to set up the government in such a way as to avoid all possible
motives for fear”.30 Pope Pius VII held the same belief in 1816 in his re-organisation of the
administration of the Provinces of the Papal State which had been recently ‘reclaimed’:
A return to the old order of things in these provinces turns out to be impossible. New
customs have replaced old ones; new opinions have crept in and are almost universally
shared in various areas of the administration and public economy; new ‘lights’ have been
accepted following the example of other European nations and these ‘lights’ demand the
necessary adoption, by the aforementioned provinces, of a new system more suited to the
present circumstances of the population, circumstances so different from the previous one.31
A greater guarantee of order and balance for the future was sought after by some of the protagonists in
Vienna through the Holy Alliance, drawn up on September 26, 1815 by the sovereigns of Prussia,
Austria and Russia.
30 C. Talleyrand, Relazione al Re durante il suo viaggio da Grand a Parigi (June 1815), in Mémoires, 3, 197ff, cited by C.
Barbargallo, Storia Universale, . 5V, Part 2: Dall’età napoleonica alla fine della prima guerra mondiale (1799-1919),
(Turin: UTET 1946), 1089. Guizot, Cousin, Royer-Collard etc., are along the same lines.
31 Moto proprio della Santità di Nostro Signore Pap Pio settimo in data delli 6 luglio 1816 sulla organizzazione
dell’Amministrazione Pubblica esibito negli atti del Nardi Segretario di Camera nel dì 15 del mese ed anno suddetto.
(Rome, Presso V. Poggioli Stampatore della Rev. Cam. Apost. 1816), 5.

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The Holy Alliance was guided by Christian principles as expressed by three confessions: Orthodox,
Catholic, and Lutheran. It aimed at providing firm bonds of fraternity among those who signed it, and
paternal bonds between them and their respective peoples so as to ensure stability and peace for
Europe.
The first two articles stand out as a synthesis of the ‘Preventive System’ to be used on a political-
religious level.
Article 1. In conformity with the words of the Sacred Scriptures which command human
beings to deal with one another as brothers, the three contracting monarchs will remain
united with bonds of true and indissoluble brotherhood and, considering themselves as
compatriots on any occasion and in any place, they will provide mutual assistance, help and
relief; while considering themselves as fathers of a family towards their subjects and
armies, they will guide them with the same spirit of brotherhood, by which they are moved
to protect religion, peace and justice.
Article 2. Consequently the only prevailing principle, both among the afore-mentioned
governments and among their subjects, will be that of being of service to one another: the
principle of manifesting, with unalterable benevolence, that mutual affection which should
animate them; the principle of considering everyone as a member of the same Christian
nation; the principle of looking upon the allied princes themselves as delegated by divine
Providence to rule over the three branches of the same family, namely, Austria, Prussia and
Russia. By so doing it will be declared that the Christian nation of which the sovereigns and
their people form part, has really no sovereign other than the one to whom alone all power
belongs as his own, because it is in him that the treasures of love, knowledge and infinite
wisdom can be found, namely God Our Divine Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Word of the Most
High, the Word of life.32
A political debate on the alternatives of repression-prevention was held at a European level during the
second half of the century, due to the birth of the International Socialist party (London, 1864). But at
this time the cultural and social conditions were profoundly altered.
Two rather mobile fronts were formed: one had liberal tendencies and prevailed in England, Austria
and Italy; the other was more rigid and prevailed in France, Spain, Prussia and Russia.
The Italian foreign minister, Visconti Venosa, was convinced that to fight against the Socialist
International party members, “It was sufficient for the government to be vigilant in order to frustrate
the manoeuvres of the agitators, ward off their plots and strongly secure the country against such
serious dangers. Preventive measures could eventually be used against the spreading of those
destructive doctrines which threatened Europe with a new kind of barbarity”. But such measures had
“to be compatible with our institutions and customs”. Instead Spain’s minister Praxedes Mateo Sagasta,
though a liberal, outlawed the Socialist International party. France followed suit with a law on March
13- 14, 1872.
The French Foreign Minister, Francois Remusat, thought that “preventive measures were appropriate;
namely, it was appropriate to consider the very fact of belonging to the Socialist International Party a
crime”. France’s stand, then, was more repressive than that of the Italian government.
32 Almost all sovereigns adhered to the Holy Alliance. Outside it and opposed to it were the Pope and England: A.
Desideri, Storia e storiografia, Vol 2 “Dall’Iluminismo all’età dell’Imperialismo”, 415-416

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Once again, the Roman government showed, substantially, an inclination towards accepting the English
laissez faire approach and not towards necessarily preventive and general measures. First, the Minister
for the Interior, Lanza, and later, the Keeper of the Seals, De Falco, let it be known to their colleague
the Foreign Minister that it was impossible to agree with the Spanish and French stand… The mind-set
of the Roman politicians was closer to the attitude of Granville and Gladstone which was clearly
profoundly liberal, all imbued with the principle which, in terms of internal politics, was considered the
informing principle of English liberalism and the principle of European liberalism as well, namely, the
principle of repression and not the principle of prevention. Later on, two representatives of the Left,
Cairoli and especially Zanardelli, openly proclaimed the aforementioned principle. This stand
contradicted Crispi who was one of the champions of strong government and who supported the
principle of prevention. But, at least in those days, in 1871-1873, the repressive principle was also
supported by people on the right.33
Minister B. Cairoli, in a speech delivered at Pavia on October 15, 1878 put it this way: “Government
authority should make sure that public order is not disturbed; it should be inexorable in repressing and
not arbitrary in preventing”.34 Joseph Zanardelli shared the very same political stance.35
Francesco Crispi, on December 5, 1878, declared that:
political authority has the right to prevent crimes just as the judiciary has the right to
repress them”. He clarified his statement by emphasising the need of a certain authoritarian
discretion to be used by the government in the exercise of acts of prevention. This
discretionary prevention consists in using a complex of prudential acts, cautions, secure and
moral provisions thanks to which the government can keep the public peace without falling
into arbitrariness. It is certainly hard to carry it out. The one who carries it out should not
only have foresight but also be guided by a great sense of justice, and by a profound sense
of morality. 36
It is rather interesting that in February 1878, Don Bosco had sent minister Crispi a sketch outline of his
Il sistema preventivo nell’educazione (The Preventive System in education), while he had promised to
send the same to his successor, the Minister for the Interior, Zanardelli, in July 1878.37 One can imagine
the impact that the educational use of the terms ‘preventive’ and ‘repressive’ might have made on those
two men, accustomed to use them in an opposite political sense.38
Following the preparatory work done by two committees, one German the other Austrian, from
November 7 to November 29, 1872, a conference was held in Berlin which concluded by favouring
repressive measures for social crimes. There were no measures issued for preventive interventions
33 F. Chabod, Storia della politica estera italiana dal 1870 al 1896, (Bari: Laterza 1962), 435-436. On the whole problem,
cf. 392-454 (La libertà e la legge).
34 B. Cairoli, Discorso pronunciato in Pavia…il 15 ottobre 1878, ( Rome 1878), 6, cited by F. Chabod, Storia della
politica esterna 435, n.1.
35 G. Zanardelli, electoral speech at Iseo, Nov. 3, 1878, and speeches in Chamber on Dec. 5-6, 1878, cited by F. Chabod,
Storia della politica estera…
36 Discorsi parlamentari II 313 (Dec. 5, 1878), cited by F. Chabod, Storia della politica estera. 436, n.3. Apart from
liberal ideas, F. Crispi was, in political action, decisively authoritarian. “The theory of repression beloved by Zanardelli
and Cairoli was put aside and replaced by prevention; and even in prevention, Crispi’s manner was quite brusque
37 Letters, Feb. 21 and July 23, 1878, E III 298-299 and 366-367
38 However, whether in pedagogy or politics, theory or practice, the boundaries between the two systems were never
strictly defined. Declarations of intent, certainty, was always accompanied by fears and apprehensions followed by
authoritarian and to some extent ‘repressive’ interventions. Even Don Bosco’s Preventive System had “a word on
punishments”.

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against the danger of subversive socialism.39
2. Social prevention: paupers and beggars
The idea of prevention, foreshadowed in some sectors of society during the 17th and 18th centuries, was
positively supported with new vigour more in the social than the political arena, especially in Spain,
France and England, and particularly in connection with the widespread phenomenon of ‘pauperism
and beggary’, criminality, the required help for children, and education. Particular attention is given to
neglected youngsters, runaways, vagrants and beggars.40
Italy faced the same problems also during the 19th century, with pre-industrialisation and
industrialisation, along with the problem of urbanisation, when farmers and mountain dwellers were
looking for less precarious work and life conditions.
This phenomenon of urbanisation was a real disorder, a scandal for aristocrats and moderates, and
remedies were sought in the guidelines projected by Luis Vives in his work, De subventione pauperum
(On how to meet the needs of the poor) 1526. These remedies offered welfare assistance, education,
and work in the French Hopitaux Generaux and in the English ‘Work houses’.
The problem was also up for debate in the Kingdom of Sardinia during the 19th century. However
things leaned decisively towards ‘prevention’.41
According to a Roman priest and future Cardinal, C. L. Morichini (1805 -1879), the term ‘preventive’
includes the entire gamut of charitable undertakings on behalf of the poor of Rome: hospitals,
institutions for foundlings, orphans, the elderly, widows; alms-collecting and first-aid organizations,
schools. Ideally these charitable undertakings took care of a poor person from birth, throughout his
education, in moments of difficulty and unemployment and finally, in old age and sickness. “All the
efforts made by people motivated by an intelligent kind of charity are directed toward separating the
really poor from the pretender, toward preventing the onset of misery rather than going to its aid, and
toward instilling people’s thinking with the need to have a spirit of foresight, economy, the acquisition
of virtue”. 42
39 Cf. F. Chabod, Storia della politica estera 445. Count Edward de Lounay, Savoiard, Italy’s minister in Berlin and an
authoritarian, pessimistically commented: “we have come to realise once again how irksome it can be for these high
civil servants and jurists to plan something practical and productive with regard to the measures to be taken either for
prevention or repression… One could also hope that governments will distance themselves from their traditional routine
and openly fight against an association which only has the ruin of society by every revolutionary means as its aim,
along with the family”, (cited by F. Chabod, Storia della politica esterna. 450, n.2.)
40 Cf. J.P. Gutton, La société et les Pauvres. L’exemple de la généralité de Lyon, 1534-1789, (Paris, Les Belles Lettres
1971); G. Huton, The Poor of eighteenth-century France, 1750-1789, (Oxford, Clarendon Press 1974); J.P. Gutton,
L’etat et la mendicité dans le première moitié du XVIIIe siècle, Auvergne Beaujolais Forez Lyonais [Feurs], Centre
d’Etudes Forèziennes sur l’Histoire de la Pauvreté, sous la direction de M. Mollat, (Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne
1974); A. Monticon, ed., La storia dei poveri. Pauperismo e assistenza nell’età moderna., (Rome: Edizioni Studium
1985), 12, 300 pages. (with a well thought-out bibliography)
41 Cf. D. Maldini, “Classi dirigenti governo e pauperismo 1800-1850”, in A. Agosti and G. M. Bravo, eds. Storia del
movimento operaio del socialismo e delle lotte sociali in Piemonte, 1. Dall’età preindustriale alla fine dell’ottocento,
(Bari, De donato 1979), 185-217.
42 Degl’Istituti di pubblica carità e d’istruzione primaria in Roma. Saggio storico e statistico by Mons. D. Carlo Luigi
Morichini, (Rome, Stamperia dell’Ospizio Apostolico at Pietro Aurelj 1835), 1st Edition, 10-11. The work would be
expanded and published in a further two editions with a slightly modified title: Degl’Istituti…primaria delle prigioni in
Roma… New edition, (Rome, Tip. Marini and Co. 1942), 2 .; Degli istituti di carità per la susstinenza e l’educazione
dei poveri e dei prigionieri in Roma. Libri tre del Cardinale Carlo Luigi Morichini….latest Edition. (Rome, Chamber
printing press establishment 1870) 816 pages. Cited from the 1835 edition.

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Count Charles Hilarion Petitti di Roreto (1790-1850), a Piedmontese and enlightened conservative,
among the provisions more suited to remove the general causes of beggary, indicated some which were
openly preventive:
Promote and favour the elementary instruction of the people of the lower classes by
directing them especially toward true religious and moral principles which convey to a
human being the clear conviction that he has an obligation to work for his own livelihood,
and which make him realise the profit he gets from following them. Promote, favour and
encourage the opening of ‘savings banks’… These ‘savings banks’ familiarise a person
with the idea that he needs an insurance for the future and that he also needs to economise;
they keep him away from vices, and they guarantee reserve funds which can help him,
should he be pressed by some need, without being forced to rely on public or private
charity.
Likewise promote, protect and encourage ‘mutual aid societies’ among the workers.43
Following these indirect suggestions…, an enlightened, attentive and paternal government
is able to provide good morals, tranquillity, strength and comforts, for the entire
population .44
By examining the repressive and directive laws issued on beggary actually in place in most European
states, the Count also highlighted some indications in line with ‘prevention” and which have a positive
dimension.
If the causes of evil are not removed, repressive and coercive laws cannot always achieve
their goal… Therefore, any government which aims at making true prosperity and morality
accessible to everyone, should establish its own civil set-up, with all kinds of study and
diligent care, so that once the causes of beggary have been removed through indirect
methods, methods more direct and suited to the situation provided by the time and place
might be employed to prevent and obstruct the onset of this deadly social plague.45
19th century philanthropists were familiar with the theme of ‘redeeming the needy’ using education as
prevention. Coincidentally, the same theme as Morichini’s is developed by the Frenchman, Baron
Joseph-Marie Degerando (or De Gérando or De Gerando 1772-1842) 46 in his monumental work Della
Pubblica Beneficenza (Concerning public charity): Part two, dedicated to the Istituzioni destinate a
prevenire l’indigenza (Institutions aimed at preventing poverty).47
Of all the ways of performing charity, the one which prevents the onset of misery at its
roots is the most fruitful and healthy. Now, there certainly could be no preventive charity
more useful than the education of the poor. Here in fact, the two main features of preventive
charity come together. This type of charity responds to the present needs and provides for
the future… Education will provide the poor with the moral, intellectual and physical
43 Saggio sul buon governo della mendacità, degli istituti di beneficenza e delle carceri, by Count D. Carlo Ilarione Petiti
di Roreto, 1. (Turin, Bocca 1837), 40-42.
44 C.I. Petiti di Roreto, Saggio sul buon governo, 1. 45
45 C.I. Petiti di Roreto, Saggio 1, 111-112; on the inadequacies of existing repressive legislation in various European
States, cf. pp. 90-112
46 Cf. S. Moravio on him, La scienza dell’uomo nel Settecento., (Bari, Laterza 1970), 223-238.
47 Della pubblica beneficenza. Treatise by Baron de Gérando…Florence, C. Torti 1842-1846 in 4 parts, divided into 7
volumes: I. L’indigenza considerata ne’ suoi rapporti coll’economia sociale; II. Delle instituzioni relative
all’educazione de’poveri; III. De’pubblici soccorsi; IV. Delle regole generali della pubblica beneficenza considerate
nel di loro regime; French edition, De la bienfaisance publique. Paris 1839, 4 .

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strength they need, and this constitutes the wealth of a human being; in turn it provides the
poor with what is indispensable in life and will grant them the strength to fight against
unforeseen misfortunes. 48
The more we study the causes which produce poverty, the more we shall come to realize
that lack of education is one which produces the greatest number of poor and delinquent
individuals. One of the greatest services we can render to the poor is that of keeping the
children, at least, from such a deadly influence. A good education will guarantee that one
day these children will take care of their old parents and comfort them.49
The education process begins with kindergarten for children below seven. It continues with primary
school, and with Night and Sunday schools for those who were not able to take advantage of previous
instructional programs.
The rounding-off of their education comes from advice, moral and legal assistance in their choice of
profession, work contracts drawn up during the apprenticeship period ensuring that their protection is
guaranteed by employers who could happen to be exploitive.50
The educational initiative of Ferrante Aporti stems from a similar belief: education begins right from
kindergarten. Writing to Giacomo Savarese, from Naples, Aporti says:
The poverty of people, as you yourself have pointed out with supportive proof, stems from
the lack of education which renders a human being ‘lazy’ and ‘imprudent’. Poverty will be
removed by means of a public and well-organised education program offered people from
childhood onwards within institutions created for this purpose. Beggary which is the source
of so many other vices for both sexes, is a shameful vice stemming from poverty, and it was
completely got rid of through the efficient means of schools for children, repeating
principles such as these day after day. A human being is born to work; every person should
provide for his own livelihood, with his own work, and should not live off the fruit of
someone else’s work. This is what is demanded by the principles of natural justice and
religion. 51
Finally, C. Cattaneo, a moderate Progressive, offers a synthesis which contains political, social and
educational features, all seen from a perspective which is positively ‘preventive’ and social welfare-
minded. Cattaneo analyses the different positions held by theorists and legislators about the causes of
and possible remedies for misery and beggary. His personal option is for foresight, prevention and
social welfare.
In the midst of all these discordant debates, some clearer truths arise. The following truths
undoubtedly seem useful: the education of the poor; the removal of all kinds of beggary;
48 J.M. De Gerando, Della pubblica beneficenza, 2, (Florence, C.Torti 1843), 249-250.
49 Il visitatore del povero by Baron De Gerando, (Florence, C. Torti 1846), 103.
50 J.-M. De Gerando, Il visitatore del povero 105-117. The solution is also tied to preventive measures at the financial
level: cf. work cited, Della pubblica beneficenza, part 2, book 3, 5, (Florence, C. Torti 1844). De’ mezzi generali atti a
migliorare la condizione delle classi disagiate, Chap 1. De’ mezzi generali di prevenir l’indigenza che ottener si ponno
da alcune modificazioni sul sistema della sociale economica; Chap 2. Della organizzazione del lavoro; Chap 3. Del
miglioramento de’ costumi nella classe de’ lavoranti [especially item 5 Del contentarsi delle classi laboriose; and item
8 Del lavoro considerato come mezzo di educazione]; Chap. 6. Influenza della religione sulla morale e sul benessere
della classe laboriosa.
51 Letter, April 5, 1842, in A. Gambaro, Ferrante Aporti e gli asili del Risorgimento, 2, (Turin, Grafica Piemontese 1937),
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the foundation of ‘savings banks’ and of ‘mutual aid societies’; deductions from employees’
salaries which would be given back later on in pension form, and other societies of similar
nature. All of this helps a private person to provide for himself, saving the means needed
for an honourable retirement. 52
REMARK: In reference to problems of the poor, we might recall the terms ‘repressive’ and ‘preventive’
as used by the Anglican ecclesiastic, Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834). These terms are found in
his famous work “Essay on the principle of population as it affects the future improvement of
society”.53
According to Malthus, poverty is destined to grow because the production of subsistence means is
slower than population growth. The only possible way for us to improve upon the condition of the poor
is “to lower the population to the level of the poor”.54 Now, the obstacles which constantly react more
or less forcefully with every society and keep the population at the subsistence level can be reduced to
two main categories: some are preventive, others are repressive.55 Repressive obstacles are wars,
famine, plagues and the many effects of misery and vice. The main obstacle or preventive means is
“moral restraint, which is to say postponing marriage, abandoning the idea of marriage if someone is
not sure that he can support his offspring, or sexual voluntary continence and keeping the virtue of
chastity”.56
3. Prevention in the penal field
It is within the penal field, perhaps, in the world of prisons and penitentiaries, that the words
‘repression’, ‘prevention’ and ‘correction’ find their way into the 18th and 19th centuries more frequently
than before. The already mentioned Petitti of Roreto, who was writing and actively involved in Turin
during the years of Don Bosco’s formation and the first oratory experiences, provides us with rich
information on the use of the words just quoted.57
In a memorandum with a broad historical and theoretical vision dealing with the various methods to
provide assistance to people charged with crimes and those found guilty both during and after the
judiciary and penal procedures, Petitti distinguishes three forms of ‘detention’: preventive, for those
who have been charged; repressive, for those who have been found guilty and condemned to a short-
term punishment; corrective, for those who have been condemned to a longer-term punishment. The
terms are seen in reference to the different goals to be achieved, together with the treatments and
corrective punishment to be used. The first type of detention, preventive, has to do with “people who
were imprudent and were arrested but are far from being truly inclined to do harm”. The second type of
detention, repressive, is reserved for quite a few young people who are bindoli (swindlers, cheats), or
scatter-brained but not yet corrupt and for other younger people “guilty of minor crimes”, or
“condemned to light correctional punishments, or even guilty of very small crimes, but not yet truly
52 C. Cattaneo, Della beneficenza pubblica, in Opere edite ed inedite by Carlo Cattaneo, . 5 Scritti di economia pubblica, .
2, (Florence, Le Monnier 1988), 305
53 The first edition is 1798, but the following are authoritative, beginning from an edition in 1803, completely re-worked,
followed by other editions as far as the sixth in 1826.
54 Th. R. Malthus, Saggio sul principio di popolazione, (Turin,, UTET 1949), Book 4. Chap. 3, 464
55 Th. R. Malthus, Saggio sul principio di popolazione, (Turin, UTET 1949), Book I. Chap. 2, 9
56 Cf. Th R. Malthus, Saggio sul principio di popolazione, 9-11, 452, 454, 460. Chapters I and 2 of Book 4 tend to show
the possibility, reasonableness and religious value of moral restraint: Della restrizione morale e del nostro dovere di
praticare questa virtù (445-452) and Effetti della restrizione morale sulla società. 453-459).
57 Later, Chapter 10 section 1, we will speak of the involvement with Don Bosco in a charitable and educational initiative
supported by the Count in 1846-1849

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evil”. The third type of detention, corrective, is reserved for people who have been condemned for
crimes calling for long-term punishment and offers a twofold advantage: it prevents the increase of
corruption and its spread to others who belong to the previous categories, but above all it helps achieve
the main goal for which punishments are given, namely, their ‘correction’.58
Naturally, for each type of detention, a corresponding separate type of prison had to be created: a
preventive prison, a repressive prison, a corrective prison and some other special prisons.59
The theme of prevention has its own specific value, however, when it is a question of anticipating the
occurrence of a crime, of dealing with whatever happens after preventive detention, judiciary and penal
intervention and its respective ‘correction’. In this case the term ‘prevention’ assumes a double
meaning: first of all it means completely preventing the occurrence of crime; when crimes have been
committed it means bringing about ‘corrective action’ through a re-education program and consequent
renewal, in order to prevent any re-offending. Along these lines both the aristocrat from Milan, Caesar
Beccaria (1738-1794), and the English philanthropist, John Howard (1726-1790), were famous.
The break-through work by Caesar Beccaria Dei Delitti e delle Pene (On crimes and punishments),
published in 1764, has a chapter which deals with Come si prevengono i delitti (How to prevent
crimes). It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. This is the main goal of any good legislation
which is the art of leading men to achieve the maximum of happiness and minimum of unhappiness
possible”. 60Then he indicated some of the means of prevention: “The nation’s efforts should be fully
concentrated on the keeping of clear and simple laws, making sure the citizens are only afraid of the
laws and not of men, fighting against ignorance, rewarding virtue.”61 He finally concluded by pointing
out the most secure means of all, education. “Finally, the most secure yet most difficult means for
preventing crimes is the improvement of education, much too vast an objective and one which goes
beyond the limits I have set for myself. But I dare to say that this objective is intrinsically linked with
the nature of government which should not end up by being something cultivated only here and there
and only by a few wise people, or else it becomes sterile, right up to the most remote centuries, as far as
the attainment of public happiness is concerned.62
This work was followed by several broad-ranging publications spurred on by Degerando, Petitti di
Roreto, and Charles Cattaneo. (1801-1869). The preventive theme is intertwined with other themes
widely dealt with in publications which had to do with prisons and correction houses: punishments,
forced labour, a more or less strict isolation.
People finally came to understand the following: that the application of legal punishments
is not simply a defensive and vindictive weapon used by society; that its objective is not
only that of preventing the delinquent from causing more harm and deterring others from
imitating him; but that it should aim at bringing about the correction of the guilty party…63
Work should certainly play an essential role, but especially because work is a natural means
by which a human being can improve…64 Isolation is only a safeguard for a prisoner…
because the first condition attached to punishment is that a person be ‘exiled’… Never
58 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, Della condizione attuale delle carceri in Opere scelte, I, 487-489.
59 ibid, I, 499, 507-510..
60 C. Beccaria, Dei delitti e delle pene, ed. G. Frnacioni with Le edizioni italiane del “Dei delitti e delle pene” by Luigi
Firpo, (Milan, Mediobanca 1984), #41, 121.
61 C. Beccaria, paras 41-44, 121-126.
62 C. Beccaria, paras 45, 126-127.
63 J.-M. De Gerando, Della pubblica beneficenza, . 5, 202
64 Ibid, 5, 208

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allow him to be approached by anyone who might deter him from being sorry for what he
did or stir up in others the vices he is affected by, or let others be corrupted. Here, however,
in our opinion, lies the limit of punishment: there is a type of communication which cannot
be denied, not even to the most wicked individual: communicating with good people. He
has nothing to lose and everything to gain … and it will not be enough to grant this type of
communication-right only to a minister of religion, a prison inspector... Why should his
friends and relatives, endowed with an honourable character and who may share the same
views, not be admitted nor allowed to actively make sure that their views are followed,
adding the influence of their personal affection to the power of exhortation?65
Petitti di Roreto pays particular attention to those condemned to ‘life imprisonment’, ‘work-houses’,
where young people or even adults are locked up: these are the ones who had lived a shameful life and
are hopefully preventively prepared to shun the danger of causing harm.66 They are classified according
to the level of crime that they have committed. However, the author has as his starting point his
fundamental trust in human potential and therefore he favours the use of both protective and positive
‘preventive measures’ in reference to individuals “for whom there is a greater reason to believe that the
instinct of doing good is not entirely extinct.” “If, for some reason coercive measures at times seem to
be more rigorous, substantially the ruling authority in those institutions should be more fatherly and
therefore more inclined to combine the gentleness of good advice to the rigour of command.” 67
A similar direction was taken by Charles Cattaneo who stressed the need to scientifically study “the
criminal bent” evidenced at times by delinquents, as well as neutralising forces and chances of
recovery.
A great part of the reverse push will still be delegated to criminal law, the prison ward and,
perhaps, also to the executioner. But a major part will be delegated to indirect cures and
other branches of civil authority, especially in what regards behaviour and education.
Lastly, another part will be entirely delegated to the physician. Perhaps preventive
imprisonment, without any punishment, may appear to be the only way to protect society
from certain crimes which may be considered more like acts coming from a natural
dishonourable condition than acts of calculated wickedness.68
4. Education as prevention
Historically, the idea of education as prevention stands out as clearly connected with preventive
education, without considering how it is achieved, whether by repressive or preventive methods. The
authors who insisted on this view were already mentioned earlier: Morichini, Aporti, Degerando and
Petitti di Roreto.
As Romagnosi perceptively remarks it is up to civil authority, namely it is the absolute right
of those who govern to demand that all individuals be given an elementary education, for
this is the best means to guarantee a peaceful state to society. It would be foolish to say that
civil authority may use punishments, even severe and terrible punishments for crimes
committed while it is unable to prevent them. Now there is no wise man who would deny
65 Ibid, 5, 215-218
66 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, Saggio, .2, 482.
67 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, Saggio . 2, 483-484.
68 C. Cattaneo, Scritti politici ed epistolario, published by G.Rosa and J.White Mario. (Florence, Barbera 1892), 88-89: a
fragment on Atavismo delittuoso.

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that public instruction is one of the most powerful means of prevention.69
Even Charles Cattaneo referred to John Dominic Romagnosi at the conclusion of his essay on the
ineffectiveness, or rather the damage produced by penal deportation. “The study of the penal system
shows ever more clearly how deep and wise was the statement made by Romagnosi that ‘a good
government is a great safeguard, when accompanied by a great educational program’ “.70
Ferrante Aporti considered his kindergarten to be a preventive institution aiming at eliminating the
deformation encountered by children who grow up in families unable to provide the right education or
which cannot do it all.71 In a word, these families are unable to effectively defend the innocent
childhood of the poor from vices and errors.72
With the kindergarten Aporti had intended to commence the creation of a vast network of new
institutions destined to prevent immorality from childhood on; “for once this period is contaminated by
immorality, there can hardly be any healing for it”.73 In the preface to the Manuale di educazione ed
ammaestramento (Manual of Education and Instruction), written in 1833,74 Aporti speaks about the
child’s extraordinary receptiveness and about the need to respond to this with preventive, educative
care. Kindergartens were the offshoot of a “charity directed to prevent rather than allowing evils to be
suffered, then provided medical care”.75 While he was expressing his gratitude to the Commission for
Kindergartens in the city of Venice, Aporti stated:
All in all, in Venice anything to do with this twofold act of charity directed at prevention
rather permission for evils to be suffered and then cured, is and will always be for me and
for those who aim at doing good, constant cause of due admiration. Therefore may this
honourable commission accept the most sincere expression of the congratulations I have the
honour to convey. For up to now, the commission has carried out the difficult undertaking
of reforming and re-organizing the education of the poor wonderfully. This action is the
only means good enough to redeem the poor from the abjection of ignorance, from sloth
and from the vices necessarily connected with them. This is the way they can provide an
inestimable good for the Catholic Church and for the state.76
This idea was fully shared by Petitti di Roreto:
Those who are involved in the education of children, with the so-called kindergarten, and in
the education of adolescents, in orphanages both temporary and permanent … are the ones
who safeguard them in their tenderest age and protect them from many physical and moral
69 C.L. Morichini, Degli istituti di pubblica carità, 33.
70 C.Cattaneo, Della riforma penale, 2. “Della deportazione”, in Opere di Giandomenico Romagnosi, Carlo Cattaneo,
Giuseppe Ferrari, ed. Ernesto Sestan, (Milan-Naples, R. Ricciardi 1957), 505 (note, the exact expression used by
Romagnosi in two different works).
71 Cf. the rich historical essay with copious bibliographical references, by L. Pazzaglia, “Asili, Chiesa e mondo cattolico
nell’Italia dell’800”, in Pedagogia e vita, 56, 1998: 4,. 63-78.
72 Letter to C. Boncompagni, June 30, 1838, in A. Gambaro, Ferrante Aporti e gli asili nel Risorgimento, . 2. Documenti
Memorie Carteggi, (Turin, 1937),. 397.
73 Letter to G. Petrucci, Aug. 6, 1842, in A. Gambaro, Ferrante Aporti e gli asili, . 2, 470-471.
74 F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, collected and illustrated by A. Gambari . I. (Turin: Chinatore 1944), 8-14.
75 F. Aporti, Elementi di pedagogia, in Scritti pedagogici, collected and illustrated by A. Gambaro, 2. (Turin:, Chinatore
1945), 114.
76 Letter July-August 1842, in A. Gambero, as cited. 2, 378-379. “Once I saw the universal deficiency of education at
home, the great source of vices defiling and debasing us, and I saw that nobody was doing anything about it, I set out to
provide a remedy” (Letter to Giovanni Rebasti di Piacenza, March 21, 1841, ibid., p. 445).

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dangers; they are the ones who provide them with the opportunity to learn a skill which will
guarantee their future existence…
The shelter- houses provided for young people … can successfully lead these young people
by a means of persuasion, firmness and paternal exhortations to again follow good
principles and thus prevent society from being harmed by some of them.
The houses for workshops and shelter… provide the means to earn an honourable
livelihood.77
The idea of prevention is again used in reference to the rules for the Educatori della prima
infanzia e dell’adolescenza (educational institutions for early childhood and adolescence).
Furthermore it is appropriate that poor children receive a religious and moral, literary and
artistic education. The reason for this is the ignorance and the lack of far-sightedness that
their parents have, the lack of suitable means, at times even the parents ill will, which will
perhaps, allow children and adolescents to be completely uneducated and bent towards
immoral and bad behaviour and worse which might follow.78
The proposal to educate the masses in order to properly meet their needs, and prevent criminality, takes
up more space in the already cited publication, Della condizione attuale delle carceri:. Educarlo,
assuefarlo ad essere previdente, e soccorrerlo quando e’ nel bisogno (Regarding jails at the moment:
you must educate the prisoner, get him used to looking ahead and help him when he needs it).
The kindergarten program, the primary and elementary schools, the agricultural school, arts
and crafts schools, can reach their goal and all governments should truly have the intention
of promoting them, fostering them, protecting them, if they really want the improvement of
the population entrusted to their care.
However, instruction alone is not enough to reach this goal: it must be accompanied by a
religious and moral education. That is how the hearts of the young are trained to good
behaviour and to keep away from the dangers to which they are exposed by human
passions.
The people’s work often produces abundant revenues, far above their present needs. If there
is no incentive to save what is superfluous by putting it into ‘savings banks’, in view of
future needs, these extra revenues are uselessly wasted in debauchery, excessive vices or at
least in useless expenses.
‘Savings banks’, Life insurances, stocks in mutual aid societies or in productive industrial
enterprises are so many useful ways to save extra revenues. They should be promoted,
fostered and protected, because they guarantee that the already mentioned revenues not be
uselessly wasted or harmfully used. It must however be remarked that is necessary for the
government to intervene in such speculations in order to protect the private interests of
those who put their revenues in such institutions...79
77 C.I: Petitti di Roreto, Saggio, I, 139-140.
78 ibid, I, 225.
79 C. Petitti di Roreto, Della condizione attuale delle carceri, in Opere scelte, . I, 562-563.

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The magazine L’educatore primario (The primary school teacher) was a definite propaganda tool for
popular culture from a similar perspective.
The instruction of the masses, though not necessary as some people think, should be
considered inevitable in our times. The instruction should be given according to the needs
of those who receive it, and according to the needs of the country in which it is given; the
government should direct it according to these needs; children should be prepared to
become adults; in the schools there should be a training period for a civic way of living. All
of these are truths which leave no room for doubt.80
5. Religion as prevention
Religion is universally recognized as an irreplaceable ingredient of personal and social prevention, a
guarantee of order and prosperity. Naturally, Morichini is convinced of this as he underscores that only
religion can establish the required link between scholastic instruction and an authentic education: to
reach moral perfection it is essential that instruction should be joined to education.
Now religion is the basis of education, since it provides light for the mind and trains the heart to pursue
virtue: and this is the most important feature of all. It stands to reason then, that the most important
subject to be taught in the schools should be catechism and next to it, reading and writing. In many
schools, the four arithmetic operations should also be included; and finally, in some schools Italian,
Latin, French, Church and civil history, geography and drafting should be included.81
De Gerando, too, is a convinced supporter of this idea when he states that “religion offers the most
sublime and valid influence which is particularly evident in Christianity, which in turn is the highest
expression of religion.”82 “Bright minds have produced great havoc. Today’s minds seem more open to
reflection, and religious morality is, almost generally, recognised as one of the most outstanding goods
of humanity.83
Pettitti, in particular, is at pains to underscore the importance of the religious element in the corrective
process for prison detainees to be re-educated and be given back the chance to have personal dignity.
Pettitti denounces the many inconveniences which are a cause of the immorality and impiety which
obstruct the success of the religious and moral instruction imparted to detainees, as required by law, in
all the prisons. He emphasises the absolute necessity and pressing need of a prison reform.84
He lists “the basic subjects” which are called on to regulate life in a truly corrective penal institution.
He concludes with the No. 15: “Finally there is no doubt that the moral and religious instruction, if
continuously provided, will revive the sentiments instilled in them at an early age, sentiments about any
good principle, long forgotten, and at last turn those perverted souls towards what is good”.85 Then he
deals, in detail, with every type of prison.
80 V. Troya, “Proposta di alcuni mezzi onde la pubblica istruzione compia il suo ufficio”, in L’Educatore primario, 1
(1845): n. 2, Jan. 25-26.
81 C.L. Morichini, Degl’Istituti di pubblica carità, 34.
82 J.-M. De Gerando, Della pubblica beneficenza…, . 5, 245-249 Potere speciale del cristianesimo sul miglioramento de’
popolari costumi.
83 J.-M. De Gerando, Della pubblica beneficenza, 5. 273.
84 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, Della condizione attuale delle carceri in Opere scelte, vol. I, 349-351, 358-359-
85 Ibid, vol I, 491; cf. 489-493. He points to three advantages of corrective education: “1. impossibility of further
corruption of the detainees, 2. greater possibility that they will contract habits of obedience and work, and becoming
peaceful, useful citizens, and 3. probability, though minor, of radical reform (Ibid, 493).

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In a ‘preventive prison’, moral instruction will either not exist or be inadequate without the contribution
of religious instruction. Religious instruction would be imperfect if it were not accompanied by a strict
observance of all the practices of worship which every good Christian should attend to. The quantity
and quality of these worship practices are relevant. In the ‘repressive prison’, the anticipated demands
are similar and even greater. Intensive and personalised care is championed for “correctional or
penitentiary institutions, with the addition of a carefully chosen, prudent, and perceptive chaplain”.86
He had also called attention, once again, to some ways which might make religious practices more
attractive.
Religious materials should be distributed in such a way as to make them suitable to the age
and condition of detainees. So, while we want to avoid the danger of alienating the minds
of young people from religious sentiment by making religious services too long and
therefore boring or a cause of distraction; we should also try to make these worthy practices
of worship, something palatable for these inexperienced hearts. And, therefore, we should
call upon ecclesiastics, who are intelligent, with a high prestige, and the greatest amount of
gentleness, mixed with a necessary firmness.87
Don Bosco has an intensely religious section in his 1877 ‘Preventive System’ booklet. He first
proposed some fundamental expressions of Catholic worship, and then remarked: “never force the boys
to frequent the Sacraments... let the beauty, grandeur and holiness of the Catholic religion be dwelt
on.”88
Pettitti, furthermore, related the effectiveness of religious education to the personality of the chaplain
and dedicated a paragraph of his work to the ‘qualities and duties of the chaplain’:
The chaplain’s task is a very important one, much like the one of the Director. As a matter
of fact the initial thrust for any drive to keep the rules and correct oneself really starts from
the chaplain…
The ecclesiastical superior should be wise enough to be cautious in proposing (as a
chaplain) only a person endowed with intelligent zeal, with evangelical charity, with a firm
and yet free and easy character, with much ability to work, with deep knowledge, of mature
age, with a dignified look and capable of winning over the confidence and respect of others.
The chaplain, however, should have nothing at all to do with the carrying out of
disciplinary rules. Therefore, he should keep out of any act of repression and reward. His
job is to provide advice and comfort … His main concern should be that of awakening
faith, hope and charity within the detainees. Faith is needed to convince them about
religious truths; hope is needed to trust that a better destiny can be merited; charity is
needed to lead them to decide to be no longer harmful to society. The whole of religious
activity is bound up with these elements. Religious activity, however, is only effective when
there is the intervention of grace, sincerely asked for. This grace alone can turn the minds of
the detainees towards a sincere or radical emendation. In conclusion we would like to stress
again that the chaplain must be the confidante, the counsellor and consoler of the detainees,
but in an intelligent sense, in a fatherly and shrewd way.89
86 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, vol I, 519-526, 536-537.
87 Ibid 2,485.
88 Il sistema preventivo (1877), 54, OE XXVIII 432.
89 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, Della condizione delle carceri, in Opere scelte, , 553-555.

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Pettitti di Roretto’s statements are in tune with those attributed to Don Bosco by whoever reported on
the conversation he had with Urban Rattazzi in 1854. Those statements made precise reference to the
possibility of introducing the ‘Preventive System’ within the penal institutions, and being actually
incarnated in the person, words, captivating attitude of God’s minister.90
The actions of the Popes and the Church after the ‘Revolution’ aimed at following the same direction:
to create an energetic restoration of unity and authority within the Church and regenerate consciences
and society by means of a general religious reawakening.
It was meant to be an activity of recovery, defence and prevention; negatively, it was directed at
fighting indifference and widespread libertarian spirit. Positively such activity had to rely on the
missionary movement which was developing extensively, new forms of apostolate and education and
re-education of the young.91 And “really a lot of people feel the troublesome necessity to take the new
times into account, the changed mentality of the young, not to be too heavy, by going back to the past,
and opening up to new possibilities”. 92
The actions of all the Popes of the 18th century followed this perspective:
- Pius VII’s encyclical Diu Satis, May 15, 1800;
- Leo XII’s encyclical Ubi Primum May 3, 1823;
- Pius VIII’s encyclical Traditi Humilitati Nostrae May 24, 1829;
- Gregory XVI’s encyclical Mirari Vos August 15, 1832;
- Pius IX’s encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum December 8, 1849, for the bishops of Italy and then his letter
to the bishops of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, January 20, 1858, and, finally the encyclical Quanta
Cura, December 8, 1865.
In the encyclical Diu Satis, Pius VII recommended that the bishops should tend the Christian sheepfold
but also devote vigilance, solicitude, inventiveness, and preferential love toward children and
adolescents, for it is these who, like soft wax, can be moulded for good or evil more than the adults. 93
The Pope quoted the scripture passage, repeated over the centuries by Christians: “adulescens juxta
viam suam etiam cum senuerit, non recedet ab ea” (an adolescent even when he becomes old, will
never deviate from his original way of living). 94
Pius IX exhorted the bishops to take stock of the many “criminal ways” evidenced by the sad times
they lived in, and being used by the enemies of God and of humanity to try to pervert and corrupt
innocent youths in particular. “The bishops”, the Pope adds, “should direct all of their efforts towards
the proper education of youth, for it is mostly on youth that the prosperity of Christian and civil society
depends.” Only a Christian education, as a matter of fact, was capable of offering words and means of
grace, suitable for the Christian restoration of individuals and of society.95
Many welfare and educational experiences of the 19th century, including Don Bosco’s, would be
inspired by these very definitely Catholic roots, and would draw impulses and means from them
directed more broadly toward the improvement of all human beings and society according to the needs
90 Cf. A Ferreira da Silva, Conversazione con Urbano Rattazzi (1854), in P. Braido, ed. Don Bosco Educatore, (Rome,
LAS 1997), 85-87.
91 Cf. S. Fontana, La controriuzione cattolica in Italia (1820-1830) (Brescia, Morcelliana 1968), 65-124.
92 M. Petrocchi, La Restaurazione, il cardinal Consalvi e la riforma del 1816 (Florence, Le Monnier 1941), 4.
93 Enc. Diu Satis 15 May 1800, Bill. Rom. Cont. 11 23.
94 Prov. 22:6
95 Apostolic Letter Cum Naper to bishops in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Jan. 20, 1858, Acta Pii IX, III, p. 12.

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of the times.96
96 Naturally we can only indicate some of these, keeping in mind geographic and ideal proximity.

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Chapter 2
Prevention existed before the Preventive System
Real experience comes before particular ways of expressing it. Although not the result of a particular
work of historical research, the statement with which Don Bosco begins his exposition of the
‘Preventive System’ responds to a thousand year tradition and longer, one which we still see in
evidence today. The distinction between ‘preventive’ and ‘repressive’, whether noticed or not, has
always been part of the many ways of raising and educating children. As far as Don Bosco was
concerned, it was an answer to the personal experiences he had had in his family, school and the
seminary he attended.
These broadened as his cultural experience expanded: from teaching catechism to preaching, from
school-based learning to out-of-school learning.
1. Preventive themes related to post-Tridentine family education
The young John Bosco might have come to know, from the pages of the diocesan catechism dealing
with marriage, that the duties of married people also included duties towards their children:
They should think seriously about responding to their needs; they should give them a good
and pious education; they should allow them to feel free to choose the state of life to which
God may have called them.97
Bellarmine, in his An abundant explanation of Christian doctrine, was convinced that “fathers’ love for
their children is so natural and ordinary that there was no need of another written law to remind them of
their duties towards their children”. However, in the explanation of the fourth commandment, after
pointing out children’s duties towards their fathers, he did not fail to remind fathers that they are also
“obliged to provide for the needs of their children with food and clothing but also with the right
direction and instruction”.98
Charles Borromeo was more than convinced of what we have just mentioned. Borromeo is the great
post-Tridentine Council reformer who saw that that children’s Christian education was a very serious
obligation both for the family and the parish, especially in reference to teaching Christian doctrine. In
an impressive address to the parishioners of Cannobbio on the occasion of his pastoral visit, Charles
Borromeo insisted on the educational responsibilities of parents: “It is their task, their duty to lead the
children they have received from God to Christ”, and “it is a useless, stupid and false kind of prudence
to provide children with temporal goods and wealth when their first concern as parents should be to
entrust their children to Jesus Christ, the Church, Christian doctrine classes”.99 One of the main goals of
marriage is the well-planned education of children namely, that of leading their children to Christ.
Just a year before he died, an ecclesiastical friend of his was writing a magnificent treatise at his
request, which he read chapter by chapter as it was handed to him. It was a neat summary of the
97 Compendio della dottrina cristiana as uso della diocesi di Torino, (Turin,: the Eredi Avondo 1876), 126. The text is
cited unchanged in Fransoni.
98 Copiosa dichiaratione della Dottrina Cristiana. In Venice, Giovani Battista Ciotti Scenese [from Siena] 1601. 137-
138.
99 Sermon on June 17, 1583, in J.A. Saxus, Homiliae, vol I,. 247: cited by A. Deroo, S. Carlo Corromeo il cardinale
riformatore (Milan, Ancora 1965), 369.

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humanist and Christian pedagogy of Silvio Antoniano, a member of the Curia, a future Cardinal,
connected with the spiritual circle of Philip Neri (1540-1603): On the Christian Education of
Children.100
It is significant that the second of the three books was entirely dedicated to religious instruction and
education and followed, content wise, the subject matter offered by the Catechismus ad parochos....
Don Bosco almost certainly did not read Antoniano’s work, but thanks to his Christian and priestly
formation, ended up being perfectly in tune with post-Tridentine praxis and the notion of family
education reflected in Antoniano’s book which contributed to its continued existence.
The text mirrors and displays a well-outlined Christian and theological basis for human, religious and
moral educational praxis. “The very first goal of this book and what makes it different from some other
similar publications, is the fact that it deals with education as Christian education, which could never
take place without the knowledge and observance of God’s laws, and thanks to his holy grace”.101 This
is what Antoniano focused on, at the end of the second book entirely dedicated to “Christian doctrine”.
But the learned bishop did not forget that Christian education necessarily includes a human and civic
dimension.
Therefore it is the fathers’ task to raise their children civilly and in a Christian fashion;102 to
make sure that the children grow up to be honest people, namely good citizens, children
really good in the intimacy of their heart, out of love for God and virtue...It is their task to
urge them not to yield to greed, which is the most cruel of tyrants, but to serve god ‘s
will.103… Right reason and faith are the means to contribute to the formation of children in
becoming upright people and good citizens from their early infancy.104
This formation can be accomplished when private ‘paternal’ education, and ‘common’ education under
State authority work together, are integrated and are in harmony: “Private education should be linked
with public education which, in turn, should perfect private education”. “There is nothing more healthy
for a Republic than to have private education oriented in such a way that the good discipline learned by
a child through family education is continued in public education, and even be improved on, since it
stands to reason that the public good is greater and more perfect than the private good”. It is also right
that such cooperation should take place both on the moral and Christian levels, mainly because “any
study of moral education turns out to be weak and imperfect if it is not connected with Christian
education which is the highest and most excellent of any other form of education and its highest goal”.
Therefore, “while the ecclesiastical rector makes sure to bring out the good Christian, with the spiritual
authority and means his goal demands, at the same time, he does his best to bring out the good citizen...
Consequently, those who separate what should be joined make a great mistake. They think they can
have good citizens by other rules and through different means than those which contribute to making a
good Christian”.105
Summing up, once duties related to care of the body, natural life, moral and rational education have
been responded to, the proper task of the Christian and of all the faithful is that of raising children
100 Tre libri Dell’educazione christiana dei figliuoli. Scritti da M. Silvio Antoniano ad instanza di Monsig. Illustriss.
Cardinale di S. Prassede, Arcivescovo di Milano. In Verona 1558, by Sebastiano dalle Donne et Girolamo Stringari,
Capmpagni [184 ff.].
101 ibid, Dell’educazione, Book II, Ch. 140, sheet 122v.
102 ibid, book 2, Ch. 124, sheet 108v.
103 ibid, book 2, Ch. 128, sheet 111r-v.
104 ibid, book 1, Ch. 7, sheet 4r-54; book I, Chap. 37, sheet 2lv-22v; book II, Chaps. 126-127, sheet 116v-117v.
105 ibid, book 1, Ch. 43, sheet 25v-26r.

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according to the rules of Christ so that, by living and dying well and in a holy way, they may become
God’s instruments on earth for the benefit and help of human society and, later on, heirs of the
Kingdom of God itself.106
Antoniano prefaces his thoughts on family education with two brief points of clarification. First of all,
family education should only take limited account of gender and age differences of the children being
educated. As for social and economic levels of the family, education at home will “deal with a middle-
of-the-road type of education, considering that the majority of people will live in the city and belong to
the middle class”.107
Secondly, concerning the exercise of responsibility in education, which is like a second birth and
should be shared by father and mother who, in turn, should be in perfect agreement on it, the author
adds the following suggestions: “Generally speaking, the mother more appropriately takes care of the
girls, since they share the same gender. As for the boys in their early infancy and early childhood,
mothers should take care of them, most of all in their home education. However, when the boys get
bigger and more capable of handling orders, are more mature and ready to get out of the house more
often, it should be the father’s role to instruct them and watch over them”. 108
Chronologically, the mother is the chief one involved in the early stages of the child’s education, which
by nature is preventive and which belongs to the family.109 As a woman she seems to incarnate all the
best ingredients for such an education: “she is inclined to be pious and religious; add to that her
tenderness, her gentle ways of correcting, her greater perseverance and patience, which perhaps are not
ordinarily the features of a father”.110
Beyond the levels and conditions of Christian education, its goal is an essential point of reference: all
people, no matter what circumstances they are in, are obliged to know and love God and obey his holy
Commandments”. 111 “I am a Christian: at my Baptism, I have vowed and assumed the noble profession
of fighting under the banner of Christ crucified and being faithful, with his holy grace, to the
observance of his most holy law”.112 Therefore the first task of a good Christian father is “to instil,
impress on the child’s mind a great reverence for the law of God, and a holy fear of God together with
the resolution never to transgress”.113
The method to be used is the method of love and fear. “Just like a good father, sometimes with love and
reward as the carrot, sometimes with fear and punishment as the stick, will motivate the child’s tender
mind and thus form him and impress on him some very useful Christian principles for all his life, both
for avoiding evil and being encouraged to do good”.114 The terms ‘love-fear’, ‘strictness and
106 ibid, Dell’educazione, Book I, Ch. 4, sheet 2v.
107 ibid, book I, Ch. 44, sheet 26v-27r.
108 ibid, book I, Ch. 45, sheet 27r-v.
109 See further on in reference to infancy and childhood
110 ibid, book I, Ch. 46, sheet 122v
111 ibid, book I, Ch. 44, sheet 27r.
112 ibid, book I, Ch. 3, sheet 2r.
113 ibid, book 2, Ch. 29, sheet 49r. “it is necessary to rein in these wild horses with the reins of reason and the yoke of fear
of God, and the loving, perfect Christian law” (ibid. book II, CH. 78, sheet 78r-v).
114 ibid, book 2, Ch. 29, sheet 49v; cf. book I, Ch. 50: Che nell’istruire I fanciulli conviene accommodarsi alla capacità
loro di tempo in tempo; book 2, Ch. I, Che i fanciulli devono essere ammaestrati delle cose della santa fede; Ch. 2.
Delle scuole della dottrina cristiana, et della predicatione; Ch. 11 Della Santa Chiesa Catholica Romana; Ch. 12 Come
il padre deve ammaestrare il figliuolo ad essere obediente a santa Chiesa; Ch.. 14 Delle quattro cose ultime; Ch. 22
Della santissima Eucharistia, et come il padre deve procurare che il figliuolo ne sia devoto; Ch. 23 Di alcuni che non
approvano il communicarsi spesso; Ch 24 Della penitenza overo confessione; Ch 25 Come i fanciulli si devono
avvezzare all’abborrimento del peccato, et alla confessione; Ch 26 Di quanto importanza sia un buon confessore, et

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gentleness’ are also repeated in reference to obeying human laws, being submissive to one’s parents, as
do the terms ‘virtue-idleness’.
A child should get used to respecting and keeping human laws, not so much out of fear of
being punished but out of love for virtue, convinced that Princes and the Superiors here on
earth are representatives of God and that all authority is from God.115
Later on, as a child’s talent and the light of reason grow, a father should demonstrate the
beauty of virtue and the ugliness of vice.116
Stress should be put on a right balance between the two aspects. They should be in harmony with a
common attitude of championing the principle of authority. “A father should be careful, therefore, not
to be over-indulgent towards his son and never grant him too much familiarity, especially when he is
older. At the same time, he should not be over-severe and rigid, while maintaining a certain seriousness
seasoned with and tempered by gentleness and kindness, so his son may join fear to love in his regard.
This is what we mean by reverence”.117
An important role in educative prevention is given to chastity. Antoniano, dealing with Vane et
inhoneste pitture (Vain and shameful pictures) says, “that much work should be done to safeguard the
purity of a boy and girl, so as not to allow the devil to steal it away”.118 He forcefully underscores the
danger of the “vice of the flesh”, because “this domestic enemy ordinarily attacks youth when the
blood flow is greater and passions are stronger. What are needed are diligence, study and work.”119 “We
should not be indulgent in this matter and so, as the saints say, there is no other vice which darkens the
mind of a child, casts it more deeply into the mud and renders it more obtuse and inept for anything,
than the vice of dishonesty.”120
The suggested strategy is the traditional one, further strengthened by protective elements in view of the
future. Its development has three directions: removing and avoiding the occasions of sin, a clarifying
and positive approach to life, and recourse to means provided by grace. First of all, “a victory against
the vice of the flesh, as the saints say, can be recorded when there is a running away from it; and there
is no better way to fight it than not having to fight it at all”.121
This is neither the first nor the main means, however constructive and positive it may seem to be, at the
level of reason and grace. “At times, the father should talk with his son about chastity, so he may fall
perfectly in love with this most beautiful virtue and learn how to hate and loathe the vice of lust,
especially when the time comes for the young man to bind himself in marriage. He will also urge him
padre spirituale; Ch. 28 Del Decalogo, ovvero de i dieci precetti della legge; Ch. 29 Come si devono avvezzar i
fanciulli ad essere osservatori della divina legge; Ch 31. Del primo precetto. Non avrai Dei alieni: “ it is up to a good
father, then, to remind his child at all times of the holy fear and love of God” (sheet 50r).
115 S. Antoniano, book II, Ch. 30, sheet 49v.
116 ibid, book II, Ch. 51, sheet 60v. Della virtù della verità.
117 ibid, book II, Ch. 70, sheet 74r.
118 ibid, book II, Ch. 42, sheet 56r. Chapters 85 to 98 of Book II deal with the sixth commandment: Ch. 85 Del sesto
precetto, non commettere adulterio; Ch. 86 Della cura paterna circa la castità del figliuolo; 87 Dell’errore di alcuni
indulgenti alla giovenezza; Ch 88 Della cautela che si deve usare nel ragionar della castità; Ch. 89 Alcune cristiane
ragioni da persuadere la castità; Ch. 90 De i danni che temporalmente apporta la vita impudica; Ch. 95 Dell’offitio, et
cura particolare della madre di famiglia circa gli adornamenti delle figliuole; Ch. 96 Del rimuovere l’occasioni; Ch. 97
Come sia molto da avvertire alle conversazioni di fuori; Ch. 98 Della frequenza de i sacramenti, et dell’amore di Dio.
119 ibid, book 2, Ch. 86, sheet 85r-v.
120 ibid, book 2, Ch. 87, sheet 85v-86r, Dell’errore di alcuni indulgenti alla giovenezza.
121 ibid, book 2, Ch. 96, sheet 91v.

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to be faithful in his marriage”.122 “I have given final place to the remedy which no doubt should be and
is the first remedy, and that is to make sure that the love of God is enkindled in the tender and pure
heart of a young person….For this reason, then, let this be the main concern of a good father in the
family, that his young boy may fall in love with God and with the glory prepared for us in Paradise and
with the beauty of virtue... Therefore a good father, through all kinds of good and holy practices of
piety and religion, by giving frequent and gentle instructions and by means of prayer, should provide
the right weapons for his son to fight the devil’s arrows, but especially by frequent use of the holy
sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist”.123
Similar methods are suggested for fighting against the vice of stealing which considerably fouls up the
established order. “When a child has reached the age of reason and is ready to understand the beauty of
virtue and the ugliness of vice, a father should present him with the act of stealing as something
detestable and to achieve this it would be enough for him to say that this vice is directly contrary to the
queen of virtues namely, justice”.124 The means are first and foremost positive still, rather than
negative: “The constant and living example” of the father; “his advice and the effectiveness of his
reasoning, showing the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of vice, will see that his son falls in love with
virtue and hates vice”. “He should do this by removing all kinds allurement to evil and by getting the
child accustomed to doing good”.125
Corrections and Punishments, during childhood, should be balanced by the use of reason, fear and
love.126 The basic rule is “the middle-of-the-road, the golden mean”.
Fathers and teachers should remember that beatings are like a medicine. And, since they are
like a medicine, they should be given at the right time and in the right measure. The reason
for this is that beatings should not create more damage than help. A father and teachers
should use beatings with discretion and judgement, in order to really provide a cure for the
soul of the child who ordinarily commits a sin out of ignorance and weakness... A father’s
concern should be that his son becomes good from within, so he will run away from sin
more out of love for virtue than out of fear of punishments. However, the fear of God, the
knowledge of the beauty of virtue and of the ugliness of vice should be the most effective
means… The respect for a Father should act as a restraint and an incentive, holding back a
child or urging on a child as the occasion calls for. And in short, I would expect that our
well-educated son should be so well accustomed to respecting his father, that just seeing his
face upset or showing displeasure for an action would be equivalent to a very serious
punishment.... Meanwhile, a father should act towards his son in such a way that he is both
loved and feared. Being only feared will not win over the heart of the child and the child
does not become virtuous from within. At any rate, something done out of fear will not last
long. Therefore he should blend love with fear; let him keep a gentle severity so that he
may be both loved and feared but the fear we are talking about is a filial fear, not the fear of
a servant, the fear of a slave who fears the stick; on the contrary, a son who loves his father
is afraid to do something which may displease his dear father. In short, whenever a good
father has the intention of beating his son, let him first of all discreet reasons and not blind
wrath as his reasons.127
122 ibid, book 2, Ch. 88, sheet 86V. Della cautela che si deve usare nel ragionar della castità.
123 ibid, book 2, Ch. 98, sheet 92v.
124 S. Antoniano, book 2, Ch. 102, sheet 95v.
125 ibid, book 2, Ch. 101, sheet 94r-95r. cf also Ch. 102, sheet 95r-v.
126 ibid, book 3, Ch. 5, Del batter i fanciulli; Ch. 6 Della troppa indulgenza et tenerezza d’alcuni padri, sheet 126v-127v.
127 ibid, book 3, Ch. 7, sheet 127v-128v. Della mediocrità nel battere I figliuoli, et dell’amore et timor filiale; cf also book

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Didactic and educational methods should take the fatherly approach as their exemplar, and should be
followed both by a private instructor (tutor) and by a school teacher. “A teacher takes the place of a
father and his job is not only purely that of teaching literature but of forming the tender mind of a child
to achieve virtue through his good example and useful advice, no less than a father. Even more so,
father and teacher have to be so well attuned to each other that the child recognises at home what he
has been taught by his teacher at school, and in school, what he has been taught by his father at home.
In short, much of good Christian education depends on the diligence of the teachers… “let the teacher”,
Antoniano concludes, “lead a blameless, exemplary life and behave himself in such a way that children
may recognise the very image of true Christian goodness in him. And citizens should deservedly
esteem him and recognise him as the common father of their children”.128 The fear of God, which is the
beginning wisdom, holds primacy over grammar;129 besides, devotion to our Lady, mother of purity,
will make sure that children are intelligent and docile, and endowed with memory, so that they may
learn well”.130
Finally, extra special attention should be given to adolescence, that is to the period between 14-21.
According to secular and traditional canons handed down to us by Aristotle’s Rhetoric,
Adolescence is the most dangerous period of life: in fact, adolescents are full of whims and
passions, bold enough to try to get whatever they want; they so much want to go hunting
and horseback riding; they don’t think much about useful and necessary things; they are not
careful in managing their money; they do not like being reprimanded, or given advice; they
are easily deceived and just like soft wax, easily moulded to follow vice; they love hanging
out with people of the same age; they easily strike up friendships for the sake of pursuing
pleasures and amusements since they love to laugh and play. Much more is said and might
be said about the nature of adolescents but their greatest enemy, as the philosopher has
already pointed out, is incontinence of the flesh, namely lust. It is this which plagues them
most.131
A preventive education during infancy and childhood is more decisive than ever. “And certainly, if
adolescence is not preceded by a good education, and if the fear of God and the love of virtue have not
yet taken root in the youngster’s soul, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible for him to win out... If
infancy has not been accustomed to carrying the yoke of discipline when the spirit is less daring,
nothing much can be expected when older, when the spirit is more robust and stimulated by more
powerful interests such as licentiousness and dissolute living”.132At any rate, the norms previously
given for religious and moral education should be followed and strengthened: frequent reception of the
sacraments; following the advice and the encouragement provided by a wise confessor, including
outside of confession; obedience to one’s father. “The father of the family should be aware of the fact
that he has the duty to hold on to his authority with his son and the respect due to him, to the point that
his own son should not be able to realise, in a certain sense, that he has left his childhood. But a father
should not deal with his son as though he were still a little child. This demands that he should have
much prudence, so he should take a middle-of-the-road approach, not treating the young man too
harshly so that love may not be in question, but not treating him too indulgently either, so that fear may
3, Ch. 8 De i vari modi della correttione et castighi puerili, sheet 128v-129r.
128 S. Antoniano, book 3, Ch. 34, sheet 146r-v. Dell’offitio del maestro, circa i buoni et christiani costumi.
129 ibid, book 3, Ch. 35, sheet 146v-147r. Come i maestri debbiano esercitar cotidiamente i fanciulli nella pietà cristiana.
130 ibid; cf book 2, Ch. 35, sheet 52r-v, Della particolar divotione verso la Santissima Madre di Dio.
131 ibid, book 3, Ch. 53, sheet 158r-v. De i pericoli della adolescenza.
132 ibid, book 3I, Ch. 53, sheet 18v.

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not disappear. Instead he should be serious and moderate”.133
Still, a pedagogy of restraint, preservation and vigilance would be needed: an adolescent should be
warned ahead of time to be on guard as far as “bad and corrupt companions, bad company” are
concerned. Consequently, the father of a family should take the greatest care and be vigilant lest his son
be caught up with “suspicious associations, dangerous friends”.134 He should encourage him to “strike
up friendships with those who are good, with deeply virtuous types and not at all with friendships
leading to vice, cemented by the bond of charity, sincere love, and not by interest or brief and passing
pleasure; he should strike up friendships especially with his father’s friends135; with people of his own
age too, if the diligent eyes of the father are keeping an eye on him;136 he should avoid idleness and
lazy, good for nothing types”.137
Female pedagogy is for the most part traditional, as we see from the title of the chapter dedicated to it:
Safeguarding young girls and how they are to avoid idleness. The preventive measures a father and a
mother should use in dealing with their daughters are as follows: safeguard chastity; avoid idleness;
proper use of time; avoiding “the habit of being familiar with males”, for this is a danger to modesty. A
mother should especially “keep her daughters busy, away from idleness”. Even if they should they be
“born of a noble and rich father, they should not feel ashamed to use the needle, the spindle and the
other activities proper to their gender”.
[In conclusion] the mother and father of the family should be vigilant over their daughters.
Let them make themselves first of all feared, because the feminine sex is ‘slippery ‘,
naturally light-minded and that age is not given much consideration. For the rest, one can
hope that the education provided, the fear of God, and the holy example of the mother will
keep her daughter in such a condition, that by living in a holy way in her father’s house, she
will turn out to be a worthy and happy mother of many good sons and daughters whom she
will educate for the glory of God and with the very same kind of chaste and Christian
education”.138
2. Charles Borromeo, first champion of oratorian pedagogy
Whenever there is a question of discipline in (boarding) schools, diocesan schools and seminaries as
well as oratories, more often than not people go back to St Charles Borromeo and the rules he offered.
Boarding institutions seem to have somewhat repressive rules. Schools where Christian doctrine is
taught seem to have more preventive elements. They are not so different from the beginnings and
development of the oratories.139
133 ibid, book 3, Ch. 54, sheet 158v-159v. Della conrinuatione degli esercitij christiani, et della riverenza verso del padre.
134 ibid, book 3, Ch. 55, sheet 159v-160v. Quanto spetialmente nella adolescenza siano pericolose le male prattiche.
135 S. Antoniano, book 3, Ch. 56, sheet 160v-161r. Della utilità delle buone prattiche, et amicitie; cf. Ch. 57 sheet 161r-v,
Della conversatione del figliuolo di famiglia con gli amici paterni.
136 ibid, book 3, Ch. 58, sheet 161v-162r. Della conversatione con i giovani eguali; cf. Ch 59, sheet 162v-163r, Della
conditione de gli amici, et offitij dell’amicitia.
137 ibid, book 3, Ch. 60, sheet 163r-164r. Del fuggir la vita otiosa, e scioperata..
138 ibid, book 3, Ch. 61, sheet 164r-165r.
139 Cf. Constitutioni et Regole della Compagnia et scuole della Dottrina christiana fatte dal cardianle di santa Prassese,
arcivescovo, in esecutione del concilio secondo provinciale [1569], per uso della provincia di Milano, in Acta Ecclesiae
Mediolanensis, vol. 3, book 2, col. 149-261 (G. Fontana edition, Milan 1585). The rules are divided into three parts: the
first part deals with Delle parti et conditioni, che havere devono gli operaii et fratelli della Compagnia et scuole della
dottrina christiana (col. 149-192); the second Dell’institutione, et erdine della Compagnia della dottrina christiana (col

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“Christian doctrine, a most divine subject” demands good and qualified instructors, namely, “they
should first of all be to some extent the light of the world”; second: “They must be outstanding in their
love for God and aflame with it”; third “They must have great zeal for the salvation of souls redeemed
by the precious Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ”; fourth: “They must have a heartfelt charity towards
all of their neighbours”; fifth: “They should do their best to draw those who do not attend their schools
with the same charity with which they receive and instruct those who do attend in order to learn”; sixth:
“They have to know very well and understand what they are trying to teach to others”; seventh: “Their
patience is absolutely necessary”; eighth: “They should be very prudent and good enough to be able to
adapt themselves to each one’s ability”; ninth: “They should use all possible care and diligence in
maintaining and increasing a work of such importance”.140
To achieve all of the above, “catechists should prepare themselves properly to receive God’s graces and
make every effort to work at their abilities and look for ways to keep them up”. 141 Six ways are
suggested: the purification of one’s conscience through the Sacrament of Penance, beginning with a
general confession; frequent reception of the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist; mental and vocal
prayer; performance of works of mercy; obedience towards all superiors, those of the entire company
and all the superiors of each particular school; and finally, good example”.142
Every school should have at least one priest as its spiritual father, who ordinarily should be the parish
priest. The parish priest, besides having the specific qualities of the priest, namely knowledge, purity of
life, honesty in habits, exemplariness, should also show great love and affection to the entire company,
and in particular towards school members, since he is the spiritual father of the entire school. He should
do this by knowing them personally, hearing their confession, showing interest in their spiritual and
physical needs, promoting harmony, visiting the classrooms, nurturing them with the word of God”.143
There are some following chapters dealing with the main offices: the prior, assistant prior, the
councillors, the monitor or the one in charge of fraternal correction, the chancellor or secretary, the
pacifiers, the headmasters, the teachers, the one in charge of safeguarding silence and his assistants, the
infirmarian and the doorkeeper.144 We can find ideas, terms, intuitions sprinkled throughout which
rightly belong to the preventive pedagogy of apostolic zeal and loving kindness.
The prior “should make every effort to bring back the one who has given up or has got lost; he should
encourage the weak with exhortations; he should spur on the negligent with kindly force; he should
correct the wayward with loving severity so that acknowledging his mistake he will correct himself”.145
“Above all, the prior should make sure and diligently see that the children learn how to live as
Christians through the Christian doctrine they are taught, for this is the reason they come to these
schools; and, if any of them have been soiled by vice, the school administration should see that they be
washed and be made clean”. 146 “Once all this has been done, if an undisciplined student were to be
presented to him or a student who may have committed some wrong in need of correction, it would be
good if the culprit were to receive public punishment according to the degree of the wrong done, and
depending on the circumstances of the student. This however, should be done with charity,
193-242); the third La qual contiene alcune regole particulari pertinenti alle scuole, et congregationi diocesane (col.
243-261).
140 Constitutioni, col. 149-151.
141 ibid, col. 152.
142 ibid, col. 152-162.
143 ibid, Ch. 3 Dell’officio del sacerdote, col. 162-165..
144 ibid, Chs. 4-16, col. 165-190.
145 ibid, col. 166.
146 ibid, col. 167.

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accompanied by prudence and discretion”.147
The role of Teachers and Headmasters is decisive “because all the duties and rules are geared to having
the students taught well, properly instructed in Christian doctrine and properly directed toward virtue
and good moral behaviour”.148 It is for these principles more than for any other that terms inspired by
charity and loving kindness are used, terms to do with relationships.
Teachers should be urged to be in school on time. It is much better that the teachers wait for their
students, rather than the students wait for their teachers… Once the headmasters have assigned the
students to the care of the teacher, then the teacher should receive them with charity, loving-kindness
and meekness. The teacher should show them the affection and the love of a father… The concern of
the teacher should not only be that of teaching the lesson found in the book, but more than anything
else instructing the students on how to acquire virtue and good morals. The teacher should make sure
that what he teaches is not only retained in their minds but actually put into practice. … He should aim
at making “good and perfect Christians out of them, giving them all the advice, reminders and means
which the Lord thinks best to suggest to him”.149
This is an explicit Gospel pedagogy, eminently preventive and proposed in word and deed by Jesus, the
Master:
They should hold this office in high esteem; they should always keep in mind the example
of Jesus Christ who welcomed the child before him with so much charity and loving
kindness and rebuked those who wanted to prevent him from doing this. And how much
Jesus loved children was shown when he said that it was better for the one who gave
scandal to a child to hang a rock around his neck and to throw himself into the sea, rather
than give scandal to one of the least of those children: let them often consider how much
good they will be able to do on behalf of their souls, redeemed with the precious blood of
Jesus Christ, when they have not committed any sin and have no bad habits. It can really be
said that to teach children is to reform the world and lead the world to live a true Christian
life.150
The method is blended with the system. All this requires the teacher to have a clear vision of his goals,
knowledge of his pupils, love that prevails over fear, and an ability to give witness. A catechism class,
in fact, does not only call for the teacher to teach the elements of Christian doctrine but especially to
have the students acquire the art of living as good Christians...
Since the schools of Christian doctrine are set up to achieve their goal, one must first learn
how to truly live like a Christian.
Pupils should be exhorted to revere their elders, to obey their superiors, to be modest, when
they walk in the streets and through public places, to show reverence and devotion in
church, especially when Mass is being celebrated, when they should be devoutly kneeling
on both knees; they should let go of games and especially card games and dice; they should
avoid the use of filthy and offensive words.
Finally, let the pupils be taught all those other things which are suited to Christian folk and
147 ibid, col. 168.
148 ibid, col. 179.
149 Constitutioni, col. 181-182.
150 ibid, col. 184.

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to the profession they are following. The pupils should be prepared to live a truly Christian
life, to always remain in God’s grace and live as God’s adopted children. Let them be
taught in a decent manner, making sure that offensive words and especially shameful or
coarse words are not used; not only because such words do not belong in such a school, but
also because they should not be learned and allowed to be used with others. And even
though, at times, the students should be reprimanded with severe words, nevertheless it is
more appropriate that this law and doctrine of love be taught more through love than fear. It
is better that the students be led to learn with promises of rewards than with threats, with
gifts rather than with punishments. A teacher should have an adequate knowledge of his
students. He should not only see to it that they learn while they are in school, but he should
also see to it, at times, that they study their lesson at home. He should know their parents,
where they live, and find out how they behave themselves, as far as their morals, lifestyle is
concerned. And if at times the students are absent, he should visit with them, and ask
people in the house why they skip school. But he should do all this with shrewdness, so that
his action may not appear to be done out of curiosity but out of fatherly love for them, and
out of fervent desire for their good.151
3. The fear-love alternative in governing a religious community
New forms of consecrated life had appeared such as The Clerics Regular, the Congregations of
common life, Religious Institutions that differed from the monk or mendicant lifestyle, and which
responded to new historical and cultural conditions.
It is likely that these new forms, or so it seems, might have once again raised the problem of how to
govern and how to obey. It is no mere coincidence that among the authors who wrote about this, were
two Jesuits, Etienne Binet (1569-l639) and Nikolaus Leczynchi (Lancicius) (1574-1652). The
Company of Jesus was the greatest innovator amongst all the Institutes of Consecrated Life. The two
previously named Jesuits wrote two publications which have made history in the field of religious
spirituality and ascetic life:
What is the better form of government: the strict or the gentle? For the superiors of
Religious houses of both genders and for those headmasters who have large’ families’ to
exercise their authority over. A very useful book written by a religious in order to provide
unity and peace to communities and families.152
The other publication is: On the conditions required of a good superior to be loved by his subjects and
to have his orders obeyed willingly and also to have his subjects open up their consciences to him and
many other things, and also to live in a way productive of spiritual benefits and spiritual enjoyment in
a Religious Community or Congregation. 153
Binet presents contrasting opinions and their respective reasons for the way authority should be
exercised and makes a decisive option for kindness as a method. “Some hold that the exercise of
authority should be rigorous and effective”, while others support the idea that such an exercise of
authority can be more successful if it is “gentle, cordial and full of fatherly tenderness”. “Those with a
greater amount of wisdom feel that there should be a blending of these two extreme positions. The
151 Constitutioni, col. 182-183.
152 The first edition was 1636. There is also an 1847edition: É.Binet, Quel est le meilleur gouvernment: le rigoreux, ou le
doux? Pour les Supérieurs et les Supèrieurs des maisons religieuses, (Lyon-Paris, Novelle Maison 1847), 175 pages.
153 First edition 1640. Here we cite the Turin, Marietti edition of 1901.

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roses should be joined to the thorns and there should be a way of exercising authority which is gently
effective”. 154
The author approaches the above solution by degrees, following the view agreed and shared by most, to
begin with. “The most perfect way to exercise authority (govern) is the one which is effectively gentle
or, to put it more correctly, the one in which strictness and gentleness are used appropriately and keep
each other in check”. 155
However, the author adds, “the doubt still lingers, namely, whether it would be better to lean towards
the gentle or the rigorous side, to share love or to create fear; whether it would be more advantageous
to use kindness more than severity”. 156
The author favours the first hypothesis. This is precisely the one defined by Don Bosco when he
repeatedly says “make yourself loved more than feared”. Binet shows the superiority of his opinion by
having recourse to abundant scriptural quotations and historical references, confirmed by a century’s
worth of positive experience. Gentleness is the style to learn, employed by God, Jesus, the holy
Founders of religious institutions and in particular by St Francis de Sales and by St Ignatius. (Binet was
St Francis’ classmate at the Jesuit school of Clermont, in Paris). 157 To support his own thesis further,
Binet, in two separate chapters, draws up the profile of “a man who governs with rigour” and the traits
of a man who governs with gentleness”. 158
The conclusion is obvious: the system which relies on a greater gentleness is, undoubtedly, more
fruitful for the one who is governed and more meritorious for the one who governs.159 “Would you like
to know”, Binet underscores as he asks, “what is the main feature of an authority exercised with
effective gentleness? It is when the superior takes upon himself whatever is most painful and leaves to
others whatever is most agreeable. This lesson in life is given by St Ignatius and St Francis de Sales.160
Their teaching is spelled out in a series of twenty maxims followed by the saints, in order to have an
effectively gentle kind of government. Among these maxims we find the following: “Make yourself
loved by loving with the heart and like a father, with the absolute certainty that, based on this, nothing
will appear difficult.” 161The last chapter of the book is dedicated to St Francis de Sales: The notion of a
good superior, as exemplified by St Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva. 162
The work by Lancicius is more explicitly dedicated to the Superior seen as the spiritual father of his
subjects, especially during the “manifestation of their consciences”. 163Relying on repeated references to
early Jesuit literature on the subject (writings of St Ignatius, Acquaviva, Mercuriano) and on sacred and
profane writers such as Cicero, St Augustine, and St Bernard, Lawrence Giustiniani, Lancicius
decisively leans towards benevolence and benignity as the essential elements in the continuous exercise
of “spiritual fatherliness”. 164 The Superior is expected to be a father and physician and nurse for his
154 É. Binet, Quel est, 4
155 É. Binet, Quel est. 6.
156 É. Binet, Quel est…, p. 7.
157 ibid 12-58.
158 ibid, 59-69 and 69-90
159 Don Bosco would also say this in reference to the Preventive System, “easier, more satisfying, more advantageous” for
the pupils; more difficult, but taken up with good ability by the zealous educator completely ‘consecrated’ to their good
(Il sistema preventivo 1877,.60 OE XXVIII 438).
160 É. Binet, Quel est…, 79, 81-82.
161 ibid,. 85.
162 ibid,. 152-175. Pp 161-162 are particularly “affective”.
163 In Chap. 15 we will see that in Don Bosco’s teaching and practice, the Rector of the religious and educative community
is ordinarily the confessor and spiritual guide for educators and those being educated.
164 Five chapters are given over to the theme of spiritual paternity: cf. De condicionibus. 55-132.

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subjects (Et Pater et Medicos, et Nutri subditis).165 He recalls what Ribadeneira had written of St
Ignatius: He joined love with benevolence for his subjects and this naturally gave birth to love. 166
The theme of kindness is taken up again and with emphasis in the chapter On how to govern and
instruct the religious novices and beginners in their spiritual life. 167 Fervent exhortations on this
subject matter and private chats, never harsh but always seasoned with love, will directly contribute to
spiritual formation. 168 One’s actions should never be harsh but always seasoned with love; even
punishments and reprimands should be given with a mild attitude and never with harsh words. 169
4. Jansenistic pedagogy: Port Royal (1637-1657)
It is not our intention to tackle the many problems created by the brief and contrasting existence of the
Petites Ecoles of Port Royal, problems like: their champion, Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, the Abbott of
St-Cyran, one of the leaders of the Jansenist movement; the nature and aims, which place these schools
at a much higher and more demanding level than the popular, humble little schools (Petites Ecoles)
spread out through the French parishes and suburbs; the modest number of pupils of both genders
entrusted, in small groups, to their respective male or female instructor.170
What needs to be underlined is the strict connection that the style of education practised in the ‘little
schools’ of Port Royal has with the Preventive System in general, and in particular with the Don
Bosco’s educational experience. Even though the Piedmontese educator does not venture into the
theological elaborations of the Port Royalists, he does present, in his educational praxis, not a few
similarities with the ones used by the Port Royalists.171 But these similarities have to do with the style,
seasoning the attitudes of the educators towards their pupils. As far as the contents and contexts are
concerned, however, the life experience of the young Port Royalists is much more austere than the one
lived by the young people who packed into Don Bosco’s oratories and schools.
Evidently the promoters and administrators of the ‘little schools’ support the absolute primacy of grace
in reference to salvation and therefore also in reference to the educational process. This, however, does
not exclude personal responsibility and commitment, rather it highlights them.
For several reasons, a child is a defenceless creature, exposed to the attacks of the Tempter, undermined
like everyone by original sin; a fragile creature because of his age, because of his psycho-physical
structure, because of the pressures of the environment. The work of an educator is absolutely necessary
for the following reasons: to protect the child’s innocence; to preserve the child from evil, a wound
which will render salvation even more difficult to attain; to restore his fallen nature; to discipline his
passions; to strengthen his spirit and his will and to render his heart good.
Contributions to all this are provided by the supernatural means offered by Faith and the constant,
165 N. Lancicius, De condicionibus, 10.
166 ibid, 13.
167 ibid, 257-299.
168 N. Lancicius, De condicionibus, 262.
169 ibid, 273 and 285.
170 For the ‘Little schools’ of Port-Royal, cf. Les Pédagogues de Port Royal… Historie des Petites Écoles. Notices, extraits
et analyses avec des notes, par. 1 (Carré, Paris: Delagrave 1887). p. 287-337 Règelement pour les enfants de Port-Royal
by Jacqueline Pascal; L. Cavallone, I maestri e le ‘piccole scuole’ di Port-Royal, (Turin, Paravia 1942); F. Delforge, Les
petites écoles de Port-Royal 1637-1660, (Paris, Éditions du Cerf 1985), 438 pages.; an excellent contribution, attentive
to the connections between theology, pedagogy and didactic theory is offered by M. Ferrari, “Le piccole scuole di Port
Royal: una didattica teoricamente fondata”, in «Scuola e città» 37 (1986): 522-531.
171 P. Stella offers some interesting observations, and clarifications of comparison, dependencies, similarities, in his Don
Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol 2, pp. 232-236, 260, 317, 451-452.

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vigilant and affectionate work of the educator who accompanies, encourages and urges the child on,
acting in cooperation with God as an indispensable “useless servant” who, more than being the “orator”
(oratore), is first of all the “pray-er”(orante). “The devil attacks children and they do not fight back.
Hence the need to fight for them... Separation from the world, good example are the best help other
than prayer, that one can give them”.172
Jacqueline Pascal, in her book Rules for children writes: “I believe that in order to usefully serve
children, we should never speak to them and not even work for their good without looking at God, and
without begging him for his grace, with the desire to draw from him all that is needed to train children
in the fear of God.173
Therefore the educational space is especially an area separated from the world and its dangers, in the
countryside or within the confines of a house or a boarding institution. It is its own little supervised
universe, that is, the pupils are constantly supervised — the first imperative for an organisation — and
under the direction of the educators. The small family, like groups of five or six pupils, are entrusted to
educators who share the life of their pupils day and night. The main goal is not only to preserve the
children’s innocence, but also to foster their active growth by teaching everything that can help them
grow in virtue and knowledge and in love of things eternal. This is dictated by infinite zeal, suggested
by faith and charity which, in turn, is both a sincere and a warm-hearted affection.174 The educators
have a friendly relationship with the children; they have to try to win over their trust and thus advise
them. Punishments are the last resort and an unpleasant one. The first concern should be one of
preventing a child from doing something wrong through strict supervision and by fostering imitation.175
Similar suggestions for the education of girls are to be found in The Rules for the children of Port
Royal.176 Serious issues are certainly not omitted: there should be a painstaking, visible assistance, a
dignified reserve, silence all over, an accent on mortification, on always keeping busy. But just the
same, the manifestations of loving-kindness are relevant although with notable restraint.
The goal assigned to the care of girls — which should start from the age of four or five — is to point
them to a deep awareness of Christian life.177 According to the founder’s, St-Cyr’s ‘Salesian
dimension’, Christian life must be inspired by love which holds absolute primacy178, yet a love never
separated from fear and always based on a twofold feeling: the ugliness of vice and the beauty of
virtue. 179
The sublimity and purity of the goals of such an education do not exempt the author of the Règlement
from prefacing it with a warning to recommend the educators to employ moderation in the
implementation of the rules. “Not all the girls are capable of keeping such a prolonged silence or of
living such an intense kind of life without losing heart and feeling tired. For this reason, the teacher,
while safeguarding discipline, should make efforts to win over their affection and their heart,
172 Entretien de Saint Cyran et de M. Le Maître sur les enfants, cied by M. Ferrari, Le piccole scuole, e 528; F. Delforge,
Les petites écolese, pp. 269-276.
173 Règelement pour les enfants, part 2, n.1, 393. Quoted from the edition contained in the work by V. Cousin, Jacqueline
Pascal, Premières études sur les femmes illustres et la société du XVIIe siècle, (Paris, Didier et Cie 1856) Ed. 1844,
358-425.
174 F. Delforge, Les petites écolee,. 277-285.
175 ibid, 157-171
176 The text of the Règlement pour les enfants de Port-Royal can also be found in the work Les pédagogues de Port Royal
287-337.
177 Cf. Règlement, part II, I, n. 23, 400.
178 On the ‘Salesian dimension’ of Saint-Cyran, cf. J. Orcibal, cf. La spiritualité de Saint-Cyran avec ses écrits de pieté
inédits, (Paris, Libraire J. Vrin 1962), 35-79.
179 Règlement, part I, du travail, 8, 364; part 2,2, nos. 1-3, 401-402.

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something which is fully necessary to succeed in their education”. 180
What follows are a series of invitations to keep a watchful presence among the girls, with an attitude of
both love and reserve.
We have to use a lot of charity and tenderness with the girls, never neglecting anything that has to do
with their life, both their inner and external life, making them realise, at every opportunity, that there
are no limits to our dedication to them, and that what we do we do with affection and with all our heart
because they are daughters of God and we feel obliged not to spare anything to make them worthy of
this. 181… Furthermore, living among the girls, we have to behave ourselves so they do not notice our
change of humour when we deal with them, sometimes too indulgently, sometimes with severity; We
should not become too familiar with them, neither should we give them too much confidence, even if
they are older. We should, however, show them charity and a great amount of gentleness in everything
they need; we should even anticipate them in their needs. They need to be treated with great politeness
and we should speak to them respectfully, doing all we can for them. It would be good at times to
condescending things which are not important, if this helps us to win over their heart. When they do
something wrong, we should speak with much gentleness and offer them good reasons to convince
them of what they did wrong.182
Other suggestions follow: “educate the girls to live a simple life; use discretion in supervision; punish
them without much fuss, without wasting a word; get them accustomed to being sincere; keep them
busy alternating reading, playing and working”.183 In reference to assistance, there is a fine observation:
“I believe that our continuous vigilance should be carried out with gentleness and such trust as to make
the girls understand that we love them and not that we are with them only to guard them”.184
The guidance given for the moral and religious education of young girls is characterised by an
extraordinary wisdom, respect and finesse, while keeping seriousness as the basis. But what stands out
more than the idea of duties is the theme of gift-giving. “We have to make the girls understand that a
religious life is not a burden at all, but one of the greatest of God’s gifts , a helping means and a
comfort for those who want to live according to their Baptismal vows”.185
The same kind of reasoning qualifies the spirituality to be displayed by the girls’ educators.
It is good, at times, to let them know that we love them in the Lord, and that it is precisely
this tenderness which makes us so sensitive to any of their faults and so painful to bear with
them. We should make them understand that it is exactly the flame of this love that at times
drives us to use such harsh words in reprimanding them. We have to assure them that,
independently of the way we act, we are always drawn to act the way we do by the
affection we have for them and by the desire to make them as God wants to them to be and
that our heart still, and always abides by gentleness towards them, that our firmness is
directed towards their faults and that is why we do violence to ourselves, since we are
naturally more inclined to employ gentleness than force.186
Naturally, the modest dimensions of the communities of ‘little schools’ of Port Royal, subdivided into
180 Ibid, Avertissement, 358..
181 Règlement…, part 2, I, n. 2, 393-394.
182 ibid, part 2, I, nos. 13-16, 397-398.
183 ibid, part 2, I, nos. 17-23, 398-400.
184 ibid, part 2, I, n. 18, p. 399.
185 ibid, part 2, 2, n. 11, p. 404; cf. nos 1-10,. 401-404.
186 ibid, part 2, 2, n. 12, p. 404.

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tiny groups, offered broad opportunities for entretiens particuliers (particular encounters) with the girls,
in order to provide them with a more personalized support: comfort in their suffering, correction in
their vices, control of their passions, growth in their virtues. Charity, reserve, avoidance of familiarity,
discretion, invocation to God for light and grace, sincerity in one’s relationships and charitable
warnings,187 the granting of forgiveness, the imposition of penances, all worked together.188
Before concluding with a paragraph with a human touch Les Malades et les leurs besoins corporals
(Concerning sick girls and their bodily needs),189 the book offers different titles dealing with the
fundamental resources of the life of grace: Confession, Communion, Confirmation, Prayer and
Spiritual Reading.190 The rigorist theology peculiar to Jansenism inevitably prevailed in the educational
method of the ‘little schools’. Those pages are certainly not to be considered part of what we habitually
refer to as ‘Preventive System’. Exceptionally, only a few sections dedicated to prayer and wholly
geared to instilling within the girls a refined inner type of Christianity might somehow be considered as
part of the Preventive System.
Let every effort be made to instil in the girls a great desire to have recourse to God in all their needs,
particularly in their weaknesses and temptations. We should make them understand that only looking to
God with trust, humility and perseverance will give them more support than all the great resolutions
they might make. These resolutions would, in turn, be useless if the goodness of God were not to be
their source, through the power of his grace. We should also make them understand that the only thing
we can do is to lose ourselves in God, knowing that He alone can save us.
Secondly, we should not overburden them with a huge number of vocal or mental prayers, but instead
should make efforts to impress on their hearts a true feeling of God’s holy presence, so that they may
be able to see him everywhere, in all their occupations, and worship him and praise him everywhere.191
5. Preventive repression in school education
Recalling the days when he attended school in Chieri (1831-1835), Don Bosco describes a faithful
outline of the discipline regime used in those days. It had been imposed by the Regulations for the
Schools outside the University, promulgated with the Rules with Royal Prerogatives by Which His
Majesty (Charles Felix) Approves the Added Rules Both for Common and Public Schools – As Well as
for the Royal Schools. Dated July 23, 1822.192
The regulations were unequivocally Restoration in style.193 However, in the memory of the older Don
Bosco, they were perfectly in tune with the basic dimensions of his Preventive System of education
because of the strong religious principles, and principles of morality and discipline which were part of
the entire life of the school.
It is appropriate to recall that in those days religion was a basic part of the educational system. A
187 ibid, part 2, 3I, nos. 1-9, 405-408.
188 Règlement…, part 2,4, nos. 1-7, 408-409.
189 ibid, part 2, 10, nos. 1-11, 421-425.
190 ibid, part 2, parts 5-9, 410-421.
191 ibid, part 2, 8, nos. 1-2, 417-418.
192 (Turin: Royal Press 1822), p.
193 “The Regolamento per le scuole fuori dell’università…. were prepared by the Jesuits from Novara. No wonder, then, that
the Regulations of July 23, 1822, used for Piedmontese schools until 1848, seemed as if they were made for novices in a
convent rather than students in public schools” (A. Lizier, Nel primo centenario del Regio Convitto Nazionale di
Novara 1808-1908. Le scuole di Novara ed il Liceo-Convitto. Novara, Stabilimento G. Parzini 1908, p. 194; cf. Chap
VIII Il «Reale Collegio di Novara» e le «Regie Scuole» dai moti del 1821 alla cacciataq dei Gesuiti (1821-1848), pp.
191-238.

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teacher was faced with immediate dismissal should he make any unbecoming or irreligious statement.
If this was the way teachers were treated, you can imagine how severely pupils were dealt with for any
unruly conduct or scandal!
We went to holy Mass every morning; classes began with the devout praying of the
Actiones and the Ave Maria. They ended with the Agimus and Ave Maria. On feast days, all
the students attended the college church. Before Mass we had spiritual reading followed by
the chanting of the Little Office of Our Lady. Then came Mass and the explanation of the
Gospel.
In the evening we had further catechetical instruction, Vespers and another sermon.
Everyone was expected to approach the holy sacraments; to prevent the neglect of this
important obligation, once a month the students had to present a card to prove that they had
gone to confession. If one fell down on this he was barred from end-of-year examinations,
no matter how good he was as at studies. This strict training produced marvellous results.
Many years went by without any swearing or unbecoming words being heard. The students
were as docile and respectful at school as they would have been at home. And it often
happened that in very large classes everyone got promoted at the end of the year.194 ….
I would like to note something about the college at Chieri that certainly exemplifies the
spirit of piety that flourished there. During my four years as a student in the college I do not
remember ever hearing any talk, not even a word, that could be considered impolite or
irreligious. At the end of rhetoric course, of the 25 students, 21 embraced the clerical state,
three became doctors and one became a merchant.195
The titles of the third and fourth chapters of the Regulations for Public Schools, Royal Schools,
Community Schools; Teaching and Examinations in Both Public and Royal Schools are certainly
repressive, in the sense that they imply total and inflexible control.
But the champions of the Preventive System, and among whom Don Bosco, do not reject their
contents, even though they carry them out in modified form. What allows them to be considered
preventive are especially the mentality behind them, the spirit and the style, which in the Regolamento,
instead, undoubtedly have a repressive tone.
The students are subjected to following rigid duties: in the classroom, they had to take assigned seats;
they had to approach the Sacrament of penance every month, and the confessor had to give them a card
to prove it; they had to fulfil their Easter duty and have a document to prove it; they had to attend daily
Mass, go to Mass every Sunday with the student community and perform the added practices of piety
in the morning, such as spiritual reading, The Little Office of the Our Lady and the Litanies, besides
religious instruction; in the afternoon they had spiritual reading, singing, recitation of prayers, and
catechism; there was a triduum in preparation for Christmas, and the annual retreat; books not
authorised by the prefect of studies were forbidden.196 No less severe was the control exercised over the
student’s life outside school.
All students are strictly forbidden to: go swimming, go to the theatre, engage in games of
tricks, wear masks, respond to dance invitations, engage in any kind of games in suburbs,
194 MO (1991) 72.
195 MO (1989) 111-112
196 Cf. Regolament, art. 34-41

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bars, cafés and other public places, go out for dinner, eat and drink in hotels or restaurants,
gather in clubs or set up a club, or have conversations in cafés, act in local theatres, without
the permission of the prefect of studies.197
The commitment taken by the ‘congregation’ (school community), which to a certain extent was a
model for the Oratory, was far different from the free and joyful sharing of life in the Oratory, as much
as that was inspired by serious religious ideas.198
Spiritual directors wield unlimited power, a power to intervene decisively in the very activity of the
school.199
They have the right, within the congregation to punish, to dismiss all those who are
irreligious, who do not know their catechism and who are disobedient. Whoever is expelled
from the congregation is also expelled from the school, through a notice handed out by the
spiritual director to the prefect of studies. They have the right to withhold the promotion of
students from a lower to a higher grade, and to submit students to an additional catechism
exam on All Saints Day. Students will be denied promotion if they continue to demonstrate
ignorance.200
No less authoritarian were the demands in reference to teachers, obliged to always have a certificate of
good moral and religious conduct issued by the bishop. They were obliged to provide supervision at
exact times,201 an assistance which had to be extremely attentive and demanding for its possible
consequences.
The student who, on account of his obstinate disobedience or serious lack all respect
towards his teacher or spiritual director is to be suspended from school will be readmitted
only after three days and after first begging for forgiveness from the school. Students
lacking religious spirit, with corrupt morals, who are incorrigible, guilty of obstinate and
scandalous resistance to the orders of superiors or guilty of some crime, will be expelled
from the school as an example to others.202
197 Ibid., art. 42.
198 Cf. Regolamento, book 4, Ch. 1, par. 1. Della congregazione, art. 134-143.
199 Ibid., book 4, Ch. 1, par. 2. Dei direttori spirituali, art. 144-167.
200 Ibid., art. 146.
201 Ibid., art. 48-52, 54-55.
202 Ibid., book 3, Ch. I, par. 2 Dei doveri degli studenti in generale, art.41 and 46.

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Chapter 4
Birth of a formula: prevent system, repressive system
The terms ‘repress’, ‘prevent’, ‘prevention’ and the like, were certainly not new to the 18th century.
Until we have better research results we will continue to say that the terms, ‘Preventive System’,
‘repressive system’, ‘preventive education’ and ‘repressive education’ came into existence in the 18th
century. They seem to have been first used in France in various debates in two contexts and with
radically different meanings: school policy on the one hand and family education-boarding school
(schools and boarding schools directed by the State, by lay people and by Catholics) on the other.
[Trans note: wherever the term collegio is used, this will normally be translated as boarding school, unless already made
clear in a sentence, where it will be referred to simply as school]
1. Prevention and repression in school policy
In French school policy in the first part of the century the two terms, ‘Preventive System’ and
‘repressive system’ surfaced in connection with a very keen debate on the freedom of the school.203
Article 17 of the Belgian Constitution of 1831 had accepted the principle of freedom and thus given
rise to a consistently liberal school system. “Teaching is free. Any kind of preventive measure is
prohibited. Only the law regulates the repression of crimes”.
In France, the ‘Preventive System’ was supported by people, most of them secularists, who promoted
state monopoly over schooling, as sanctioned by the Napoleonic university system. This prevented any
chance of a liberal school, namely a school not controlled by the State, or in other words it made any
preventive authorisation impossible. In reality it was a preventive-oppressive system. The repressive
system was championed by those who opted for freedom of teaching with different claims sanctioned
in principle by the Constitutional ‘Charta’ promulgated by Louis Philip I of Orleans on August 14,
1830. The system was called ‘repressive’ because the Guizot Law of June 28, 1833, applying the
constitutional decree, foresaw various ways of controlling private institutions, to the point of eventually
suppressing them in cases where there was serious non-compliance of a legal, moral or didactic nature.
The conditions, however, were such that they appeared to be doubly repressive. The first of these
conditions was their dependence on the university. This was a more telling reason why they should
have given a better solution to the problem by issuing a new law which might have also included the
secondary schools in its liberalisation.
The one who would insist on this issue in the debates reopened in 1844 was Alexis Charles de
Tocqueville (1805-1859), a great moderate liberal, in his intervention on January 17, 1844, and in
various articles which appeared in the newspaper Le Commerce.204 The Report made on July 13, 1844
by Adolphe Thiers, president of the parliamentary commission, would have a decisive importance in
the debate. The report definitely disposed of any attempt to modify the current Law of 1833. In his
report on the work of the Commission, Thiers introduced the terms système préventif and système
répressif which were neither mentioned nor found in any previous intervention. They refer directly or
indirectly to the solutions proposed for the first two problems: the conditions for opening an institution
203 For a concise presentation of the problem and some of the main people involved, cf. B. Ferrari, “La politica scolastica
del Cavour”, (Milan: Vita e Pensiero 1982), 52-63.
204 These can be found in the interesting study by A.M. Battista, Lo spirito liberale e lo spirito religioso. Tocqueville nel
dibattito sulla scuola, (Milano: Jaca Book 1975), 129-201.

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of public instruction, with the exclusion of the ‘Preventive System’, and the supervision, as demanded
by the ‘repressive system’, to which they ought be subjected205
While respecting the legitimate independence of family education, Thiers argued, the State was
claiming the rightful responsibility of issuing laws on the education of its citizens. With the university
system, the State was trying to make a unified type of formation effective in all institutions, common
for all.206 As for the existence of institutions, in order to guarantee the freedom of teaching the
commission had bluntly announced the abolition of the previously required authorisation, even though
still holding on to certain conditions required for the opening of institutions.207 In a word, the
commission was against the Preventive System. But, as Thiers immediately clarified, it was self-
evident that any departure from the Preventive System meant immediate entry into the repressive
system. When freedom is granted, the need for supervision follows. This supervision was needed to
safeguard the quality of instruction, morality and the respect for the institution.208
University inspectors would have carried out the legitimate task of “examining, surveying , issuing
warnings and using a simple disciplinary censure”. This might have proven to be a beneficial stimulus
for both teachers and students and would have been a way of distinguishing good institutions from
those not up to par. However, institutions faced with a decree of suppression always had the
opportunity for recourse to judicial authority.209
2. Public repressive and private preventive education
The meaning of the two terms is inverted when they are transferred from a political debate to a
pedagogical issue.
This counter position is first of all made evident in France as the aftermath of the debate on the
discipline to be used in schools. According to Philip Aries: “right from the beginning of the 19th
century, school discipline had abandoned its liberal tradition and had adopted a barracks-like style”.
This was not only due to the impact of the Napoleonic period, but to two more important factors: the
pedagogical tradition of the military schools of the ancien régime and the emerging sensitivity to
adolescence, taken as the age which lets go of the circumstances of childhood and commences its
decisive course towards the adult state. This requires educational measures strongly seasoned with
responsibility.210
It is in this climate that the idea of the college (boarding school) was imposed, in order to create a more
precise framework for the time of growing up.211
In the 1840s some people in connection with the different regimes used in state boarding schools on
one hand and by the family and private Catholic boarding schools on the other, proposed the antithesis
between the two pedagogies, the repressive and the preventive, though not without some debate.
This is why the liberal Duke de Broglie, during a debate in the Chambers of Equals, on the law
regarding secondary schools already mentioned in the preceding paragraph and dated April 22, 1844,
205 Cf. Rapport de M. Thiers sur la loi d’instruction secondaire fait au nom de la Commission de la Chambre de Députés
dans le séance du 13 juillet 1844, (Paris, Paulin Éditeur 1844), 27-39 and 39-49.
206 46 Royal schools and 312 communal colleges were tied to the University. A further 1,016 private educational houses
were subject to supervision. Pupils receiving secondary education numbered 19,000, 27,000, 36,000 respectively.
207 A. Thiers, Rapport, 27-35.
208 Ibid., 39.
209 Ibid., 44.
210 Cf. Ph. Ariès, L’enfant et la vie familiale sous l’Ancien Régime, (Paris: Éditions du Seuil 1973), 294-295.
211 Ibid., 313-317.

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declared:
Education in the home context is essentially preventive. This is its incomparable merit. Its
main drawback is that it does not always form either talented people or strong characters. In
an atmosphere which is rather artificial and so to say, to all appearances like a hothouse, it
cultivates tender plants which later on can barely withstand the storms coming from the
outside world. … public education is somewhat repressive and, to a certain extent, deals
with boys as though they were grown-ups. It makes them feel the weight of the inflexibility
of the law, the powerful impact of competition, the wounds inflicted on their self-love. But
it also renders them well trained to confront evil and dangers. However it does not succeed
in training them adequately, except by somehow exposing them to dangers and, at times,
allowing them to fall and then it waits for them to get up again”.212
Thiers emphasised, once again, the same opposing set of ideas in his Rapport of July 13, 1844 when he
introduced his own report admitting the legitimacy of the two types of education: paternal education
which is good enough to reproduce a family, while State education is good enough to form the citizen.
Each could follow different ways, according to different goals. “For example, one father might like the
strict, inflexible type of education used by the great public institutions, but another father might prefer
the gentler, more intelligent type of education used by the private institutions”. Besides, a father will
guide his son toward the profession that he prefers: but all “will aim at guiding their sons along the
lines of tenderness and even the weakness proper to a father”. At this point the state comes into the
picture, namely the political entity, society, the nation. And its legitimate commitment is that of making
a citizen out of the young man imbued with the spirit of the constitutions and who loves the laws and
his country, and is able to contribute to the greatness and prosperity of the nation”.213
Later on, Thiers confronted the problem of evaluating the two systems and entered into a debate with
those who claimed that only the clergy were able to educate and instil a moral and religious spirit in the
young, something that could not have been done by a secular boarding school.214 Each had its own style
and a different educational value. The “character of royal colleges (boarding schools) is marked by
their discipline: the rule prevails in everything”. “There is no indulgence towards the parents’
weakness; all pupils are equal whether they are from rich or from poor families, whether they are from
high or ordinary families: the same law is imposed on everyone”. “When a serious fault has been
committed, the school must expel the culprit without any weakness and the institution will receive an
immediate benefit from it. The idea of the rule, of equality, stands above everything else. And we
should also add: the idea of frankness in dealing with everyone, the exclusion of any delay. Loyalty is
both respected and encouraged”. “This is the way men are fashioned into citizens and into honest
men”.215 “We have to make upright citizens out of young men, good Christians too but also good
Frenchmen”.216
In private and secular boarding schools instead, the “care provided is more on an individual basis”,
children are followed up a lot more, people are more pleasantly inclined to accept their parents’
influence. Even in Catholic boarding schools, the “regime is less strict”, less capable of preparing a
youngster to face his entrance into the world; even the religious formation itself, more intense yet more
212 In ‘Moniteur Universe’, April 13, 1844, n. 106, 931. The extract was written by Camillo Cavour in one of his many
exercise books; cf. C. Cavour, Tutti gli scritti, edited by C. Pischedda and G. Talamo, vol 1 (Turin, Centro Studi
Piemontesi 1976), 326.
213 A. Thiers Rapport. 9-10.
214 ibid.. 56-57.
215 ibid. 57-58.
216 ibid.. 62..

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forced, is not necessarily the most suitable for creating more personal and lasting convictions in the
area of freedom.217
3. Pierre Antoine Poullet’s Preventive System (1810-1846)
The director of the Institute St Vincent of Senlis, Pierre Antoine Poullet (1810-1846) 218 argues against
Thiers on these points: the superficial judgements on the religious education provided by the public
schools, his comparison between the quality and results of such an education in Catholic boarding
schools219 and the educational method used in such schools. Finally he elaborated on the features of a
system of education which is not formally defined as preventive, but contains all of its features. First of
all, the system of education used at the Senlis School is based on foundations shared by any authentic
system of education. It entails commitment, discipline, responsibility; it is not permissive; it does not
allow for uncalled-for family interventions; it demands the exact observance of the rules, quiet, silence,
orderliness, punctuality and obedience.220
Secondly, it excludes the “military regime” of the State schools even though it does require of those
who hold responsibility in the school that they have the following features: dedication, conscientious
vigilance, zeal mixed with moderate indulgence and fatherly flexibility.221 The immediate goal of
educational activity is, in fact, the protection of the pupils’ innocence. This is achieved through
constant assistance which means an uninterrupted presence among them.222 But this assistance is
expected to be “intelligent, prudent, tolerant, i.e., charitable”. This type of assistance aims not only at
protecting innocence and preventing anything contrary to it, but at being solicitous about it and
fostering it. This can actually happen when the following three means are used: vigilance exercised;
principles instilled; being kept busy223
The last goal of this system of education is to form the human and Christian character of the young, to
develop intelligence by means of classical and scientific culture. The religious principle stands out and
above, and entails fulfilment of one’s duties towards God, application to study taken as prayer and as a
religious and saintly duty”.224
Education is carried out in a true family-like atmosphere and in a twofold sense: first of all,
collaboration and integration between family and school education are sincerely fostered. No teacher
will ever claim for himself the gratitude, trust and love which bind children to their parents. At the
same time, the school carries out its education, thanks to an authority which is like the extension of a
father’s and mother’s authority. “If the school is not a family, then it is nothing at all”.225
Added to all this is the theme of love as a pedagogical principle and the theme of indulgence as a
217 A. Thiers Rapport. pp. 59-62.
218 On Poullet, cf. E. Valentini, “L’abate Poullet (1810-1846)”, in Rivista di Pedagogia e di Scienze Religiose 2 (1964): 34-
52; ibid., “Il sistema preventivo di Poullet”, ibid. 7 (1969): 147-192. Poullet’s pedagogical thinking can be found in
Discours sur l’éducation prononcés aux distributions des prix de son établissement, suivis de quelques autres éscrits du
même auteur, (Paris: Pringuet 1851), 16. 427 pages.
219 Cf. Lettre à M. Thiers à l’occasion de son Rapport sur le projet de loim relatif à l’instruction secondaire, in P.-A.
Poullet, Discours, 233-264. To be able to speak of the quality and results of ‘religion’ in different institutes, he objects,
“one needs to know first of all what is meant by religious and moral education, or rather what is religion, what is moral,
where does one find the complete and pure truth which are the duties imposed by God.” (ibid., p. 235).
220 P.-A. Poullet, Discours. 246-248.
221 ibid. 248-249.
222 “Our first rule is to constantly keep the boy with us, near us, under our eyes” (Discours. 25).
223 P.-A. Poullet, Discours. 28-33.
224 P.-A. Poullet, Discours. 33-38,107, 120.
225 Ibid., 46-51, 63-70.

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method.226
Love should take first place in educational activity. ‘The Heart’.. yes! It is above all, and first of all,
through the heart, with a loving heart, with a tender and generous heart that the teacher should carry out
his important ministry”.227 No, the heart is not only expected to pour the oil which facilitates the heart’s
movement; the heart itself must be the first mover... It is not enough to call upon the heart as an
auxiliary tool, it must be the dominant principle: in a word, education is not the work of the spirit
directed by the heart, it is actually the work of the heart directed by the spirit”.228
Indulgence is the expression of the heart and is made evident all along the various stages of education.
Poullet excludes the kind of indulgence which stands for weakness or flattery. “Indulgence implies an
attitude of waiting, tolerating, closing an eye to, forgiving. It is an educative dimension which needs to
be joined to all others: to zeal which is always on the alert for action; to vigilance which lets nothing
escape the eye; to authority which commands, and to justice which punishes”.229
Indulgence is something required by a boy’s nature, by the limits of his availability to co-operate with
his educator. A boy is a “human being weak in soul, body, will, reason. A boy is a human being who is
frivolous, inconstant, ruled by a thousand ideas, a thousand feelings which happen to be contradictory;
he is a human being subject to all kinds of impressions coming from inside and from without”. “Boys
are boys. Freedom, movement, noise are irresistible needs at a boy’s age. When a guilty young man
innocently says I didn’t think about it, we can always believe him”.230 However, indulgence should be
balanced and prudent. “Let us be indulgent when confronted with weakness but let there be no
weakness in our indulgence”.231
In particular, indulgence should be measured according to the different stages of education: less is
needed when it is a question of disciplinary rules to be observed; more is needed in reference to moral
and religious education: “a man cannot be reformed except by means of the heart and we cannot reach
the heart except through love.”232
Only in an atmosphere of gentleness can a healthy fear, the beginning of wisdom, come to the fore in
particular circumstances, and with great effectiveness. Fear is the beginning of wisdom, and nothing
more, as we remember that we are called to be the “friends and fathers of our pupils”.233
The final and overall outcome will be the spirit of a place of education.234 “This spirit is constituted by
the prudence, moderation, zeal and heart of the educators but above all, and essentially, by the spirit of
the pupils which creates an atmosphere of sincerity, modesty, good behaviour, openness and
affection”.235 “Moreover, this spirit brings true piety towards God, complete loyalty and a cordial
benevolence in the pupils’ relationships with their teachers and classmates and the scrupulous
observance of the sacred laws of modesty”.236 This is why it is indispensable that a system of freedom,
love and trust, of a love regulated and a trust moderated by a just authority, should be preferred to a
226 Ibid., respectively, 137-157 and 81-101.
227 Ibid., 138.
228 Ibid., 140-141.
229 Ibid., 87.
230 Ibid. 88-92.
231 Ibid., 92.
232 P.-A. Poullet, Discours. 94-95.
233 Ibid., 99-100.
234 Ibid., 158-185. Du bon esprit dans les maisons d’éeducation.
235 Ibid., 162-164, 170.
236 Ibid., 174-175.

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repressive system”.237
It is not enough to stop evil; we have to develop what is good”.238
This sum total of principles and orientations, Poullet concluded, does not constitute a great theory or
complex system or an art reserved only for the initiated. “What is simply needed is to assist constantly
and loyally, to instruct solidly, to use frequent reminders, to encourage with kindness, to reward with
joy, to punish with due motivation and in moderation, and especially to put up with everything with
tireless constancy, and to love with an unalterable tenderness. All of this may require some virtues, but
a very small amount of skill; it may require experience but no deep research; it may require the quick
glance of a practical observation, but not the genius needed for high speculation. All of the above can
and must be done with simplicity”.239
4. A comparison between two types of college-boarding school and two systems of
education
In the contrasting between the two types of boarding school, artificial or that which Thiers highlights,
the one secular, the other Catholic, the Frenchman Pierre Sebastien Laurentie (1793-1876) sees two
different educational systems pitted against each other: one based on strictness, the other on love.240
This contrast obstructs a correct view of the legitimate differences between the two systems. And it
leads to the Manichean, sketchy kind of presentation to be expected of an intransigent monarchist
Catholic, a Legitimist. It gives the impression of being guided by not so hidden views belonging to the
Restoration.241
Laurentie tells us of the strong accusations brought by some people against the public boarding
schools: intelligence degraded, creativity squashed, a boy’s personality lost amongst the mob, the
climate of fear, hypocrisy, malice and squalor.242 He gives us, for his part, an entirely negative
description which he claims to have been the result of a just and considered observation.
The public boarding school looks like a prison, like the Spielberg which Silvio Pellico
wrote about in his Mie prigioni (My prisons) …. The public boarding school is a place full
of sadness and grief. Young people grow old ahead of time, under the authority of gloomy
teachers…. What prevails in a public boarding school is rigid organisation as far as studies
and recreational activities are concerned, distinctively marked by bell or drum. The teacher
does not get close to the pupil; the tone of his command is sharp and inspires fear. The
pupil does not get close to the teacher; obedience is loaded with fear and mistrust. It is a
mechanised kind of world where nothing is forgotten. There is neither trust nor love. No
gentle words can be heard which might reach the heart. Even God has his place, but God is
absent from the youngster’s inner thoughts. The end result of this exterior orderliness is that
the vices are kept hidden and they are the ones which devour and poison the heart. Even the
237 Ibid., 176-177. Cf. again 180-182.
238 Ibid., 179.
239 Ibid., 191-192.
240 Laurentie was the author of three brilliant pedagogical writings, amongst others: Lettres à un père sur l’éducation de
son fils (1834); Lettres à une mère sur l’éducation du son fils (1836); Lettres à un curé sur l’éducation du peuple. The
Italian edition: Lettere sulla educazione del popolo comes from a second edition (1850) by Laurentie, the former
inspector general of studies, (Genoa: Gio. Fassicomo Press 1856), 200 pages.
241 Cf. E Valentini, “Il sistema preventivo di M. Laurentie (1793-1876)”, in Palestra del Clero 61 (1982): 209-231.
242 P.S. Laurentie, Lettres à un père, 38-40.

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boys’ ages are deceiving. They show a childhood grown prematurely old, a woebegone
adolescence… The consequences of this situation are the advent of destructive passions,
hidden rebellious attitudes, sterile studies....and this is only the foreshadowing of a life
without hope and without élan.243
By contrast we have the enticing image of the Catholic boarding school.
The Christian boarding school is a family. The prevailing authority is the father’s authority, transferred
to another father, who substitutes the natural fathers: the teachers who share their zeal and their love.
Religion presides over this holy unity. It renders commands acceptable and obedience lovable. There is
orderliness in this school, but we are not dealing with that dark discipline which hides deep suffering
and hatreds. There is an orderliness which goes deep into the souls of the pupils and sets their
innermost thoughts in order. Advice is given with gentleness and is always available. The teaching is
variable, flexible, accessible to all kinds of intellect. Piety is not something imposed as a duty to be
carried out at given times and on certain days. It is more like an inspired habit which nicely fills one’s
entire life. In this school, pupils are like brothers and teachers are like friends. The boarding school
forms a man for society, because this young man has been provided in timely fashion with all the
weapons needed to face society, thanks also to the solid and lasting friendships made. The boarding
school is a small world, with its little passions but these passions are held in check by means of a
vigilant authority. But what I love the most in a boarding school is the perfection achieved. This
‘becoming a civilized person’, as Montaigne says, this being accustomed to community living, is the
beginning of social life, it marks the beginning of the first development of human virtues….The
boarding school does not create a precocious maturity but allows the boys to act as boys as long as
possible. What a fine combination is this blending of graces and ingenuity of early age with the strong
virtues, constant work and the severe constraint of studies! The Christian boarding school offers this
kind of blending, and adds beautiful harmony, the ornament of the arts. This is why studies are
agreeable, discipline is elegant, and instruction is both brilliant and attractive”.244
The author, however, staunch conservative that he is, also sees some dangers in the kind of friendship
and brotherhood in some Catholic boarding school open to new ideas, ideas such as the proclamation of
political equality. He sees this as a fantasy which causes conflicts which destroy the harmony of the old
order with its various levels according to nature’s own immutable order”.245
5. Felix Dupanloup (1802-1878)
Felix Dupanloup, a great educator, an active catechist, Bishop of Orleans, has handed down to us a rich
literary pedagogical output. His Concerning Education is remarkable, and was available in its Italian
translation in Don Bosco’s Oratory library. It was known to Don Bosco, either directly or indirectly.246
In the third book in particular, first and second volumes, dedicated respectively to discipline and the
instructor, we find clear indications preventive touch both in language and content.247
243 Ibid., 40-43.
244 P.S. Laurentie, Lettres à un père, pp. 44-49.
245 Ibid., 49-56. (Un péril au college)
246 L’educazione, by Bishop Felix Dupanloup, bishop of Orleans, member of the French Academy- Italian version by D.
Clemente De Angelis, 3 vols. Parma, Fiaccadori 1868-1869; De l’éducation par Mgr Dupanloup, book 1. De
l’éducation en général; book 2 De l’autorité et su respect dans l’éducation; book 3 Les hommes d’éducation (1st ed.
Paris 1850-1862). Paris, J. Gervais 1887 (11th ed). The French text is kept in mind but the quotes are from the Italian
edition which Don Bosco may have had in hand.
247 L’educazione per monsignor Felice Dupanloup vol.1 Dell’educazione in generale, book 3 Dei mezzi d’educazione,
143-256, and vol 2 Dell’autorità e del rispetto nell’educazione, book 3 L’istitutore, 377-600.

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According to Dupanloup, the antithesis between repressive and Preventive Systems is expressed
practically in the opposition between the civil and penal courts as seen in society and in the Board of
education.
The art of governing implies the use of force and repression. The art of education implies and requires
prevention. “The Ministry of education stands for fatherliness and the constituted authority of the
Board at one and the same time and, I would almost say, a kind of priesthood. And this is how it does it.
In all civilised societies the need was always felt not only to repress evil by controlling human passions
through punishments but also to prevent it by training men to acquire virtue through education. To
achieve this, peoples better schooled in wisdom have thought it best to make out of a magistrate, and a
magistrate of the highest degree out of the teacher.248
But the difference between repressive and preventive interventions is evident in the educational area
itself. They represent two of the three stages of the disciplinary action involved in the formation of the
will and the forging of character. All of these stages are called for by the nature of the child we are
helping in his growth. The word ‘discipline’ comes from the verb discere, to learn and the word does
not stand only for an external type of discipline but also for a type of teaching which reaches the inner
part of a child. It also stands for virtue. For this reason discipline stands for orderliness without which
education is not possible.249
The good qualities and defects of the child require orderliness. 250
The child is curious, mobile, restless, eager to play games, hostile to submission….
Childhood is affected by frivolity; it loathes application, is presumptuous, violent, stubborn.
Childhood is the age of recklessness, of heated passions, and pleasures. All of these defects
come from the nature of a child. But at least, children have not yet acquired defects… In
children, everything is flexible and new. It is quite easy to straighten up those tender plants
and have them turn towards heaven… This is why, even with all their defects, nothing is as
delightful as when we come to notice how reason and virtue are born in them…
Notwithstanding the appearances of frivolity and passionate urge for amusements, a child
may be wise, reasonable and sensitive to virtue… I have no difficulty recognising that a
child, even without excluding that he be lucky enough to be born with a happier character,
is nothing but a voluble, frivolous human being who jumps from one wish to another, is at
the mercy of his own instability. But all pious instructors should know well that the very
task and glory of education lie in the ability to overcome such frivolity and know how to
turn this inconstancy into stability.251
Those responsible for the educative community should provide for this kind of growth. They are to
operate on three fronts: l) They should keep constant, practical observance of the rules with steadfast
exactness. 2) They should prevent the violation of the rules through zealous assistance. 3) They should
repress transgressions of the rules with timely justice, in order to correct the disorder as soon as it
appears. Discipline, therefore, has been assigned three tasks, the same ones assigned to education: to
248 F. Dupanloup, L’educazione, vol. 2, book 3, 379. The highlighting is ours. In the distinction between the two courts we
find an echo in the opening of a note in 1878 by Don Bosco to Francesco Crispi: the repressive and the Preventive
Systems “are applicable in the midst of civil society and in educational places”; “while laws looks at the culprits, we
need to take grater care to decrease the number of them” (Il sistema preventivo 1878, 300-301).
249 F. Dupanloup, L’educazione, vol 1, book 3, ch. 3 La Disciplina, 126-127.
250 Cf. F. Dupanloup, L’educazione, vol 1, book 2, Del fanciullo e del rispetto dovuto alla dignità della sua natura, ch.1 Il
fanciullo, sue qualità, suoi difetti; quanto si presti all’uopo dell’Educazione, 67-68.
251 F. Dupanloup, L’educazione, vol 1, book 2, 70-74.

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conserve, to prevent, to repress. Discipline is precisely directed towards the training of the will and the
formation of the character, along with both intellectual and physical education and crowned by
religious education.
The two terms ‘discipline’, ‘education’, strictly understood, and distinct from the various stages of
formation (physical, intellectual and religious) find their expression in a threefold function which is
‘repressive’, ‘preventive’ and ‘directive’. The task of ‘repressive discipline’ is to avoid leaving
whatever is at fault uncorrected. The task of ‘preventive discipline’ is to eagerly keep dangerous
occasions at a distance. The task of ‘directive discipline’ is to show the right path to be followed always
and everywhere.
One can easily understand, without any need for comparisons, that it is better to prevent than to repress.
But exactness in maintaining what is good and vigilance in preventing what is evil make the need to
repress less urgent. Consequently, the greater importance lies with directive discipline which maintains
what is good. Preventive discipline is of secondary importance. It prevents the onset of evil. The least
important, though necessary, is repressive discipline which punishes.252
6. The preventive suggestions of Henri Lacordaire (1807-1861)
Henri Dominique Lacordaire , a French Dominican, brilliant orator and reformer of the Dominicans,
spent the last years of his life (1854-1861) after his six year term as Provincial, entirely dedicated to an
educational institution located within the Benedictine Abbey of Soreze, in the Toulouse area. The
Soreze institute had been entrusted to the Dominican Third Order founded by Fr Lacordaire, who was
its director and its competent, passionate leader.253
In the title of the opening chapter clearly profiling Fr Lacordaire, Apostle and Director of youth, Fr
Noble clearly indicates his basic character: Il les aima (He loved them).254 This feature of Lacordaire
had been indicated earlier on in the preface: His deep and unflinching love of the young.255
In the direction of youthful souls, Lacordaire preferred to use a system which might be called a
spontaneous system instead of an authoritarian system, the latter characterised by a fixed program and
by forced conformity.256 This system implied all of the following:
Faith in the soul of the young…providing them with the opportunity to be great while
keeping control over them; appealing to their latent energies, their good dispositions, their
readiness of heart, their generosity and power to commit themselves; removing the dross
from their exuberance and enthusiasm; favouring their spontaneity; bringing forth living
souls where goodness flows out from within, where virtues are the natural outcome of their
personal effort, the outcome of needs which are felt, wanted and loved; rendering duty
attractive and liberating, instead of making it look like something boring or tyrannical;
generating the optimism which brings serenity and fire; removing the pessimism which
252 Ibid., vol 1, book 3, ch. 3 La Disciplina, 177-178.
253 Cf. C.-G. Montserret OP, Enseignant parce que prêcheur: Henri-Dominique Lacordaire, in ‘Memorie Dominicane’, N.
3, Automne 1993, Écoles et collèges, 37-48; J.Angelico de Metz OP, La fondation des dominicains enseignants par le
Père Lacordaire, ibid., 49-50. B. Cocharne is an authoritative witness to Lacrodaire’s Christian educational vision. He
was his collaborator and confidante. Cf. Le R.P. Lacordaire, sa vie intime et religieuse, 2 vol. (Paris, Poussielgue 1866).
254 H.-D. Noble OP., Le P. Lacordaire Apôtre et Directeur de Jeunes Gens. Edition revue et augmentée, (Paris, Lethielleux
1910) 1st ed. 1908, 1-21. In Chapter 2, Pourquoi il les aima et pourquoi il en fut aimé (22-39), he points to the reasons
for harmony between educator and youngsters: “the youthfulness of spirit”, or “enthusiasm for big things, generosity of
noble sentiments, passion for heroic action, constancy in work undertaken, optimistic trust in people and things” (24)
255 H.-D. Noble OP., Le P. Lacordaire, pp. 7-13.
256 Ibid., 42-46.

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turns everything cold and runs the risk of turning into lethal scepticism; taking the side of
hope rather than the side of dim prophecies; dressing wounds rather than aggravating them;
discovering a platform for God; loosening the knots which allow evil to be intertwined with
the good; collecting all the natural goodness which may spring from it and a render it ready
to serve a higher ideal”. All this seems to have been the main general features of the
directional method followed by Fr Lacordaire in dealing with youth.257…It is essential to
jump the present and cross over to dream of the future. Humanity always looks to the future
even if it is far off, and looks to greener pastures because it needs more foresight and
faith….258 Live in the future, then: this is the great present, the great calling cry! It is the
norm for a demanding and joyful programme of life”.259
The core supporting idea for this process is proposed in strong terms: form human and Christian
characters shaped through obedience, ready to enter the world with personal and well defined ideas;
virtue and intelligence requires character: esto vir! (be a man!) as their foundation. Character is made
up of two sets of values: natural virtues which are its foundation; religion, in which is peaks. Religion
is of the greatest importance since it implies knowledge of God, the soul and its destiny. Religion is the
most brilliant light for men, the decisive power against sensual and spiritual passions.260
These two motives are explained in a speech delivered on August 7, 1856, to the young and their
families who were taking part in an award ceremony. Don Bosco may have read an outline of it in the
New Year’s Galantuomo of 1865, which was also the strenna (souvenir gift) in Catholic Readings. The
text from Lacordaire’s talk had been inserted in an article entitled Il clero e l’educazione della gioventù
(The clergy and the education of the young).261 The first three short pages are dedicated to recalling the
dedication shown to the young by St Jerome Miani, wrongly thought to be a priest, and by St Philip
Neri. All the rest deals with Fr Lacordaire and his boarding school at Sorèze.
Particularly interesting is Fr Lacordaire’s insistence on what he means by educational growth, in the
first part of the speech: “the fact of being able to see the living marks of the work of the spirit on their
foreheads, the signs of reason which holds primacy in their life, the gradual appearance of the beauty
which comes from the heart”. The educators, in the evaluation of their students, were not only guided
“by justice, but also by tenderness, by the fatherly tenderness which follows on from their parents’
tenderness”.262
This reference leads inevitably to an examination of conscience as far as the identity of the teacher is
257 Ibid., 50-51. Importantly documented in Lettres du P. Lacordaire à les jeunes gens, éditées par l’abbé H. Perreyve,
(Paris: Douniol 1884) 1st ed. 1863. We have in mind the 15th edition, (Paris, P. Téqui 1910), 35-471.
258 Lettres du P. Lacordaire, 354.
259 Lettres du P. Lacordaire, 86-88; cf. advice to a past pupil from Sorèze going to Paris, 361-363; to others with strong
passions, 392-396, 397-399, 431-434, 435-437; and again to a past pupil on bad companions, 425-426, and on the
essentail practices of Christian life, 427-428, 446-448; finally, strong and disturbing words to someone who is weak and
shifts between good and evil, 441-445.
260 G.-G. Montserret, Enseignant, 45-46.
261 Il Galantuomo e le sue avventure, Almanaco nazionale per l’anno 1865. Strenna offerta ai cattolici italiani. Anno XII,
(Turin: Oratory Press, St Francis de Sales 1864), 14-21. Anyone familiar with Don Bosco’s style could only believe
with great difficulty that this was written by him.
262 Discours prononcé à la distribution solennelle des prix de l’école de Sorèze le 7 août 1856, in Ouvres du R.P. Henri-
Dominique Lacordaire, book 5, (Paris, Poussielgue-Rusand 1861), 316-317. Concerning tenderness and firmness in
education he writes to a father asking for advice: “Education requires both tenderness and firmness. You have to avoid
the idolatry that forgives everything and smooths over everything, and inflexible severity that closes hearts and
distances them”; he concludes: “I think we have to avoid keeping a child too long in the shadow of the home” (Lettres
du P. Lacordaire, 335).

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concerned. This identity draws its value and power from the world of thought: “it comes from where
truth resides, together with beauty, justice, order, greatness and all that contributes to the making of a
man, a divine being , and of a child, a being who has the vocation to become a man. And this happens,
when we recognise that the soul is the country of true freedom and that this freedom is acquired
through knowledge and virtue”.263 Teachers live with their pupils to have them start their journey
toward this Kingdom with all of their dedication. “They continue God’s work and their families’ work,
they are the trailblazers of the world”.264
The teacher’s first task is to:
hold on to faith and make it grow to the point of opening up the minds of the young to the
understanding of the invisible world; to hold on to the hope which strengthens the heart
with a view to well-deserved happiness; to hold on to love which makes the young feel
God’s presence in life’s cold shadows and, in spite of them, still feel the warm temperature
of eternity…Therefore religion has reclaimed, through the school, a command which will
be never taken away from it; religion reigns not through constraint or just with the prop of
worship, but thanks to a unanimous sincere conviction, to duties secretly carried out, to
aspirations known only to God, and thanks to the peace which comes from doing good and
from remorse for the wrong which has been done…Where there is no God you may, at
most, have a ray of light on rubble. Whenever God is present, even the rubble comes back
to life and in time even the rubble will be built up again from the foundations.265
“Love, which extends the work of a family together with affection, is inseparable from God’s
presence…It is God ‘s will”. Lacordaire insists:
that no good may be accomplished on behalf of man unless he is loved. God has infused
that love into the parents and the educators cannot but be clothed in something of the
affection shown by parents: this is the second love created by God…Should the contrary
take place, then, the school will be cold, sad, alienated, like a prison. It entails a total
involvement in the life of the pupils and this involvement is summed up in this single
expression: We Love them. In fact, from the moment God became incarnate among us, the
care of souls, which was already so great, has become a love which is far superior to any
other love and a fatherliness which has no rivals. The skilled teacher is no more a skilled
teacher but a father. The scholar is no more a scholar but a priest. Therefore it is not
difficult to love the pupils. It is enough to believe in their souls, in God, who created them
and redeemed them, in their origin and in their destiny”.266
Religion and affection are the two columns of the educative structure.
Lacordaire does not fail to mention the third element. “It is essential for justice to have a stern
demeanour. Affection without justice is weakness and without justice even religion would veil the more
harmful, the more outstanding corruption of the heart. By rewarding the good and by striking the evil
done, human society can be safeguarded”. Without this element, “the child who has not yet come to
know what it is and in a way suited to his weakness, will inevitably have neither the fear of what is evil
nor the understanding of what life is. One needs to experience the weight of justice to learn how to
bend one’s will to accept the laws of duty: one must taste the joy of a reward well-deserved to acquire a
263 H.-D. Lacordaire, Discours prononcé, 319-320.
264 Ibid., 320-321.
265 Ibid., 322-323.
266 Ibid., 323-326.

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feeling for honour”. “Here, on the very threshold of the school, a child finds justice. But he does not
find it alone, separated from religion and affection; he will find it by getting accustomed to the law of
the world in which he is going to live, according to which any crime calls for atonement, every fault
calls for a reprimand, every failure calls for being ashamed of it, and every weakness calls for
dishonour”.267
The text published in the Galantuomo referred only to the sections which dealt with religion and love.
It remains improbable, as it has been pointed out, for the article to have been penned by Don Bosco
himself: it is not his style. However, the fact that many of Don Bosco’s ideas coincide with
Lacordaire’s and that some of these are related to ideas of religion and affection widely diffused in the
world of Catholic education before and after the Restoration, does not permit us to speak about Don
Bosco’s dependence on Lacordaire’s.
That religion is the basis of all moral and social life and therefore of every educational action, is a
conviction which Don Bosco made abundantly evident throughout his priestly ministry. The same may
be said for the method of charity expressed in affection, loving kindness practised, proclaimed and
recognised from the outset of his commitment to caring for young people.268
7. Antoine Monfat, educator and pedagogue (1820-1898)
With exceptional educators and animators like Poullet and Magne, the St Vincent de Senlis College
enjoyed a prosperous development followed by years of decline during which the number of students
decreased considerably. The school was handed over to the Fathers of the Society of Mary. Its first
director was Antoine Monfat (1820-1898), Provincial, from Lyons, and a man of great culture and
prestige. Monfat was open to the ideas of the school. He had come to know and understand its methods
during the years 1857-1867 at the Minor Seminary of Maximieux where he taught Latin and rhetoric
before he professed his vows as a member of the Society of Mary in 1867.
In the first speech delivered at Senlis, Antoine Monfat declared he was willing to follow its founder
Poullet’s programme, and also retain his style. One could really have more reasonably said of him what
was written later about one of his confreres, Fr Terrade: “His direction was a combination of gentleness
and strictness. One could easily have applied to him the motto of St Vincent de Senlis College:
Suaviter et fortiter (gently, but strictly).269
His activity as St Vincent’s was limited, however, because of the occupation of the school by the
German troops in 1870 and because of his short term in office. In 1872 he left the school and during the
following years was taken up with assignments which required his commitment to the direction of his
own religious society. However, this did not prevent him from putting the richness of his experience
and of his vast readings into numerous and various writings, some of a pedagogical nature. They found
267 H.-D. Lacordaire, Discours prononcé, pp. 326-327.
268 Conclusions drawn by F. Desramaut, Don Bosco en son temps (1815-1888), (Turin: SEI 1996), 656-658, seem at least a
bit loose. Don Bosco had no need to take not of the “seductive formulae of Lacordaire” to know what had been for
decades the pillars of his activity and beliefs as an educator, religion and affection. (696): cf Braido, “Il sistema
preventivo di Don Bosco alle origini (1841-1862). Il cammino del ‘preventivo’ nella realtà e nei documenti”, RSS
14(1995): 255-320.
269 Le révérend Père Terrade de la Société de Marie, (Paris: Imprimiere de J. Demoulin 1910), 23. Indicates not only a
personal trait but something of the entire Society of Mary. The following features of Monfat’s physical and spiritual
characteristics are highlighted: “his height, calm seriousness and recollectedness, a certain austerity softened by his
exquisite kindness, natural dignity of bearing, simplicity, tact, the appropriateness and measuredness of his speech, his
modest approachability”[A. S.-B.], Le Rév. Monfat ancien supérieur de l’institution Saint-Vincent à Senlis (Oise).
(Senlis: Institution Saint-Vincent 1898),.4.

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echoes abroad, including in Italy. Les vrais principes de l’education chretienne (The true principles of
Christian education); 270 Pratique de l’education chretienne; practique de l’enseignement chretien
(Christian education in practice; Christian teaching in practice) in two volumes.
The first volume was entitled Grammaire et Literature, the second Histoire et Philosphie. 271 The first
two were translated into Italian272 and The Practice of Christian Education even found an echo at the
Valdocco Oratory, the Mother House of all of Don Bosco’s Institutions. In the minutes of the
conference held November16, 1882 with all the Salesians involved in youth work, we find recorded
what dealt with the duties of educators. “A paragraph from Antoine Mofat was then read out which
gave rise to several remarks, especially that of being united and to be of one accord, which should be
made evident to the young being educated by us”. 273
The general structure dealing specifically with the education carried out in a boarding school is clearly
inspired by and directed towards a Christian view of life. Against the danger of secularism it is strongly
stated that without any exception, it is absolutely essential that faith should hold the most prominent
and sovereign place in education, “that the young man be turned into a Christian first of all”; 274 “the
first duty is that of directing the entire school’s discipline towards faith, subjecting and referring all that
is being taught to faith”. 275 “It is on this solid base that the two essential dimensions of an integral
human formation depend: the formation of the heart and will, the formation of the mind are the main
objectives of all teaching. 276
The prime mover is discipline, understood as education, namely instruction, and the proper direction of
morals, and as the set of means needed to achieve both. 277
Preventive and constructive educational action is the meeting of two positive conditions. The first
condition is provided by the marvellous resources found within the natural dispositions of the soul of a
child, a soul that is new, simple, open to confidence, tender and easily moulded. The child, once the
hazards and obstacles of the child’s age are overcome successfully, will move along the path already
undertaken: Adulescens juxta viam suam etiam cum senuerit non recedet ab ea (a child will never leave
270 Les vrais principes de l’éducation chrétienne rappelés auz maîtres et aux familles. Dispositions requises pour en faire
une heureuse application et devoirs qui en décourlent par le P.A. Monfat de la Société de Marie. (Paris: Bray et Retaux
1875), 8-366.
271 “La réputation des ouvrages du P. Monfat a passé la frontiére: chez les étrangers que la forme du langage préoccupe
moins que le fond des idées, ils font autorité” Le R.P. Antoine Monfat religieux de la Socieété de Marie. (Bar-le-duc:,
Imprimerie C. Laguerre 1898), 15.
272 I veri principii della educazione del P.A. Monfat translated and annotated by the priest Francesco Bricolo former
Director of the Male Mazza Institute in Verona and Corretta, (Turin: Libreria Salesiana 1892), 479 pages.; La pratica
della educazione cristiana del P.A. Monfat della Società di Maria, (Rome: Tipografia dei Fratelli Monaldi 1879), 208
pages.; F. Bricolo, La pratica dell’educazione cristiana del P.A. Monfat marista. A notably larger free version. (Ala:
Tipografia Editrice dei Figli di Maria 1891), 205 pages. “Free version of the recent work: La pratica della educazione
cristiana del padre A. Monfat Marista, who authorised me not only to translate it but to shorten it so as to make it more
accessible to a greater number of readers”. (pp 5-6). This second edition also has the second part of the original work
L’educazione propriamente detta, i.e. religious and moral.
273 J.M. Prellezo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento tra reale e ideale (1866-1889). Documenti e testimonianze, (Rome, LAS 1992),
254-255. It is possible that not only this time he does not recall a book that was somewhat familiar.
274 A. Monfat, Les vrais principes, 8.
275 Ibid., 6. The pivot for “theology of education” by Monfat, illustrated in two basic considerations from the first part of
the work: “1st L’educazione ha come scopo di formare la fanciullezza secondo il vangelo. Grandezza dell’infanzia
cristiana (19-52); 2nd L’educazione si propone come risultato di attuare le speranze della Chiesa circa l’avvenire dei
fanciulli. Sollecitudine che la Chiesa prodiga oggi in loro favore (53-67).
276 A. Monfat, La pratica della educazione cristiana (1879), 7-23 (Considerazione 1) and 24-41 (Considerazione II).
277 Ibid., 41-42.

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the path he has undertaken in his youth even when he grows old). 278 This is what the author adds as the
Christian, optimist and humanist that he was.
The second condition is the educator’s authority. He presents himself to his pupils with the prestige of a
father, teacher and priest who always refers to reason and to the heart with unlimited patience.
Authority comes from the verb augere which means to increase, to protect the vitality already
possessed by the body, mind, family, society and country.279 Monfat attributed a definite
methodological function to the exercise of authority, to the point of placing it ahead of virtue and the
knowledge of the educator. For this reason: “with a prestige that rules without compelling, and leads a
soul to heartily accept the yoke of submission, a tiny bit of good teaching and good example will elicit
more fruit for souls which will allow themselves to be entered into more easily than with a great
amount of knowledge and a high degree of sanctity, which might be imposed upon their trust and which
might find them impenetrable”.280
Besides indicating the religious sources of authority,281 the author also points the educator to the natural
means he should have recourse to. He reduces them to three: “Making oneself feared, respected and
esteemed, and loved”.282 The third resource is particularly stressed: making oneself loved! In fact, “fear
should not be servile but filial, reverential, affectionate, the end result of zeal mixed with strictness and
gentleness: Suaviter et Fortiter, a happy blend where strictness remains hidden and allows itself to be
hinted at “in ready support of gentleness”.283 However, this does not exclude, but rather demands the
restraint and seriousness which combines respect, silence and attention.284
The counter position leads to three duties educators have towards their pupils. These duties are taken
from the Constitutions of the Society of Mary: love, patience, respect.285
Therefore, along with the idea of fatherliness, the concept of love is dominant: a love that is sincere,
unselfish, supernatural, ready to grow, ready to forgive, ready to be generous, full of benevolence and
encouragement.286 This is a preventive love which calls the prefect or assistant to task in particular. “As
far as the Prefect is concerned, it is true to say that he is expected to be the first to love and prevent, at
all times; he is entrusted with the mission not so much of disposing of ignorance, but preventing vice
from being born or being diffused… What solicitude is needed to prevent the onslaught of so many
dangers! How much vigilance and delicacy are needed to have one accept the removal of dangerous
occasions...! In short, uninterrupted prevention is absolutely necessary, during study periods, recreation,
walks, day and night. The great goal is that of leading the pupils to freely obey. The success of an
educator depends on the attainment of this free obedience which distinguishes freedmen from
slaves”.287 However, any familiarity or intimacy which may detract from authority and prestige should
278 A. Monfat, Les vrais principes, 68-79.
279 Ibid., 79-80, 83, 85.
280 Ibid., 201.
281 They are humility, prayer, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, respect for ones superiors: Les vrais principes. 202-
207.
282 A. Monfat, Les vrais principes, 207-209.
283 Ibid., 207-209.
284 Ibid., 209-212.
285 Ibid., 292-350.
286 Ibid., 293; developments, 293-310.
287 A. Monfat, Les vrais principes, 303-304. Prevention as a method is framed in a wider perspective, theological in its
roots, in the prior dilexit of God (359; cf. 299, 301, 303); therefore, also giving the child “the certainty that he is loved”
(305). In Pratica dell’educazione cristiana, Monfat returns to the “careful supervision” as a specific competence of the
prefect.

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be avoided.288
Patience, which holds second place, will help. Patience should take into account the impetuousness of a
youngster, his changing moods and patience will be necessary, most of all, at the critical point of
repression, in moments of fear, inflexibility and when medicinal chastisements (not punishments) must
be administered.289
Repression is the third stage. It is the stage of emergency, relationships between pupils and educators.
Repression is preceded by two factors more authentically preventive and constructive. The first factor
is an inner discipline or discipline of the will directed toward love of duty in particular, by appealing to
reason, the heart and the sense of honour.290 The second factor is that of vigilance which implies a kind
of continuous, discreet and loyal prevention.291 “All educators know that it is incomparably better to
prevent evil rather than to have to fight against it and punish it”.292Repression is involved when the two
more noble ways of reasoning prove momentarily inadequate, that is when motives of duty and honour
fail, along with supervision. 293For educational activity to be kept open and allowed to continue,
according to Monfat the norms should be as follows:
l. Do not use (repression) until all other means have been exhausted.
2. Know how to choose the appropriate time.
3. Exclude anything which might arouse suspicion that you are acting out of emotion.
4. Act in such a way as to leave the door open for hope, forgiveness. 294
On this last, Monfat suggests that punishment be just, moderate, proportionate to the fault and useful
for improvement.295
288 A. Monfat, Les vrais principes, 329.
289 Ibid., 320-330. (Doveri particolareggiati del rispetto verso gli alunni) and 338-341 (Repression with profit).
290 A. Monfat, La pratica dell’educazione cristiana, (1879), 58-138. Monfat recalls the practice of short familiar
conversations by the Director with the pupils, held in the evening before they go to bed: it is the “evening conference”
which Dupanloup writes of and which Don Bosco called the Good Night or Good Evening (91-92).
291 Ibid., 138-155.
292 Ibid., 144.
293 Ibid., 156-193.
294 Ibid., 157. Developments, 157-173. On the influence of these pages on the letter on punishments attributed to Don
Bosco, J. Prellezo has written, Dei castighi da infliggersi delle Case Salesiane. Una lettera circolare attribuita a Don
Bosco, RSS 5 (1986) 263-308.
295 A. Monfat, La pratica dell’educazione cristiana, (1879), 173-193.

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Chapter 5
Preventive system personalities known directly or indirectly to Don Bosco
Don Bosco was no isolated historical personality and much less so in the 19th century. The Preventive
System he employed, of which he spoke and eventually wrote, came to the fore in a historical context
where similar directions were being followed, codified and proposed by others. There were educators
of both genders, often neighbours in geographical terms who in certain instances had an impact or
might have had an impact on him. This was due either to the fact that he had read some of their
writings or that he somehow came to know about them.
We are dealing here with people and institutions sharing the same anxious concern for young people in
times that were both new and difficult. These were people who undertook similar kinds of initiatives on
behalf of young people with a mind-set and language revealing a definite meeting of minds in reference
to an educational style which we can legitimately call ‘preventive’.
We will also keep in mind institutions which, though linked with earlier centuries, were still operating
in Don Bosco’s times and with which Don Bosco had direct contact. We mean, in particular, the
Institutions of the De La Salle Brothers and the Barnabites.
l. The Cavanis brothers
Venice, which belonged to the Lombard-Venetian kingdom from 1797 to 1866 and was assigned to the
Hapsburgs of Vienna, was the place where two brothers were at work, both priests and members of the
noble class during the first decade of the 19th century. They were Antonio Angelo Cavanis (1772-1858)
and Marco Antonio Cavanis (1774-1853).296
The two were the founders of a Marian Congregation (1802) which developed out of an oratory and in
“charity schools” for poor and abandoned youth. The first school went back to 1804. Later on, the two
brothers extended their work to Possignano (near Treviso) and to Lendinara (near Rovigo).
To guarantee the continuity of the schools the Cavanis Brothers founded the Congregation of the
Clerics Secular of the Schools of Charity, which were approved by the Patriarch of Venice in 1819 and
canonically approved by Pope Gregory XVI in 1836. The Schools of Charity offered free elementary
and secondary school instruction with religious formation, social assistance and recreational activities
as well as prevention from physical and moral dangers.
Fatherly familiarity may be considered the core of their educational method. It was characterised by
constant vigilance, continuous loving supervision and kindly discipline, aimed at creating a vital
educational blend of religion and human values. Some fundamental rules taken from the Constitutions
of this religious society fit in nicely with the above and lead to an authentic educational spirituality.
The institution wholeheartedly welcomes children and adolescents with fatherly love; it
296 Cf. A.A. and M.A. Cavanis, Epistolario e memorie 1779-1853, ed. A Servini, 5 vols. (Rome, Postulazione Generale
1985-1988); F.S. Zanon, I servi di Dio P. Anton’Angelo e P. Marcantonio fratelli conti Cavanis. Storia documentata
della loro vita, 2 vols. (Venice, 1925); and by the same author, Padri Educatori. La pedagogia dei Servi di Dio P.
Anton’Angelo e P. Marcantonio fratelli conti Cavanis, (Venice 1950); V. Biloni, “Le libere scuole dei Fratelli Cavanis”,
in Pedagogia e Vita 1952-1953: 397-408; G. De Rosa, “I fratelli Cavanis e la società religiosa veneziana nel clima della
Restaurazione” in Ricerche di Storia sociale e religiosa 4, July-December 1973: 165-186.

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educates them gratis; it defends them from being contaminated by the world, and spares no
sacrifices and no hardships to make up, as much as possible, for the harm and almost
universal deficiency of family education.297 Teachers should commit themselves to carrying
out this task among the children not so much as teachers but as fathers. Meanwhile,
teachers should assume the task of caring for the children, with the greatest of charity. The
teachers should teach nothing unless it is seasoned with the salt of piety. Let teachers make
sure that the children are inwardly disposed to follow Christian morals. Let the children be
kept away from the contamination of the world, through paternal vigilance. Let teachers
draw the children to themselves with much love, through oratories, spiritual meetings, daily
catechism classes, schools and innocent games.298
Don Bosco himself, on several occasions, acknowledged that he used the Cavanis brothers’
Constitutions while drawing up the Salesian Constitutions.
As I was drawing up each and every chapter and article (of the Constitutions), in many
things I have followed other Societies already approved by the Church and with a goal
similar to ours. For example, the rules of the Cavanis Institute, Venice, the rules of the
Institute of Charity; the rules of the Somaschi Fathers Institute and of the Oblates of Mary
Immaculate.299
As for what constitutes the rules I have consulted and, to the extent that it was suitable,
followed the Statutes of the Cavanis Institute of Venice, the Constitutions of the
Rosminians, the Statutes of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, all bodies or religious
societies approved by the Holy See.300
2. Lodovico Pavoni
The activity, institution and writings301 of Lodovico Pavoni from Brescia (1784-1849),302 take on
297 Constituiones Congregationis Sacerdotum Saecularium Scholarum Charitatis. Venetiis, ex typ. F. Andreola
MDCCCXXXVII, art. 3
298 Constitutiones, art. 94.
299 Letter to the Vicar of Turin diocese, March 30, 1863 Em I 562.
300 Cose da notarsi intorno alle Costituzioni della Società di S. Francesco di Sales, 1864, Const SDB 229; cf. F. Motto,
Constitutiones Societatis S. Francisci Salesii. Fonti letterarie dei capitoli “Scopo, forma, voto di obbedienza, povertà e
castità”, RSS 2 (1983): 342-343
301 Cf. Congregation of the Sons of Mary Immaculate, Raccolta ufficiale di doumenti e memorie d’archivio,. (Brescia:
Opera Pavoniana 1947). Contains the following documents amongst others: Organizzazione e Regolamento dei Giovani
sotto la protezione di S Luigi Gonzaga eretta nell’Oratorio di S. M. di Passione ed aggregata alla Prima Primaria del
Collegio Romano; the Regolamneto del Pio Istituto eretto in Brescia da Canonico Lodovico Pavoni a ricovera ed
educazione de’ Figli Poveru ed Abbandonati. (Brescia, The Institute’s press in S. Barnaba 1831); the Regole dei Fratelli
consacrati all’assistenza ed educazione dei Figli orfani ed abbandonati nel Pio Istituto eretto in S- Barnaba di Brescia
dal Can. Pavoni; the Regole Fondamentali della Religiosa Congregazione dei Figli di Maria, eretta in Brescia
nell’anno 1847 con superiore Approvazione, (Brescia, episcopal press in S. Barnaba 1847); Costituzioni della
Congregazione Religiosa dei Figli di Maria, Brescia, espicopal press 1847 [the texts will be cited from the version
faithfully republished in 1970]. Besides these: Lettere inedite del Servo di Dio Lodovico Pavoni, ed. P. Guerrini, (Pavia:
Artifianelli 1921); Lettere del Servo di Dio P. Lodovico Pavoni fondatore della Congregazione dei Figli di Maria
Immacolata di Brescia, (Brescia: Opera Pavoniana 1945); Ansie e fatiche d’un Fondatore. Il Ven Lodovico Pavoni e
l’Istituto di S. Barnaba in Brescia. Documenti epistolari, (Brescia, Opera Pavoniana 1956).
302 G. Gaggia, Lodovico Pavoni nel primo centenario della fondazione dell’Istituto, (Monza: Artigianelli 1921); L.
Traverso, Lodovico Pavoni Fondatore dei Figli di Maria Immacolata (1784-1849) Apostolo della gioventù pioniere
dell’educazione porfessionale, (Milan, Ancora 1948) 3rd edition; same author, “Amore e lavoro nell’opera pedagogica

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importance in terms of the development of preventive ideas and preventive undertakings. They also
offer some analogies on different levels with what would be Don Bosco’s experience some decades
later.303
In fact the festive congregation or oratory and the arts and crafts technical school created by Pavoni
anticipated Don Bosco’s initiatives by several decades, with echoes far and wide.304 Don Bosco might
have also had to hand some of the Regulations drawn up by the educator from Brescia. Rosmini
himself, in a letter dated December 1853, brought Don Bosco’s attention to the printing establishment
created by Pavoni and suggested a similar initiative.305
Lodovico Pavoni remarks: “Brescia was provident and had not failed by then to create congregations
and oratories for young people to receive their Christian education in. Only one class of child was left
out, the class most in need of such a charitable Institute. These were the children who were ostracised
and in bad shape, children who hardly dared to join the established groups of civilised and learned
youngsters”.306
This is how the congregation-oratory of St Louis came about in 1812. In 1819, Lodovico Pavoni was
asked to run the rectory of the church of St Barnabas and he annexed an oratory to it, then later in 1821,
a home for orphaned or abandoned artisans.307
In 1840 Lodovico Pavoni opened up a section for deaf and mute artisans next to the home. Finally, in
1843, to guarantee on-going support for the various educational initiatives, he brought all of his co-
helpers, priests and lay people (he called them coadjutor workshop supervisors), together in the
Congregation of the Children of Mary Immaculate, encouraged by the Decretum Laudis of 1843 and
canonical approved in 1847.
The goal of the new religious institution was to provide “an education for the lowest class which,
neglected as it is, becomes a hothouse sprouting an ungodly mob creating political and moral havoc,
that is, poor children who feel compelled by their circumstances and needs to drop out of school and
abandon the vigilant care of wise teachers who would like them to learn a skill”.308 The home in
particular was expected to be “a school of good morals for abandoned and unskilled youths, in order to
make them useful to the Church and society”.309 The sacred family of religious educators aimed at
committing themselves “tirelessly to the welfare of abandoned youth, wholeheartedly doing their best
di Lodovico Pavoni”, in Orientamenti Pedagogici 4 (1957): 44-60; G. Garioni Bertolotti, Verso il mondo del lavoro.
Venerabile Lodovico Pavoni, (Milan: Ancora 1963); R. Bertoldi, Il fratello coadiutore secondo il Ven. Lodovico Pavoni.
Documentazione per un profilo apsotolico del coadiutore pavoniano, (Pavia, Artigianelli Press 1966); G. Bertoldi,
L’esperienza apostolica di Lodovico Pavoni. Tradate, Congregation of the Sons of Mary Immaculate 1997, especially,
Il metodo educativo pavoniano (192-220).
303 In the decree of the Congregation of Rites on the heroicness of Pavoni’s virtues, June 5, 1947, we find: “Porro Servus
Dei stupendorum operum, quae paulo post S. Joannes Bosco amplissime protuli, praecursor merito est habendus” AAS
39 (1947): 642.
304 Cf. Lodovico Pavoni e il suo tempo. Acts of the Study Congress, (Brescia, March 30, 1985. Milan, Ancora 1986), 307
pages. On ‘Brescian Don Bosco, F. Molinari writes Rigore critico e agiografia: il venerabile Lodovico Pavoni (. 13-28);
on the basic educational institution, R. Cantù, L’Istituto di S. Barnaba, fondato in Brescia nel 1821 dal venerabile L.
Pavoni (125-174).
305 Cf. Epistolario completo of A. Rosmini Serbati, vol 12, 140; Don Bosco answered on Dec. 29, 1853, Em 1 211
306 Organizzazione e Regolamento, in Raccolta,. 9.
307 Nel Prospetto delle Arti e de’ Lavori attualmente in corso nel Pio Istituto a profitto ed educazione de’ giovani
ricoverati, appendix to Regolamento del Pio Istituto, in Raccolta, pp. 57-58, the following are listed: Printing and
copper-plate engraving arts, Bookbinding, stationery, Silversmithing arts, Ironworks, Carpentry arts, Wood and metal
turning, Shoemaking.
308 Regolamento del Pio Istituto, in Raccolta, 40.
309 Regole dei Fratelli consacrati, in Raccolta, 61

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to provide young people with a Christian, religious and professional education”.310 The holistic aspects
are emphasised repeatedly: personal and social, temporal and eternal, for children who need everything.
The goal is that of providing “poor orphans or abandoned children with religious education and the
acquisition of skills without which they grow up in the midst of misery and licentiousness as a disgrace
to Christianity and the scum of society”.
The Institute’s goal, then, is to be “influential, as much as possible, in reforming a rotten and depraved
world and therefore giving back to the Church some excellent Christians and to the State, good artisans
as well as virtuous and loyal citizens”.311 The formula “good Christian and upright citizen” (the subject,
in an absolutist regime) was particularly apt in the social and political context in which Pavoni was
operating: the Hapsburg Empire.
Let this turn out to be your glory: the fact that you sacrifice your talent and dedicate your
work to give back well-behaved children, faithful subjects, and useful citizens to the
Church, to the country, to the state.312
(The rector) will give all of his mind and heart to making sure that the sheltered youngsters
be properly instructed and firmly trained in their religion and in civility, so that they may
turn out to be excellent Christians, good family fathers, faithful subjects, in a word, children
dear to religion and useful to society.313
To achieve the successful religious and civil education of youth, methods and means proper to
preventive pedagogy are adopted: religion and reason, love and gentleness, vigilance and assistance
within a family-like milieu dedicated to an intensive commitment to work. The lifestyle and the activity
of every educator must conform to a family-like structure according to the specific responsibilities
entrusted to them: such as the prefect of the congregation, choir members inspector, regulator, the
workshop supervisor.
The Prefect is invited to remember that “his zeal should in no way alter the exercise of humility, charity
and gentleness which are to be his distinctive virtues. When he is dutifully called on to admonish some
of the youngsters for some of their defects he should try his best to do it in a kindly way. And when he
knows that there is need for an authoritative reproach he has no other choice than to let the rector be
told about it”.314
The Choir members’ Inspector. Since he is dealing with an elite group of youngsters he should keep in
mind that he has been entrusted with a job requiring great caution, vigilance and tact. It is his task,
then, to direct them through persuasion and first of all gentleness, to fulfil their duties, using his good
example as the most effective means to achieve his goal.315
The Regulator is the one Don Bosco called the “prefect of studies”. The regulator was expected to be
always with the boys. Therefore, the first duty of the regulator is to exercise continuous supervision
over the young people entrusted to him both in the oratory and outside. He should try his best to keep
310 Regole dei Fratelli consacrati, in Raccolta, 62. There is a striking insistence on “religious Brothers tirelessly busy on
behalf of poor, abandoned youth”; “...to be concerned about perfecting oneself and working tirelessly for the good of
one’s neighbour” (Regole fondamentali, in Raccolta,. 63-64)
311 Regole fondamentali, in Raccolta, 64.
312 Regolamento del Pio Istituto, in Raccolta,. 43.
313 Costituzioni della Congregazione religiosa dei Figli di Maria. Brescia episcopal press 1847, part 7, chap. 5, art. 224,
88.
314 Organizzazione e Regolamento, in Raccolta, 19.
315 Ibid., 21.

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in touch with their parents or guardians, inform them about their school attendance or truancy, and let
them know about their behaviour. The regulator “should gently urge them to receive the sacraments
frequently... He should correct their defects with loving kindness. The regulator should also try to instil
the love of piety and hatred of vice in them by word and example,”.316
Regulations for the workshop supervisors are particularly full of educational and innovative ideas
which have, to a great extent, being included in the Constitutions. The shop supervisors should see to it
that the young entrusted to their care apply themselves diligently to their assignments and are
charitably assisted so they may progress in knowledge of their technical skill according to their talents
and abilities”.317 A kind of mini summa pedagogica is offered them by their Constitutions, where there
is a chapter dedicated to them.318 Don Bosco could have accepted it without reservation.
257. They will safeguard the young entrusted to them like a precious and holy deposit.
They are to love them as the apple of their eye. They will use civil and respectful manners
in their regard; they will never show disrespect towards anyone, either in deed or in word;
they will make themselves feared and respectfully loved in a healthy manner.
258. They will lead them to love their work. They will get them used to working more out
of love than fear. They shall never yield to their unreasonable pretences, neither will they
allow their whims to have their way. They should never demand too much but nor should
they ever seem weak.
259. They will study their pupils’ character and strength well to guide them on the right
path; since not all the young want to be guided in the same way, they will not expect the
same response from everyone but one suited to their ability and the gifts they have received
from God.
260. They will treat their pupils with much politeness and gentleness, instilling in them
good behaviour, the required respect and confidence for and in their superiors. They will
never leave them alone in the classroom in the workshop, and when they need to absent
themselves for some interest or necessity, there should always be someone to assist in their
place. They will not allow secret conferences or conversations, especially between boarders
and outside students. Woe to supervisors who might be negligent in this.319
Supervision is given several guidelines, particularly in reference to the prefect of supervision and the
vice rector.320
The vice-rector should conduct himself with much caution and exquisite prudence rather
than showing the boarders his abundant good faith in them... Recreations especially should
get his attention: he will never allow the younger ones to be without supervision, but he
will do so in such a way as to leave them a certain amount of freedom, thus allowing them
to better demonstrate who they are. This will help him more easily come to know their
character and inclinations and provide easy access to forming them and handling them
316 Organizzazione e Regolamento, in Raccolta, 2-23.
317 Regolamento del Pio Istituto, in Raccolta, 45.
318 Costituzioni, part 7, ch. 8, 96-98.
319 Costituzioni, part 7, ch. 8, 96-97.
320 Organizzazione e Regolamento, in Raccolta, 45-46.

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successfully... Let him see everything but pretend not to see everything; and let him correct
with prudence and use few punishments which, however, should be beneficial and
effective. Let him be slow to punish defects which are the result of youthful exuberance,
fickleness or thoughtlessness. But let him be inexorable in punishing defects which spring
from ill will coming from heartfelt obstinacy.321
The Spiritual Director’s “instructions should try to present their religious duties as a sweet yoke, a light
burden which turns out to be easy and comforting once experienced,”.322 In boarding institutions, in
fact, “special care should be taken to achieve good formation of young hearts, to instruct them correctly
according to faith and religion, to provide a foundation of true piety which honours God, sanctifies the
souls, edifies one’s neighbour, brings happiness to the family; piety which is solid, robust, freely
performed, well understood and aimed at the exact observance of one’s duties”.323 This is the first focal
point of the educational process which sees how “someone can be made industrious, and capable of
earning what he needs for an honest living in society through his own work”.324
Reason and Love are also the means which are expected to guide the method of correcting. “Instead of
having recourse to severity which is often used to lead small children to act out of fear and hypocrisy
instead of feeling and love, we should use the method of imitation and honour. If these are not abused
we can do anything with the sensitive heart of the young”.325
3. Marcellin Champagnat (1789-1840) and the Marist Brothers
Marcellin Champagnat (1789-1840) ordained priest in 1816, founded the religious society of The Little
Brothers of Mary or the Marist Brothers at La Valla, (Loire, France) in 1817. The Society was
canonically recognised in 1824 and approved by the Holy See in 1863.326 Marcellin Champagnat is one
of the most representative of those working to ‘recover’ children and the positive prevention
championed in France by some ten or more teaching Congregations especially at the elementary school
level.327
In fact, the common aim of these Congregations was to “guarantee a future for the younger generations
who were the main victims of the French Revolution and strengthen them beforehand against the
disintegrating spirit of the 18th century by providing children with a truly religious education”.328
“Children are the Church’s nurseries. It is thanks to children that the Church is renewed and faith and
piety are kept alive”.329
321 Costituzioni, part 7, chap. 6, art. 238 and 242,. 91-92.
322 Ibid., part 7, chap. 7,art. 245, 93-94.
323 Ibid., part 5, chap.1, art. 124, 62.
324 Ibid., part 5, chap. 1, art 124, 62.8.
325 Regolamento del Pio Istituto, in Raccolta, 54.
326 Other than largely pedagogical indications in the Constitutions, Regulations and Circulars, the constents of three
specific documents are fundamental: Guide des Écoles à l’usage des petits Frères de Marie, rédige d’auprès les
instructions du Vénérable Champagnat (1853); Avis leçons, sentneces et instructions du Vén. P. Champagnat expliqués
et développés par un des premiers disciples (1869): Le bon Supérieur ou les qualités d’un bon Frère Directeur d’après
l’esprit du vénéré P. Champagnat, Fondateur de l’Institut des Petits Frères de Marie (1869). Biographical indications
on M. Champagnat and the Litte Brothers of Mary can be found in the work by P. Zind, Les Nouvelles Congrégations
des Frères enseignants en France de 1800 à 1830 3 vols., (Saint-Genis-Lavalle: Montet 69, 1969), vol 2 Sources.
Bibliographie. Chronologie. Index,. 591-597 (various monographs on pedagogical and catechetical topics are listed).
327 On the original pedagogical significance of M. Champagnat’s activity and that of the Marist Brothers, cf. P. Zind, Les
Nouvelles Congregations, vol 1, 121-128, 200-222, 312-327, 384-390.
328 P. Zind, Les nouvelles Congregations, vol 1, 110.
329 Avis leçons, sentneces et instructions du Vén. P. Champagna,( Lyon: Vitte 1914), 19.

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The aim of the new Society, emerging out of a rural context, is defined in the following promise:
We commit ourselves to teaching all needy children given us by the parish priest, gratis,
teaching them and all children entrusted to us catechism, prayers, reading, writing and all
the other subject matter proper to elementary school, according to need.330
Christian education and catechism have first place, but all the various elements of a human and cultural
formation are brought together. The initial instructional framework is largely inspired by the method
used by the Brothers of the Christian Schools and the ‘little schools’. As far as catechesis is concerned,
we can detect the impact of the method used at St Sulpice. But the orientation as a whole ends up
taking on distinctive features which characterise the Christian preventive pedagogy of the 19th century
from within. The main objectives are:
To see to the salvation of souls, religious instruction as a means of wresting children from
vice, and forming their heart, conscience and will. Devotion to Mary — the Brothers take
the blessed Virgin Mary who served and educated the child Jesus, as their exemplar; the
method of love is to be used for discipline, which has as its goal not to hold back the pupils
by means of force and fear of punishments, but to keep them away from what is evil,
correct their defects, form their will. Educators are expected to be fathers and not slave-
masters; there must be a family spirit with feelings of respect and love, mutual trust and not
fear”.331 … The brother is a perfect model to be imitated by fathers and mothers, showing
tender charity towards his pupils, patience in putting up with their faults, zeal in forming
them to achieve virtue and useful knowledge, vigilance concerned with keeping far away
from them all that can be harmful, steadfast dedication to their spiritual and temporal
interests; he is an on-going lesson showing them what they should do and be in order to
give their children a true Christian education”.332 … He does good to everyone: the children
whom he educates and helps improve by means of instruction, Christian instruction;
families whose place he takes; parishes which he helps build up, preserve, improve; the
entire country by preparing children to be good citizens; the church, by helping pastors to
instruct the most interesting section of their flock; by tirelessly forming new generations of
learned, convinced and faithful Christians for the Church. The brother is entirely dedicated
to the service of religion and the community, and offers his energies and life to promote the
glory of God and the sanctification of his neighbour”.333
The tasks assigned to the director of the community of religious educators contain much wisdom,
undoubtedly close to the features of the effective and gentle manner of governing proposed by Binet.334
The director’s qualities are abundantly explained: common sense, reasonableness, a good disposition,
piety, observance, sanctity or solid virtue, charity, humility, gentleness, firmness and constancy,
vigilance and ability to correct.335 The pedagogical life-project presented for the Brothers in “lessons
and instructions” appears no less clear and complete. The project starts off from the notion of
education, its objectives and its requirements, namely: catechesis, respect towards the child, discipline
330 Cited by P. Zind, Les Nouvelles Congregations, vol 1., 201.
331 Cf. P. Braido, “Marcellino Champagnat e la perenne “restaurazione” pedagogica cristiana”, in Orientamenti Pedagogici
2 (1955): 721-735.
332 Avis leçons, sentences, 26.
333 Ibid., 28.
334 Cf. E. Binet, Quel est le meilleur gouvernement, already cited nel ch. 3, par. 3., (Lyon, J. Nicolle 1869).
335 Cf. Le bom Supérieur ou les qualités d’un bom frere directeur d’après l’esprit du vénéré père Champagnat, (Lyon, J.
Nicolle 1869).

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and the personality of the teacher-educator. This is a systematic vision which leaves no reason at all to
envy the lived and reflective experience of Don Bosco the educator.336
Education has to reach and grasp all the dimensions of a child’s life: to enlighten his intelligence
including by correcting his deviations and prejudices; to mould his heart; to form his conscience; to
create the habit of being pious; to form his will, his judgement, his character; to inspire him to love, to
work; to make whatever needs to be known available to the child; to maintain and develop a child’s
physical strength; to provide a child with the means needed to develop who he is.337
According to the canons of current pedagogy, stress is placed on the need for education to be decisively
life-oriented. As for catechetical instruction method, brevity and clarity are especially recommended.338
Some pages are particularly impressive — those dedicated to the celebration of the child as a being
endowed with infinite potential, unlimited hope, worthy of the most delicate and religious respect, the
“masterpiece issued from God’s hands”, “king of the universe”, “son of God”, “our brother”.339
Genuinely preventive ideas can be found later in two chapters dedicated to preventive and formative
discipline based on an authority which is to be both paternal and moral and on supervision which is to
be continuous, active and universal”.340 Consequently, the teacher-educator is held in very high esteem.
His task is to act as a magistrate, father and apostle, as later on Dupanloup too would write.
A civil magistrate uses verdicts and assigns punishments, often without providing
corrections; the teacher-educator is a father who is free and disinterested as he teaches and
corrects and as he shares somehow the very spiritual fatherhood of God; the teacher-
educator is an apostle, almost a priest, and ever present in the life of a child who, in turn,
feels touched to the core of his spirit and heart, whenever there is reproach or praise,
whenever there is shame or honour, real joy in learning and working and having a positive
outcome”.341
4. Teresa Eustochio Verzeri and the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Teresa Eustochio Verzeri was a noble woman from Bergamo, foundress of the Congregation of the
Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus dedicated to the instruction and education of girls of all classes
of society. It was canonically approved in 1847.
This woman, endowed with keen intelligence, made an important theoretical contribution to education.
She left us relevant writings, result of a remarkable cultural formation she had received at home; they
were written during her first time at the monastery at age 16 and, later on, from 1821 to 1823, then
1828 to 1831. They were the result of her personal intensive reading.
We can easily detect the impact of the writings of St Ignatius of Loyola, St Theresa of Avila, and St
Francis de Sales. Theresa Verzeri was also well acquainted with the classic by Etienne Binet: Quel est
le mailer gouvernement: Le rigoureux ou le doux? (Which is the better form of government: strict or
gentle?).342To fully understand Verzeri’s spiritual and educational orientation, one has to read her huge
336The last chapters, 35-41 are dedicated to this in Avis leçons, sentence et instructions, 399-495.
337 Avis leçons, sentences, pp. 399-411.
338 Ibid., 412-432.
339 Ibid., 433-445.
340 Ibid., 446-469.
341 Ibid., 470-495.
342 Cf. T.E. Verzeri, Dei doveri delle Figle del Sacro Cuore e dello spirito della loro religosa istituzione (Brescia,
Episcopal Press from the Pio Istituto 1844), vol 1, 412-414, 433.

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work divided into five parts: Dei doveri delle Figlie del Sacro Cuore e dello spirito della loro religosa
istituzione (Concerning the duties of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart and the spirit of their religious
Institute), and especially the chapter: Cura delle giovani e modo di educarle (The care of young girls
and how to educate them).343
The refined pedagogical spirituality and explicit preventive arrangements in her experience have been
rightly emphasised.344 Two central statements define their protective, constructive value.
Cultivate and safeguard the mind and heart of young girls well and attentively while they
are still tender, so as to prevent evil’s influence as much as possible, for it is better to
forewarn them with advice than to liberate them with corrections. Keep young girls away
from anything which might spoil their mind and their hearts, even minimally corrupt their
moral behaviour in any form. Make sure to achieve this zealously and effectively, using
exquisite prudence, however, for this is delicate especially when we are dealing with young
girls who, knowing what is evil, might find an incentive in that knowledge to desire it and
get it for themselves. In this matter the greatest of caution and reserve should be used, and
no one should ever fear that this caution and reserve are too much.345
The significant features of Verzeri’s education system centre on these principles. The religious element
has primacy. “You should be extremely discrete in managing young girls. Keep the objective firmly in
mind, namely to educate them to acquire virtue and to lead them to God. As for as the choice of means
for successfully achieving this objective, you should be mindful of adapting yourself to their
temperament, inclinations and to each one’s circumstances...Some may want to be treated seriously,
others amiably, some rigidly and still others gently, some with reserve, others in an easy, confidential
way”.346 “Instil the holy fear of God in your girls and a feeling of confidence in him. If your girls have
the fear of God they will also fear of sin which is opposed to God’s holiness”.347 “Suggest only a few
practices of piety to them, but good, substantial ones... Help the girls to develop a strong devotion to
the Blessed Sacrament in their heart... and nurture in them love and confidence in Mary Most Holy”.348
But everything should be done with much discretion and reasonableness, “in order not to pretend to be
able to lead others along the path that you yourselves walk on”. Do not expect too much from your girls
and do not hope to harvest immature fruits from them... Keep the following principle in mind: follow
343 (Brescia, Episcopal Press of the Pio Istituto 1844) [2 Vols], Vol 1, part 4, ch. 6, 410-444. The Lettere, 7 vols, are also
rich in spiritual and pedagogical content. Lettere. (Brescia, Pavoni Institute Press 1874-1878).
344 Always basic for Verzeri is the Vita della Serva di Dio Teresa Eustocchio Nob. Verzeri Fondatrice e Superiora
Generale delle Figlie del S. Cuore, Giacinto Dott. Arcangeli, 2 vols. (Brescia, Pavoni Institute Press 188)1, in 1946 the
second edition was reprinted, reviewed and corrected by the Author); Annali delle Figlie del Sacro Cuore di Gesù, 6
vols. (Rome, Artigianelli di S. Giuseppe Press 1899); Nel primo Centenario della nascita della Ven Verzeri. (Bergamo:
Istituto Italiano Arti Grafiche 1901); L. Dentella, Il conte conanico Giuseppe Benaglio e un secolo di storia
bergamasca, (Bergamo, Secomandi 1930); Una donna forte. La beata Teresa Eustocchio Verzeri Fondatrice delle
Figlie del Sacro Cuore di Gesù di Bergtamo, ed. a religious from the Institute, (Bergamo, Institute of the Daughters of
the Sacred Heart 1946); C. Boccazzi, La spiritualità della B. Teresa Eustocchio Nob. Verzeri., (Cremona: Pizzorni
1947); E. Valentini, “Il sistema preventivo della Beata Verzeri”, in Salesianaum 14 (1952): 248-316; A. Saba, Una
pedagogia dell’Ottocento: Teresa Verzeri, Master’s dissertation presented at the Istituto Universitario Pareggiato di
Magistero Maria Assunta, Rome, academic year 1954-1955; R. Sani, Indirizzi spirituali e proposte educative dei nuovi
istituti religiosi dell’Ottocento in area lombarda, in Chiesa, educazione e società nella Lombardia del primo Ottocento,
ed. R. Sani. Milan, Vita e Pensiero 1966, 77-137.
345 T.E. Verzeri, Dei doveri vol 1, 434.
346 Ibid., 416.
347 Ibid., 436.
348 Ibid., 423.

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grace and try not to go ahead of it. Since the Lord is right and gentle, in much the same way you should
be very gentle when you demand anything or invite the girls to do anything, and absolutely right in the
exercise of authority and in asserting your position”.349
The methodological primacy of love is expressed both in human relationships and in achieving moral
and religious formation. “Generally, employ gentleness, kindness, vigilance, discretion and zeal”;350
“do not present them with denial as sad and bitter, as it appears, but as reasonable, softened by delight
and grace and rendered light by the hand of the Lord”.351 “Be kind and gentle. With gentleness and a
spirit of sacrifice you will obtain twice as much as you would by using severity and fear”.352 “Show that
you love them with tenderness: this will win over their love and you will have their esteem and a
powerful access to their souls and thus a wide open room to persuade them to improve their
conduct”.353
There is also sincere concern for keeping the girls away from idleness and warning them against
dangers. “Keep the young girls away from idleness and have them love work... The young boarders
should be forewarned and instructed about the future which awaits them but with extreme delicacy and
prudence”.354 Remarkable consideration is given to the girls’ youthful age. “Give no weight to small
things of no importance: some small defects which are offshoots of a bubbly youthful age, lively
temperament and buoyant spirit should not be taken too seriously: allow nature to open up and display
its tendencies and all this will turn out for the better”.355
Therefore assistance assumes a prominent and decisive role as it is directed to actively promoting
balanced and wise self-knowledge and self-control in young girls. “Do not invent new sins: there are
too many already. Rather do your best to decrease their number by forming a good conscience, right
mind and pure heart in your young girls”.356 “Do not allow songs, shows, dances, readings and similar
things which might somehow prove to be a stumbling block for your pupils’ virtue… The shows
performed during carnival time or any other amusement of the kind should have as their main objective
to instruct as well as to entertain: everything should help form the girls to achieve virtue and raise them
to accepting God”.357
The right kind of physical development is also promoted and looked upon as the condition for a sound
spiritual freedom. “Young girls need an outlet, a free outlet through their amusements. Let them choose
the kind of amusements they want: free relief develops their physical character and disposes them to
willingly accept the instructions provided for their spirit and the advice provided for their hearts and all
with better results. Have no scruples in letting them jump around: girls long for this kind of relaxation
which proves to be useful for their health and physical development”.358 “Always within the limits of
authority and obedience, the girls should be allowed to enjoy holy freedom so they may come to know
that the yoke of the Lord is gentle and that his servants are free”. Otherwise “in your way of doing
things you make slaves out of your girls who act because of the stick and not as children of God going
ahead in love”.359
349 T.E. Verzeri, Dei doveri vol 1, 418-419.
350 Ibid., 421.
351 Ibid., 422.
352 Ibid., 425.
353 Ibid., 426.
354 Ibid., 424-425.
355 Ibid.,426; cf. 429-430 (and 438-439 on the value of recreation, also for working some things out about the girls)
356 Ibid., 429; cf 426-431.
357 Ibid., 435.
358 Ibid., 437.
359 Ibid., 413-414.

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5. The Preventive System in infant schools
Ferrante Aporti (1791-1858) does not only think of education as prevention but explicitly uses the
‘Preventive System’ in his education. “The ability of an educator”, he declares, “does not consist so
much in being able to prudently punish children’s mistakes as in being able to prevent them from
happening. There is no comparison between the merit of an educator who knows only how to provide a
remedy for the harm being done and the merit of one who knows how to prevent the harm from being
done”.360
Angiolo Gambaro adds the following comment to the above:
In a few words, Aporti highlights the great superiority of the Preventive System over the
repressive. This superiority is recognized by educators and pedagogues who are carefully
concerned that love be the very foundation of education. These educators and pedagogues
are concerned about creating a peaceful atmosphere, one of goodness, persuasive activity
around the child, to naturally lead him to what is good and avoid everything that distances
him or makes him a victim of some offence or rebellious or discourages him”. The practical
development of the preventive method revealed its marvellous effectiveness in Don
Bosco’s educational practice.361
It is actually possible to discover the essential features of a complete Preventive System in Aporti’s
educational and teaching method. In fact, “provided it is possible it is better to stay healthy than to
allow oneself to get sick just to be healed. The reason is that health resulting from being healed always
has the tendency to fall ill again”.362 We find the well-known constitutive elements of education:
assistance, affection, charity, and loving kindness, reasonableness, joy, singing, recreation, movement.
Even for an intellectual education to be successful the recourse to strongly affective elements was
needed. This was the first among the many maxims dedicated to teaching: “Win over the affection and
trust of children first of all”.
There is no doubt that an objective is more easily and securely achieved by kindness. The educator,
once he has the affection of his pupils, will succeed in having the pupils try their best to please him in
attention and behaviour; they will not be bored or turned off, but will find satisfaction and delight in the
learning process. However, the educator should be careful enough not to confuse gentleness, loving
kindness, affability in dealing with children with the familiarity which might lower the value of
authority. He should be a kind and loving father but still always graciously authoritative”.363 Elsewhere
Aporti added “strong persuasion and affection”, 364 “loving kindness” and reasonable behaviour”.365
The lectures on method, given in Turin, are full of reference to affectivity.
The two principles which create good method are: 1.Take into account the nature, character
and development of the child’s faculties, 2. One’s own experience and the experiences of
others, drawn from the implementation of pre-established rules... Among the principles
drawn from consideration of the nature of the child and from experience, first place should
360 Elementi di pedagogia, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, vol 2, 114.
361 Ibid., 114-115, n. 1.
362 Letter to C. Boncompagni on June 30, 1838, in A. Gambaro, Ferrante Aporti e gli asili, vol 2, 397.
363 Elementi di pedagogia, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, vol 2, 85.
364 Lezioni di metodica in the Turin course 1844, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, vol 2, 442. According to Lemoyne, Don
Bosco, given the task by the archbishop, would have been at Apporti’s lessons (MB 2, 212-214): the judgements Fr
Cerutti attributed to Don Bosco concerning the pedagogue appear to be completely unfounded and unjust.
365 Manuale di educazione ed ammaestramento, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, vol 1, 36.

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be given to the importance of winning over the affection of children. We should bear in
mind that the means most suitable for achieving kindness is kindness. Contempt breeds
contempt. We love those who treat us with loving kindness, not those who treat us with
contempt… To whom do children show affection? To the ones who welcome them, show
that they love them and do well to them. Jesus Christ gives all of us a great example of this.
The Apostles, not yet enlightened by the Holy Spirit, wanted to keep children away from
Jesus and Jesus prevented them from doing this – to the contrary, he welcomed them with
kind words…Now, realising that children love those who love them, the educator should be
concerned about showing them kindness and showing them, at every opportunity, a sincere
eagerness to care for their moral and physical good…This will be the end result: a child
who recognises his teacher’s affection in order to please his teacher will be well behaved
and will study. This did not ordinarily happen when severe punishments were used together
with the stick, in place of human, conciliatory and kind means. The former method
humiliated and hurt without correcting. While recommending that the teacher should win
his pupils’ love and confidence through his ways of dealing with them we should also let
the teacher know that he should not exaggerate to the point where affection and confidence
may turn into familiarity. The teacher should welcome every child with kindness but never
joke with them, never lower himself to their level, never place himself in a situation where
the students might lack respect for him and he might lose authority over them.366
This is a new way of acting as a teacher. “And what should the teachers of such a tender age be like? To
anyone who would like to take on such a very important and unenviable role, I say: let him be
completely fatherly towards his pupils. If he does not do this, if he is unable to do it he will never
succeed in educating them reasonably. The reason is that to be successful in such a noble undertaking,
it is essential to have a father’s patience, become a child once again in order to meet them at the level
of their intelligence, to provide lively and cheerful instruction, respond with kindness to all their
questions, to caress them from time to time in order to soften the difficulties they have with their work.
Summing up, an educator should live with them like a wise friend, like a counsellor and director and
should love them as he loves his own children”367
The theme of love is considered so essential that Aporti stresses it even when he explains the method of
teaching arithmetic:
Furthermore, what concerns me even more, according to my inner convictions, is that the
teacher should try his best to also direct his teaching towards education of the heart. As
long as a teacher restricts himself to giving knowledge and developing the intellectual
faculties of his pupil, he will be admired for his precision, for all the life he has been able to
put into his work, but I will be never be happy with him. I would also say that I feel sorry
for him because I would have only found a teacher who can teach language or the ABC
while I, society and religion expect and have the right to expect him to be an educator who
is able to warm the hearts of his pupils by enlightening their minds and while sharing
instruction is able to improve his pupils’ lives”.368
The Infant school thus becomes the school for children without a family or with an inept family. It
366 Lezioni di metodica, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, Vol 2, 440-441.
367 Elementi di pedagogia, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, Vol 2, 50-51. Fear, “rigour, lack of loving kindness” are, for
Apporti, “ sufficient reason for destroying the children’s desire to go to school” (Lezioni di metodica, in F. Aporti,
Scritti pedagogici, Vol 2, 442).
368 Lezioni di metodica, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, vol 2, 450.

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becomes a “domestic” world where they feel enveloped by the light of knowledge and the warmth of
love….”Since they have no family, which is a powerful means of doing good and restraining from evil,
it is essential to create a family for them which, through wise guidance, fervent and sincere kindness,
may arouse a moral sense in them and strengthen it. The purpose of this activity is to reconcile them
and create strong ties with society using the sublime and generous principles of natural and religious
charity”.369 Inserted into this dynamic is the intuitive, objective and demonstrative method which
fosters “the gradual development of the powers of the mind and heart”.370 This development takes place
within an educational context where “the studies are dealt with as though they were amusements and
games”, where “occasional moderate movement”371 is favoured and “where singing is promoted, also to
train the vocal chords and the hearing ability of children, because children love to hum tunes”.372
Aporti describes the results of this method in a report which first came out on September 24, 1830.
“Satisfaction increases when one considers that the children enrolled in this school are more cheerful,
well-behaved, content and sociable: their schooling leads them to recognise an initial step to the
practice of a kind way of behaving”.373
6. Antonio Rosmini and his positive, preventive pedagogy
Antonio Rosmini (1797-1855), just like Don Bosco, Dupanloup and others, did not ignore the
pedagogical language of the time related to education and its different stages. But his language differed
from Don Bosco’s and Dupanloup’s in his understanding of the verb ‘prevent’. For Dupanloup,
‘prevent’ is only one of the three fundamental tasks of discipline-education. For Don Bosco, the entire
educational activity can be understood and carried out as a kind of ‘preventing’. Rosmini instead, takes
it simply as a condition which precedes educational activity. ‘Educating’ for Rosmini, is a much higher
and more difficult kind of activity. Rosmini wrote to a priest from Rovereto (Trent, Italy) who had
raised the following question374: “How can one make sure that the virtues of boarding school
youngsters are lasting virtues?” In his response, Rosmini forewarned the priest about relying too
heavily on ‘external’, preventive and preparatory means which have two objectives:1. To remove the
occasions of evil; 2. To dispose the spirit to doing good. These means “prepare” the young man to be
educated, to receive what is good but they do not convey what is good, namely, “virtue and grace”. By
themselves, preventive means can cause a lot of harm since they might produce a kind of goodness
which is only apparent, a sham which could be easily defined as ‘goodness of the boarding school
kind’. This is a goodness which evaporates once the pupil is “no longer enclosed within the sacred
walls”.
Pure and simple preparatory means may lead a pupil astray. Such means are the educator’s gentle
manners, caresses, activity like imitation etc. These might create “misguided intention in the pupils”,
and “intention is the eye of the soul giving light to the whole body, as the Divine Master says.
Misguided direction does not produce real love of virtue for its own sake at the core of a young man’s
spirit, virtue loved for its ineffable beauty and intrinsic justice”.375 These preventive and preparatory
369 Statistica degli asili e delle scuole di infanzia 1849, in F. Aporti, Scritti pedagogici, vol 1, 376-377.
370 F. Aporti, Rapporto sull’esito degli esami sostenuti dopo il 2o semestre 1830 dagli alunni dell’Asilo a pagamento, Sept.
24, 1830, in A. Gambaro, Ferrante Aporti e gli asili, vol 2, 21.
371 F. Aporti, Piano di educazione ed ammaestramento pei fanciulli dall’età dei 2 ½ ai 6 anni, June 15, 1830, in A.
Gambaro, Ferrante Aporti e gli asili, vol 2, 11.
372 Ibid., Vol 2, 11; cf., Rapporto sull’esito degli esami subiti dalla Scuola dei piccoli fanciulli di Cremona dopo il primo
semestre del 1830, in A. Gambaro, Ferrante Aporti e gli asili, vol 2, 18
373 F. Aporti, Rapporto, Sept. 24, 1830, in A. Gambaro, Ferrante Aporti e gli asili, vol 2, 21.
374 Letter to Fr Paolo Orsi, 6 May 1836, in A. Rosmini.Srbati, Epistolario completo, vol 5 617-619.
375 A. Rosmini-Serbati, Epistolario, vol 5 618-619.

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means are dangerous when they may lead one to believe that “everything depends on them”; “that they
are the core of education or the main features of education or that education starts only by using them”.
But they are necessary and valuable and should be taken into great account “when they are considered
only as preparatory steps or preludes to the great work needed to make a young man good”. This work
starts, continues and ends only:
1. When the child’s mind is led to know how beneficial truth is if strengthened by grace;
2. When the child is led to contemplate the beauty of the truth he already knows;
3. When the child is led to fall in love with the beauty of the truth that he contemplates;
4. When one succeeds in having the child act in conformity with the beauty of that truth that he fell in
love with”. To achieve all this, only one thing is needed, namely, to place right before the child’s
intelligence a clear vision of what the moral truth that is we are talking about. After this, the
“omnipotent light of this truth can only come from divine grace”. According to the great Christian
educator this demands that moral truth be explained to the pupils with “simplicity and coherence” and
not in devious or artificial ways”. Jesus Christ, “the great and only master”, is the “exemplar” to be
followed and at the same time the source of grace without which the human commitment to education
would come to nothing”.376
Notwithstanding the difference of both language and mentality, Don Bosco would have put his
signature to all of the above.377
7. Correctional education: somewhere between preventive and repressive
Don Bosco might have had an understanding of the antithesis between prevention and repression and
also of the need that they be combined in an institution destined to provide correctional education,
when he was in touch with the Generala, a prison for minors. Count Carlo Ilarione Petitti of Roreto had
vigorously fought to have the young men detained there separated from the adults. He had done this in
a work already cited: Della condizione attuale delle carceri e dei mezzi per migliorarla. This
suggestion began to find fulfilment with R. Patenti when Charles Albert gave his approval, on February
9, 1839. According to the royal brief of April 12, 1845, modified activities in the prisons had their
beginning.
The Brothers of the Congregation of St Peter in Chains, from Marseille, a Congregation founded by
Canon Charles Fissiaux (1806-1867) for the apostolate among the juvenile offenders, were called upon
to act as educators at the Generala. The chaplain of the Generala was a diocesan priest mostly in
charge of the religious and moral education of the detainees.378
Don Bosco had definite contacts with the Generala, even though not all of them can be documented, as
will be clearly indicated in Chapter 10 of this book. The Generala hosted young men condemned to
correctional punishment because they had committed some thoughtless crime and also young men
376 Ibid., 619-621.
377 “L’uomo dal “grande cuore” all’uomo che “pensa in grande”: appears to be the inspiration behind a wise comment by
R. Lanfranchi, “Rosmini-Don Bosco: istanze pedagogico-educative di un rapporto”, in «Rivista di scienze
dell’Educazione» 35 (1997): 277-293
378 On the Generala, cf. A. Lonni, “Il penitenziario industriale-agricolo della ‘Generala’. Trattamento del minor deviante
nel Piemonte preunitario”, in Bollettino storico-bibliografico subalpino 82 (1984) 391-424; R. Audisio, La ‘Generala’
di Torino, Esposte, discoli, minori corrigendi (1845-1850). Santena, Fondazione Camillo Cavour 1987, 236 pages; C.
Felloni and R. Audisio. I giovani discoli, in Torino e Don Bosco, ed. Giuseppe Bracco, vol 1 Saggi. (Turin, City
Archives, 1989) 99-119.

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detained because they needed fatherly correction.379 The correctional method used with them was to get
them to work together and in silence and at night they were segregated into cells. The system of
correctional education called for the blending of different ways of dealing with the detainees:
preventive, coercive and corrective. This was demonstrated not only in the practical activity of the
Brothers, but also in theory formulated by their founder who was occasionally there with the local
director.
Petitti of Roreto had figured this out ahead of time when he wrote of prisons for young rascals both
“for detainees sent to prison at the request of their parents to be paternally corrected” and for “young
people unwilling to work and vagabonds arrested by the police and condemned to prison by penal
courts”. “The basic general principle”, Petitti wrote, “is to use a new, firm, severe educational method
but with a touch of fatherly indulgence, especially for those detained at the request of their parents and
needing correction. The educational method to be used on these young people should be more civil.
The others instead need a more severe approach and they should also be directed towards learning a
trade.”380
The ideas inspiring this approach can be drawn from the Rapport given by Fissiaux at the end of the
first and second years of activity at the Generala. Especially relevant are those in the report on the first
year of activity. “The house of correctional education” in regard to the young delinquents has the task
of preparing them for a better future, saving them from shipwreck, punishing them, for sure, but also
and above all correcting them”.381
The beginnings were very difficult and, as the reporter confesses “against our will we had to use
maximum severity and temporarily relinquish gentle approaches which were then interpreted as
weakness.. But in the end we were able to use with our youngsters the correctional educational method
followed by our Society in other correctional houses entrusted to our care”.382
After offering an idea of the system adopted by the Society of St Peter in Chains, Fissiaux dwells on
the topic of ‘discipline’ with all its connotation of the repressive system. “The discipline of the
establishment is severe and must be so. It is necessary that everything should remind the detainees that
the place they are in is a place of punishment and correction. Starting from this principle, we let no
fault go unpunished. At the same time, no virtuous act is left unrewarded”.383 However, also the typical
positive educative elements peculiar to the Preventive System are highlighted: imitation, work, school,
music, religious and moral potential.384
There are abundant tones of moderation and understanding in reference to youthful fragility. The young
men to be corrected are referred to as “poor kids, more unfortunate than guilty. As human beings we are
accustomed to thinking of them as incorrigible criminals. We have unjust prejudices about them and
undeserved contempt for them as “kids who have become victims of the fragility of their age, and the
379 Società Reale per patrocinio dei giovani liberati dalla Casa d’educazione correzionale. (Turin, Boscco 1847). Don
Bosco was amongst the first members of the society: cf. R. Audisio, L ‘Generala’ di Torino, 210.
380 C. I. Pettiti di Roreto, Della condizione, in Opere Scelte, vol 1, 546.
381 Rapport sur les premiers résultats obtenus dans la Maison d’éducation correctionnelle pour les jeunes détenus du
Royaume de Sardaigne présenté à la réunion qui eut lieu le 7 juin 1846 pour la distribution des prix par monsieur
l’abbé Fissiaux., (Turin, Imprimiere Royale 1846) 6-7.
382 Ibid., 10, 13-14.
383 Ibid., 21. In a ‘Rendiconto’ (report) from 1854 (the Brothers of the Congregation of St Peter in Chains were licensed
the year before), given to the chapalin Fr Giuseppe Giuliano, the “Establishment” is presented as an “Institute for
punishing and improving them at the same time” (Calendario generale del Regno pel 1855, anno XXXII), (Turin,
Stamperia dell’Unione Tipografica-Editrice 1855): 137
384 Ch. Fixxiaux, Rapport, 14-21, 27-30.

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misfortune of their birth”.385
In the second Rapport on the second year of activity we can spot the emergence of some elements
which show how close the repressive system is to the Preventive System. The director, in fact, intends
to show that “Our Society has already obtained, at least partially, the good results you have the right to
expect from its zeal and dedication by giving true correctional education to those boys who need to be
corrected but with gentleness rather than punishing them or through being harsh”. He also insists on the
fact that the majority of the detainees are more unfortunate than guilty and that they have reacted
positively to the educational system in use.386
8. De La Salle’s preventive pedagogy
Don Bosco had several contacts with the Brothers of the Christian Schools, especially during the
1840’s. The Brothers, from 1829 on, were running the schools supported by the Mendacità Istruita
(Poor Schools Program) and from 1833 the municipal schools.387
It might seem problematic that Don Bosco may have had direct knowledge of the pedagogical-spiritual
writings of St John Baptist de La Salle (1651): La conduite des écoles chrétiennes and Meditations
pour le temps de la retraite and Meditations sur toutes les dimances et les principal festes de l’année.
388 However, Don Bosco knew that these religious educators were dedicated, like “guardian angels”, to
the care of children coming from the world of artisans and humble workers “constantly busy earning a
livelihood for themselves and their children”, and therefore unable to follow them up during the course
of the day”.389The Brothers were committed to “teaching them how to read and write and making good
Christians and useful citizens for the state of them at the same time”.390
The Brothers’ pedagogical spirituality is often expressed in terms which Don Bosco would never cease
to live by: vigilance, guidance, ardent zeal, warding-off evil, inspiring horror for impurity, exhorting
and urging them to do good now and for eternity: “Give me souls and take away the rest”; “charity,
love, correction, gentleness, patience, prudence, reasonableness”.391 “The teacher, besides teaching
ability, should also and first of all have the ability to “win over the hearts of his pupils”.392
The privileged references from an educational perspective, are those to St Anselm of Aosta and to St
Francis de Sales. St Anselm “did his very best to lead his religious with so much gentleness and charity
that he was able to win over their hearts”.393 Then, the meditation on the modern patron saint of
gentleness and tenderness ends up with an examination of conscience as follows:
385 Ibid., 31.
386 Second Rapport sur les résultats obtenus dans la Maison d’éducation correctionnelle pour les jeunes détenus du
Royaume de Sargaigne présenté à la réunion qui eut lieu le 26 septembre 1847 pour la distribution des prix par
monsieur l’abbé Fissiaux, (Turin, Imprimerie Royale 1847) 13.
387 Cf. G. B. Lemoyne, Vita del venerabile servo di Dio Giovanni Bosco, vol 1, (Turin, Libreria Editrice Internazionale
‘Buona Stampa’ 1914) reprinted from 1st edition 1911, 239.
388 The first complete translation of the Méditations of de la Salle is by Serafino Barbaglia FSC, (Rome-Turin, Fratelli
dells Scuole Cristiane 1989).
389 Méditations pour le temps de la retraite. A l’usage de toutes Personnes que s’employent à l’éducation de la Jeunesse,
Par Jean-Baptiste de al Salle, a Rouen, Chez Antoine le Prevost [1730?] 9, 11-12.
390 Méditations sur tous les dimanches et les principales festes de l’année, Par Monsieur Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, A
rouen, Chez Jean-Baptiste Marchal [1730?] 138-139.
391 J.-B. de la Salle, Méditations sur tous les dimanches, 184-188; Méditations pour le temps de la retraite, 32, 444-45, 54-
56, 58-63.
392 J.-B. de la Salle, Conduite des écoles chrétiennes, (Avignon, Chastanier 1720), 185-186.
393 J.-B. de la Salle, Méditations sur tous les dimanches, Sur saint Anselme, 3rd point, 45.

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Do you have those feelings of charity and tenderness for the poor boys you are expected to
educate? Do you take advantage of the affection they have for you to direct them towards
God? If you have the firmness of a father with them to draw them back and keep them
away from disorder, you should also have the tenderness of a mother to gather them
together and do all the good to them which depends on you”.394
It is likewise probable that Don Bosco may have been led to read pamphlets by two De La Salle
Brothers chronologically and geographically closer to him: Brother Agathon (1731-1798), Superior
General of the Congregation up to the end of the 18th century and author of a summary on Les douze
vertus d’un bon Maître (Melun, 1785/87); and Brother Théoger who was working in Turin.
Don Bosco may easily have read Brother Agathon’s booklet edited in Italian by Marietti of Turin in
1835. The twelve virtues of the good teacher as laid out by Brother De la Salle, Founder of the
Brothers of the Christian Schools and Explained by Fr Agathon, Superior General of the Same
Institute.
As for seriousness, the term with which the book opens, this is what it says of the teacher:
He has a kindly aspect, uses few words and a moderate tone; he does not use harsh words;
he is not biting or haughty; he is not boorish; he is not ill mannered with anyone. Well
persuaded and convinced that seriousness, modesty and moderation cannot exclude
goodness or tender affection, he tries his best with all his kindly qualities to win over the
loving kindness of his students…Far from trying to make himself only feared, his main task
is to win his students’ confidence... Besides, he wants to be esteemed and respected by
them”.395
The statements about humility are consistent with what was said above. “Humility is not ambitious”,
“humility is not jealous”, “humility allows a good teacher to deal with his equals and subjects with the
esteem, cordiality, friendship and kindness due to them”. “The humility of a good teacher is charitable.
It makes lovable, obliging, courteous and easily approachable”. “Therefore, he never takes on an
arrogant, distant or spiteful demeanour toward his students”.396The teacher is given some significant
warnings in reference to self-restraint,(reserve, self-control), as far as his behaviour toward his young
students is concerned. “He scrupulously shuns friendship, dangerous familiarity with them. Self-
restraint forbids touching their face, caressing them, laughing with them, and receiving a hug from
them. The teacher should often remember that among the children there may be some so full of malice
that they might give a malicious interpretation to some words and actions which only a malicious and
already corrupt heart detects as having the appearance of evil, even though in fact they are not so”.397
Meekness is a typical theme, namely the theme of gentleness398 and even St Francis de Sales is quoted
accurately. Meekness is a virtue which inspires and produces “goodness, sensitivity, tenderness”.
Brother Agathon writes:
It is a general principle that love is gained through love. A teacher therefore, first of all and
most of all should have a father’s feeling for them and always think of himself as someone
who takes the place of those who have entrusted them to him; namely, he should have
394 J.-B. de la Salle, Méditations sur tous les dimanches, Sur la vie de S. François de Sales, 3rd point, 19.
395 Fr Agatone, Le dodici virtù, 5-6.
396 Ibid.,14-17
397 Ibid., 35.
398 The longest chapter in this brief work is dedicated to it.

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heartfelt goodness and tenderness like their very fathers for them. Now these qualities will
be inspired by his gentleness and gentleness in turn will provide for them the affection,
sensitivity and kindness, the very same obliging and persuasive manners. Gentleness
removes whatever seems harsh and painful from authority and smooths out all
difficulties”.399
The problem of how to reconcile authority and freedom is practically solved by having recourse to
gentleness:
This authority does not depend on age, height, stature, tone of voice, threats, but on the
character which displays and features a steady spirit always firm, moderate, and with
reason as its guide. A spirit which does not act on whim or impulse The same result can be
obtained by blending gentleness with firmness and love with fear. Love must win over the
hearts of children without making them effeminate, and fear must control them without
frightening them off”.400
In the middle of the 19th century, Brother Théoger wrote a short work in which he added to the twelve
virtues. He added constancy, firmness, and good example.401 The usual pointers are brought up and they
all focus on charity: love, gentleness, benevolence, fatherliness, besides prevention and vigilance,
which entail order, discipline and firmness. “Firmness in itself is nothing but the power and constancy
used to oppose what is evil, to forestall and repress disorders. A teacher cannot operate without it. And
the reason for this is that children are naturally inclined towards evil and it is quite appropriate to instill
a reverential fear in them which may control them, without irritating them. “However, the teacher
should be concerned about not having a wrong idea of firmness”.
“Firmness is not rigour or harshness or inflexibility, but a spiritual strength of reason in order to have
children walk steadily on the path of what is good”. “Since its main objective is to incline the students
to keep far away from what is evil out of fear, firmness cannot be truly useful if it is not accompanied
by gentleness, which alone cannot succeed in having the students want what is good, out of love”.402
“Gentleness is the exterior guise of charity, goodness. But it should not be an end point: it is extremely
valuable for the teacher to love his pupils and love them for supernatural reasons; it is valuable that the
teacher’s ways of doing things, all his words, his vigilance, in a word, all his actions, be inspired by
such love, otherwise the teacher will not be able to captivate his students’ affection and provide
stability to his authority without which it would be impossible for a teacher to be a successful educator
in their regard”.403
“Piety itself and, in particular the use of the sacraments, should be surrounded by gentleness and joy.
One must do one’s very best to make sure the children find a certain delight in religious exercises. The
piety which the students should be inspired by, should not be austere, under the spell of fear but a
gentle piety, based mainly on love”.404
In an atmosphere of charity a vigilant presence is also justified. “The teacher’s steadfast attention to
what the students are doing... produces very good results, not only because it represses the disorders
399 Fr Agatone, Le dodici virtù, 38-39.
400 Ibid., 38.
401 Cf. Virtù e doveri di un buon maestro. Short work published with Brother Vittorio Théoger of the Christian Schools as
editor, (Turin, G.B. Paravia and l’Unione Tipografica-editrice, 1836), 64 pages.
402 Ibid., 42-43; for love of the teacher of love of good?
403 Ibid., 46-47.
404 Ibid., 26 and 27.

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which might show up and thus prevents their growing worse, but also and especially because it
forestalls them”.405
Within this context the problem of punishments is also resolved. “Gentleness requires the teacher to
follow these guidelines: 1. Punish rarely..; 2. Punish only out of charity… 5. Never strike children,
never push them; never force them or treat them harshly... 15. The teacher should, as far as possible,
make himself easily accessible and show kindness and warmth... 20. The teacher should win over the
hearts of his students with moderation, since strictness irritates them and discourages them”.406
Finally, an appeal to reason is made: “Always speak rightly to your students, with reasonableness, no
matter what age they are and make sure that they act the same way, whenever any opportunity is given
them”.407
9. The Barnabites’ preventive style
It is a well-known fact that the Barnabites, a Congregation which came into being during the first half
of the 16th century, dedicated themselves to the care of colleges (boarding schools) at the beginning of
the 17th century. The Barnabites were always praised for their discipline. This is the reason why St
Francis de Sales wanted them to be teachers in the boarding institutions in Annecy. St Francis de Sales
thought of them as “excellent people”, “gentle and condescending”, “humble and kind”; as people of
“solid piety, gentle and incomparably friendly”.408
The preventive aspect of their educational system seems to have been formulated more explicitly
during the 19th century. “We beg all those who take an active part in educating youth, in instructing
youth, to be slow to punish, to try with all possible means suggested by charity to prevent the onset of
evil rather than having to correct it”.409 “The supervision of younger boarders should be as constant and
diligent as it is gentle and fatherly. It is better to prevent defects from showing up than to have the sad
task of punishing them. Punishment should be used rarely and only as a medicine”.410 “If the rule is not
kept, then it is dead. For this reason the superiors should do their utmost to keep the rule alive and able
to produce salutary effects in the young. Should gentleness and persuasion be good enough to keep the
rule alive, then that would be the most desirable way to follow, because it is more along the lines of the
human heart, and produces more secure and lasting effects”.411
But the best summary is in a work entitled: Avvertimenti agli educatori ecclesiastici della gioventù
(Advice for ecclesiastical youth educators) written by Fr Alexander Teppa (1806-1871, the former
rector of the Royal College of Moncalieri near Turin (1856-1867) and finally, Superior General of the
Order from 1867 until his death. Don Bosco read it and had his collaborators read it too. Don Bosco
found ideas in it that he shared, put into practice412 and, later on, transferred into the pages of his
405 Fr V. Théoger, Virtù e doveri, 50.
406 Ibid., 47 and 49.
407 Ibid., 27; cf. also 8,10,21,43.
408 A. M. Erba, Le scuole e la tradizione pedagogica dei barnabiti, in P. Braido, ed., Esperienze di pedagogia cristiana
nella storia, vol 1, (Rome, LAS, 1981) 180-181. We cite the documents proper to the Order of the essay by A.M. Erba.
409 Saggio di Regolamento per que’ Collegi dei PP. Barnabiti che hanno annesso il Convitto o il Ginnasio, (Rome, 1850),
4.
410 Programma of the Duke’s College Maria Luisa (Parma, 1832).
411 Regolamento pei convittori del Real Collegio Carlo Alberto in Moncalieri, (Turin, Collegio degli Artiginaelli-Tip. E
Libr. S. Giuseppe, 1874), 32.
412 Letter from Rome to Don Rua, Jan. 14, 1869, E II 4; cf. J. M. Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento tra reale e ideale. The
usage was resumed again at Valdocco years afterwards: “Everyone would be issued with a small booklet: Avvertimenti

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‘Preventive System’. Father Teppa wrote:
Education has two main tasks or essential roles: one is positive and consists in providing
young people with the most effective means for the natural and free development of their
faculties; the other is negative and is called on to help the first. It consists in removing the
obstacles which might obstruct or spoil that very development. In short, this is the twofold
task of education: to promote what is good, to prevent what is evil, backing up nature in
whatever good point it possesses and correcting whatever may be bad. This twofold task
must be carried out either directly with the right use of authority or indirectly by means of
good example”.413
The solidness of the content of prevention is not ignored. Without doubt “to prevent” means “to
safeguard from.. to correct.. to keep far away from.. to put the brakes on.. to protect from present
dangers and to forewarn them against future dangers”. However, at the same time, “to prevent” means
“to provide foundations to strengthen the young with the truths of Christian faith”. It means “to guide
them along the way of virtue, to help them achieve their eternal salvation”.414 Individual and social
human and Christian objectives must be well attended to, namely: to gradually form men who are truly
wise, upright, virtuous, and good Christians and also good citizens”.415
To achieve such objectives two things are essential: the knowledge of every individual’s inclinations
and a correct use of authority. 416 Material Authority which is “acquired by firmness of will and severity
of manners, makes us feared and obeyed at all costs”. But this kind of authority is not enough, even
though it can be useful, “when the voice of reason is not listened to and even necessary to keep
discipline among the pupils, especially when a lot of youngsters are gathered together”. “Material
Authority may have external force but it will never conquer or govern the minds of youth who
surrender only to the voice of persuasion and allow themselves to be governed only by moral
authority”.
Not even purely juridical or legal authority is enough to achieve the objectives of education. What is
needed is moral authority which we cannot possess unless we earn it; and “it is not earned except by
making ourselves esteemed, respected and loved” 417. In other words, moral authority is based on
reason and love. “Whoever wants to be esteemed by the young should first of all show that he esteems
them. Therefore he should never speak scornfully of anyone”. 418 “Whoever wants to be respected by
his pupils should always be calm, self-controlled and show that he is guided by reason alone in dealing
with them”.419 “But should anyone want to hold sway over the hearts of the young he should most of all
make himself loved. Whoever is loved is also willingly listened to and obeyed. There is no other
manner by which to make oneself loved than to love. ‘Si vis amari, ama’. 420 “And so, whoever wants
per gli educatori ecclesiastici, by Alessandro Teppa Barnabita” (Conference 16°, 7-3-1883, ibid., 235). “Find out the
reason why the youngsters fear us more than love us”. “There was discussion on this important point for over two
hours, without however finding the real cause. Then they had the idea of some small booklet to serve as a guide; and
they decided to give everyone the ‘avvertimenti’ by Alessandro Teppa Barnabite”. (Conference 18a, March 9, 1883,
ibid., 258).
413 A. M. Teppa, Avvertimenti per gli educatori ecclesiastici della gioventù, (Rome/Turin, tip. E libr. Poliglotta de
Propaganda Fide/tip. E lbr. Pontificia di Pietro di G. Marietti, 1868), 13.
414 Ibid., 8.
415 Ibid., 7-8.
416 Ibid., 11.
417 Ibid., 14-16.
418 Ibid., 17.
419 Ibid., 18-19.
420 Ibid., 21.

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to make himself loved by his pupils should be the first one to love them with a sincere heart and with
the affection of a father and friend. Let this be his main concern, to care for all that they may need and
be of advantage to them both spiritually and physically. For honour, let him try to please them and
satisfy their honest wishes as much as possible, let him share their pleasures and their and
displeasures”.421
According to Teppa the exercise of authority should be commensurate with the different temperaments
and dispositions of the young: “The simple voice of reason for the young who are docile and
submissive, the authority of the command for the young who are hard-headed and stubborn”.422 But at
the same time, it is pointed out, every one without discrimination should never lose sight of the
objective: “a sincere and lasting love of virtue, sense of duty, desire for what is truly good; and the
method to be used – the way of gentleness and persuasion”. “There is no doubt that this is the way most
suited to human nature and consequently the way which produces more lasting results, even though at
times they are less readily available and visible. Let this way be always regarded as the main tool for
education”.423
This kind of authority will suggest all the main ways required of educational intervention: “when we
have to command, instruct and exhort;424 when we have to warn, correct and reproach;425 when we have
to punish,426 praise and reward”.427 “Orders should be used in moderation and always be issued with
dignity, gently, seriously and firmly”.428 “Instruction and exhortation are to be preferred, and they
should neither be too long nor inappropriate”.429 “Instruction and exhortation should later be followed
up with warnings and kindly corrections because the young are naturally unstable, inconsiderate and
absent-minded, so it is necessary to remind them with brief, kind words about their duties, their
resolutions, the promises they have made so that they may not be found at fault through forgetfulness
or absent-mindedness or instability”.430
“The teacher should be convinced that the more he does this, the less need will there be for him to have
recourse to punishments. This is why the teacher should always be attentive and vigilant and be imbued
at the same time with much zeal and charity”.431 “If simple warnings are not enough, then the teacher
should use admonitions, being careful however to be ready to speak with the loving kindness and
effective reasoning good enough to persuade and move the minds of the pupils”.432 “But when the
teacher gives a reprimand or an admonition he should make sure not to offend or do anything which
might discourage the guilty one. Instead he should let him know that he will not stop loving him and
esteeming him as a person even though he corrects him and that he does this precisely because he loves
him and esteems him and really wants what is good for him”.433 The reprimand comes to the fore
“when it can be clearly seen that warnings and kindly corrections prove useless”.434 Finally, once the
desired results are obtained, as occasion demands, the severity of the corrections should be softened,
421 A. M. Teppa, Avvertimenti per gli educatori ecclesiastici della gioventù 22.
422 Ibid., 25-26.
423 Ibid., 27-28.
424 Ibid., ch. 4, 29-33.
425 Ibid., ch. 5, 33-34.
426 Ibid., ch. 6, 41-51.
427 Ibid., ch. 7, 51-54.
428 Ibid., 29-31.
429 Ibid., 31-33.
430 Ibid., 33.
431 Ibid., 34.
432 Ibid., 35.
433 Ibid., 37.
434 Ibid., 38.

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urging the young man to correct himself”.435
Teppa devotes a longer chapter to the subject of punishments, 436 but not because they are considered
the most important part of education. He holds the opinion rather that their frequency is due to the
carelessness or inexperience of the educator. Punishments “should be given only out of necessity and as
a medicine. The necessity and usefulness of punishment should also be the norm for determining the
quality and quantity of punishments and the way of using them”. 437 As for the way to use punishments,
love is presented as the basic way to be followed:
First of all, the best kind of punishment given by a teacher who is truly loved and respected
by his pupils will be by showing how sorry he is about the fault committed, either by
reprimanding them openly but seriously, or with a quieter, more serious and reserved
approach, and not giving them signs of kindness and familiarity he normally has given
them in the past. But the teacher must make sure that the humiliation is not of such a nature
as to discourage the person438 …Let a punishment be given with dignity and at the same
time with loving kindness. As much as possible, the culprit should be persuaded that the
punishment was just and necessary, and that his fault was being punished because we love
him as a person”.439
Besides using punishments, the author adds, it is also just and proper that at the right time and place
the teacher should bestow the praise due to the pupil who acts the way he should and encourage him
with rewards”.440
The last two chapters deal with the educator as a whole. What is emphasised is individual good
example and harmony in the community of those educating.441 “Let them be compassionate and bear
with one another with holy charity and, whenever it may be needed, let there be mutual correction”.442
Finally the charity which St Paul writes to the Corinthians about is taken and formulated as the
supreme principle of any educational activity.443
435 Ibid.,40.
436 A. M. Teppa, Avvertimenti per gli educatori ecclesiastici della gioventù ch. 6, Dei castighi, 41-51.
437 Ibid., 43.
438 Ibid., 43-45.
439 Ibid., 49 and 51.
440 Ibid., 51.
441 Ibid., Chap. 8, Del buon esempio e della concordia tra gli educatori, 54-61-7
442 Ibid., 60.
443 1 Cor. 13:4-7; A. M. Teppa, Avvertimenti, Chap. 9, Condizioni della carità che dee avere un educatore ecclesiastico,
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Chapter 6
Don Bosco’s pedagogical originality
With some degree of emphasis and not without reason, a priest from the Fermo diocese wrote the
following in 1886:
Don Bosco has already been sacrificing his life for the education and instruction of the
young for fifty years. The results of his work are so gratifying and so widespread that Don
Bosco has become the most famous educator of his times, both in the old and in the new
world. What has contributed to his fame is his Preventive System.444
It makes no sense to indulge in rhetoric, but the fact is obvious enough that Don Bosco appeared to
many of his contemporaries and even later, as an exceptional educator, the emerging representative of
the Preventive System in the education of youth. However, this does not mean ignoring the fine and
original contributions of past educators and those of his time as well.445
C. Danna had a keen intuition, from the outset, of the originality of Don Bosco’s educational
experience. A professor of literature at the University of Turin, Danna, already in 1849, had written two
passionate pages on the Oratory, on Don Bosco’s Sunday school. Those two pages underlined the
religious and civic nature as well as the holistic educational and cheerful features of the Oratory.
On Sundays and feast days Don Bosco gathers some four or five hundred youngsters over
the age of 8 in an out-of-the-way compound, to keep them from danger and just hanging
around, and to teach them the principles of Christian morality. He does this by entertaining
them with delightful and honest amusements after they have attended pious and religious
practices. He also teaches them social and ecclesiastical history, catechism and the
principles of arithmetic. He trains them to use the metric system and those who do not
know how to are taught how to read and write. All this is done to provide the youngsters
with a moral and civic education. But he does not fail to provide them with a physical
education as well: a fenced-off playground next to the Oratory allows the young to get
involved in gymnastics, play with stilts, swings, skittles or quoits. And this is done to help
them grow and strengthen their physical capacities. Besides prizes of some holy pictures,
lotteries and at times a light breakfast, the bait used to draw the huge crowd of youngsters is
444 D. Giordani, La gioventù Don Bosco di Torino, (S. Benigno di Canavese, Tip. E Libreria Salesiana, 1886), 63. At
approximately the same time, by the same author, La carità nell’educare ed il sistema preventivo del più grande
educatore vivente il venerando D. Giovanni Bosco, with the addition of Idee di D. Bosco sull’educazione e
sull’insegnamento, by F. Cerutti, (S. Benigno di Canavese, Tip e Libreria Salesiana, 1886).
445 A brief but very good focus on Don Bosco’s merits regarding the Preventive System was provided by E. Valentini,
“Don Bosco restauratore del sistema preventivo”, in Rivista di Pedagogio e Scienze religiose 7 (1969): 285-301. Rather
enthusiastic, instead, is A. Caviglia’s one-sided exuberance. Otherwise a keen scholar of Don Bosco, he said in a lecture
given in August 1934: “Don Bosco and Christian education equate to unity. This is the conceptual and historical
greatness of Don Bosco in the Church’s life: that he offered the definitive formula for Christian pedagogy, for the
pedagogy that the Church desires… Saintly educators all began from the principle of charity, and almost all from
charity towards the poor. But none had widespread and dominant potential like Don Bosco’s. These saints may have
known how to bring everything that religion, charity and wisdom taught together into a system, but there is only one
true creator or ‘diviniser’ of a Christian system of education and that was Don Bosco. (A. Caviglia, La pedagogia di
Don Bosco, in Il soppranaturale nell’educazione, (Rome, An. Tip. Editrice Laziale, 1934), 105 and 108). The tone
explains in part his declared intention to “speak of Don Bosco…as I see and feel him to be, not as a scholar but as a
Christian and a priest and as a Salesian formed by Don Bosco himself”. 102.

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Don Bosco’s own calm approach, always vigilant over the young souls, ready to shed the
light of truth on them and show them how to love one another. Thinking about the harm he
avoids, the vices forestalled, the seeds of virtue sown, the good which is so fruitful, it seems
incredible that Don Bosco’s work might have met with obstacles and even opposition. But
what most of all grants Don Bosco the right to the gratitude of all citizens is the home next
to the Oratory which is open to the most needy and destitute children. When Don Bosco
knows of or meets some child who is a victim of poverty, squalid conditions, he never loses
sight of him, takes him into his home, restores him, asks him to take off his filthy clothes
and gives him new ones to put on. He provides food for him day and night until he finds
some employment and some work for him to do, so he may earn a decent livelihood in the
future and can take better care of educating his mind and heart.446
On the day of the celebration of Don Bosco’s month ‘s mind, the Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal
Cajetan Alimonda, gave considerable room to Don Bosco’s educational system in his eulogy on that
occasion. “Education”, he said, was “the first area where Don Bosco brought the divine to the 19th
century”, as well as his “concern for the working class” and “for work”, the spirit of association,
civilisation of underdeveloped peoples. “Don Bosco did not put aside anything which might be useful
in educational discoveries but went one better. He did not have a problem with the method, because he
had solutions stemming from principles. He introduced the religious dimension as a guide to natural
affection, in the science of charity. This is why Don Bosco gives pedagogy a divine touch”.447 Don
Bosco’s pedagogy is “intensely religious and therefore not gloomy”. “Everything happened in an
atmosphere of freedom and cheerfulness”.448 “All this came together with involvement and clever
initiatives in an atmosphere of peace, dignity and trust”.449
The general style characterising his various undertakings was the Preventive System. For Don Bosco
the Preventive System was the absolute, well-defined rule compared with the repressive method, often
linked inevitably with civil strife. “The best and most miraculous power required for control, according
to Don Bosco’s recommendations, was moral power. Don Bosco knew and understood that unless we
win over the pupils’ affection, we are building on sand, educating bodies and not spirits”.450
A biographical outline
Don Bosco’s life may be divided into three periods:
The period of preparation (1815-1844); the period where the fundamental features of his educational
activity are outlined (1844-1869); the period when his institutions receive both organisational and
theoretical substance (1870-1888).
Here we single out the more important moments of his life’s work and educational activity.
1815 (August 16) Don Bosco is born in the Becchi in the Municipality of Castelnuovo.
1817 Death of his father.
446 In the Cronichetta in the Journal of the Society for instruction and education, Year 1, vol 1 1849, 459-460. There are
expressions emphasised here which give evidence of the important aspects of Don Bosco’s educational and pedagogical
experience.
447 Giovanni Bosco e il suo secolo. At the month’s mind in the Church of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, March 1,
1888. Homily by Cardinal Archbishop Gaetano Alimonda (Turin, Tipografia Salesiana, 1888), 11.
448 Ibid., 13-15.
449 Ibid., 21-24.
450 Ibid., 39-40.

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1824 A priest, Fr Joseph Lacqua, introduces John Bosco to reading and writing.
1827 First Communion, around Easter time.
1828 (February) Farmhand at the Moglia farm (until late autumn 1829).
1829 Study of Italian and Latin resumed with Fr John Calosso (who died November 21, 1829).
1830 John Bosco attends Castelnuovo Public school Christmas 1830-summer 1831)
1831 From November onwards John Bosco attends the public school in Chieri to study grammar, the
humanities and rhetoric.
1835 John Bosco enters the seminary in Chieri and begins his philosophy and theology courses.
1841 June 5, the Vigil of the feast of the Holy Trinity, Don Bosco is ordained priest.
1841 (November) Don Bosco is enrolled in the Convitto Ecclesiastico (Ecclesiastical College) in
Turin for the practical study of moral theology and homiletics; he begins to gather young people and
adults and teach them catechism.
1844 (October) Don Bosco is appointed chaplain to one of the works of Marchioness Giulia di
Barolo.
1845 (May)-1846 (March) The Wandering Oratory begins at St Peter in Chains Church to the Dora
Mills, to the Moretta house, to the Filippi meadows.
1846 (April 12) The Oratory finds its definitive location in the Pinardi Shed in the suburb of
Valdocco. It is here that Don Bosco and his mother come to live. The evening schools begin during the
winter of 1846-1847.
1847 The opening of the first home; the St Aloysius Oratory is opened in the area of Porta Nuova; the
St Aloysius Sodality begins.
1848 (October 21) Beginning of the publication L’amico della Gioventù (The Friend of Youth), a
religious, moral and political Newspaper (which would last only eight months and later merge into the
Istruttore del Popolo (The People’s Instructor).
1849 Don Bosco takes on the management of the Guardian Angels Oratory from Fr Cocchi, in the
area of Vanchiglia in Turin; he founds the workers society or the mutual aid society for which he would
draw up a constitution in 1850
1852 (March 31) Archbishop Fransoni is exiled to Lyons (France). He appoints Don Bosco the
director and spiritual head of the Turin Oratory of St Francis de Sales, with the oratories of St Aloysius
and the Guardian Angel dependent on it.
1853 Don Bosco begins the publication of the Catholic readings and also opens a modest
shoemaker’s workshop in the Oratory.
1854 The book-binding shop is opened. As an experiment, the seminal beginnings of the Salesian
Society, Don Bosco proposes an associative, apostolic form of life to two clerics (Bl. Michael Rua is
one and would become Don Bosco’s first successor), and two other young men, one of whom becomes
the future Cardinal John Cagliero. Don Bosco has his first encounter with Minister Urban Rattazzi.
Dominic Savio enrols as a pupil in the Valdocco Oratory (1842 - 1857).
1855 The third high school grade is introduced at the Oratory (up till now the students attended
schools run by private individuals).

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1856 The first carpentry shop is opened at the Oratory; the first two high school grades are
introduced. The beginning of the Immaculate Conception Sodality.
1857 Beginning of the Blessed Sacrament Sodality; the creation of the Altar Boys Sodality; the St
Vincent de Paul Conference for young people commences.
1858 Don Bosco’s first trip to Rome to present Pope Pius IX with the plan for his Religious Society
dedicated to working for youth. The first outline of the Salesian Constitutions.
1859 The high school curriculum is completed (5 grades); beginning of the St Joseph’s sodality; the
Salesian Society comes to the fore but as a private religious association in practice.
1860 The first lay helpers (Coadjutors) are admitted into the privately constituted Society.
1861 (December 31) Authorisation is given to open the printing shop.
1862 The blacksmith’s shop is introduced; first profession of religious vows (May 14).
1863 The first school outside Turin is inaugurated under the direction of Fr Michael Rua. On this
occasion Don Bosco writes a letter to Fr Rua. It would become the original core of the future
Confidential Memo to Rectors (the school would move to Borgo San Martino in 1870). The beginning
of the construction of the Church of Mary Help of Christians in Turin.
1864 The Lanzo Torinese College (boarding school) becomes operative. The Decretum Laudis on
behalf of the Salesian Society is issued.
1865 Don Bosco’s new project: Bibliotheca degli scittori latini (The Library of Christian Authors). It
actually began in 1866 with the title: Selecta ex latinis scriptoribus in usum scholarum (Selections from
Latin Authors for the Use of schools).
1868 Consecration of the Church of Mary Help of Christians.
1869 (Feb. 19) The Holy See definitively approves the Salesian Society; the school at Cherasco is
opened; the first volume of the Biblioteca della gioventù italiana (Library for Italian youth) is
published (It would come to an end in 1885, the last publication would be No. 204).
1870 The college at Alassio is founded.
1871 The college at Varazze and the technical school in Marassi are opened (The latter would transfer
to Sampierdarena near Genoa the following year).
1872 The Valsalice College for young noblemen is accepted. The foundation takes place of the
religious female branch of the Salesian Society with the title of Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help
of Christians.
1874 Final, definitive approval of the Salesian Constitutions by the Holy See.
1875-1887 The Salesian effort spreads throughout Europe (France, Spain, England) and South
America (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, etc.) with undertakings related to emigrants, schools and other
educational Institutions and missionary activities.
1876 Pope Pius IX approves the Pious Union of Salesian Cooperators.
1877 The first General Chapter of the Salesian Society of St Francis de Sales is held. Three others
would follow in Don Bosco’s lifetime: 1880, 1883, and 1886. In 1877, the pages written by Don Bosco
on The Preventive system are published as well as the Il Regolamento per le case (Rules for the
Houses). In August, Il bibliofilo cattolico (The Catholic book lover. The Salesian Bulletin) begins.

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1880 Don Bosco accepts responsibility for building the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome. The
Basilica would be consecrated May 14, 1887.
1881 (February) The Utrera College (Spain) is opened.
1883 Don Bosco’s triumphant trip to Paris.
1884 Next-to-last trip to Rome (the 19th). The so called Privileges are finally granted in June 1884.
1886 April 8-May 6: extraordinary welcoming reception given to Don Bosco in Spain, Don Bosco’s
stay in Spain at Sarria and Barcelona.
1887 (May) Don Bosco’s last trip to Rome on the occasion of the consecration of the Basilica of the
Sacred Heart.
1888 (Tuesday, January 31, at 4:45 a.m. Don Bosco dies.
2. Reconstructing Don Bosco’s Preventive System: sources
To reconstruct Don Bosco’s educational praxis and theory it seems we should employ some basic
methodological criteria which in turn should take the following into account:
1. The complexity of Don Bosco’s activity and his vision of the young;
2. The constant interaction between action, writings and life experiences, both personal and
institutional;
3. The constantly changing historical context.
All of these should be kept in mind as well as the complex reality of the historical context, oscillating
between rigid patterns and efforts to adapt.
2.1. Don Bosco, Christian Apostle of the young
Don Bosco is not only an educator in the strict and formal sense of the term. His educative activity451,
properly so called, is part of a wider gamut of interests related to youth and ordinary people at all
levels.
Practically speaking, the peculiarities of Don Bosco’s educational activity should be seen in the context
of a threefold concern interconnected yet formally distinct:
1) The welfare and charitable activity directed to providing basic needs such as food, clothing,
shelter and work.
2) The pastoral ministry carried out for the salvation of souls, for living and dying in God’s
grace, with all the specific interventions required by that.
3) The spiritual animation of the educational and religious communities he founded, in order to
help support the various undertakings on behalf of the young.
This complex activity finds adequate expression in complementary statements which clearly evidence
their double dimension: Action and Religious Consecration.
For twenty years I have been carrying out my priestly ministry to prisons, hospitals, all
451 “Educative” strictly speaking is what impacts positively on the development and formation of human faculties, so as to
make each person capable of habitual free decisions, generous life commitment both as an individual and in society,
morally and religiously.

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along the streets and city squares in Turin; I gave shelter to abandoned boys, to direct them
to good morals, work, according to their talents and abilities without asking for or actually
receiving any sort of compensation for it. I actually used my own money to build a house
and provide a livelihood for poor boys. I would do the same thing today.452
This is the objective of our Society: our personal sanctification, and, through the practice of
charity, the salvation of souls. To achieve this, we have to be extremely careful, in
assigning to leadership positions on behalf of others only those who are outstanding in
virtue and in the knowledge of what they try to teach others. It is better to be without a
teacher than to have one who is incapable of teaching.453
At least two considerations can be drawn from the above for any reconstruction of the Preventive
System:
First of all the presentation of the proper pedagogical element of the Preventive System does not cover
its entire range. In fact, it also includes a clear pastoral and spiritual dimension both in reference to
educators and those to be educated.
Secondly, to adequately use Don Bosco’s writings which are the expression and dimension of its entire
lived experience, we should interpret their explicitly pedagogical contents when necessary. These, in
turn, should be connected with other appropriate elements: theological, juridical, hagiographical,
spiritual, ascetic and organisational.454
2.2 Life’s integrating role in any reconstruction of the Preventive System
There is a huge number of Don Bosco’s writings which owe their existence to his radical aim of
championing the improvement of the young and the masses. They end up being incomprehensible or
even misleading, even theoretically, if not connected with his personality and with the real life of the
institutions he created and governed.
This does not mean the Preventive System is to be precisely equated with Don Bosco himself.
Undoubtedly, Don Bosco’s outstanding personality as a clever and holy educator gives the system a
particular tone of its own, but the system takes on its own structure and validity. It even becomes a
doctrine to be handed on, and it was actively handed on firstly to his own immediate co-workers and to
the various groups working in the field of youth assistance. Don Bosco and his followers ended up
clearly setting the Preventive System, with its structure and effectiveness, against another doctrine and
educational praxis, the repressive system.
It does not exclude, but implies rather that the best interpreter of Don Bosco for theorising and writing
about the Preventive System is Don Bosco himself. It is he who creates and moulds his educational
experience and enfleshes it in his own institutions together with all his co-workers and young people
who are the first and most active beneficiaries of the system. Bartholomew Fascie wrote: “One who
approaches Don Bosco’s education system with the idea of subjecting it to painstaking analysis,
dissecting it, dividing it into many parts, rigid patterns, is following the wrong lead. Don Bosco’s
method of education should be looked at as a living form in its entirety, by studying the principles
452 Letter to the minister for Internal Affairs, Carlo Farini, June 12, 1860, Em I 407.
453 First of a series of marginal notes in Latin to the recently approved Constitutions 1874. MB X 994-996.
454 R. Farina provides valid criteria for reading Don Bosco’s literary production in Leggere Don Bosco oggi. Note e
suggestioni metodologiche, in La formazione permanente interpella gli Istituti religiosi, ed. P. Broccardo, (Leumann-
Turin, Elle Di Ci 1976), 349-404.

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which gave origin to its life, its bodies, its vitality, and the functions developed from them”.455
2.3 Relationship between stability and innovation in the Preventive System
The attention given to the historical, contextual and vital nature of the Preventive System should help
remove the possibility of its reconstruction being too rigid and uniform. In fact Don Bosco’s
educational experience and the theoretical reflection accompanying it occurred at a considerably
different time and in a different social, environmental and institutional context.
The years prior to 1848 and the birth of Italian national unity (1860), as well as the Piedmontese period
of expansion of Don Bosco’s undertakings (up to 1870), are not easily identifiable either in themselves
or in the years and periods that immediately followed. The psychological climate, cultural impulses,
social conditions and political and religious contexts appear to have been radically different. Besides,
even within these periods there cannot be any comparison with the experiences Don Bosco had at the
festive oratory, the homes for apprentices, for student-seminarians, in the boarding colleges for students
and artisans, for boys of middle and upper classes (like those at Alassio, Turin-Valsalice and Este), in
the Patronages of Southern France and in similar institutions in Argentina and Uruguay.
It is quite natural to find the essential elements and basic inspirations everywhere but quite different
accents and elements as well and at the same time And it is also natural that similar differences might
be noticed in written documents which are different because of the reality they refer to, or because of
the situations at the time they were written or because of the literary genre. We have already hinted at
the hypothesis of a Preventive System carried out with a variety of preventive methods and firstly the
reference to the different “open” institutions, an “open” institution like the oratory, and comprehensive
schools like the colleges or boarding schools.456
3. Don Bosco, educator and author of pedagogical literature
Even though Don Bosco had published many things, in none of them had he provided a systematic
explanation of his ideas on pedagogy or provided basic directions for his educational praxis. However,
there was little he wrote which did not have some connection with the education of young people and
the masses, whether he was writing history, apologetics, didactic material, catechetics, religious
content, hagiography, biography or normative texts.457
For this reason, any faithful reconstruction of Don Bosco’s ideas on education should not leave out any
of his writings, published or unpublished, even though a privileged place should be given to the more
explicitly pedagogical writings. Added to these should also be the abundant endorsements by his co-
workers and contemporaries: books, chronicles, memoirs, biographical profiles, the history of
institutions, minutes of general and particular meetings or conferences, General Chapter and Superior
455 B. Fascie, Del metodo educativo di Don Bosco. Fonti e commenti, (Turin, SEI, 1927), 32. On the relationship between
writings and personal and institutional experience as a criterion for understanding Don Bosco’s educational system, cf.,
P. Braido, Il sistema preventivo di Don Bosco; and” Los escritos en la experiencia pedagógica de don Bosco” in: San
Juan Bosco, Obras fundamentales, edición dirigada por Juan Canals Pujol y Antonio Martínez Azcona, (Madrid: BAC
1978), 14-32.
456 Cf. P. Braido, “L’esperienza pedagogica di Don Bosco nel suo divenire”, in Orientamenti Pedagogici 36 (1989): 11-39;
L. Pazzaglia, La scelta dei giovani e la proposta educativa di Don Bosco, in Don Bosco nella storia, Atti del 1
Congresso Internazionale di Studi su Don Bosco (UPS – Roma, Jan. 16-20, 1989), ed. M. Midali, (Rome, LAS 1990),
259-288; in paticular, 273-282.
457 A complete summary of Don Bosco’s vast literary output including writings of other genres,( such as hagiography,
history, juridical etc) and offered by P. Stella, Gli scritti a stampa di S. Giovanni Bosco, (Rome: LAS 1977). We find a
grouping by literary genre in P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol ,1 230-237.

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Chapter meetings. The collected letters are particularly important.458 We shall limit ourselves to singling
out writings and endorsements of an obvious pedagogical nature and intent, both theoretical and
practical.
“A cheerful and happy way of living as a Christian” is what Don Bosco wanted to teach young people
with his Companion of Youth written in 1847.459 The first essays on the pedagogical thinking of the
Oratory are: An introduction to the regulated plan of life; the Historical outline of the Oratory of St
Francis de Sales 1852-54 and the Historical outlines of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales, 1862.. 460
Linked to the structure of the college-seminary are some well-known biographical outlines published
during the decade 1859-1868: On the life of Dominic Savio (1854); 461 A biographical sketch of the
young Michael Magone (1861) 462, The little shepherd of the Alps, namely the life of Besucco
Francesco from Argentera (1864). 463 Similar to these are some stories with instructional and
biographical background: The Power of a Good Education (1855),464 Valentine or the story of an
obstructed vocation (1866);465 Severino or the adventures of a young man from the Alps (1868);466
Confidential Memo for Rectors is full of solid pedagogical meaning. These Reminders, as mentioned
earlier, are a letter addressed to Fr Michael Rua who had just been appointed rector of the college at
Mirabello Monferrato (Italy).467
The Memoirs of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales is an exceptional document of lived pedagogy in
reference to the years 1815-1854 and in particular to the first initiatives vis-a-vis the festive oratory in
Turin and the start of the home or Annex. These Memoirs edited by Don Bosco between 1873 and
1879,were published for the first time in 1846.468 The Preventive System in the education of youth is the
best known work written by Don Bosco in 1877.469 A memo sent to the Italian minister for the interior,
Francesco Crispi in February 1878, has the same title but different content.470.
Don Bosco compiled various regulations for his educational institutions. Wide-ranging and important
458 Four volume edition ed. Eugenio Ceria, (Turin: SEI 1955-59). A more complete critical edition is under way: G. Bosco,
Epistolario. Introduzione, testi critici e note, ed. F. Motto, 2 vols, (Rome: LAS 1991/1996: vol 1 (1835-63); II (1864-
68).
459 Cf. P. Stella, Valori spirituali nel “Giovane provveduto” di San Giovanni Bosco, (Rome, PAS 1960), 131 pages.
460 Cf. P. Braido, Don Bosco per la gioventù povera e abbandonata in due inediti del 1854 e del 1862, in P. Braido, ed.,
Don Bosco nella Chiesa al servizio dell’umanità, (Rome: LAS, 1987), 13-81.
461 Cf. La vita di Savio Domenico e “Savio Domenico e don Bosco”. Study by A. Caviglia, (Turin, SEI, 1942-43), 43-92.
609 pages.
462 Cf. A. Caviglia, Il “Magone Michele”. Una classica esperienza educativa, in Il primo libro di Don Bosco. Il “Magone
Michele”. (Turin, SEI, 1965), 129-202.
463 Cf. A. Caviglia, La “Vita di Besucco Francesco” scritta da don Bosco e il suo contenuto spirituale, in La vita di
Besucco Francesco, (Turin: SEI, 1965), 107-262.
464 Cf. J. Schepens, “La forza della buona educazione”. Étude d’un écrit de don Bosco, in L’impegno dell’educare, ed. J.
M. Prellezzo, (Rome, LAS, 1991). 417-433.
465 Cf. G. Bosco, Valentino o la vocazione impedita. Introduction and critical text, ed. M. Pulingathil, (Rome, LAS, 1987)
111 pages.
466 B. Decanq, “Severino”. Studio dell’opuscolo con particolare attenzione al “primo oratorio”‘, RSS 11 (1992): 221-
318.
467 Cf. F. Motto, I “Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori” di don Bosco, RSS 3 (1984): 125-166.
468 Only two editions exist of these, one with a twofold structure, variants, and history, the other with only historical
apparatus, ed. A. Ferreira da Silva, (Rome: LAS, 1991). The first of these is used in this book. On the particular
pedagogical value of the Memoirs of the Oratory, cf. P. Braido, “Memorie” del futuro, RSS 11 (1992): 97-127.
469 Cf. G. Bosco, Il sistema preventivo nella educazione della gioventù. Introduction and critical text ed. by P. Braido, RSS
(1985) 171-321.
470 Ibid., 300-304.

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are: Rules of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales for day students (1877)471 and The Regulations for the
Society of St Francis de Sales. In these latter regulations the introductory articles are the most
important, pedagogically speaking.472
Even though relegated to later writings (1881-1882) Don Bosco’s two positions on his system of
education, in two different conversations in 1854 and 1864 should be considered reliable: the first is the
one Don Bosco took with Urban Rattazzi, a government minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia.473 The
other was in conversation with an elementary school teacher, Francis Bodrato.474
We also have an exceptional letter on punishments very close to Don Bosco’s way of thinking and with
interesting references to the Preventive System. It has definite connection with the experience at the
very heart of Don Bosco’s undertakings, namely the Valdocco Oratory in Turin.475 There are also two
significant letters dated May 10, 1884: the first, a short one, was sent to community of youngsters at
Valdocco; the second contains material for the Salesians working at the Oratory. Both letters were
inspired by Don Bosco and edited by Fr John Baptist Lemoyne.476
Ideally connected with The Confidential Reminders for Rectors are two letters written by Don Bosco in
August 1885 to the Salesians in Argentina and Uruguay.477
Of particular interest for catechetical and religious formation of the young are his Church history
(1845); Bible history (1847); Warnings for Catholics: Fundamental truths of the Catholic religion
(1850 and 1853); A Practical way of knowing Bible history (1855).
Other writings of a scholastic nature deserve our attention: The Metric System simply Explained (1849);
The History of Italy Explained to the Young (1855). Among writings of a recreational nature we should
include the following: A Theatrical Presentation of the Metric Decimal System in Dialogue (1849); A
Debate Between a Lawyer and a Protestant Minister (1853); The House of Fortune: Drama (1865);
The Delightful Story of an Old Soldier of Napoleon I (1862); Pleasant Stories about Pius IX (1871).
471 Cf. OE XXIX 31-94 and 97-196.
472 Cf. P. Braido, Il “sistema preventivo” in un “decalogo” per educatori, RSS 4 (1985): 131-148.
473 BS 6 (1882) n. 10-11, Oct.-Nov., 171-172 and 179-180, speak of it for the first time. Cf. Conversazione con Urbano
Rattazzi (1854), ed. By Antonio Ferreira da Silva, in P. Braido, (ed)., Don Bosco educatore. Scritti e testimonianze,
(Rome, LAS, 1997), 75-87.
474 The first reconstruction can be found in a biography of Salesian Francesco Bodrata, in draft form, written 1881: cf. Il
dialogo tra don Bosco e il maestro Francesco Bodrato (1864), ed. by Antonio Ferreira da Silva in P. Braido (ed), Don
Bosco educatore, 187-198.
475 J. M. Prellezzo, Dei castighi da infliggersi nelle case salesiane. Una lettera circolare attribuita a don Bosco, RSS 5
(1986): 263-308.
476 Cf. Due lettere datate da Roma 10 maggio 1884, ed. by P. Braido, in P. Braido (ed.), Don Bosco educatore, 344-308.
477 For some principles, cf. F. Motto, Tre lettere a salesiani in America, in P. Braido, Don Bosco educatore, 439-452; also,
to don G. Fagnano, Aug.10, 1885, E IV 334-335; to don G.B. Allavena, Sept. 24, 1885, E IV, 339-340; to don L.
Lasagna and to don Lorenzo Girodano, Sept. 30, 1885, E IV 340-341. 341-342.

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Chapter 7
Don Bosco’s pedagogical formation
We can easily recognise the influence of a number of significant life experiences in the educational
synthesis developed by Don Bosco. This synthesis is linked, to a great extent, to the same kind of
general formation, both personal and cultural, during the early part of his life. The schooling provided
by his family and the Church was evident during his infancy-childhood period. His work: in the fields
and early schooling formed him during his adolescent period. The Latin school at Chieri, the Seminary
and the Convitto Ecclesiastico were the significant factors during his mature youth period, up to the
priesthood and beyond.
Don Bosco’s future personality, as a priest, a friend of the young, a pastor and as an educator is clearly
rooted in these essential features. In fact, the nucleus of Don Bosco’s educative vocation is born and
develops with the growing and maturing of his Catholic and priestly formation.478
Don Bosco’s mentality will also have been formed by contact with a network of significant
personalities in the Catholic world of his time. There were the saints who were renowned for their
works of charity, theologians, people involved in social work, and of course the books he read and his
experience of life. All of this would improve and enrich Don Bosco’s personality, already
extraordinarily gifted with exceptional emotional, intellectual and moral qualities.
1. Family and Church
The family was Don Bosco’s first school, his mother his first teacher. Don Bosco’s family came from a
small, rural, Catholic community, rich in religious symbolism. The first and the fundamental religious
sign was the Sacrament of Baptism, followed in due time by the religious practices laid down by
ecclesiastical discipline and blessed by a century-old tradition: daily prayers, Sunday Mass, sermons,
catechism, and a host of religious practices.479
The early years of Don Bosco’s family life are marked by the earlier than expected absence of his
father, who died when he was hardly two years old; by the presence of the stepbrother seven years
older than him; by the presence of his paternal grandmother, and especially by the significant
influential presence of a mother, who was gifted with sound humanity and a rich spirituality. She was in
reality a fatherly mother.480
Margaret Occhiena (1788-1856) was Don Bosco’s mother. She was the first one to provide Don Bosco
with his education: she was Don Bosco’s first teacher.
478 In Don Bosco there is evidence of the priority, chronologically and psychologically, of his priestly vocation vis-à-vis his
vocation as an educator. Various aspects of this issue are offered by J. Klein – E. Valentini, “Una rettificazione
cronologica delle ‘Memorie di San Giovanni Bosco’”, in Salesianum 17 (1955): 581-610; F. Desramaut, Les Memorie I
de Giovanni Battitsta Lemoyne, Étude d’un ouvrage fondamental sur la jeunesse de saint Jean Bosco, (Lyon, 1962),
186; P. Braido, Il sistema preventivo di San Giovanni Bosco, (Turin: PAS, 1955), 49-59.
479 On primary education and religious instruction and, then, on the catechism marking Don Bosco’s menality as an
educator, cf MO (1991) 33-34, 42-44 and P. Braido, L’inedito “Breve catechismo pei fanciulli ad uso della diocesi di
Torino” di don Bosco, (Rome: LAS, 1979), Introduzione, 7-8, 22.
480 There were, however, no lack of male figures who influenced the makeup of his personality, enriching it wth traits
already given him by a strong and forward looking mother: cf. G. Stickler, “Dall perdita del padre a un progetto di
paternità. Studio sulla evoluzione psicologica della personalità di don Bosco”, in «Rivista di Scienze dell’Educazione»
25 (1987):337-375.

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Writing about her, 60 years after her death, Don Bosco says:
Her greatest concern was to teach her children religion, training them to be obedient, and
keeping them busy, doing what was appropriate at their age.481
It is within his family that Don Bosco, thanks to his mother’s guidance, acquired the habit of prayer, of
performing his religious duties, of making sacrifices and, in due time, by the time he reached the age of
reason, the habit of regularly going to confession. He was also encouraged to read and write. Don
Bosco had to wait until he was eleven years old to be admitted to First Communion (Easter 1827).482.
Don Bosco’s personality was strongly influenced and moulded by religion, and by hard work in the
family fields and in his neighbours’ fields. While he carried out this work with great determination and
out of obedience to his mother, he remained determined to dedicate himself to reading and writing.483
As recorded in The Memoirs of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales Don Bosco attributed great
importance to his meeting with Fr John Calosso who, for less than two years, worked as a priest in the
Village of Murialdo (1829-1830). Many years later, Don Bosco refers with great clarity to the feelings
he had at the age of fifteen.484
However Don Bosco’s recreational activities naturally played a significant part in his formation. His
mother encouraged his involvement in games and outdoor pursuits. His interest in games, in looking
for bird’s nests and his attempts to be an acrobat all prepared him for his involvement in La società
dell’allegria (The Happy Company) of later years, during Don Bosco’s studies at Chieri. His heavy
involvement in recreational activities as a young man also accounts for the wide range of activities he
assigned to free time in his preventive educative system.485
2. Early schooling
Don Bosco’s first regular elementary education took place at Castelnuovo: from Christmas 1830 to the
summer of 1831, and at Chieri, where he attended the classes of grammar, of the humanities and of
rhetoric, from 1831 to 1835.
As a preparation for his future, this period is important. The young farmer met the new and exhilarating
world of Latin culture in the context of a classical education. The effect of this on Don Bosco was to
open his mind to an appreciation of culture, which will prove invaluable in his future work as an
educator and as a promoter of vocations.
But the most influential feature in the life of Don Bosco, as he was growing up, was the reality of
finding himself deeply immersed into a holistic, formative structure, which is at the same time cultural,
ethical and religious. We referred earlier to Don Bosco’s preventive repressive kind of soul: it left a
deep mark on Don Bosco’s mentality. Evidently, this mentality was compensated for by later
experiences, which in turn leave indelible marks in the organisation of his future educational
481 MO (1991): 33-34.
482 Ibid., 34, 42-44.
483 Ibid., 48-50. A substantially credible reconstruction can be found in the Life compiled by G.B. Lemoyne, Scene morali
di famiglie esposte nell vita di Margherita Bosco. Racconto edificante ed ameno, (Turin: tip. E libreria Salesiana, 1886),
7-188 pages, and in the essay by E. Valentini, Il sistema preventivo nella vita di Mamma Margherita, (Turin, LDC,
1957), 146.
484 MO (1991), 45-51. “I put myself in Don Calosso’s hands….Every word, thought, action I promptly showed him…I
knew then what it means to have a stable guide, a faithful soul friend, which I had lacked up until then”. (47)
485 Ibid., 38-42, 76-82.

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undertakings for students and especially within schools and boarding institutions. 486 This becomes
evident not only from the analysis of the text, but also from the clear recollections of his religious
experiences as recorded in the Memoirs of the Oratory.487
Don Bosco reflects these same religious and moral foundations in his Preventive System. They can be
identified in the value he placed on religious instruction and the practice of religion: the concern he
showed for order, discipline and morality, a responsibility he enshrined in the post of the Prefect of
Studies and supported by the concept of assistance and the constant reference to an inner formation to
be nurtured by the Congregation through spiritual direction and Sacramental praxis.
To everything we have mentioned above we should also add that Don Bosco had a keen interest in
literature which gave him, as he himself says, an insatiable thirst for classical authors, both Latin and
Italian. He almost became infatuated with them.488
Several years later, Don Bosco makes reference to this period by referring to two of his teachers, two
priests, as models to be imitated. The first one he singles out with some emphasis is Father Peter
Banaudi, whom he describes as a model teacher, one who had successfully made himself feared and
loved by all his pupils, without ever using punishments. He loved his pupils as though they were his
children and they in turn loved him as a tender father. 489 Don Bosco also considered himself as blessed
to have chosen, as his regular confessor a theologian, Father Maloria. This thirty-year-old priest
welcomed him with great kindness. He remained Don Bosco’s confessor during the entire course of his
theological studies. 490
3. Seminary life in Chieri
The studies in philosophy and theology at the seminary in Chieri (1835-1841) do not seem to have had
a great impact on Don Bosco’s culture and mentality, since by temperament he was not inclined to
indulge in theoretical speculations. At any rate, these studies anchored him to the basic dogmatic and
moral theology of those times. They were not as significant as the Neo-Thomism that followed.
After having spoken positively about the discovery of the Imitation of Christ, the following is what
Don Bosco wrote, without much enthusiasm, about the study of theology at Chieri:
We only study speculative dogmatic theology in our Seminary. As for moral theology, we
only consider issues of controversy. 491
It seems that Don Bosco was not influenced in any permanent way by the probabiliorists’ teachings,
from anti-infallibility theses, the widespread rigourist approach to pastoral ministry, Gallican-
sympathising ideas which characterised the theology taught in the seminaries in the Turin Diocese
during the first decade of the 19th century. However the disciplinary and spiritual set-up of the seminary
seems, with some reservations, to have had a remarkably positive influence on Don Bosco. 492
486 This is a notable element, though not the only one, of the specific Jesuit influence, since its members and pedagogy go
back to the Regulations of Charles Felix, July 23, 1822, as said, which shaped the school of the Sardinian Kingdom,
including the Sunday gatherings of students, which the festive oratory of Don Bosco is partly connected with.
487 MO (1991), 56-58, 63-64.
488 Ibid., 82-84.
489 Ibid., 71-72.
490 Ibid., 64-65, 84.
491 MO (1991), 116.
492 As for the teaching in the theological faculty and in Turin’s seminaries in the first decades of the 19th century, it has
been written: “As far as moral theology was concerned, probabiliorism was taught; for ecclesiology (out of spite for the

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This seminary regime provided a firm basis for his basic spiritual and moral principles, and provided
him with a clear framework to support the structure of his teaching on duty, love and joy. He was later
to stress exactness in the performance of one’s duties, such as the following: morning prayers, with
Mass and meditation, the rosary, reading during the meals (Don Bosco quoted specifically Bercastel’s
Church history), and Confession, every fortnight, Holy Communion on feast days, the study of
philosophical and theological treatises, while offering options in other disciplines but with a clear
preference for historical and apologetic studies. It was to be these latter studies, which would give Don
Bosco his impetus to popularise whatever had to do with history and Catechesis. 493
Don Bosco received a scientific and university type of formation at Chieri. The culture he warmed to
was not so pretentious; it was free of speculation and theological dogmatic disputations. Together with
the emphasis given to moral and applied theology, especially at the Convitto Ecclesiastico in Turin, this
kind of culture would not fail to give Don Bosco his fundamental orientation towards the creation of a
pedagogy which would be religious and moral, essential and practical. On the other hand, the religious
and pastoral spirituality of two saints, St Philip Neri and St Francis de Sales were to have a deep
influence on his preventive educative style. In this way the cleric Bosco, probably at the seminary,
rounded up his own theological formation.
We will deal with these two saints later when we write about the years which followed Don Bosco’s
three-year stay at the Convitto Ecclesiastico in Turin and we will also add Don Bosco’s encounter with
another saint, St Vincent de Paul, whose life he may have glimpsed in his seminary days.
Don Bosco’s culture was not only nurtured by what was on offer in the seminary regime. He owed
much to his own taste in reading; books on sacred and church history, on apologetics, and certain
formative authors.494 It is probably true to say that Don Bosco made no distinction between the authors
and books he read in later years and those read during his days at the Convitto Ecclesiastico, and during
the period when he wrote on religious history, on apologetics and on the type of piety suited for young
people.
However, it is evident that Don Bosco preferred authors, like Bossuet, who interpreted history in a
theological, providential, hagiographical and moralistic way and were loyal to the Church. Don Bosco
would never depart from the road followed by Berault-Bercastel:
This is my intention, to make people recognize the unfailing protection of God over his
people, the sanctity as well as the infallibility of the church, its beauty and its splendour
even during the times of the greatest darkness.495
This intention resounds throughout Don Bosco’s education system. He himself stresses this very point
in The Memoirs of the Oratory when the features of the Preventive System which he put into practice
during a thirty year period, were already defined. The seminary education system had been evidently
modelled on the institutiones ad universum seminarii regimen pertinentes (The educational system to
be used by seminaries) issued by Charles Borromeo, and with objectives and methods definitely
official neutrality) there were anti-infallibility texts and criticism of primacy. In pastoral practice there was rigourism;
amongst the clergy, especially learned ones from whom bishops were mostly selected, Francophile thinking was
common”, that is, jurisdictional material. G. Tuninetti, L. Gastaldi 1815-1883, vol 1 Teologo, pubblicista, rosminiano,
vescovo di Saluzzo: 1815-1871, (Turin, Edizioni Piemme 1983), 33.
493 MO (1991), 91-93, 106-108.
494 MO (1991), 107.
495 A. H. Bérault-Bercastel, Storia del cristianesimo dell’anate Bérault.Bercastel translated in Italian with notes and essays
by Abbot Giambattisa Zugno, vol 1, (Turin, tip. Cassone, Marzorati and Vercellone, 1831), 30.

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leaning towards austerity.496 On the whole it was a repressive system.
The rector and the other superiors came to see us when we got back from our vacation and
when we were leaving for our vacation. No one ever went to speak with them, except in
cases when someone had to be reprimanded. The superiors took turns, each week in
supervising us in the dining room and during the walks. And that was all.
How often I would have liked to talk to them, to ask them for their advice or for the
solution of some problem, and I could not. Besides, whenever a superior happened to pass
by through the seminary, without knowing why everyone would hurry away as if they were
avoiding a black cat.497
4. At the Convitto Ecclesiastico
Several times when Don Bosco referred to the Convitto Ecclesiastico, the residential college for
seminarians from the Diocese of Turin, he also stressed its friendly, practical, pastoral character, in
harmony with the mission of a priest, understood as the art of dealing with souls, (ars animarum), a
pedagogy of spirituality.498
In his Memoirs of the Oratory, Don Bosco presents the Convitto as an institution founded:
So that young priests, after their seminary courses, might learn the practical side of their
sacred ministry. These were the things to which we had to give all our attention: meditation,
reading, two walks a day, lessons on preaching, a retreat kind of life, devoting all our time
to study and reading good authors. This was a marvellous time of preparation, providing so
much that was good for the Church; it especially helped to root out some Jansenistic
tendencies still latent among us.499
This is how Don Bosco remembered an institution to which he was constantly, even emotionally, so
attached, particularly during the time when Fr Louis Guala and Fr Joseph Cafasso were teaching there.
The Regolamento or Rules issued by the Convitto’s founder, Fr Louis Guala, contained this advice:
Study-time should be divided up so that some of it will be devoted to practical moral
theology; the rest shall be devoted to the practical teaching of sacred preaching and liturgy,
according to the manner prescribed.500
496 Cf. Institutiones ad universum seminarii regimen pertinentes, in Acta Ecclesiae Mediolensis, ed. A. Ratti, (Milan:
1982), vol 3, col. 93-146.
497 MO (1991), 91. Many impressions at the moment of his departure, MO (1991), 110. In a book by priest F. Falcone, Per
la riforma dei seminari in Italia (Rome, F. Pustet, 1906), Don Bosco’s Preventive System is also proposed for
“seminaries, especially for Middle and High schools”, although combined substantially for the particular aims of
ecclesiastical formation, with the “substance of the S. Charles educational system”. (ibid., 56-66).
498 Cf. G. Usseglio, “Il teologo Guala e il Convitto ecclesiastico di Torino”, in «Salesinaum» 10 (1948): 453-502.
499 MO (1991) 116-117. Ideals and impressions highlighted by Don Bosco in Ragionamento funebre esposto il giorno
XXX agosto nella Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi (1860): “The aim of this Convitto is to teach new priests practical
matters in their sacred ministry, especially for the administration of the sacrament of Penance and preaching the Word
of God…” (Biografia del sacerdote Giuseppe Caffasso esposta in due ragionamenti funebri dal sacerdote Bosco
Giovanni, (Turin, Paravia, 1860), 73-74, OE 12, 423-424).
500 Regolamento del convitto ecclesiastico compiled by Luigi Guala, in G. Colombero, Vita del servo di Dio D. Giuseppe
Caffasso, con cenni storici Sul Convitto ecclesiastico di Torino, (Turin: Fratelli Canonica 1895), 361 (Pietà e Studio).

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The guidance contained in the original manuscript written by Fr Guala, referring to the subject matter
of sermons, was more detailed and accurate:
The starting point will be the writing of meditations for retreats. This subject matter is to be
preferred, because it is more natural, more useful to the one who writes it. It can also be
used in any sermon delivered from the pulpit. Besides, it is particularly useful in the
Confessional. Later on, after the written meditations, comes the writing of sermons on the
Gospels, and sermons for instructional purposes.501
Actually, we still have a dozen such compositions written by Don Bosco when he was studying at the
Convitto. They all stress the themes of meditations and instructions which ordinarily, as a century-old
tradition, were delivered to the faithful in parish missions or spiritual retreats.
Fr Joseph Cafasso, besides being a guide in the study of moral theology, also taught Don Bosco
spirituality and life. It was Fr Joseph Cafasso who encouraged Don Bosco to follow an educational
activity such as priestly ministry among prisoners and Lenten catechism classes with particular concern
for the young who had migrated from the countryside into Turin. 502 Don Bosco, in later years, would
often go to Fr Cafasso, his benefactor and confessor, both for advice and help. 503
At the school of Fr Cafasso, Don Bosco strengthened and refined his spirituality: Christian hope;
preference given to trusting God rather than to the fear of God; the sense of duty as a coherent
Christian lifestyle; the fundamental importance to be given to the practice of the sacraments, an
effective pastoral ministry; loyalty towards the Church and the Pope; the apostolic orientation towards
abandoned youth; the meditation on the’ last things’ and the exercise for a happy death.504
As far as moral direction was concerned, which would have such a great role to play in Don Bosco’s
educative and pastoral practice, the Convitto was the ideal preparation. It was the Convitto which
passed on to Don Bosco the essential aspects of St Alphonsus Liguori’s theological and spiritual vision
of both of whom Frs. Guala and Cafasso considered to be the ideal authors capable of mediating
between the rigidity of a radical Jansenism and a superficial, easy-going reaction to it.505 Don Bosco
would later have recourse to St Alphonsus Liguori, when as a founder he would have to come to terms
with the basic tenets of religious life: vocation, vows, community life, observance and fidelity.
5. Congenial saints
The priests at the Oratory kept the spiritual tradition of St Philip Neri alive, both in Turin and in
501 Cf. Regolamento, original draft, reported by A. Giraudo, Clero, seminario e società. Aspetti dellal Restaurazione
religiosa a Torino, (Rome, LAS, 1993), 395.
502 Commitments were offered to all the residents who were licensed for specific pastoral activity: catechesis, preaching,
adminstering the sacrament of penance: cf. L. Nicolis di Robilant, Vita del Ven. Giuseppe Caffasso, confondatore del
Convitto ecclesiastico di Torino, (Turin, Scuola Tipografica Salesiana, 1912), 2 vols; especially vol 2, 1-16 and 208-
230.
503 Lemoyne writes of the frequent visits of Don Bosco to the Convitto where a room remained available to him, where he
could go to prepare his publications: cf. MB 2, 257-258; L. Nicolis di Robilant, Vita del Ven. Giuseppe Caffasso, vol 2,
222-223; the author devotes the entire chapter 7 of volume 2 to the theme of relationships between Don Bosco and
Caffasso (208-230).
504 For a more detailed reference to emerging features of Caffsso’s spirituality there is a useful summary by F. Accornero, L
dottrina spirituale di San Giuseppe Caffasso, (Turin, LDC, 1958): especially characteristic are the sanctification of duty
(39-61), confidence (107-130) and the exercise for a Happy Death (217-219).
505 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol. 1 85-95; E. Valentini, Don Bosco e S. Alfonso,
(Pagani (Salerno): Casa Editrice Sant’Alfonso, 1972), 83. 85 pages.

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Piedmont. He was widely known through a biography written during the 17th century by one of his
confreres, Pier Giacomo Bacci (1575 circa-1856): The life of St Philip Neri, the apostle of Rome and
the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory506 and by a collection of Thoughts for Youth.
In the seminary in Chieri, the feast of St Philip Neri was one of three great feasts of the year: The
Immaculate Conception, which the Rules considered to be the greatest of all solemnities of the
seminary,507 the feast days of St Francis de Sales and St Aloysius Gonzaga. The seminary chapel was
dedicated to the Immaculate Conception; two chapels in the public church nearby were dedicated to St
Francis de Sales and to St Philip Neri. May 26, the feast of St Philip, was celebrated solemnly with a
Mass, sermon and, in the evening, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.508
Don Bosco, the student-seminarian, became familiar with the Founder of the Oratory and his special
pastoral ministry involving cheerful piety, serene chastity and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, all to
be shared with young people. Don Bosco made it so clearly evident in a well-known sermon, delivered
at Alba on May 26, 1868509 and in the pages on the Preventive System in 1877. In a pamphlet written in
1858, A Vade Mecum for Christians, Don Bosco included a short series of words of advice for youth
written by St Philip Neri.510 In his Church History, Don Bosco clearly indicated many similarities
between his own preventive style and the one used by another Piedmontese, a member of the Oratory
of St Philip, Blessed Sebastian Valfrè: “It is hard to express the extent of the zeal that he showed for the
salvation of souls.511 In his Practical guide for Christians Don Bosco also introduced Bl. Valfrè’s
General Advice for a Father of a Family by Bl. Valfrè, and Advice Given by Bl. Sebastian Valfrè in Two
Letters to Two Mothers.512
The other saint Don Bosco came to know during his days at the seminary was St Francis de Sales from
Savoy. (1567-1622). He came into contact with this saint, once again, through the influence of the
Marchioness di Barolo and at the beginning of the Oratory. In Piedmont there was a biography of the
Bishop of Savoy which was widely circulated. It had been written by the chaplain to the Monastery of
the Visitation in Turin, Father Piergiacinto Gallizia, and it was published in Venice in 1720 and
reprinted several times.
St Francis de Sales was better known in the urban areas than in the countryside and mainly through his
book The Introduction to the Devout Life and The Treatise on the Love of God. Don Bosco probably
read the first of these books at some time in his life; it is unlikely that he read the latter one. During the
19th century in Piedmont, Don Bosco, and before him Lanteri, the Marchioness di Barolo, Father J.
Cafasso, knew the saint from Savoy as a “model of gentleness and pastoral zeal”; more so for Don
Bosco, for those who worked for young people and for the poor.513 This, was the most likely impression
that St Francis de Sales had made on Don Bosco during his seminary studies.
506 Rome 1622, with other Roman editions from 1745 and 1837.
507 A. Giraudo, Clero, seminario e società, 264.
508 Ibid., 444-445.
509 The manuscript signed by Don Bosco is preserved and a copy by Don Berto with author’s corrections. The text is
reproduced with variations in MB IX 214-221. Di Filippo had already drawn up a short profile in Storia ecclesiastica of
1845 and 1848 (315-316, OE I 315-316) (added to in the third edition 1870 highlighting the coincidences between the
two systems of education).
510 Porta teco cristiano ovvero Avvisi importanti intorno ai doveri del cristiano acciocché ciascuno possa conseguire la
propria salvezza nello stato in cui si trova, (Turin, tip. G. B. Paravia, 1858), 34-36, OE XI 34-36.
511 G. Bosco, Storia ecclesiastica, 331, OE I 489; cf. 330-352. OE I 488-490.
512 G. Bosco, Porta teco cristiano, 8-22, 48-55, OE XI 8-22, 48-55; cf- A. Dordoni, Un maestro di spirito nel Piemonte tra
Sei e Settecento. Il padre Sebastiano Vlafré dell’Oratorio di Torino, (Milan, Vita e Pensiero, 1952), 210 pages.
513 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco e San Francesco di Sales: incontro fortuito o identità spirituale? In J. Picca and J. Struś (eds),
San Francesco di Sales e I Salesiani di Don Bosco, (Rome, LAS, 1986), 139-159.

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The following was the schedule for the feast of St Francis de Sales:
In the morning, at a convenient hour, there will be a solemn Mass; a panegyric delivered by
the vice rector of the chapel; the day will then go on as usual, with study and tutorial review
lessons.514
During the 1870s, while writing his Memoirs of the Oratory, Don Bosco justified the dedication of the
first small chapel, the Pinardi shed, to St Francis de Sales, for these reasons:
1. Because the Marchioness di Barolo had the intention of founding a Congregation of priests
under that title, and because of that she commissioned a painting of St Francis de Sales.
2. Since our pastoral ministry demands calmness and meekness we had to place ourselves under
the protection of this saint, that he might obtain for us from God the grace to be able to imitate
him in his extraordinary meekness and in his zeal for souls.
3. The third reason was that of placing ourselves under the protection of this saint, so that from
heaven he might help us imitate him in his fight against the errors leveled at our religion,
especially Protestantism which tries to infiltrate our towns and especially the city of Turin.515
During the same period Don Bosco was able to acquire a particular knowledge of St Vincent de Paul
(1581-1660). The Vincentians and the Sisters of Charity were well known in Piedmont. The former
were known especially because of the Parish Missions they preached, for their retreats and for the
formation of the clergy, The latter were known for the care they had for the poor, for the sick and for
the soldiers located in military hospitals.
The House of Divine Providence had been founded by Father John Baptist Cottolengo, under the
protection of St Vincent de Paul and was inspired by St Paul’s words: Caritas Christi urgent nos (The
Love of God urges us on.) His message, according to a scholar who had studied his life, could be
summed up in this formula: The spirit and mystery of charity.516 Don Bosco made his retreat, prior to
his priestly ordination, in the house of the Priests of the Mission in Turin, from March 26 to July 4,
1841.517 Here is what Don Bosco wrote about St Vincent de Paul in his Church History:
Animated by a true spirit of Charity there was no calamity of any kind that he did not attend to.
Everyone felt the effects of St Vincent’s fatherly Charity. 518
The proof for the existence of the perfect harmony between Don Bosco and the saint of the effective
and affective love, is given in the book, The Christian Guided toward Virtue and Civility According to
the Spirit of St Vincent de Paul. This book was prepared by Don Bosco himself and edited by the
French Benedictine Joseph Ansart (1723-1790).519
514 Costituzioni pel Seminario Metropolitano di Torino (1819), part 1, ch. 2, art. 9, cited by A. Giraudo, Clero, seminario e
società, 351.
515 MO (1991), 132-133.
516 A. Dodin, St Vincent et la charité, (Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1960), 72-75, 127-133.
517 Don Bosco records this in the Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6, reporting the resolutions taken, amongst which “may the
charity of kindness of St Francis de Sales guide me in everything”. (F. Motto, Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6 pel sac.
Gio. Bosco a’ suoi figli salesiani, RSS 4 (1958): 88-89).
518 G. Bosco, Storia ecclesiastica, 328, OE I 486.
519 (Turin: tip. G. B. Paravi,a 1848), 288 pages OE III 215-502. Cf. D. Malfait – J. Schepens, Il Cristiano guidato alla
virtù ed alla civiltà secondo lo spirito di San Vincenzo de’ Paoli, RSS 15 (1996), 317-381; on St Vincent de Paoli, cf. G.
Bosco, Storia ecclesiastica, 328-329, OE I 486-487.

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6. The oratory experience
The basis of Don Bosco’s entire formation as a priest was pastoral priestly ministry and purpose. This
purpose reflected the spirit which animated the reform of seminary studies undertaken by Archbishop
Colombano Chiaverotti.
The seminary studies were directed toward the formation of the priest, who would be spiritually and
culturally well equipped to act as a teacher and as a guide of his people, as a shepherd, as a Victim of
Charity entirely dedicated to promoting the glory of God and the salvation of souls. He would be a
priest entirely dedicated to liturgical worship, preaching, teaching catechism, the administration of the
sacraments. This priest, so Aldo Giraudo writes, seems to be the accepted model of the priest who,
during the second half of the 19th century become a priest committed to social ministry.520
At the Convitto Ecclesiastico the pastoral qualifications of a priest were to be enriched by other
charitable and social dimensions, thanks to his encounter with the poverty of those who lived on the
margins of society, a poverty which afflicted especially the young who had come to Turin from the
countryside as well as from the mountainside. St Joseph Cafasso in particular had the intention of
forming newly ordained priests as men who would seek the salvation of the poor as their ultimate
responsibility in life.521 The priest, as shepherd and catechist, was expected to be a person intent on
doing good: this is how Cafasso, in his meditations and instructions given to the clergy, had
consistently described the priest.522
For Don Bosco this came as second nature. His involvement with the spiritual and material needs of the
young, especially those separated from their families, of young people who seemed lost in a city they
did not know, 523 was evidently a priority. He did have someone who was, somehow, a trailblazer and a
model in this: it was Fr John Cocchi, a curate at the Assumption Church who, in 1840, had founded the
Oratory of the Guardian Angels in a suburban area, poor and somewhat notorious, called Moschino, in
the Vanchiglia district of Turin.524
From this complex spiritual and cultural formation, as well as from the significant experiences he had
with the young and with the clergy, Don Bosco moved on toward his own creation: The Oratory. Don
Bosco’s Oratory took various forms: oratory for boarders and day boys, open and comprehensive
institutions in missionary enterprises of all kinds, within Italy and abroad.
By doing this, Don Bosco was playing the role of one who ideally continued the initiatives connected
with the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century and, in particular, with Charles Borromeo and the
Sodality of Christian Doctrine. It is evident, however, that the effective experience of Don Bosco
predates any kind of evident literary dependence. The Regulations are only an expression of experience
and an already formed mind-set. The very same thing can be said for the knowledge of constitutions
and rules that preceded him. And, besides, even in cases of an evident dependence, what makes the
520 A. Giraudo, Clero, seminario e società, 288; cf. 277-288 (L’ideale sacerdotale del Chiaverotti).
521 L. Nicolis di Robilant, Vita del Ven Giuseppe Caffasso, vol 2, 1-16, 208-230.
522 Cf. G. Caffasso, Meditazioni per esercizi spirituali al clero, published under the editorship of Can. Giuseppe Allamano,
(Turin: Fratelli Canonica, 1893), 325 pages; Istruzioni per esercizi spirituali al clero, published under editorship of
Can- Giuseppe Allamano, (Turin, Fratelli Canonica, 1893), 312 pages.
523 Cf. L. Nicolis di Robilant, Vita del Ven. Giuseppe Caffasso, vol. 2, 1-3, 213-215; P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della
religiosità cattolica, vol. 1, 95-97.
524 On G. Cocchi, there is a useful biogrpahy by E. Refro, Don Cocchi e I suoi artigianelli, (Turin: tip. S. Giuseppe dei
Artiginaelli, 1896); Vita del T. Leonardo Murialdo, (Turin, tip. S. Giuseppe degli Artiginaelli, 1905), 4, 340 pages; A.
Castellani, Il beato Leonardo Murialdo, vol 1 Tappe della formazione. Prime attività apostoliche (1828-1966), (Rome:
Tip S. Pio X 1966), 156-157).

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difference is Don Bosco’s understanding, Don Bosco’s language and style.525
7. Don Bosco and pedagogues who contributed to “The Primary School
Teacher”
“The primary school teacher” was a magazine with a group of educators and pedagogues as editors.
Later the title was changed to The Educator. It was aimed primarily at helping teachers involved in
primary and secondary schools.526
Don Bosco was surprisingly in sympathy with this group of teachers, psychologically, mentally and
practically. What all of them had in common was a passionate interest in the education of the masses in
all its forms: from basic instruction given in evening schools and technical schools, to more
sophisticated works associated with popular publications (Readings, Libraries etc.) in an atmosphere of
solidarity, affectionate and family-like participation.527
A certain connection at a literary level between Don Bosco and “The Educator” from which Don Bosco
draws some intuition or which support some of his intuitions, can be easily documented. The first
important books written by Don Bosco, are: Church History (1845), Bible History) (1847). “The
Educator” reviews these works quite positively. The first book was reviewed by a Fr Ramello, and
defined as “a new and very useful book” written by “a learned and good priest” who was convinced of
the need to have, as a great educative principle, the enlightening of the mind in order to make good the
heart.528 M.G, a priest (Michael Garelli of Mondovi?) offers a more in-depth review of the second book
in an article entitled: “School Teacher’s Letter on Bible History Written for Schools by Don Bosco”. He
speaks of:
the experiential origin of the book, its moral objectives, the conversational but clear Italian
employed and the spirit which gently moves and leans towards what is good.529
An echo of the review of the first book is clearly heard in Don Bosco’s preface to the Bible History
book. Don Bosco quotes almost verbatim the positive expressions used by the reviewer:
In every page I had clearly in mind this principle: to enlighten the mind to render the heart
525 The basic documents inspiring all the regulations are clearly the Constituzioni et Regole della Compagnia et Scuole
della Dottrina Christiana fatte dal Cardinale di Santo Prassede, Arcivescovo, in esecutione del Concilio secondo
provinciale, per uso della Provincia di Milano, in Acta Ecclesiae Mediolensis ab eius initiis usque ad nostram aetatem
opera et studio Presb. Achillis Ratti, vol tertium, Mediolani 1892, col. 149-270. Later Don Bosco used (cutting and
rewriting), the Regole dell’Oratorio eretto in Milano il giorno 19 maggio 1842 in contrada di S. Cristiana n. 2135; title
of the cover, altered to the frontispiece in this other work: Regolamento Organico, Disciplinare e Practico
dell’Oratorio Festivo di S. Luigi G. eretto in P. Comasina, Contrada S. Cristina 2135D; Regole per I Figliuoli
dell’oratorio sotto il Patrocinio della Sacra Famiglia (Milan, 1766). In the Salesian Central Archives there is also a
manuscript of the Statuti antichi della veneranda confraternits del SS. Nome di Gesù eretta nella chiesa parrocchiale
dei SS. Porcesso e Martiniano nella città di Torino (Turin, 1664), which as regards religious practices for the young
oratorians and recreation find notable echo in the Regolamento per gli esterni by Don Bosco.
526 L’Educatore Primario. Giornale d’educazione ed istruzione elementare (1845-1846); L’Educatore. Giornale
d’educazione ed istruzione (1847-1848), published in Turin by Paravia and edited by Fr Agostino Fecia.
527 Cf. P. Braido, Stili di educazione popolare cristiana alle soglie del 1848, in Pedagogia fra tradizione e innovazione,
(Milan, Vita e Pensiero, 1979), 383-404.
528 L’Educatore Primario, n. 34, Dec. 10, 1845, 576.
529 L’Educatore, n. 17, July 1, 1848, 542-543.

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good.530
On the same page, Don Bosco draws from the first number of The Primary School Teacher the idea of
“popularising knowledge”531 and from a contribution by Vincent Garelli Aporti’s idea of the usefulness
of images in teaching Bible History.532 It is hard to define more exactly the connection Don Bosco
might have had, in terms of ideals, methods and organization.533
Even though Don Bosco had cordial and friendly relationships with some contemporary theorists in
pedagogy like Antonio Rosmini, Gian Antonio Rayneri, Giuseppe Allievo (the last two held the chair of
science at the University of Turin during the years 1847-1867 and 1868-1911 respectively), he never
had or at least it cannot be proved that he had, an obvious involvement in pedagogical science of the
official and academic kind.534
8. Books about the spiritual guidance of youth
While studying the sources of the successful religious handbook Don Bosco wrote, The Companion of
Youth, 1847, Pietro Stella discovered a distinctive style of writing for the Christian education of young
people. This literature carries the distinctive marks of what would become Don Bosco’s formation
program, practical, accompanied by rules and proposed by him both verbally and in writing. There is
no doubt that the book was inspired and enriched by this literature and that it had no small impact on
the Christian formation of not a few generations.535
An outstanding figure in the field of spiritual guidance for youth is Charles Gobinet (1613-1690): a
priest from Paris; he was the author of a popular book l’instruction de la jeunesse en la pieté
chretienne, tirée de le écriture sainte et de Ss. Péres, Divisée en cinq parties. (The instruction of youth
in Christian piety, drawn from Sacred Scripture and from the Fathers of the Church divided into five
parts).536 Many others who offer similar educational schemes, usually spiritual in content and all
exclusively directed to the youth of a certain social and cultural level, follow Gobinet.
The following are worth mentioning: Francesco Avondo’s Theotimus, namely, family-like instruction
on the Christian duties of young people and especially young students. A booklet suited to all classes of
530 G. Bosco, Storia sacra per uso delle scuole utile ad ogni stato di persone, (Turin: tipografi-editori, 1847), 7, OE III 7.
531 A. Fecia, “Introduzione”, L’Educatore Primario, n. 1, Jan. 10, 1845, 1-2
532 “ L’Educatore Primario”, n. 24, Aug. 30, 1845, 404-407 (Dell’insegamento della storia sacra col mezzo di tavole). Don
Bosco cites it with indication V. Varelli; in the second edition (Turin: Speirani e Tortone, 1853), the first generic
indication is substituted by the following citation: “V. F. Aporti Educato. Prim. Vol 1 406”; in the article of Garelli some
illustrations are included on the theme from a text by F. Aporti beginning with the words used by Don Bosco: “Sacred
History is taught to children with the help of pictures representing the facts which refer to them” 406.
533 As an exception, perhaps, a short essay unpublished until 1929, with the title, “Avvertenza intorno all’uso da farsi nelle
scuole delle storie sacre tradotte da lingua straniera”, which shows elements similar to one written by Fr Cristoforo
Bonavino which appeared in L’Educatore, March 1847, 140-148, with the title “Esame critico su parecchi compendi di
Storia Sacra”.
534 Fr Gian Anotnio Rayneri and layman Giuseppe Allievo, notable exponents of Christian spiritual pedagogy, exercise an
obvious direct influence on two well-known Salesians, Fr Francesco Cerruti and Fr Giulio Barberis. The unpublished
Appunti di Pedagogia Sacra by Barberis reveals huge dependence on their writings. Cf. J. M. Prellezzo, “G. A. Rayneri
negli scritti pedagogici salesiani”, in «Orientamenti Pedagogici» 40 (1993): 1039-1063
535 P. Stella, Valori spirituali nel “Giovane provveduto”, 22.
536 Istruzione della Gioventù nella pietà cristiana, (Turin, Association Librai Maspero e Serra, 1831), “Scelta biblioteca
economica d’opere di religione”, vol. 23. There were some Italian editions amongst which Venics, 1708, 1765, 1831,
and at Lodi 1815.

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people.537 Cardinal De La Luzerne’s A Booklet on the duties of the young538; Claudio Arvisenet’s An
Address to Youth;539 A bouquet of flowers for boys and girls, namely a Christian antidote in defence of
innocence.540
The basic themes are found more explicitly expressed in the model described by Charles Gobinet in
The Instruction of Youth.541 The first volume describes, in five parts, the fundamental aspects of youth,
a help towards their Christian salvation and the journey leading to the attainment of virtue, that is
holiness:
l) On the reasons and motives which justify a man’s duty to pursue virtue from his early
years.
2) On the means needed to acquire virtue during youth.
3) On the obstacles which turn the young away from virtue.
4) On the virtues needed by the young.
5) On choosing one vocation in life.542
The crowning point is provided by a Treatise on meditation, namely, on mental prayer regarded as
possible and necessary for the young also.543 The second volume, a bit less bulky, is entirely dedicated
to the two sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist: Instruction on Penance and on the Means Needed
to Return to God Through Real Conversion544 and Instruction on Holy Communion. 545 There is an
initial exhortation to true conversion and to correcting of one’s life;546 it is followed by a treatise on the
fundamental elements of the Sacrament of Penance, namely, sorrow, confession, and firm purpose of
amendment. The concluding part of this section is a detailed introduction to an examination of one’s
sins, condensed into three sections: the Commandments, the theological virtues together with the virtue
of religion, examined in reference to the first commandment, and the seven deadly sins.547
The volume’s second section is dedicated to Holy Communion and divided into two parts: On the
doctrine, namely, on truths we ought to know about the Sacrament of the Holy Communion548 and On
the practice of going to Communion and on what is needed for a good Communion. This section
constitutes a real plan designed for a Christian life, harmoniously modelled on the basic virtues of
Faith, Hope and Charity.549
537 Turin, in the press of Giacomo Giuseppe Avondo, 1768, 440 pages. Fr Francesco Avondo was a son of the printer’s;
Doctor in theology, inclined to Jansenism, he died in 1776.
538 Genoa, tip. Como 1842, 71 pages.
539 Milan, tip e libr. Pirotta e Comp., 1842, 240 pages. Fr Verrà then published also in Letture Cattoliche, year 7, number 7,
September 1859, under the title “La Guida della Gioventù nelle vie della salute”, (Turin: Paravia, 1858).
540 Turin, from the Paravia Press 1836, 252 pages. The second edition came out the same year, printed by Giacinto
Marietti, “riveduta e migliorata aggiuntovi un breve esercizio per la confessione, comunione e messa. Del sac. S.B.A.”,
304 pages, an extract from Antiveleno, the Memoriale cristiano ossia indirizzo pratico di vita cristiana con un
brevissimo esercizio per la S. Confessione, Comunione e Messa tratto dal Mazzolin di fiori ai fanciulli ed alle fanciulle,
(Turin, Giacinto Marietti Tipografo Librajo), 36 pages.
541 Quoted from the Venice edition of 1708 in two works: Instruzione della gioventù nella Pietà Cristiana, cavata dalla
Sacra Scrittura, e da’ Santi Padri. Opera del signor Carlo Gobinet Teologo della Sorbona, and Primicerio del Collegio
Plessis-Sorbona, (Venice, Paolo Baglioni, 1708).
542 C. Gobinet, Instruzione, 1, 1-563.
543 Ibid., 564-610.
544 Ibid., 2, 3-27-
545 Ibid., 28-371.
546 Ibid., 372-491.
547 Ibid., 312-371-
548 C. Gobinet, Instruzione, 2, 374-419.
549 Ibid., 420-491.

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The affinity which exists with not only The Companion of Youth but also with the entire framework of
Don Bosco’s Christian educational system shows how much he owed to all of the above-mentioned
authors or at least how much connection there is between praxis and pedagogical reflection and solid
tradition, seriously committed to offering youth a solid, specific Christian spirituality.550
9. A teacher constantly ‘open to learning’
There is no doubt that Don Bosco, as a founder, had to learn everything involved in the juridical and
spiritual structure of the religious institutions that he founded. He also had to learn things about the
many publications, narrative, catechetical and apologetic, he was gradually issuing. The same went for
his educational experience, especially when he had to express it in writing. We have already mentioned
in previous chapters, and earlier in this chapter, the names of educators and pedagogues Don Bosco
might have known, to some degree.
A detailed analysis of his more significant pedagogical writings may eventually discover some
probable sources Don Bosco may have relied on and drawn from. Don Bosco addressed a letter to
Father Rua, at the end of October 1863, one which later became known as the Confidential Reminders
for Rectors. In this letter we find the classical formula: make yourself loved before you make yourself
feared, a formula which later was slightly modified. Instead of the word before, the words if you want,
and, rather than. Don Bosco may have taken this formula from the monastic Rule of St Augustine or of
St Benedict, but most probably from reading books which dealt with Greek and Roman history. The
document as a whole may have drawn some kind of inspiration from a booklet written by the Jesuit
father Binet, Quel est le meillieur gouvernement: le rigoureux ou le doux? (What is the best way to
rule: strictly or with gentleness?). Don Bosco might have had the chance to read this booklet in its
Italian edition provided by Jesuit Father Anthony Bresciani (1798-1862), who was director of the
boarding school Of Mount Carmel and who later on became provincial, near the Convitto Ecclesiastico.
The text which, had as title The art of leadership, was preceded by a note written by the translator, in
which he displayed rather conservative ideas aimed at forewarning people against modern permissive
and populist tendencies, and possibly or actually affecting family, society and even the world of
politics.551
There appeared to be numerous suggestions and confirming proofs related to this overall pedagogical
viewpoint which surfaced in the basic but significant pages of Don Bosco’s The Preventive System in
the Education of Youth.552 Those pages contained many ideas which were the result of Don Bosco’s
own experience, which in turn reflected reasons familiar to the Catholic pedagogical tradition: above
all the evangelical method of love, gentleness, reasonableness, understanding, previously championed
by Fenelon and Rollin and solidly boosted by Don Bosco’s encounter with the Brothers of the Christian
550 In the study by P. Stella, Valori spirituali nel “Giovane provveduto”, the first two chapters are dedicated to making the
convergences and dependencies more precise: Letteratura ascetica per la gioventù in Piemonte (21-45) and Le fonti del
“Giovane provveduto” (46-79).
551 Dell’arte di governare. Qual è il governo migliore, il severo, o il dolce?. Work by Fr Stefano Binet of the Company of
Jesus translated into Italian by Fr Antonio Bresciani of the same Company, (Turin: per Giacinto Marietti, 1843), 168
pages. Fr Bresciani’s preliminary considerations are found in 5-10.
552 These brief pages were published first in a bilingual edition, Italian and French, in a work titled Inaugurazione del
Patronato di S. Pietro in Nizza a Mare. Scopo del medesimo esposto dal Sacerdote Giovanni Bosco con appendice sul
sistema preventivo nella educazione della gioventù, (Turin, tip. E libr salesiana, 1877), 68 pages, OE XXVIII 380-446;
two separate editions followed immediately, the whole work on the Inaugurazione: from November of the same year
the pages on the Preventive System found a place of honour in the work Regolamento per le case della Società di S.
Francesco di Sales, (Turin: tip. Salesiana, 1877), OE XXIX 99-109. Cf. Giovanni (s.) Bosco, Il sistema preventivo nella
educazione della gioventù. Introduzione e testi critici, ed. P. Braido, RSS 4 (1985): 171-321.

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Schools and perfectly in tune with the personalities and writings of the 19th century which were
accessible to him.553
The most immediate and important source was probably a booklet by the Superior General of the
Barnabites, Fr Alexander Teppa: Advice for Catholic educators of youth, a book we have already
referred to.
Don Bosco may have become aware of the two words preventive and repressive from his contacts with
the judiciary, from people involved in prisons, from people involved in juridical and penal matters, and
from correctional institutions. We have mentioned earlier, in particular the correctional institution
called La Generala. A similar idea may have also come from knowing, at least in summary, the more
demanding pedagogical work written by Bishop Felix Dupanloup On Education, again already
mentioned.
10. The impact of Turin’s youth
The reference to Don Bosco’s various pedagogical documents, and also the reference to their similarity
to other books, lead us to an in-depth reflection on those who had an immediate impact on the
formation of the mentality and style of Don Bosco the educator.
Don Bosco might have had some sort of dependence on other people both in culture and literature. But
beyond all this, those who had most impact on Don Bosco’s formation were the young and his fellow
workers coming, as they did, from the most diverse backgrounds. Don Bosco’s formation from his
actual experience must be seen as the starting point. Of particular importance was his encounter with
the youth of Turin during the years he spent at the Convitto Ecclesiastico, in the prisons, on the streets
and in catechism classes. That was an entirely new experience. Most certainly what prepared Don
Bosco for such an experience was not the rural world in which he had lived, and certainly not the Latin
school of Chieri and not, at least from a practical point of view, the theological knowledge acquired at
the seminary. His real school was the school of personal experience, and that school changed as the
times and situations changed. Don Bosco was obliged to constantly restructure his perception of reality
as his experience changed. On the other hand, with a realistically open-minded temperament and an
ability to read situations, Don Bosco always showed particular sensitivity to those he met and with
whom he lived. We should not be surprised if his rigorous fidelity to ideals and his determination to
achieve great plans may have not prevented him from understanding and responding to requests, to the
needs, to the characters of those he cared for. He was particularly sensitive to the changing needs of
young people, something which varied considerably throughout his long life of educational activity
from 1841-1888, even though he lived in different historical, social and cultural conditions. There are
many examples to prove this. Above all we see it in Don Bosco’s daily and intensively personalised
contact with his boys: in the playground, in his office, in the Good Night talks, in the confessional, in
his letters, in his various initiatives as a writer, as an organiser and as a director or administrator.
This contact is expressly documented in the Memoirs of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales which in its
very pages and general inspiration could be considered as the reflective expression of an authentic
pedagogy, from his first rural Oratorian experience to his experience of working in the city of Turin.
Further proof is found in the various biographies written by Don Bosco, biographies that show us quite
clearly how he related to the young men in his care, being with them, talking to them according to their
ability to understand. In these biographies we see the way he stressed the significant qualities of his
553 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol 2, ch. 14, Elementi religiosi nel sistema educativo di
Don Bosco, especially 450-459 (Il sistema preventivo nel contesto culturale di Don Bosco e del suo ambiente).

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educational method, duty, study, cheerfulness, and the sacraments. The Power of a Good Education
(1855); The Life of Dominic Savio (1859); A Biographical Sketch of Michael Magone (1861); The
Little Shepherd from the Alps (1864). All of these biographies are like so many expressions of
educational experience; they are stories which express a systematic pedagogy.
Finally, we should not forget the documents which Don Bosco produced throughout his life and which
give voice to his understanding of education in the minute detail of everyday experience: namely his
many letters to authorities and benefactors; letters to friends and collaborators; and especially letters to
educators and groups of young people. These letters are the expression of the way he shared his
continual educative presence.
Many more elements will mentioned in the following chapters. Don Bosco’s dream visions themselves
could offer an indication of the growing awareness he had for the needs of young people. More than
esoteric nightly fantasies, those dreams help us appreciate a deeper understanding of Don Bosco’s
Preventive System. The dreams should be considered as the outward expressions of feelings of anxiety,
visions which express his concern: the present and eternal happiness of the young, the dangers which
threaten their happiness, the initiatives he needed to discover in order to further that happiness. In
essence, the dreams reveal the deep meaning of Don Bosco’s life and the meaning of his mission as an
educator.

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Chapter 8
The works, the heart, the style
We cannot separate the elements of experience summed up in the Preventive System from Don Bosco’s
personality or from the typical shape of the institutions where he and his co-helpers worked.
It follows naturally then that the fundamental features of the preventive experience to be analysed in
the following chapters can be understood only if strictly connected with Don Bosco’s life, temperament
and personality traits. This is what the present chapter aims to recall at least in summary fashion.554
1. The works
In Memoirs of the Oratory Don Bosco refers to the initial steps of his activity on behalf of the young as
going back to December 8, 1841, and to his chance encounter with a 17 year old young man called
Bartholomew Garelli.555 In the Historical Outline and Historical Outlines reference is made to Don
Bosco’s activity, but without singling out anyone in particular.556 At any rate, even though the initial
aim seems to have been almost exclusively to teach catechism, Don Bosco’s attention reaches broader
horizons as it relates to the primary needs of the young.
In a letter to the Marquis Michael Benso di Cavour, the city’s vice governor, and dated March 13, 1846,
Don Bosco writes: “The aim of these catechism classes is that of gathering those youngsters on festive
days who, left to themselves, never go to any church for catechetical instruction. This is done by using
kind words, promises, gifts and similar devices. The teaching is precisely concentrated on: 1) love for
work; 2) frequent reception of the holy sacraments; 3) respect for authority; 4) avoiding bad
companions”.557
A little later, the desire to give shelter to the most needy youngsters led Don Bosco to create a modest
home, “the annex, next to the Oratory”, which increased the demands and urgent need for help.558 For
this reason, Don Bosco wrote about the matter to Count Clemente Solaro Della Margherita, the
conservative Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, from 1835 to 1847:
Without even looking at other expenses, the Baker’s bill alone for the past three months is
more than 1600 francs (approx.5 million lire or $2,500), and I do not know yet where I can
find a cent. At any rate, they have to eat. And if I do not provide a piece of bread for these
youngsters, who are ‘at risk’ and also ‘dangerous’ I am seriously exposing them to harm in
soul and body. This is not a question of giving a hand-out to a particular individual but of
offering a piece of bread to young men who are driven by their hunger to seriously risk the
554 Cf. A. Caviglia, Don Bosco, Profilo Storico, 2nd edition, (Turin: SEO, 1934), 215 pages; E. Ceria, San Giovanni Bosco
nella vita e nelle opere, (Turin, SEI, 1938), 442 pages; P. Broccardo, Uomo e santo. Don Bosco ricordo vivo, (Rome:
LAS, 1990), 235 pages; 1st edition, Don Bosco profondamente uomo – profondamente santo, (Rome, LAS 1984), 149
pages.
555 MO (1991), 121-122. In the Cronache dell’oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, N 1, 1860, written by Domenico Ruffino,
it speaks of “ a young man around 17 or 18”, but is precise about neither the year or the name (28).
556 Cf. P. Braido, Don Bosco per la gioventù povera e abbandonata in due inediti del 1854 e del 1862, in P. Braido, (ed.),
Don Bosco nella Chiesa, 38-39 and 60-62.
557 Em. I 67.
558 Writing to the administrators of the “Opera della Mendacità istruita” in 1850, he writes “There was a home for taking in
20 or 30 individuals and this for extreme cases of need we often found someone in” (letter of Feb. 20, 1850, Em I 96).

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loss of morality and religion.559
This is the reason behind all of Don Bosco’s undertakings and behind the popular aspect they took on:
works for the masses, undertakings which aimed at reaching out and embracing the greatest number of
individuals and responding to all their needs.
Chronologically, the first undertaking Don Bosco worked on was the Oratory, the Sunday location for
“young people “abandoned” to their own devices: far away from their families or neglected by them;
resident or immigrant workers without any fixed point of reference; young people just out of a
correctional institution, apprentices looking for work; students who, because of the abrogation law
issued by Charles Felix’s Regolamenti saw the so-called ‘congregations’ (Religious gatherings)560 as
falling out of favour. In connection with the Oratory we should also remember the various kinds of
undertakings Don Bosco initiated: such as schools accessible to the general public, which gradually
took on a consistency of their own within the complex area of Don Bosco’s undertakings: schools for
music and singing, schools for basic literacy, schools for general culture, evening and Sunday schools,
which were only a prelude to the Day schools, hostels etc.
Don Bosco wrote later on in the Memoirs of the Oratory of singing and music: “Ever since then I came
to realise that without the circulation of the song books, books to relax with, the weekend gatherings
would have been like a body without the spirit.561 During the winter of 1846-4 and 7, our schools
gained excellent results: we had an average 300 students every evening. What gave life to our classes,
besides science, was the plain-chant and our vocal music which were fostered among us at all times”.562
When, after 1848, Don Bosco saw that the “dangers to which the youngsters were exposed, as far as
morality and religion were concerned, demanded greater efforts to defend them”, he thought it best “to
add classes vocal music classes to those for piano and organ, with the instruments themselves, to the
day and evening classes: a kind of nascent Philharmonic Society with Don Bosco himself as the
Maestro, but always with the help of competent people.563 He responded to similar urgent needs several
decades later, in 1871-1872 to be exact, when he organised the first elementary day schools at
Valdocco. “These schools were primarily for boys”, as he explained to the mayor of Turin when he
appealed to him for financial aid, “who were roaming the streets all day long due to their parents
neglect or because they were poorly dressed, or were just living in laziness. They were a harm to
themselves and a disturbance to the authorities in charge of public security”.564
The Associations and sodalities of various types, set up according to age and according to the different
types of youngsters and various objectives, hold a relevant place in Don Bosco’s activity for youth. His
natural genius created La Società dell’allegria (The Happy Company). Don Bosco’s religious tradition
created the Sodalities. The need to oppose modern forms of coming together inspired Don Bosco to
create the Mutual Aid Society. He profited from similar tendencies to group together with what he
thought would respond to the needs of the times, by encouraging the Conferences of St Vincent de Paul,
among the young.565
But the institution which is the other major work amongst Don Bosco’s best efforts along with the
559 Letter of Jan. 5, 1854, Em I 212.
560 Cf. Em I 96-97, 139-141, 172-173, 270-272; MO (1991) 122-123, 128, 132, 142-143, 148-149.
561 MO (1991), 123.
562 MO (1991),, 176.
563 MO (1991), 190-191.
564 Cf the letter to the mayor of Turin, Aug. 26, 1872, E II 224-225.
565 Cf. F. Motto, Le conferenze “annesse” di S. Vincenzo de’ Paoli negli Oratori di Don Bosco. Ruolo storico di
un’esperienza educativa, in L’impegno dell’educare, ed. J. M. Prellezzo, (Rome, LAS, 1991) 467-492).

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Oratory, is the home, which later widened its horizons to becoming a boarding school for youngsters
taking on advanced studies and professional formation.566 The home would in time become a self-
sufficient institution with its own workshops, schools; and a comprehensive centre providing material
aid, religious and moral assistance, instruction, recreation, in short, a true centre for complete formation
of the young. In certain areas the home would become the most widely spread work of the
Congregation founded by Don Bosco. The relationship between home and Oratory would be reversed
in a certain sense: initially, the home was an annex to the Oratory; later the Oratory was to be an
institution joined to the home.567 Don Bosco identified the origins of the home in these words:
While the means to provide the youngsters with religious and literary instruction were
easily organised, another much greater need appeared, needing an urgent response. Many
youngsters from the city of Turin and from outside the city had the best of intentions of
leading a good moral life and a life of work. But when they were asked to begin, they
usually said that they had neither bread nor clothes nor place to find shelter, at least for a
time... When I came to realise that any work on behalf of these youngsters would be useless
if they had not been provided with shelter, then I took pains to quickly rent more and more
rooms at high prices.568
Don Bosco gave a reason for the colleges or boarding schools which would be developed during the
1860s, connected with Valdocco:
The burning desire of many youngsters to have regular learning forced me to make some
exceptions as far as the acceptance procedures into the home were concerned. We also
accepted young men who were not really abandoned or utterly poor but willing to study,
provided they showed good moral conduct and an aptitude for studies that would leave no
doubt for well-founded hope of an honourable and Christian success in pursuing a scientific
career.569
Then beginning from the 1860s on, various colleges and boarding Institutions were accepted by Don
Bosco following regular agreements with municipalities eager to offer secondary studies to young men,
from local good families. These institutions began in the city of Turin and then rapidly spread
throughout Italy and beyond, in Europe and overseas, in an unending, rapid and uninterrupted chain of
events: Mirabello Monferrato, Lanzo Torinese, Borgo San Martino, Cherasco, Alassio, Varazze,
Marassi, Sampierdarena, Turin-Valsalice;570 then from 1875, Bordighera-Vallecrosia, Nice, Almagro,
Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Marseille, Magliano Sabina, Albano Laziale, Ariccia, Lucca, San Benigno
Canavese, Este, La Spezia, Cremona, Florence, Utrera in Spain, Paris, Rome, etc.
566 The process had begun in Valdocco: during the five year period 155-1859 a boading school was set up at Valdocco for
high school students, while the classic workshops (shoemaking, tailoring, carpentry, book-binfing, mechanics and
printing) came into being during the decade 1853-1862.
567 Concerning the phenomenon of “collegialisation” in Don Bosco and amongst the Salesians and the Daughters of Mary
Help of Christians, cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol. 1 121-127.
568 MO (1991), 180 and 182. “The experience”, he wrote in 1877, in reference to the “Home for poor youngsdters” in
Buenos Aires, “has persuaded us that this is the only way to support civil society: take care of poor children…those who
would otherwise crowd the prisons, would always be the scourge of society, so they become good Christians, honest
citizens, the glory of the place they live in, the pride of the family they come from, earning their bread with sweat and
honest work”. (letter of Sept. 30 to Dr. Carranza, president of the local Conference of St Vincent de Paul, E III 221.
569 Cenni Storici, in P. Braido, ed., Don Bosco nella Chiesa, 76-77.
570 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale (1815-1870), (Rome: LAS, 1980), 123-157, ch- 6 Collegi e
ospizi in Piemonte e in Liguria (1860-1870).

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One of the initiatives perhaps less known and yet among Don Bosco’s most cherished and one which
was to guarantee not only the continuity of his work but also the possibility of extending his Christian
and educational efforts, was the promotion and formation of people ready to consecrate their lives to
Christian and educational activity in the priesthood and religious life. This was Don Bosco’s interest in
ecclesiastical and religious vocations.
The occasion was provided by the particular circumstances of the seminary in Turin,571 but Don
Bosco’s concern for vocations remained constant and even increased with the expansion of his work
and wider perspectives on the needs of the young. To achieve his goal, Don Bosco founded colleges
organised along the lines of minor seminaries, and at times he accepted the administration of diocesan
seminaries when some bishops entrusted them to him.
For this undertaking, Don Bosco promoted charitable endowments and support; he made sacrifices to
obtain hard-won exemptions from military service and from other economic burdens. As a way of
supporting this initiative, he founded the Work of Mary Help of Christians for vocations to the
ecclesiastical state, mostly for young-adults. This was an offshoot of the generous missionary drive
which animated his religious society in 1875.572
Another wide-open field particularly suited to Don Bosco’s gifted approach and understanding was
publishing, editorial work and book shops. Don Bosco’s written was prodigious, especially in the
catechetical, religious, devotional, apologetic and hagiographical fields. But he soon widened the
possibilities of spreading his publications by creating printing presses, book stores and publishing
houses of ever growing proportions.573
Don Bosco never overlooked his concern for the schools, as proven by his publication on The metrical-
decimal system (1849) nor his concern for the entertainment field, as proven by the production of short
stories and even by drama: The House of fortune (1865). He also began a newspaper, short-lived,
entitled The friend of youth (1848-1849).
Along with the above, Don Bosco set up the structures required for periodicals and book series. These
were successful in the field of popular culture and with Catholic schools. This is shown by: the
Catholic readings which began in 1853,574 the Library for Italian Youth, (1869-1885, 204 small
volumes), Selected readings taken from Latin writers and for the use of schools (from 1866)575, The
Salesian Bulletin (from 1877), A short collection of dramatic readings for educational institutions and
families (from 1885).
This literary activity was joined by a rich production of books and booklets of a controversial nature for
“the defence the Catholic faith against the proselytising of reformed churches, and against the
571 “This was a memorable year [1849]. Piedmont’s war against Austria which began the previous year, had shaken up all
of Italy. Public schools were shut down as were the seminaries, especially the seminary of Chieri and Turin; they were
actually occupied by the military and as a consequence the clerics of our diocese were left without teachers and without
a place to gather” (MO 1991, 194).
572 Cf. Opera di Mari Ausiliatrice per le vocazioni allo stato ecclesiastico. Messis multa, operarii autem pauci; rogate ergo
Dominum messis ut mittat operarios in vineam suam… (Turin, Oratory Press of S. Francis de Sales, 1875), 8 pages;
other editions, (Fossan: tip. Saccone, 1875), 8 pages, OE XXVII 1-8.
573 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol. 1, 229-249, Don Bosco scrittore ed editore; Don
Bosco nella storia economica, 327-368, Imprese editoriali 1844-1870.
574 Cf. P. Braido, “L’educazione religiosa popolare e giovanile nelle Letture Cattoliche di Don Bosco”, in «Salesianum» 15
(1953): 648-672; L. Giovanni, Le “Letture Cattoliche” esempio di “stampa cattolica” nel secolo XIX, (Naples: Liguori,
1984), 280 pages.
575 Cf. G. Proverbio, La scuola di don Bosco e l’insegnamento del latino (1850-1900), in Don Bosco nella storia popolare,
ed. F. Traniello, (Turin, SEI, 1987), 143-185.

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anticlerical press”. These books and booklets were widely distributed and at a very root of pastoral and
educational initiatives such as the foundation of oratories, homes and churches. The main objective was
always the salvation of the young and the ordinary folk: “To wrest the souls of poor youngsters from
the jaws of heresy”.576
In addition to the above, Don Bosco was also a generous and courageous builder of churches and
chapels, and centres for pastoral ministry among the people. We are dealing with something which
finds its humble roots in the tiny chapel made from the Pinardi Shed in 1846, followed, years later, by
the Church of St Francis de Sales and, a few years later still, by the Church of Mary Help of Christians.
The larger churches, such as the Church of St John the Evangelist in Turin, and the Church of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus in Rome, kept Don Bosco busy for more than 10 years of worries and hardships.
Everywhere you go you see that church, oratory, school, home are Don Bosco’s inseparable
institutions, in Turin as in Rome, at Vallecrosia as in Nice, Buenos Aires, Marseille, and La Spezia.577
Reference to Don Bosco’s activity with sacred buildings brings us back to the constant and often secret
work he carried out, from the first to the last day of his priestly life, namely the work of building
morally upright and religiously fervent consciences. He did this for the most varied types and people
who were looked down on most. A treatise on Don Bosco the confessor, spiritual director, guide of
souls, would be equal in size to any reconstruction of his activity as an educator. It would cover his
relationship with individuals, his preaching to the masses, his specialised talks given during Retreats.
At any rate, this activity penetrates and pervades his activity as an educator, shifting it from the human
level to moments and reflections of a clearly Christian character.
Don Bosco also carried out enormous and constant activity, for some 30 years, as the founder of the
Society of St Francis de Sales, made up of priests and brothers, and of the Institute of the Daughters of
Mary help of Christians, with work similar to that of the Salesians, for girls, and The Pious Union of
the Salesian Cooperators. These foundations followed several clear stages: their setting up, the juridical
stage, canonical recognition, the formation and animation of their members and finally, their
consolidation and expansion.
This work was carried out at the same time and in close interaction with the development, direction,
administration of all the other educational and pastoral institutions. It was accompanied by a frenetic
search for the necessary charitable support, with consequent letters written in all directions and
personal relationships with benefactors, private and public, and finally with ecclesiastics and lay
people.
By comparison with these main activities Don Bosco’s sporadic negotiations between political and
ecclesiastical authorities were marginal but not irrelevant. These occurred in order to work out
solutions to some difficult situation juridical and pastoral problems in Italy.578
And finally, we should not forget his daring action carried out from a distance on behalf of migrants
and the Missions. From 1875 onwards, missionary activity gave a wider breath of Catholicity to a work
with universal potential but still enclosed within national boundaries. Don Bosco lived this missionary
576 Cf. first appeal for the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista, Oct. 12, 1870, E. II 121-123: letter to the mayor of Turin,
June 3, 1871, E II 162-163.
577 It speaks of the first steps towards building the Church of San Secondo, which he had to abandon; note to the Cardinal
Vicar regarding the Church of the Sacred Heart, Rome, April 10, 1880, E III 565.
578 Cf. F. Motto, Don Bosco mediatore tra cavour ed Antonelli nel 1858, RSS 5 (1986): 3-20; La mediazione di don Bosco
fra Santa Sede e Governo per la concessione degli “Exequatur” ai vescovi d’Italia (1872-1874), RSS 6 (1987): 3-79;
L’azione mediatrice di don Bosco nella questione delle sedi vescovili vacanti in Italia dal 1858 alla morte di Pio IX
(1878), in P. Braido, Don Bosco nella Chiesa, 251-328.

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experience with exceptional enthusiasm. It gave him, during the time of his advanced maturity, almost
a tinge of a second youth. But in truth, Don Bosco went back to the same refrain: “The only desire we
have is to work in pastoral ministry, especially on behalf of poor and neglected youth. Catechism
classes, schools, sermons, festive recreational parks, homes, boarding schools and institutions...all these
make up our main harvest...579
2 Personality and style
What deeply motivated Don Bosco’s activity was charity: the love of God and neighbour, coherently
anchored to a Catholic Faith and a priestly vocation almost native to him. There are some personality
traits however, which gave Don Bosco’s consecration and charitable action some typical signs and
elements, to the point where they became part of the Preventive System he adopted.
Highlighting these traits is unavoidable for anyone who wants to understand and retrieve the main
aspects of his experience as an educator, since this experience is inseparably bound up with and almost
identical to his personality and lifestyle.
2.1 Tradition and modernity
One trait should probably not be considered the most important one, but it struck anyone looking at
Don Bosco. This is his modernity.580 This trait is inseparable from his steadfast attachment to the past
and its fundamental values: the moral and religious traditions which he assimilated within family and
his Christian community and which formed his spiritual nourishment; habits of honesty, work spirit and
sacrifice had been Don Bosco’s constant companion. Summing up, then, it was his fidelity to the ideals
and lifestyle proposed by Christianity, safeguarded and proclaimed within the Catholic Church, by
Popes, bishops and priests, and supported by sincere and practising baptised Catholics.
Modernity and Tradition call for two attitudes which, however distinct and distinguishing they are by
comparison with priests and Catholics of his own times, blend together most easily in Don Bosco. In
fact, Don Bosco’s reliance on the spiritual environment he came from, which at times was strongly
conservative, was almost always tuned to a realism which led him to accept new situations and
demands with a degree of daring: Don Bosco was traditional without being reactionary, mainly modern
without joining ranks with any kind of Catholic liberalism.
To talk about Don Bosco being a forerunner or a trailblazer is neither pertinent nor exact. We have
already seen, earlier, and will see later that pretty much all of Don Bosco’s works and thinking were the
on-going heritage of Catholic tradition. What led Don Bosco to this heritage, as we have already
remarked, was his mentality, his formation, his acquaintances, his membership of whatever group, and
his preferences. It was the environment of his district, family; school at Chieri, seminary, the Convitto
Ecclesiastico, St Joseph Cafasso, and the spiritual powers which were prevalent in ecclesiastical circles
Don Bosco had as reference; it was the Florentine and the Roman aristocrats; the benefactors with
whom he had more friendly relationships and from whom he received outstanding help, benefactors
like Archbishops, Cardinals and Popes.
The judgement Don Bosco passed on the events of his days was not, fundamentally, different from the
579 Letter to Fr Pietro Ceccarelli, parish priest of S. Nicolas de los Arroyos (Argentina), Dec. 1874, E II 430.
580 Cf. “Don Bosco e le sfide della modernità”. Contribution by M. Guasco, P. Scoopola, F. Traniello. (Turin, Centro Studi
“Carlo Trabucco”, 1988), 46 pages; P Scoppola, “Don Bosco e la modernità”, in M. Midali, ed., Don Bosco nella storia,
531-540; in the same work we find interesting pages by P. Stella, “Bilancio delle forme di conoscenza e degli studi su
don Bosco”, 34-36.

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one largely shared by the Catholic world. What makes Don Bosco’s judgement different, at times, is his
realistic way either of bearing with or confronting or correcting the events he faced, sometimes almost
recklessly, but always substantially correctly. Don Bosco’s stand vis-a-vis some particular events that
occurred in 1848 is typical, in this regard. His theoretical judgement of these events was not
favourable, for the most part. For instance, he justifies his refusal to have the Oratory participate in the
celebrations for the Constitution. “What am I supposed to do? A refusal would have meant that I was a
declared enemy of Italy; an acceptance would have meant that I was accepting principles I considered
full of fatal consequences”.581
This judgement probably did not refer to fundamental theoretical principles (Democratic spirit, the
rejection of Absolutism, etc.) but to the practical consequences he thought were deplorable such as the
abuse of authority, libertarianism, reckless permissiveness of passions and the press, and a violent
break-away from respectable traditions. At any rate, his judgement was not a positive one. But
immediately we notice the presence of a will to act which overcomes the polemics. It becomes a
resolve to collaborate effectively in bringing about something better in the proposed Constitution and to
bring about the best of traditions more urgently required to build a new political and social order
founded on religion and moral values.
Here is what Don Bosco is said to have declared to the Marquis Robert d’Azeglio:
Marquis, I have a steady rule in keeping out of anything to do with politics: Never pro or
con …; I do whatever small amount of good I can on behalf of abandoned youth, and strive
with all my strength to have them become good Christians, as far as their religion is
concerned, and honest citizens, as far as civil society is concerned… Invite me to
participate in anything where a priest can practice charity and you will see me ready to
sacrifice my life and means; but I want to be now and forever out of politics.582
Really, Don Bosco’s politics are of a religious nature directed to providing spiritual benefit, especially
for the young and also for their material well-being tied in with that.583 This is the basic criterion used
by Don Bosco to pass a judgement on events and ideas and, as a consequence, to act. “My heartfelt
recommendation is that prayers be said that our Lord God may have pity on poor Piedmont, which is
facing really disastrous times for our holy Catholic religion”.584 These are the words Don Bosco wrote
to the bishop of Ferrara. To Canon Lawrence Gastaldi he wrote in even broader terms. “These are
dreadful times for religion. I think that from St Maximus until our own days things have never been so
much on the decline as they are today. The famous legal project was passed in the Chamber of the
Electors (Deputies); we hope it will not pass the Senate. The King is very sad, but he is surrounded by
people who have already been bribed and cannot be trusted The priests work and, I believe, do not
neglect to say or do what needs to be said and done to oppose imminent disorder. The hand of God will
grow heavy on us and allow some disaster to take place; we will be certainly comforted by the fact that
we have done what we could”.585
581 MO (1991), 198. The emphasis is ours. Further on, talking about a ‘patriot’ priest invited “to give a moral exhortation
to the poor youngsters”, he comments: “But on that occasion he was really immoral. Liberty, emancipation,
independence echoed throughout his talk” (MO 1991, 201).
582 MO (1991), 199-2008.
583 Substantially, his ‘real politik’ boils down to educational, social activity on behalf of poor and abandoned youth,
morally in danger and socially dangerous. The ‘educationalist’ policy he illustrates with particular force in his talks in
the last decade and makes clear, especially, to a group of past pupils of the Oratory after the journey to Paris, June 24,
1883, BS 7 (1883) n. 8, August, 127-128.
584 Letter of Dec. 19, 1853, Em I 209.
585 Letter of Feb. 23, 1855, Em I 248. In reference to the law of suppression of religious orders.

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The political judgements Don Bosco passed were always functionally Catholic and decidedly negative,
because they referred to the abuse of freedom, the protection of apostates and Protestants, the denial of
the rights of the Church, the likelihood that evil would spread. “Most of all, youth are at risk; The Lord
wants to test us a lot. It is the first time we see Protestant envoys in our city preaching in public
squares! Just imagine what scandal will be given, what amount of evil will be done! Books, leaflets,
catechism classes, sermons, and promises of employment, alms, and gifts.... these are the means used
by Protestants. The priests are working tirelessly and steadily, but we have to say it: youth are at
risk!”586
“Things religious and sacred ministers” Pope Pius IX wrote, “have been exposed for some two years
now to serious trials in our towns, due to the usual donations made by Protestants, and also due to
threats and oppression even which the authorities have noted. Added to this is the non-Catholic
instruction provided for youth in the primary and secondary schools”.587
Don Bosco would not fail to underscore the problems of the year’s 1866-1867 as he hoped for civil and
religious peace and reassured the Pope of his solidarity and prayers. Writing to his trusted friend
Cavaliere Oreglia, Don Bosco says:
Let us hope that God will send peace as soon as possible among the Christian people and
that the subjects will join their sovereign and that we may all look to the salvation of our
souls with a more tranquil mind”. 588 “Meanwhile”, Don Bosco reassures the Pope, “we will
continue to pray in all our houses, morning and evening that your Holiness’ precious days
may be safe and that God grant you good health and the grace to withstand the serious
storms, perhaps not too distant, that Divine Providence will allow the enemies of what is
truly good to raise against the spotless Spouse of Jesus Christ. This is the last test, but the
expected triumph will soon come our way. 589
Don Bosco most likely shared with several Catholics the hope that exceptional events would take place
to defend Rome and the Papacy. This would also explain an ironic reference to the reassurance felt by
those on the opposite side - the imminent realisation that Italy would occupy and make Rome its
Capital: “May you be at peace! Before the realisation of Italian Unity (This will soon happen!) the
book shall be finished.” 590 Don Bosco occasionally employed the weapon of irony with friends who
shared the same ideas, to make fun of “Democracy” namely of the “Fanatic Democrats”, anti-clericals
“‘a-la-Garibaldi” 591.
Contrasting prophecies and judgements followed one after the other before and after 1870. Don Bosco
forecast, on the precise day the Italian army marched into Rome: “Commendatore, take courage and
have hope. Keep these words well in mind: a thunderstorm and tempest, a whirlwind, a hurricane are
on the horizon, but they will all last a short while. Then the sun will appear once again with a splendour
never seen since St Peter’s day until Pope Pius IX”! 592Three months after the conquest of Rome, Don
Bosco wrote to Countess Charlotte Calori: “May God spare us after such a terrible confrontation
586 Letter to Marquis Giovanni Patrizi, June 20, Em I 209 [written; it was sent on Oct. 24] 1863, Em I 586.
587 Letter to Pius IX, Feb. 13, Em I 552.
588 Letter to Cav. Oregli, May 21, 1866, EmI I 241-242; cf letter to Countess Anna Bentivoglio, Sept. 30, 1866, Em II 302.
589 Letter to Pius IX, June 26, 1867. Em II 398.
590 Letter to Countess Charlotte Callori, Oct. 19, Em II 442.
591 Letter to Count Pio Galleani d’Agliano, Aug. 14, 1855, Em I 264; to Canon Alessandro Vogliotti, July 1860, Em I 419;
to Baron Bianco di Barbania, Dec. 1869, E II 65-66; to Countess Alessi di Camburzano, Oct. 28, 1879, E II 126.
592 Letter to Comm. Dupraz, Sept. 20, 1870, E II 118-119. The news of the entry of the Italian army into Rome reached the
saint on Sept. 21: he made no comment.

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between Jesus Christ and Satan, and allow us to see the Church and the Holy Father enjoy peace. 593
Don Bosco did not lay down his weapons. He not only continued his realistic and constructive politics
but, thanks to this kind of politics, could even, as we have mentioned, put his finger on the question of
the appointment of bishops and the Temporal Powers. (1871-1874). He makes his thoughts more
explicit when he takes “politics of the Gospel” as his norm: “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,
and to God what belongs to God”. 594 This norm was always guided by another principle, namely, that
“we should do good whenever it is requested and possible.” A Salesian rector was once asked to kindly
offer his facilities to the Workers Association of the city. Don Bosco wrote to him: “As far as the
workers association and those who champion it are concerned, you can always tell them that we lay
aside any party ideas and steadfastly stick to what Jesus Christ said: Date quae sunt Caesaris, Caesari,
quae sunt Dei, Deo, and that none of them should be afraid of us, of what we might say and do”. 595
On another occasion Don Bosco clarified his thinking. “Let this be kept well in mind, that if we want to
make headway, we should never speak of politics, neither pros nor cons. Our life’s program should be
that of doing good to poor children. Whatever needs to be added to this principle will be suggested to
us by God who will also be our guide whenever needed”. 596
Some years earlier, during negotiations on the question of the bishops’ temporal power, Don Bosco was
talking to a government minister, John Lanza, and at the time he stressed his political views more
emphatically: “I am writing with confidence and assure you that while I profess to be a Catholic priest
and attached to the Head of the Catholic Religion, I am also very fondly attached to the government. I
have dedicated all my limited financial means, all my strength and all of my life to the well-being of its
subjects. If you think I can serve you in anything advantageous to the government and religion, you
have only to tell me how”. 597
2.2. Realism and timeliness
Don Bosco’s work among the young was not inspired by ideologies or theoretical considerations, but
by his human, priestly sensitivity, faced with clear-cut facts and concrete situations demanding
immediate and realistic interventions and solutions more than plans and projects.
Situations were what pressed Don Bosco to act. For instance, the problem of free time available to
young people unprepared to use it appropriately: “Some who cared about proper education of the
masses saw…, sadly, that many of those who have dedicated themselves early on to the arts and
industries in the city squandered their meagre salaries earned during the week, on games and
593 Letter of Jan. 2, 1871, E II 144. To Count Eugene de Maistre who had been a volunteer with the pontifical Zouaves, he
wrote on Dec. 28, 1872: “Let’s take courage, we are facing a very sad time. Let’s hope a merciful God will shorten
that”. (E II 247).
594 Mt. 22:21; Mk 12:17; Lk 20:25.
595 Letter to the Rector in Nice, Fr Ronchail, April 1877. E III 163.
596 Letter to Carlo Vespignani di Lugo, April 11, 1877. E III 167.
597 Letter Feb. 11, 1872, E II 195. He would employ identical expressions in a letter on Oct. 12, 1873 to the Minister for
Grace and Justice, Onorato Vigliani: “As a priest I love religion, as a citizen I want to do as much as I can for the
government… since I am in fact outside of politics and public matters, then if your Excellency wishes to make use of
my poor self to do something, there would be no fear of undue publicity” (E II 313). This repeats in briefer form the
“profession of political faith” he had spelled out for the Minister for Internal Affairs, Luigi Carlo Farini, on June 12,
1860, and for the Minister for Public Instruction, Terenzio Mamiani, following a search and school inspection (Em I
407-410).
On the development of Don Bosco’s political thinking, cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica,
vol. 2, 75-96.

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indulgence especially during weekends and holidays”.598
Another instance was the condition of the young immigrants who move from the countryside to the
city: “We believe that it is publicly known that Father John Bosco, in order to provide moral benefit to
abandoned youth, has done his best to have three oratories for boys opened in three main sections of
our city. On weekends and holidays Don Bosco gathers these youths in the greatest possible number,
since they are at risk in our capital and many of them have come into the city from the provinces”.599
A third instance was the scourge of the Cholera epidemic which, in 1854, had increased the number of
orphans and homeless youngsters and created worries - where to put them, the lack of food, the
decreased charitable contributions, the increase of moral dangers.600
A further instance was the problem, more general than ever, of youngster both at risk and risky
(pericoloso e pericolante): they happened to be in the majority. What Don Bosco wrote in a circular
letter on March 13, 1854, could easily have been applied to a goodly part of them: “I find myself in a
sad situation in telling you that if there has been any time full of danger for youth, well, for sure, this is
it! A great number of youths are at an imminent risk of losing their honesty and their religion for a
morsel of bread”.601
Whenever new youth establishments were undertaken, either near or far away, the same reasons were
brought up and made publicly known: “At Genoa-Sampierdarena”, Don Bosco writes, “a single Parish
has about 20,000 people and a small number of priests, nothing in comparison with the needs. The
needs are felt by all the citizens but more especially by poor youths who are loitering through the
streets and squares of the city, abandoned to the risk of perversion, due to their youthful
inexperience”.602 Similar words are found and even more forcefully, for a rapidly growing city, La
Spezia.
La Spezia is certainly one of the cities with the greatest number of abandoned boys. The
Arsenal employs most of the inhabitants and they cannot take care of their young. While
the city has grown from five thousand to twenty seven thousand people, no provisions
could have been made to have badly needed institutions opened for them”.603 “The religious
education of the young has become a need felt by all honest people, but the poor children of
the working classes, those who lack the means of sustenance and their parents assistance,
deserve particular attention. Without moral instruction, without a skill or employment
ability, these youngsters run the most serious risk of becoming a public scourge and
therefore ready to crowd our prisons. This need is serious everywhere, but more
particularly so in the city of La Spezia. This city with a population which grew from 4000
to 30,000 in a matter of few years, has absolutely no churches, no schools and no homes.604
598 Circular letter for a lottery, Dec. 20, 1851, Em I 139. The bishop of Biella, Bishop Losanna, had promised a collection
for the Oratory. Don Bosco responded, thanking him for the “charity” done for “ Turin’s youth” and added: “You may
be gald to know that the collection provides for many youngsters from your diocese, boys who have to spend a good
part of their year in the capital for various reasons of work, and a great number of them come to the Oratory to relax,
learn, and sanctify the days dedicated to the Lord” (Letter 4 May 1852, Em I 155).
599 Lottery appeal, Feb. 21, 1857, Em I 318.
600 Cf. request to the “Mendacità istruita”, Nov. 13, 1854, Em, I 96-97; to the mayor of Turin, Jan. 25, 1855, Em I 243-
244; to the superintendent of finance, March 22, 1855 Em I 252; Circular letter 8 May 1855, Em I 253-254; letter to the
“Mendacità istruita”, Nov. 21, 1855, Em I 270-272.
601 Em I 222.
602 Circular in summer 1872, E II 220; cf. another circular in autumn 1872, with a similar description, E II 241-242.
603 Letter to the Minister for the Navy, Benedetto Brin, Jan. 16, 1877, E III 273.
604 Circular Oct. 11, 1880, E III 627.

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Rome, which had effectively become the capital of Italy, had to deal with serious problems. “This dear
city of ours” Don Bosco explained to the Pope “had been abundantly provided for during normal times
with educational institutions of all kinds for citizens. Now with the abnormal predicament we are in,
with the extraordinary increase in population, with the many youngsters coming from faraway places
and all in search of either employment or shelter, it is essential that some steps be taken on behalf of the
lower classes. The need to take steps is sadly made evident by the great number of young vagabonds
running through the streets and squares of the city and who, most of the time, end up crowding the
prisons. These poor boys, more than being wicked, are neglected children and it would certainly be
very beneficial to them if an institution were opened for them”. 605
These are references have wider intent, as they include a great variety of works including schools for
study of the classics, as he did at the time he was developing the colleges, making a secondary
education “accessible for not too well-to-do youngsters, but ones commendable for talent and virtue,
and also for poor youngsters gifted with talent and good morals but almost entirely deprived of
financial means. The aim is to help them develop the talents Divine Providence has gifted them
with”.606
2.3 Wisdom and firmness
A typical note of moderation which is really wisdom, also characterises Don Bosco’s moving with the
times and with the historical situations he lived in. Certainly he did not champion as a principle the idea
that “the best is the enemy of the good” but he also knew how to let go of “the best” in order to achieve
his goal, however limited and imperfect, rather than end up with nothing. “I perfectly agree with you”,
Don Bosco wrote to one of his collaborators, in a particular circumstance, “what we look for is the
optime, the best, but sadly enough we have to content ourselves with what is less good, in the midst of
so much evil. Such are the times we live in. Despite this the results we have had are satisfactory”.607
Several years before, while negotiating with Father Gilardi of the Institute of Charity (Rosminians) in
connection with some construction business, Don Bosco wrote: “As you can see, we have to use the
simplicity of the dove and the prudence of the serpent; we have to keep everything cleverly secret so
the enemy doesn’t come to sow cockle. But, since public things must be backed up by public legality,
so that no party may be damaged in front of the law, I am presenting you, most illustrious and revered
superior, with the following project”.608
Wisdom and firmness, Idealism and realism, human calculation and trust in God, patient waiting and
onward thrust, diplomacy and frankness: this is what Don Bosco always keeps together and in dynamic
balance. “Anyway, you know my good will. Wherever industriousness and goodwill can achieve
anything for the glory of God you may count me in, and I will be there with all my strength”.609 This
was one of Don Bosco’s principles which finds its completion in another one which, in turn, spells out
his practical and constructive ‘Crusade’, born of trust in God: “God is with us; be not afraid.”610 But
frankness does not exclude a thoughtful attitude based on knowledge of things and people, and also a
605 Petition to Leo XIII, March 1878, E III 317.
606 Letter to the Minister for Public Instruction, Carlo Matteucci, Nov. 11, 1862, Em I 538; and to the supervisor of studies
in Turin, Francesco Selmi, October 1863, Em I 610; cf. Em I 542 and 558-559.
607 Letter to Fr Giovanni Bonetti, June 6, 1870, E II 96. “The good had to be done the right way”, Fr Cafasso had already
insisted, to which Don Bosco objected that in the face of many difficulties it was enough to do the good that one could:
cf. P. Braido, Un “nuovo prete” e la sua formazione culturale secondo Don Bosco, RSS 8 (1989): 14.
608 Letter of April 15, 1850, Em I 101.
609 Letter to Cav. Marco Gonella, May 20, 1867, Em II 370.
610 Letter to Bishop Cagliero, Feb. 10, 1885, E IV 313.

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conciliatory spirit, when needed, whenever there is a question of business matters and spiritual
interests. “I desire and recommend that any discrepancy be smoothed out amicably, outside the civil
courts, always relying on the judgement of a mutually trusted competent person”.611 “Tell me about the
moral, material condition, about the hopes or fears. Without this knowledge, we cannot but walk
surrounded by uncertainties”.612
In a particular circumstance Don Bosco asked a trustworthy religious in Rome for his opinion whether
the approval of the Constitutions had been expressed by bishops too, who had sent a favourable letter
of recommendation to Rome. He needed to know this to prepare, ahead of time, a tactical procedure to
be used next. And this question was raised only to suggest a guideline, namely, “whether I should go
along with their advice, or should act contrary to what they say to be sure I do what they want!”.613
For this reason, on certain questions Don Bosco wanted the opinions of his collaborators on his own
ideas. “Be patient. Take courage. We shall fix everything up. It is an exceptional year: The material to
build is available; only the spot needs to be figured out... Things seem to look ok; eight or ten days
from now, write to me again and let me know the difficulties you have; but, at the same time, express
your opinion on the way to overcome them.” 614
However Don Bosco also allowed himself to show a certain degree of impatience when it seemed
urgent or just, because of delay or because of his anxiety to achieve his goal. “Things are all messed up.
I have received your famous note. I am preparing some observations. But you have signed it. If you
have anything to say tell me right away. Cardinal Nina was waiting for you to play the role of Punch.
(Pulcinella). We will also get out of this mess as best we can”.615 This is a letter to one of the
representatives in Rome. It is not the only one, especially in reference to the very difficult construction
of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome: “I would like to have the construction move on; I am
making incredible efforts to find money; but if things are going on the way they are right now, when
are we going to see the completion of the church?”616
The increase in difficulties also increased pressure on Don Bosco to the point where he concludes
ironically. “I have received your letter. We’ve got to have patience in everything. We will fix up
everything. Instead of finding fault with what we are building in Rome, I would like to have certain
gentlemen think about giving us money.” 617 “Alii alia dicant” (let others say what they want!) about
what we’re doing in Rome. I’m paying no attention to anything they say, because we are sure about
what we are doing” 618 “I do what I can; but you and Father Savio should do your level best to look for
money... Take Courage! Rome is not without money!” 619 “We should have a pinch of ‘Spanish Sun (a
brand of snuff) to wake up the person in charge of compiling the briefs (quite long) for our
decorations”.620
611 Letter to Arch. Francesco Vespignani, 9 May 1882, E IV 134.
612 Letter to Fr Costamagna, Oct. 1, 1881, E IV 83.
613 Letter to Fr Giuseppe Oreglia SI, Aug. 7, 1868, Em II 556.
614 Letter to Fr Lemoyne, Rector at Lanzo Torinese, Oct. 19, 1874, E II 413.
615 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, his procurator in Rome, June 28, 1882, E IV 147. It refers to the Concordia, closing a long
dispute with the Diocesan Ordinary.
616 Letter to the Cardinal Vica, July 5, 1882, E IV 149-150; cf. also the letter to Fr Savio in Rome, July 6, 1882, E IV 150;
to Fr Dalmazzo, July 29, 1882, E IV 157.
617 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, Aug. 27, 1882, E IV 165.
618 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, Nov. 26, 1882, E IV 215.
619 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, March 19, 1883, E IV 215.
620 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, June 19, 1882, E IV 144. Sun was a much prized brand of tobacco.

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2.4 Big-hearted and practical
Don Bosco combines a remarkable breadth of thinking and planning with practicality in carrying this
out and finding the means. In this regard we could actually gather an entire anthology of statements
revealing Don Bosco’s availability, his enterprising and daring spirit. Writing to Bishop Gilardi, Bishop
of Mondovì, Don Bosco says: “I have read the program and the project about the Ecclesiastical Library.
The undertaking is a difficult one and a gigantic one. If collaborators can be found and the program is
made known, as it should be, I am in, at full strength, all the way (Totis Viribus)”.621 Writing to
Professor Vallauri and asking publicity in his newspaper L’Unità Cattolica for the church of St John the
Evangelist, Don Bosco adds: “The undertaking is a gigantic one but it is absolutely necessary, and
therefore I will put my hands to the task “.622 “This is what the Lord wants from us at this time! Houses,
and colleges for students coming from lower circumstances, shelters where we could welcome savages
or semi-savages, if we had them...”. “You are a musician and I am by profession a poet; so both of us
will do our very best to make sure that whatever goes on in the Indies and Australia does not upset what
goes on in Argentina”.623
“I find it extremely difficult to express the feelings that your letter and the subscription of the generous
people of Cassine have aroused in me. I have consecrated my entire life to doing good to youth, for I
am convinced that the happiness of a nation depends on the sound education of youth. I feel almost as
if I am being dragged wherever I can be to do anything, even in a small way, on behalf of youth, the
chosen portion of civil society. But I certainly did not deserve to have such noble encouragement”.624
“Whatever turns out to be beneficial to youth at risk or what helps to win souls over to God, that
spurns me on to the point of recklessness. Therefore your project of starting something which might be
beneficial to poor boys, to boys at risk, keeping boys away from the danger of crowding the prisons,
making honest citizens and good Christians out of them, this is the goal that we have set before us”.625
In this climate and in the manner he used to present his objective, Don Bosco aimed at expanding the
proportion and consistency of his works, as they began and in their development. This proved helpful
for publicity and for animating his co-helpers and benefactors. “During this month we have already
opened five houses and they are already pretty crowded; four more houses will be opened next August,
God willing. Isn’t it true that we are progressives?”626 “Things are going not only going full steam but
they are going like the telegraph. In one year, with God’s help and the charity of our benefactors, we
have been able to open 20 houses. Presently we have over 70 houses with 30,000 pupils . See how your
family has increased!”627 “The great undertakings we have at hand, call for many prayers that all may
turn out well”. This is how he began a letter addressed from France to his closest collaborator (Father
Michael Rua).628 Don Bosco was projecting similar developments for the young Salesians of South
America: “Things here are taking gigantic steps”629
621 Letter March 1869, E II 15.
622 Letter Dec. 10, 1870, E II 135; cf letter to Countess Uguccioni from Florence, Dec. 1, 1871, E II 189, and March 28,
1872, E II 203; to Fr Rua and Fr Lazzero April 25, 1876, E III 50; to Fr Cagliero April 27, 1876, E III 52; to Fr Rua
April-May 1876, E III 53-55.
623 Letter to Fr Cagliero, June and July 1876, E III 68 and 72; cf. also letter Nov. 16, 1876, E III 114.
624 Letter to Doc. Peverotti di Cassine (Alessandria), Sept. 6, 1876, E III 93.
625 Letter toCarlo Vespignani, April 11, 1877, E III 166.
626 Letter to Countess di Camburzano, July 28, 1878, E III 370.
627 Letter to Countess Uguccioni, Nov. 18, 1878, E III 417.
628 Letter to Fr Rua Jan. 11, 1879, E III 436; “Our affairs here are going ahead fabulously, as the world would say, but we
say prodigiously” (Letter to Fr Rua from Marseilles, Jan. 17, 1879, E III 442).
629 Letter to Fr Taddeo Remotti, Jan. 31, 1881, E IV 9; cf. letter to Fr G. Fagnano, Jan. 31, 1881, E IV 13-14.

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These were not only idealised projects. Don Bosco was great with his projects but no less great in the
hidden daily work of setting up the means, the tools needed for the realisation of the same projects.
Perhaps this was the most recognisable aspect of a life marked by poverty and by a tireless search for
help.
The first nightmare has a name: “the Baker”. “Miseries keep on re-doubling and I am working out day
and night how to pay the Baker. I still have the Baker’s March bill to pay and I do not know where to
get the money from”.630 “Should you be able to help me, you would be feeding poor and hungry
boys”.631 “Here we are doing all we can. The mice cannot play near the cat’s claws!” 632“The price of
bread leaves us desperate”.633
Poverty afflicted every part of his work. “Our houses are penniless”.634 “Misery is the only song you
hear sung everywhere, but we have an abundance of youngsters entrusted to our care every day. We are
hoping and we are praying”635 Don Bosco also finds inspiration in The Barber of Seville: tutti ne
chiedono, tutti ne vogliono. Un poco alla volta, per carità. (They all ask for it. They all want it. A little
bit at a time, for God’s sake).636
This search for bread almost became a “testament” in one of his last letters, dated November 7, 1887:
“Hunger moves a wolf out of his den, so the proverb says, The same way my needs move me to bother
certain benefactors, something I would not do in ordinary circumstances.. Please, help me to the degree
which suits you best... I can no longer write. These are the last efforts of my poor hand”.637.
Don Bosco’s efforts to muster the help of his collaborators and benefactors were uninterrupted. He did
this through personal contacts, with hundreds of individual letters and circular letters. “Keep on being
cheerful’, he wrote to his best helper, “Look for money. Let the Cavaliere carry on a successful
business and let Buzzetti help him. This is all I can do from here”.638 “You, then, in omnibus labora. Do
your best to collect donations and if we cannot do it in any other way carry out or plan to carry out a
useful robbery, or better still, work out some sort of mathematical ‘subtraction’ in some Bankers’
House”.639 Don Bosco asked for loans; organised lotteries; invented all sorts of ways of begging;
promoted benefit concerts”.640 He was gifted with the art of ‘cultivating’ his benefactors efficiently, to
the point where it might have appeared to be the end result of cunning, were it not to spring from an
intensive love for the ones who were to benefit from it all, and first of all the benefactors themselves.
“The only thing that I can still do and I am willingly doing for you” he writes in his last or next to the
last letter “and for your loved ones, both living and deceased, is to pray for them every day so that their
riches, which are thorns, may be turn into good works, namely, flowers, which the Angels can use to
weave crowns for their brows for all eternity. So be it!”641
Don Bosco begged, out of love for those in need, but also for those who gave. And from time to time,
love takes on the hue of affection, even human affection, sincere gratitude, friendship. This friendship
630 Letter to Canon De Gaudenzi, Dec. 17, 1855, Em I 276; cf. letter Jan. 19, 1854, Em I 215.
631 Letter to Baron Feliciano Ricci des Ferres, May 7, 1856, Em I 288.
632 Letter to Cavalier Oreglia Dec. 7, 1867, Em II 456.
633 Letter to Cavalier Oreglia April 10, 1868, Em II 5226.
634 Letter to Fr Rua, July 1876 E III 77.
635 Letter to Fr Rua, Oct. 13, 1876, E III 104.
636 Letter to Fr Rua, Jan. 1878, E III 285.
637 Letter to Mrs. Zavaglia-Manica, Nov. 7, 1887, E IV 384.
638 Letter to Fr Rua, Jan. 24, 1869, E II 7.
639 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, Dec. 9, 1880, E III 639.
640 Cf. Appeal for a lottery, Dec., 20, 1851, Em I 139-141; Em I 141.140, 186, 222, 314, 317-319, 476-478, 478-480; Em
II 130-131; E III 94-95, 99-100 etc.
641 Letter to Mrs. Broquier, Nov. 27, 1887, E IV 386.

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is never without a touch of filial confidence, familiarity, kindness shown by the exchange of symbolic
gifts, invitations sent or received, “Distinguished Honours” requested or received, prayers, greetings
and personal recollections, even letters to third parties, with friendly and sincere wishes. It is within the
context of exquisitely personalised feelings that one can understand how Don Bosco succeeded in
establishing relationships with benefactors and ‘mammas’ who were most generous and supportive.
These relationships were neither imposed nor artificial, but filial.642
2.5 “Completely consecrated” to the young
Don Bosco’s activity was not just the expression of purely temperamental activism. It was a conscious,
willed ‘consecration’; a ‘mission’ with a precise objective: “The full accomplishment of the salvation
of the young”. “The young’, as he put it to people “can really count on him as their Capital Resource;
he is entirely consecrated to those to be educated, as he would write for all the educators in the pages of
his 1877 The Preventive System in the education of youth. Precisely for this reason Don Bosco’s
dedication to youth has a rhythm which is entirely distinct from the rhythm of his physical life: it even
seems to grow with the declining or weakening of his physical life.
Right from the first years of his apostolate, we find Don Bosco sick and forced to spend some months
during the summer and autumn at his native village, to restore his already weary body, mainly because
of excessive work. And for the same reason, during the summer of 1846, an almost fatal disease strikes
Don Bosco.
Acknowledgements of being tired, of having health problems, of suffering physically and morally, are
not so rarely scattered throughout his letters and to an increasing degree: “I am so overloaded with
work this Lenten season, that I can take no more.” This is what Don Bosco wrote to his friend Canon
De Gaudenzi in 1853.643 To Countess Callori on July 24, 1845, after a series of sad events, Don Bosco
made this confidence: “During these days, just imagine how many expenses, how many troubles, how
many responsibilities have fallen on Don Bosco’s shoulders. However you should never think that I am
down; I was only tired, and nothing else”.644
Don Bosco’s condition became more precarious after the serious illness which struck him at the end of
December 1871, at Varazze, and he would have more or less serious relapses later on. “As for the
Villavernia business”, Don Bosco wrote to a Canon requesting a new foundation, “I cannot even think
of it; we have no money nor have we ‘ad hoc’ personnel to staff it; and above all, my poor head has
become tired and has no enterprising energy at all”645 “I cannot even go to Alassio now “, Don Bosco
wrote to Bishop Gastaldi’s s niece, “but everything will pass”.646 Practically everything was due to
excessive work, to a persistent eye problem, to early physical deterioration as he himself remarked: “I
am (extremely) tired, non plus ultra (Can’t do anything anymore)”647 “I am at Alassio, in pieces”.648
What definitely contributed to his poor condition was his continuous moving around, looking for
642 For example, Countess Charlotte Callori, E II 183 (called ‘mamma’ the first time on Oct. 3, 1871), 191, 192, 225, 227,
230, 252, 259, 290, 306, 318, 487, 513, 523; Countess Girolama Uguccionim E II 84 (called ‘mamma’ for the first time
April 13, 1870), 158, 188, 197, 203, 228, 243, 280, 324, 377, 488; E IV 63 (‘Our Good Mamma in JC’); Countess
Luigia di Viancino, E II 192; Marchioness Nina Durazzo Pallavicino, E II 201 (‘merciful mother of the poor’);
Countess Gabriella Corsi, E II 263, 264; E III 218, 397, 398, 512.
643 Letter March 6, 1853, Em I 193.
644 Em II 152.
645 Letter March 18, 1872, E II 200.
646 Letter July 22, 1873, E II 294..
647 Letter to Fr Rua, July 1877, E III 198.
648 Letter to Fr Rua, July 1877, E III 201.

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charitable contributions, and his desk work. “It has been months now since I go to my desk at 2 pm and
get away from it at 8:30 pm for supper time”.649 Naturally, this was done after the ordinary work of a
long morning; it was often prolonged into late evening hours, by lamp light, when his eye ailment
allowed him. “This latest (missionary) expedition has made both my legs and my purse quite tired”.650
“In spite of so many projects, I was not able yet to have an hour’s vacation this whole year... “
Summing things up I no longer know where to start and where to stop”.651
To the end of his life, Don Bosco was bothered by his eyes, often recorded in references in his letters. “
My consultations with the oculist came up with the following verdict: as far as the right eye is
concerned, there is a little hope; the left eye may be kept at the status quo, by stopping to read and
write”.652 “My eyes are gone and I can no longer write”.653 “My eyes have somehow improved”.654 “PS.
It’s the first handwritten letter for four months”.655
Added to his eye troubles was reference to his general health during the last years of his life: “I cut it
short because my stomach is very tired”.656 “My health is not bad but it is not very good either. I’m
always very tired”.657 “My health has ups and downs”.658 “I’m here at San Benigno Canavese: very
tired”.659 “I am half blind and I can hardly write, therefore bear with my bad handwriting”.660 “I have
become very old and half blind”.661 “ I have waited to write for several months but my old lazy hand
kept forcing me to delay this pleasure. Now I feel that the sun is about to set; and so I thought it best to
leave you some written thoughts as the will and testament of one who has always loved you and still
loves you”.662 “I am almost blind, almost unable to walk, write, speak”. 663 “I am here at Lanzo, half
blind and half or entirely lame and almost dumb... I cannot use my hand to write”.664 “I find it hard to
write; my days are running fast toward their end”.665 Even the very last letters we have repeat the same
refrain: “I can no longer write. These are the last efforts of my poor hand”.666 “I can no longer walk or
write and if I do it I do it badly”.667
2.6 A man with a heart
Don Bosco’s heart never stopped loving to the very end. His pedagogy is identified with all his activity;
all his action is identified with his personality; and all of Don Bosco’ personality is definitively
summed up in one word: heart!
It is the heart as Don Bosco himself understood it: not only as the organ of love, but as the central part
649 Letter to Fr Bodrato, May 1877, E III 172.
650 Letter to Fr Fagnano, Nov. 14, 1877, E III 236.
651 Letter to Countess Corsi, Oct. 22, 1877, E III 397.
652 Letter to Countess Callori, Nov. 14, 1873, E II 318.
653 Letter to the bishop of Vigevano, Mons. De Gaudenzi, Dec. 1, 1878, E III 420.
654 Letter to Mrs. Saettone, Dec. 20, 1878, E III 423.
655 Letter to Canon Guiol, March 29, 1879, E III 462.
656 Letter to Fr De Agostini, Jan. 4, 1884, E IV 248.
657 Letter to Countess Bonmartini, Feb. 4, 1884, E IV 253.
658 Letter to Card. Alimonda, May 3, 1884, E IV 259.
659 Letter to Fr De Agostini, Sept. 2, 1885, E IV 338.
660 Letter to Mrs. Maggi Fannio, Sept. 15, 1885, E IV 339.
661 Letter to Fr Allavena, Sept. 24, 1885, E IV 340.
662 Letter to Fr Lasagna, Sept. 30, 1885, E IV 340.
663 Letter to a young cleric, Oct. 5, 1885, E IV 343.
664 Letter to Baronness Azelia Fassati Ricci, July 24, 1887, E IV 382.
665 Letter to Mrs. Pilati, July 26, 1887, E IV 382.
666 Letter to Mrs. Zavaglia.Mancina, Nov. 7, 1887, E IV 385.
667 Letter to Mrs. Broquier, Nov. 27, 1887, E IV 386

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of our being, both at the level of nature and the level of grace. “The heart wants; the heart desires,
comprehends, understands, listens to all that is being said; it is inflamed with love, reflects and is
moving”.668 And a very intense feeling of affection envelops all this. This affection is deeply rooted and
always properly in check, but it is also an affection which, following the canons of his own pedagogy,
is expressed, shared and therefore visible and perceptible. This feeling of affection moves in all
directions but naturally and especially in the direction of youth: this affection takes on, then, the tone of
an educative fatherliness. This is one of the first words found in Don Bosco’s vocabulary. And when
Don Bosco wrote to the Father Borel, his first collaborator, this is what he said: “ Before leaving, we
did not have much time to talk to each other. But may I ask you to act as a good father of the family, in
a house which is yours and mine”.669
The community, the many communities of boys, were Don Bosco’s family, Don Bosco’s house, and
Don Bosco’s unique and great patriarchal family. This can be perceived intuitively from the thousands
of expressions which emerge from his attitudes, words and writings, and particularly from his
correspondence, often overflowing with nostalgic barely restrained feelings, affectionate recollections,
concerns for others, willingness to be always present.
Writing once again to Fr Borel during the first months of the Oratory, Don Bosco added: “It is OK for
Fr Trivero to help at the Oratory. But keep an eye on him, because he deals with the little children too
harshly and I know that some of the children have already shown their dislike. Make sure that oil is
used to season everything we eat at the Oratory”.670
The thought insistently expressed in Don Bosco’s letters is that of wanting to hear news about his own
boys, their teachers and to reassure them, one by one, that he keeps them in mind. “Give me plenty of
detailed news about my dear children and tell them that at every church I visited I never failed to say
some prayers for them. But ask them also to pray for their poor Don Bosco”.671 “Even though I cannot
be exclusively concerned for the well-being of the Oratory and our youngsters there while here in
Rome, my thoughts always fly to where my treasure is, in Jesus Christ namely, to my dear children at
the Oratory. Several times during the day I’m paying them a visit”.672
After his illness, and while at Varazze, Don Bosco made this announcement:” Next Thursday, God
willing, I will be back in Turin. I feel a strong need to get there. I live here in body, but my heart, my
thoughts and even my words are always at the Oratory in your midst. This is one of my weaknesses and
I cannot overcome it.. While you communicate this news to all our dear children tell them also that I
thank them all, from the bottom of my heart, for all the prayers they have said for me; tell them that I
thank all those youngsters who have written to me and particularly those who have offered their lives
on my behalf. I know their names and I shall never forget them”.673 “Tell our youngsters that it looks to
me as though half a century has gone by since I saw them. I very much long to see them and tell them
so many things”.674 “We are at the end of the year: Sadly I find myself away from my dear children;
you will greet them all on my behalf”.675 “Extend my most cordial greetings to all our dear youngsters
and tell them that I love them very much, that I love them in the Lord, and that I bless them”.676 “Tell
668 P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol 2, 37-38-
669 Letter, Sept. 30, 1850, Em I 114.
670 Letter to Fr Borel, Aug. 31, 1846, Em I 71.
671 Letter to Fr Rua, Dec. 13, 1865, Em II 189.
672 Letter to Fr Rua, between Jan and Feb. 1870, E II 70-71.
673 Letter to Fr Rua, Feb. 9, 1872, E II 193.
674 Letter to Fr Rua, March 5, 1877, E III 155.
675 Letter to Fr Rua, Dec. 27, 1877, E III 254.
676 Letter to Fr Rua, Feb. 25, 1879, E III 447.

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all our dear youngsters and confreres that I work for them and that my last breath shall be for them. But
they should pray for me; they should be good, and avoid sin, so that we may all reach salvation for all
eternity. All of it!”677
As we can see, Don Bosco’s love was shown equally for the young and their teachers who were also
‘his children’. We have frequent and affectionate references to his children’s teachers also. “Yesterday,
(13th) we had had a theatrical performance. The play was the famous debate between a lawyer and a
Protestant Minister. It was a brilliant performance. Mino sang the Il figlio delle esule and it was
brilliantly successful but the thought that the very author of the music was far away has deeply moved
me; and so, all during the song in the performance I did nothing but think of my dear Sons in South
America”.678 “You left me and you have really racked my heart. I picked up courage, but I suffered and
could not sleep the whole night. Today I feel more relaxed. May God be praised”.679
Don Bosco’s thinking was always accompanied by the particular tone of his educative love,
cheerfulness and an emphasised cheerfulness for sake of the youngsters who came from poor families,
often underfed, and often attracted by the promise of festivities in the dining room, the theatre and the
playground. Amongst many, the following example will be proof enough: “Speak like this to your
children: Don Bosco loves you always, with all his heart, in the Lord. Don Bosco will remember you in
a special way during his Mass on the Feast of St Joseph. Since he cannot be present among you, he
promises that there will be a party the first time he has the chance to visit you”.680
3. Everything for God
It is self-evident that Don Bosco’s huge amount of activity is deeply rooted in and motivated by
Christian and priestly fundamentals, the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity and everything
they entail: a constant reference to God, as our final objective, to our neighbour whom we love because
and the way God loves him. This kind of talk leads necessarily to what we call interior life and,
ultimately, to authentic holiness.681
The motto which perhaps best expresses and sums up the core of Don Bosco’s deeply inspired
personality and activity is the one repeated several times: “ibi nostra fix sunt corda, ubi vera sunt
gaudia”, translatable as: God loved and served, Salvation, Eternal Happiness, Paradise. The ibi-ubi
(there-where) is considered and lived as ‘an end’ and at the same time as the source whence Don
Bosco’s inspirations and energies came.
In the Christian Economy, all these are goods the believer hopes for and obtains through the mediation
of Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, and finds extension in the Church which, in turn, announces His Word and
is open to his Saving Grace which we call on continuously in prayer.
Fundamentally, Don Bosco remains faithful to the message which announces the ultimate meaning of
677 Letter to Fr Francesia, April 12, 1885, E IV 323.
678 Letter to Fr Cagliero, Feb. 14, 1876, E III 19.
679 Letter to Fr Costamagna, Nov. 12, 1883, E IV 240.
680 Letter to Fr Bonetti, June 16, 1870, E II 97; cf. again: letter to Fr Ruffino, Rector at Lanzo, March 22, 1865, Em II 117;
to Fr Rua from Rome between Jan and Feb. 1870, E II 71-72 (‘I will try to help you be happy. The following Sunday on
my arrival we will have a big feast on honour of St Francis de Sales’); to Fr Bonetti, Rector at Mirabello Monferrato, 9
Feb. 1870, E II 74; to Fr Francesia, Rector at Cherasco, Feb. 10, 1870, E II 75; to Don Ronchail, Rector at Nizza
Marittima, Jan. 12, 1878, E III 270-271; to Don Rua, Jan. 21, and Feb. 25, 1879, E III 440 and 447.
681 Cf. profile of E. Ceria, Don Bosco con Dio, (Turin: SEI, 1929), 221 pages (extended 2nd edition, Colle Don Bosco
(Asti): LDC 1946), 392 pages; P. Broccardo, Don Bosco ‘profeta di santità’ per le nuova cultura, in M. Midali ed.,
Spiritualità dell’azione. Contributo per un approfondimento, (Rome, LAS 1977), 179-206.

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life, proclaimed also in the Companion to Youth: ”Serve the Lord with gladness: to make sure to be
good citizens here on earth, and to be one day the lucky inhabitants of Heaven”.682
Don Bosco’s life and writings are full of the formula: “The Glory of God and the salvation of Souls”
and this formula is the expression of the unique passion which inspired this great activist. His most
common and visible attitude ends up being the attitude of one who prays, praises, thanks, expects
everything from above and always with the charity which wants to share. “Our silence and our prayers
will produce what contributes to the greater Glory of God. However, I am never inactive. Kindness to
all. So many things to be done”.683 “All is going well with things. There are things that go wrong and
constant troubles, however, they are all very useful. Silence, Prayer, no noise. Write to me about
whatever you know”.684 “Trials teach us how to divide and separate gold from dross. We are constantly
tested but God’s help never failed us. We hope we will not make ourselves unworthy of his help in the
future”.685 “I know you have a lot to do, but I also know that God has a lot of ways to reward us, and
especially when all the work is for the greater Glory of God”.686 “That is what God wants and that is
enough”.687
Really, Don Bosco’s pedagogy, before being theory or precept and in some way, a system, is a lived
experience, an exemplar, a personal transparency. Any complete presentation of his pedagogical vision
becomes evident and relevant only if it is constantly referred to this limpid and lively source.
682 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto, 5-8, OE II 185-188.
683 Letter to Fr Rua, Jan. 3, 1878, E III 263. The ‘greater glory of God’ is a motive running through Don Bosco’s entire
collection of letters, together with the ‘salvation of souls’: ‘manifesto’ of a life and uninterrupted conversation.
684 Letter to Fr Rua, Jan. 1878, E III 267.
685 Letter to Fr Francesia, Jan. 13, 1878, E III 272.
686 Letter to Count Charles Cays, March 14, 1878, E III 315.
687 Letter to Fr Giuseppe Ronchail, July 20, 1876, E III 75.

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Chapter 9
The option for the young: social and psycho-pedagogical typology
Don Bosco’s first contacts in Turin with isolated groups of young people during his years at the
Convitto Ecclesiastico coincided with the beginning of the industrial, demographic and building
expansion of the city which would be accentuated in decades following by the inevitable phenomenon
of immigrants, the uprooted and the ‘abandoned’.688
According to John Baptist Lemoyne, Don Bosco felt strongly about the early impact of Turin on him
and the often very many hidden miseries, the worst of which were made known to the authorities in
charge of public order from the point of view of the ones which were most socially dangerous.689
Naturally, the young priest coming from a world largely removed from problems of the urban reality,
was deeply affected and wanted to especially understand the religious and moral aspects of the various
kinds of needs and distressing situations. He walked along the streets and through the squares, visited
prisons and hospitals, entered hovels and climbed into attics, the ultimate refuge especially for young
immigrants.690
In the 1879s and 80s the scenario of ‘poor and abandoned youth’ was seen by Don Bosco to be
substantially unchanged, that is, still describable in those terms but there were more of them and the
situation was worse. His viewpoint, which began with Turin and some regional experience expanded to
national, international and intercontinental horizons, either through direct knowledge or thanks to
information garnered from his helpers, newspapers, civil and Church authorities etc. He embraced this
broader perspective as a commitment through his ‘dreams’, the entire ‘planet of young people’ seeing
them in need of ‘salvation’ and ‘assistance’. Not only individuals’ fortunes were at stake but the future
of society.
This was the dominant motif of his words, speeches, addresses to families, individual letters, circulars
and the many conferences he gave in the past period of his life to benefactors and Cooperators. He
exhorted them:
You must help according to your possibilities. You must come to Don Bosco’s aid in order
to more easily and broadly achieve the noble purpose proposed, to the advantage that is of
religion, the well-being of civil society, by nurturing poor youth. You certainly should not
overlook the adults; but don’t forget that these, with few exceptions, are not so much our
concern today. So we go out to the little ones, remove them far from danger, bring them
along to catechism, invite them to the sacraments, look after them, or bring them back to
virtue. Doing this you will see our ministry become fruitful, you will cooperate in forming
good Christians, good families, good populations; and you will construct a barrier, a dyke
688 Cf Chap 1, § 3; also P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, Vol 1. pp. 103-109; P. Spriano, Storia di
Torino operaia e socailista da De Amicis a Gramsci, Turin, Einaudi 1972, pp. 3-17.
689 Documented information on the situation is available in U. Levra, ‘Il bisogno, il castigo, la pietà, Torino 1814-1848’, in
Torino e Don Bosco, ed. G.Bracco, Vol 1 Saggi. Turin, Archivio Storica della Città 1988, pp. 13-97; idem, L’altro volto
di Torino risorgimentale 1814-1848. Turin, Institute for the history of the Italian renaissance 1988, 204 p.; C. Felloni
and R. Audisio, ‘I giovani discoli’, in Torino e Don Bosco..., Vol 1 Saggi, pp. 00-119. For the 1860s, P. Spriano Storia
di Torino operaia e socialista, pp. 3-36
690 Cf. G.B. Lemoyne Vita del venerabile servo di Dio, Giovanni Bosco..., Vol 1. Turin. Libreria Editrice Società
Internazionale ‘Buona Stampa’ 1913 [the first edition was 1911], pp. 233-234. There is a more extensive reconstrcution
in MB II 59-67.

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in the present and the future against impiety and the flood of vice.691
Don Bosco’s system arose and took shape in conceptual terms precisely through real, factual contact
with this unlimited youthful reality. So it is necessary to identify the structures, features, detail the
‘face’ of the young whom he encountered: both in his immediate concrete involvement and through the
images he built up in their regard.692
It is not an easy task because if his pedagogy is not doctrinal and systematic, his experience of young
people that shaped his pedagogy is even less systematically developed. But it is not impossible, just the
same, because here too his consistent and realistic activity is accompanied constantly by clear insights
and formulations. In reality what he did and the intentions he expressed — to gain the needed
consensus, seek charity, impose some unity on the involvement of his helpers — help us bring together
fairly adequately his basic ideas concerning the ‘youth situation’ from a threefold point of view:
sociological, psychological, theological-anthropological.
1. Elements of the sociology of youth
What undoubtedly impressed public opinion from the outset was Don Bosco’s systematic interest in
and intentions regarding ‘poor and abandoned’ youth, ‘the poorest and most neglected’ youth, ‘poor
and derelict youth’, ‘the most needy and risky children’. Recalling this thirty years later in the Memoirs
of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales, the story of that early ‘little oratory’, he loved to go back to the
original scope of “gathering up only the boys most at risk, and preferably those who had come out of
prison”693 far from their families, strangers in Turin”, “stonecutters, bricklayers, plasterers, road pavers,
plasterers and others who came from distant villages”.694 At times his preference is expressed broadly
by his intention “to be able to decrease the number of rascals and youngsters who end up in prison”.695
This course of action does not mark the beginning of something new but rather the continuation of Don
Bosco’s renewed fervour and growing organisational vigour, according to the needs of the times and
experiences past and present.696
The problem did not go unnoticed, even in Turin. Initiatives had come into being in the preceding
centuries providing help for unfortunate young people whose parents could not or did not care to
provide for them. This assistance was given through catechetical instruction and introduction to skilled
labour.
Charitable persons, moved “only by Christian charity”, by loving kindness, went looking for them; they
gathered up as many as possible of them, and with admirable patience instructed them in Christian
691 A friendly talk given to past pupil priests of the Valdocco Oratory on July 29, 1880, BS 4 (1880) no. 9, Sept. p. 11; he
spoke similarly, again to past pupil priests, on July 19, 1883: “take special care of the youth in your towns because they
are the hope of society”. BS 7 (1883) no. 8, August, p. 129.
692 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale, pp. 123-157 (Collegi e ospizi in Piemonte e in Liguria 1860-
1870). 159-174 (I giovani degli oratori festivi a torino 1841-1870), 175-199 (Giovani e adulti convittori a Valdocco
1847-1870), 289-294 (La popolazione giovanile degli altri collegi).
693 MO (1991) 123; “especially those who came out of the prisons” (p. 122). It is significant however that in the Storia
dell’Oratorio di s. Francesco di Sales, written by Fr Bonetti, which would use the manuscript
694 BS 3 (1879) no. 2, Feb. p. 8 = MO (1991) 122; MO (1991) 124 = BS 3 (1879) no. 3, March p. 6.
695 MO (1991) 147 = BS 3 (1879) no.7, July, p. 16.
696 Cf. R. Chartier, M.M. Compère, D. Julia, L’éducation en France du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle. Paris, Sedes 1976, pp. 57-
58; L. Chevalier Classes laborieuses et classes dangereuses à Paris pendant la première moitié du XIXe siècle, Paris,
Librairie Plon 1958; P. Pierrard, Enfants et jeunes ouvriers en France (XIXe-XXe siècle). Paris, Les éditions Ouvrières
1987, 225 p. However, Turin in the 1840s was certainly not Paris.

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doctrine, and provided, to the best of their ability, for their greater needs. Some were introduced to
some kind of civil culture.
From 1850 on, this was the aim of those people who backed the “Hotel for Virtue” which was
established on July 24, 1587, by R. Patente. Workshops were set up to train textile workers, hatters,
lathe workers, upholsterers, blacksmiths, carpenters, furniture experts, foundry workers, tailors and
shoemakers, and give them increased cultural enrichment.
Goffredo Casalis goes so far as to consider these ‘Hotels for Virtue’ as, so to speak, “the dawning of
Piedmontese industry.”697 In 1771 an alms-house (it was known as L’Opera della Mendicità Istruita)
was set up with a broader scope in mind. It had been created to teach Sunday school catechism to the
poor and to provide them with basic assistance. Later on this activity broadened even further by
offering other kinds of assistance: technical training, schools in various districts around the city which
the Brothers of the Christian Schools were called to run, during the third decade of the 1800’s.698
Naturally we should not forget the various works promoted by the Marchioness Barolo.699
From the early 1840s Don Bosco began to espouse the cause of poor and neglected youth and give it all
his youthful energy. He appealed to people of various categories and invited them to join him as his
close helpers. He did this by means of personal contacts, individual and circular letters, appeals,
advertising and in language which shifted between the realistic and the rhetorical.
He spoke of “orphans”, “poor and abandoned youth”, “youth at risk”, “risky youth”. Terms like this
and others, were repeated, unchanged, for decades in connection with very different types of youngster
staying in his institutions: oratories, homes, boarding schools for both academic and working students,
agricultural schools. Then finally, Don Bosco’s work extended to youth coming from the most
heterogeneous layers of society, including youngsters from good families of the lower and middle class
classes, and even of the nobility.
In 1857, Don Bosco sent out an invitation to a lottery on behalf of the three boys’ oratories in Turin,
and explained that the aim of these oratories was to bring boys together at weekends, “gathering as
many young people at risk as possible from the city and provincial towns, who had moved to the
Capital’. However, the “house attached to the Oratory in Valdocco responds to essential needs such as
shelter, food and clothing for those youngsters who, no matter whether from the city or from the
provincial towns ... are so poor and abandoned that they could not, otherwise, be trained for a skilled
job or employment.”700
Similar invitations issued in the following years (1862, 1865, 1866) took into account not only the
home for working boys but also the home for academic students, “Since, some of the boys there come
from Turin, but the majority come from other cities and towns either looking for work or to pursue their
studies”.701
697 G. Casalis, Dizionario geografico storico-statistico-commerciale degli stati di S.M. Il re di Sardegna, Vol XXI [v.
Turin]. Turin, G. Maspero and G. Marzorati 1851, v. Albergo di Virtù, pp. 690-692; G. Ponzo, Stato e pauperismo in
Italia: L’Albergo di Virtù di Torino (1580-1863). Rome, La Cultura 1974, 150 p.
698 G. Casalis, Dizionario…, Vol XXIX, v. Regia Opera della mendicità istruita, pp. 700-709; G. Chiosso, La gioventù
«povera e abbandonata» a Torino nell’Ottocento. Il caso degli allievi-artigiani della Mendicità Istruita (1818-1861), in
J.M. Prellezzo (Ed.), L’impegno dell’educare… pp. 375-402.
699 Cf. R.M. Borsarelli, La marchesa Giulia di Barolo e le opere assistenziali in Piemonte e nel Risorgimento, Turin,
Chiantore 1933, XI-243 p.
700 Catalogo degli oggetti esposti in lotteria a favore dei giovani dei tre oratorii… Turin, G.B. Paravia & Co.
701 Elenco degli oggetti graziosamente donati… Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Pres 1866 p.3 OE XVII 5; cf Elenco
degli oggetti… Turin, Speirani 1862, p. 2, OE XIV 198; Lotteria d’oggetti… Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press
1865. p. 2 OE XVI 248: «i giovanetti accolti in questa casa sono divisi in due categorie, studenti ed artigiani».

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In the following decades, Don Bosco would use the same kind of language in reference to the situation
in Italy, Europe and Argentina.
The Patronage St-Pierre in Nice was opened for “children at risk”.702 A home for poor children to be
trained in arts and crafts was opened in Buenos Aires.703 The schools for “poor, working-class families’
children” was opened at La Spezia.704 The Sacred Heart Home in Rome was opened for “children of the
lower classes”.705
Don Bosco repeated this kind of language, often stereotyped, when he talked about the initiatives he
wanted the Cooperators to be involved in:
The main goal of the Association is the active exercise of charity toward one’s neighbour
and especially toward youth at risk.706
Over the following decades, in fact, and more so by describing situations and proposing solutions for
them, Don Bosco’s interest in “poor and abandoned youth” widened its horizons and became more
intense. This gave the original and apparently conventional term, “poor and abandoned youth”, other
shades of meaning according to the various circumstances and institutions concerned.
At any rate, Don Bosco always connected the various situations and steps to be taken for them with the
beginnings of the festive oratory: “Although my purpose had been that of gathering only children most
at risk and preferably those coming out of jail, in order to build up a basis for discipline and moral
behaviour, I also invited some other well behaved and educated youngsters”.707
The Rules for Day Students ended up sanctioning an already well-established practice, which made
such an undertaking less selective and more open: “We aim primarily at young workers... However, the
academic students who might want to join in on weekends or in vacation time are not excluded”.708
Later on, new situations arose: Protestant proselytising, dangers associated with religious indifference,
anticlerical secularism in the school and the press.709
Logically, the picture one had of “poor and abandoned youth and youth at risk” picked up an entirely
new meaning: more than being at the level of economic and legally determined poverty, the danger was
seen essentially from a religious and moral perspective which overrode all other differences. As a
matter of fact, before any kind of ‘redemption’ however legitimate, be it cultural or professional, the
preservation of the faith and its stability for everyone appeared more urgent.
With regard to the danger of heresy, we do have a clear summary in a short, historical note dated March
12, 1879, and presented to Cardinal Nina, Secretary of State, in the Vatican. Don Bosco first of all
recalled his anti-Protestant efforts from 1848 on, in the aftermath of the Constitution and its consequent
702 Inaugurazione del patronato di S. Pietro in Nizza a Mare… Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press 1877, p,ì. 4, OE
XXVIII 382.
703 Letter to Dr Edoardo Carranza, president of the Conference of St Vincent de Paul in Buenos Aires, Sept. 30, 1877, E III
221.
704 Circular on the work opening in La Spezia, Oct. 11, 1880, E III 627.
705 Letter to Leo XIII March 1878, E III 317.
706 Associazione di buone opere. Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Print Shop 18775, p. 6 OE. XXV 486; Cooperatori
salesiani ossia un modo pratico per giovare al buon costume ed alla civile società. Turin, Salesian Press 1876, p.6, OE
XXVIII 260; last edition in San Pier d’Arena, Press and Book shop of St Vincent de Paul 1977, p.30, OE XXVIII 368.
707 MO (1991) 123 = BS 3 (1879) no. 3, March, p.6.
708 Regolamento dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales per gli esterni. Turin Salesian Press 1877, first part, Scopo di
quest’opera, p.3, OE XIX 33.
709 Don Bosco wrote many times about it to bishop friends and the Pope himself: letter to Pius IX, Nov. 9, 1859, Em I 386-
387; April 13, 1860. Em I 400-401; March 10, 1861, Em I 441-442; Dec. 27, 1861. Em I 471-473.

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liberalisation of the laws. This he took up through the press, by spreading good books, teaching
catechism classes, preaching, setting up the festive oratories and charitable homes. Then Don Bosco
restated the specific objective of the Salesian vocation, which aimed at “liberating the most needy class
of people, namely, poor youth, from Protestant snares”.
He also pointed out a broad gamut of undertakings such as: the St Aloysius Oratory in Turin; the St
Paul Home at La Spezia; the church and grammar schools in Vallecrosia, Ventimiglia; St Leo’s Home
in Marseilles; the agricultural school at St Cyr and Navarre, Toulon; St Peter’s Home in Nice (France);
St Vincent’s Home at Sampierdarena; the Oratory of the Holy Cross at Lucca; the homes of
Montevideo and Buenos Aires.710
Very similar undertakings, indicative of a Catholic reawakening, were opened in Uruguay and
Argentina. These were actually considered to be the more or less remote launching platform for a
different kind of missionary evangelisation. This strategy is recorded in numerous documents which
prefigure a rather ambitious plan which he had already made known to Cardinal Franchi in 1877.
We thought it best to create a new experiment. We are no longer going to send missionaries
to work among the savages but go to the outskirts of civilized towns and then found
churches, schools and homes with a twofold objective: 1. Help preserve the faith of those
who have already received it. 2. Instruct and provide shelter for the indigenous (Indios)
people living among Catholics either by religious desire or for other needs. The goal was to
establish relationships with the parents through their children, so that the savages might
become the evangelisers of the savages themselves.711
There is another kind of interest in the young, particularly dear to Don Bosco, and which occupied him
throughout his life: interest in young people called to an ecclesiastical or religious state. Naturally,
these young people cannot be referred to as ‘at risk’ or ‘abandoned’, even though at times they came
from families of modest means. “They are good-natured youngsters, who love the practices of piety,
and who offer some hope that they are called to the ecclesiastical state”.712 The danger to which these
youths are exposed does not come from the street or from the fact of being abandoned, but that they
might “lose their vocation” through lack of material means and adequate care. This is one of the
primary objectives of the Salesian Society: “Since the young who aspire to the ecclesiastical state are
exposed to many and serious dangers, this Society will do its very best to make sure that those
youngsters who show a special capacity for study and are commendable for their moral behaviour, be
fostered in the upkeep of their piety”.713
The Cooperators Association’s regulations called on them to support “youngsters who have an
ecclesiastical vocation” apostolically, spiritually and financially.714
The vocation experience has its beginning in 1849 and Don Bosco, despite obvious exaggeration, wrote
about it as follows: “We might say that the house attached to the Oratory became a diocesan seminary
710 E III 455-456; similar concepts taken up again in a memorial to Leo XIII also March 1879, E III 462-464.
711 Letter of Dec. 31, 1877. E III 257-259. Identical ideas expressed to the new Prefect of Propaganda Fide, Car. Simeoni,
in March 1877, E III 320-321; to Leo XIII April 13, 1880, E III 568-567; the Memoriale intorno alle Missioni salesiane
presents an analytical view of Salesian work overseas, substantially the same as what is in Europe adding certain
concrete missionary ideas for the future; to Propaganda Fide in Lyon March 1882, E IV 123-127.
712 Conference to Salesian Cooperators, Turin, Valdocco 23 May 1879, BS 3 (1879) no. 6, June, p.3.
713 Regole o Costituzioni della Società di S. Francesco di Sales. Turin, Salesian Press and Book shop 1875, chap 1, art 5,
p.4. OE XXVII 54
714 Cooperatori salesiani ossia un modo pratico... 1876, p. 7, OE XXVIII 261.

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for some twenty years”.715
A similar function is attributed to all the undertakings that followed: homes, boarding schools and
agricultural schools, all of which offered cheap tuition. They had exactly the same aim: “to give the
greatest number of talented young people the opportunity to receive an education which was a
Christian education so that in time they may turn out to be good priests or courageous missionaries or
wise fathers of families”.716
In 1877, Don Bosco would establish a stable set of rules, the ‘Rules for the Houses’, for the gradually
developing works, along with the parallel ‘Rules for the day students’. Every house, as far as possible,
was expected to have an oratory attached to it: “The general aim of the houses of the Congregation is to
provide help, do good to one’s neighbour especially by educating youth, taking care of them during the
most dangerous years of their lives, educating them in the sciences and arts and leading them to
practise religion and virtue. The Congregation does not refuse to take care of any class of people, but it
prefers the middle and poorer classes since these are the ones mostly in need of help and assistance”.717
Don Bosco was an ambassador for his own undertakings, and during the last years of his life and
particularly during his historic trips to France and Spain, would come up with more engaging and
definitive formulations of his system and its objectives, through the many talks and conferences. These
would but confirm and further explain things.
In a letter to the Cooperators in January 1880, Don Bosco presented a complete list of the institutions
he had set up on behalf of youth at risk: “Recreational parks, oratories, Sunday schools, evening
schools, day schools, homes, boarding schools, educational institutions… all open for the public benefit
in Italy, France, America”.718
In April 1882, Don Bosco offered further explanation in Lucca: “Many thousands of youngsters in
more than 100 houses receive a Christian education; they are instructed, introduced to learning an art or
skill which will help them earn their bread honestly... Charitable contributions are used to prepare these
children for civil society, so they may become either good Christian workers or faithful soldiers or
exemplary masters and teachers or priests and even missionaries who might bring religion and
civilization to barbarians”.719
Don Bosco gave a talk at the Cooperators’ meeting in Turin, on June 1, 1885: “He seemed very tired
and his voice was soft. As he was telling the Cooperators about Salesian undertakings, he emphasised
the reasons why they should be supported:
Because they educate youth to pursue virtue, the way leading to the altar; because their
main goal is that of instructing youth who today have become the target of wicked people;
because in their boarding schools, homes, festive oratories, their families they promote, in
the midst of the world they promote, I repeat: love of religion, good morals, prayer,
frequent reception of the sacraments”.720
As a consequence, it is not possible to reduce Don Bosco’s practical interests to only one category of
715 MO (1991) 195.
716 Conference to Cooperators at Casale Monferrato Nov. 17, 1881, BS 5 (1881) no. 12, Dec. p. 5.
717 Regolamento per le case della Società di S. Francesco di Sales. Turin, Salesian Press 1877, part 2, Chap 1, Scopo delle
case della Congregazione di S. Francesco di Sales, p. 59, OE XXIX 155.
718 BS 4 (1880) no. 1, Jan, p. 1; information follows on works of various kinds in Italy, France, Argentina, including the
Patagonian missions (pp. 1-3).
719 BS 6 (1882) no. 5, May p. 81.
720 BS 9 (1885) no. 7, July, p. 94

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person, namely “poor and abandoned youth”.
Don Bosco’s active interests encompass a whole network of young people, a rather broad one which
had the restricted and diverse world of delinquents at its lower level, those who needed to be corrected,
those who had had to deal with the courts; there was the less defined world of the almost
unredeemable, by using only preventive discipline. These youngsters could be harmful to many of the
youth he had the intention of caring about the most.
Looking at higher levels, in principle, at least as far as the boarding schools and the homes were
concerned, boys from upper-class families (financial or noble status) were excluded. These youngsters
would have found themselves ill at ease in relatively ‘cheap’ institutions as far as buildings, food,
cultural activities, general tone of life were concerned.721
Don Bosco’s perspective was quite broad when he spoke and wrote, bearing in mind the varied
circumstances of young people and people in general. Whether he was writing books to uphold the
faith or whether he was doing his best to point out the need for welfare and educational intervention
beyond his own area of activity for young people, Don Bosco never excluded the widest possibility of
applying the Preventive System, probably including some additional ‘repressive’ approaches. For
instance, he suggested the use of the Preventive System in Turin’s prisons to Urban Rattazzi and he
suggested to Francesco Crispi that the same system be employed for “boys seriously at risk”, amongst
whom “vagabonds who end up in the hands of public security agents”.722
It is evident, however, that Don Bosco’s intentions, expressed through the institutions he had brought to
completion and his more pressing concerns, are all focused on the young who find themselves at the
lowest level and sidelined by society and mostly at risk. This is what the Memoirs from 1841 to 1844-
45-46 by Father John Bosco to his Salesian Sons is all about. It is almost a last will and testament:
The world will always welcome us as long as our concern is for under-developed peoples,
poor children, members of society most in danger. This is our real wealth which no-one will
envy and nobody will take from us.723
This is the direction Don Bosco repeatedly revealed to his Salesians, Cooperators and benefactors, in
the talks addressed to them during the last decade of his life, not without explicit reference to the
dangerous social situation of young people who are not adequately assisted. It was his last specification
which might have aroused the sensitivities of his often well-to-do and concerned listeners, thus
attracting greater charitable contributions from them.724
While in Rome, in 1887, Don Bosco urged the Cooperators to help Salesians confront and stem the
onrush of ever-increasing impiety and bad morals dragging so many poor and inexperienced youths to
eternal ruin, both in the cities and in the towns. He urged them to help the Salesians lower the quantity
of rascals who, left to the themselves, ran great risk of filling up the prisons.725
721 A more detailed research would be needed for individual institutes to detail the purpose and those they were looking
after, their setting, the level and requests of families, the expectations of religious and civil authorities, historical
development, quality of those running them and of the education they offered. From the monographs available some
excellent research has been done, some less so. Amongst the most important of these concerning works undertaken by
Don Bosco: P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale (1815-1870), already cited; F. Desramaut, Don Bosco
à Nice. La vie d’une école professionelle catholique entre 1875 et 1919. Paris, Apostolat des Éditions 1980, 397.
722 Cf. some texts in P. Braido, Don Bosco Eeducatore. Scritti e testimonianze, Rome LAS 1997, pp 85-87, 291-294.
723 F. Motto, Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6 pel sac. Gio. Bosco a’ suoi figliuoli Salesiani, RSS 4 (1985) 127.
724 Especially in his final years it is not to be excluded that Don Bosco’s talks were added to by the editor of the Bollettino
Salesiano, Fr John Bonetti.
725 BS 2 (1878) no. 3, March, pp. 12-13. “It is a case of freeing them from the dangers that are imminent, from doing evil,

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On March 30, 1882, Don Bosco told the Genoa Cooperators:
We see these youngsters scurrying from squares to back streets, shore to shore, growing up
in the grip of idleness and leisure; we see them learn all sorts of obscenities and curses;
later on we see them become scoundrels and criminals; and finally, mostly in the prime of
life, we see them end up in prison.726
There seemed to him to be an organised plot involved, and therefore works of prevention and defence
were needed to counteract it!
On June 1, 1885, talking to the Turin Cooperators, Don Bosco said:
In this day and age, the wicked are trying to scatter the seeds of godlessness and bad
morals; they are trying especially to ruin imprudent youths through associations, printed
publications, meetings which aim, more or less openly, at keeping youth away from
religion, Church and good morals.727
To reach the hearts and the wallets of his well-to-do listeners, Don Bosco did not hesitate to project, at
times, the likely danger that abandoned youths were like vagabonds, purse-snatchers or even criminals
who perhaps one day might show up “begging for money with a knife at your throat” or “with a pistol
in their hands”.728
2. Elements of youth psychology
To understand Don Bosco’s Preventive System we should also keep in mind the following items, the
age bracket of the young people he dealt with and to whom the Preventive System was preferably
applied, under his immediate or mediated direction; the age of the boys frequenting the festive oratories
in Turin and the complex institution that was Valdocco’s Oratory; the age of those attending the
boarding schools at Mirabello Monferrato, later transferred to Borgo San Martino, Lanzo Torinese,
Alassio and Varazze, Genoa-Sampierdarena, Nice and Marseilles.
2.1 Growing up
As a rule, in the majority of the works Don Bosco founded, the prevailing interest was in teenagers, a
more extended age group for festive oratories, schools and boarding schools, including those in the
final years of adolescence. Exceptions were made even during Don Bosco’s lifetime for students in the
boarding schools at Alassio and Valsalice, as well as the pre-university institution set up by Fr Lasagna
at Villa Colon (Montevideo).
from prison itself” he wrote in 1879, BS 3 (1879) no. 1, Jan., p. 2; The following year again: “Many thousands of young
people, left abandoned, without education or religion, would have become the scourge of society, and maybe not a few
would curse the Creator in prison... were on the contrary led away from evil”; BS 9 (1885) no. 7, July, p. 95.
726 BS 6 (1882) no. 4, April, p. 70. Similar presentation of youth especially those who moved to Rome: BS 8 (1884) no. 1,
Jan. p. 2; conference to Roman Cooperators 8 May, BS 8 (1884) no. 6, June, p. 88; in darker tones and described in a
conference in Turin on June 1, 1885, youth in Paris “the big capital of France with 2 million inhabitants”: BS 9 (1885)
no. 7, July, p. 95.
727 BS 9 (1885) no. 7, July, p. 95.
728 Cf. letter to Dr. Carranza, Buenos Aires, 30 Sept 1877, E III 221; conference to Copperators in Lucca, April 8, 1882, BS
6 (1882) no. 5, May, p. 81; address to the Catholic Association in Barcelona, April 15, 1886, C. Viglietti, Cronaca dal
15 aprile al 16 maggio 1886, p. 5

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The age range, in reference to young working boys was much wider and less strictly defined.729 So
summing up, Don Bosco’s pedagogy is a youth-oriented pedagogy where the terms ‘young’, ‘youth’ are
given a rather wide connotation. But in overall numbers and attention, they were mostly teenagers. It is
for boys of the 15-16 year-old bracket that Don Bosco wrote ‘Lives’ or biographical stories of boys,
which were one of the basic tools Don Bosco used to pass on his educational experience and
pedagogical reflections.730
The following norm, generally put into practice, is found in the ‘Rules for Day Students’:
We are looking for eight-year-olds, so smaller boys are excluded, along with those who
cause a lot of trouble and are unable to understand what we are teaching them.731
The Rules for the Houses notably restricts the age limit when it established that the pupil “must have
completed his grammar school”732 as a condition for acceptance. In practice though, most of the
boarding schools for students had a grammar school program in place or at least the last two years of
grammar school. Ultimately, most of the institutions (oratories, homes, boarding schools) were open to
boys whose age went from childhood to early and late adolescence so from approximately 8 to18 years
of age, but probably most were between 12 and 16.
As far as the terminology used by Don Bosco in his talks and in his writings is concerned, there is some
inevitable variation. Italian and Latin: fanciulli, fanciullini, giovani, giovanetti, pueri, adolescentes,
adulescentuli, juvenes (children, little children, adolescents, in general terms) were generally inter-
changeable. Only fanciullo, giovanetto appear to be distinct, as they designate boys from the age of 8 to
11.
The booklet on The Work of Mary Help of Christians for Vocations to the Ecclesiastical State Created
in the Home of St Vincent de Paul at Sampierdarena seems to make a broad distinction between young
adults or big boys or bigger boys (giovani adulti, o grandicelli o più grandicelli), from 16 to 30 years
of age, and children (fanciulli), little children (piccolini).733
2.2 Features of youth psychology
We should not expect from Don Bosco a scientific study of age ranges which would allow us to clearly
distinguish various developmental stages. However, at times some of the features pointed out by Don
Bosco can be connected with one developmental stage rather than another. It is especially important to
729 At the Oratory at Valdocco, the average age of students was 13-14, working boys, 14-15; cf P. Stella Don Bosco nella
storia economica...
730 What Albert Caviglia writes, however, is excessive: “Most pedagogues and educational writers turned their attention to
children between 6 and 12 years of age. The problem of progress was the primary, elementary schools (as well as
kindergarten, the Aporti case); In Italy they were way behind. Now what Our man was concerned about and acted on
behalf of, those he called ‘youth’, ‘young lads’, are not children but precisely those who worked with, from 12 years
on... This was another of Don Bosco’s great merits, in having found, literally, the right way to educate teenagers”. (A.
Caviglia, La «Storia d’Italia» a masterpiece by Don Bosco. Introductory address, in Opere e scritti editi e inediti di
«Don Bosco», vol III La Storia d’Italia. Turin, SEI 1935, pp. XLII-XLIII); «Don Bosco anche letterariamente ha
risolto il problema della pedagogia dell’adolescente» (p. XLIV).
731 Regolamento dell’Oatorio...per gli esterni, part II, Chap II, art. 3, p. 30. OE XXIX 60.
732 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap II, art.9, p. 62. OE XXIX 158.
733 S. Pier d’Arena, St Vincent de Paul Press and Book shop 1877, p. 4,5,25, OE XXIX 4, 5, 25. Cf. also Opera di Maria
Ausiliatrice per le vocazioni allo stato ecclesiastico. Fossano, Saccone Press, s.d. [=1875]: “The purpose of this Work is
to bring together young men... Each pupil must belong to an upright family, be healthy, robust, of good character,
between 16-30 years old”; also in this edition, fanciulli and piccolini were contrasted with giovani grandicelli: pp 2-5,
OE XXVII 2-5.

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remark that Don Bosco’s perception of the psychology of the young for whom he worked was strictly
connected with his view of pastoral and pedagogical activity as a whole.
In defining the features proper to youth, Don Bosco ended up using descriptive terms but ones which
also evaluated things positively or negatively according to how a young person was ready for education
or according to the requirements of salvation.
Don Bosco seemed to link the moral and religious aspects of these features with judgement that was
more negative than positive, and considered features in need of correction rather than ones that could
be employed. Often enough youthfulness was implicitly compared with adulthood. For instance, the
incompleteness of youth contrasts with the completeness of adulthood; the fickleness of youth with the
poise of adulthood; youthful lack of reflection with adult wisdom; fickle youth with emotionally stable
adults.734 Naturally, other terms are not omitted which point to positive elements like availability, and
positive potential such as sensitivity, impressionability and ‘heart’.
More numerous and reflective remarks appear time and again in the pages of the 1877 ‘Preventive
System’. Similar remarks can be found in the writings going back to the 1840s and in particular the
Companion of Youth, and they are repeated and enriched in the ‘Lives’ written during the 1850s and
60s.
The pages written in 1877 convey, first of all, what Don Bosco thought was the dominant feature of the
youthful age, and the most decisive reason for adopting the Preventive System:
The primary reason for this system is the thoughtlessness of the young, who in one moment
forget the rules of discipline and the penalties for their infringement. Consequently a child
often becomes culpable and deserving of punishment, which he had not even thought about
and which he had quite forgotten when heedlessly committing the fault he would certainly
have avoided, had a friendly voice warned him.735
This feature is strictly connected with a second typical feature: lack of experience, immaturity, and as a
consequence, lack of consideration and lack of prudence. For Don Bosco youth, taken in the widest
sense, is by definition “dangerously inexperienced” and therefore “unstable” and “careless”.736
Therefore, youth can easily be trapped by snares of all kinds and from all sources: from the devil, bad
companions, gaudy or alluringly presented things, temptations, freedom, heresy. It is mainly for this
reason that youth is “an age exposed to dangers which can be found in every social circumstance”.737
‘Which children should be considered at risk’ is the title of a paragraph written in a memo on the
Preventive System and handed to Francesco Crispi in February of 1878.738
The very root of youth’s thoughtlessness can be found in an innate lack of organisation which affects
youth’s psychological existence and precedes any kind of educational intervention. “Youngsters, just
734 Cf. J. Scheppens, Les structures de pensé, notamment théologiques, sous-jacentes à la pratique pédagogique de don
Bosco, in Éducation et pédagogie chez don Bosco. Paris, Éditions Fleurus 1989, pp. 148-155. “Jean Bosco définit donc
lui aussi les jeunes comme des etres faibles et inconstants, marqués par la fragilité morale et la versatilité” (p. 150).
735 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 48, OE XXVIII 426.
736 Cf. Fatti contemporanei esposti in forma di dialogo. Turin, De-Agostini 1853, p. 3, OE V 53; Lo spazzacammino. Turin
Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press 1866, p. 62, OE XVII 174; Il Galantuomo. Almanacco per il 1873. Turin Oratory of
St Francis de Sales Press 1872, p. 5, OE XXV 5; “remove fickle and careless young people from sin”; G. Bosco,
Severino ossia avventure di un giovane alpigiano. Turin Oratory of St Francis de Sales Printshop 1868, p. 4, OE XX 4;
“Le mie sciagure servano ad altri d’avviso per avitare gli scogli che conducano alla rovina tanta inesperta gioventù”;
BS 2 (1878) no 3, March, p. 12, 1q3.
737 G. Bosco. La forza della buona educazione... p. 55, OE VI 329.
738 Cf. Il sistema preventivo (1878), RSS 4 (1985) 301-302.

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because they lack instruction and reflection allow themselves, often blindly, to be dragged by some of
their friends or by their lack of reflection into bad behaviour, simply they have been neglected”.739
Connected with this is a characteristic trait “which Don Bosco repeated time and again: Young people
are flighty, unable to keep to their commitments, fragile, easily get tired, are just as easily discouraged
as they become enthusiastic about something”.740
In the life of St Dominic Savio, Don Bosco writes: “It is a particular trait of youth to be flighty, namely
to easily change one’s resolve about what one wants to achieve; and it is not a thing that happens
seldom. Today a young man decides to do one thing and the next day he does another one; today he
practices virtue to an eminent degree and the next day, he does just the opposite”.741
Naturally, this turns out to be even more evident when a young man has to face something which
demands seriousness and commitment: this is the case with religion, piety, study, work and discipline.
In the Life of Besucco, Don Bosco emphasises how difficult it is for a youngster to “learn how to have
a taste for prayer. Their fickle age causes them to see anything which demands serious mental attention
as something nauseating and even as an enormous weight”.742
All that we have mentioned above goes back to a deeper and ambivalent reality with a theological and
psychological sense to it. According to Don Bosco virtue, religion, the realm of grace are also sources
of happiness. In the Companion of Youth, following a widespread ascetic type of literature for the
young, both in his own time and earlier, Don Bosco emphasised one extremely problematic aspect of
human nature and of the nature of a young person. We cannot tell whether Don Bosco means to refer to
a healthy nature or a nature wounded by sin, because at this juncture Don Bosco does not seem to
notice such a distinction.743 Anyway, according to Don Bosco, the human being and more clearly so the
young man seems to be born to rejoice; of his very nature a human being, a young man longs for joy,
entertainment, pleasure. This tendency seems to enter into conflict with happiness and its sources. As a
matter of fact, so Don Bosco continues, “If I tell one of my children to receive the Sacraments
frequently, to pray each day, the answer I get is: I have something else to do, I have work to do, or I
have to have fun”.744
There is another characteristic feature instead, which Don Bosco notes and sees mostly from a positive
angle: youngsters need to move about, have life, free rein for their physical, intellectual, emotional and
moral energies. There is a fundamental precept connected with this feature. It was inspired by St Philip
Neri but employed by Don Bosco in language and educational praxis that makes it a construct of
exceptional value: “Let them have ample freedom to jump, to run, to shout as they wish”. 745
There are other innate qualities found in the young and they are entirely positive. Don Bosco sees them
and enjoys describing them as they are found in Michael Magone, the typical young lad, not only from
a pedagogical point of view but especially from the perspective of a basic psychological structure, prior
739 Il sistema preventivo (1878), RSS 9 (1985) 300; going to the prisons Don Bosco had noticed that “a great number of
children considered their punishment less than the fact they were abandoned and not given consideration” (G. Bosco
L’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales ospizio di beneficenza. Turin, Salesian Press 1879. p. 3, OE XXI 259.
740 P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, Vol II, p. 190.
741 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico allievo dell’Oratorio di San Francesco di Sales. Turin, G.B. Pravia &
Co. 1859, p. 37, OE XI 187.
742 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi ovvero Vita del giovane Besucco Francesco d’Argentera. Turin, Oratory of St Francis
de Sales Press 1864, pp. 113-114, OE XV 355-356.
743 P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica. Vol II p. 188
744 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto... p. 33 OE II 213.
745 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 54 OE XXVIII 432. This outline responds to a true “pedagogy of joy and festivity”; cf
chap. 16.

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to any serious moral damage: his liveliness, spontaneity, inborn tendency to like what is good,
unconsciously oriented towards true happiness.
Naturally lively yet pious, good and devout, he thought a lot of the smallest practices of
piety. He practised them cheerfully, freely and easily, without scruples: on account of his
piety, study and congenial nature he was loved and respected by all; on account of his
liveliness and good manners he was the idol of recreation time.746
Even after the premonition that he was soon the going to die, Michael Magone’s “cheerfulness and
joviality were not changed in the least”.747
There is another feature added to the ones mentioned above: youth has an inner vitality which is
expressed by a remarkable impressionability and receptivity, both emotionally and perceptively. Don
Bosco deals explicitly with this feature, when he expresses his views on the educative and moral
aspects of the theatre.
“We maintain that youngsters hold on to impressions of things vividly presented, in their heart, and
neither reason nor contrary facts can convince them to easily forget them”.748
Impressionability may have some negative aspects but it is taken mainly from its positive side, as Don
Bosco himself remarks when he talks about the happy crisis faced by Josephine, the chief character in a
play called The Conversion of a Waldesian Lady. “Youth, so long as it is not the slave to vice, lingers
only momentarily on other things, but the precepts of religion and especially eternal principles produce
the keenest impression on youth”.749
What follows are two overall fundamental dimensions of youth psychology, which embrace the entire
personality of the young and have an impact on the entire educational system. They can be noticed
especially in boys throughout their teenage years and can be properly directed towards a more mature
youth. They are: a very keen sense of justice, intolerance of any kind of injustice and a strong affection,
heart. The two features are explicitly highlighted, once again, in the 1877 ‘Preventive System’. They
are both connected with two radical preventive experiences: reason and loving kindness.
Don Bosco gives teachers a reflection on his concern:
Experience teaches that the young do not easily forget the punishments they have received,
and for the most part foster bitter feelings, along with the desire to throw off the yoke and
even to seek revenge. They may sometimes appear to be quite unaffected but anyone who
follows them as they grow up knows that the reminiscences of youth are terrible. They
easily forget punishments by their parents but only with great difficulty those inflicted by
their teachers, and some have even been known in later years to have had recourse to brutal
vengeance for chastisements they had justly deserved during the course of their
education.750
All in all, education is a ‘thing of the heart’, because, as a rule and almost naturally, a boy is ‘heart’.
‘For this reason, an educator will be always able to’ win over’ the heart of the one he protects’, and to
746 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele allievo dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales. Turin, G.B.
Paravia & Co. 1861, p. 66 OE XIII 220.
747 G. Bosco Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone.... p. 68, OE XIII 222.
748 Regolamento per le case... part I Chap XVI Del teatrino, p. 50 OE XXIX 146.
749 G. Bosco Conversione di una valdese. Fatto contemporaneo. Turin, P. De-Agostini Priess 1854, p. 27, OE V 285.
750 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 48, 50, OE XXVIII 426, 428

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speak with the language of the heart.”751
As a matter of fact, “in every youngster, even the most unfortunate one, there is a spot accessible to
what is good. It is the task of an educator to look for this spot, the sensitive heart string, and draw profit
from it”.752
Don Bosco reserved some remarks of a psychological and moral nature for the childhood stage, the age
prior to eight years old, and for the age of eight to twelve.
In reference the childhood stage, this is what Don Bosco wrote of Dominic Savio: “Even at that happy-
go-lucky age, he entirely relied on his mother.” And “he also came to know from his parents testimony
that he was like this ever since his tender age... when, due to lack of reflection, boys are a bother and a
continuous source of grief to their mothers; an age when boys want to see everything, touch everything
and, most of the time, mess up everything”.753
As we have mentioned, ‘small boys’ were not admitted to the Oratory, because “they cause trouble and
are unable to understand what they are being taught”.754 As for the eight- to twelve-year-old stage,
judgements expressed by Don Bosco are not optimistic.
This is the age, so Don Bosco says, when boys are bored or unwilling to pray and are inclined to the
pranks common to that age.755 Don Bosco does not even excuse boys of this age from their serious
moral responsibilities. We see this in reflections collected by Father Bonetti for his chronicle, dated
March 1, 1863: “I find that many boys’ confessions can’t be treated as indicated in the norms given in
theology. Most of the time, no consideration is given to faults committed from the age eight to twelve,
and if a confessor does not take steps to find out, and ask about them, they will pass them over and will
go on building their life on a faulty basis”.756
3. Theology of education
Don Bosco does not have a systematic and theological anthropology at his disposal. This aspect of Don
Bosco’s priestly seminary formation seems to lead him back to just a few important, basic acquisitions.
What Pietro Stella wrote about a well-defined and widespread dogmatic and moral, though not
universally applicable theology can be applied to Don Bosco’s culture and his mind-set as educator and
pastor. Dogmatic theology saw everything in the light of predestination or a free response to grace, and
the account to be given to the Divine Judge, in expectation of either eternal life or eternal death.
Therefore dogmatic theology focused on seeing everything from the perspective of its value for
eternity, reward or condemnation.
Moral theology, on the other hand, with its debates on probabilism and probabiliorism, focusing
everything on the relationship between divine law and freedom, trained people to see their actions as
responsible compliance with divine law.757) Some other material, probably of a key nature, was added
to this: books on religious formation, writings used to prepare meditations, instructions, homilies for
751 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 48, 50, OE XXVIII 426, 428
752 Cited in MB V 367
753 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico... pp 12-13, OE XI 162-163
754 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part II, Chap II, art. 3, p.30, OE XXIX 60.
755 [G. Bosco]. Cenni storici sulla vita del chierico Luigi Comollo morto nel seminario di Chieri ammirato da tutti per le
sue singolari virtù, scritti da un suo collega. Turin. Speirani and Ferrero 1844, p. 5 and 11, OE I 5 and 11.
756 Cited in MB VII 404. John Baptist Lemoyne says he got it from a Cronaca by Fr Bonetti.We did not find it in the
surviving Cronache.
757 P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità.... Vol I, p. 61: cf also p. 63.

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ordinary and extraordinary preaching, other sources of an historical, catechetical and apologetic nature.
And finally, Don Bosco’s natural disposition and his meaningful conversations with his boys were no
doubt decisive in his gaining a comprehensive picture of the natural dispositions of the young as
regards salvation and salvation-oriented education.
Don Bosco could attribute his ability to sketch out various classifications of young people to his
constant living amongst them. He used many terms and not all of them were necessarily synonymous.
In some cases these classifications have a precise pedagogical meaning aimed at differentiating the way
a boy should be educated.758 But more often than not, these classifications were nothing but theological
and moral evaluations and generally with a preventive or apostolic aim in mind: keeping them away
from the wicked, or being friendly with the good and, at times, bringing the dissolute and wavering
youngsters back on the right path.759
The most significant text on a theology of youth and education is certainly found in the first lines of
Don Bosco’s Introduction to his 1850s Piano di Regolamento (an outline for a set of rules) where he
quotes from St John’s Gospel 11:52.The text is applied to the youth of his day: Jesus had to die “to
gather together in unity the scattered children of God”. In this outline we see the main actors in the
growing process: God and the means of grace, the family with its deficiencies, society with all its
dangers, the educators, the appropriate places, the young themselves with the wealth of resources they
are naturally gifted with.
Youth is the most of delicate and precious portion of human society. It is on youth that the
hopes of a happy future are based, and youth of itself does not have a wicked disposition. If
you remove their parents’ neglect, idleness, meeting up with bad companions, which they
are subject to especially at weekends, then it turns out to be quite easy to instil in their
tender hearts the principles of order, good moral behaviour, respect and religion. And if it
does happen at times that they be found corrupt at that age, that happens rather because of
thoughtlessness and not because of sheer malice. These youngsters really need a kindly
hand, someone who takes care of them, nurtures them and guides them towards virtue and
keeps them away from vice. The main difficulty lies in finding a way to gather them
together, speak to them and teach them moral behaviour.760
Following a more analytic and largely theological consideration we could place the field-forces on four
levels: the young person as an individual, the environment, the religious world, the mediation provided
by education.761
First of all, Don Bosco speaks of and writes about a general positive readiness of the young to reach
moral and educational maturity when nurtured on time, thanks to the commitment of educators and
thanks to the young person himself. We cannot afford to lose time: “Young people are greatly loved by
God”, because they still have “time to perform many good deeds”. They are at “a simple, humble and
innocent age and, in general, have not yet become the unfortunate prey of the infernal enemy”.762
758 Found as we will see in the Cenni storici intorno all’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, and in the Articoli generali, at
the head of the Regolamento delle case. On this see P. Braido, Il sistema preventivo in un decalogo per educatori, RSS
4 (1985) 143-144.
We will speak furtjher on of the pedagogical and differential aspect of classifications.
759 Cf. Cenni on Comollo (1844), p. 63-64, OE I 63-64; Il giovane provveduto (1847), pp. 21-22, OE 201-202; Vita di
Domenico Savio (1859), pp. 26-27, OE XI 176-177; MO (1991) 59.
760 Introduzione to the Piano di Regolamento... in P. Braido (Ed.) Don Bosco nella Chiesa..., pp. 34-35.
761 For a deeper analysis of the anthropological elements cf J. Scheppens, Human nature in the educational outlook of St
John Bosco, RSS 8 (1989) 263-287).
762 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto... pp 10-11, OE II 190-191.

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Besides and also because of this, “the salvation of a small child depends ordinarily on the period of his
youth”.763
Don Bosco wants to express this idea in God’s words: “Adolescens juxta viam suam etiam com
senuerit non recedet ab ea, if we start off with a good life when we are young, we will continue to be
good into old age and our death will be a good death and mark the beginning of eternal happiness. On
the contrary, if vice gets us in its grip when we are young, it will likely continue to have a hold on us
throughout life and until death”.764
A young person’s human potential and natural disposition are helpful, even though they may lean in
different directions, more often good, ordinary or even indifferent. Intelligence, the faculty of truth,
holds prime of place, then will, the faculty of good, with the freedom to act that follows on from it. Don
Bosco gives it a great importance if we think about his insistence on the good resolutions which
characterise his pedagogy on the sacrament of Penance.
What distinguishes man from all the other animals in a special manner is the fact that he is
gifted with a soul which thinks, reasons, knows what is good and what is evil.765
God has given us a soul, namely that invisible reality which we feel in us and which
continuously tends to raise itself up to God; this intelligent being thinks, reasons, and will
not be able to find happiness here on earth. Therefore, even in the midst of the riches and
pleasures of this world, it will always feel restless until it rests in God, for God alone can
make it happy.
God gave our soul freedom, namely the faculty to choose good or evil assuring it of a
reward if it acts well, and threatening it with punishment whenever it chooses to act
badly”.766
The following elements, very positive as far as religious and moral realities as well as the educational
relationship are concerned, should be added to what we have mentioned, namely, sensitivity, affectivity
and heart. These make an irreplaceable contribution to the perception of the ugliness of sin and the
preciousness of virtue.767
Finally, the fragility which the young demonstrate is linked by Don Bosco not only with their age and
environment but also with the reality of original sin. Original sin has wounded the faculties of
understanding and will; they have become disoriented, obstructed, messed up by the passions which
have grown stronger. This is how Don Bosco describes the consequences of original sin, in his book An
Easy Way to Learn Bible History: “The consequences of original sin happen to be all the miseries of
our soul and body”. “The miseries of the soul are: ignorance, concupiscence, being shut out of heaven”;
“Ignorance consists in man’s not being able to know his destiny and his duties without the help of
Revelation”; “Concupiscence means the tendency to commit sin”. “Finally, the miseries of the body
763 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto... pp 12-13, OE II 192-193.
764 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto... pp 6-71, OE II 186-187; cf also G. Bosco La forza della buona educazione... pp 62-
63, OE VI 336-337. It is one of the “almost obligatory topics in ascetic reading for youth” (P. Stella, Valori spirituali
nel Giovane provveduto... p. 52)..
765 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto... pp 10, OE X 317-319
766 G. Bosco Il mese di maggio consacrato a Maria SS. Immacolata ad uso del popolo. Turin, G.B. Paravia & CO. 1858,
pp. 23-25, OE X 317-319.
767 MO (1991) 35.

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are: poverty, illnesses and death”.768
It would possibly be useful to re-read a Chronicle detail which records the content of a conversation
Don Bosco had on Tuesday, May 11, 1875.The conversation is actually a ‘dissertation’ by Don Bosco
on ‘the miseries of man’, all leading back to Original Sin as their origin. It can shed some light on a
certain ambivalence evidenced by Don Bosco in his moral evaluation of the young person, on the
quality and content of their aspirations to reach happiness and the consequent educational intervention
needed: “We have to acknowledge the dissonance between what Don Bosco thinks and says and what
Don Bosco does in practice.
It all follows the question of the catechism which says: what effect does original sin
produce? It causes us to come into this world not in God’s grace, deserving hell, being
inclined to sin, subject to death and many miseries affecting our soul and body. Some think
that they will be able to lead a happy life on this earth and try all possible ways to have a
good time. But a happy life we will never be able to have on account of the many miseries
affecting our soul and body. The more we desire happiness and look for it, the more it will
elude us. And what seems most surprising is the fact that all the satisfaction we get is only
good enough to increase the miseries produced by Adam’s sin! Well! All these miseries lead
us to exclaim from the bottom of our heart: Quod eternum non est, nihil est, Whatever is
not eternal amounts to nothing. It is better for us to think about eternal realities and then all
the things of this earth will appear worthless to us.
[Then a large carriage drawn by a mule passes by and gives rise to new thoughts]. Don Bosco, referring
to the mule, exclaimed:
Jumentis insipientibus comparatus est et similis factus est illis (he was compared with
stupid animals and became like them) Here you have what man does: he only thinks about
the things of this world and commits sins. What does he do when he commits sin? Well! He
renounces the use of his reason; because if he did reason it would be impossible for him to
offend God since he knows well how great, how good and how just God is. If a man uses
his reason, he will try not to offend God. And what is it that distinguishes a man from an
animal? Reason: that is why Holy Scripture compares him to a stupid animal. But David
prefaces these words with the following: Homo, cum in honore esset, non intellexit,
jumentis insipientibus (Man, even though held in honour, failed to understand and acted
like the stupid animals). In what way is man held in honour? This is the answer given by
one Holy Father: A man who is innocent or in God’s grace possesses the greatest treasure,
the greatest honour ever to be found in this world.769
There is no doubt that Don Bosco shows evidence of a certain kind of literature, particularly by Charles
Gobinet, not far from Jansenist tones. But it is hard to spell out in practice what degree of inspiration
Don Bosco received from theological sources and how much he allowed himself to be guided by more
positive, practical considerations translated into trust and hope.770
At any rate, Don Bosco vigorously states the necessity and possibility of an effective collaboration with
God’s grace. “Jesus preaches”, and announces a happy and eternal life, that is heaven, but his real
desire is that this happiness should be reached by dint of effort, by the practice of virtue and avoiding
768 G. Bosco Memoria facile per imparare la storia sacra ad uso del popolo cristiano. Turin, Paravia & Co. 1855, pp. 12-
13, OE VI 60-61.
769 G. Barberis Cronichetta, exercise book I, pp 4-6
770 Ct P. Stella Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità... Vol II pp 232-236; J. Scheppens, Human nature... pp 278-281.

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vice”.771
More closely related to experience are Don Bosco’s oft-expressed beliefs about the family setting
where the young live. Don Bosco certainly does not fail to refer to the positive influence provided by
parents for the growth of the young. Don Bosco often sheds light on the different impact produced by
mother and father on the young, and especially in his Lives of his boys. We only have to think about
Dominic Savio’s exemplary parents as well as Besucco’s, about the holy and religious mothers of Peter
in The Power of a Good Education (1855) and Valentino (1866); about the father of Severino (1868).
Countless are the motherly and fatherly figures we find in the lives of the saints and in the various
history texts he wrote: Bible History, Church History; the History of Italy and the Lives of the Popes.
But since Don Bosco defends the cause of poor and abandoned youth, youth at risk and risky, he does
not fail to underscore the responsibilities of their parents, some of them either inept or incapacitated or
perverse.
With regard to the social environment, Don Bosco’s judgements are prevalently negative. People
responsible for the social environment becoming dangerous are adults who act as the agents of
corruption through books, newspapers, immoral shows and bad example of impiety and dishonesty. But
bad companions are no less a cause of evil and scandal, especially when it is a question of companions
who have reached the lowest stage of consummate malice. When confronted with them, the true allies
of the devil, there is no other defence than to reject them and flee from them.
In the world of the invisible Don Bosco constantly marks out the Devil as the fully active tempter. He
knows from his faith that the Devil is never idle. Don Bosco has had direct experience of the presence
of the Devil both in the harassments which, at certain times, tormented him,772 and also and especially
during various stages in the lives of his young people.
The talks about his dreams are full of references of this kind, as are his retreat talks and the monthly
exercise for a happy death. The Devil and his court appear disguised as various types of monsters and
animals: big cats perched on the shoulders of the boys making their confession and preventing them
from making a good and sincere confession, pigs, mad dogs, lions, tigers, elephants trampling boys
under their paws, snakes that wrap themselves around and paralyse the boys. The Devil finds servants,
helpers, and friends all over: in those who give scandal, in those who are corrupt, in teachers of malice.
The ‘wiles’ which Don Bosco writes about in his Companion of Youth are the wiles of the Devil.
The ‘snares’ laid out by the enemy of the human race to trip up the young, reveal the Devil’s creative
and unbounded cunning.
But the young person is not at the mercy of evil. He is rather lovingly ‘besieged’ by the inexhaustible
resources of the transcendent world of God and His Grace, offered through the Catholic faith: God,
Jesus Christ, the Church, the sacraments, the Virgin Mother, a countless number of Intercessors, the
Word of God.
Religion is the foundation, the source and the soul of the young person’s life and of his growing
process. The appeal to God is absolutely necessary and, naturally, it calls for human cooperation:
Prayer, getting away from sin, praying for forgiveness, putting the resolutions made in Confession into
practice, the exercise of brotherly charity; in a few but essential words, the service of God, good works,
duty. “My dear boys”, Don Bosco asked those who were about to hold back, “Do we want to go to
771 G. Bosco, il mese di maggio.... p. 30, OE X 324.
772 In the early stages, according to Bonetti’s cronache, it seems to reach a peak in 1862 (cf Annali II 1861-1862, pp 17-22
ff.). In September he would write a short work in the Catholic Readings entitled, La podestà delle tenebre ossia
Osservazioni dommatico-morali sopra gli spiriti maledci.

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heaven in a coach?”, the best form of transport in his time.773
But the hinge on which the whole divine-human synergy depends as a determining factor is the
mediation provided by education. For this reason it naturally follows that the primary virtue needed in a
young man is obedience. What contributes most to the “feared shipwreck of the young” is not meeting
up with “perverse companions” or parental neglect but their possible “unfaithful disposition towards a
good education”774and even before that, the fact that they consider education to be worthless”. The
presence and the work of educators who are competent and “consecrated” to caring for youth is
absolutely necessary for the young person’s salvation. Quite literally, “God needs men”. This primary
initiative essentially calls for a response on the part of the young person, his submission and willing
cooperation. This was the first message Don Bosco addressed to youth in the first book entirely written
for them:
Since a tender plant, even though planted in good soil in a garden may take the wrong turn
and end up badly if it is not cultivated and, so to speak, guided to a certain thickness,
likewise you, my dear children, will bend and take a turn towards evil if you do not allow
yourselves to be bent by the ones whose task it is to direct you, first of all your parents,
then your superiors and elders.775
The second great manifesto was directed to educators. The Preventive System, which is a complex
experience before it becomes a formula, is entirely for them: to guide them and spur them on to
exercising a kind of responsibility which has countless implications: personal and social, temporal and
eternal.
This was the message that Don Bosco launched, one more time, as his earthly life fell “into the sear of
the yellow leaf”: “Work at the good education of youth, especially poor and abandoned youth which are
in the majority, and you will be able to easily give glory to God and guarantee benefits for religion,
save many souls and cooperate effectively in the reform and well-being of civil society. For reason,
religion, history and experience have proven that our religion and civil society will be good or bad,
according to the good or bad education imparted to youth”.776
773 Circular to Salesians Jan. 6, 1884, E IV 250.
774 G. Bosco, Biografia del sacerdote Giuseppe Caffasso... p. 12 OE II 362.
775 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto...., pp 13-16, OE II 193-196.
776 Conference to Cooperators in Turin 1883 31 May. BS 7 (1883), no. 7, July, p. 104.

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Chapter 10
Ways suggested for helping boys with special problems
For Don Bosco, all young people, by dint of being young, are virtually ‘at risk’; more so when one
considers that they might unknowingly be subject to occult powers. But Don Bosco tends to distinguish
them, to classify them.
The first group or category is the largest one; the vast majority which also includes a minority of élite
boys because of their moral qualities or because of their calling. He calls these ‘the many’, meaning
“the ones of normal character and nature”. Then there is a “third group, the difficult disciples and the
unruly”. In his Regulations for the houses, 1877, he calculates this group to be “one in fifteen” or 6-
7%.777
At the lower end of this scale and immediately connected to it are boys with special difficulties. These
are the ‘at risk’ (pericolati) types using the terminology of the day, which he never used: delinquents,
boys involved with the police or a legal process, the ones entrusted to correctional institutes.
This fourth category was never included in a steady and systematic way in the educational and
institutional framework that Don Bosco visualised for the majority category. But Don Bosco never
ignored their existence and never excluded them from his interests as priest and educator. Neither did
he exclude them from the reach of his Preventive System. Don Bosco’s involvement can be certainly
recognised within four fundamental situations:
1. A direct experience, however marginal, with youngsters in prison and correctional institutions (1841-
1855).
2. His encounter with’ mischievous’ boys within or close to his own institutions.
3. The problematic hypothesis of a reformatory school.
4. The proposal to have his Preventive System universally applied, even though in a differentiated
integrated fashion.
1. Don Bosco with young detainees at the Generala
Father John Francis Giacomelli, Don Bosco’s friend and confessor, gave the following testimony at the
Diocesan process for Don Bosco’s Beatification and Canonization, on May 2, 1892:
Don Bosco’s charity was not restricted to the boys of his Oratory, but also had a broader
reach. As a matter of fact, I accompanied him to the prisons where he taught catechism and
heard confessions. I also accompanied him to the ‘Hotel for Virtue’ where more than 100
boys were boarding.778
Don Bosco began this work at the urging of Fr Cafasso, while he was at the at the Convitto
Ecclesiastico (1841-1844) and he continued it later on, either on his own initiative or in connection
with the Oratory work, as pointed out by various converging and interdependent sources.779
777 Regolamento per le case..., Articoli generali, art. 7 p. 16, OE XXIX 112.
778 Copia Publica Transumpti Processus ordinria Auctoritate constructi in Curia Ecclesiastica Taurinensi, Vol II, fol, 671v.
779 Cf. G. Colombero, Vita del servo di Dio D. Giuseppe Cafasso con cenni storici sul Convitto Ecclesiastico. Turin,
Canonica 1895, pp. 2002-202; L. Nicolis di Robilant, Vita del venerabile Giuseppe Cafasso Confondatore del Convitto

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Besides all this, what has been said about Don Bosco’s ties with the prisons for minors and the
Generala workhouse can be substantiated with additional information.780
John Bonetti in the History of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales wrote that “ever since the government
had opened the penitentiary and handed its administration over to the Society of St Peter in Chains,
Don Bosco received permission to visit those poor youngsters, worthy of every compassion, every once
in a while. With permission from the prisons director, Don Bosco gave the boys catechism instructions,
preached to them, heard their confessions, and many times mingled with them in recreation in a
friendly manner, just as he used to do with his children at the Oratory”.781
This is the context for the legendary outing to Stupinigi, which Don Bosco had with detainees during
the spring of 1855 organised by Don Bosco alone, with the consent of Urban Rattazzi, then minister of
the interior. This event had no guards at all and relied only on mutual trust, the conscientious
commitment of the detainees and the spellbinding influence of the educator.782
An event such as this, rather more limited, was likely to have happened according to the regulations of
the correctional institution. In fact, the institution foresaw the possibility that outings as a reward be
granted to youngsters who made the ‘honour roll’. From a letter by Canon Fissiaux to the minister of
the interior and dated April 22, 1846, we come to know that a small group of worthy detainees around
Easter time had been accompanied on an outing to Stupinigi. “The youngsters”, writes the Canon
“enjoyed themselves a lot and after dinner in a wooded area, all went back home without not even a
hint of setback”.783
But besides these sporadic forms of assistance, continued regularly or by exception, we have personal
testimony from Don Bosco himself in the Memoirs of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales, and even
before that, recorded as a preface to the already quoted Historical sketches on the Oratory of St Francis
de Sales. These statements establish an immediate relationship between Don Bosco’s activity among
the young detainees and the beginnings and development of the work on behalf of the oratories.
However, there is still a lingering legitimate suspicion that dates and recollections may have actually
overlapped, with the usual addition of some padding.784
At any rate, we have to recognise the fact that for a certain period of time the Oratory remained
sensitive to the problem of anybody, especially the young, released from prison or from a correctional
institution.
It was then that I had first-hand experience that youngsters released from jail were able to
live an upright life, forget the past and become good Christians and upright citizens, if they
Ecclesiastico di Torino, vol II, pp. 88-89, 94-96; MB II 61-63, 105, 109, 172-184, 273-277, 364-371; VI 531.
780 On the Generala, see what was said in Chap 5, § 6.
781 BS 6 (1882) no. 11, Nov. pp. 180-181
782 BS 6 (1882) no. 11, Nov. pp. 180-182; MB V 217-238.
783 Cf. C Felloni, and R. Audisio, ‘I giovani discoli...’, in G. Bracco (Ed.), Torino e Don Bosco, Vol I, p. 118.
the first publication, chronologically, that talks about the excursion to Stupigini is the brief work Opere religiose e
sociali in Italia. Memoria by Count Carlo Conestabile. Translation from French, Padua, Seminary Press 1878. Others
depend on this source: L. Mendre (1879), C. d’ìEspiney (1881), Fr Bonetti, Bollettino Salesiano (1882), Du Boys
(1883). from the general tone with which Count Conestabile describes the personality and work of Abate Bosco a
Torino (pp. 4-39) and from repeated approximations one could legitimately conclude that the way the event happened
(pp. 23-26) might have been notably padded out almost to the point of being legend. Without legitimising this legend,
the testimony of Eugenio Ceria in his Preface to MB XV 7-8 might confirm the event in its real shape.
784 The significant discrepancy on this issue between the Memoirs of the Oratory and the more controlled Storia
dell’Oratorio has already been emphasised. The latter was written for the Bolletino Salesiano by Fr John Bonetti, who
also had the manuscript for the former. We see that he softens the links between the Oratory and concern for ex-
prisoners.

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found a kindly hand to take care of them, be with them at weekends and try to find
employment for them with some employer or visit them sometime during the week.785
On Feb. 20, 1850, Don Bosco wrote a letter to the administrators of the Mendacità Istruita alms-house.
While referring to the youngsters who attended the Oratory around 1846, Don Bosco wrote, with
evident exaggeration, “that there were between 600 to700 youngsters between the ages of 12 and 20,
and most of them had been released from prison or were in danger of going to prison”.786 In 1854,
however, and we know this from a manuscript unpublished for a long time, Don Bosco gave a talk
which was more normally preventive in nature. It was more urgent and productive to educate
“abandoned” young migrants to the city than to re-educate young men released from prison.
During this time, when I was visiting prison detainees, I noticed that the unfortunates who
ended up in that place of punishment were mostly poor youngsters who come from far
away towns into the city either because they needed to find employment or because they
were lured there by some mischievous individual. And these youngsters, especially on
weekends, left to themselves, spent the few cents earned during the week on games or
gluttonous pursuits. This is where vices come from and the youngsters who were once good
soon became enough ‘at risk’ and ‘a risk’ for others. Prisons do not offer these youngsters
any way to improve. As a matter of fact in jail they learn new ways to cause harm.
Therefore, by the time they are released, these youngsters have become worse. This is why
I directed my attention to this class of youngster since they were “abandoned” and “at risk”
more than others and during the week, either through promises or actual small gifts I tried
my best to win them over and to make them my pupils.787
We also have documented proof that Don Bosco was an effective member of the Royal Society for the
protection of youngsters released from the Generala prison.788This society had been championed very
strongly by Petitti di Roreto and by his friend Juvenal Vegezzi-Ruscalla.
Petitti had already written about a ‘Patronage for released detainees’, in an essay ‘On Proper
Administration of the Alms-house (Mendicità).789 Petitti had once again taken up the topic with
increased conviction in a more specific work On the current condition of the prisons. It would have
turned out to be useless, as a matter of fact, to debate the corrective education of prison-detainees if no
thought had been given to some private, voluntary institution aimed at facilitating their re-entry into
society. As an example, Petitti quoted France, where, for some years institutions for prisoners had been
created to provide “an education for young detainees”, as well as “Societies aimed at sponsoring
detainees released from prison”.790
In Italy the situation regarding prisons lagged well behind.
Petitti had suggested several solutions: societies to sponsor people detained in prison, and released
from prison; religious and charitable institutions destined to help the sponsoring societies; shelters for
those released from prisons etc.791
The Royal Society for sponsoring young men released from prison had been authorized by Charles
785 MO (1991) 122-123.
786 Em I, 96.
787 ‘Cenno storico...’, in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco nella Chiesa...., pp. 39-40.
788 Cf. Chap. 5 § 6.
789 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, Saggio sul buon governo..., Vol II, pp. 495-503.
790 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, ‘Della condizione attuale delle carceri’..., in Opere scelte, Vol I, pp. 382-391.
791 C.I. Petitti di Roreto, ‘Della condizione attuale delle carceri’..., in Opere scelte, Vol I, pp. 563-566, 582-584.

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Albert with a royal Brief dated November 21, 1846, and had its statutes approved. Its members were
divided into three categories: ‘Active members’, who assumed the task of being Tutors; ‘Paying
Members’, and ‘Paying and active members’. Don Bosco is listed among the first 57 subscribers,
among whom were outstanding personalities such as Caesar Alfieri, Caesar Balbo, Robert D’Azeglio,
Gustav Camillo di Cavour, Charles Boncompagni.
It took quite some time to collect the necessary funds and a reassuring number of participants. Writing
to Vincent Gioberti on August 10, 1847, Petitti mentions 1200 members and a fund of 30,000 lire. This
society became operative in 1849.792 We have a letter dated August 8, 1855, which proves Don Bosco’s
effective involvement in this society. With this letter the society’s vice president entrusted to a young
man Don Bosco who had been released from prison, asking him to find employment for him, assist him
and help him, and keep a check on him for the three years of his apprenticeship. This kind of help was
laid down in the Instructions for Sponsors of freed youth detainees.
Don Bosco took on the young man entrusted to him and the obligations indicated, as evidenced by a
letter dated August 14, 1855 from his close helper, Father Victor Alasonatti. The Biographer adds that
Don Bosco accepted other young men released from prison but with less than satisfactory results,
which led him to once again tell the administrators of the Society that his preference was for boys who
needed to be sheltered in his home, thus forestalling any “correctional measure”.793
2. Don Bosco’s interest in young people with problems
Don Bosco transferred his more systematic interest in youths with problems, actually or virtually at
serious risk, into all of his educational institutions starting from the original exemplar, the Oratory. It’s
main objective was to prevent youngsters from failing and relapsing.
This is what Don Bosco wrote to Michael Cavour, the father of Gustav Camillo Di Cavour, concerned
as he actually was about public order in the face of the crowded and unpredictable life of the Oratory,
during the critical years approaching 1848:
I have no other aim than that of improving the lot of these poor children. And if City Hall
cares to give me some place, I have a well-grounded hope of decreasing the number of
rascals and at the same time the number of youngsters going to jail.794
As we have explained in the previous chapter, this is the dominant objective of Don Bosco’s entire
activity. This is more clearly declared during the last years of his life when his vision of problem youth
in the widest meaning of the term, was no longer limited to the local scene but is seen within a
framework of ever-expanding industrial cities, mass immigration and emigration, deep social and
cultural changes and the crisis of the relationship between progress and religious faith.
Information on Don Bosco’s specific way of dealing with difficult boys enrolled in his institution is
scarce. Some information does not have to do specifically with problem boys in a proper and true
sense, but only in reference to the specific aims of institutions.
As a matter of fact, the information regards the Oratory at Valdocco, the only oratory personally
792 Cr. R. Audisio, La ‘Generala’ di Torino..., pp. 205-229, La Società di patrocinio dei giovani liberati; onDon Bosco’s
membership, p. 210; cf also C. Felloni and R. Audisio, ‘I giovani discoli’, in G. Braccio (Ed.), Torino e Don Bosco, Vol
I, p. 119.
793 Cf. MB V 228-231. It would seem there were tighter bonds between the Società and John Cocchi and the “Collegio
degli Artigianelli”, founded in 1849 (cf. R. Audisio, La ‘Generala’ di Torino..., pp. 226-227.
794 ‘Cenno storico...’, in P. Braido (Ed.). Don Bosco nella Chiesa..., pp. 46-47.

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directed by Don Bosco and which he nurtured with preferential solicitude, particularly the growing
group of those aspiring to ecclesiastical life. Rigid judgements on the relative impossibility of
correcting some boys and his drastic firmness about expelling some on account of serious
insubordination, immorality or moral corruption on account of scandal, theft and contempt for religious
practices, should not be generalised but seen in this context.795
Don Bosco had typical contact with younger adults who were quarrelsome, violent to the point of
delinquency around the 1846s and1850s, as a side activity to his oratorian one. This is a time when
Turin witnessed clashes and encounters with the cocche, bands or gangs always fighting one another,
and their own leaders. Don Bosco, as Father John Baptist Lemoyne records in his Biographical
Memoirs, succeeded in confronting and appeasing them, “using all the arts of the most refined charity
to calm them down, help them and wrest them from those cursed associations”.796
Dominic Ruffino, a young writer and theology student, provides us with interesting information on
characters of this type. He tells us that Don Bosco had accepted some young incredibly wild “artists” (=
working boys) into the Oratory, part of one of the cocca in town. Amongst other things at times they
‘disturbed the peace of the house.’ They had come into the Oratory as boarders but “were not the last
interested in doing good”. One of the assistants took them to heart and got some results. One of them
even asked if he could be “shown how to change his life”.797
We also have reference to a case that happened several years earlier, of a 14 year-old, son of a drunkard
and anticlerical father, who happened to end up at the Oratory. This youngster had thrown himself
headlong into the various recreational activities of the Oratory but refused to take part in religious
functions. He was following the teaching of his father and he did not want to turn into a “mouldy old
idiot”. Don Bosco succeeded in winning his trust by being tolerant and patient towards him, so much so
that “within a few weeks the little rascal had changed his mind and behaviour”. The biographer
comments, “at the time and for many years to follow how many scenes there were of the kind, and only
thanks to Don Bosco who, with his patience and prudent charity, won over very many reluctant, one
might say brutal hearts, bringing them back to God’s grace and thus making them happy”.798This
behaviour particularly reflects the atmosphere at the beginning of the home: it was a small family!
However, the problem of order and discipline would seem more complex and difficult when the
Oratory in Valdocco has 800 or more boarders. Those trying to keep to the Preventive System, based on
reason, religion and loving kindness, would find it hard to reconcile the three elements..
Even Don Bosco himself would reach a point of taking up a suggestion his closest helpers had
proposed of reserving a reflection room for the more difficult kids. This suggestion had arisen as a
result of repeated debates on discipline and punishments. We have documented information on the
meeting held on August 12, 1866 and on the conferences of March 28 and April 24, 1869.
Fr Michael Rua, who wrote the minutes, reports: “We have spoken to Don Bosco about it and he
approved of it. The only thing was that we spoke of dividing the ‘reflection room’ into two, but Don
Bosco decided that there should be only one”.799 We have no records of how the decision was
795 This will be noted in Chap. 17.
796 MB III 329; cf. MB III 326-333; in one of his notes, dated Feb. 20, 1863, John Bonetti registers the account by Don
Bosco of one of his interventions in a violent rift between two of the ‘cocche’: it was not the only one and, he adds, to
“prevent further offence to God” it was worth facing up to the very real danger. (G. Bonetti, Annali III 1862 1863, pp.
63-64).
797 D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales No. 1 1860, pp. 10-11.
798 MB II 565-568.
799 Cf. J.M. Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento..., p. 155; for various references cf. pp. 147-148, 154-155.

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eventually carried out. It is significant, however, that Don Bosco also allows ‘repression’ as part of his
Preventive System thought with milder punishments for ordinary cases and more severe ones when
there were really wild kids involved.800
Don Bosco had already written about this issue in the Historical sketches where he classified young
people at the Oratory in Turin into “wild, scatter-brained and good” boys. Don Bosco said the former
kept people “very busy” so very minimal goals were set for this group.801
In Italian, discolo has three connotations, the second and third of which are mild compared to the first:
someone “who acts without respect for social, ethical norms, rebels against any kind of discipline, is
idle and licentious”. The connotation closest to Don Bosco’s thinking is milder: a discolo (unruly type)
is rather too lively, habitually undisciplined, cannot stand orders and discipline (= a boy). He could also
mean by it a boy who was difficult to deal with, “quarrelsome and pugnacious”.802)
3. Don Bosco’s negotiations regarding the way correctional institutions
should be run
At times Don Bosco showed some interest in running institutions of a re-educational or correctional
nature, Here we could drop in an item relating to the summer of 1871 and casually inserted into the
tenth volume of the Biographical Memoirs by Father Angelo Amadei:
In one of the above-mentioned audiences, whether in Florence or in Rome we do not know,
Lanza asked Don Bosco for news about the Oratory at Valdocco and suggested the opening
of a house of correction for unruly types (discoli) and abandoned youth in one or other
religious house.803 John Lanza at the time was the President of the Council of Ministers and
he might have been able to help Don Bosco carry out his wish to have an institution for
youth in Rome. But this would have only been a way to manifest a rather shallow kind of
charity, rather than his willingness to have a project come true. The Government at the time
was dealing with weightier, more serious problems, as it was about to settle into Rome”,
where religious houses themselves had been ‘plundered’.
The proposal advanced by Duke Scipio Salvati Borghese just a few years earlier, in 1867-68 to be
precise, was a more serious and positive one. Don Bosco had been asked to accept the administration of
a Roman agricultural school on Via Pigna. It had been founded under the auspices of Pius IX in 1850
and was located close to the Tiber, two miles from Porta Portese. Don Bosco showed that he was
clearly in favour.804 He immediately did his best to draft an agreement which would have guaranteed an
autonomous administration, especially concerning education. The draft made no reference to anything
which might have been incompatible with the educational system in place at the Valdocco Oratory.
What was questionable and problematic was the physical condition of the school which, according to
Cavaliere Federico Oreglia, was miserable and unhealthy. His brother, a Jesuit, working at the Civiltà
Cattolica, shared the same opinion. The Jesuit looked at Don Bosco’s likely acceptance of the school as
a “heroic and meritorious act, certainly not envied by anyone in Rome”.805 In reality nothing came out
800 We will take this up in Chap. 17.
801 ‘Cenni storici..’., in P. Braido, Don Bosco nella Chiesa..., pp. 78-79.
802 S. Battaglia, Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, Vol IV, Turin, UTET 1971, p. 611.
803 MB X 436
804 Cf. letters of Nov. 18, 1867, Jan. 3 and 21 and Feb. 11, 1868, Em II 452, 475, 487 and 498.
805 Letter of Fr Giuseppe Oreglia to Don Bosco, Jan. 15, 1868, MB IX 48-49.

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of this. On August 1, 1868, Don Bosco had a personal audience with Pope Pius IX. After the audience,
the Pope entrusted the administration of the agricultural school to the Brothers of Mercy from
Belgium.806
In 1885-1886 a proposal had been made to Don Bosco asking him to accept the administration of a
large correctional school in Madrid: negotiations and reasons for and against accepting this proposal
were even more complex. Among those who believed Don Bosco really was the apostle of poor and
abandoned youth, even when they were seriously so, were the members of a committee who had
received authorization to found a reformatory school in Madrid, dedicated to St Rita (Escula de
reforma para jovenes y asilo decorreccion paternal). Don Bosco and his collaborators would end
proving this conviction wrong, at least understood in its strict sense.
The perplexities Don Bosco and his closest helpers felt were there from the earliest meetings of the
Superior or General Council held on September 22, 1885. At that meeting, all members listened to a
report by Father Branda, rector of the home at Sarrià (Barcelona). They had an in-depth debate on the
problem and concluded by coming to a consensus but with conditions. As Father Brenda had reported,
while the ‘Escuela de reforma’ was under construction, the people in Madrid had come to know about
the Sarrià Home and its workshops which had been built in Catalonia earlier. Father Branda and
Minister Lastres had gone to Sarrià to be informed about the educational approach being used there.
Father Branda had told him to read the book on Don Bosco written by a Frenchman, Despiney. But
Don Bosco interrupted him and said that it would have been better to have get him to read Dubois. The
reason for this was that “Du Bois’ book makes our system known and he correctly intuited the spirit of
our society”. The people in Madrid kept on talking about a reformatory school, while Father Branda
kept on saying that this was not our aim: “If it is correction we are talking about, that is not our
objective”. “Then”, Fr Branda went on, “the Madrid people came back. They spent the whole day at the
home to examine how it was run, the rules and ways of doing things in the home, and concluded by
saying that they would have to write to Don Bosco”. A month later, at the insistence of the Papal
Nuncio, Bishop Mariano Rampolla had been invited to Madrid. At the railway station the bishop was
welcomed by Minister Lastres807 and by Minister Francesco Silvela (1845-1905) or, more exactly, by
his brother, Senator Manuel Silvela, the one who had signed the request letter.808
The following day, Father Branda was present at the meeting held by the committee members. The
meeting was to discuss whether or not to entrust the school to Don Bosco. The objection was raised
that committee members’ thinking was not consonant with what Father Branda had defined as “our
system”, but the answer was “as long as the objective is reached, we leave freedom of action. The
intention is only that youth be saved”. They wrote to Don Bosco, following these guidelines.
A debate followed the report by Father Branda. The position held by Chapter members turned out to be
varied, but they all agreed to defend Don Bosco’s system. Fr Durando urged that the foundations be
stopped. Fr Cerruti, the ‘ideologue’ of the Chapter, invited everyone to reflect “on the compatibility or
not of the project with our system, which had to be made known to the Madrid people who are asking
us”. Father Rua remarked that the people from Madrid were ready to grant concessions. Father Branda
reminded everyone of the fact that both the Nuncio and Minister Silvela were waiting for an answer.809
806 For some documentation, cf MB VIII 606-607; IX 48-49, 51, 73, 114.
807 Francisco Lastres y Juiz (1848-1918), disciple of Manuel Silvela, deputy from 1884 to 1896, then senator from 1896 to
1903 senator for life: “His very active and prolonged efforts led to the establishment in Carabanchel (Madrid) of the
first reform school for idle youth and the home for paternal correction” (Encyclopedia Espasa, t. XXIX 958), in fact St
Rita’s.
808 Manuel Silvela (1830-1892) was deputy of the Cortes from 1863 to 1883 and senator for life from 1883.
809 On Oct. 11, 1885, the nuncio would send Don Bosco a letter of recommendation, reported in MB XVII 828.

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Don Bosco first pointed out how much of an unforeseen good had been done, directly or indirectly ,by
undertakings almost born by chance. The he invited the chapter members to study ‘the possibility of
carrying out ‘the undertaking’ and of ‘sending someone to Madrid, of having him stay there to know, to
see and come to a decision’. Practically speaking, it was decided to form a Committee, made up of Fr
Durando, Fr Cerruti and Fr Branda to examine the Madrid project and the manner of changing it to
meet the demands of our system.”
Finally Don Bosco said: “We too will agree with all that does not touch the substance (of our system)
provided that the means do not turn out to be an obstacle”. Then Fr Rua concluded by saying: “we
should hold on to our custom of always having two kinds of boys, namely academic students and
working boys”.810
The following are the minutes of the meeting held two days later on September 24, 1885.
Father Cerruti read out the response to the Madrid Committee in charge of the Reformatory
School. The Chapter gives its approval and decrees that the answer be kept in the archives
to serve as a norm for similar cases. Don Bosco will sign it. Likewise a letter was sent to
the Nuncio in Madrid including a copy of the above-mentioned letter.811
In May 1866, Don Bosco received a renewed written invitation to accept the Madrid project, dated May
5 and signed by Manuel Silvela.812 Attached to the letter was a memo in French, containing the history
of the Institute, the text of the decree issued on January 4, 1883, dealing with “correctional
institutions”, as well as a list of founder-patrons of the Institute. Don Bosco answered Silvela’s letter
with a letter dated March 17, 1886. It was dictated to Fr Cerruti and signed by Don Bosco himself: the
answer was definite and negative.
Apart from the fact that we lack personnel, due to previous commitments, the quality of this
Institute as well as its form of discipline do not allow me to accept what we both would
like. Despite our desire to do good, we cannot not depart from the practice established by
our Regulations, a copy of which has been sent to you this past September. It would be
possible to establish a school modelled on the Salesian workshops in Barcelona-Sarrià I
Madrid but we could not at the same time establish a reformatory school based on the
model of the St Rita’s Institution.
This was not the final word, because Don Bosco, who foresaw that he would be making a trip to
Barcelona in April 1886, expressed the hope of meeting up with Silvela and Lastres at that time.813 As a
matter of fact, a meeting did take place in April 18, 1886, between Lastres and Fr Rua. Fr Rua made the
conditions known to Lastres, which he would have later on shared at the meeting on June 25, 1886,
with the members of the Chapter.814 In the context of this meeting, Don Bosco answered the persistent
intervention of the Nuncio from Sarria and showed more readiness to yield.815
810 Verbali del capitolo superiore, quad. I, fol. 79r-81r. Minutes were taken by Fr G.B. Lemoyne, secretary of the superior
chapter.
811 Verbali del capitolo superiore, quad. I, fol. 82v.
812 Text in MB XVII 828-829.
813 Letter from Alassio to Sen. Manuel Silvela, March 17, 1886, E IV 353-354.
814 In his notes from Barcelona Don Bosco’s young secretary, Charles Viglietti, on April 20 writes: “The letter from the
Archbishop Nuncio in Madrid written to Don Bosco recommending Minister Silvela was read to the bishop and all
present. The Minister wanted Don Bosco to put a House in Madrid and a factory is ready to build it. Silvela invited his
secretary, a deputy, to convene the group and decide. Don Bosco in fact seems to have decided to accept if Madrid
accepts all the Conditions he has put”. (C. Viglietti, Cronaca April 15, 1886 to May 16, p.11).
815 Letter of April 17, 1886 in MB XVII 829-830.

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Talking with the most illustrious Mr Lastres, we have found ways to overcome some of the
difficulties which could arise alter. So it only remains to draw up an agreement between our
Society and the committee championing this undertaking. When I return to Turin, this will
be one of my major concerns, namely, to draw up an agreement regarding the project and
send it to the illustrious Mr D. Manuel Silvela to have it examined by the above-mentioned
committee. For the time being, the really serious difficulty we have is lack of staff. But we
hope that with the help of Divine Providence we will also be able to overcome this
difficulty.816
The Superior Council dealt with the question on June 25, 1886. Don Bosco presided at the meeting.
The minutes do not note any of his interventions. Father Rua was the acting president: he had been
already appointed as Don Bosco’s Vicar and wielded the full powers of the Rector Major. Fr Rua
reminded the members of the three categories of youngster foreseen by the Madrid committee: “Boys
at risk who had been directly sheltered there; boys who had done jail time, after the court had
pronounced a guilty verdict; boys from well-to-do families whose parents had found them incorrigible
and had committed them to the institute”. Then he read out the letter written by the Nuncio dated April
17, 1886. Their final decision was that the school could be accepted, provided that the principle of
autonomy in direction and administration of the school be left to the Salesians. Then the conditions of
acceptance already made known to Lastres in Barcelona, and proposed by Fr Rua, were approved:
1. The name and all appearance of a house of correction be removed so that the youngsters not be
humiliated.
2. For the time being we should take care only of boys of the first category.
3. For the time being we should not accept boys from the courts.
4. The boys to be accepted should not be older than 14 nor younger than 9 years of age.
5. Freedom should be given to us to direct boys we judge fit for it to pursue studies.
Fr Durando suggested adding the text of the agreement drawn up for the orphanage in Trent, with some
alterations he himself had taken care of. Fr Rua proposed that a fixed amount of money be paid for
every youngster, for the director, for the teachers and the service staff. Fr Durando advised not
specifying the exact amount of money to be paid, so that the contracting party could determine it. All
was approved.817
Fr Rua took upon himself the task of putting together the various suggestions in a letter to be sent to the
President of the Madrid committee. It was an articulate and precise letter which Don Bosco signed on
July 8, 1886. The first considerations in the letter were of an educational nature and were such as to
discourage the continuation of negotiations.
Fr Rua recognized that the project might have created some difficulties for the committee, starting from
the condition in the second part of article No. 2 of the agreement, namely, not to accept anyone who
might have received a guilty verdict. He also added:
I shall provide some explanation for this: our wish would be that youngsters who leave this
new institution aimed at their civil and Christian education, should not carry the stigma of
disgrace. If people were to say that the youngsters came from a correctional school, a
reformatory, that would be a stigma that would last throughout their lifetime. Our wish is
816 Letter from Sarrià, Barcelona to the nuncio Archbishop Mariano Rampolla, April 22, 1886, E IV 354-355.
817 Verbali del capitolo superiore, quad. I, fol. 92v.

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that any sign which could lead people to believe that the institution was a correctional
house, should be removed. To this end, our opinion is that it should be called home or
institution but not a reformatory or the like. It is also our wish that for the period of five
years, at least, no youngster with a guilty verdict from the courts should be admitted,
precisely for the reason of getting the public used to not considering the institution as a
correctional house. This also to enjoy greater ease in creating a good group of youngsters to
put on the right track who will in turn help put others coming in later on the road to work
and virtue.
After these first five years, we hope to be able to gradually accept youngsters who have
received a guilty verdict, but even then it would be appropriate to make sure that their
admission not be voiced abroad among the public. As far as the financial aspect of the
agreement is concerned, the Salesians are awaiting proposals from the committee. Instead,
as far as the name for the school is concerned, it is proposed that a name of a saint like St
Isidore be chosen.
The last additional item would aggravate the probably negative impressions of the committee, even
though “with great regret” on the part of the Salesians: “Given the shortage of personnel over some
years, it will not be possible to immediately acquiesce to your wish, which is also mine. We might have
to wait perhaps until 1888 or even 1889 before I have personnel suited for the undertaking”.818
The official Salesian position was so clear as to appear almost brutal. Perhaps we should not be
surprised that no record has been found to show that the negotiations were continued. However, Don
Bosco might have apprised the Nuncio in Madrid of the matter. In fact the Nuncio wrote to Don Bosco
as follows:
I would not be able to tell you why no answer was given to the communication which you
sent to Minister Silvela, regarding the project submitted to you. I believe I will have the
occasion, during these days, to meet with some members of the family of the above-
mentioned gentleman. You may be sure that I will never allow the occasion to pass by
without confirming my particular good will toward the Salesian Congregation.819
The reformatory school was later accepted by The Third Order Regulars of St Francis of Assisi.
4. A preventive project for boys at risk
A few months after the publication of the booklet on the Preventive System, Don Bosco sent Francesco
Crispi, Minister for the Interior, a memo by the same title, with the intention of “presenting the basis on
which to set up the Preventive System in an educational setting and home for youngsters at risk and
roaming the streets”.820
According to a letter which goes back to the following year, July 23, and sent to Joseph Zanardelli, the
newly appointed Minister for the Interior, it was Crispi who had asked Don Bosco for his thoughts on
the Preventive System and on the possibility of providing for the needs of children who were not
malicious but merely abandoned and, therefore, at risk in the various cities in Italy and especially in
818 Letter of July 8, reported in MB XVII 604-605.
819 Letter of Archbishop Rampolla to Don Bosco, Jan. 5, 1887, in MB XVII 832.
820 Letter to F. Crispi, Feb. 21, 1878, E III 298.

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Rome.821
There is a radical difference between the booklet issued in 1877 and the one issued in 1878, both as far
as their basic aspirations and their contents are concerned. The first booklet is the mature expression of
Don Bosco’s style of education to be imparted in his institutions. The second booklet has a rather socio-
political style. It especially highlights the massive social changes making the problem of ‘abandoned
youth more acute and alarming, and a level of social exclusion more serious than the one which existed
during the 1850s. Instead of speaking of ‘pedagogy’, Don Bosco raises the problem of educational and
re-educational structures, and the problem of making them work through a harmonious agreement
between private initiative and public support.
Don Bosco articulated his thoughts in four points aimed at capturing the attention of the ministers in
charge of public order, calling on them not to limit their activity to mere repressive ones. As mentioned,
the two ministers were familiar with the opposition between repressive and preventive in a socio-
political context.822
Don Bosco specified first of all which children were to be considered ‘at risk’: “Immigrants in search
of work in the city, with the risk that they would remain unemployed and engage in small thefts;
orphans, abandoned to themselves and loitering with other rascals; boys neglected by their parents or
even kicked out of their families; vagabonds who end up into the hands of the police but who are not
yet rascals.
Don Bosco then proceeded hypothetically suggesting the measures most suited for youth-work of this
kind, measures which were inspired by other works he had already undertaken: “recreational parks to
be used on weekends, work-placement programs, assistance provided during the week for those who
had found employment, homes for safeguarding youngsters, offering arts, skilled trades and even
agricultural schools.
Institutions formally set up for the traditional correction of youngsters do not appear among the
suggested measures.
As far as the running of the different institutions was concerned, Don Bosco foresaw the direct action
of private individuals, with close cooperation from public support, buildings, equipment and financial
aid. Don Bosco concluded with a fourth paragraph destined to offer foreseeable results based on his
own experience of 35 years spent championing the cause of the abandoned and at risk youth
When Don Bosco wrote to secular Ministers, he intentionally kept silent on the content of the
educational system, especially as far as religion was concerned. The only term connected with the
church in the document is the word ‘catechism’ and this is used only to indicate that it is exclusively a
tool to provide moral nourishment suited for poor children of the working classes.823
Naturally in Don Bosco’s mind the term ‘catechism’ was associated with all those values, earthly
values included, which focused on reason and loving kindness which together with the Catholic
religion could have contributed to the gradual human and Christian redemption of the young at risk:
regaining the meaning in life, faith in the power of love, a desire to work, finding happiness, the resolve
and ability to inspire attitudes and behaviours in line with the principles of moral dignity and social
solidarity. According to the oft-used formula, Don Bosco’s aim to change youngsters ‘at risk’ and
‘risky’ into ‘upright citizens and good Christians’.
821 Letter to G. Zanardelli, July 23, 1878, E III 366; another letter to the secretary general of the Minister, Comm. John
Baptist Aluffi, had preceded it on April 25, 1878, E III 335.
822 Cf. Chap 2, §1.
823 Il sistema preventivo (1878), RSS 4 (1985) 302.

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Chapter 11
Educating the “good Christian and upright citizen” according to the
“needs of the times”
Don Bosco’s educational system, just like the whole of his pastoral activity and spirituality, does not
demonstrate the radical aspect displayed by other modern prophets of education. Don Bosco does not
aim at creating the ‘new man’ as Rousseau and Makarenko824 did in different eras and with different
perspectives.
But neither does Don Bosco indulge in accepting a pure return to the old man, the man of the Christian
and civil tradition of the ancien régime, with the intention of restoring things to the past. Don Bosco
thought out and carried out his own educational work to achieve both old and new objectives: to lead
the young to accept and shape themselves both in fidelity to the perennial newness of Christianity and
their ability to be part of a society freed from its worst connections to the ancien régime and looking
forward to new conquests. This is the way Don Bosco was understood by his contemporaries even
though they expressed their understanding in different ways. The aim of this chapter is to spell out the
essential features of the persons Don Bosco wants to form.
1. Theoretical and practical view of educational goals
The educational goals proposed and followed by Don Bosco, are not the end-result of a general,
systematic theory of education, however, they are defined within an experience that was not merely a
pragmatic one.
Cultural elements are evidently a part of it: the faith he lived by, from his childhood on and which he
expressed in prayer, teaching catechism, taking part in church services; the humanist formation he had
received during his youth; his philosophic and theological studies, his moral and pastoral formation,
and his historical, apologetic and spiritual reading.
Additional elements, and no less influential, are Don Bosco’s contacts with the world of poverty and
needs, not only at the spiritual level but also on the huge and pressing material level. As life and the
Our Father had taught him, the daily bread asked for stood for faith, grace, Christ, the Eucharist, as
well as the means of a livelihood and the work to earn it. All these things together.
Don Bosco does not offer us a well-developed and reflective view of the goals of education within a
wider humanistic and Christian world view and a life philosophically and theologically structured. But
he always has it there in mind and in practice. This was demanded of him by the culture he had
acquired, his temperament, his sensitiveness and the impact the young had on him, since they needed
everything. A catechetical and religious answer alone was not enough for real questions.
Don Bosco tells us about it through various historical recollections: The historical outline (Cenno
storico), The historical outlines (Cenni storici), the Preface to the Constitutions (of the Salesian
Society), the various historical notes with which he prefaced material sent to ecclesiastical and civil
824 This is the meaning of Émile (1762) Rousseau’s anthropological revolution, as happily illustrated by A. Ravier,
L’éducation de l’Homme nouveau, Paris. SPES 1944, and M. Rang, Rousseaus Lehre vom Menschen, Göttingen,
Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht 1959; of the inizio assoluto, “creating the new man”, the Soviet collectivist, described by
A.S. Marenko, Poema pedagogico (1935) and Bandiere sulle torri (1938).

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authorities, The Memoirs of the Oratory, the countless individual and circular letters, his talks and
conferences aimed at soliciting financial help, charitable contributions and support.
Naturally, since Don Bosco never achieved a compact and organised theoretical overview of his
educational system, the various elements which made it up in practice and were employed on a daily
basis, sometimes seemed out of kilter as one element might have been valued more than another.
It may also be noticed that religious and supernatural values receive a more preferential treatment than
the temporal, earthly values; individual values more than social and political values. But Don Bosco’s
real situation might justify a deeper re-assembling of all the aspects of his educational system into a
holistic, substantial and Christian humanism.825
2. A humanist and Christian view some between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’:
educational goals
There are countless practical and theoretical expressions which reveal Don Bosco’s mind-set on this
subject. Even leaving aside characteristic ways of highlighting this, Don Bosco’s mind-set is not
entirely new when we think that the tradition he followed goes back to the very beginnings of
Christianity, and is expressed in classic pedagogical features of the Middle Ages, consolidated during
the Humanist and Renaissance periods, and made evident by the flourishing of teaching Congregations
(of men and women) in the modern era, which often used the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum as their model.826
Don Bosco anchored his belief, which became a program, to the oft-repeated phrase “good Christian
and upright citizen”. Later on, at the time of his missionary initiatives from 1875 onwards, this was
translated into others with a wider meaning yet with the same inspiration: civilisation and religion,
civilisation and evangelisation, championing “the good of humanity and religion”, expanding the
kingdom of Jesus Christ by bringing religion and civilisation to people who ignore both.827
But the first of these, ‘good Christian and upright citizen’, is the most widely employed828 with some
variations: ‘good citizens and true Christians’, ‘good Christians and wise citizens’, ‘good Christians
and upright men.829 As for its content, the formula is a shortened expression of a unique educational
manifesto with a traditional flavour, but virtually open to what is new. The formula is first proclaimed
in Don Bosco’s first important book, which served as a religious guide of life: The Companion of
Youth.
I am presenting you with a way of life which is short and easy but good enough to allow
you to become the consolation of your parents, the honour of your country, good citizens on
earth and, one day, the lucky inhabitants of Heaven.830
These images more or less explicitly express a moderate mind-set, not a rare one in a Catholic world
825 J. Scheppens writes about this divergence and a certain reconciliation of the differences in the already cited essay,
‘Human nature in the educational outlook of St John Bosco’, in particular in RSS 8 (1989) 265-277.
826 This is outlined in its essential aspects in P. Braido, Breve storia del «sistema preventivo». Rome, LAS 1993, especially
pp 15-45. Silvio Antoniano, also found in this volume, is an outstanidng witness to the Preventive System in the family.
827 Letter to Fr Bodrato, April 15, 1880, E III 576-577, and to a Hungarian benefactor, Nov 1, 1886, E IV 364.
828 Cf. P. Braido, Buon cristiano e onesto cittadino, Una formula dell’ «umanesimo educativo» di don Bosco, RSS 13
(1994) 7-75.
829 Cf. for example the address to those taking part in his Name day celebrations, June 24, 1879, BS 3 (1879) no. 9, July 7,
p. 9; a past pupils of the Oratory, June 24, 1880, BS 4 (1880) no. 9, Sept, p. 10; conference to Cooperators in Florence
May 15, 1881, BS 5 (1881) no. 7, July, p. 9.
830 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., p. 7. OE II 187.

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engaged in the rebuilding of the moral and civil fabric of society after the revolutionary storm.
On the one hand a certain nostalgia for the good old times can hardly be hidden, the times prior to the
upheavals provoked by the French Revolution. There is a strong aspiration to return to a society seen as
fully Christian and based on the classical religious and moral values: faith, generally followed by the
practice of religion, Sacramental life, catechism taught in the family and by the church, the practice of
the corporal works of mercy, obedience to the paternal governance of the legitimate, religious and civil
authorities, respect for order and hierarchies, being content with one’s state in life, industriousness,
acceptance of sacrifice, the hope of an eternal reward.
On the other hand, there is likewise a real feeling that the new world is fascinating, pressing, vigorous
regarding its conquests, as far as progress and civilisation are concerned. It would be unreasonable and
futile to oppose it. Looking at the spirit of his times, Don Bosco thought that today’s political setup
could be thought of as a steam engine running swiftly down the rails and dragging its freight perhaps,
towards a precipice and ruin. Would you like to put yourselves on the railway tracks to stop it?831
In practice, Don Bosco shares a widespread tendency not limited to mere protest but effectively
working to build a new type of man and Christian, one capable of integrating authentic values of
traditional belief and the citizen, who accepts the new order. The blending of the two, however, is
imperfect.
Don Bosco and his work are not to be framed within a dichotomous view of the relationship
between tradition and modernity; nor do they lend themselves to a dialectic interpretation
of the relationship; they should be considered as a virtually synthetic system.832
Don Bosco’s pre-established goals and the programs he had already set up to achieve them,
substantially presume the reclaiming of the time-honoured educational triad, a renewed an updated one:
piety and morality, knowledge and civilisation.833But this triad should be seen within a real plan which
sees the values relating to the sujet-citoyen (subject-citizen) and the Christian, tied in with the values
relating to reason and religion.
From this perspective, the intrinsic value of the classic realities is clearly stated but at the same time the
ultimate goal assigned to culture, civilisation, piety and morality is clearly championed and within a
complex view which tends to become a holistic one.
Concretely speaking, Don Bosco thinks and believes as prompted by Christian tradition, namely, that in
the order of faith, the recovery of the earthy values should happen as part of the healing and divinising
realm of Grace.
As a man, priest and educator, Don Bosco wants to give full value to the human element found in the
Christian, to champion all that is positive in creation, to give a Christian dimension to civilisation,
showing that only this way can civilisation be fully saved.834
831 An address to past pupils from the Oratory, June 24, 1883 BS 7 (1883) no. 8, August, p. 128.
832 P. Scoppola, ‘Don Bosco e la modernità’, in M. Midali (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia..., p. 537.
833 Th triad moeurs-science-politesse appears in the Réglements pour messieurs les Pensionnaires des Pères Jésuites, qui
peuvent leur servir de Règle de conduite pour toute leur vie. Par le R.P. Jean Croiset (Lyon, Frères Bruyset 1749, Vi
éd.): “La piété, lèEtude, la Civilté” (Avertissement, p. I); «Il y a des devoirs dde Religion è remplir, des bienséances à
garder, des sciences à acquérir» (p. 2); «on prétend former un jeune homme dans les bonnes moeurs, dans le beaux arts,
et dans toutes les bienséances et les devoirs de la vie civile... On veut rendre un jeune homme accompli, mais on en veut
faire encore un véritable Chrétien, un parfaitement honnête homme» (p.6)
834 The question remains concerning the relationship between temporal and spiritual – B. Plongeron, Affirmation et
transformations d’une «civilisation chrétienne» à la fin du XVIIIe Siècle, in Civilisation chrétienne. Approche

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Accepting the coexistence of the above-mentioned values is the style which distinguishes Don Bosco’s
entire educational activity and Don Bosco is always and everywhere the priest; he is also the citizen, a
member of society, committed to its material and spiritual progress, with his specific contribution. This
is the way Don Bosco saw the members of his religious society juridically and effectively part of civil
society. This intention is indicated in the Historical Outline of 1874:
Let every member be a religious before the Church, and before civil society a free citizen.835
The Cooperators were invited to share the same style of action:
our program shall unalterably be this: leave us to look after poor and abandoned youth and
we shall do our best to do to them the greatest amount of good possible. This, we feel, is the
way to be able to contribute to good morals and civilisation.836
Several times Don Bosco declared that in politics he was neutral. This neutrality meant more precisely
that his keen participation in the life of society was foreign to taking party sides, and that he was, thus,
proclaiming the deeply radically earthy aspect of his educational work.
Don Bosco was delighted to report what Pope Leo XIII had told them in the audience of May 9, 1884:
You have the mission to show the world that one can be a good Catholic and at the same
time a good and upright citizen; that it is possible to do a lot of good for poor and
abandoned youth at all times without colliding with the goings-on of politics, but always
remaining good Catholics.837
This is the way Don Bosco wanted to see his activity converge with that of the governing body in
education and politics. Don Bosco wrote about this in a concise manner to a well-known Minister of
the Interior, Joseph Zanardelli:
I beg you to graciously accept my constant desire to do my very best to decrease the
number of rascals and increase the number of upright citizens.838
The politician was aimed at keeping public order, and the educator at championing righteous
consciences.
3. Basic polarity and hierarchy of educational goals
Welfare and educational activity on behalf of the young, as developed by Don Bosco and further
historique d’une idéologie, XVIIIe-XXe siècle (Paris, Beauchesne 1975): «Le christianiser en le civilisant ou bien
l’inverse?» (p. 10). In the same book there is an essay by X. de Montclos on Lavigerie, Le Christianisme et la
civilisation ()pp. 309-348). The archbishop of Algiers was in contact with Don Bosco to whom he sent some young
Algerians, and whom he met in Paris in 1883. Don Bosco’s position on the relationship between Christianity and
civilisation offers an analogy with the cardinal’s, naturally at a weaker theoretical level sharing the persuasion that they
could be reconciled: cf in particular the Réflexions sur l’idéologie de la civilisation chez Lavigerie, pp. 337-347.
835 Cf. P. Braido, ‘L’idea della Società salesiana nel «cenno storico»‘ by Don Bosco 1873/1874 RSS 6 (1987) 264.
836 This is the message to Salesian Cooperators that opens the small work in the Bibliofilo cattolico o Bollettino salesiano
mensuale, in III, no. 5, August 1877, p. 2; repeated in Bibliofilo cattolico o Bollettino salesiano mensuale, in III no. 6,
Sept 1877, p. 2.
837 Quoted in MB XVII 100. The preceding day, 8 May, the Cardinal Vicar Lucido M. Parocchi had dealt with a similar
topic, identifying in “carità esercitata secondo le esigenze del secolo”, “la nota essenziale della Società salesiana”, BS 8,
(1884), no. 6, June p. 90.
838 Letter July 23, 1878 E III 367.

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explained by his words and writings, indicates goals and content before outlining the process. This
chapter will now deal with the goals and content of Don Bosco’s welfare and educational activity,
leaving courses and methods adopted to the following two chapters.
We limit ourselves to drawing data from more explicit situations of educating young people. But to
have a more articulate, richer view of things we should be using many other sources: the profiles of
authentic Christians scattered through Don Bosco’s history books and edifying books; the militant
Catholics, men and women he had met and showed appreciation for, his rich correspondence; the saints
or especially exemplary people referred to in sermons and instructions delivered on feast days, in
‘Good Nights’, and on special occasion talks and conversations with close friends.839
First of all, in reference to what we have remarked about Don Bosco’s pedagogical Christian
humanism, what stands out immediately is the bipolarity characterising his entire system. On the one
hand Don Bosco clearly states the centrality of religious faith and of the transcendent, of what is
specifically Christian. On the other hand we can detect a frank evaluation of temporal realities
sincerely, intrinsically appreciated and employed, and not only for their usefulness.
Between the two poles, the temporal and the transcendent, there is more than coexistence on an equal
footing. Both are given equal dignity, in proper order, but the temporal is always subordinate to the
transcendent.
In reference to this hierarchy we have two singular and complementary statements made by two
scholars coming from divergent ideological background: Joseph Lombardi Radice, idealist pedagogue,
and Francesco Orestano, Catholic philosopher. The former, despite his secular mind-set, highlighted the
absolute centrality of religious inspiration in Don Bosco’s experience:
Don Bosco... was a great man. You should try to get to know him. In the context of the
Church, Don Bosco corrected ‘Jesuitism’. And even though he did not have the stature of St
Ignatius, he knew how to create an imposing educational movement, giving the Church the
ability to get in touch with the masses again, which it had gradually lost. The secret is: an
idea, meaning a ‘soul’.840
Francesco Orestano, too, vigorously stressed the Christian, almost mystical inspiration of Don Bosco’s
entire activity. An interesting chapter on mystical theology is dedicated to Don Bosco’s educational
activity.841 But he singled out Don Bosco’s human activity, his positive appreciation of earthy realities
particularly the joy of living, and work. He considered these to be the original features of his
educational project. Don Bosco sanctified work and joy. Don Bosco is the saint of Christian serenity,
Christian practical, happy living. This is Don Bosco’s personal synthesis of nova et vetera (tradition
and modernity). Herein lies his true originality.
Orestano further stresses the following ideas:
Educational and social needs, profoundly understood and seen in the context of the new
times, allowed Don Bosco to discover the great law of educating the young to work and
with work. He not only appreciated the value of work as an educational tool but also as a
839 Some items can be drawn from from two brief essays: P. Braido, Laicità e laici nel progetto operativo di Don Bosco, in
I laici nella famiglia salesiana, Rome Editrice SDB 1986, pp 17-34; idem, Pedagogia ecclesiale di don Bosco, in Con I
giovani raccogliamo la profezia del Concilio, Rome, Editrice SDB 1987, pp. 23-63.
840 G. Lombardo Radice, ‘Meglio Don Bosco?’ In, «La Rinascenza Scolastica. Rivista pedagogica, didattica, letteraria,
quindicinale» (Catania), Feb. 16, 1920; republished by the author in Clericali e massoni di fronte al problema della
scuola. Rome, La Voce Soc. Anonima Editrice 1920, pp. 62-64.
841 F. Orestano, Celebrazioni, Vol I Milano, Bocca 1940. p. 47

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content of life...
And this is not all. With his intelligent outpouring of charity, full of human understanding,
and convinced of the natural and honest needs of youth and of a sound life, Don Bosco
sanctified work together with joy, the joy of living, the joy of working, the joy of praying.842
Don Bosco’s humanism is all-embracing, or tends that way: despite inadequate foundations and
development on a theoretical level, his humanism is clearly visible in terms of his life. It is significant
that it has been possible to draw up various and different profiles of Don Bosco, his ideal style of action
listed under various titles. But it is also a fact that it easily blends into a vital synthesis of the divine and
human, the heavenly city and the earthly city, eternal salvation, and the joy of living and acting:
• Vita intima di Don Giovanni Bosco (An intimate life of Don Bosco);
• Don Bosco con Dio ((Don Bosco with God);
• I doni dello Spirito Santo nell’anima del B. Giov. Bosco ((The gifts of the Holy Spirit in
the soul of Bl. John Bosco);
• Un gigante della carità (A giant of charity);
• Don Bosco che ride (Smiling Don Bosco);
• Il Santo dei ragazzi. Don Bosco, amico dei ragazzi (The boys’ saint. Don Bosco the
friend of youth)
• Il re dei ragazzi (King of the Kids)
• L’apostolo dei giovani ((The apostle of youth )
• Il Santo dei birichini (The urchins’ saint)
• Il capo dei birichini (The urchins’ leader);
• Il Santo dei fanciulli (The children’s saint);
• Il santo dei ragazzi allegri (The saint of cheerful boys);
• Don Bosco conquistatore delle anime (Don Bosco conqueror of souls);
• Un gran pescatore di anime (A great fisher of souls);
• Il Salvatore di anime (The saviour of souls);
• Il Santo del secolo (The saint of the century);
• La più grande meraviglia del secolo XIX (The greatest wonder of the 19th century);
• Un santo per il nostro tempo (A saint for our times);
• Don Bosco, l’uomo per gli altri (Don Bosco, man for others);
• Profondamente uomo, profondamente santo (Profoundly human, profoundly holy);
• Uomo e Santo (Man and saint).
But Don Bosco himself is the one who brought all these aspects together in his pithy sayings, and those
to whom they were addressed would have discerned a clear hierarchy of values in them.
The first of these is a chapter heading in the life of Francis Besucco: Cheerfulness, Study, Piety.843
Then comes: good health, wisdom and holiness (SSS: Sanità, Sapienza e Santità in Italian).844 Two
842 F. Orestano, Celebrazioni,.. Vol I, pp. 74-76
843 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., p. 90. OE XV 332; the title of Chap. XVIII is Allegria followed by XVIII Studio e
diligenza, pp. 90-93, 94-99, OE XV 332-335, 336-341.
844 Letter to Countess Gabriella Corsi, Aug. 12, 1871, E II 172: «Per la damigella Maria... dimanderò al Signore tre grossi

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more mysterious SSs sometimes joined the three SSSs to make five!. Don Bosco sent the following
message to the pupils of the Turin-Valsalice College through their director: “I assure you that I
recommend you to God every day in my holy Mass, and that I beg from every one of you the three
usual SSSs, which our smart pupils immediately know how to interpret: Soundness (good health),
Savvy (wisdom) and Sanctity (holiness).845
He conveyed the same wishes to the son of Countess Callori, telling her that he had asked for the
Pope’s special blessing on the three SSS, “for Mr Emanuel namely, that he be sound, savvy and
saintly”. 846A similar assignment was entrusted to the pupils at Varazze’s boarding school, through Fr
Francesia: “good health, progress in studies and holy fear of God which is the real value to have”.847
In wider contexts work, religion and virtue are presented as the means of salvation for so many young
people at risk,848 as part of a broad plan to bring about social renewal based on “Work, instruction,
humanity”.849Evidently this program’ calls for a regimen of Christian living according to which religion
is the foundation of morality and both, religion and morality, guarantee the social order.
4. Meaning of life, ‘salvation’ to be rediscovered and bolstered
To achieve all that we have mentioned above, it is essential that the potential the young are gifted with
be re-awakened and brought into action. This potential can be reduced to three types:
1. The knowing faculties: sense and intellectual knowledge, particularly the reasoning ability which, as
we have seen, prevents a young man from behaving like a horse and mule without intelligence: sicut
equus et mulus quibus non est intellectus.
2. Affections in all their diversity: desires, passions and the heart.
3. The will: as daring freedom seasoned with reason, faith and inflamed by charity.
The human organism is already marvellously composed at the level of creation, but is immeasurably
more splendid since it has been elevated to the supernatural order, thanks to the Redemption wrought
by Jesus Christ Our Saviour. The awareness of human dignity in the order of nature and grace stands as
the foundation of an appropriate vision of the goals of authentic education. Don Bosco writes about this
in his very well-known Month of May series.
Here Don Bosco emphasises the “wonders of divine grace”850 but does not exclude, rather presupposes
and appreciates as something evident, taken for granted, a natural basis which is no less wonderful:
By the expression ‘dignity of man’, I do not only intend to refer to human corporal goods,
not even to the precious qualities of the human soul, created after the image and likeness of
the Creator himself; I mean to refer only to your dignity, o man, which comes from the fact
that you have become a Christian through Baptism, and have been received into the bosom
of Holy Mother Church.
Before you were regenerated through the waters of Baptism, you were slave of the devil
S, cioè che sia sana, sapiente e santa».
845 Letter to Fr Francesco Dalmazzo, March 8, 1875 E 465.
846 Letter March 8, 1874, E II 362. 23 year old Emmanuel was in the Cavalry.
847 Letter Jan. 10, 1876 E III 6.
848 Cf. the already quoted conference to Salesian Cooperators, Rome, Jan. 29, 1878 in BS 4 (1880) no. 7, July, p. 12.
849 Conference to Salesian Cooperators, S. Benigno Canavese, June 4, 1880 BS 4 (1880) no. 7, July, p. 12.
850 As we know this is the title of a masterpiece, published in 1863, by the young German theologian Matthias Joseph
Scheeben (1835-1888).

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and an enemy of God and locked out of paradise for ever. But at that the very moment
when this august Sacrament opened the door of the true Church, the chains with which the
enemy of your soul kept you bound, were broken. The gates of Hell were locked up for
you, and Paradise was opened for you. At the same time, you have become an object of a
special love of God, and the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity were infused into you. Once
you had become a Christian, you were able to raise your eyes toward Heaven and say: God
is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and He is also my Creator. He is my Father and he
loves me, and He bids me call him by this name: Our Father who art in Heaven. Jesus, the
Saviour, calls me brother and as a brother I belong to him. I share his merits, passion, death,
glory and his dignity.851
The one who edited the dialogue between Don Bosco and Francis Bodrato at Mornese, in October
1864, imagines that Don Bosco, already well-known as an educator, has already spelled out to the
town’s teacher the youth anthropology underlying his system of education, based on religion and
reason. “Young people are rational beings created to know love and serve God and enjoy him in
Paradise”. The educator should be convinced that all or almost all of these dear youngsters have a
natural intelligence by which they can know the good being done to them and a sensitive heart easily
open to gratitude”.852
In his 1877 work on the Preventive System, Don Bosco would continue: If the educator, with the
method of reason and loving kindness “succeeds in getting his pupil to reason” and in winning over his
heart, then the pupil will respond with an increased ability to understand and a keener ability to show
affection. Thanks to reason, the young will perceive the reasonableness of the law of work, the law of a
personal commitment to build things up together, the satisfaction which comes from good results
obtained in the classroom and in the workshops. Thanks to his heart, he will effectively have the
revitalizing experience of the “family” as found in the community of superiors and classmates, mutual
trust and friendship. Finally a joyous awareness will blossom, an awareness that it is worth living and
working together, which are the initial steps required for an effective socializing process.
Besides, the awareness that “life is worth living” will be strengthened at higher and more mature levels
by the religious Christian experience, thanks to which success at a temporal level will reach out into the
wider horizon of eternal salvation. The basic presupposition of all the above, is the Gospel warning
“What then will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?”853
According to Don Bosco it was precisely this thought which led many young people to leave the world,
many rich people to give away their riches to the poor, many missionaries to leave their country and go
to a faraway land, many martyrs to give their life for their faith.854
The search for salvation is presented to the young as the lesson needed to learn the highest profession
of being a Christian, for it is the one which gives meaning and fulfilment to all other professions: the
profession of the shoemaker, carpenter, and that of the student. Don Bosco explained this thought in an
emotional Good Night talk given on April 30, 1865.
Oh! If I only could share how I feel. Words fail me to express how important this topic is.
Oh! If all of you kept this great truth in your mind, if you were to work only to save your
soul, then you would have no need of sermons, meditations, the exercise for a happy death,
851 G. Bosco, Il mese di maggio..., pp. 60-61, OE X 354-355
852 A. Da Silva Ferreira, Il dialogo tra don Bosco e il maestro Francesco Bodrato – 1864, RSS 3 (1984) 385.
853 Mt 16:26.
854 G. Bosco, Il Giubileo e pratiche divote per la visita delle chiese. Turin, P. De-Agostini 1854, p. 48, OE V 256.

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because then you would have all that is needed for your happiness. If your actions were to
have this important goal as their aim, how lucky would you be, how happy Don Bosco
would be. This would turn out to be what I consider the best: the Oratory would be an
‘earthly Paradise’. We would have no more theft, bad talk, dangerous readings, back-biting
etc. Everyone would do their duty. And this is why: let us all be convinced that the priest,
the cleric, the student, the artisan, the poor and the rich, the superior and the pupil: they all
have to work toward this goal, otherwise any efforts on their part will prove useless.855
5. Steps required to be saved
The life of grace in its simplest form, which means freedom from sin, up to its highest form, which is
that of perfection and holiness, does not allow a choice by principle and develops in continuity from
freedom from damnation and the ascent to the highest of forms of charity: love of God and love of
neighbour. What gives fullness and unity to the life of grace is the reality of salvation. Thus F.X.
Durrwell, in his wonderful summary of Christian spirituality, could write:
The doctrine of man’s sanctification is the same as the doctrine of his eternal salvation -
since man cannot find salvation other than through his sanctification in God and it is well
known that the doctrine of salvation has a range equal to that of all theology.856
Don Bosco knows the ‘degrees’ of spiritual life. In his eulogy on Fr Cafasso, Don Bosco spoke of
moral, ascetic and mystic theology857. But he does not show these as confessor or spiritual director. He
put them into practice, informally. He writes about them but not in explicit terms, when he refers to the
gradual “pedagogy of salvation”, mindful of the different of readiness or lack of readiness different
types of boys had: rascals, bad boys, scatter-brained boys and good boys. Don Bosco offers a hierarchy
of goals and content to poor and abandoned boys. Some offer early steps a true and proper spiritual life.
The first goal is that of helping the young who have gone astray to find the most elementary reasons to
live. This meant leading them to desire and enjoy living, adding the intention of having them learn how
to earn by work and sweat, the means needed for a decent existence for themselves and their
relatives.858
An educational kind of work for these youngsters might have required a preliminary cleansing of their
mind and heart: a mind darkened by ignorance and prejudice and a heart ruined by vice and bad moral
behaviour. “Enlighten their mind, render their hearts good”; this was the specific objective Don Bosco
had in mind when he first started writing his books. He said as much as we have already seen in his
preface to his Bible History and Church History.
As for the many boys who had been entirely deprived of affection or had little of affection in their
lives, Don Bosco aimed at creating an atmosphere and a rich network of relationships seasoned with a
fatherly, motherly, brotherly and friendly touch namely, relationships capable of restoring their
affective life, their emotional life, loaded with intense practical and emotional involvement.
Naturally, the work of recovery and formation reaches a higher and richer plateau when affection, their
experience of loving kindness received and regenerated, tend to be integrated and interact with reason
855 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864 ff., Good Night on April 30, 1865. pp. 133-135.
856 F.X. Durrwell, Dan le Christ Rédempteur. Notes de vie spirituelle. Le Puy Lyon, Éditions X. Mappus 1960, p. 7.
857 G. Bosco, Biografia del sacerdote Giusppe Caffasso,p. 77 and 89, OE XII 427 and 439.
858 We see this for example in the Cenni storici..., regarding the ‘discoli’: Cenni storici..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco
nella Chiesa..., pp. 78-79.

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and religion. After all, reason, religion and loving kindness represent principally the goals and content
of Don Bosco’s educational system; it is the substance of Don Bosco’s system prior to being just means
and approach..
Don Bosco places holiness as the goal of the journey of salvation, greatest of all the educational goals
and he clearly proclaims it as such. This is not a simple message conveyed to an individual, but a
sermon preached to all: “It is God’s will that all of us become saints; it is very easy to become one;
there is a great reward prepared in Heaven for those who become saints”.859
6. Love and fear of God expressed through service
Secondly, young peoples’ attention throughout the entire length of the ‘salvation journey’, is constantly
drawn toward the goal which he had heard explained to him from the time of his childhood, when he
learned his catechism: to know, love and serve God, Creator and Lord of Heaven and Earth. The love of
the Father supposes honouring, revering and serving our Creator and Lord, or to put it in a nutshell,
‘fear of God’.
The fear of God is explicitly or implicitly present in all of Don Bosco’s moral and spiritual activity.
Remotely, it has the ability to dispose a youngster toward love as servile fear, which is useful to achieve
conversion from sin through confession and forgiveness. It becomes ‘initial fear’ when it becomes
‘filial fear’, which means rejection of sin. This filial fear shares its life with love-charity in time and in
eternity and it grows as charity grows; and when it is really lived, then it assumes the aspect of an
adoring respect, homage or reverence and honour vis-a-vis the greatness, majesty, sanctity and justice
of God, our all-powerful and provident Creator.
An educated youngster is rightly and habitually aware of the adorable and amiable presence of God, the
all-powerful but at the same time, merciful Father. The believer experiences God’s presence under both
forms and is aware of the saying: God sees me! The words Don Bosco so often used in his pedagogy,
“make yourselves loved rather than feared” are nothing more than a reflection of the “make yourselves
loved rather than feared” which characterizes the relationship of a faithful Christian with his God, the
“Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a gentle Father and God of all consolations.”860
The Biblical quotation ‘The fear of God is the beginning wisdom’ became, for a young man grown into
adulthood equivalent to the horror of being separated from God, reason to avoid sin, ‘nostalgia for
grace’, ‘desire to be effectively purified and request to be reconciled’, which comes about through the
Sacraments of Penance and of the Eucharist. He recalls the talks heard in the past, which had touched
his heart during the time of his early education. “The thought of God’s presence should accompany us
at all times, in all places and in every action. And who would have the courage of doing anything which
might offend God if he thinks that the one that he wants to offend could, at that very moment in which
he wanted to utter that word, dry up his tongue and paralyse the hand with which he intends to sin?”861
“Every kind of sin greatly upsets divine justice and causes us to deserve serious punishments, which
will turn into greater punishments in the hereafter if they have no actual effects on the sinner in this
life. A sincere willingness to correct oneself may soothe divine justice.”862 “God is merciful and
forgives any kind of sin, provided a man is sincerely sorry and carries out a suitable penance”.863These
859 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 50, OE XI 200.
860 2 Cor 1:3
861 G. Barberis (G. Gresino), Cronaca, quad. 3, evening talk to boys on Aug. 21, 1877, p. 11; cf another version (E.
Dompè), quad. 15, pp. 24-25.
862 G. Bosco, Storia sacra per uso delle scuole..., Second and improved edition. Turin, Speirani and Tortone 1853, p. 90
863 G. Bosco, Storia sacra per l’uso delle scuole e specialmente delle classi elementari... Third and longer edition. Turin,

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are the two different aspects assumed by God when the wicked Jezebel was punished and the Ninevites
were forgiven, because of their conversion.
It is clear that in Don Bosco’s language ‘fear of God’ ‘is equivalent to living Christian life to the full.
The one who fears God is an observant and exemplary member of the faithful, a good Christian. Fear
includes love. Don Bosco gladly accepts what is recommended in the Porta teco cristiano, the guide
for Christian living for fathers in reference to their duties towards their children: “2. Raise them up with
all diligence in the fear of God, since their health depends on it much like God’s blessing on your house
and since Divine Providence has entrusted them to you that they might receive a Christian education
(Eph.6:4); 3) Impress right away in their tender hearts the holy fear of God, the desire to serve him and
a strong love for virtue. (Tob.1:10)”.864
7. Young people in the Catholic Church
“Continue to love the Church in its ministers, continue to live according to our holy Catholic religion,
that can make you happy on this earth and eternally happy in heaven”.865This is the lesson imparted by
Don Bosco to his own close helpers. Don Bosco sees “belonging to the Catholic Church” as a further
unmistakable characteristic of the good Christian and upright citizen. This is one of Don Bosco’s key
foundations for his catechetical and practical theology: “The Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church is
the only true Church of Jesus Christ”.866
He includes, and puts it strongly, attachment and fidelity to its leader, the Pope: “Be intimately
convinced of these great truths: where the successor of St Peter is, there is the true church of Jesus
Christ. No one will ever be in the true religion if he is not a Catholic; no one is Catholic without the
Pope. Our shepherds, and especially the bishops, unite us with the Pope and the Pope unites us with
God”.867
A correctly educated Catholic young man will be well instructed in Christian doctrine, always
courageous in professing the Creed of the church, free from any compromise with heresy and any
political radicalism, and will resolutely take sides with the Pope and the pastors. Among advice more
often heard were ones already known far and wide since 1853 when Don Bosco wrote Three particular
reminders for young people at the conclusion of the already cited Advice for Catholics.
Avoid as much as possible the company of those who speak about immodest things or try to
make fun of our holy religion [“the Pope, bishops and other ministers of our holy religion”
Don Bosco would add in 1872]; abhor and reject irreligious books and newspapers which
might be offered to you as a gift. Should anyone say that we live in times of freedom
therefore one may choose to live the way he wants to, rebut this by saying that if we are in
times of freedom, let them allow us to live according to the religion as we choose.868
Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press 1863, p. 97.
864 Porta teco cristiano..., pp. 24-25, OE XI 24-25.
865 Letter to members of the Our Lady of Mercy Confraternity, Buenos Aires, 30 Sept 1877, E III 225.
866 Title of first edition of his Avvisi ai cattolici. Turin, Speirani and Ferrero 1850, 23 p. OE IV 121-143.
867 Avvisi ai cattolici. Turin, P. De.Agostini 1853, p. 6 OE IV 168. Don Bosco’s ecclesiology has obvious limitations, cf. P.
Braido, Pedagogia ecclesiastica di don Bosco, pp. 24-42; J. M. Laboa, ‘L’esperienza e il senso della Chiesa nell’opera
di Don Bosco’, in M. Midali (Ed), Don Bosco nella storia...., pp. 107-133; F. Molinari, Chiesa e mondo nella «Storia
ecclesiastica» di don Bosco, in M. Midali etc. pp. 143-155.
868 Avvisi ai cattolici (1853), pp. 25-27, OE IV 187-189.

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8. The Christian, “Man for eternity” but active in the world
The emerging and specific qualification of the Christian as a ‘Man For Eternity’869 while at the same
time an upright citizen generally means this for Don Bosco: to have the ability to fit into society in an
orderly active way, especially ‘by means of work ‘as an ordinary worker, farmer, skilled worker,
employee, teacher, soldier, priest, and for those who are wealthy and live off revenue, by using their
wealth well. It means that everyone, in various and different ways, is called to the exact performance of
duties of his or her state in life which is from the call to lead an upright and exemplary life and be of
substantial value to society.
There is a close link between the eternal goal and earthly commitment and the mature young man has
learned to hold these together, with his eyes turned towards heaven and his feet solidly planted on
earth, doing good deeds along the way. In his The Power of a Good Education, Don Bosco has Peter
write to his mother as he is about to leave for Crimea, in 1854: “Tell my brothers and sisters that work
produces good citizens and religion produces good Christians; but that work and religion lead to
heaven”.870
As for their application to study or work, the students and artisans at the yearly reading out of the Rule
for the houses heard a formula which summed up all the recommendations scattered throughout their
long period of education. That formula, with three short articles offered the true profile of the working
Christian (homo faber) explained the main aim of the educational process which Don Bosco had
carried out on their behalf:
1. Man, my dear boys, was born to work. Adam was placed in the earthly paradise to cultivate it. The
Apostle Paul says: He who does not work does not deserve to eat.
2. By work we mean the performance of the duties proper to one’s state, whether study, art or craft.
3. By means of work you may be able to make yourselves well deserving for society and religion and
do good to your souls, especially if you offer to God all your daily occupations.871
9. Society
In many of his talks over the final years of his earthly existence, Don Bosco insisted on the support lay
people should render to the mission of the Church, especially regarding the education of the young and
even more specifically on their use of wealth. His strong position on alms-giving is typical. He
interpreted and proposed alms-giving as a strict and obligatory exercise of social justice ante
litteram.872
Instead among the gamut of educational objectives pursued by Don Bosco we do not find a developed
idea of the socially and politically committed human being. The idea is scarcely developed as a specific
aim being made explicit more within moral and religious objectives. This is partly due to the social
situation in Don Bosco’s Italy, when active or passive politics were reserved for those who could take
869 “Remember O man that you are a man for eternity”, in La chiave del paradiso in mano al cattolico che pratica I doveri
del buon cristiano. Turin, Paravia & Co., 1856, p. 24, OE VIII 24).
870 G. Bosco, La forza della buona educazione..., p. 89. OE VI 363.
871 Regolamento per le case..., part II, chap. V Del lavoro, pp. 68-9, OE XXIX 164-165; we see a precise hierarchy of
values revealed in the fact that Chap V follows on from II and IV about Della pietà and Contengo in chiesa. Work as
man’s destiny, marked differently before and after original sin, is the antidote to laziness, and already one fo the main
chapters in Storia sacra (1847); cf N Cerrato, La catechesi di don Bosco nella «Storia sacra». Rome, LAS 1979, pp.
308-318.
872 Cr. P. Braido, Laicità e laici nel progetto operativo di don Bosco..., pp. 23-30.

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advantage of privileged cultural and economic circumstances. We have to add, though, that Don Bosco
made political choice something which involved education. This was the choice he made for himself
and his collaborators. For Don Bosco someone who is actively involved in civil and political society is,
first of all and continues to be the Christian who does his job honestly and competently. He is someone
who contributes to order and progress of society by wisely exercising authority over his family, getting
involved inasmuch as is possible in charitable works calling for solidarity, and one who is a model of
faith including spiritual and corporal acts of mercy.
Don Bosco’s comments to a gathering of past pupils of the Oratory on July 25, 1880, are significant.
Referring to someone who had criticized the place where he had received his education and then
inviting them all to forgive and pray for ungrateful people of the kind, then he went on to say:
We are Salesians and as such we forget everything, we forgive everyone, we do good to
everyone as much as we can, and harm no one. This way we have “the simplicity of the
dove and the prudence of the snake”, keeping a lookout for traitors and treason.873
10 Life is vocation and mission
The place everyone in society holds, whether civil or ecclesiastical, is never casual or arbitrary.
Everyone is called to live according to his own vocation, namely, to hold onto a well-defined place
which responds to God’s will and guarantees the graces given. Several times Don Bosco declared that
vocational choice is the most important aspect of a person’s life.874
The choice, while responding to questions raised by one’s neighbour, and particularly by the young, is
suited to the aptitudes and inclinations of the person. In turn these aptitudes and inclinations make a
person ready to make a commitment which could be “to live as lay person, an ecclesiastic or as a
religious”.
The problem is posed and solved in more precise terms in a letter addressed to the students of the two
last years of high school at San Martino. “There are two states along which one can walk on the way to
heaven: the ecclesiastical state or the lay state. As for the lay state”, Don Bosco declared expeditiously,
“everyone has to choose the studies, employment, profession which allows him to fulfil his duties as a
good Christian and meet with the approval of his parents”. With regard to the ecclesiastical state, Don
Bosco provides more detailed directions. First of all, he indicates what kinds of detachment the
ecclesiastical state entails:
Renouncing the comforts and the glory of the world and earthly joys, in order to give
oneself to God’s service... In making this choice the only counsellor who can be decisive is
the confessor. He is to be heeded without paying attention to superiors or inferiors, relatives
or friends... Whoever enters into the ecclesiastical state with the sole intention of giving
himself to God service and walking the path to salvation, has the moral certitude of doing a
great deal of good to his soul and the souls of his neighbour.
Within this basic choice there are three possible different options: to be a priest in the
world, to be a priest in religious life, to be a priest for the foreign missions.
Everyone may choose what his heart desires and what is more suited to his physical and
873 BS 4 (1880) no. 9, Sept. p. 10.
874 Cf. for example an evening talk on July 7, 1876, G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 2. p. 2.

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moral strength, but he should get the advice of a person who is pious, learned and prudent.
However all these choices must come from only one point and lead back to it, the centre,
namely, God.875
We need to say that while Don Bosco often spoke with young people who were facing the choice of the
ecclesiastical or religious state, he did not give over much importance to someone who chose the
secular state instead. “Once a young man knows he is not called to the ecclesiastical or religious state,
then it does not matter whether he chooses to be a blacksmith or a carpenter, a shoemaker or a tailor, an
employee or a businessman”.876
In particular, he showed that he favoured a religious vocation for young men who he thought might
encounter dangers if they remained in the world.877 As years went on, Don Bosco would begin to talk
about lay religious vocations to working boys as well. “Religious vocations are not only for young
gentlemen, academic students that is”.878
11. Common vocation: charity and apostolic
The vocation which after all, is common to everyone, whether ecclesiastic or lay, is but one: the
vocation to practice charity, the vocation to love. Everyone, according to his or her possibilities and
responsibilities, is bound to be there in charity and as an apostolate, expressed in various ways: giving
alms, by being engaged in teaching catechism or in education, joining forces with others who are
actively engaged.879
This is achieved and produces better results for the glory of God – vis unita fortior -when people join
groups and associations of militant Christians and thus open themselves - if God so calls them - to the
most daring apostolic and missionary possibilities.880
What Don Bosco, with daring intuition, suggested to a young man who would later on be proclaimed a
saint, is good for everybody:
The very first thing suggested to him in order to become saint was that of doing his best to
win over souls for God. Therefore there is no holier thing in the world than that of
cooperating for the good of souls for whose salvation Jesus Christ shared the very last drop
of his precious blood.881
12. A life style seasoned with hope and joy
Finally, a young man moulded by the Preventive System is made capable of practising in the future the
traditional virtues of charity and temperance, obedience, honesty and modesty, and finding reasons to
rejoice even here below in steadfast hope of gaining eternal happiness. The following remark found in
the Companion of Youth is reserved for young people still at school and on the threshold of adulthood:
875 Letter June 17, 1879, E III 476.
876 G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 19, p.2.
877 Cf. for example his talk on the evening of 10 May 1875, G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 1, pp 2-3.
878 G. Barberis (E. Dompè), Cronaca, quad. 15, evening talk on April 21, 1877, p. 7. The talk was completely given to to
different dangers faced by someone who chooses a lay ecclesiastical vocation and he who opts for religious life.
879 Conference to Cooperators at Borgo S. Martino, July 1, 1880, BS 4 (1880) no. 8, August, p, 9.
880 Cf. P. Braido, Laicità e laici..., pp. 30-31.
881 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 53 OE XI 203.

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Besides, we see that those who live in God’s grace are always cheerful and, even when they
are in the midst of affliction, they show a contented heart. On the contrary, those who
abandon themselves to pleasures, live in a state of anger and try as much as they can to find
peace in their amusements are always more and more unhappy: Non est Pax impiis (There
is no peace for the wicked).882
So the exhortation given to youngsters: “to occupy the time of their youth well: Quae seminaverit
homo, haec et metet (a man will reap what he has sown.) was an obvious and habitual one. Just as it is
for farmers who sow and cultivate a field. “The same thing will happen to you, my dear boys, if you
sow now; in due time you will have the satisfaction of reaping a good harvest...And whoever does not
sow during his youth, will harvest nothing in his old age.883
Beatus homo cum portaverit jugum ab adolescentia sua (Blessed the man who from his youth has
borne a yoke...). “Be on guard while you are young and keep the commandments, and you will be
happy in this life and in the life to come.884 The saints, while seriously thinking about eternal
punishments, lived with the greatest gladness in their hearts since they firmly trust in God that they
would avoid them and one day go to possess the infinite good the Lord keeps for those who serve
him.885 A legitimate fear, which avoids presumption but has the filial trepidation of being possibly
separated from God and not persevering to the end, finds relief in the sure hope that God is faithful and
never reneges on his promises. This is the source of the joy felt by one who, rather than trusting his
own merits, puts his trust in the benevolence of the Father whom he honours and serves with real love.
882 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., p. 28, OE II 208
883 G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 2, evening talk July 7, 1875, pp. 39-40
884 MB XI 253, evening talk to boys on July 28, 1875.
885 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., p. 29, OE II 209.

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Chapter 12
Educational disciplines: 1. Performing one’s duties; God’s grace
Young peoples’ lives evolve and are open to being formed, for Don Bosco. A young life is a growing
process necessarily involving an adult educator, surrounding factors, what the educator does. As we
have seen, in the network of forces involved in the growing process of the young person, education
stands out as the dominant and irreplaceable one. All other resources are effective thanks to the
mediation of education. Growing up takes place thanks to educators, in interaction with them, and in
obedience to them.
Naturally as Don Bosco’s undertakings expanded, they achieved their objectives in different ways and
with different approaches depending on the situation of the young people concerned:
1. The type of youngster: orphan, abandoned, civilised, seminarian....
2. Psychological and moral levels: good character, ordinary character, difficult, bad.
3. Kind of institution: festive oratory, evening and Sunday school, religious and recreational
association, boarding school for academic students, home for working boys.
There was also the question of communication: press, theatre, music and singing, games,
outings/excursions.
Naturally, there was a basic platform made up of goals, values, contents and methods common to all
institutions which resulted in a fundamentally unified Preventive System though one which could
respond flexibly to real circumstances. But to achieve all this the approaches used need to be different
if they were to be appropriate and effective.
Which means that while it is easy enough to work out the aims, it becomes much more difficult to draw
up a picture of the variety of approaches by which these aims were to be achieved, given the multitude
of different circumstances of young people and the range of institutions offered to deal with them. In
the end we can only describe the more significant broad outlines. The next two chapters will take these
up. Both will indicate the educational approaches adopted within an overall Christian view of
education. In the first chapter, however, we will highlight the religious aspect, while the following
chapter will look more closely at human cooperation, while not overlooking the omnipresent divine
factor.
1. From obedience of a pedagogical kind to adult social conformity
The royal road, the only one according to Don Bosco, to adult maturity is obedience – listening and
then following. During the period of education this is the means and method for arriving at a complete
adults social conformity.
Obedience to the educator is the main tool for becoming truly human and Christian, just as the learning
of a trade or craft demands dependence on the ‘master’. To learn the profession of being human and
Christian, everything comes back to the unum necessarium: obedience to God, the Pope, the holy
ministers of the Church, or in other words, whatever your state in life, be obedient to whom you must
be obedient: father, mother, employer, superior.
It is for this reason that obedience is the virtue which “encompasses all other virtues. It is the virtue

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which gives rise to and permits other virtues to grow and also safeguards them in such a way that they
may never be lost.”886
“The foundation of all virtues in a young man lies in obedience to superiors. Obedience generates and
safeguards all the other virtues. And, if this virtue is necessary for everyone, even more so is it
necessary for youth. Therefore if you want to acquire this virtue, begin by obeying your superiors,
submitting yourselves to them without any kind of opposition just as you would submit to God.887
By means of obedience, a young man either as in individual or in community becomes a disciple and
by inwardly conforming to what is ordered, expressed in rules and prescriptions, he becomes
disciplined at every level and in every sector of his inner and outward existence. So education becomes
a work of obedience and discipline in the broader sense: fulfilling one’s duty is really fulfilling all
duties towards God, others, and self. Duty and doing things dutifully are deeply connected: everything
we need to do for our salvation goes back to the duty of our state in life - study, work - which turns out
to be like a measuring rod to test and verify the authentic fulfilment of all other duties.
‘Discipline’, for Don Bosco, has a holistic meaning. In a circular to Salesians in 1873, Don Bosco
stated: “By ‘discipline’ I mean a way of living which conforms to the rules and traditional customs of
an institution. Therefore to reach the good results connected with discipline it is essential that all the
rules be kept by everyone.” “Observance of these rules must be evidenced by members of the
Congregation and by the young entrusted to our care by divine Providence... And so, discipline will
have no results at all if the rules of the Society and of the school are not kept. Believe me, my dear
friends, it is from the observance of the rules that the moral and other benefits for the pupils, or their
ruin, depend... The rules are really nothing but a synthesis of all the values human and Christian, to be
pursued”. And to conclude Don Bosco wrote: “The Lord said, one day, to his disciples: ‘Do this and
you shall live’ (Lk.10: 28). I am saying the same thing to you”.
Don Bosco assured his Salesians and their pupils that by practising these things: “You will have the
Lord’s blessings, you will enjoy inner peace, discipline will triumph in our houses, and we will see our
pupils grow in virtue and walk along road to eternal salvation”.888
It is an essential ingredient of the Preventive System to “make the rules of an institution known” and
then help the young to keep them, with the help of the educators who mention them then guide, advise
and correct with loving kindness.889 To grow, it remains for the pupils to cooperate obediently and with
conviction.
There is no doubt that at times Don Bosco presents obedience as sacrificing intellect and will and as
having an intrinsic moral and religious value. Tertullian fell into heresy because he did not have
humility and did not submit to his legitimate superiors and especially to the Vicar of Jesus Christ.890
“By obedience we offer to God as a sacrifice what we hold most precious, namely, our freedom.
Consequently this is the sacrifice we can offer God and to Him, this is the most dear offering”.891 But
above all, obedience has a functional value since it is educationally productive. After all, even for Don
Bosco, education was equated with discipline, understood in its widest sense.
886 G. Bonetti, Memoria di alcuni fatti tratti dalle prediche o dalla storia, end of 1858, pp. 10-11,13,15.
887 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chapter VIII Contengo verso i Superiori, p. 75 OE XXIX 171.
888 Circ. Letter Nov. 15, 1873, E II 319-321
889 Cf. Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 46, OE XXVIII 424.
890 G. Bosco, Vita de’ sommi pontefici S. Aniceto, S. Sotero... Turin, G. B. Paravia & CO., 1858, p. 46, OE X 250. “If
Savanarola had submitted to his Superiors those evils would not have befallen him”, his opinion in Storia d’Italia, in
reference to his being tortured and condemned to death.
891 G. Bonetti, Memoria di alcuni fatti..., p. 15.

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It is, however, hard to determine the degree of freedom and autonomy granted and favoured by this
type of pedagogy of obedience. Perhaps the overall comparison with the effective experience of the
Preventive System in all its aspects might provide a flexible interpretation of what has been said thus
far. We might see this in the chapters to follow.
2. Pedagogy based on ‘duty’.
Pedagogy based on duties like the duty to study, work, follow a profession, a mission, is as
fundamental since it is an initiation into what is sacred; indeed it is considered res sacra in itself, the
expression of God ‘s will and a way to achieve holiness.
The duties we are talking about constitute the entire gamut of human and Christian moral dimensions.
Fr Albert Caviglia remarks: “Whoever gains a close knowledge of our saintly educator will know that
these ideas lay at the basis of all his educational effort, both in community living and in spirituality as
well. Don Bosco did not give credence to showy piety, meaning piety which was not backed up by a
diligent and conscientious observance of one’s duties”.892 “Two fundamental principles stand out: the
scrupulous use of time and diligence in the performance of one’s duties, according to Don Bosco are at
the head of all spiritual effort”.893
This is how the formation of a good Christian and honest citizen is brought about. Don Bosco achieves
it subtly through reminders and by vigilance, by means of exhortations and example, and by means of a
variety of things, ideal and useful, that provide motivation.
Don Bosco dedicates a chapter from Michael Magone’s Life to the “exact performance of his duties”.
Magone is presented as the ideal prototype of a boy who might seem scatter-brained, a bit too lively at
first sight, entirely caught up in what he is doing, capable of turning the whole house upside-down, but
who become amenable to discipline by working at it: “In time, he knew how to check himself and
exercise self-control to the point that he was always the first one to respond whenever duty called.”894
In his Life of Francis Besucco, Don Bosco again highlights “his exactness in the performance of his
duties”, the “exact use of time”, his readiness to get out of bed in the morning, his “outstanding
punctuality in going to church”, his “diligence in his studies, attention in the classroom, and obedience
to the superiors”.895
Herewith what Don Bosco wrote in the Rules for the Houses:
Remember that you are in the springtime of life at your age. Whoever does not get
accustomed to work in his youth will probably end up being lazy into old age; he will,
perhaps, be a dishonour to his country and relatives, and will do irreparable harm to his
soul.896
“Avoidance of idleness” which is the “father of all vices”, is the foundation of a sincere spirituality.
892 A. Caviglia, Savio Domenico e Don Bosco, Studio, pp. 99-100. Caviglia gives a whole chapter to La vita di dovere (pp.
97-110).
893 Cf. A. Caviglia, il «Magone Michele» una classica esperienza educativa... p. 152; cf pp. 151-154, Il dovere (in the same
book we find the life of Luigi Comollo with a preliminary note); A. Caviglia, La vita di Besucco Francesco..., pp. 171-
174.
894 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., p. 13,15,35, OE XIII 167, 169, 189; see the whole
chapter Puntualità ne’ suoi doveri, pp. 33-39, OE XIII 187-193.
895 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., p. 95, 96, 114, 120 OE XV 337, 338, 356, 362. On the topic of Studio e diligenza cf
chap. XVIII, pp. 94-99, OE XV 336-341.
896 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap V Del lavoro, art. 6 p. 69, OE XXIX 165.

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Therefore, there should be utmost diligence in the performance of one’s duties, both scholastic and
religious. Idleness is the father of all vices. Don Bosco had noticed something which made him sad in
the pupils of Mirabello, among other things, “A group (of pupils) who avoid any work as though it
were a huge boulder hanging over their heads.”897
Attending to one’s commitments to study and work is essential practical training for a serious and
happy life and is acquired through the habit of discipline and moral and civil uprightness. Following
this line of thought, Don Bosco gave a series of eight short Good Night talks to the boys on moral
discipline and study method.898 The means range from fear of God to good eating habits. Faith and
reason, morality and hygiene, devotion and common sense are all nicely blended together to attain
happiness and what is good.
The pedagogy of duty and work is substantially part of the entire life of an educational institution, with
its continuous succession of various occupations and moments of recreation, tight rhythm of activities
in the classroom, workshops and study halls, with eagerness to achieve one’s best, emulating others, all
the while accompanied by the example and energy of the educators.
This is the characteristic of Salesian religious and Don Bosco is proud of it!
Do we not hear it repeated every day to the four winds: work, instruction, humanity? Lo
and behold... In many cities the Salesians are opening workshops of all kinds, agricultural
schools in the countryside to train young people to work in the fields; they found boarding
schools for boys and girls, day schools as well as evening and Sunday schools, oratories
with recreation on Sundays to refine young men’s minds and enrich them with useful
knowledge; for hundreds and thousands of orphans and abandoned children they open up
homes, orphanages and welfare institutes, bringing the light of the Gospel and civilisation
to the very barbarians of Patagonia, doing their best so that humanity may not only be just a
word but a reality.899
3. Prime of place for religious education
Cultivating the religious dimension, instilling the fear of God in the young, educating them to live
habitually in the state of grace: all this constitutes the objective of the complex of Christian practices of
piety which find its inspiration in tradition and the personal experience which characterises the life of
every “house”.
It is absolutely self-evident that for Don Bosco religion that is put into practice is the main goal of an
authentic education. This is what Don Bosco tells a group of past pupils who had achieved such a goal,
thanks to the education received at the Oratory. Don Bosco goes back to this and insists upon it:
Wherever you may be, always show yourselves to be good Christians and upright men.
Love, respect, put into practice our holy religion, the religion with which I educated you
and with which I kept you away from the dangers and corruption of the world; the religion
which brings us comfort in the sufferings of our life, gives us strength when we face the
clutches of death and opens for us the gates of boundless happiness.900
897 Letter to the students at the minor seminary of St Charles, Mirabello, Dec. 30, 1863, Em I 629.
898 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, p. 22, 23, 25, 26, 31, 37, 38, 53; cf. Also G. Berto, Raccolta di detti, fatti e sogni di d.
Bosco, Good Night Sept. 11, 1867, pp. 60-61.
899 Conference to Cooperators at S. Benigno Canavese, June 4, 1880, BS 4 (1880) no. 7, July p. 12.
900 Address June 24, 1880 BS 4 (1880) no. 9, Sept., p. 10.

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This ‘boundless happiness’ and ‘eternal salvation’, as a matter of fact, are constantly placed before the
eyes of the young as an on-going stimulus to reflection and commitment. With eyes fixed on that goal,
the young person is invited in several ways, through words, readings, stories and ‘dreams’, to
subordinate every other activity to this one and consider “the salvation of one’s soul”, as the dominant
idea of spiritual life.901
This the central point of Don Bosco’s entire educational approach. “Salvation is the fruit of redemption
wrought by Jesus Christ and stands for ‘freedom from sin’ and life of grace; it stands for adoptive son-
ship, friendship with God, in a word, it stands for holiness.
Three warnings found in Don Bosco’s Guide for Christian living (Porta teco cristiano), insist on this
idea:
19. God wants us all to be safe; rather it is his will that all of us become saints.
20. Whoever wants to be saved should have the idea of eternity in his mind, God in his
heart and the world under his feet.
21. Everyone is obliged to perform the duties proper to the state in which he finds
himself.902
In the salvation event, beyond simplified terms like “theocentrism” or “christocentrism”, terms foreign
to Don Bosco’s way of thinking and language, what stands out and takes on absolute relevance is the
action of God who, as we have seen, shows predilection for the young;903 it is the action of Jesus Christ
our Saviour, true God and true Man, our Divine Saviour.904
Meanwhile, the young person learns, on occasions such as feast days, novenas, special months,
particular events and devotions, that the Mother of our Redeemer is active in his life as a Christian,
through her intercession and mediation. The young person is invited to appeal to her daily by repeating
the invocation three times: “Dear Mother Mary, help me to save my soul”.905
Finally, it is not irrelevant to indicate from a particularly pedagogical point of view that young people
can more easily accept and interiorise the presence of divine or sacred persons thanks to the effective
intermediary work of their educators. If coadjutor brothers, clerics, and above all priests and
particularly the confessor can see that God, our Saviour Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary are accepted,
trusted and loved, the more they will know how to present them as “fathers, brothers and friends”. It is
enough for them to invest them with the qualities suggested by the Preventive System: the charity St
Paul praises, charity founded on unshakable hope, made tangible by active “consecration” in a climate
of human reasonableness and loving kindness.906
901 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, Vol II, chap IV Storia e Salvezza, pp. 59-100; idem, Don
Bosco e le trasformazioni sociali e religiose del suo tempo, in La famiglia salesiana riflette sulla vocazione nella
Chiesa di oggi. Turin-Leumann, Elle Di CI 1973, pp. 159-162, Da mihi animas, cetera tolle.
902 Porta teco cristiano..., p. 7, OE XI 7.
903 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., pp. 10-11, OE II 190-191.
904 G. Bosco, Il cattolico istruito nella sua religione. Trattenimenti di un padre fi famiglia co’ suoi figliuoli secondo i
bisogni del tempo. Turin, P. De-Agostini 1853, first series, section X, p. 43, OE IV 237; section XI, p. 47, OE IV 241;
section XII, pp 50-53, OE IV 244-247.
905 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., p. 54, OE II 234; La chiave del paradiso in mano al cattolico..., p. 43, OE VIII 43.
906 The virtues of the good educator Don Bosco takes back to the three basic qualities: reason, religion, loving kindness,
subject of chap 14.

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4.Teaching fear as a prelude to love
Education substantially has the aim of transfusing a vital synthesis of love and fear into the religious
world of the young person. This synthesis is the correct relationship of the believer with his God,
Creator and Lord, and at the same time, Father and Saviour. This is meant to occur through a delicate
balance where “love more than fear” becomes the hinge of spirituality and pedagogy.
This is a belief and a method founded on centuries-old piety, Scripture, liturgy, and popular religiosity.
Grant, O Lord, that we may feel, at the same time, love for and fear of your Holy Name, so
that those whom you have established on the solid foundation of love may never be
deprived of your guidance.
This is the prayer which young members of the faithful heard read out in Latin at Sunday Mass during
the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi, the second Sunday after Pentecost, and which a high school
student knew how to translate.
The young person is ordinarily aware of his fragility as a ‘pilgrim’, exposed to dangers, temptations,
sin, and also aware of his dependence, as a creature, on the good God who is Provident and justly
rewarding and so fears separation from Him. Therefore the idea is constantly impressed upon him that
he should keep God’s Commandments, his counsels and, above everything else, the “new
commandment, the Gospel rule of charity”. The young man is urged to entrust himself to God’s grace
and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in hope and through prayer for his perseverance to the
end.
This perspective is present throughout the educational process and focuses on the following
exhortation: “Remember, O young man, that we are created to love and serve God Our Creator and that
all the knowledge and riches of this world would be of no avail to us without the fear of God. All our
temporal and eternal goods depend on this holy fear of God”.907 “Whoever has no fear of God should
quit studying, because he would be toiling in vain. “The Fear of God”, so say the Holy Scriptures, is
the beginning of wisdom”.908
The “seven considerations for each day of the week” tend to insist on blending the two motives of love
and fear.909 The frequent recitation of acts of Faith, Hope and Charity and the act of Contrition...that is
precisely what is constantly taught.
5. Practices of piety in religious education
After having nurtured the fear of God as a supreme treasure, Don Bosco added: “Keeping the fear of
God alive helps us in prayer, the holy Sacraments and the Word of God”.910 The Rules for Day Students
gives the rector the mission of “doing his very best to instil in the hearts of the young the love of God,
respect for sacred things, frequent reception of the Sacraments and a filial devotion to Mary Most Holy,
for all that constitutes true piety.” 911
From the viewpoint of the number of “practices”, there is a considerable difference in the case of
907 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap III Della Pietà, art 1, p. 63 OE XXIX 159.
908 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap VI Contegno nella scuola e nello studio, art 21 and 22,, p. 73 OE XXIX 169.
There are strong expressions found here like “a proud student is stupid, ignorant”; “the proud person is hateful in God’s
eyes and reviled amongst men” (Ibid, Chap VI, art 22; Chap IX, art. 6, p. 73 and 78, OE XXIX 169 and 174).
909 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., pp. 31-50, OE II 211-230.
910 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap III, art. 2, p. 63, OE XXIX 159.
911 Regolamento dell’Oratorio..., per gli esterni, part I, Chap I, art. 7, p. 6, OE XXIX, 36.

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boarders, where the academic students have more than the working boys, and the case of day
students.912 For the latter, the following prescription holds: “They shall be absolutely obliged to come to
Mass on Sunday and on Holy Days of obligation. If possible, they should also attend on weekdays”.913
For those who attended the Oratory, there was a customary series of practices of piety offered on
Sundays: Mass, homily, catechism classes and an afternoon service. 914
Personal participation in religious life and the maturing of one’s commitment to moral behaviour
presuppose an enlightened and conscious faith which is not possible without a systematic program of
Instruction and Reflection. To achieve this, Don Bosco relies on the effectiveness of several means:
catechesis on history and doctrine, religious culture as part of schooling, preaching - generally of an
instructive but also entertaining kind, always simple and down to earth, meditations and spiritual
reading.915
The pedagogy of faith leaves ample room for explicit forms of public witness, including together in
large groups: solemn religious celebrations, organised participation of particular groups in liturgical
services, such as for altar boys, choir members sodalities, pilgrimages to churches and shrines.
Reminiscing on the turbulent days of 1848, Don Bosco wrote in the Memoirs of the Oratory:
To encourage our young men ever more to disdain human respect, that year, for the first
time, in that year for the first time we marched in procession, to make those visits [to
churches on Holy Thursday] singing the Stabat Mater and Miserere.916
6. Sacramental pedagogy in general and specifically the Eucharist
In boarding establishments we notice a literal application of the pedagogical principle relating to the
sacraments. And even though this principle was indicated as a general orientation in what he wrote
about the Preventive System, it involves the entire system.917
Naturally this principle, in due proportion, is applicable to all Don Bosco’s institutions. It is a well-
known fact that the term ‘sacraments’ in Don Bosco’s educational language, stands for the sacraments
of Penance and the sacrament of Holy Eucharist which are “the wings needed to fly to Heaven”.918
Frequent Confession and Communion, daily Mass are the pillars which must support the
edifice of education, from which we propose to banish the use of threats and the cane.
Never force the boys to frequent the sacraments but encourage them to do so, give them
every opportunity. On occasions of retreats, triduums, novenas, sermons and catechism
classes, let the beauty, grandeur and holiness of the Catho9lic religion be dwelt on, for in
the sacraments it offers to all of us a very easy and useful means to attain our salvation and
peace of heart. In this way children take readily to these practices of piety and will adopt
912 Cf. Regolamento dell’Oratorio..., per gli esterni, part II, Chap X, Pratiche particolari di Cristiana pietà, pp. 43-44, OE
XXIX 73-74; Regolamento per le case..., Chap III Della Pietà and Chap IV Contengo in chiesa, pp. 63-68, OE XXIX
159-164.
913 Deliberations of the Conference of St Francis de Sales 1875, MB X 1115.
914 As for Practices of piety at Valdocco, also adopted in other similar institutions, for boarders and day students, cf P.
Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità...., vol II, pp. 303-309.
915 Chapter 18 will speak more specifically of the school of Christian doctrine.
916 MO (1991) 193.
917 Cf. A. Caviglia, Savio Domenico e Don Bosco, Studio, pp. 343-363, Don Bosco e la Pedagogia dei Sacramenti.
918 G. Bonetti, Annali II (1861-1862), p. 13.

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them willingly with joy and benefit.919
But for a quicker journey to the beneficial use of the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist, the appeal
Don Bosco made to educators and those to be educated in his Life of Dominic Savio is quite significant
Give me a young man who frequently approaches these sacraments and you will see him
grow during his youth, reach adulthood and, if so God so wills, advanced old age, with
conduct which stands out as an example for all those who know him. Let the youngsters
come to understand this principle, so that they may put it into practice; let all those who are
involved in the education of these same youngsters understand this principle, in order to be
able to teach it.920
Basic to education in the sacraments are the indications provided by catechetical instruction and
traditional preaching: on the necessary conditions for a valid, worthy and fruitful reception of the above
mentioned sacraments; on the main actions and parts connected with them; on the serious danger of
committing a sacrilege when the right dispositions are not there; and on the frequent reception of the
sacraments (which he insists on to a growing degree).
As we have already remarked, Don Bosco would never fail to denounce the wiles of the Devil who, in
the striking stories he told and the ‘dreams’ he related, appears under a number of forms, some alluring
and some monstrous.
To all of the above we need to add Don Bosco’s many strennas (= suggested action programs) given at
the
the beginning of every year, his exhortations, the instructions given on the occasion of the ‘exercise for
a happy death’ and Retreats.
What is more positively carried out and clearly evidenced by the practice of the sacraments of Penance
and Eucharist, is the synthesis of the human and divine, the action and ‘work’ of grace and the impulse
given to personal collaboration between the priest-educator and the young person to be educated. This
synthesis is what characterises not only the sacramental experience but also prayer, ‘devotions’, among
which devotion to the Virgin Mother holds a privileged place.
The sacraments and prayer are not only a means of grace but also tools for human growth, since they
provide a solid foundation for moral virtues and promote inner and exterior joy.
They may say what they like about various systems of education, but I do not find any other
secure basis for mine except frequent reception of the Sacraments of Confession and
Communion. And I believe I am not overstating things when I say that when these are
missing, then morality is ‘banished’.921
A Eucharistic pedagogy, then - Mass, Communion, Visits (to the Bl. Sacrament) - is exceptionally well
developed by Don Bosco. Its first presentation appears in the Life of Louis Comollo, but it was
proposed for the first time to seminarians (1844) and to youth in general later on (1854).922
As was customary during Don Bosco’s times, First Communion was stressed because of its particular
919 Il sistema salesiano (1877), p. 54, 56, OE XXVIII 432, 434. Between square brackets we find a text inserted into the
Regolamento per le case (p. 8, OE XXIX 104).
920 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 68, OE XI 218.
921 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., p. 100 OE XV 342.
922 Cf. [G. Bosco], Cenni storici sulla vita del chierico Luigi Comollo..., p. 24, 32-34, OE I 24, 32-34.

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moulding effectiveness, and described as “the most important act of one’s life”, “the most momentous
and serious of one’s life”.923
The Companion of Youth dedicates several pages to the ‘manner of assisting at holy Mass’, to
‘preparation for holy Communion, to ‘Visits to the Blessed Sacrament’924
Don Bosco loved to recall that for Dominic Savio, “It was a real delight be able to spend some hours
before the Blessed Sacrament”.925The Eucharistic theme is more widely developed in the spiritual and
pedagogical profile found in the Life of Francis Besucco, a more instructional ‘Life’, particularly in
three chapters on ‘Holy Communion’,’ The Veneration of the Blessed Sacrament’, and ‘Viaticum’.926
Once again there is Don Bosco solid conviction that next to the Sacrament of Penance, “the second
support for youth is Holy Communion... Lucky those youngsters who at receive this Sacrament
frequently and with proper dispositions an early age”.927Added to this theme are recurring questions of
early and frequent Communion.928
But the repeated exhortations to receive communion - preceded by confession - makes us think of a
Don Bosco who at times had to be more modest in educational objectives. The frequent reception of the
sacraments on feast days is proposed as a strenna on December 13, 1858, to the “workers”, the working
boys, “who cannot receive the holy sacraments so often on weekdays”.929 For this reason there are
many strennas on this topic. The strenna given on December 31, 1860, for the following year, says: “A
sincere confession and frequent communion”.930
The strenna (more of a parable in this case) given December 31, 1863, presented the two columns with
these striking terms written on them: Regina mundi, Queen of the world and Panis vitae, Bread of
life.931
As he was giving out the strenna for 1868 on December 31, 1867, Don Bosco ended one of his usual
dream-stories he was telling, with these words:” Let this be the strenna: “frequent communion is the
most efficacious means to have a good death... Honour Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed
Virgin: with these two safeguards, everything will be obtained; without them nothing is obtained”.932
7. Sin and the sacrament of reconciliation
The administration of the Sacrament of Penance with its various benefits, seems more evidently
pedagogical: it is a grace-happening, an occasion for spiritual direction, and moral therapy for the
corruption produced by sin.
Besides the concept it is the massive reality of sin, both original and actual sin, that stands out in Don
Bosco’s mentality and spirituality, as well as in the sleepless nights he spent fighting against the one
who is the personification of sin, the Devil. There is plenty of evidence of this in his writings, words
923 G. Bosco, La forza della buona educazione..., pp. 20-21, 30, 38, OE VI 294-295, 304, 312.
924 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., pp. 84-92, 98-103, 103-105, OE II 254-272, 278-283, 283-285.
925 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 71, OE XI 221.
926 Cf. G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., respectively, pp 105-109, 109-113, 157-158, OE 347-351, 351-355, 399-400.
927 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., p. 105, OE XV 347
928 Cf. G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., pp. 105-106, OE XV 347-348; Il sistema preventivo (1877), pp. 9-10, OE
XXVIII 105-106.
929 G. Bonetti, Memoria di alcuni fatti..., p. 35.
930 D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, No. 2 1861, p.2: G. Bonetti, Memoria di alcuni fatti..., pp.
68-69.
931 D. Ruffino, Le doti frandi e luminose..., pp. 10-12.
932 G. Berto, Fatti particolari I, pp. 8-10.

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and actions. Don Bosco multiplied his warnings, teachings and exhortations to arouse horror for sin, to
point out “the ugliness of sin”, “the greatest enemy of the young”933 in contrast to grace, and “the
beauty of virtue”.
“Oh, how unfortunate are those who fall into sin, but how more unfortunate are those who live in sin”.
“Oh sin! Oh Sin! What a terrible scourge you are to those who allow you to enter into their hearts”.
These are the words Don Bosco has the young Michael Magone say after his general confession.934
It is absolutely essential “to break the horns of the devil, who would like to become the Lord and
master of some individuals”.935 For Don Bosco sin is a source of anxiety which he supports be
recounting his threatening dreams and when faced with the most frequent forms of evil affecting the
young: impurity, blasphemy, theft, bad talk, scandal, intemperance and sloth regarding religious duties.
The youngsters’ enemy number one, as already stated, is impurity, “the ugliest of sins” 936 “wallowing in
the mud of degradation”, feeding on “poisonous meat” 937Animalis homo non percepit quae Dei sunt, A
man who acts like an animal does not perceive what pertains to God.938 “Exposing a white handkerchief,
symbol of the Queen of virtues to hail and snow939 is like offering Our Lady a piece of pork, a cat, a
dish of toads, instead of flowers”.940
In the ‘Dream’ on Hell, Don Bosco singles out the main snares which capture the young, who are
dragged along by a monster-like devil. The snares are: “the snare of pride”, “the snare of
disobedience”, “the snare of envy”, “the snare of the sixth commandment”, “the snare of theft”. There
were many more snares but the ones which capture most of the young were dishonesty, disobedience
and pride, which connects the first two. Added to theses was human respect.941
Along with catechesis and preaching, often anxious and anxiety-producing, he wove in reassuring
words and solutions via God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The sacrament of Reconciliation is an efficacious means to bring grace and joy, being the sacrament of
peace with God and with oneself. God’s mercy becomes operative with the “hammer of confession”.942
By comparison with the sacrament of the Eucharist, the entire penitential process is, by far, more
prevalent and given more attention in educational terms, in the Life (Cenno biografico) of Michael
Magone. The reason is that the human element plays a more consistent part than it does in the
automatic ex opere operato of Communion and the Mass.943
In fact, notwithstanding the ex opere operato, the administration of the Sacrament of Penance is
invested with a strong pedagogical role, both for the minister and the penitent.944 The confessor, who
933 Letter to artisans at the Oratory, Jan. 20, 1874 E II 339.
934 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., p. 22, OE XIII 176.
935 Letter to young people at Mirabello, beginning July 1864 Em II 58.
936 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca, 1864ff, Good Night Dec. 14, 1864, pp. 47-49.
937 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca, 1864ff, Good Night Dec. 2, 1864, pp. 33-34.
938 F. Provera, Cronaca, Good Night Aug. 22, 1862, dream of the snake (the Ave Maria), p. 5; other version D. Ruffino,
Cronaca 1861 1862, 1863, pp. 118-121.
939 D. Ruffino, Cronaca, 1861 1862 1863.
940 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, dream at end of May 1865, pp. 137-139. Lemoyne’s diary is full of evening talks on
the topic: Jan. 16, 1865, pp. 72-74; Feb. 6, 1865, pp. 85-86; Feb. 13, 1865, pp. 92-94.
941 G. Berto, Cronaca 1868-2, pp. 21-23.
942 G. Berto, Cronaca 1868-2, p. 3. Others record a similar expression: “The hammer means confession and includes holy
communion” (F. Provera, Cronaca, pp. 5-6).
943 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., pp. 20-24, OE XIII 174-178.
944 Cf. R. Schiéle, ‘L’Église formatrice des consciences par le sacrement de pénitence’, in «Salesianum» 14 (1952) 578-
589.

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should always be the same one makes a definite impact on the young person through what he does, as
long as the three dispositions required for a good confession are fulfilled, namely, integrity and
sincerity in confessing one’s sins, an appropriate sense of sorrow for sins committed and a firm purpose
of amendment. The last condition is the one Don Bosco insisted on more particularly. “As long as you
do not have a steady confessor in whom to place all your trust, you will never have a real friend for
your soul”. Don Bosco wrote this in his Life of Michael Magone for young people to take note of.945
At the same time, Don Bosco addresses those whose job it is to hear the confessions of young people,
offering pedagogical and reflective insights to help them more easily receive and respond to the trust of
the young. Terms which are characteristic of Don Bosco’s system are repeated time and time again:
“Welcome them with loving kindness; help the young to express whatever they have on their
consciences; correct them gently, win over their trust; use plenty of prudence and reserve in whatever
has to do with chastity”.946
Likewise in the Life of Francis Besucco, Don Bosco first exhorts the young to choose a confessor who
will be their steady spiritual guide. Then, he addresses those who have the task of educating the young,
offering three recommendations:
Zealously impress upon them the need for frequent confession; Insist with them on the
great usefulness of choosing a steady confessor; Remind them often of the great secrecy of
confession, to reassure them and encourage them to approach the Sacrament of penance
with boundless trust and serenity of spirit. 947
These recommendations are habitually tied together in Don Bosco’s sermons, conferences, goodnight
talks, writings, personal counselling, which in turn ask a firm, personal commitment on the part of the
young.
We find a dramatic focus of this kind in one ‘Dream’ which Don Bosco recorded in a letter to boys at
Lanzo on February 11, 1871. The dream tells of a monster who plays his part with the assurance of help
from trustworthy ‘friends’, namely: those who make promises and do not keep them, those who confess
the same sins every time, and those who indulge in bad talk: “every word is a seed which brings forth
marvellous fruits”. But the monster is also forced to reveal who “his greatest enemies” are: those who
often go to communion, those who are devotees of Mary and especially those who keep the resolutions
they made in confession.948
8. A Marian and devotional pedagogy
Along with the Sacramental experience of Penance and Eucharist is Don Bosco’s insistence on
practical things like habitual attitudes and behaviour seasoned by Christian piety; readiness to pray and
sensitivity to devotion. 949
To attain this, religious festivities, brightened up with joyful forms of singing and music, make a
singular contribution.950
945 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., p. 26 OE XIII 180: Una parola alla gioventù. pp. 23-27,
OE XIII 179-181.
946 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., pp. 27-29, OE XIII 181-183
947 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., pp. 100-105, OE XV 342-347, La confessione.
948 E II 149-159.
949 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità..., vol II, pp. 275-357, Preghiera Sacramenti e Osservanze
religiose.
950 We will speak more widely on this in Chap 16.

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The pedagogy of ‘piety’ is experienced more through a series of practices rather than being spelt out in
words; daily, monthly, yearly liturgical as well as civil rhythms. Within this practical, religious
pedagogy of Don Bosco, one can recognise the persistent intertwining of Confession, Mass,
Communion, spiritual reading, prayer, and the divine office.951 We see these things expressed in the
‘Lives’ of his young pupils, as well as in other stories of a biographical kind: The Lives of Dominic
Savio,952 Michael Magone953 and Francis Besucco954 make it evident since their lives reflect the
experience of the community in which they live.
Don Bosco’s practical, religious pedagogy is relived by Peter, the chief character in his The Power of a
Good Education,955 in the parish and at Don Bosco’s Oratory; and by Valentino, in the story by the
same name, who boards at a school which has a Salesian style. Valentino prayed intensely at home,
during his childhood, thanks to the guidance of his mother; at school, where he easily picked up the old
habit of following the practices of piety. Valentino’s subsequent crises are linked with the neglect of
such practices.956
Among devotions, the devotion to the Blessed Mother holds a position par excellence.957 “Devotion to
the Blessed Virgin is the support of every faithful Christian, and is particularly the support of Youth”.958
Michael Magone feels that the devotion to Our Lady is almost like a vocation, from the day he receives
the gift of a holy picture of the Blessed Virgin with the following words written on it: Venite filii, audite
me, timorem Domini docebo vos (Come children, listen to me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord)
and he begins to honour her under the title of “Heavenly Mother, divine teacher, compassionate
shepherdess”.959
According to Don Bosco even Francis Besucco “nourishes a special affection for Mary Most Holy.
During the novena for her Birthday he demonstrated particular fervour towards her and then spelled out
his filial expressions towards her”.960
Don Bosco gave his boys a prayer he had written for them at the Marian shrine at Oropa:
“Mary, bless our entire house; keep even the shadow of sin far away from the hearts of our
youngsters. May you be the guide of all our students; may you be the seat of True Wisdom
for them. Let them be yours, always yours; consider them always as your children and
always keep them among your devotees.961
951 Cf. Una preziosa parola ai figli ed alle figlie. Turin Oratory of st. Francis de Sales Press 1862, p. 5 (Ricordo II), 7-8
(Ricordo III), 13-15 (Ricordo VIII), OE XIII 441, 443-444. 449-451.
952 Cf. G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., pp. 62-67, OE XI 212-217.
953 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., Chap VI Sua esemplare sollecitudine per le pratiche di
pietà, pp. 29-33, OE XIII 183-187.
954 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., pp. 113-119, OE XV 355-361.
955 G. Bosco, La forza della buona educazione..., Chap VIII Singolarità di sua divozione, pp. 62-69, OE VI 336-343.
956 Cf. G. Bosco, Valentino o la vocazione impedita. Episodio contemporaneo. Tuin. Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press
1866, pp. 5-6, 22 (Chap I La madre di famiglia), OE XVII 183-184, 200 ; pp. 19-25 (Chap. IV Nuovo collegio. Ritorna
alla pietà), OE XVII 197-203; and then, in more or less serious crisis pp. 10-13, 14-16, 38-39, OE XVII 188-191, 192-
194, 216-217
957 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella sotria della religiosità..., Vol II, pp. 147-175, Maria Santissima; A. Caviglia, Domenico
Savio e Don Bosco. Studio, pp. 310-322, Devozione e dedizione a Maria SS.
958 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., p. 39 OE XIII 193
959 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., Chap VIII Sua divozione verso la B. Vergine Maria, pp.
39-40, OE XIII 193-194.
960 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., pp. 115-117, OE XV 357-359.
961 Letter to the “Dear students” of the Oratory, Aug. 6, 1863, Em I 594.

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Mary, sometimes by extraordinary means, calls back the more obstinate amongst the boys, to do
penance, and keeps God’s punishments away from them.962 The Novenas, especially the Novena to the
Immaculate Conception, are days of grace and times when ‘verdicts’ are being passed and there is a
‘cleansing’ going on in the house: “Our Lady is the one who chooses the youngsters suited for the
Oratory or the youngsters who should leave or be expelled from the Oratory”963
Discussion of Mary becomes more intense when Don Bosco begins the building of the Church of Mary
Help of Christians in Turin (1863-1868).
The privileged devotional practices are the daily recitation of the Rosary and the devotions during the
Month of May.
9. Initiation to a ‘sensus ecclesiae’ and fidelity to the Pope
The Sensus Ecclesiae, and fidelity to the Pope hold an important place in Don Bosco’s pedagogy. He
considers them to be essential to a full and complete Christian faith.
They are given different emphasis
• the first focuses on the salvific reality of the Church
• the second focuses on the structural reality of the Church
Oral and written catechesis, apologetics and pedagogy.... all converge on the need to impress upon the
young the belief that only the Catholic Church possesses the means of grace and salvation: Revelation,
in its integrity and truth; the Sacraments, administered in the fullness of validity and grace; orderly
communal living in charity, guaranteed by the harmonious coexistence of the two dimensions, the
hierarchical and the fraternal.
No salvation outside the church is not up for argument. Don Bosco’s Church History, Advice to
Catholics, The educated Catholic, along with his various apologetic works all converge on that belief.
It comes from a catechesis which was presented orally long before it was written down.
The holiness of the Church prevails over other of its features, including the unity of the Church,
although this latter is a fundamental structural feature.
But no less insisted upon from the viewpoint of catechesis, is the structural compactness of the Church,
guaranteed from the top down: The Vicar of Jesus Christ and Successor of St Peter, The Pope. Don
Bosco’s educational effort in this regard is especially evident during the first two decades of his
involvement in working for the young.
There are some constants in Don Bosco’s activity as a leader through his writings and his talks:
The defence of the historical, dogmatic centrality of the Papacy in the History of the Church;964 his
Sunday catechetical instructions centred on the History of the Popes; his solicitude in celebrating
events related to the Holy Father in a festive way; the Pope’s interest in life at the Oratory, especially
962 G. Bonetti, Annuali II (1861-1862), evening talk tot he boys of the Oratory on Sunday Jan. 12, 1862, after a ball of fire
had appeared in two of the rooms, pp. 6-9.
963 Cf. D. Ruffino, Cronaca dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales No. 1 1860, Nov. 27, 1860, p.27; idem, Cronaca 1861
1862 1863, words in June 1862, p. 95; G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Dec. 2, 1864, pp. 32-35, and Dec. 4, 1864, pp.
36-37; Jan. 11, 1865, after talking about Our Lady’s apparition at La Salette e “signs” in Chioggia, Vicovaro, Spoleto,
pp. 69-70.
964 Cf. Preface to Storia ecclesiastica, p. 9, OE I 167. In the book the centrality and above all the saints and saintly Popes.
In the lives of the Popes, the historical primacy is also highlighted as well as the primacy of jurisdiction and teaching.

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during the period when Pius IX was exiled at Gaeta (gratitude shown for the gift of 35 Lire, festivities
for the rosary-beads sent and blessed by the Pope and mailed from Portici on April 2, 1850);965 later on,
the separation of the Feast of St Peter from that of St Aloysius Gonzaga;966 celebrations for the 25th
Anniversary of the Pontificate of Pius IX etc.
Don Bosco’s enthusiasm for the Pope was contagious and educational: when he returned from his trips
to Rome, and on any other occasion, for example in 1882, as recorded in the Chronicle written by Fr
John Bonetti.
During the first days of May, Don Bosco reminded the boys about the fact that Pius IX even
though pressed by business dealing with the entire church, had shown interest in the
Oratory at Turin. And he took the occasion to urge the boys “to love him, not so much as
Pius IX, but as the Pope established by Jesus Christ, to rule over the church”. The he
concluded: “I would like to have Pius IX count on all the youngsters of the Oratory as his
defenders whatever part of the world they might find themselves in”.
And a few days later, Don Bosco stated: “Catholicism is losing out day after day. It is about time that
we draw closer to Pius IX and fight with him, if necessary, to the point of dying for him”.967
Don Bosco’s pedagogy of fidelity to the Pope was summed in an exhortation addressed to his boys on
March 7, 1867:
My dear children, never forget as long as you live that the Pope loves you and so, may no
word which might sound like an insult to him ever come out of your mouth.968
965 Cf. Breve ragguaglio della festa fattasi nel distribuire il regalo di Pio IX ai giovani degli oratorii di Torino. Turin.
Botta 1850, 27 p. OE IV 93-119.
966 Speaking with his closest helpers on June 16, 1876, Don Bosco shows that he is “absolutely against” the celebration of
the feast of St Aloysius Gonzaga on the day of St Peter, and expresses the wish that for the first Pope there needs to be “a
feast of of his own”. (G Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 8, pp. 29-30).
967 G. Bonetti, Annali II (1861-1862), pp. 78-79.
968 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, p. 189.

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Chapter 13
Educational disciplines: (2) virtue and commitment
Christian education involves collaboration: human and divine. Don Bosco was neither Pelagian nor
Quietist. He is prepared to act instead of just handing things over to the supernatural. “A lot of hard
work is achieved with hope”, Don Bosco taught in the concluding talk at a retreat, “The hope of a
reward supports patience”, he insisted and then concluded: “Have courage then! May hope support us
when our patience risks failing us”.969
1. Practising charity, mortification and politeness
We have already dealt with the virtue of obedience which shapes all other virtues at least from a
pedagogical point of view.
As we have also seen, piety and hard work are fundamental virtues for him. There are also other virtues
which Don Bosco nurtured and looked upon as absolutely essential for the young and the adult “good
Christian and upright citizen”.
He offers a concise list in his chapter on the Imitation of Christ in Portrait of a True Christian and The
Key to Heaven (Ritratto del vero cristiano and Chiave del paradiso, respectively). The Christian is
invited to follow behavioural patterns of the kind we find in his model, Jesus Christ. “He should pray,
since Jesus Christ prayed”; “he should be available just as Jesus Christ was available for the poor, the
ignorant, children”; “he should treat his neighbour just as Jesus Christ treated his followers”, and like
Jesus Christ “he should be humble, obedient, sober, self-controlled, attentive to the needs of others”.
“He should be with his friends much like Jesus Christ was with St John and St Lazarus, namely he
should love them in the Lord and for the love God”; “he should endure privation and poverty as Jesus
Christ endured them, with resignation”, and “just like Jesus Christ he should bear with insults and
abuse”; “he should be ready to endure the pains of the spirit”, just like Jesus Christ who was betrayed,
denied and abandoned; finally, “he should be ready to patiently accept all kinds of persecutions,
sickness and even death, entrusting his soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father”.970
Naturally, in the broad list of Christian virtues proposed to young people and adults, the theological
virtues could not be left out. These virtues, however, do not change the strongly moral inspiration of the
entire structure, based on duty and the practical exercise of acquired virtues.
Pointing out the courage of the young martyr Pancras, Don Bosco invited young people to look with
wonder at the “living faith, firm hope, and ardent charity” preceded by a virtuous childhood. It was
during childhood that Pancras was the delight of his parents and a model for his companions, obedient
to his parents, performing his duties exactly dedicated to his studies”.971A “living Faith” and “ardent
Charity” were the features Don Bosco had already attributed to Louis Comollo (1844).972
In his The devotee of the Guardian Angel, Don Bosco proposed the following prayer:
I beseech you, O Lord, grant strength to my spirit with a living faith, firm hope and ardent
charity, so that disposing of what belongs to the world, I may think only about loving and
969 G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 20, retreat at Lanzo, Sept. 18, 1875, pp. 7-8.
970 La chiave del paradiso..., pp. 20-23, OE VIII 20-23.
971 Vita di S. Pancrazio martire..., Turin, G.B. Paravia & Co, 1856, p. 35 and 11, OE VIII 229 and 205.
972 [G. Bosco], Cenni storici sulla vita del chierico Luigi Comollo..., p. 34, OE I 34.

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serving my God.973
Two years later, the same prayer was proposed again, in the Companion of Youth.974
Speaking of the early ministry of St Peter, The Vicar of Jesus Christ, Don Bosco attributes a living
faith, deep humility, prompt obedience, and fervent and generous charity to this apostle’.975
According to Don Bosco, the exceptional feature which distinguishes the spiritual life of Dominic
Savio lies in the practice of the three theological virtues:
We might even call the liveliness of his faith, the firmness of his hope, his ardent charity
and his perseverance in doing good up to his last breath, extraordinary.976
Charity has a place par excellence, as evidenced by the clear progress towards holiness along which
Dominic Savio is guided: taking upon himself his neighbours’ problems, big or small, knowing how to
live happily together with his classmates, growing in conviviality and friendship. The first
commandment for living in Don Bosco’s home for young people, no matter what kind of institutional
appearance there might be was:
Honour and love your companions as your brothers; love one another, as the Lord says, but
beware of scandal.977
We can see in all this the elements of active and happy life in common where the benevolence and
courtesy of the superiors encounters their pupils’ trust. Community life as a whole prevails over
individual relationships. Don Bosco’s fundamental aim is to form a family, live together.978
Charity is nourished and strengthened by good deeds, either imposed or freely chosen. In Don Bosco’s
Oratory and schools, the more mature youngsters helped the small ones and the newly arrived, so that
they head in the right direction. Don Bosco uses a kind of prefect system in the study hall and dining
room.979
In 1854 some thirty boys offered their services to help people struck down by the cholera epidemic.
This down-to earth-kind of charity, consisting of brotherly relationships, mutual respect, cordiality,
friendship, politeness, good manners, is strongly and often stressed by Don Bosco for the boys to
follow.980
Lived experience becomes an intentional pedagogy as narrated in the classical ‘Lives’ of Dominic
Savio981 and Michael Magone.982 Michael Magone shares his game-playing with the timid ones, those
not so well endowed physically; he comforts the home-sick kids; offers menial services to those who
973 Il divoto dell’Angelo Custode. Turin, Paravia & Co., 1845, p. 71 OE I 157.
974 G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., p. 124, OE II 304.
975 G. Bosco, Vita di S. Pietro..., p. 65, OE VIII 357; cf also G. Bosco, Il mese di maggio..., p. 152, OE X 446.
976 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 93, OE XI 243.
977 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap IX Contengo verso i compagni, art. 1-2, p. 77, OE XXIX 173.
978 Chapter 15 is dedicated to this topic.
979 Regolamento per le case..., part
980 Storia dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, BS 6 (1882) no. 2, Feb. pp. 30-34
981 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., Chap XII Episodi e belle maniere di conversare coi compagni, and
XXI Sua sollecitudine per gli ammalati, pp. 57-62, 102-104, OE XI 207-212, 252-254.
982 In the seventh chapter of Magone’s Life it speaks of “friendly relationships” with his companions and “features of
courtesy and charity” (G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., p. 34 and 38, OE XIII 188 and
192).

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have difficulties; he assists the sick; he calms down others thirsting for revenge”.983
The Rules for the Houses has the following to say:
Every young person accepted into our houses should consider his companions as brothers,
and the superiors as those who take on the role of their parents.984
The community of students and teachers is a continuous education in action to learn how to practise
charity. Don Bosco urges everyone, young or old, just as was the case for Dominic Savio, to make all
games, classes, assignments and just living together a training ground for self-education in charity and
apostolic friendship.985
Good example and apostolic zeal are the highest expressions of charity, but The Power of a Good
Education had already dedicated several pages to these things. Peter, the main character, first of all
defends himself from less trustworthy companions; then, in the workplace, during games, in the
military barracks, he succeeds in gaining esteem and a ready listening ear.986
The boys’ ‘Lives’ Don Bosco wrote between 1859 and 1864 indicate an explicitly lived and reflex
pedagogy of apostolic charity. It would appear to be an essential part of what salvation is all about.987
Don Bosco also insistently proposed mortification to the young. An explicit pedagogy involving
mortification can be found in the well-known biographical notes on young people.988Generally, Don
Bosco does not advise anyone to practise extraordinary mortification, just the kind that comes from
daily life. He urges them to accept these lovingly: “Diligence in studies, attention in the classroom,
obedience to superiors, putting up with the discomforts of life such as heat, cold, draughts, hunger,
thirst etc.” and endure suffering for the love of God and, of course, to fight against temptation, be
vigilant, and “custody of the external senses, especially the eyes”.989Mortification is insisted upon
especially in reference to the virtue of chastity, which we will deal with later on in this book.
Within this overall and relatively simple scheme of things Don Bosco also acknowledges an aspect
typical of the Catholic tradition of education: good upbringing, good manners, politeness were
considered essential for a solid moral education from Erasmus to Jean Baptist de la Salle. This kind of
civilised behaviour boils down to cleanliness, orderliness, and banning all kinds of coarse behaviour
which is an obstacle to purity itself. “You should take cleanliness very much to heart. External
cleanliness and orderliness stand for cleanliness and purity of one’s soul”.990
983 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., pp. 47-53, OE XIII 201-207, Chap X Bei tratti di carità
verso del prossimo.
984 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap II Dell’accettazione, art. 5, p. 61, OE XXIX 157; Chap IX Contegno verso I
compagni, pp. 77-78, OE XXIX 173-174.
985 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., Chap XI Suo zelo per la salute delle anime, pp. 53-56, OE XI 203-
206.
986 La forza della buona educazione, pp. 18-20, 35, 47-48, 55-62, 75-80, OE VI 292-294, 309, 321-322, 329-336, 349-354.
987 On the theological and pedagogical importance Don Bosco gave the apostolate as a vehicle and expression of human
maturity see A. Caviglia, Domenico Savio e Don Bosco. Studio, book III, Chap II Vocazione di Santo: L’apostolato, pp.
129-142, and Chap III L’apostolato in azione, pp. 143-156.
988 Cf. Chaps XV, XIII, XXIII respectively of Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico, Chap XV Sue penitenze, pp. 72-75, OE
XI 222-225; and Pastorello delle Alpi, Chaps XIII and XXIII with their titles, Mortificazioni – Penitenze – Custodia dei
sensi – Profitto nella scuola e Sue penitenze, pp. 68-74 and 119-124, OE XV 310-316 and 361-366.
989 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., pp. 120-121, OE XV 362-363.
990 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap XI, art. 1, p. 80, OE XXIX 176; cf. Chaps X and XI, Della modestia e Della
pulizia, pp. 78-81, OE XXIX 174-177.

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2. The Queen of virtues: chastity and its pedagogy
Chastity is the Queen of virtues; the virtue which safeguards all the other virtues. It is the virtue Don
Bosco nurtures, desires, defends and protects the most. He insists on it with evident anxiety and a
strongly protective attitude. Without chastity the mind and the heart do not heed exhortations regarding
goodness and grace and hence, productive growth.
What Don Bosco practised and recommended others to do included clean surroundings, moral
uprightness of people in those surroundings, good example from the teachers and other educators. He
dedicated a whole series of advice and exhortations relating to the morality of the assistants, teachers,
workshop heads which become particularly significant when we find them in other pedagogical
writings, for example the Confidential Memo for Rectors and the Preventive System 1877. The circular
to Salesians on February 5, 1874, might be seen as a program of action. It is entitled On the manner of
promoting and preserving morality among the boys graciously entrusted to us by divine Providence.
The ‘manner’ was first of all spelled out as the example to be given by the educators: sal et lux, salt and
light. Educators had to demonstrate resplendent and real chastity in word and action.991
We find similar advice for Salesian religious educators in The Constitutions of the Society of St Francis
de Sales, in the introduction, where Don Bosco deals with the vow of chastity.992
As for educating youth to chastity, Don Bosco foresees two steps generally: a preliminary or healing
step and a constructive one. The first is seen as almost essential since Don Bosco considers innocence
preserved to be a rare ideal among children and teenagers. Dominic Savio is an exceptional example of
this, when he rejects the invitation of his less delicate companions to join them in immodest bathing.993
If we take a strict interpretation of grave matter and the responsibility of someone who has reached the
age of reason, it would be Don Bosco’s opinion that most young people are premature ‘penitents’. In
his first eulogy at Cafasso’s death, Don Bosco stated:
It happens that many youngsters become the unfortunate prey of vice at an early age, and
thus lose the inestimable treasure of their innocence before they ever knew its value, and
become slaves of Satan without even having been able to taste the delights of being the
children of God. This is due either to unfortunately meeting up with bad companions or
because of their parents neglect, and often, because of their natural bent which is resentful
of a good education.994
Francis Besucco shared this confidence with his spiritual director:
I am very upset, because the Lord says in the Gospel that we cannot go to heaven except by
being innocent or by doing penance. I cannot go to heaven with my innocence anymore
because I’ve lost it. Therefore I have to go to heaven by doing penance.995
Just like many of his contemporaries in similar Catholic environments, Don Bosco saw and evaluated
reality and its problems from an essentially moral perspective. He started off from the presupposition
that a boy at the age of reason knows and wills freely, that he is strengthened by grace and therefore,
that he is capable of confronting his sexuality with full awareness and free consent. Conditioning
991 E II 347-348.
992 Cf. C. SDB 108-111; P. Braido, Tratti di vita religiosa salesiana nello scritto “Ai soci salesiani” di Don Bosco del
1875, RSS 13 (1994) 375, 412-414, 439-443; idem, Tratti....del 1877/1885 RSS 14 (1995) 108, 135-137.
993 G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 23-26, OE XI 173-176.
994 G. Bosco, Biografia del sacerdote Giuseppe Caffasso..., p. 12, OE XII 362.
995 G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., p. 120, OE XV 362.

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biological, physiological and psychological factors, conscious or unconscious, as well as pathological
ones, are not taken into consideration here.
Once the first step, the healing stage, is resolved then the second and constructive step occurs at the
intersection of morality, ascetics and recourse to grace. What is considered of capital and also
conditioning importance is flight from the occasions of sin, idleness, bad talk and companions,
familiarity with girls and girls’ familiarity with boys, or in other words “custody of the senses”,
temperance and mortification.996
In Michael Magone’s ‘Life’, Don Bosco presents a broad list of preventive and therapeutic means of an
ascetic and religious nature: the seven guardians of chastity.997
This concise pedagogical treatise on a defensive preservation of chastity, often reduced to simple and
difficult continence, is enriched by indications on how to get rid of bad thoughts, a renewed appeal to
follow the ideals of a youthful and generous life trusting in the power of grace, and “modesty”.998
Naturally, primary importance as far as the education and re-education of the young is concerned, is
given to supernatural means, namely to the sacraments of penance and communion, devotion to the
Blessed Virgin and prayer. In the Chronicles of the 1860s and more so in those of Father Barberis
between 1875-1879, we find recorded several and various descriptions, Good Nights, talks dedicated to
the topic of chastity such as its importance, its models, the dangers it is exposed to including holiday
time, scandal, ways to preserve it. Prevention also seems to admit of one or two ‘repressive’
possibilities, such as threat of expulsion. Apparently, there is not much room accorded to a specific
enlightening process and education to human love.
3. Pedagogy of vocational choice
According to Don Bosco, the choice of a state of life should not be left to the free will of an individual.
Fundamentally, we are dealing here with a vocation and this comes from God. Vocation, therefore, is
first of all a discovery and a response. A vocation, then, needs to be formed within the inevitable
triangle: God, the educator who could be an individual or a community, and the young person himself
who needs to be helped to see the ‘signs’ of God’s plans for him.
While we have time, let us beg the Lord to teach us the path we need to take.999
We have a series of Good Nights given by Don Bosco in December 1864 (December 5, 10 and 12) to
the boys at the Oratory. They deal with ways of discovering one’s vocation reduced to three main ones:
the test of good deeds, the corroborating testimony of others, the positive opinion of the Confessor.1000
The story of Valentino or an obstructed vocation is a dramatic presentation of a vocation, an
996 Cf. Le sei domeniche e la novena di San Luigi Gonzaga, Turin, Speirani and Ferrero 1846, pp. 18-19, 20; Cenni storici
sulla vita del chierico Luigi Comollo..., pp. 6-7, 21-22, 34-35, OE I 6-7, 21-22, 34-35; G. Bosco, Il giovane
provveduto...., pp. 20-26, OE II 200-206. The last are offered as a strenna or topic for other talks to students during the
year for two Rectors at the schools, Fr Bonetti and Fr Lemoyne, in letters of Dec. 30-31, 1868, Em II 617-618.
997 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., Chap. IX Sua sollecitudine e sue pratiche per
conservare la virtù della purità, pp. 43-47, OE XIII 197-201.
998 Cf. Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap X Della modestia, pp. 78-80, OE XXIX, 174-176.
999 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night of Dec. 5, 1864, p. 38-39; cf. D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S.
Francesco di Sales, No. 1 1860, p. 11, 28; Cronache.... No. 2 1861, pp. 22-23
1000G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night of Dec. 5, 1864, pp. 38-39; others testify to him speaking to the boys on
the evening of Dec. 10, 1864, pp. 40-41 (the lay assistants could be the bad advisers, p. 43); on Dec. 12, pp. 44-46 he
speaks of the confessor; comes back to this again on March 5, 1865, p. 114.

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ecclesiastical vocation. Three distinct chapters are dedicated to describing the three crucial moments of
this vocation: its genesis in a favourable educational setting, difficulties encountered, its “demolition
and dissolution” with the consequent moral ruin of the protagonist.1001 In chapter 5 of the same story
there is ample talk of the signs of a vocation, which Don Bosco had explained on several occasions to
boys and their teachers: moral uprightness, knowledge and an ecclesiastical spirit.1002The usual warning
about the renunciation that ecclesiastical vocation demands is always present, along with the firm will
to “champion the glory of God, win souls for him and, most importantly, save one’s own soul”.1003
The talks on vocation assumed wider dimensions with the rapid development of the Congregation and
the arrival of the missionary project of the 1870s and 1880s. The Good Night on December 7, 1875, is
one example of this: Don Bosco first gave to the boys an account of the departure of the first
missionaries from Genoa and then went on:
Naturally, many of you sense a great desire now to leave and become missionaries. Well, I
can only tell you that if all of you were to be included in the group of missionaries, there
would be places available for everyone and I would know exactly what assignment to give
you. The reason for this is that the needs are great and the requests for missionaries are so
many that the bishops who make these requests are imploring us to help; and they also tell
us that several missions, which have only just begun, had to be abandoned for lack of
missionaries. But for the time being, start by preparing yourselves for the missions by
praying, being really good, being missionaries to one another, giving good example to one
another and also by studying hard, carrying out your duties of study and school-work. Then
you will see that with God’s help you will be able to reach your goal and be loved by the
Lord and by all people.1004
The countless talks to the boys, the addresses delivered to novices and post-novices, the conferences
for Salesians and particularly for rectors, especially on the occasion of the feast of St Francis de Sales,
and the interventions made at the General Chapters.... all were aimed at educating the young to choose
their vocation.
At meetings of Salesians holding positions of responsibility, Don Bosco became an educator among
educators in this matter too. In order to cultivate vocations and make them attractive, Don Bosco
repeatedly recommended the practice of charity among the educators, and loving kindness towards the
young, in a word, fidelity to the practice of the Preventive System.1005
Both the academic students and the working boys were repeatedly invited by Don Bosco to look at the
signs indicative of a vocation from God and were presented with the perspective of a broad personal
self-realisation, in the old and in a new world.1006
1001Cf. G. Bosco, Valentino...., Chap V La vocazione (pp. 25-29, OE XVII 203-207), VI Le difficoltà (pp. 29-34, OE XVII
207-212), VII Una guida fatale (pp. 35-40, OE XVII 213-218).
1002G. Bosco, Valentino....,pp. 26-29, OE XVII 204-207.
1003G. Bosco, Valentino...., p. 29, OE XVII 207.
1004G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 3Bis, p. 36.
1005Cf. for example G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 19 instructions for retreat at Lanzo 13 and 14 Sept 1875, pp. 1-14, G.
Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 14, conference at the Oratory, Feb. 4, 1876, pp. 42-45; March 19, 1876, pp. 63-66; G.
Barberis, Verbale del Capitolo Superiore, quad II, at Alassio, Feb 7, 1879, pp. 73-76.
1006Cf. for example G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 5, evening sermons March 15, 1876, p. 19; quad. 6Bis to the working
boys, March 31, 1876, pp. 14-17; G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 3, May 13, 1877, pp. 1-4.

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4. The pedagogy of the ‘last things’
Death, Judgment, Hell, Paradise carry particular weight in educating the young to real commitment.
This is the privileged way to bring about a serious education to fear and love of God, a way full of
energy and initiative. A ‘virtuous fear’, may start off as being afraid, a servile kind of fear, but it
evolves intentionally and rapidly into an initial filial fear which is the beginning of wisdom and the
way that leads to grace and love.
Pedagogy of the ‘last things’ comes naturally to Don Bosco. He personally experienced it through his
awareness of the superhuman responsibility a priest has for the salvation of others, which is the
condition for his own salvation. Don Bosco’s preaching on the ‘last things’, therefore, could be nothing
but a moving and persuasive witness, before being simple words or an advice or warning. The ‘last
things’ are a source of concern, seasoned with love and Christian fear, for Don Bosco. There is a
touching proof of this, amongst many others, in something he wrote towards the end of his life and
found in the Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6:
“I know, my beloved children, that you love me. May this love, this affection, not come
down just to weeping after my death. Instead, pray for the eternal repose of my soul. I
recommend that prayers be said, charitable deeds be performed, mortifications undertaken,
holy communions received in reparation for the faults I may have committed in doing good
and preventing evil. May your prayers be directed to Heaven with this special intention,
that I may find mercy and forgiveness from the very first moment I appear before the
tremendous majesty of my Creator.1007
Don Bosco’s language about the last things, intense as it may appear, does not lessen the value of
temporal life and circumstances. On the contrary they are the price of a happy life here and now and in
eternity. There is no doubt, however, that Don Bosco intends to draw the thoughtful attention of his
boys towards eternity which is immeasurably more important than anything else: an eternity with God,
filled with happiness, paradise; or an eternity of damnation and unhappiness, hell. Death and judgment
are the door to both: the moment on which our eternity depends, an eternity full of joy or an eternity
full of suffering.
It is from such preparation for and meditation on death that the monthly practice of the Exercise for a
Happy Death comes.1008Ideally it is repeated countless times, with announcements about forthcoming
fatal illnesses, foreseen and sudden deaths, exhortations and predictions. In this regard Don Bosco
follows the centuries’ old pastoral practice of care for souls, perhaps stressing a little more the ‘ministry
of fear’ side of this but blending catechetical recollections, echoes of his mother’s warnings, the
sermons heard in his parish or preached during parish missions, the meditations from the seminary,
advice received from his confessors and spiritual directors. He did all this in accord with the most
widely accepted canons of traditional religiosity.1009
For several years, when he was offering the strenna for the new year, Don Bosco repeated the same
wish given on December 31, 1861:
1007F. Motto, Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6.., RSS 4 (1985) 126.
1008The classic prayer for such practice are introduced already in the first edition 1847, in the Giovane provveduto (pp.
138-143, OE II 318-323). In particular the Preghiera per la buona morte might have been disconcerting. Quoted by J.
Delumeau, La Peur en Occident (XIVe-XVIIIe siècles). Une cité assiegée. Paris, Fayard 1978, pp. 25-27: he heard it
being said in Nice at the Salesian school where he had entered as a teenager.
1009 Cf. J. Delumeau, Le péche et la peur: la culpabilisation en Occident (XIIIe-XVIIIe siècles). Paris, Fayard 1983, 741 p.
This as for the earlier note has also come out in Italian.

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Let us all stay ready so that when death unexpectedly appears we may be found prepared to
leave for eternity, in peace.1010
He ties the end of the year to the end of our earthly life (the ‘last things’) neatly together.
Don Bosco begged educators to be very frank when preaching or giving spiritual guidance to the boys,
with regard to the ‘last things’. Even in this, Don Bosco was an uncontested master also. We see it in
his writings and reminders, Good Nights at the end of the year, the various strennas, the little notes
handed out to individuals, the sayings written on the walls of the Oratory porticoes.
In certain contexts, for example in the ‘Lives’ of young people, the idea of paradise finds privileged
treatment. In other contexts Don Bosco re-awakens the thought that death is weighing on us with all the
seriousness and responsibility it implies1011 and the thought that there may be no more time available
for repentance for one’s sins, and, therefore, the possibility of going to hell.
In one of the traditional Novenas to Our Lady, Don Bosco was able to say with in simplicity:
The Novenas in honour of our Heavenly Mother are days packed with favours and the
grace of good health. Woe to those who do not take advantage of them. I hope, rather I’m
sure, that nineteen out of twenty will take advantage of these Novenas and that our good
Mother will welcome them into paradise. Others who do not want to take advantage of
these Novenas should remember that the eternal flames of hell await them if they do not
show readiness for conversion.1012
Ah my dear children, whoever has not yet taken advantage of it should not waste it. Dum
Tempus Habemus, as long as we have time... we all have to take a long journey... Ibit in
domum aeternitatis suae, He will go to the eternity which is due to him.1013
The pedagogy of the ‘last things’ is also found in many of the ‘dreams’ which recall the drama of
salvation and one’s personal responsibility for it. Particularly significant are the accounts made by the
boys to Fr Cafasso, Silvio Pellico and Count Cays; the stairway to heaven; the slopes of the seven hills;
the way of perdition. There are various images of the difficult journey toward salvation which happens
to be the earthly pilgrimage of every human being per sanguinem, aquam et ignem, through blood,
water and fire. In one way or another, the boys are called to fix up their consciences, not without a
visible showing of anxiety and a general recourse to confession.1014
“We ploughed a treacherous sea” are the words of a hymn introduced into the final edition of the
Companion of Youth and explained in another very symbolic ‘dream’ narrated by Don Bosco to the
boys on January 1, 1866. In that ‘dream’, life is depicted as a dangerous trip by raft on storm-tossed
floodwaters covering a huge land surface. The sixth and seventh commandments are more at risk than
1010G. Bonetti, Annali II (1861-1862), pp. 3-4.
1011Death at a young age was not so rare at a time of high infant and youth mortality. Those at the Oratory had already
experienced this in their families or birthplace, and several times a year at the Oratory.
1012G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night Dec. 2, 1864, pp. 34-35.
1013G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night Dec. 5, 1864, p. 40.
1014Cf. D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, No 2 1861, Good Night Dec. 31, 1860, pp. 2-6; G.
Bonetti, Memoria di alcuni fatti..., pp. 65-69; D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, No. 2 1861,
Good Night of 12 and 15 Jan 18612, pp. 6-8, 13; D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, 1861,
1862, 1863, Good Night April 7, 1861, pp. 2-22; G. Bonetti, Annali I, pp. 17-34; G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff Good
Night Oct. 22, 1864, pp. 4-8.

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the others. Don Bosco urges his boys to be docile and obedient.1015
The dream about hell, described on May 3, 1868, and handed down to us by Fr Joachim Berto,
concerns a shipwreck from which there is no salvation. There are youngsters who rush headlong into
that place of eternal punishment and remain there, petrified. They are heard to cry out: “We made a
stupid error”. They are not yet damned yet but they would be were they to die at that very moment.
Don Bosco sees the following words written somewhere: “sixth commandment”. Even those who are
attached to earthly goods, are disobedient, proud or victims of human respect all risk hell.1016
Beyond the dreams, Don Bosco makes any number of predications of death. The chronicles of the first
years, the 1860s, handed down to us by Frs Ruffino, Bonetti and Lemoyne, make a point of it. Fr John
Baptist Lemoyne is the most accurate of them, since he took up a painstaking process of verification to
ascertain whether or not the predictions came true.
Sometimes Don Bosco, who is more than attentive to the psychology of the young, seemed concerned
about what was spiritually useful for their souls, according to the well-defined principle: “When
something turns out to be good for souls, then it certainly comes from God and cannot come from the
Devil”. Then he also added: “I have a unique bit of news to tell you, namely, that the Devil has been
defeated in this house and if we continue this way he will be forced to declare bankruptcy”.1017
On several occasions Don Bosco would justify his procedure calling it a duty which he performs for the
salvation of the young.1018 “Healthy fear”, seriousness, responsibility characterise the pedagogy of the
‘last things’ that Don Bosco insistently practised amongst the young. In principle, this type of pedagogy
did not create feelings of anxiety, even though predictions of death did indeed provoke them. Don
Bosco knew that and at times he justified himself, as he did for example in a Good Night given on
March 16, 1865. And, mind you, this is not the only talk of this kind:
When I show up here and announce that another boy is going to die, for goodness sake let
me know if some of the boys are too scared by these announcements and write to their
parents asking to be taken out of the Oratory because ‘Don Bosco is always predicting the
death of someone.’ But please, tell me this: had I not made this announcement would
Ferraris had prepared himself so well to appear before God’s tribunal? ...To those who are
so afraid of death, I say: “dear children, perform your duties, do not engage in bad talk,
approach the sacraments frequently, do not give way to gluttony, and death will not scare
you.1019
5. Education to hope and joy
This kind of education, certainly problematic in some ways, contributed to maintaining an approach to
life lived under the motto: “God sees me!”. This God is a father and a judge, great in his love, and a
demanding, encouraging guardian of merit as well as someone who punishes any fault, anywhere. This
is popular kind of theology, condensed into advice for holiday times and offered in the already quoted
Good Night on August 21, 1877, both to academic students and working boys at the Oratory. This
1015A brief fragment in G. B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, p. 157; developed in Documenti and MB VIII 275-282.
1016G. Berto, Cronaca 1868-2, pp. 9-20.
1017D. Ruffinom Cronache..., No 2 1861, Good Night of Feb. 17, 1861, pp. 14-15.
1018Cf. G. Bonetti, Annali II (1861-1862), evening talk of April 25, 1862, pp. 68-69; D. Ruffino, Cronaca 1861 1862 1863
1864 Good Night of 11 Jan and Feb. 4, 1864, pp. 14-15; G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night of Dec. 18, 1864,
p. 53.
1019G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night of March 16, 1865, p. 118.

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“healthy fear” was, finally, part of love expressed by abandoning oneself to God who is a merciful
Father.
We should not think that the Lord is all cruelty and inflexible justice, Don Bosco assures
them, no, he is rather all mercy, goodness and love. And just as the one who offends God
should be afraid of him, so the one who can say of himself: I have nothing on my
conscience that bothers me, be content. To the latter I can say: go and sleep peacefully; let
your recreation be cheerful and live happily. If someone who lives in harmony with God
leads a happy life, someone who cannot say that he has a good conscience should be afraid,
lest God take his time away from him.1020
Along with responsible commitment, radical feelings of hope and joy were also likely to surface.
Following the simple and traditional faith Don Bosco adheres to, life and death are events with which
we have to come to grips, just as we have to come to grips with good and evil, reward and punishment,
heaven and hell, all sources, respectively, of a legitimate hope and a healthy fear. Within this
perspective, good people will always expect to hear words of hope, eternal happiness and a justified,
even though precarious earthly joy, naturally all connected with how one carried out one’s daily duties.
If we want to have a good harvest, we first of all have to sow “good and useful things”.1021
The young person is introduced to acknowledging the constant presence, not only of death, but also of
the alluring perspective of paradise which is implored through the motherly mediation of Mary, Virgin
and Mother.’1022The hope that God will grant us paradise is based on secure guarantees provided by
reason and faith: having been baptised, and living as a Catholic, being able to profit from the sacrament
of Forgiveness, having the opportunity to draw sustenance from the Eucharist, being able to practice
Christian mortification and Christian charity; and especially by the fact of knowing that Jesus Christ
shed his blood for our salvation and our happiness.1023
From 1863, The Companion of Youth added the last line from the presentation of the first edition, “Live
happily and may the Lord be with you”, with the conclusion “Live happily and may the fear of God be
a treasure for you throughout your life time”.1024 The 1875 edition had another enriching addition: “May
heaven grant you many long years of a happy life and may the holy fear of God be always the
wonderful treasure showering you with heavenly favours in time and in eternity”.1025 “Ah, for the love
of Jesus and Mary”, it said toward the end of 1847, “with good deeds, prepare yourself to hear the
favourable sentence of God and remember that the more fearful the sentence uttered against a sinner,
the more consoling likewise the indication that Jesus addressed to one who lived as a Christian should:
‘Come?, he will say, ‘come and take possession of the glory that I have prepared for you’;1026 “the more
fearful the thought and consideration of hell, the more consoling will be the thought of paradise, which
is offered to you. Oh, how desirable and lovable is the place where all kinds of goods will be
enjoyed”.1027
1020G. Barberis (G. Gresino), Cronaca, quad. 3, Good Night of Aug. 21, 1877, p. 12; cf also G Barberis (E. Dompé),
Cronaca quad. 15, p. 27.
1021G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 2 Good Night Wednesday, July 7, 1875, pp. 39-43; similarly in D. Ruffino Le doti
grandi e luminose..., Jan 1864, pp. 14-15.
1022G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff evening talk during novena for Immaculate, Dec. 2, 1864, pp. 34-35.
1023G. Reano, past pupil of the Oratory, letter to Fr G. Bonetti Feb. 2, 1885, pp. 40-42; revokes a Good Night by D. Bosco
during a novena to Mary in response to the question, Why does God want to give us heaven?
1024G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press 1863, p. 6
1025G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press 1875, p. 7, OE XXVI 7
1026G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., p. 43, OE II 223.
1027G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., pp. 48-49, OE II 228-229.

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6. Signs of a differentiated and contextual pedagogy
It is quite clear that Don Bosco, since the first two decades marking the beginnings of his cultural and
spiritual evolution, was convinced that if the young man had to embark on any sort of journey for his
human and Christian growth, he needed to perceive his personal identity and potential for recovery and
development.
The adult who accompanies him should support him with a similar intuition, Don Bosco believed. As
we have already seen, this interaction between the young person and the educator constitutes the
essence of Don Bosco’s Preventive System. No other meaning can be given to Don Bosco’s
classification of the young into “rascals, scatter-brained and good”, or the differentiated ways he
proposed for dealing with them.
Differentiated approaches were first seen in the Historical Outlines then in the general articles of the
Rules for the Houses, 1877. The first is a paradigmatic and generally overlooked document. “The
scatter-brained”, Don Bosco explains, “the ones who habitually just hang around and do little work, can
be led to a successful outcome by teaching them a trade, through assistance, by instruction and by
keeping them busy”. They will not all turn out to be perfect Christians but they will certainly be good
citizens, honest workers, morally and civilly responsible human beings and, perhaps, people who could
passably good Sunday Christians. For the rascals instead, the results might be longer-term. “The fact
that they don’t get worse” is an appreciable, though minimal, goal. “Many succeed in becoming wiser
and therefore earning their daily bread in an honest way”. This is certainly a remarkable result in terms
of a young man’s growing into adulthood and regaining consistent temporal values. It could stand as a
potential preparation for following the Gospel since it provides some understanding of life and,
perhaps, faith in God.
At any rate, there is a well-established ‘pedagogy of hope’. The seed has been sown and will bear fruit.
Room should be left for time and grace to work on: “The same individuals who seemed so insensitive
when they were being looked after find room, in time for the good principles they learned and later on
this will produce results”.1028
Diagnosis, prognosis and therapy result from real and ever wider-ranging experiences. These
experiences range from a rural mountain background, (Francis Besucco and Severino) to urban and
metropolitan scenarios with their prisons, public squares, places of corruption; from chimney-sweeps
and village farmhands to urchins and rascals; from humble and honest country kids, lost in the city,
knowing neither the place nor the language, to the street kids, orphans, and also students and young
workers needing an appropriate cultural formation and a profession.
This is the basis of a ‘pedagogy of the possible’, which differs in objectives, rhythms, provisions and
results and is the origin of a practical, varied, non-rigid nor systematic youth spirituality.
In the narrative writings of the 1850s, we notice the different ways the characters began their journey of
recovery: Louis, in the sixth and seventh dialogues found in Current Events presented in dialogue form
(Fatti contemporanei esposti in forma di dialogo 1853), the anonymous protagonist of The unhappy
life of a new apostate (La vita infelice di un novello apostata 1853), the young man who had to be lured
“either with promises or with little gifts”, in the Historical Outline (Cenno storico1854), the soldiers
who are approached by Peter in the barracks, in The Power of a Good Education (La Forza della
buona educazione 1855), the young gang leader of assassins recovered by St John The Evangelist, as
recorded in the lives of the Supreme Pontiffs St Linus, St Cletus and St Clement (Vita de’ sommi
Pontefici S. Lino, S. Cleto, S. Clemente 1857).
1028Cenni storici..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco nella Chiesa... pp. 78-79.

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7. Unresolved adolescent problems
Even a painstaking analysis of what Don Bosco as an educator said and did may leave the impression
that several problems relating to the life of the young, have only been touched on. Don Bosco’s social,
political education is substantially aimed at the religious and moral level. Similar guidelines are
followed solving the problems that would eventually be listed under the leading of sex education,
education to love, as preparation for engagement1029 and marriage and intervention in cases of
adolescents facing crises of faith, doubt, intolerance and alienation. Among Don Bosco’s books there
are some which present difficult situations produced by encounters with Protestants (for example
“Severino” or “adventures of a young man from the Alps”1868 or with a corrupt individual
(Valentino... 1866) but they do not offer convincing solutions.
We note two situational crises in the area of faith and morals, and the suggestions given by Don Bosco
or actually drawn from some letters of spiritual direction by Don Bosco himself. A diary note left by Fr
Dominic Ruffino, dating back to June 1862,1030 provides the first indication. Don Bosco calls the
attention of his young helpers to possible youth crises in the area of religious practice. He does not
offer solutions but thinks that recalling a past warning from a teacher might produce some good in the
future.
We should be providing the youngsters with protective means for the future when they will
be 17 or 18 years of age: “look here, a very dangerous age is approaching. The devil is
preparing snares to make you fall. First, he will tell you that frequent communion is for
small kids and not for big ones like you and so you should go to communion rarely. Then
the devil will keep you away from sermons and cause you to be bored with God’s word.
When we meet them already grown up, we should say: “Do you remember what we told
you? “Ah, it is true”, they will say. This recollection will do them good.1031
No less disappointing is the solution Don Bosco offers for a teenager’s crisis of faith. The one who
relates it is trustworthy - Blessed Michael Rua.
He records the event in his all-too brief diary. When requested by a working boy if he could join the
academic students, Don Bosco had consented. The boy must have been intelligent and, on his own, was
in search of something. Probably there was no one at the time that he could confide in.
After a few months of study, the young man was suddenly attacked by temptations, started
to doubt God’s existence, paradise and hell etc. He did not feel satisfied keeping this way of
thinking to himself and so began to make his doubts known to his classmates. This certainly
could not but be dangerous for those who listened to him. Don Bosco came to know about
it and then, soon enough, found a remedy to dissipate the doubts. The young man’s
benefactor called on Don Bosco to arrange the young man’s transfer from the working boys
to the academic section. Don Bosco suggested, in the presence of the young man, that for
the time being it might be better not to come to any definite decision since it looked like the
young man’s head might not handle the studies and that he was as yet uncertain. That is
1029Regarding sexual problems during puberty Pietro Stella observes: “We could tentatively say that Don Bosco and his
times, incomprehensibly. Did not know or tackle problems tied to masturbation by young people”. (P. Stella, Don Bosco
nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol II p. 262). Instructive though elusive are observations in the following pages:
Problemi particolari dell’educazione tra pubertà e matrimonio (pp. 262-274).
1030Lemoyne accredits this to a diary entry by John Bonetti which we cannot trace. Ruffino’s text is shorter than the longer
one in MB VII 192.
1031D. Ruffino, Memorie 1862 1863, p. 79.

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when the young man realised the wrong steps that he had taken. He acknowledged the harm
he had caused by yielding to the doubts in his mind and much more the harm that he had
caused by repeating these doubts to his classmates. He straightened himself up and from
that time on led a fervent life.1032
What strikes us in reference to this real teenager is not so much the talk about protecting the
community from a troublesome element but that no constructive intervention is alluded to. This might
have been a ‘lacuna’ affecting a mind-set but also the whole setting. This would seem to be confirmed
by some letters of an educational nature mostly addressed to young men of a higher social and cultural
class. In these letters we find the indications ordinarily given to the Oratory boys without any age
distinction. And even in these letters, what stands out is the protective side: flight from, caution,
submission to….much more than a concern to understand, explain or build up in a positive way.
When requested to express his judgment of certain books, Don Bosco answered:
The books are not to on the ‘Index’. There are, however, certain things that are dangerous
for a young person’s morality, so, while you may read them, you should also be careful, and
if you find that they cause harm to your heart, stop reading them or at least skip the
passages which may be relatively dangerous for you.1033
Later on, Don Bosco would propose the following solution to the same young man.
Keep an eye on bad companions and avoid them; look for good companions and imitate
them. God’s grace is the greatest of treasures: the fear of God is the first among all
riches.1034
To another young upper-class lad Don Bosco gave three fundamental reminders, the three F’s: Flight
from idleness; Flight from companions who indulge in bad talk or give bad advice: Frequent
Confession and fervent, fruitful Communion.1035
On another occasion, Don Bosco congratulated a Baroness for having chosen the right boarding school,
Mondragone.
In that school teachers, assistants and directors look after what is really good, the good of
the soul. Letter to 1036
Two years later, Xavier, the same young man, would be a cause for concern. Don Bosco would tried his
best to get a hold over him by sending him a book, and suggesting to his mother that she intervene
directly and in person:
If you were to suggest he write to me and ask my advice, I would do my best to straighten
out some of his ideas. When I was in Rome he showed great esteem and deference towards
me: who knows if a new voice might cause him to think again?1037
1032M. Rua, Cronache, p. 6.
1033Letter to 19-year-old nobleman Ottavio Bosco di Ruffino, Aug. 11, 1859, Em I 381-382.
1034Letter to the same person, Jan. 9, 1861, Em I 433-434.
1035Letter to Gregorio dei Baroni Garofali, a 14-year-old in the Jesuit college at Mongré (Southern France) June 1, 1866,
Em II 252.
1036Letter to Baronness Cavalletti in Cappelletti, Oct. 22, 1866, Em II 305.
1037Letter to the same individual May 25, 1868, Em II 536.

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We also have record of advice given to “a most illustrious lady” in reference to her marriage:
I will not fail to pray that God may enlighten you so you may choose the person who might
be able to better help you save your soul. For your part, however, take into account the
morals and religion of the individual. Don’t look at appearances, look at reality.1038
Don Bosco’s judgment on the potential dangers in education in the family is a severe one. He expressed
this in a letter to a lawyer from Toulon, France, a Mr Colle:
In a few words I will spell out the core issue at hand: the parents were too affectionate
towards their only child. Too many caresses and too much affectionate attention. However,
he was always a well-behaved boy. Had he lived longer, he would have run into great
dangers which might have dragged him towards evil after his parents’ death. This is why
God snatched him away from danger and took him with him in heaven. From heaven he
will protect his parents and those who have prayed or will pray for him.1039
1038Letter to Miss Barbara Rostagno June 27, 1874, E II 391.
1039Letter to lawyer Luigi Fleury Colle, May 22, 1881, E IV 55; his son was called Louis Antoine, 22 Sept 1864-3 April
1881. The parents were benefactors.

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Chapter 14
“This system is entirely based on reason, religion and loving kindness”
We have looked at the broad features of Don Bosco’s Preventive System and educational approach.
What we are trying to do in the chapters to follow is take an in-depth look at particular significant
topics in the system itself. First of all we intend to explain the main features which underlie the
approach of the system itself and confer a specific style on it. In the following chapter, we intend to
single out the setting and community climate which characterise the ‘places’ where the preventive
assistance and education are carried out.
Another two chapters will be dedicated to elements which evidence two typical and all-embracing
aspects of the system: on the one hand feast days, joy and ‘free-time’; on the other, the seriousness of
the rule of life which the Preventive System shares in some respects with the repressive system.
However, these chapters should not be looked upon as isolated. Each sheds light on and broadens the
content of the others which, in turn, prevent them from being seen just from their own perspective.
This is true, first of all, in reference to the pedagogical relevance of the ‘educative community’, which
is seen as a ‘family’ in concrete terms. The affectionate, reasonable and religious ‘pressure’ which the
educators apply is extended by the community, which is seen as young people, friends, brothers living
together firstly amongst themselves rather than with ‘superiors’. Although Don Bosco says that the
rector is everything, and similarly for the educators, in reality that ‘everything’ is represented by them
in so far as they are ‘for ‘and ‘with’ the young, who claim to a certain extent the clear right to be key
players along with their superiors.
The climate of festivity and joy eliminate any scheme which might lead to the community or
individuals being oppressive. At the same time, however, the climate of cheerfulness is not intended to
give the impression that the community is always ‘feasting’, namely, that it is a family without
seriously engaging objectives. We have also provided a chapter which deals with ‘demanding love’,
with all that this might imply in terms of bonding and suffering.
In this chapter we explain the methodological side of what Don Bosco considers the foundational
pillars of his system:
This system is entirely based on reason, religion and loving kindness.1040
When analysed more carefully, the three terms, no doubt, first of all define the content of the preventive
message. Taken in their holistic perspective, the three indicate the key dimensions of a fully Christian
way of being human: temporal values, a religious sense, the world of affections at a sensible, spiritual
and supernatural level. This is what we have explained succinctly in the previous three chapters. But in
Don Bosco’s explicit pedagogical language it is primarily the methodological significance of these
three fundamental words that is made evident. These three words prefigure a systematic whole
articulated through initiatives, interventions and means solely directed to fostering the development of
the young.
The young, in turn, are always to be involved in the work of their own maturing process as human
1040Il sistema preventivo (1877). p.46, XXVIII 424

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beings and Christians. This should come about through persuasion, the method of the heart. The
motivating and dynamic character of these three words is further bolstered by the foundation, the
anchor on which Don Bosco depends, namely, on charity.
“The practice of this system is based entirely on the words of St Paul: charitas benigna est, patiens est;
omnia suffert, omnia sperat, omnia sustinet, Love is patient and kind,... love bears all things, hopes all
things, endures all things. With charity, reason and religion are the tools the educator should constantly
use, teach, and himself put it into practice if he wants to be obeyed and achieve his goal”.1041
In other words the statements made by Don Bosco mean to show educators what their qualities and
virtues should be. But they are all practically reduced to one: an educative charity, methodologically
expressed in the threefold form of reason, faith and loving kindness.
1. The educator, individual and community, is the key player in the
educational process
The entire preventive method is entrusted to the educator. In the description of the “two systems used
throughout history in the education of youth”, one can detect the different weight given the educator as
part of the three main forces that apply in education: the law, rules – superior, rector, assistant, and the
dependants, the pupils. Paradoxically it seems that in the repressive system the executive responsibility
is almost entirely in the hands of the pupil. The superior, the educator, besides having the task of
vigilance, wields the power of judgement or punishment.
In the Preventive System instead, the absolute key player is the educator who holds all power: the
executive, the judiciary and punitive. The pupil, instead, is called to an essentially cooperative
execution, a subordinate, shared role.
Don Bosco speaks and writes about the Preventive System to adult educators. The two letters dated
from Rome and edited by Father John Baptist Lemoyne under the inspiration of his superior, are
remarkable precisely because substantially the preventive burdens and obligations should have been the
content of only one letter, the one addressed to the Salesians at Valdocco. The ‘system’ is entirely based
on them; it works or does not work depending on whether or not they bear its weight and guarantee its
fruitfulness.
It is for this reason that the Salesians at Valdocco are called to be totally consecrated to their pupils as
father, brother and friend, sharing their life much like the adult members in a family. They are fathers,
mothers, brothers and more so friends, with an additional emotional element which transcends the
family itself and leads to relationships of a superior quality which can reach the pupils’ consciences.
They achieve their highest level in the person of the rector who is also a father and confessor.
Practically, the system is based on the reason, religion and loving kindness of the educator – individual
and community – and through him, all the pedagogical elements which he uses or acts as mediates. The
pupils will never be mature – through use of the values of reason, religion and loving kindness – unless
the educator is himself value and method based on reason, religion and loving kindness.
The educator/teacher is called upon to present himself as an active, living model of values, of
everything that is that reason, religion and loving kindness offer as valid and which the educator can
make lovable, attractive, motivating, a driving force for the pupil.
The educator is to be an energetic model of morality, according to Don Bosco, in relation to all the
1041Il sistema preventivo (1877). p. 52, OE XXVIII 430

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likely educational objectives.
We can, however, establish, as an invariable principle, that the morality of the pupils
depends on the morality of the one who teaches them, assists them and guides them. ‘One
cannot give whatever one does not have’ so the proverb goes. An empty sack cannot
produce wheat, nor can a flask full all dregs provide good wine. And so, before we present
ourselves as teachers to others, it is essential for us to possess what we want to teach
others.1042
It is natural then, that Don Bosco should speak of the ‘repressive system’ as an easy and less difficult
system.
Instead the Preventive System according to Don Bosco, “for the pupils it is easier, more satisfactory
and advantageous. To the teacher it certainly does present some difficulties, which however can be
diminished if he applies himself to the task with zeal. An educator is one who is consecrated to the
welfare of his pupils”.1043
In conclusion, the educators are expected to be well endowed with human, religious and emotional
values; they are expected to be the very models, the witnesses and the communicators of these values,
through their life, with their words and deeds. This means they need boundless energy, but it also
means a benevolent and enveloping ‘siege’ which pupils can hardly resist.
2. This threefold foundation has a relational unity
Reason, Religion and Loving kindness are not simply juxtaposed; they are interrelated; rather, they co-
penetrate one another. This occurs not only at the level of objectives and content but also means and
methods.
At the first level, they are an original synthesis of all the elements needed for the complete
development of a boy: the physical, intellectual, moral and social elements and the religious-emotional
elements as well. At the methodological level, they set in motion a systematic whole, actions suited to
involving the young person in all of his most significant potential: mind, heart, will, faith. All this
potential is interrelated.
The serious nature of moral and religious commitment implying duty, piety, living in the state of grace,
keeping far from sin, is proposed and championed on the basis of relationships and processes which are
reasonable and kind.
On the other hand, the gentleness linked with loving kindness does not mean weakness and
sentimentalism, a clumsy sort of sensitivity, but emotional co-involvement, constantly enlightened and
purified by reason and faith.
In turn, the balance, moderation, reasonableness of rules and interpersonal relationships are constantly
motivated and integrated through religious piety and the empathic participation of the educator who is
actively present.
Furthermore if, on a methodological level, we should want to determine which of the three elements is
the most important, there is no doubt that loving kindness holds prime of place. Naturally, by loving
kindness we mean all the connotations of meekness, gentleness, charity, patience and affection. Loving
kindness is the supreme principle, the soul of the preventive ‘method’, just as religion is indisputably
1042Circular already cited, of Feb. 5, 1874, OE E II 347.
1043Il sistema preventivo (1877). pp. 46, 60 OE XXVIII 424, 438.

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the first principle and soul of the system, taken as a complex of goals, content, means and methods.
There is a consensus among scholars on the centrality of educative love. This educative love stands for
intelligent charity, loving dedication;1044 it is the sway of a father who “holds the heart of his children in
his hands”; it stands for “com-penetration of souls”.1045
Mario Casotti, a Catholic pedagogue1046, defined it as “the method of love”. German Salesian Nikolaus
Endres singled out love as the foundational factor of the method and saw it as a fundamental
relationship between the educator and the person to be educated, a creative, exemplary force and an
effective guide to the world of values.1047
Loving Kindness is a “proven love”1048 and therefore an affective and effective love, because it is
proven by deeds, perceivable and actually perceived.
In the letter to the Salesian at Valdocco, dated May 10, 1884, Father John Baptist Lemoyne correctly
interpreted Don Bosco’s thinking when he wrote:
Love is the foundation (of the Preventive System). But, this is not enough. Something is
missing and that something which is decisive in education: “Not only should the boys be
loved but they should know that they are loved”. And this is not enough. This knowledge
will finally be persuasive if they feel loved in the things they like, by “sharing in their
inclinations”; then they will be ready to share, with love, what the educator proposes, such
as discipline, study, in a word, all their duties.1049
4. Loving kindness: a term with many connotations
In the Italian lexicon, familiar to Don Bosco, the term amorevolezza is not identified with amore nor
equated with carità, a theological virtue belonging to the world of Christian Revelation. The term
stands for a cluster of small virtues which have to do with relationships, attitudes or behaviour among
people who demonstrate feelings of love, graciousness and warm availability between one another
through words, gestures, or by offering help, gifts. It stands for affection, benevolence, kindness and
solicitude: as shown by fathers and mothers, including spiritual ‘fathers’ and ‘mothers’, towards their
children and by men and women who care for one another, like spouses, engaged couples, lovers and
friends; or by protectors toward those who are to be protected; or by benefactors towards the recipients
of their kindness.
In religious terminology, amorevolezza stands for the visible, merciful and welcoming human-divine
love of Jesus Christ.
In practice, Don Bosco invests the term with more meanings than the current lexicon would indicate.
Either explicitly or synonymously, he offers it within a formal Christian and pedagogical framework
and as part of his own mind-set and style which draws its inspiration from an educational, charitable (in
the sense of welfare, or wanting to provide social assistance) love which in turn is affective and
1044V.G. Galati, San Giovanni Boco. Il sistema preventivo. Milano-Varese, Educational Institute Cisalpino 1943, p. 152.
1045A. Aufray, La pedagogia di S. Giovanni Bosco. Turin, SEI 1942, pp 83-84.
1046G. Bosco, Il metodo preventivo. Con testimonianze e altri scritti educativi inediti. Introduction and notes by Mario
Casotti, Brescia, La Scuola 1958, pp. 49-59.
1047N. Endres, Don Bosco Erzieher und Psychologe. München, Don Bosco-Verlag 1961, pp. 72-79.
1048P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, Vol II, pp. 461-462, 471-472.
1049P. Braido, ‘Due lettere datate da Roma...’, in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., pp. 364-365, 368-369, 381-382.
The texts which emerge from the final redaction (pp. 381-382), far from that Roman May, are identical to those already
presented in the two draft manuscripts which he drew up towards the end of April, beginning of May 1884.

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effective at the same time.
The educator “in word and even more in deed, will show that his care is exclusively directed to the
spiritual and temporal benefit of his pupils”. “Assistance requires few words and many deeds”.1050
For Don Bosco, amorevolezza indicates “a complex code of symbols, signs and attitudes”. It is the
“features by which one manifests liking, affection, understanding and compassion, and willingness to
share someone else’s life”.1051
He sums up its wealth of meaning when he was able to give a mature interpretation to the lesson he had
learned in the dream at age nine: “Not with blows but with kindness and charity you will have to win
over these friends of yours”.1052
All the changes or variations made by Don Bosco to what he had written on the Preventive System are
intertwined with the idea of amorevolezza, loving kindness. These changes or variations dealt with the
rectors, assistants who like “loving fathers should speak and act as guides on every occasion, give
advice to and lovingly correct [the young]”.
The Preventive System makes a friend of the pupil; it makes the pupil affectionate to the point that the
educator will be able to speak the language of the heart both during and after the time a pupil is
educated. And “once he has won over the heart of the one he protects, will be able to wield great power
over him”.
For this reason, “every night, after the usual prayers and before the pupils go to bed, the rector or his
substitute should publicly address the boys with some affectionate words”. The results will match the
premises, namely, “The pupil will always be his teacher’s friend and he remember with pleasure the
direction he received, and will still consider his teachers and the other superiors as fathers and
brothers”.1053
We find the term in the most significant situations: an encounter,1054 at the time of forgiveness1055 in
Confession1056 in an educational relationship,1057 in the “system”,1058 in teaching,1059 in pastoral
ministry1060 and in a community or where people are together ‘as a family’.1061
Finally, there are connected terms which denote visible affective and effective value: “declared
1050Regolamento per le case..., General articles, art. 2 and 3, p. 15, OE XXIX III.
1051P. Stella, Don Bosco e le trasformazioni sociali e religiose del suo tempo, in La famiglia salesiana riflette sulla
vocazione nella Chiesa di oggi. Turin-Leumannm Elle Di Ci 1973, p. 162
1052MO (1991) 35.
1053Il sistema preventivo (1877). p.46, 50, 56, 60, OE XXVIII 424, 428, 434, 438. OE
1054Writing about the lad who was being chased out of the sacristy at St Francis of Assisi church, Don Bosco says: “He
was trembling and crying from the beating he had been given. Have you heard Mass? I asked him with all the loving
kindness I could muster”.
1055Esercizio di divozione alla misericordia di Dio. Turin, Eredi Botta 1846/1847, p. 75, OE II 145.
1056G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., p. 27, OE XIII 181.
1057G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 14 bis, conference to Rectors, Feb. 4, 1876, p. 45.
1058Letter to Prince Gabrielli, June 1879, E III 482. Recalling his stay in Marseilles with the Brothers of the Christian
Schools in March 1877, Don Bosco told Fr Barberis what he told the Brothers who asked him how he acted to attract
“the sympathy and benevolence of everyone”: “I explained something of our Preventive System to them, loving
kindness etc., while mostly in colleges (boarding schools) we only find the repressive system, serious, grumpy
superiors”. (G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 11, p. 69).
1059Letter to Fr Giuseppe Bertello, 9 April 1875, E II 471.
1060Cf. for example his address to past pupil priests, BS 4 (1880) no. 9, Sept. p. 11.
1061Letter to the Bishop of Biella, March 4, 1852, Em I 156; G. Bosco, La forza della buona educazione..., p. 74, OE VI
348; letter to pupils at Lanzo, Jan. 3, 1876.

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love”,1062 heart, benevolence,1063 affection,1064 gentleness and patience.1065
4. The basis of amorevolezza: religion and charity, reason and friendship
The little virtues included in amorevolezza - having the young know that they are loved, sincerely
sharing their interests - take on a moral and pedagogical dignity and consistency, thanks to the bigger
virtues on which they depend and which inform them. With virtues like these, the limits of a simple
dual relationship are overcome and the system is guaranteed the stable features of social relations,
universality at an already formally pedagogical level.
Among the ‘big’ virtues, the theological virtue of charity stands out, along with the virtues of justice,
and otherness, which are the roots of any formal friendship and of an authentic “pietas”.
The Preventive System supposes, firstly, that the educator be a balanced and ‘together’ type, and
therefore sociable, sensitive to the needs of others, to the problems of group living at all levels, local
and global. In other words a very much ‘relational’ person, especially where young people are
concerned, and above all with the ‘poor and abandoned’. He will be a person of great inner and external
self-control, temperate and prudent. Such a person loves practical contact with youth needs and knows
how to wisely foster solidarity amongst others who can help, sustain, or who are benefactors.
Amorevolezza in its various connotations supposes and demands the contribution of reason, which in
turn entails intelligence, willingness to understand, tact and reasonableness. It is practically translated
into adapting oneself both to the pressing needs of the young, the needs of the place they come from
(also the nation they come from) and the needs of the Church as well, since it is within these worlds
that the young learn daily how to be an effective part of them.
Amorevolezza grants to the educator the ability to reawaken in the young their ‘reasonable consent’.
“Allow yourself to be always guided by reason, not by emotions”, Don Bosco suggested to the one of
the assistants.1066
Thanks to the ‘system of love’, the pupil never grows angry for the correction he has received or for the
punishment he is threatened with or actually given, because there is always a friendly and preventive
warning which goes with it, which makes him reason things out and, more often than not, the
correction or punishment succeeds in winning over the pupil’s heart. The pupil, treated in this manner,
comes to realise that he needs to be punished and almost wants to be. Had a friendly voice warned him
of his error, the pupil might not have fallen. In conclusion, “in the Preventive System ...the pupil
becomes a friend, and the assistant a benefactor who advises him, has his good at heart, and wishes to
spare him vexation, punishment, and perhaps dishonour”.1067
Educators are able to ‘generate’ rational human beings, so they will never use their hands (maneschi,
was Don Bosco’s play on words, here, meaning ‘from the tribe of Manasseh , but in his dialect,
1062For example, in a letter to teachers and boys, E III 6, 53, 128 (1\\876), 447 (1879); IV 138 (1882).
1063E III 379 and 425 (1878), 525 (1879), 550 and 641 (1880).
1064Cf. for example E II 328-329, 329-330, 331, 339, 343, 359, 361-362, 377, 378. 379 (1874); E III 5, 9, 42, 64 (1876);
380 (1878); IV 9, 35, 40, 55, 59 (1881), 248-249 (1883), 238 (1884).
1065F.X. Eggersdorfer, Jugenderziehung (München, Kösel 1962), interprets it as “affective benevolence” (pp. 239-241); On
amorevolezza, cf. R. Zavalloni, Educarsi alla responsabilità Milan, Edizioni Paoline 1986, pp. 95-105, Significato di
una pedagogia dell’amorevolezza; X. Thévenot, Don Bosco éducateur et le «système préventif», in Éducation et
pédagogie chez Don Bosco. Colloque interuniversitaire, Lyon, 4-7 April 1988. Paris, Éditions Fleurus 1989, pp. 95-133.
La place de L’amorevolezza et de l’amour, pp. 116-124; idem, L’affectivité en l’éducation, ibid., pp. 233-254.
1066MB X, 1023
1067Il sistema preventivo (1877). p. 48 and 50, OE XXVIII 426 and 428.

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manasse also meant ‘threats’) or develop an overly sentimental attachment to the boys. They will spell
out especially, and very clearly what they want from the boys, avoiding complicated setups, and
appealing only to what is essential and helpful for the boys’ personal and social development.1068
Finally, in a Christian context, the entire system of amorevolezza/loving kindness has charity as its
foundation. Charity is spurred on by faith, which is itself a gift and a grace. This is something evident
to Don Bosco’s awareness as a believer and as a priest, and he acknowledges it very clearly in a letter
addressed to the working boys in Valdocco on January10, 1874.
The working boys are the apple of my eye... and so I think I am responding to my heart’s
desire by taking delight in writing to you. There is no need for me to tell you that I have
much affection for you. I have given you clear proof of this. There is no need for you to tell
me that you love me, because you have constantly shown it to me. But what is the
foundation of our mutual affection? Is it my purse? Certainly not mine, since I have spent
every penny for you. Certainly not yours because you haven’t got any money. Please, I
mean no offence by that! Therefore, my affection for you has as its foundation my desire to
help you save your souls, which were all redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
And you love me, because I try to lead you along the path to eternal salvation. And so, the
good of souls is the foundation of our mutual affection.1069
Another letter addressed to the superiors and pupils at Lanzo more clearly highlights the intimate link
that exists between the human and the theological, between the fruit and the plant.
During my stay at Lanzo you have enchanted me with your loving kindness and goodness;
you enchanted my mind with your piety. The only thing left for me was my heart, and you
have stolen all my heart0s affection. Now, the two hundred friendly and very dear hands
which signed the letter, have taken full possession of this heart of mine, and there is nothing
else left but a lively desire to love you in the Lord, do good to you, and save all your
souls.1070
Practically then loving kindness in all its shapes and sizes and thanks to the fullness and maturity of the
human ability to love and to the rational lucidity of friendship, is supported and nourished by the
infused virtue of charity for the attainment of the last end which is the salvation of souls.
Loving kindness is continuously creative; it is inexhaustible in terms of ‘beneficence, doing good - a
practical translation of ‘benevolence’, wanting the good of others. An actual, practical fraternal charity
on behalf of the weak and the small united with God’s life, it spurs us on to love, to want and actually
do what God loves and to fully share “the life of Christ in me”1071
God is love beyond all measure and we love our ‘brothers’ in the measure suggested by reason and
human and divine wisdom.
5. The educational abundance of loving kindness
The different expressions connected with amorevolezza (henceforth ‘loving kindness’) are but signs of
1068Metodo dell’amore, the Preventive System could be equally described as a method of reason and persuasion; cf.
Minimus, ‘Metodo della ragione’, in «Salesianum» 9 (1947) 273-277; M Pellerey, Il metodo della ragione, in
«Orientamenti Pedagogici» 35 (1988) 383-396.
1069Letter from Rome to working boys at the Oratory in Valdocco, Jan. 20, 1874. E II 339
1070Letter of Jan. 3, 1876, E III 5.
1071Jn. 13, 14-15 and Gal. 2:20.

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the super-abundance of its connotations.
“Loving kindness assumes different aspects in relation to the variety of situations of poverty and
abandonment. These situations find a response in the abundant human and divine qualities found in the
educator, who is called to act as a “father, brother, friend” and also benefactor, a teacher, and supporter.
This is how it was with Don Bosco and this is how the Preventive System works
One of the results of an interior charity and certainly contributing to loving kindness is a sense of
misericordia, mercy and compassion. Behind this lies the pain and sorrow one feels seeing the harm
and misfortune which young people have to endure as we meet up with them in prison or see them
running wild, and heading for trouble, in the city streets. This painful feeling becomes compassion and
pity; when controlled by moral reason, mercy is a natural virtue, and when inspired by the reason that
God himself has for being merciful, then mercy becomes a theological virtue, springing from charity.
Mercy stands for compassion and first of all compassion for the dangers to which poor and abandoned
boys are exposed, for the danger of being without God, of being from him, of being far from salvation,
but also for the temporal evils that beset them: ignorance, loneliness, idleness, corruption.
Mercy sees one’s neighbour from the perspective of needs which appeal for help. And a merciful
person cooperates with God and represents the embodiment of God’s goodness. The loving kindness
which is made up of heart, words and deeds becomes, through a human and divine impulse
“Beneficence, the implementation of mercy. Mercy makes itself evident in acts of “Beneficence”, acts
which were acts of loving kindness in the older Italian lexicon.1072
Mercy is connected with love expressed in few words and many deeds, with works of spiritual and
corporal mercy which Don Bosco had come to know from his catechism and from the family and the
religious world in which he lived as a child. The social and educational assistance provided by the
Preventive System becomes a huge organisation directed towards collecting and redistributing alms,
bread, school, apprenticeships.
Loving kindness is also a more interior and respected work of spiritual mercy. Among the acts of
spiritual mercy, according to the Gospel,1073 fraternal correction was always considered the most
important of all.
Fraternal correction, as we will see in chapter 17, is one of the most characteristic expressions of
preventive education. Its task is to help young people emerge from the imperfections peculiar to their
age and the prejudices they might have, and offer them new and better ideas to lead them to more
upright and productive behaviour in life, here and now and for eternity.
Material and spiritual alms-giving, education, re-education....these all respond to a keen sensitivity to
the most varied kinds of poverty and miseries of body and spirit, with real concern for doing something
about them, through loving kindness; providing food, clothing, shelter and education; readiness to
warn, advise, correct, comfort and guide.
Loving Kindness also has other facets by means of which the educational relationship becomes a
profoundly moral one: they are piety and affability or approachability. Piety covers an almost unlimited
range, beginning with our parents and country to the point of reaching out to anyone with whom we
have blood or just social ties. It includes the respect children have for parents and relatives. It is
1072The term is frequently employed by Sister Celeste, the older sister of Galileo Galilei, when she is thanking her father
for his ‘amorevolezza’, the gifts he gave to the monastery, and the ‘amorevolezza’ he exercises towards his daughter.
(Cf. M.C. Galilei, Lettere al padre, ed. Giuliana Morandini. Turin, Edizione La Rosa 1983).
1073Mt. 18:15-17.

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because of piety, considered not only in terms of its ultimate objective, namely, God, that natural or
adopted children honour their parents and pupils honour their teachers and other educators. The latter,
in turn, come to the aid of the former, children and pupils, their needs and requests for the immediate
present and the future, and thus they become loving fathers, brothers and friends of those whom they
benefit.
Affability, approachability comes from a reservoir of humaneness, sociability, natural goodness, as well
as the theological virtue of charity. It enriches justice with a remarkable note of amiability, courtesy and
finesse. This is the more simple kind of friendship which has some affinity with that great friendship
represented by charity and which establishes orderliness, spontaneity and graciousness among those
who enjoy being together. Perhaps better than all the other facets, it reflects the face of loving kindness
of which Don Bosco wrote and spoke: see that you build up a sympathetic harmony through word and
deed, in the mutual expectations of daily common life. According to Don Bosco, affability in word and
deed puts a final touch on ‘demonstrated love’.
He repeatedly insists on appealing to the heart, to love made evident by deeds and which in turn is the
proof of an effective education.
Recommend to all of our people to direct all their efforts to two cardinal points: to make
oneself loved, not feared1074 if you want to be loved, make yourself lovable1075
To succeed with the young, do your best to be well-mannered with them: make yourselves
loved, not feared1076
Loving kindness touches chords creates vibes which engage the entire personality of those addressed,
namely, young people and adults who will become sensitive to an entire gamut of interests, both
material and spiritual. To “win over the heart” of the young does not only mean touching their
emotional world; nor is their response only one of affection. It is also one of gratitude, esteem, respect,
desire to correspond, commitment and cooperation.
The final consideration is connected with the meaning that Don Bosco gave to the term ‘heart’, in a
properly religious and theological context, and the interpretation given to typical expressions like
“speak the language of the heart” and therefore “win over the heart of the pupils”, namely, reawaken a
young person’s potential, his will, mind, and his eagerness to work.1077
6. Loving kindness becomes Salesian spirit
During the last years of his life, in reference to mutual relationships between Salesian religious and
other educators, with the boys and with everyone, Don Bosco understood and formulated the term
loving kindness in a way that related to the thinking of the ‘doctor of charity’, St Francis de Sales.
Loving kindness ends up being closely tied to the spirit of charity and gentleness of St Francis de Sales,
a true spirit of gentleness and charity.1078
In 1880, Don Bosco summed up the spirit of the Congregation in this term, the spirit of its entire being
and activity, especially the spirit of educational and preventive activity as it emerged from the second
1074Letter to Bishop John Cagliero, Feb. 10, 1885, E IV 313.
1075MB X 1022.
1076MB XIV 513.
1077Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, Vol II, pp. 37-41.
1078G. Barberis, Verbali, quad. 1, Capitolo generale II, Sept. 4, 1880, pp. 16-17.

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General Chapter:
Our patience, charity and meekness should be reflected in our words and deeds in such a
way as to have the words of Jesus Christ fulfilled in us: You are the salt of the earth, you are
the light of the world”.1079
The two terms sal and lux come together to create the word ‘Salesian’: “do not forget that we are
Salesians: sal and lux. The salt of gentleness, patience and charity, the light reflected in all our outward.
activities: ut omnes videant opera nostra bona et glorificent patrem nostrum qui in coelis est, that all
may see our good deeds and glorify our Father who is in Heaven”.1080
“Charity, patience, gentleness, never humiliating reprimands, never punishments, always do good to
whomsoever we can and harm to no one”1081
“Gentleness in the way we speak and act, in the way we warn.. conquers everything and everyone”.1082
“Insist on the charity and gentleness of St Francis de Sales whom we ought imitate”.1083
When Mother Catherine Daghero was elected Superior General of the Daughters of Mary Help of
Christians on August 12, 1882, Don Bosco gave her as a gift a box of amaretti (macaroons, though here
the word refers to the literal translation: small bitter things) with a note wishing her the best:
Here you have some candy that you may distribute to your Daughters. Keep the gentleness
you need to practise always and with everyone for yourself; but always be ready to receive
the amaretti, or bitter mouthfuls which God might choose to send you1084
Loving kindness in its most pregnant sense ended up by being identified with Salesian spirit, with
explicit reference to St Francis de Sales, his theology of love, refined by the intentions, activity, dreams
and proposals of Don Bosco, in a word, by his the life-style and action.
7. From social support concerned with basic needs to educational support
Even though welfare, social support is not the specific subject of the present study, within the concrete
experience of Don Bosco’s Preventive System, in addition to his use of the term ‘assistance’ in an
educational context, the term also finds its place [in its Italian meaning of ‘welfare or social action’] in
the aid offered to “poor and abandoned” boys.
The first pressing concern that Don Bosco had as his interest in the young began to take shape, and
what remained a concern for him to the end of his days, was that of providing for the material needs of
his boys first of all.
The ‘salvation’ of the young at all levels, religious, moral and cultural, was always preceded and
accompanied by a commitment to ensuring the means for subsistence, housing, meals, clothing,
equipment for schools and work-shops. This is true especially of Don Bosco’s poorest institutions:
homes, orphanages, and the oratories in the slum areas of the city.
The two dimensions, one social humanitarian and the other educative and re-educative, both moral and
1079Circular to Salesians Nov. 29, 1880, E II 638.
1080Letter to Fr Costamagna, Jan. 31, 1881, E IV 7.
1081Letter to Bishop Cagliero, Aug. 6, 1885, E IV 328.
1082Letter to Fr Costamagna, Aug. 10, 1885, E IV 332.
1083Letter to Fr Lasagna, Sept. 30, 1885, E IV 340.
1084E IV 76.

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religious, are constantly and practically considered to be inter-related. According to Don Bosco’s
Catholic mind-set, though, real or potential delinquency was associated with a lack of religious
foundations. Religious indifference, poor Christian practice were considered as both cause and
symptom of a certain moral corruption and as an inevitable risk for society.
The contribution of material help and the education ended up being necessarily integrated. Don Bosco
made this integration evident in private letters, circular letters, appeals, sermons aimed at collecting
funds and especially through his works.
The Preventive System is both a welfare system, a social system and a system for a moral and religious
education.1085
Assistance plays a key methodological role in educational activity, so much so, that in the Preventive
System being an ‘educator’ and an ‘assistant’ are one and the same thing. Therefore it is evident that the
type of assistance practised and proposed by Don Bosco should not be understood only within the
perspective of what he wrote in 1877 and the document which refers to a highly structured setting
much like the colleges/boarding schools and homes, which were expected to see to the entire life of the
young for a long period of time.
The experiences Don Bosco had, his writings and talks, lead us to understand ‘assistance’ in a broad
and flexible way. This is true, for example, for assistance in schools for day boys, oratories, youth
ministry activities, even other activities related to printing, publishing and book stores.
On the level of behaviour such a fundamental inspiration leads to some immediate consequences which
completely involves the one who practises the Preventive System, wherever it may be employed. Some
texts give us some idea of this, even though it would be more significant to refer to the lived experience
that Don Bosco wanted. The contents of his ‘definition of the Preventive System’ in the 1877 text are
fundamental for us to know: rectors and assistants are always to be among their pupils, talking to them,
guiding them, advising and correcting them.1086
Assistance is not policing nor is it about hand-outs, but is a friendly presence, a presence which
promotes and gives life to the entire activity of the individual we want to help. Assistance is usually
carried out in very different ways in an oratory, a boarding institution, the classroom, a group, at work.
Let the superior [= educator] be all to all, always ready to listen to any doubts or any
complaints of the young; he should be all eyes in supervising their behaviour like a father;
he should be all heart in looking after the spiritual and temporal good of those who have
been entrusted to him by Divine Providence.1087
Certainly, according to the idea and the practice of Don Bosco’s Preventive System, assistance entails
‘surveillance’ just as the notion of ‘prevention’ includes the prior notion of defence, prevention,
protection and relative isolation whenever possible. Prevention as surveillance is a particularly
sensitive area in boarding schools or boarding institutions where the centuries-old practice of
periodically reading out the rules is followed. This reading of the rules aims at informing and warning
boys who are more vivacious than bad.
Fr Michael Rua, writing to the rector of a Minor Seminary in 1863 says:
1085Cf. P. Braido, «Poveri e abbandontai, pericolanti e pericolosi»: pedagogia, assistenza, socialità nell’«esperienza
preventiva» di don Bosco, in «Annali di storia dell’educazione e delle istituzioni scolastiche» 3 (1996) 183-236.
1086Il sistema preventivo (1877). p. 46, OE XXVIII 424.
1087Due lettere datate da Roma..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore...., p. 386.

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Bring all the teachers, assistants and dormitory heads together on some occasion and tell
everyone that they should do their best to prevent bad talk, keep all books, writings,
pictures (hic scientia est) or whatever else might endanger purity, the Queen of virtues, far
from them. Let them give advice and be charitable with everyone1088
It is impossible not to think about the influence rigourist theological thinking had on Don Bosco or
ideas similar to Jansenism, regarding the consequences of original sin, and related beliefs vis-a-vis the
psychological and moral fragility of the young. Young people inclined to evil, vulnerable, threatened by
bad companions, exposed to scandals, the young ‘at risk’, could not be saved except with the constant.
protective and caring assistance of the teachers.1089
This is an idea, however, which Don Bosco had quite clearly in mind and which he insisted upon,
namely, that assistance should be directed towards promoting and animating. The teacher/educator is
always present and takes part fully in the life of his pupils; he listens to them, joins them, stirs up
interest, welcomes initiatives and inspires activity. As we have seen earlier on, this is demanded by the
Preventive System, right from the time he defined it and made it authentically educative.1090
“Putting the pupils in a situation where it is impossible for them to commit sin” should not be taken to
mean “the material impossibility of committing sin.’1091In this sense the continuous, visible or
psychological presence of Don Bosco among the young and the young with Don Bosco, is not
rhetorically but really the best and most typical representation of the pedagogical concept of
‘preventive assistance’.1092
Once more, and especially in this sensitive area, the system is entrusted to the educator. Balance, tact,
the human touch, fatherly and brotherly affection, vivaciousness, knowing how to put oneself at their
level as a friend, and many other elements, are essential for a correct and valid implementation of the
Preventive System.
1088F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»... p. 153
1089One example of a sever interpretation of the assistant of offered in the short essay by Minimus, Metodo della vigilanza,
in Salesianum 9 (1947) 122-128. There are many warnings, public and private on danger especially in the boarding
setting of “already rotten boys”, on “disorders”: cf. P. Braido, Il sistema preventivo di Don Bosco, Zurich, PAS-Verlag
1964, pp. 208-210.
1090Il sistema preventivo (1877). p. 46. OE XXVIII 424.
1091A. Aufray, La pedagogia di S. Giovanni Bosco, p. 44.
1092A happy synthesis of “preventive” and “assisting” understood as “being amongst the young” is offered by H. Henz,
Lehbuch der systematischen Pädagogik, pp. 230-232. A good analysis of assistance as a promoting and animating
presence can be found in G. Dho, L’assistenza come ‘presenza’ e rapporto personale, in Il sistema educativo di don
Bosco tra pedagogia antica e nuova. Leumann-Turin, LDC 1974, pp. 104-125; and by F. Wöss, Salesianische
Assistenz: der Erzieher als Animator. Köln, Kölner Kreis 1976, 31 p.

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Chapter 15
The educative ‘family’
The Preventive System, understood broadly, is open to all kinds of educational, re-educational
circumstances. Don Bosco did not apply his system only in the classic institutions: oratory, home,
boarding house, boarding school, association, group. He did so in individual encounters as well; it was
there, too, in his publishing undertakings. It was Don Bosco’s behavioural style in the widest range of
social relationships, with people of all ages and circumstance. It is not only in the Confidential Memo
to Rectors that we can find rules Don Bosco gave on relationships with outsiders. They can be found
also in the Memo for missionaries who had to face various life situations.
The Preventive System is valid not only for one-on-one education, for stronger personalised
relationships, but also for mass education.1093
However, wherever many people were gathered in community, that was the ‘place ‘where the
Preventive System took shape, and the result was that the Preventive System is, to a large measure, the
system for community. This is what this chapter is about.
1. The family paradigm
Don Bosco’s Preventive System took shape prevalently within communities of young people,
communities with a wider dimension such as: oratories, homes, boarding institutions, boarding schools,
schools for day students. So it is primarily a program related to the pedagogy of the environment.1094
Notwithstanding all of the above, in Don Bosco’s mind and praxis the Preventive System anticipates
with the same clarity that every educational institution should take the family as its model, adapted
according to circumstance. “Don Bosco’s Oratory”, writes one scholar, “was meant to be a home, a
‘family’, and not simply a boarding school.”1095 “The ‘Lives’ written by Don Bosco”, the same scholar
continues, “continue the effect, in the minds of the young readers for whom they were written, of the
good example which gradually shapes what is called the environment, the climate, the atmosphere
surrounding the boys Don Bosco had gathered around himself in his early days, in a ‘home’ which was
meant to be a ‘family’ “.1096
This family atmosphere was demanded by the very essence of the system inasmuch as it is preventive
and founded on reason, religion and loving kindness. There can never be ‘loving kindness’ -which
polarises reason and religion methodically - unless a calm and exemplary ‘environment’ is created,
namely, a family climate.
This automatically means that even its structure should have some similarity to the family. Only this
kind of family-like structure could have enabled the blossoming of trust between pupils and superiors,
not really seen as superiors but as fathers and brothers, the blossoming of an affectionate sharing of life
1093Fr Mario Barbera (Turin, SEI 1942) dedicates the first chapter in his San Giovanni Bosco educatore, to Don Bosco
“educator of the masses”: this inspired the essay Don Bosco educatore delle moltitudini, in «Civiltà Cattolica» 139
(1988) II 230-244.
1094Cf. H. Bouquier, Don Bosco Éducateur, Paris, Téqui 1950, chap 9. L’éducation problème de milieu, pp. 1-2; A.
Caviglia, Domenico Savio e Don Bosco. Studio, p. 286.
1095A. Caviglia, Il «Magone Michele»..., p. 141.
1096A. Caviglia, La vita di Besucco Francesco..., pp. 157-158.

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with the boys as brothers and friends, and finally the blossoming of solidarity among all of them.1097
Psychological motives led Don Bosco to choose this kind of family structure for his system, his own
family experience, his religious convictions, which had him think about believers as the great family of
the children of God; sociological data relating to the scenario of an urban environment where a lot of
youngsters lived far from their families, and were strangers in a world they did not understand because
of its lifestyle and language, and were practically without a ‘family’.
The codification of Don Bosco’s praxis as found in his words and writings conforms to the family
paradigm. He wanted to apply to every community of young people what he was first of all demanding
of his large community of young people at the Oratory in Valdocco, which he himself directed and gave
life to. The Oratory’s structure and life became the norm to be followed by all of his houses.
The first thing to be dealt with was the relationship of the young with their superiors, their educators:
Obey those who have been appointed to be your superiors to guide you and direct you, and
be obedient to them: because they will have to render an account of your souls to God
himself; open up your hearts to them and look on them as though they were your fathers,
who ardently want your happiness.1098
Then there were also relationships between the boys themselves: “Honour and love your companions
like brothers”; “love one another, as the Lord tells us, but watch out for scandal”. 1099
In a Good Night given on June 1884, Don Bosco exhorted the boys as follows:
There is only one thing I feel I must recommend to you and it is this: be sure to love one
another and not despise anyone. Do not despise anyone but rather welcome everyone into
your company, willingly allow any of your companions to join in your games, dismiss all
kinds of antipathy toward your companions, antipathy which you cannot somehow explain.
Welcome everyone, be kind to all, with the exception of those who indulge in bad talk.1100
On another occasion, Don Bosco presented his boys with a concise program: “Thank God, speak of
God, work for God. Think well of your neighbour, speak well of your neighbour and do well to your
neighbour. Never think badly about your neighbour, never speak badly about your neighbour, and never
cause any harm to your neighbour.1101
2. Family style
Don Bosco seemed to have sketched out his theory on the importance of the family atmosphere in a
Good Night in January 1864. On that occasion he used the image of a beehive, urging his boys to
imitate the bees in two things: 1. They obey their queen; 2. They have a sense of solidarity. This is the
way by which the small world of education was to become a preparation for the future great world of
society, from the perspective of solidarity.
My desire is for you to learn how to produce honey like the bees do. Do you know how the
bees produce honey? Mainly with two things:
1097“Don Bosco”, writes Franz Xavier Eggersdorfer, “can be taken as a paradigm of the shaping power of the environment.
A good family was the dominating factor in his educational approach in his communities” (Jugenderziehung, p. 83)
1098Regolamenti per le case...., part II, Chap. VIII, art. 2And 7, pp. 75-76, OE XXIX 171-172.
1099Regolamenti per le case...., Part II, Chap IX, art. 1 and 2, p. 77 OE XXIX 173.
1100D. Ruffino, Libro di esperienza 1864, pp. 17-18
1101D. Ruffino, Libro di esperienza 1864, p. 73.

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1. They do not produce it on their own but under the direction of a queen whom they obey
in any circumstance; and then they live together and help one another.
2. The second thing is that they go around and pick up pollen from the flowers here and
there. But, notice: the bees do not pick all the pollen they find in one flower, but go to this
flower, then another flower, and they take from the flowers only what helps them produce
honey.
Getting to the application of the image, Don Bosco made these remarks:
The honey stands for the good produced by everyone working together, with their piety,
study and cheerfulness. The entire result is guaranteed by ‘obeying their queen’, namely, by
obeying the rules and superiors.
The fact that many live together increases cheerfulness; it serves as an encouragement to
bear with the hardships of study; it serves as a stimulus by noting others’ progress; there is
a mutual sharing of acquired knowledge, ideas and that is the way learning from one
another takes place. The fact of living together with lots of others who do well, becomes an
inspiration for us to do well, without even being aware of it.1102
The same image was published by a correspondent in a Parisian newspaper, Pèlerin, following an
interview with Don Bosco in May 1883. The small home started in 1847 had become, for quite some
time, a great complex of buildings with 800 boarders.
We have seen the Preventive System in action. In Turin, the students form a huge boarding
institution: they do not know anything about moving by rows since they move from one
place to another, family-style. Groups of youngsters surround their teachers without too
much noise, irritation, or conflicts. We looked with admiration at the faces of those boys
and we could not restrain ourselves from crying out: Here is the finger of God.1103
The picture is slightly forced as the description provided by Don Bosco’s first biographer. At any rate,
it could be more faithfully tied back to the initial phases of the home at Valdocco.1104 The biographer
himself had already mentioned the introduction of moderate and gradual regularisation.
In those days the boys enjoyed much freedom because they lived like in a family. But, as
soon as a need arose or a disorder crept up, Don Bosco gradually restricted the amount of
freedom with some appropriate rule and so, one by one, over time, disciplinary norms were
established and now form the Rules for the Salesian houses.1105
In a large family-like boarding institution, obviously real tensions may arise and gradually grow,
between the fundamental climates of spontaneous, fatherly, brotherly and filial relationships and the
inevitable demands of order and discipline. This is reflected in a sermonette Don Bosco delivered at the
1102MB VII 602. Lemoyne says it is an address recorded in a diary along with others, but without giving a date.
1103Quoted from MB XVI 168-9.
1104A more realistic view of the Oratory, a large community of more than 800 with two sections, students and working
boys, is offered by J.M. Prellezzo in «Ricerche Storiche Salesiane» (1989-1992), in the already quoted Valdocco
nell’Ottocento tra reaòe e ideale; cf also P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale, especially Chaps. VIII-
XII (pp. 175-288).
1105MB IV 339.

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beginning of the scholastic year 1863-1864:
I do not want you to consider me so much as your superior but rather as your friend. And
therefore, do not be afraid of me, have no fear of me, but rather trust me, for this is what I
wish from you and this is what I beg of you, this is what I would expect from true friends...
let us all form but one heart! I am here, ready to help you in any circumstance. Be of good
will, be sincere with me as I am with you.1106
It is clear that the family style takes on different accents as required by the disciplinary needs which
different educational contexts presented. Practically speaking, most of the indications mentioned by
Don Bosco had to do with Valdocco, or the Oratory for outsiders during the early years, and the home
in later years, and often and particularly with the academic student section.
One of the main results achieved through a family-like regime was to surmount, and not just
theoretically, the contrast between authority and consensus, two essential features of education.
Obedience in the house is adherence to an objective order which involves the so-called “superiors” and
the so-called ‘‘inferiors” without drawing distinctions between them, and guarantees a harmonious and
industrious living together. In practice, the two different ‘orders’ create no problems when everyone
feels bound to follow the common rule of life.
Once the tension between authority and obedience is overcome by adhering to a common rule, then we
have created a suitable condition for changing the family atmosphere into an effective and habitual
‘familiarity’! This is the specific task of the educators as they relate to their pupils but also expected of
the life-style of the pupils as they relate to one another when they live together.
There is a message for the educators in particular, in Don Bosco’s letter dated May 10, 1884. As we
have mentioned, Fr John Baptist Lemoyne wrote it but Don Bosco himself inspired it, when
reminiscing nostalgically, as he was wont to do on how things worked at the home in Valdocco during
the first 15 years of its existence.
“Our beloved Father cannot hold any conversation without reminiscing on the heroic times at the
Oratory”, writes Lemoyne from Sampierdarena on April 8, 1884, to a Salesian from Turin.1107 He
rightly refers to the familiarity which was a way of breaking down the barrier of mistrust which had
been unconsciously erected between the young and their educators, who were considered as superiors
and no longer fathers, brothers and friends, and therefore more feared and less loved. This familiarity is
especially to be in evidence when the spontaneity of communal living is at its best: recreation time.
...Familiarity with the boys especially at recreation time. Without familiarity love is not
shown and if love is not shown, then there cannot be trust. Whoever wants to be loved,
must show that he loves. Jesus Christ became little with the little and bore all our
infirmities. Here you have the master of familiarity.1108
Nothing else is left but to revitalise the old system of total availability of the educators and this is the
real meaning of familiarity in its widest connotation: total availability to the requests of the young.1109
The young for their part will not fail to respond with warm trust. This is precisely what the letter Fr
Michael Rua read out at Valdocco, said. It was addressed to them: “If you want to have unity of heart
1106MB VII 503. The text is taken up again, according to Fr Lemoyne, in a diary entry by John Bonetti. We have not found
it.
1107Cf. ‘Due lettere datate da Roma...’, in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., p. 351.
1108Due lettere datate da Roma..., n P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., p. 383-384
1109Due lettere datate da Roma..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., pp. 385-386.

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and soul, you’ve got to break down the fatal barrier of mistrust and let in a heartfelt trust”.1110
The climate of authentic familiarity will enhance fraternal friendship among the boys. In fact, even
though Don Bosco showed mistrust of ‘particular friendships’, which he considered ambiguous and
murky, and he often denounced these in his educational efforts, he celebrated friendship. Friendship
may be a spontaneous and powerful means for cultural and religious growth.
In the first book he published, the Life of Luigi Comollo, Don Bosco sketched out a brief but true
treatise on friendship.1111The Lives of Dominic Savio and Michael Magone1112 openly and profoundly
describe features of friendship but from a more formal pedagogical point of view.
The Life of Dominic Savio had two chapters dedicated to it:1113 chapter 17 deals with his special
friendships and his relationship with young Camillo Gavio; chapter 18 deals with Dominic Savio’s
relationship with young John Massaglia.1114 These friendships are clearly based on orientation towards
God, spiritual improvement and holiness. From his first encounter with Camillo Gavio, Dominic Savio
had a precise idea of the kind of holiness Don Bosco preached: “You should know that here, holiness
consists in cheerfulness”.1115 Evidently, this cheerfulness is joy linked with the state of grace, virtue, the
exact ‘performance of one’s duties’.
Dominic Savio began a more intimate spiritual friendship with John Massaglia because they both came
from districts close to each other and shared the same spiritual aspirations and ideas about vocation.
“They both came to the Oratory at the same time; they were from neighbouring towns; they both had
the same intention of embracing the ecclesiastical state and had a real desire to become saints”.
After the retreats held at Easter time their friendship became more intense, as Don Bosco explained it:
After the retreat, Dominic Savio told to his companion: “I want us to be true friends; true
friends for what concerns our souls. Therefore from now on I would like us to monitor each
other in whatever may contribute to our spiritual welfare.” From that moment on, Savio and
Massaglia became true friends and their friendship lasted, because it was founded on virtue.
Both vied with each other by giving each other good example and sharing mutual advice
which might help them avoid evil and do good.1116
Later on, Don Bosco commented: “If I’d want to write about the good and virtuous traits of John
Massaglia, I’d have to repeat whatever I have said about Savio, whose faithful follower he was for as
long as he lived.1117
1110Due lettere datate da Roma..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., pp. 374.
1111Cf. [G. Bosco], Cenni storici sulla vita del chierico [called ‘giovane’ in the second edition, 1854] Luigi Comollo..., pp.
13-72, OE I 13-72.
1112In the Cenno biografico on Magone he speaks of ‘companions’ but there is a closer spiritual relationship, a more
personal one, with some which is closer to ‘amicizia’, friendship. cf. G. Bosco Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone
Michele..., pp. 43-53, OE XIII 197-207.
1113On friendship in Don Bosco’s writings, from the collection of letters to the various ‘Lives’, J. Canals Pujol, Salesian,
has carried out extensive research. Part of this is published in an essay La amistad en las diversas redacciones de la
vida de Comollo escrita por San Juan Bosco, RSS 5 (1968) 221-262.
1114G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., pp. 83-88, 88-93, OE XI 233-238, 238-243.
1115G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico...,p. 86, OE XI 236.
1116G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., pp. 88-89, OE XI 238-240.
1117G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 91, OE XI 241.

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3. Family structure: the rector and his co-helpers
From the viewpoint of method, family style becomes a structure, namely, a well-established set of
relationships amongst the people concerned: the relationship of the rector with his co-helpers and
pupils; the relationship of pupils with their superiors, who from are expected to be fathers, brothers and
friends from the point of view of education.
3.1 The Rector
Historically, Don Bosco’s educative family cannot be equated with an assemblage of people and not
even with a ‘boys town’ community, independently of its eventual evolution and reinterpretation. The
educative family paradigm is created by a style of living together which, as far as the relationship
between authority and affection is concerned, takes inspiration from the analogous relationship found
in an ideal natural family, that is, between parents and their children, brothers and sisters.1118 For this
reason the rector is recognised by everyone as the head of the family, a true Paterfamilias who wields
undisputed authority over all the activities of his collaborators and pupils.
The rector, as a father, makes sure that his children are provided with material bread, physical care,
intellectual nourishment and with moral and religious support.1119 He is not a ‘father- master’ nor even
just a superior, governor, but a real father-mother, firm and loving with full responsibility at all levels:
physical, intellectual, scientific, moral and religious. The classic document on the rector is the Ricordi
confidenziali or Confidential Memo for Rectors, written in 1863 but gradually, later on, expanded, re-
touched. They were employed throughout the rest of Don Bosco’s lifetime. We know that their origin
goes back to 1863, at the end of October. It was a personal letter sent to Fr Michael Rua, newly
appointed rector of the first collegio or boarding school outside of Turin, Mirabello, Monferrato. As
new schools of the kind were built Don Bosco, in 1870, thought it best to give the text a much broader
application. He would continue to re-touch the original text over the following years, up until 1886.
From 1870, the Ricordi were given to every rector. They had been collected together in a booklet
entitled Confidential Memo for Rectors. They have continued through to our own time as a significant
expression of Don Bosco’s spirit.
The rector is the mind, heart, and centre of the activities of the entire house. The house is, at the same
time, a religious house, an educational institution, and the communities of educators and pupils are
present to one other. The paragraphs which make up the document address a rector who is a
‘consecrated person’, the superior of a community of consecrated people who, in turn, are educators
and live together with the young to be educated. The rector is, furthermore, the one responsible for, and
the representative of the community vis-a-vis secular and ecclesiastical authorities; he is the
representative of an institution which operates in two areas, the civil and the religious.
The titles in the document give us an exact idea of the plurality of functions assigned to the rector: how
the rector should deal with himself, the teachers, the assistants and dormitory heads, with the
Coadjutors and the service people, with the young pupils, the day students, the members of the Society,
1118For sociological types of the family, which would embrace most of Don Bosco’s large educational communities,
especially the boarding schools, cf. P. Melograni (ed.), La famiglia italiana dall’Ottocento ad oggi. Bari, Laterza 1985,
XVIII-712 p: differentiates between farming, working, middle class families; M. Barbagli, Sotto lo stesso tetto.
Mutamenti della famiglia in Italia dal XV al XX secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino 1984, 557 p; M. Marbagli and D.I. Kertzer
(Eds), Storia della famiglia salesiana 1750-1950. Bologna, Il Mulino 1992, 367 p.
1119The terms “figli”, “figliuoli” can sometimes seem to be simply an Italian translation of the Piedmentese term “fieuj”,
that in certain contexts simply means “ragazzi”. In Don Bosco’s familiar language applied to each Rector there is a
more specific connotation of a paternal spiritual and educational relationship with the boys.

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when giving orders.1120
There is a host of varied tasks assigned to the rector but they are all linked with the classic principle:
strive to make yourself loved rather than feared. The adverb ‘rather’ was preceded by some variants,
such as “before...” and “if you want”.1121
There is a recurrent insistence on certain recommendations: “Be concerned”, “speak”, “get together”,
take account of, check, prevent, to hear the opinion of. Particularly addressed is the presence that the
rector must have among his young pupils.
In practice and theory, and later codified in the Rules for Day Students, the rector stands for the core of
Don Bosco’s pedagogy of community. It is true that theoretically and practically it is the educative
environment in its entirety which should first of all be cared for. But it is also self-evident that the
environment is created by the entire ‘family’ of educators and young people.
However, the one called to give to this collective work shape, a unified and systematic orientation and
be the soul and spirit of the educative community, the one capable of translating the pedagogy of the
environment into a personal pedagogy, a ‘one-on-one pedagogy’, is the rector. The rector is called to be
entirely dedicated to educative rather than administrative activity, even though everything comes back
to him. It is the rector’s task to take care of everything that concerns the spiritual, material and
scholastic running of the house.1122
“The rector is the main superior and responsible for everything that happens at the Oratory”. He should
out-do other superiors in piety, charity and patience; he should always show himself to be friend,
companion, and brother to all. For this reason he should always encourage everyone to do his duty but
prayerfully, not by giving severe commands. He should be like a father among his children.1123
It is quite evident that here we have the fatherly and familiar idea peculiar to traditional Christian
pedagogy, bolstered by other affective and organisational elements and inspired, once again, by the
threefold reason, religion, and loving kindness..
The lovingly kind fatherliness of the rector extended throughout the day and reaching out broadly has
expressions of its own, as they relate both to individuals and the community. Expressions relating to the
individuals refer to Confession, spiritual direction, and the so called parolina all’orecchio or ‘word in
the ear’.
What the Ricordi have to say about the rector as the appointed ordinary confessor of the religious and
educative community is important. This was the practice Don Bosco had begun, way before it became
‘a norm’, from the very beginning of his work. Don Bosco, who was concerned about providing
material bread for the young, could not think of a Christian education which was not an ‘education of
souls’. What he wanted and wrote about was quite clear: “In our houses, the rector is the ordinary
confessor, therefore you should make sure that you show that you gladly hear anyone’s confession, but
you should grant them ample freedom to make their confession to whomsoever they might choose. Let
everyone clearly know that you never take part in voting on their moral conduct and be careful enough
to avoid even the shadow of suspicion that you rely on what you recall being told in confession”.1124
In his practice regarding the sacrament of Penance, Don Bosco usually also assumed the role of
spiritual director. Even here, Don Bosco recommended the choice of only one and the same confessor,
1120Cf. F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 1\\51.
1121F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 151.
1122Regolamenti per le case...., part I, Chap I, art. 3, p. 19, OE XXIX 115.
1123Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part I, Chap. I, art. 1,2,7, p. 5-6. OE XXIX 35-36.
1124F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 156.

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inseparably acting as the priest who absolves and who also gives advice.1125
“Following the example of Cafasso, his teacher, and the better spiritual tradition of his times, Don
Bosco heard confessions of people and also directed them spiritually”.1126But his way of giving spiritual
direction was quite open to formal and informal types and was very flexible.1127 “His entire pedagogical
spirituality and all of his pedagogy” writes Fr Valentini rather forcefully, “was a spiritual pedagogy”.1128
Personal direction was more intensive at certain crucial periods during the year: at the first contact a
young lad had when coming into boarding life at school, at retreats, when choosing a vocation, and
whenever there were particular moral or spiritual issues. Even the ‘word in the ear’ was simple but
impressive, and a form of direction. Don Bosco invited the rector, as the father of the young pupils, to
take advantage of it.
Writing to Fr Michael Rua, newly appointed rector, Don Bosco says: “ Do what you can to spend the
entire recreation time with the boys, and try to whisper some affectionate word into their ear, the way
you know best, and you will gradually come to realise the need for it. This is the great secret which
makes you master of a young person’s heart”.1129 When the letter to Fr Rua became the Confidential
Memo for Rectors, Don Bosco included an additional series of these ‘whispered words’ directed to the
good of the souls and their salvation.1130
But there is also a rector’s daily ‘collective encounter’ or ‘encounters’ with the community of superiors,
assistants, outside co-workers, young academic students and /or working boys, and domestics. It was
Don Bosco’s wish that normally the rector or, at times, one of his collaborators, should give a Good
Night to the whole community gathered for night prayers, before retiring to their quarters.
He shall publicly offer some affectionate words to the community; he should make some
announcements or give some advice on things to be done or to be avoided. He should try to
draw some lessons from events that occurred in the place or outside during the day.
This is the already classic Good Night which aims at creating and intensifying a general climate of
sincere willingness to communicate with one another. Don Bosco recommended it be short though he
often did not keep it that way himself. But he never wanted to turn it into a verbose and dry sermon.
“The talk should never last more than two or three minutes”. Given these conditions the Good Night
might really become “the key to morality, the key to the good running of the house, and the key to
success in education”.1131
3.2 The community of teachers, educators
The rector is not the only educator nor does he run everything himself, alone. “If the essence of being a
rector” is not that of doing everything himself personally, but of coordinating and working in with
1125Cf. A. Caviglia, Savio Domenico e Don Bosco. Studio, pp. 82-87, La direzione di don Bosco.
1126P. Brocardo, Direzione spirituale e rendiconto. Rome, LAS 1966, p. 150.
1127Cf. C. Colli, La direzione spirituale nella prassi e nel pensiero di don Bosco: «memoria» e «profezia», in M.
Cogliandro (ed.), La direzione spirituale nella famiglia salesiana. Rome, Editrice SDB 1983, pp. 53-77.
1128E. Valentini, La direzione spirituale dei giovani nel pensiero di don Bosco, in Salesianum 14 (1952) 354.
1129F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 149
1130F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., pp. 155-156. Regarding the noisy, happy unorganised recreation at the
first oratory, Don Bosco writes in the Memoirs of the Oratory: “to one I might whisper a recommendation to be more
obedient, to be more prompt in attending to his duty; to another I would suggest regular attendance at catechsim, or at
confession, and so on”. MO (1991) 160.
1131Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 56, 58, OE XXVIII 434, 436; cf E. Ceria, Annali della Società Salesiana, vol II, Turin,
SEI 1946, pp. 856.869, Di una cosa tutta salesiana: la buona notte.

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others, it is clear that the rector’s activity should involve the collaboration of everyone who holds
responsibility in the house. Here we have verification of the convergence of two equally true
statements: “All in all, from this you will come to realise that the essence of being rector consists in
being able to share tasks which need to be carried out and then making sure that they are carried
out”.1132
“Anyone holding office or providing assistance to the young people entrusted to us by Divine
Providence is responsible for giving warnings and advice to any boy in the house, any time there is a
reason to do so, especially when it is a question of preventing any offence against God”.
Even the doorkeeper is called on the stage as he plays the role of a first rank actor to guarantee the
‘preventive character’ of the system.1133“The choice of a good doorkeeper is a treasure for an
educational institution”.1134
The terms “superior” or those who hold any kind of responsibility, and “educator’” are practically
synonymous since in different ways they are fathers, brothers and friends. The terms are more
especially applied to those who hold some office in boarding schools, such as the prefect or vice-rector,
the financial administrator, the catechist or spiritual director, the prefect of studies, the professional
councillor [which means the one in charge of the trade school activities, workshops etc.].
But in all this common activity the teachers, the shop-heads and assistants are involved as well in
proportion to their age and the activities they are called to carry out. The Rules for the Houses dedicate
a chapter to every assignment and activity.1135 Instead the tasks indicated in the Rules of the Oratory
‘for outsiders’ turn out, in practice, to be nominal ones only, remnants of resources used by Don Bosco
and gradually improved upon for their spirit.1136
Everyone works according to his competence and assignment within a network of relationships which
contribute to create a compact educating community. We see this, as far as Valdocco is concerned,
recorded in the minutes of the meetings of assistants, teachers, and superiors of the house chapter or
even of the superior chapter. In the discussions and decisions made there, ‘we’ generally substitutes ‘I’,
following the principle:
We do not want to be feared; we want to be loved and we want you to put all your trust in
us.1137
The solidarity of the educating community is particularly visible in boarding setups, in the boarding
schools and homes. But it is similarly evident in the various types of institutions where the young are
gathered. Without distinction, everyone is asked to influence the young as fully as they can and provide
an educative assistance which is not simple surveillance but something which enlightens, encourages,
and promotes growth.
4. The mobile world of the young
In this context of family, fatherliness, at times paternalistic, what takes on an extraordinary importance
1132Letter to Fr Giuseppe Ronchail, March 23, 1877, E III 158.
1133Regolamenti per le case...., Articoli generali, art. 1, p. 15, OE XXIX 111; part I, Chap XV, pp. 47-49, OE XXIX 143-
145 Del portinaio.
1134Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 56, OE XXVIII 434.
1135Regolamenti per le case...., part I, Regolamento particolare, Chaps. I-XVIII, pp. 19-57, OE XXIX 115-153.
1136Cf. Regolmento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part I, pp. 4-27, OE XXIX 34-57.
1137Quoted in MB VI 320.

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is the ‘feast of gratitude’. This feast is a partially steered one, but an occasion to generally mobilise all
the lively energies of the young people involved in various of activities: sacred and secular songs,
music, literary compositions, poems, theatrical performances, academic entertainment, recitations,
decorations set up in the various places and performances.
The feast of gratitude began during the first years of the home1138 at Valdocco and it ordinarily
coincided with Don Bosco’s Name day, June 24. It was solemnly celebrated and with ever-growing
involvement by people, up to Don Bosco’s death. He was the one being honoured. This feast was then
‘copied’ in style in all the Salesian educational institutions and became a solid pedagogical tradition.
4.1 Relationship between respect and gradual autonomy
The Feast of Gratitude, according to Don Bosco, aimed at enkindling in young people a sense of
respect and love for their superiors, deepening the sense of family, as well as naturally aiming at
promoting due sentiments of gratitude and kindness. This too is education.1139
It is quite natural that as part of a pedagogy of ‘making oneself loved rather than feared’, just as in any
well-functioning family, a privileged place is given to the process of learning how to show honour,
respect and reverence towards teachers, much as would be the case towards parents (Honour your
father and your mother), relatives and benefactors.
During Christmastime, Don Bosco often urged the boys to write to their parents and express gratitude
to them; ask them to forgive past faults and promise respect and obedience for the future. In a Good
Night given to the boys on December 31, 1868, Don Bosco said: “I recommend that you pray and offer
up some communions for your parents, brothers and sisters or benefactors who provide bread and make
sacrifices for you, and I recommend that you be grateful to them”. He then added that gratitude be
shown to the teachers and to everyone who contributed to their cultural and moral growth.1140
There is a chapter in the Rules for the Houses entitled “Behaviour towards superiors”. It is quite full of
suggestions as to what attitudes precede and accompany love, and are demanded by love and
complementary to love. The chapter speaks about obedience, submission, gratitude, waiting for advice
and warnings, reverence, deference, respect and sincerity.1141 And these are all expressions of the ‘fear’
which has nothing at all to do with ‘dread’ or with ‘being distant’, but is due recognition of the
outstanding humanity and moral maturity of the superiors from whom much is received. To not have
them would turn out to be disastrous.
However, all the above does not mean education which teaches perpetual submission to the educator,
even when the pupil has grown in autonomy and competence after leaving school and may still want
some advice or correction.1142 At any rate, the pupils have a lot of room left them to live their kind of
life, their demands, energies, and original contributions both positive and negative. The educators still
feel challenged by tacit or expressed protests of the young or their dissatisfaction, and the barriers they
put up. At the frequent and regular meetings the educators and teachers at Valdocco take full stock of
all of the above, and do not fail to identify difficult situations in order to find out their causes and
provide solutions to them.1143
1138Cf. MB II 491; III 534-536.
1139Cf. MB IX 886.
1140G. Berto, Cronaca from June to December 1868, pp. 33-34
1141Regolamenti per le case...., part I, Chap IX Contegno verso i superiori, pp. 75-77, OE XXIX 171-173.
1142Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 50, OE XXVIII 428.
1143For the many questions posed at staff meetings and the superior chapter itself and especially the survey in June 1884
amongst members of the house chapter, cf. J.M. Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento..., pp. 272-307.

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4.2 Giving some structure to a community of young people: sodalities
Don Bosco did not want the community of young people to be a generic type of family, or something
which relies only on vertical relationships. It has many faces even though from one single original
inspiration, the prototype community of the house at Valdocco, in all its parts: the two boarding schools
for academic students and working boys, the day school, the festive (weekend) oratory, the quasi-
seminary and novitiate for young Salesians in formation.
The concrete realisation of the community differs according to the institutions we are dealing with:
some institutions are more open, like the oratory, the day school, the youth centres; some institutions
are more rigid in terms of communal living, like the boarding schools for academic students and
working boys, the boarding arrangements for seminarians. Besides, each of these institutions is further
divided into different kinds: classes for small boys and big boys, classes for those in the different
workshops; choir members studying sacred and secular music, theatre groups, the members of the band
and later on, gymnastics and sports clubs; and, everywhere religious sodalities and the altar boys group.
Sometimes Don Bosco’s institutions opened up to mutual aid societies, youth conferences of St Vincent
de Paul and workers associations and, eventually additional sub-groups with various interests, religious
and moral, cultural and recreational.
Particular importance was given to sodalities in the family-home set-up. These bore the unmistakable
features of solidarity and involvement. Their origins seem to have been the so-called ‘Society for a
Good Time’ (Società dell’allegria) promoted by Don Bosco when he was still a young man at Chieri, in
1832. Don Bosco refers to it in the Memoirs of the Oratory, written mostly between 1873 and 1875.
The Memoirs tell us about the behavioural norms which reflect precisely the guidelines in Don Bosco’s
mature moral pedagogy.
Everyone was obliged to look for such books, discuss such subjects, or play such games as
would contribute to the happiness of the members. Whatever would induce sadness was
forbidden, especially things contrary to God’s law. Those who swore, used God’s name in
vain or indulged in bad talk were turned away from the club at once. So it was that I found
myself the leader of a crowd of companions. Two basic rules were adopted: (1) Each
member of the Society for a Good Time should avoid language and actions unbecoming a
good Christian. (2) Exactness in the performance of scholastic and religious duties.1144
As far as the program of activities of the club are concerned and the way they should be carried out in
practice, Don Bosco seems to have projected into it the content and spirit of the rules for the sodalities,
already proven successful at Valdocco over the many years of their existence.
During the week, the Society for a Good Time used to meet at the home of one of the
members to talk about religious matters. Anyone was welcome to come to these gatherings.
Garigliano and Braja were among the most conscientious. We exchanged good advice, and
if there were any personal corrections we felt we should hand out to each other, whether
these were our own personal observations or criticisms we had heard others make, we did
that. Without realising it we were putting into practice that excellent adage, “Blessed is he
who has and advisor”; and the saying of Pythagoras: “If you have no friend to tell you your
faults, pay an enemy to do it”. Besides these friendly activities we went to hear some
sermons and often went to Confession and Holy Communion.1145
1144MO (1991) 61.
1145MO (1991) 62-63.

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It makes no difference whether Don Bosco’s sodalities are completely or only partially original,
whether inspired by ‘the congregations’ of young students which also existed in Chieri, or whether they
come from the Society for a Good Time. These sodalities were an essential ingredient of Don Bosco’s
educational structure which developed as experience grew. The sodalities represented a valid tool for
translating into practice the collaboration between pupils and educators without which it would be an
illusion to speak of a family education.1146
The sodalities were an important tool for establishing a vital link between the demands of the educative
love of the superiors and the active consent of the young.1147
The sodalities apparently came about by chance, but became an intimate part of the system. They
actually respond to deeply-rooted needs, psychological needs of the young and in particular the need
for spontaneous activity and social life in a group. For this reason Don Bosco wanted the sodalities to
be surrounded by the greatest prestige which was to be accorded both by the educators and the pupils.
He wanted them introduced in all of his institutions.
What Don Bosco wrote about the sodalities in his Ricordi, then, has binding force:
Let the altar boys, the Sodalities of St Aloysius, Blessed Sacrament, the Immaculate
Conception be recommended and promoted. Show benevolence and satisfaction towards
boys enrolled in them. But you shall only be their promoter, not their director. You should
consider the sodalities as work carried out by the boys. Their management is entrusted to
the catechist.1148
In a circular to Salesians on November 15, 1873, Don Bosco reminded them that the spirit and moral
tone of our houses1149 depended on the sodalities. In a letter written January 2, 1876, he defined the
sodalities as the “key to piety, the safeguard of morality, and the support of ecclesiastical and religious
vocations”.1150
The organisational ingredients of the sodalities are simple enough. The first ingredient is freedom and
willingness to participate.
As a strenna for this year I will give you something to do... What you need to do is this:
consider well the sodalities that we have in the house, like the Sodality of St Aloysius,
Blessed Sacrament, the Altar boys, St Joseph, Mary Help of Christians and the Immaculate
Conception.
I recommend, especially to the teachers and directors of the sodalities, that they should
urge, rather not urge but encourage the young who might want to join them. There is no
need for exhortation.1151
And, besides, Don Bosco speaks of self-government on the part of the young, even though with some
1146They came into existence in the following order: St Aloysius 1847, Immaculate Conception 1856, then Blessed
Sacrament and altar boys 1857, St Joseph 1859
1147Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale (1815-1870), pp. 259-269.
1148F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»... p. 156
1149E II 320.
1150E III 8.
1151G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 3Bis, Good Night of Dec. 31, 1875, p. 43.

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supervision, incorrectly called ‘direction’ by the catechist1152as we find in the Ricordi.1153
The St Vincent de Paul Conferences too, in Don Bosco’s thinking, had particular educational value
regarding the exercising of charity. These conferences were first introduced by Don Bosco among the
young people at Valdocco and later on in the other oratories in Turin.1154Don Bosco became a promoter
of ‘annexed’ Conferences like the St Vincent DePaul Conference for Youth annexed to the Paris
Conferences, and also the Roman oratories1155, to the point where Marquis Patrizi referred to Don
Bosco as “our most dear founder”.1156 Don Bosco also cooperated in founding a similar association
among a group of youths from Bergamo.1157
What prompted Don Bosco to found the mutual aid society among the older working boys enrolled in
the St Aloysius Sodality was his concrete sense of religious and moral prevention and his desire to
promote Christian solidarity.1158
The rules of the mutual aid society were printed in 1850. The young workers could have found there,
besides the material advantages, practical Christian guidance on how to conduct themselves in society.
Its objective, in fact, was that to “offer assistance to friends who got sick or found themselves in dire
need because they were unemployed against their will”.1159During the last years of his life Don Bosco
refused the invitation to revive the mutual aid society and encouraged his past pupils to join some of
the already existing workers’ societies.1160
1152Cf. art. 4 of the rules for the St Aloysius Sodality, in the Regolamento dell’Oratorio....per gli esterni, part II, Chap. XI,
p. 45, OE XXIX 75; the St Joseph Sodality, MB VI 194; the Blessed Sacrament Sodality and Altar Boys, MB V 760 and
788; cf also MB III 220; MB VI 196-197-
1153F. Motto, I Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori... p. 156
1154Cf. F. Motto, Le conferenze ‘annesse’ di S. Vincenzo de’ Paoli negli oratori di don Bosco. Ruolo storico di
un’esperienza educativa, in J.M. Prellezzo (Ed), L’impegno dell’educare..., pp. 467-492.
1155Cf. Viaggio a Roma 1858, diary manuscript of Don Bosco and cleric Rua, p. 38 and 70.
1156Cf. letter of Don Bosco to Marquis Patrizi 22 May 1858, Em 349, and the response of July 1, MB V 927-928
1157D. Ruffino, Cronaca, 1861, pp. 10-11
1158Società di mutuo soccorso di alcuni individui della compagnia di san Luigi eretta nell’Oratorio di san Francesco di
Sales. Turin, Speirani and Ferrero 1850, 8 p; OE IV 83-90. “To prevent young extern boys from the Oratory from
joining up with dangerous societies, Don Bosco had in mind to set up one amongst them with the scope of carrying out
corporal works of mercy and to the spiritual advantage of the members as well”. (Storia dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco
di Sales, BS 5 (1881) no. 8, Aug., p. 8.
1159Art. 1 of the Regolamento, in Società di mutuo soccorso..., p. 4, OE IV 86.
1160Cf. address to past pupils on July 23, 1882, BS 6 (1882) no. 9, Sept. p. 150.

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Chapter 16
The pedagogy of joy and festivity
It was a happy intuition of the sharp-minded philosopher, Francesco Orestano, when he said: “If St
Francis sanctified nature and poverty, St John Bosco sanctified work and joy... I would not be surprised
if Don Bosco were to be proclaimed Patron saint of games and of modern sports”.1161
In a summation of the most recent scholarly research work done on Don Bosco and his ‘modernity’,
Pietro Stella remarks that some studies have highlighted the intuitions, rather than the wording of the
Preventive System (1877) which governs the role of free time and games in Don Bosco’s educational
experience.
This holds true both in reference to the spontaneous gathering of boys at the Oratory and the rather
uninhibited gatherings of boys in a Salesian boarding school where the playground games were an
important moment in the life of the young, besides being a healthy release valve (though not without
some constricting and even repressive elements)1162
1. Joy
Joy, cheerfulness are constitutive elements of the Preventive System and they cannot be separated from
study, work, piety and religion. “If you want to be good”, Don Bosco suggested to young Francis
Besucco “just put these three things into practice and all will be well: cheerfulness, study, piety. This is
a great program, and if you put it into practice you will live happily and do much good to your soul”.1163
A year earlier, in 1862, Fr John Bonetti, then a student of theology, jotted down the following remarks
in one of his diaries:
Don Bosco usually tells the Oratory boys that he wants only three things from them:
cheerfulness, work and piety. He often repeats a saying of St Philip Neri: at the proper time
run, jump, have as much fun as you want but, for goodness sake, don’t commit sin.1164
Joy is an essential feature of a family-like setting and an expression of loving kindness. It is the logical
outcome of a system based on reason and an inner and spontaneous religious sense, which has as its
ultimate source peace with God and the life of grace.
The fatherly and brotherly contact of the educator with his pupils would have neither value
nor effect on the spirit of the young without the effectiveness of a joyful, cheerful existence.
It is thanks to these that the boy are open to what is good.1165
Before being a methodological approach and a way of getting a boy to accept what is serious in
education, joy was a way of life for Don Bosco. He draws this from an instinctive psychological
appreciation of the young person and from family spirit.
1161F. Orestano, Celebrazioni, vol I, pp. 76-77; cf. G. Söll, Don Bosco-Botschafter der Freude, Köln, Kölner Kreis 1977.
1162P. Stella, Bilancio delle forme di conoscenza e degli studi su don Bosco, in M. Midali (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia...,
p. 35.
1163G. Bosco, Il pastorello delle Alpi..., pp. 90-91, OE XV 332-333.
1164G. Bonetti, Annali II (1861-\\862), 2 May 1862, p. 77.
1165Cf. A. Caviglia, Introduzione alla lettura de La vita di Savio Doemnico, pp. XLI-XLII. The theme of joy as a factor in
education for Don Bosco is especially developed also by F.X. Eggersdorfer, Jugenderziehung..., pp. 263-264.

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At a time when education in the family context was generally austere, Don Bosco understood more
than anyone else that a boy is a boy and wants to be treated as a boy; he knows that his deepest need is
for joy, freedom, play, the ‘Society for a Good Time’. Since he is a believer and priest, Don Bosco is
convinced that Christianity is the most reliable and lasting source of happiness because it is the
announcement of glad tidings, the Gospel: from the religion of love, salvation, grace, nothing else can
spring up but joy and optimism. Therefore there is a singular affinity, almost a mutual appeal between
the young and Christian life. The boy who feels he is in a state of grace naturally feels the impact of
joy; he is sure of possessing a good which is entirely in his power, and his delightful state of mind is
translated into cheerfulness.1166
But in practice joy takes on a religious meaning in Don Bosco’s educational experience and correlated
reflection on it. The boys themselves are aware of this as it appears from the encounter between
Dominic Savio and Camillo Gavio when, as we have remarked, cheerfulness is equated with
holiness.1167This seems crystal clear in this and other ‘Lives’ written by Don Bosco or in the real life in
his ‘house’. Fr Caviglia tells us that
Don Bosco knew the role played by joy in the formation process and the way to holiness,
and always wanted joy and good humour to prevail amongst his boys. Serve the Lord with
gladness: this invitation could easily have been called the 11th commandment in Don
Bosco’s home.1168
This balanced mixture of sacred and profane, grace and nature in the youthful, transparently human
cheerfulness, of someone happy in his state of grace is revealed in all expressions of daily life, the
performance of duties as much as in recreation. This balance, however, reaches particular intensity in
the many festivities, religious and secular which were celebrated. The conclusion to carnevale (Mardi
Gras) the last three days, really, stand out in this regard. Added to the exercise for happy death,
adoration (of the Bl. Sacrament) and prayers, and almost intertwined with them, are the special treat at
the dining room table, the games, the lottery, the theatrical performances, music and finally a bonfire.
No book written by Don Bosco offers better testimony to this balanced mix of devotions and games as
The Memoirs of the Oratory. The term ‘oratory’ etymologically speaking means ‘a place of prayer’ but
it stands also for a ‘recreation park’. Don Bosco makes that explicit when he writes: “Emotionally
attached to this mixture of devotions, games and outings, everyone was becoming attached to me, to
the point that they were not only very obedient to my orders, but they were eagerly waiting for me to
get them to do some task”.1169
Secondly, Don Bosco considers joy as a fundamental life-need, as the law of youth which, by definition
an age where they are outgoing and happy. This is why Don Bosco is enthusiastic about it, as shown in
a beautiful page of the Life of Michael Magone. He writes with real pleasure of his fiery and lively
temperament, the way he would look back at the games at the end of recreation, and how he seemed to
shoot out like a cannon ball when he rushed out of the classroom or study hall into the playground.1170
Don Bosco saw in Michael Magone the archetype of a great many youngsters. This understanding of
youth psychology led him to accept the military stirrings of 1848 and be tuned in to the demands of the
times, as long as there was no offence to religion and good morals. He did not hesitate to allow the
1166A. Caviglia, Il «Magone Michele»..., p. 149
1167G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 86, OE XI 236.
1168A. Caviglia, Il «Magone Michele»..., p. 149
1169MO (1991) 146.
1170G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., p. 15, OE XIII 169.

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boys to play at military manoeuvres at the Oratory and even gave them sticks for ‘rifles’ (without a
barrel).1171
Those who knew Don Bosco were familiar with the exploits of Bersagliere (a crack corps of soldiers)
Joseph Brosio (1829-1883) who reminisced about them in a belated memoir.1172
Recreation time was filled with games, tricks, riddles, very pleasant conversations mingled with serious
ones – all educationally valuable. The Memoirs of the Oratory have an abundance of words describing
movement and cheerfulness: much noise, shouts, songs, applauding, blurt out with loud cheers, raising
an uproar, singing, “tired from laughing, having fun and singing and, I would say, also from
shouting”.1173 recreation with bocce balls, stilts, rifles, wooden swords, the first gymnastics equipment,
most of the boys spent their recreation time jumping around, running, having a good time, playing
various games... “all the tricks of jumping, running, bowling, playing with ropes and sticks, under my
supervision”.1174
Cheerfulness displayed in all kinds of recreation and especially in the outside games, becomes a
diagnostic and pedagogical means of the first order for teachers; for the boys an area where they can
show their goodness.
As Fr Caviglia remarks: “After the Sacrament of confession, in Don Bosco’s system, no other more
vital and active centre can be indicated than joy. The spontaneity and joyful, familiar style of life of the
young person is not only one of the key ways of getting to know souls is not only, but it also turns out
to be a way of, an opportunity to approach young people without fear and prejudice, and whisper an
appropriate word in confidence”. Here again we have the vital principle of pedagogy or, better still, the
vital principle of a true and proper education carried out one-on-one even though it is happening within
a group setting.1175
Fr Caviglia digresses about life in the playground in a study on the Life of Michael Magone. T
If we remember that Don Bosco, when it was possible, used to let go of everything to be in
the playground with his children, we will have understood the importance this has in his
eyes, as an educator and father of the souls of his children.1176
“I used this unorganised kind recreation to instil in my pupils’ minds ideas about religion and the
frequent reception of the Sacraments”, Don Bosco says, speaking about the early Oratory.1177 The last
of the ‘seven secrets of the oratory’ which Don Bosco revealed in June 1875 and which were recorded
by Fr Julius Barberis, is: “cheerfulness, singing, music, lots of freedom in amusements”.1178
So, cheerfulness for Don Bosco is recreation, amusements but it is also an authentic and irreplaceable
pedagogical reality. Justifiably, as we have seen earlier on, ‘familiarity’ with the young, especially at
recreation time is one of the key points he stresses in his letter to teachers in May 1884.1179
1171MB III 20
1172 G. Brosio, 1880 or thereabouts, pp. 3-5, cf MB III 438-440; Storia dell’Oratorio...., BS 5 (1881) no. 3, March, p. 15.
1173MO (1991) 145
1174MO (1991) 159.
1175A. Caviglia, Savio Domenico e Don Bosco, Studio. p. 134.
1176A. Caviglia, Il «Magone Michele»..., p. 172
1177MO (1991) 160.
1178G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 2, p.3. The 5th and 6th are respectively “the superiors give much confidence and are
always amongst the boys”, and, “ giving them a couple of confidential words after prayer” (Ibid).
1179Due lettere datate da Roma..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore...., p. 365, 370, 384. F.X. Eggersdorfer,
Jugenderziehung..., sees in joy and play, generously present in Don Bosco’s institutions, a key factor of vitality and
educational activism (pp. 283-287).

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2. Feast days
Feast days have a pedagogical value too. Joy is most visible and intense on these occasions.1180 They
happen to be many and varied. We should first mention ordinary Sundays and liturgical solemnities.
Among the latter the following stand out: the Christmas novena and Christmas Day; the Epiphany;
Holy Week; Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Corpus Christi. Easter was prepared for and followed by a
great number of confessions and communions by boys and girls in the weekend (festive) oratories.1181
Don Bosco gave special educational import to some Marian celebrations, for individuals and the
‘cleaning up’ process in the community: Mary’s birthday in September; the Immaculate Conception in
December; Mary Help of Christians on May 24 (this feast was the most important celebration of all
because it reminded everyone about the beginning of the oratory work) and the feast of the
Assumption.
May 24 was not only the feast of the oratory but soon became a popular and pilgrim feast with
additional extraordinary manifestations, both sacred and profane, involving the organisation of various
activities which to the Salesians and the young people working with them.1182
Some festivities in honour of particular special saints were celebrated with greater intensity: St Francis
de Sales, St Joseph, St Aloysius Gonzaga, St John The Baptist (This feast also marked the date of the
annual meeting for pupils and past pupils around Don Bosco), the feast of St Peter which was also the
feast of the Pope, All Saints Day, St Cecilia patroness of musicians, and finally the patron saint of each
educational institution. The June 24 feast was quite special: it began on the vigil and became the model
for all the Feast Days of Gratitude celebrated at different times in the Salesian houses and oratories.
The Salesian Bulletin from 1879 on gave us plenty of information about this feast at Valdocco and also
reminisced on the meetings Don Bosco had with the past pupils of the oratory, priest and lay, in July.1183
Many of the feast days were characterised by an extraordinary display of music, singing and splendid
religious services. Triduums and novenas also preceded them. Some months were livened up and given
educational value by encouraging the youngsters to take part as fully as they could: the Marian month
of May; March in honour of St Joseph, very close to the almost corporate interests of the working boys,
October’s Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Fr Ceria writes that
Don Bosco was constantly concerned with offering young minds and imagination a varied
pasture to graze on which might turn them away from thinking about less good things.
So he steered theatrical performances towards the same aim as feast days in and out of
church. He made sure that the feasts would be celebrated with pomp and cheerfulness but
also at such intervals that as soon as the excitement caused by one feast day was fading
1180Cf. F. Desramaut, la festa salesiana ai tempi di don Bosco, in La festa nell’esperienza giovanile del mondo salesiano,
ed. C. Semerano, Leumann (Turin), LDC 1988, pp. 79-99. in particular Il valore pedagogico delle feste salesiane (pp.
97-99); R. Alberdi, La festa nell’esperienza salesiana della Spagna (1881-1901), Ibid, pp. 100-129
1181Cf. J.M. Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento..., pp. 83, 109-111, 189.
1182Cf. J.M. Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento..., pp. 79, 93, 101-102, 114-118, 155-156, 177-178, 199-200, 202-206.
However, in the first general chapter in 1877, “they spoke of the danger for morality of mixing ‘omnia generis’ at the
festivities for Mary Help of Christians and in other boarding schools on special occasions” (G. Barberis, Verbali, quad. I
143-144).
1183BS 3 (1879) no. 7, July, pp. 8-9; 4 (1880) no. 9, Sept, pp. 9-12; 5 (1881) no. 8, August, pp. 15-16; 6 (1882) no. 7, July,
pp. 122-123.

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away, the expectation of another feast day was aroused1184
A blending of reflection times and festivities was also found in the monthly ‘exercise for a happy
death’, at the yearly retreat, in the triduum at the beginning of the school year: outings and festivities
were always added to them, for instance: vintage, chestnut harvests, award celebrations. The springtime
yearly outing1185 was given particular attention and was well-prepared ahead of time. We have already
mentioned the carnevale with rituals both sacred and profane attached to them. The welcoming
ceremonies reserved for religious and civil authorities were quite frequent. There were also other
initiatives which prevented routine and boredom from setting into school life.
Every festivity had a twofold aspect: the religious and the profane. Don Bosco always wanted the
explicit educational nature of these events to be brought out. He started doing this at the general
gatherings held on Sundays at the oratory. As far as possible these gatherings had novelty, joy,
edification as their feature.1186
Teachers were invited to remind their students about the upcoming festivities.1187
Solemn festivities reflected the religious rhythm of Sundays, strongly enhanced by music, singing, and
possibly by the appearance of a bishop, with better food at the dining table and with the harmonious
sounds of the band playing in the playground. In late afternoon, the feast days was always concluded
with a theatrical performance. The climax of the feast day was Eucharistic communion, possibly a
general communion during the early morning Mass.
Don Bosco wrote to Fr Michael Rua in February 1870. At the end of the letter he addressed the boys at
the Oratory directly:
The evening of the 25th I shall be with you and I will be all yours. But, please, don’t try to
have any festivity on my behalf. The greatest feast that you can offer to me is to see you all
in good health and well behaved. I will try my best to make you cheerful. The Sunday
following my arrival, I hope we will celebrate the great feast day in honour of St Francis de
Sales. Make that feast day the best feast I could ever want to have. I would like you all, on
that day, to receive Holy Communion. When you celebrate feast days like this all the rest
means nothing.1188
3. Theatre
The first theatrical performance took place on June 29, 1847, when the Oratory at Valdocco was at its
beginnings. It was in honour of Archbishop Louis Fransoni who was visiting the oratory. The group of
boys had been prepared for “Recitals” dialogues and a sketch. When the Archbishop arrived, Don
Bosco read out some words prepared for the occasion. After Mass and the Confirmation ceremony, the
following performances took place: first of all several poetic and prose compositions were read out.
1184MB XII 136.
1185He analyses this in the “conferences” to teachers, to see the results, inconveniences, see hoe to improve them. Cf. J.M.
Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento..., pp. 83-84, 91-93.
1186In fact up until 1842, according to MO (1991) 123-125; then 125, feast of the bricklayers in honour of St Anne; years
later, 144-146, walk to Superga; 158-160: “leaving church, free time began” (p. 159); 178-180, Feast of St Aloysius;
195-196, Feast of Pius XI exiled at Gaeta.
1187“When there was a Novena or Solemnity, give some words of encouragement, but brief, and if you can, with an
example” (Regolamento per le case..., part I, Chap VI Dei maestri di scuola, art. 13, p. 35, OE XXIX 131.
1188E II 71-72.

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They were followed by a dialogue-type comedy written by one of Don Bosco’s collaborators, Fr
Carpano, and entitled: A Corporal in Napoleon’s army.1189
Two years later Charles Tomatis, a very clever and versatile artist who lived at the Oratory from 1849-
1861 one Saturday evening, when Don Bosco was busy hearing confessions, took the initiative of
entertaining the young boarders with mimes, puppet shows, farces and comedies.1190
For 1847-1852 another type of theatrical activity is recorded. It consisted of dialogues and
performances with didactic intent: on Bible History, The metrical decimal system, etc. Generally these
performances were connected with the activities of the evening and Sunday schools and, occasionally,
outstanding personalities were present like Ferrante Aporti and Charles Boncompagni.1191
In the 1850s a true theatrical tradition had its beginnings at the home in Valdocco. This tradition would
be enriched during the 1860s with a variety of theatrical fare: comedies and popular farces in dialect
and Italian; Latin comedies performed before an audience which included illustrious personalities from
the city of Turin; historical and sacred dramas; various kinds of musical performances: operetta,
melodrama, anthologies of musical numbers taken from theatre and musical romances.1192 In April 1861
the Oratory saw the first performance of the Latin comedy Minerval written by Fr Palumbo, a Jesuit.
On June 2, 1864, there was a performance of the Phasmatonices (Larvarum victor = victory over
ghosts), a comedy which had already been performed on May 12. It had been written by Bishop C.M.
Rosini and adapted by Fr Palumbo.1193 In June 1865 it was again performed at Mirabello Monferrato.1194
Latin theatrical performances and academic entertainments made up a remarkable portion of the
extracurricular activities of a school.1195 Theatre, then, in its various expressions, was gradually inserted
with full rights into Don Bosco’s educational system and considered to be an element which was
integrating, helped build up an atmosphere of cheerfulness and was given a didactic purpose. The
immediate objective Don Bosco had for theatre performances was, naturally, a recreational one.
However, they also had a higher goal, a cultural and an educational goal.1196
Don Bosco addressed the rectors regarding this with a lively address during the conferences of St
Francis de Sales in June 1871.
I see that things are no more the way they should be with us; they are not like in the early
days. We no longer have teatrino (little theatre) but real theatre. At any rate, my intention is
that the theatre performances should have this basic objective: to entertain and instruct. Let
there be no scenes which might harden the hearts of the boys or make a bad impression on
them. Let there be comedies, but of the simple type, with a moral message added to them.
Let there be singing, for singing, besides entertaining, is also part of instruction and
therefore a much needed tool these days.1197
1189MO (1991) 179 and Storia dell’Oratorio..., BS 4 (1880) no. 2, Feb. p. 2; no. 3, March, p. 7.
1190MB III 592-593.
1191MB III 231, 535, 623-652; IV 279, 410-412; Em I 157; Storia dell’Oratorio..., BS 4 (1880) no. 12, Dec. pp. 5-6.
1192Following on from John De Vecchi, a musician from the city, Salesians like Fr John Cagliero, Fr James Costamagna
and Joseph Dogliano would be responsible for well known musical compositions.
1193See the invitation in Latin, 27 May 1864, Em II 50-51.
1194Cf. letter of don Bosco to Marquis D. Fassati, June 4, 1865, Em II 140.
1195Cf. G. Proverbio, La scuola di don Bosco e l’insegnamento del latino (1850-1900), in F. Traniello (Ed.), Don Bosco
nella storia della letteratura popolare. Turin, SEI 1987, pp. 169-173.
1196Cf. S. Stagnoli, Don Bosco e il teatro educativo salesiano. Milan, Eco degli Oratori 1968, 154. p.
1197MB X 1057. We also have the manuscript of Don Bosco’s address; his words on ‘teatrino are recorded briefly and
incompletely, Fdb mcr 1.870 A9-B8. “One thing then that must be taken into consideration and fixed up are also the
texts and recitals they have. I have always tolerated them and still do, but it is my idea that ‘teatrino’ is done only for the

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Don Bosco did his best, on several occasions, to provide rules which would admit no exception, to
achieve these specific and compatible objectives of theatre performances. These rules were discussed
and clarified at the General Chapter. ‘Entertaining’ and ‘cheering up’ had to go with ‘instructing’ and
‘educating’.1198 The introduction to the rules for theatre performances found in the Rules for the Houses
sum up the many values of theatre:
Theatre performances, staged according to the rules of Christian morality, can be greatly
advantageous to youth when their objective is nothing but to cheer up, educate and instruct
the young as much as possible within a moral perspective. To be able to achieve this the
following need to be established: 1. subject matter should be suited to the young; 2. things
which might create bad habits in the young should be excluded.1199
One of Don Bosco’s most trusted collaborators, Fr Julius Barberis, had previously outlined his general
thoughts based on the educational value of theatre performances. These thoughts were based on lived
experience.
1. Theatre performances if well-chosen are a school of holiness... 2. They provide excellent
intellectual instruction or the kind that teaches the practical prudence needed in life; 3.
They develop the mind of the one who is performing; 4. They help us get to see human
existence and society from within; 5. They are great entertainment for the boys who think
about them several days before and several days after; 6. Last year (and this may have
happened a thousand times before and after) a seminarian told me that he decided to join
our Congregation when he was attracted by the cheerfulness he gained from theatre
performances; 7. They get rid of bad thoughts and talk – everything focuses on the
performances; 8. They draw lots of youngsters to our schools because even during vacation
time, the oratory boys tell their classmates and friends and many others about the
cheerfulness at the oratory and about the theatrical performances they saw.1200
In January 1885, with special encouragement from Don Bosco himself, the print shop at San Benigno
Canavese issued the first of a collection series of dramatic readings to be used by educational
institutions and families. Initially this publication came out every two months and, from 1886 on, every
month. The cover of the first one, written by Fr John Baptist Lemoyne, had this well-defined program:
It has been noticed that especially comedies, if not strictly morally correct, leave such awful
impressions on young minds that they still remain in old age. We have thought it best to
gather and publish a series of dramatic readings to overcome this; besides being
entertaining and attractive, they can be educational and morally correct. Some priests,
experts in drama, asked and guided by Don Bosco, are setting in place the following
program: the dramatic readings will aim at entertaining, instructing and educating the
masses and especially Italian youth, with a series of booklets containing dramas, comedies,
boys and not those that come from outside. In every house of education etc. “.
1198Regole del Teatrino printed and sent to houses in a four page booklet in 1871. Reported in MB VI 106-108 and X
1059-1061. In 1877 they became part (with variations) of the Regolamento per le case and the Deliberazioni del
Capitolo generale della Pia Società Salesiana tenuto in Lanzo Torinese nel settembre 1877, OE XXIX 146-151 and
432-437.
1199Regolamento per le case, Chap XVI Del teatrino, p. 50, OE XXIX 146; identical, other than for the absence of “done
according to the rules of Christian morality”, is the preface to the published Regulations a year after, in the
Deliberazioni del Capitolo generale.... tenuto in Lanzo Torinese..., p. 56, OE XXIX 432.
1200G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 4, Feb. 17, 1876. pp. 68-69.

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farces, tragedies and also simple dialogues and entertaining poems.1201
4. Music and singing
The role played by vocal and instrumental music in Don Bosco’s educational system is also strictly
connected with the idea that education happens through cheerfulness, a calm atmosphere and by
refining aesthetic taste and feelings. Music finds plenty of room in all of Don Bosco’s institutions, from
the festive oratory to the boarding school for academic students, to technical and professional schools.
In the latter, the band received particular attention. Besides everything else, music gives a lively festive
tone to any solemnity, sacred or secular: at religious functions, processions, during outings and
excursions, receptions and departures, award ceremonies, academic entertainment and theatre
performances.
In 1859, Don Bosco had a biblical quotation inscribed on the door of the classroom for vocal music,
adjusting its original meaning: Ne impedias musicam! (Don’t obstruct music)1202 Don Bosco’s views on
music can be neatly summed up in his “An oratory without music is like a body without a soul”, 1203 a
line he employed on many occasions.1204 It was the theoretical expression of a conviction which had
been a practised reality from the very beginning of his educational activity.
Reminiscing about his very early collaborators when he began gathering young people (1842), Don
Bosco wrote in the Memoirs of the Oratory:
These helped me maintain order and they read and sang hymns. From the very beginning I
realised that without songbooks and suitable reading matter, these festive gatherings would
have been like a body without a soul.1205
Reminiscing in the same ‘Memoirs’ about the establishment of the first night schools, during the winter
of 1846-1847, Don Bosco wrote:
The classes were animated by plain chant and vocal music which we always cultivated1206
There is a mixture of reasons for Don Bosco’s interest in the educational role of music. During the first
years music was primarily considered as a preventive means:
An extraordinary number of people joined music classes. Vocal and instrumental music was
taught to draw the young away from the religious and moral dangers to which they were
exposed.
We thought best to add piano and organ classes and also instrumental music to the night
and day classes.1207
1201G.B. Lemoyne, Le pistrine e l’ultima ora del paganesimo. San Benigno Canavese, 1885, program of “Collana di
Letture drammatiche”; cf BS 10 (1886) no. 1, Jan, pp. 9-10; announced in BS 9 (1885) no. 1, Jan, p. 15 and on the
cover; presentation of Le pistrine in BS 9 (1885) no. 3, March, p. 48.
1202Sir. 32; 5; cf. MB V 540.
1203MB XV 57.
1204This was heard at Marseilles in 1881, speaking with a French priest who had founded an Oeuvre de Jeunesse, run
rather more austerely than his own oratory. Lemoyne mentions it in MB V 347.
1205MO (1991) 123.
1206MO (1991) 176.
1207MO (1991) 182 and 190

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Later on a new religious motive was added especially in reference to sacred music and Gregorian
chant, plainchant:
It was Don Bosco’s desire and aim that the young, when they returned to their native towns,
would be able to help the pastor by singing at sacred functions.1208
An added reason was to fight against idleness. “You have to keep the boys constantly busy”1209
Finally, we also ought to keep in mind the particular ‘pedagogical’ value given to music.
In the first volume of the Salesian Annals, Fr Ceria dedicates an entire chapter to summarising what
Salesian music is all about: “The main reason (for music) can be found in the healthy effects which
music has on the hearts and imagination of the young, according to Don Bosco, as it aims primarily at
refining, uplifting the young and making them better”.1210
5. Outings and walks
In the pages on the Preventive System and in Don Bosco’s activity as an educator, besides the weekly
walks and the yearly school outings for working boys and academic students, the ‘autumn walks’ or
outings were evidently stressed.
It was a way to put into practice the principle of “love what the young love” so that they will love what
the educator loves. These outings also contributed to building up an atmosphere of Christian joy which
constitutes an integral and essential part of the formation of the young. They had a fundamental
educational value then.
At the weekend oratory at Valdocco, these excursions or outings flourished ever since its beginnings,
together with pilgrimages. They were absolutely necessary during the time-span between 1844-1846,
when the oratory had no fixed abode or did not have at its disposal places of its own for worship. The
Memoirs of the Oratory recall outings to Sassi, Madonna di Campagna, Stupinigi, our Lady of
Consolation, Monte dei Capuccini.1211
The autumn walks were classic. We have an account of a varied series of these outings which go back
to 1847 and continued until 1864.1212 Even when the outings were over, the choir members and award
winners would enjoy a short stay at Becchi in autumn.
The outings between 1859 and 1864 saw a particular development: they lasted almost two weeks. They
were well organised and an ever-growing number of boys took part in them. They would enter the town
with the band right up front; the parish priest or personalities of the place would offer them an
improvised shelter and daily food, and along with the people would welcome them. There were visits to
outstanding personalities, morning and evening religious services, recreational activities, exhibitions by
the band, theatrical performances on an improvised stage in the town square. They included songs and
skits in Piedmontese dialect, short comedies, gianduja, the classical Piedmontese marionette could
1208MB III 150-152; cf MO (1991) 50. 176, 182, 202.
1209MB V 347
1210E. Ceria, Annali della Società salesiana dalle origini alla morte di S. Giovanni Bosco (1841-1888). Turin. SEI 1941, p.
691; cf. Chap LXIV La music salesiana, pp. 691-701.
1211MO (1991) 140, 141, 144-146.
1212There is some respectable literature on this. The best is by L. Deambrogio, Le passeggiate autumnali di don Bosco per
I colli monferrini. Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Istituto Bernardi Semeria 1975, 539 p. The last parts of the Storia
dell’Oratorio published in the Salesian Bulletin are dedicated to the walks, BS ii (1887) no. 3, March pp 30-33; no. 4,
April, pp. 47-48; no. 5, May, pp. 57-58; no. 9, Sept. pp. 116-119; no. 10, Oct. pp. 129-132.

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never be left out.
The outing to Genoa during the October fortnight of 1864, is an historic one. On the way back to Turin,
between Lerma and Mornese, Don Bosco was able to draw two outstanding personalities into the
Congregation: Francis Bodrato and Fr John Baptist Lemoyne.
The excursions or outings aimed at achieving a truly educational objective as they guaranteed first of
all that the young would be looked after during vacation time and their feelings would be enriched:
Have the young experience first-hand that to serve God can really be part of having a good
time.1213
The youngsters, after the completion of their school year, got considerable physical benefit too, as they
enjoyed a long, generous recreation.
These excursions or outings were effectively the prelude that led to the wording of the Preventive
System: “Let them have ample freedom to jump, run, shout as they wish”, to which was also added:
“The walks are very effective means of obtaining discipline; they are useful for the upkeep of morality
and good health.1214
1213 MB II 384-391.
1214 Il sistema preventivo (1887), p. 54, OE XXVIII 432.

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Chapter 17
Demanding love: “a word on punishments”
The practice of correction and punishments in Don Bosco’s educational experience is much better
articulated than its statements of principle. The few indications found in the last paragraph of the
Preventive System (1877), “A word on punishments”, do not appear to be good enough to act as a
theoretical foundation. It needs to be found within a more substantial perspective.
Don Bosco’s practice of correction and punishments is based on one of the principles which could well
be considered a key one for his spirituality and pedagogy:
Try your best to make yourself loved rather (‘before’ or ‘if you want to be’) than feared.
The two terms, love and fear, are no less fundamental than the threefold ‘reason, religion, loving
kindness’. They all have their roots in faith and theology, and blossom and produce results in pedagogy
and ministry.
The two terms seemed even more realistic and essential in a kind of prevention directed to youth at risk
and youth who were a risk, and at times expressed with deeds but certainly more often through word
and outlook.
1. The basis for a practice of correction and punishment
First of all, it is clear that in its wording the first term (love) does not exclude the second (Fear): “make
yourself love rather than feared” substantially means “make yourself loved and make yourself feared”,
with priority given to love. Often it is love that wants fear’ to the point that fear increases as love does.
A theological certainty becomes a pedagogical principle.
The wording achieves and includes the latter, which is a container and philosophical, theological and
experiential basis for reason, religion and loving kindness. We have seen that Don Bosco’s care for the
young and his neighbour, without exception finds its roots in his faith and his theological, moral and
pastoral formation as a priest, oriented towards the eternal salvation of the young.
This untarnished Catholic faith sees in love and fear of God the essence of any authentic holiness. Don
Bosco’s theology of history confirms this belief, widely evidenced by his writings on both sacred and
secular history. God governs the world and human events through attractive reward and the healthy
threat of future punishment, in time and eternity. This is the idea that pervades the entire History of
Italy and in this connection, Don Bosco’s idea and wording borrowed from Greek and Latin history is
made explicit in the phrase: “It is better to be loved than to be feared”.
The transferral of Don Bosco’s theological and historical conceptions to action on behalf of youth was
inevitable. The pedagogical qualification of ‘father, brother, friend’, ended up being reinforced thanks
to the indissoluble bond between them, between affection and loving kindness and elements directed
towards respect, esteem, honour and reverence.
We have already recalled the many versions of the wording Historical Outline of the Oratory of St
Francis de Sales (1862) to the letter addressed to Fr Michael Rua in 1863 and the Confidential Memo
for Rectors derived from them. The wording is also brought back to life in the Preventive System and in
the general articles of the Rules for the Houses.

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The relationship between love and fear suppose the co-existence of integrating points of view. The
terms ‘before’ and, ‘if one wishes’, and ‘more or less’, follow one another and respectively express the
order of time, causality and importance.
No one could better interpret Don Bosco’s thinking than Fr Michael Rua and the Salesians at Valdocco,
who had come together for one of their regular meetings to study the disciplinary and educational
situation at the Oratory. Among the recommendations at that meeting, was precisely the one related to
educating the young to both love and fear in their relationships with their superiors.
Make yourself loved and, at the same time, feared by the young. This is an easy thing.
When the young see that an assistant is fully concerned with their well-being they cannot
but love him. When they see that the assistant does not let anything happen, meaning
anything which may not be right, and warns them about all their faults, they cannot but
have a certain kind of fear of him, namely that reverential fear that they ought to have
towards their superiors. The assistant has to be very careful about one thing, and that is that
he should not lower himself to the level of the young people in the way he talks or in his
actions, especially during games: he should take part in everything but at the same time
should maintain an air of gravity and make them see by his own behaviou7r that he is their
superior.1215
2. Fear which comes from love
It is clear that in all its versions, fear is not opposed to love but rather comes from it. Fear, in a pupil,
becomes ‘filial fear’ which develops into deference, submission, honour, obedience and respect for an
authentic ‘superiority’.
In certain cases of guilty infractions, fear may be associated with feelings of embarrassment, restraint,
shame, blushing, shyness, and a sense of unworthiness and apprehension at the thought of losing the
esteem, trust and support of the one who loves and helps: fear of being separated from the one who
loves us is the essential core of authentic fear.
It cannot be excluded that in certain situations, making known duties as well as sanctions for not
performing them may produce a ‘servile fear’, which is not entirely useless for someone who needs to
be brought back to reason. Starting from this kind of fear, education properly so-called may be set in
motion as a process. This sort of fear may presuppose a certain intimidation, fear of punishment, fear of
the one who might inflict them, but it doesn’t consist in them. This is how we should read the
recommendations made by Don Bosco on various occasions, starting from the Confidential Memo...
Let charity and patience constantly accompany you when you give orders, when you
correct. And make sure that everyone comes to know from your deeds and words that you
are after the good of their souls.
But at the same time,
It should be the concern of everyone to find out those pupils who might be dangerous: once
they have been discovered, insist that they be made known to you.
You shall never accept pupils expelled from other schools or pupils whose moral behaviour
you know for sure to be bad.
1215 J.M. Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento...., pp. 263-264.

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If it should happen that, in spite of due caution, a pupil of this kind is accepted, assign him
a companion of sure morality to assist him and never lose sight of him. Should he be found
guilty of indecent actions let him be warned only once and if he falls back into the same
actions, let him be sent home immediately.
Should you discover some serious offence, summon the guilty person or the suspected
person into your office and in the most charitable way make sure to have him declare his
guilt and the wrong he has caused by doing what he did. Then correct him and invite him to
fix up all those things that pertain to his conscience.
When you give orders, always be charitable, meek. Threats, anger and worse, violence,
should always be kept far away from your words and deeds.1216
Don Bosco expressed his thinking on this matter with utmost clarity, speaking to the boys at the
Oratory in a Good Night on October 26, 1875. This reflects the content of so many other talks given by
Don Bosco.
You have increased in number again. We have begun everything just as usual. They say that
someone who has been warned on time is worth a hundred others. So, now that we are in
time still I should warn you of a few things. First of all, keep well in mind that we are
starting right now and we will continue throughout the year giving you marks for your
studies, your behaviour in the classroom, the dormitories, the dining room and similar
places. Anyone who does not behave well will receive a poor mark and will hear his name
mentioned in public, in front of all the others, to his great shame. Anyone who does not
hear his name mentioned in public can see that as a sign that everything is going well for
him. Those who get poor marks should know that they will be tolerated for a while, but
then, no longer. I am sorry, but this is what we are forced to do every year with someone.
We are forced to show him the door and tell him: “You are no longer for the Oratory”.
With some others we will bear a little longer and let them go on for a while to see if they
decide to change their ways, but then you know what the proverb says “The water pail goes
to the well so often that it in the end it breaks”, meaning that one thing added to another
eventually becomes something big. We will let someone go on until the end of the year, but
at that time all of his pranks will seem bundled up together and we will give him a poor
mark, then during holiday time we will be forced to send a note home saying that he can
stay home and enjoy a longer holiday since there is no more room available for him at the
Oratory. This is exactly what we had to do this year. And if you notice that several people
are missing, it happened because of this. Now you are all well advised in advance and I
hope that no one will ever see this happening to him.1217
3. The role of the superior, rules as the concrete embodiment of duty,
initiation into responsibility
Reason is fundamental. The Preventive System supposes that the educator is protective and always
present. But there is something which makes the Preventive System look like the repressive one: the
1216 F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 151, 154, 155, 156-157, 159.
1217 MB CI 459-460.

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clear indication of the objectives to be achieved and the way to achieve them. Concretely, this is
referred to as the Rules, prescriptions broken down into precepts, written and oral, which encompass
the daily life of the pupils. They represent the code of duties towards God, one’s neighbour, one’s self.
The pupil is bound to follow this code. Surveillance might be entirely reduced to ‘assistance’, help,
support, but this does not remove the fact that it should begin by presenting the code of duties.
Both the preventive and the repressive systems consist in making the rules known to the individuals
and then making sure that they are kept – this is surveillance.1218 In both situations the code may be
identical.
Even though discipline and the related practice of correction and punishment differ according to the
different contexts, it is quite clear that Don Bosco is a disciplinary educator who loves communities
which are orderly and functioning correctly. There is severity at Valdocco because it is an overcrowded
home, it is considered as the ‘mother-house’ and example to be imitated by all the other Salesian
houses. Don Bosco, right from the beginning, worked tirelessly at expanding the various rules to cover
a wider range of matters given the diversity of the educational institutions, or the groups and their
respective activities. Even for the more open institutions, Don Bosco, early on began writing Rules
both for the teachers and pupils. This booklet of rules was printed and edited only in 1877, at the same
time as the Rules for the Houses, and for boarding schools and homes.1219
We have already referred to Don Bosco’s numerous interventions to guarantee order and discipline
especially in boarding schools and about his curt warnings to recidivists and more dangerous
youngsters but also to those who, through their own fault did not draw any cultural, religious and moral
benefit from life in school. This the case referred to in a Good Night given on March 20, 1865, which
was intended as a comment on the grades received at the semester exams.1220
But the following night, faced with many unfulfilled duties, Don Bosco forewarned the pupils that for
the future, there would be severe inflexibility in punishing public disorders and lack of respect toward
the assistants. The assistants were formally forbidden to punish and were ordered rather to report on
any happening. However, Don Bosco was inflexible with anyone who upset discipline, especially if
they were academic students, the privileged ones.
I want the students to be good, otherwise let them either go back home or transfer to the
working boys section. I would also like to say that if the students are sent back home they
are not being thrown on the street, for most of them have a family or relatives who could
take care of them..1221
We have seen a similar decision made by Don Bosco in the Good Night given on July 9, 1875. It was a
question of silence and keeping in line. But Don Bosco ended by saying that he relied on the sensitivity
of the boys’ consciences. He had also pointed out that keeping certain rules might become a means for
spiritual refinement, advancement in virtue and increased love for the Virgin Mother and her Divine
Son.1222
1218 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 44 and 46, OE XXVIII 422 and 424.
1219 Cf. Regolamento dell’Oratorio....per gli esterni, 63 p. OE XXIX 31-92; Regolamento per le case..., 100 p. OE XXIX
97-196.
1220 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night, March 20, 1865, pp. 119-120
1221 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night, March 21, 1865, pp. 121-122.
1222 G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 2. pp. 45-46.

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4. Corrections
Besides being the normal pedagogy of encouragement and accompaniment, which is the essence of
assistance, the Preventive System often becomes a ‘corrective’ pedagogy.1223
This is natural if we think that the Preventive System has to deal with growing boys, all their
characteristic features of flightiness, light-mindedness, rashness, yielding to the negative impact of
ideas and behaviours, all features attributed to them by Don Bosco.1224
Correction is expressed through a wide gamut of interventions of graded seriousness: advice, warnings,
reminders, admonitions, fore-warnings, reprimands and threats. These are not punitive actions but ones
aimed at removing fickleness and forestalling their going astray, which may lead to irreversible
waywardness, and at getting the young used to proper and correct behavioural patterns in their way of
thinking, speaking and acting. This is how a loving and strong father and mother would behave in their
family towards their children, as they are always aware of their responsibility. Don Bosco did not know
anything about permissiveness.
‘Corrective’ terminology is quite often found in the Preventive System. Educators are thought of as’
‘giving advice’ and as ‘correcting in a loving manner’. References are made to ‘corrections given’,
‘threatened punishments’, ‘friendly advice’, a benefactor who gives a warning’, ‘Good Nights’ wherein
some advice or warning is given about things to be done or things to be avoided.1225
Correction in its more general and common form is of the essence of the Preventive System. As a
matter of fact, if boys were not to make mistakes, with few exceptions they would not be boys anymore
and they would have no need of education.
While being assisted, therefore, the boys should be granted an opportunity to freely express
their thoughts. But we should be careful to rectify and also correct those expressions, words
and actions which may not be suited to a Christian education.1226
Correction therefore is necessarily present at all the steps of the educational activity: the word
whispered in a boy’s ear, private and public warnings, the Good Nights, the small written notes,
reminders during the study period or in the classroom, recreation time or walks, in church, in the
dormitories and everywhere.
The ways of correcting are the ways of loving kindness, reason, discretion; the ways of patience,
charity and grace.1227
“Corrections and punishments should never be given publicly but always privately and in the absence
of companions...to bring the pupil to see his fault with the aid of reasons and religion”.1228
“Never give any correction out of impulse but wait until your emotions have subsided. Above all, make
sure that the pupil leaves us satisfied and in a friendly manner.1229
The circular letter On punishments to be inflicted in the Salesian houses was not written by Don Bosco
1223 Cf. H. Franta – A. R. Colsanti, L’arte dell’incoraggiamento. Rome, La Nuova Italia Scientifica 1991, pp. 25-29
1224 See Chap 9, §2.
1225 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 46, 48, 50, 56 and 58, OE XXVIII 424, 426, 428, 434 and 436.
1226 Regolamento per le case..., p. Articoli generali, art. 3, p. 15, OE XXIX 111.
1227 Regolamento dell’Oratorio....per gli esterni, part I, Chap X Dei pacifatori, art. 2 and 5 p. 20 and 21, OE XXIX 50 and
51.
1228 Il sistema preventivo (1877), Una parola sui castighi, art. 2, p. 64, OE XXVIII 442.
1229 Letter to a young teacher, Jan. 28, 1875, E II 448.

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but by a Salesian, one of his earliest followers. This letter however, is inspired by Don Bosco’s way of
thinking and it does bring up the following two points as far as the use of correction is concerned: “See
to it that you choose the most opportune time to correct and remove any suspicion which might make
someone believe that we are acting out of emotions”.1230
For several years already rectors of Salesian houses knew the rules about correcting boys. The rules had
been gradually drawn up in the regular meetings they held:
“Respect the pupils’ reputations”; “never reprimand them unless you are sure about their faults”; “Do
not act on impulse, but examine things cold-bloodedly”. “They should recognise us as their
‘Superiors’... if we were to humiliate them with words, mainly because we are ‘the superiors’, we
would make a laughing stock of ourselves”.1231
5. On punishments
Punishments, instead, seem to be forced into the theoretical framework; part of a kind of publicity
almost, relating to the pedagogy of reason, religion and loving kindness. Don Bosco dedicated the final
pages of his Preventive System to ‘A word on punishments’. But punishments were already dealt with
in the previous pages where it was pointed out that the Preventive System
...excludes all violent punishments and tries to do without even the slightest chastisement.
Being forewarned, the pupil does not lose courage on account of the faults he has
committed... nor does he resent the correction he receives or the punishment threatened or
inflicted, because it is always accompanied by a friendly preventive warning which appeals
to his reason and generally enlists his accord, so that he sees the necessity of the
chastisement and almost desires it.
The repressive system instead, arouses bitter recollections for punishments received, even though they
were deserved, because the manner in which they were given was hateful.1232
Don Bosco is more moderate especially when he had to write for the public than when he deals with
‘practical’ education particularly at the Oratory in Valdocco. No wonder then, that he holds on to a very
succinctly expressed thesis: “Never have recourse to punishments if possible”.1233
In a Good Night given during the summer of 1884, in a fragment from the Chronicle already quoted,
Don Bosco asked for ‘much trust’, rather than, ‘fear’ and then added:
“I abhor punishments as much a father in his own family…But...”.1234
Punishing was not part of Don Bosco’s habitual ordinary way of behaving.1235 In a letter he wrote the
Salesians dated May 10, 1884, we see the echoes of a sad question:
Why the replacement little by little of watchful and loving prevention by a system which
consists in framing laws? Such laws either have to be sustained through punishment and so
1230 Cf. J.M. Prellezzo, Dei castighi da infligersi..., pp. 294-300.
1231 Rules given by Don Bosco before 1870, in the appendix to MB XIV 847-849.
1232 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p.
1233 Il sistema preventivo (1877), p.
1234 D. Ruffino, Libro di esperienza 1864, p. 67. Fr Lemoyne reports a text which is longer which he says he got from Fr
Bonetti’s diary (MB VII 503); a brief section is quoted in Chap. 15.
1235 ‘Due lettere datate da Roma...,’ in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., p. 385.

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create hatred and cause unhappiness, or if they are not enforced cause the superiors to be
despised and bring about serious disorders.1236
When punishment is inevitable, it should not be inflicted until all other means have been exhausted and
there is some hope for the party punished to get some benefit out of it.1237
It is Don Bosco’s steadfast and repeatedly mentioned position never to inflict violent and physical
punishments.
Striking the boys in any way, obliging anyone to be on their knees and in a painful position,
pulling their ears and other similar punishments must be absolutely avoided. They are
forbidden by civil law, greatly irritate the young and degrade the educator.1238
“Neither the whip nor blows and other violent punishments, nor any punishment harmful to one’s
health; normally no assignments for detention, no reflection rooms which, at times, were given due
consideration”.1239
Don Bosco first of all leans towards natural and psychological punishments inspired by reasonableness
and goodness. Depriving a boy of a kindly sign is a punishment which gives courage and never
humiliates.
With the young, punishment is whatever is meant as a punishment. It has been noticed that
in the case of some boys a reproachful look is more effective than a slap in the face would
be. Praise of work well done and blame in the case of carelessness are already a reward or
punishment.1240
Finally, so reasonableness and moderation be used in commonly inflicted punishments,1241 Don Bosco
did not want young teachers and assistants to inflict them on the boys. We have already seen this
mentioned in the Good Night given on March 21, 1865:
To make you feel good, I absolutely forbid the assistants from inflicting punishments, so
that no one will ever complain.1242
In the area of punishments, the one who holds the main responsibility is the rector, even though the
execution is entrusted to the vice rector, the prefect, because reason should not destroy fatherliness and
the particular position held by the rector as the ordinary confessor of the Salesian House.1243
6. Dismissal and expulsion
The frequent expulsion of boys should be seen within the context of Don Bosco’s thinking and his
times. Ideas of’ equal opportunity and the right to study did not yet exist. Only those who had finance
1236 ‘Due lettere datate da Roma...’., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., p. 385.
1237 J.M. Prellezzo, Dei castighi da infligersi...., pp. 290-294.
1238 The article is added to the text of the Preventive System published in the Rules for the Houses, p. 12 OE XXIX 108.
1239 Also the letter Dei castighi da infligersi...., Prellezzo. pp. 304-306.
1240 Il sistema preventivo (1877), Una parola sui castighi, aart. 1 and 2, p. 64, OE XXVIII 442.
1241 In the circular Dei castighi...., mirrors the practice followed at the Oratory in Valdocco and in other houses; some
simple examples: J. M. Prellezzo, Dei castighi...., p. 304.
1242 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff,
1243 See MB X, 1094-1095, norms from Don Bosco collected by Lemoyne; other norms from the ‘conferences’ for
prefects; MB 1121; cf. also Prellezzo, Dei Castighi..., p. 308.

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could enhance their social and cultural status.
It was considered a privilege to study for a degree or learn a professional skill in a well-organised
institution. It appeared evident that whoever did not know how to appreciate either study or skills
would be obliged to go back to his local area. It was not a question of going back to a place of
perdition. It was only a question of going back to one’s family and picking up again the ‘Pondus diei et
aestus’, the weight of the day’s work and heat’, which he had left and which would have realistically
re-educated him after his failed experience at school.
This attitude, some people thought, ran the risk of someone having a vocation forced on him. But this is
the answer given by Don Bosco:
The choice of a state of life here in our own house is entirely free and no one is ever
admitted to the clerical habit if he doesn’t possess all that is required of him. Anyone who
has these requirements has a true sign that he has a vocation. Anyhow, for anyone not called
to this state of life, given the terrible times in which we live, I think it would be better if he
got back to working his own land.1244
Don Bosco’s nephew, Louis, fell into this category, even though he was undecided about what choice to
make.
Don Bosco thought the same way about another youngster whose parents were farmers. “This has to be
kept in mind”, Don Bosco added, “because if he were a young man from well-to-do circumstances, it
would not be proper to have him sent back to work the land. But in regard to a young man who has
been taken from that type of work and sent to study to find out if the Lord was calling him to the
ecclesiastical state, if he is not so called, we would do him no wrong and it would be better for him to
be sent back to work his own land”.
Therefore, a dismissal or an expulsion might not only seem reasonable but also inevitable, particularly
at Valdocco and especially for the academic students section made up mostly of young men who
aspired to an ecclesiastical vocation. Whoever did not show the signs of a vocation was either sent to
another school or was sent home. Besides, academic students and working boys would also have
remembered that the house which welcomed them and educated them relied on the generosity of
benefactors.1245
Leaving aside the fact of not seeing the signs of a vocation as reason for dismissal, an expulsion or
dismissal was compulsory when all the other resources of the system had been exhausted. The
Preventive System was never declared to be absolutely infallible system. The ones who were expelled
were mostly those who were guilty of the three evils which had to be avoided at all cost, and pointed
out in the Rules for the Houses. More so the case of recidivists. The three evils to be absolutely avoided
were:1. Blasphemy and calling on God’s holy name in vain 2. Dishonesty, taken to mean any scandal
related to the sixth commandment 3. Theft. Additional evils were ‘formal and systematic disobedience’
and ‘rebellion’.
In a long Good Night given on February 13, 1865, Don Bosco first denounced thefts, lack of discipline,
and immoral acts, then openly communicated the decision he had arrived at:
I have therefore made a decision and this is to get rid of those responsible for these
scandals. Don Bosco is the most easy-going man on earth; you may destroy and break
anything, you may scamper around and he will always know how to show compassion for
1244 Ruffino, Cronaca 1861 1862 1863, pp. 93-95.
1245 Regolamento per le case..., p. part II, Chap XVI, p. 89, OE XXIX 185.

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you. But do not start ruining souls, because then Don Bosco becomes inexorable.1246
This is that type of environment Father Julius Barberis referred to in one of his diary entries as he
keenly took notice of a certain situation at Valdocco.
There is a rule in our houses, and that is to absolutely not tolerate young men amongst us
who are rat-bags or who in any way may cause scandal for their companions. One bad
conversation, even the smallest immoral act would be enough to have the guilty person
expelled from our house. But no one may be expelled without informing Don Bosco about
it.1247
The intransigence of the chronicler was certainly connected with the students who aspired to the
ecclesiastical state, and the pre-novices.
However this intransigence for most of the boys was clearly contradicted by Don Bosco in his
Confidential Memo for Rectors which is a text of great normative value for them.
Whenever you come to discover some serious fault, summon the guilty party or suspected
party into your office and, in the most charitable manner make sure to have him
acknowledge his fault and the harm that he has done in committing it; then correct him and
invite him to fix up whatever pertains to his conscience. By following this procedure and by
continuing kindly assistance to the pupil we have obtained marvellous results and some
behavioural changes which seemed impossible.1248
The rules are similarly for the weekend Oratory, which still had a flexible structure.1249
“Even young rat-bags may be accepted, provided no scandal is given and they show willingness to
keep on improving their conduct.1250
Nevertheless, in the considerable amount of documentation we have on Don Bosco’s life, there is
countless information about cases where forgiveness was granted to individuals who were negligent in
discipline or even scandalous, but ready to sincerely acknowledge their error.
7. Rewards
Don Bosco’s doctrine and practice always included the traditional pedagogy of reward, however simple
and familiar. He did this through an awards celebration. Don Bosco grew up in schools inspired by the
Jesuits and so he could not but have included the psychological and moral factor of ‘emulation’ in his
system.
The most longed-for award for any young man had to be the one connected with the fact that of good
deed had been done and the inner satisfaction it produced, especially when there was also the warm and
affectionate recognition of the educator added to it. For many years Don Bosco established the handing
out of the awards for good conduct on an annual basis. This award was given to the best boys, selected
by a free and democratic nomination process. The award ceremony ordinarily took place before the
1246 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff pp. 93-94. He gives a lengthy justification for the invitation to the boys listening to
“Denounce those responsible for disorder and sin” (Ibid pp. 96-97).
1247 G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 3., p. 19.
1248 F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., pp. 156-157.
1249 Regolamento dell’Oratorio....per gli esterni, part II, Chap II Condizioni d’accettazione, art. 6 p. 30, OE XXIX 60.
1250 Regolamento dell’Oratorio....per gli esterni,part II, Chap II, art. 7, p. 30, OE XXIX 60.

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feast of St Francis de Sales, on June 29.
Don Bosco explained the award selection procedure to the boys at a Good Night given on January 19,
1865.
There is a tradition in our house and I say this for the newcomers. On the feast of St
Francis, awards are given out and the boys themselves are the ones who give these awards
to the best of their companions. The academic students give the awards to the best
academic students and the working boys to the best working boys. This is the way it is
done. Every young man draws up a list of ten names of the young men he considers the
most diligent, the most studious, the most devout among those he knows, no matter what
dormitory or class they belong to; he signs the list and hands it over to his teacher. The
teacher hands it over to me and I go through all of the lists and the one who has received
the majority of votes gets the award on the feast of St Francis de Sales. Even the
seminarians may draw up a list of ten youngsters. The superiors will draw up their own
lists. Even I would do mine, but mine only counts for one vote.1251
The solemn award ceremony for achievement in the school and studies took place towards the end of
the scholastic year, during the middle of August or in the first days of September. The ceremony took
on a particular solemnity. There were songs, recitals, performances of choice instrumental music, talks
suited for the occasion, and in the presence of important persons.1252
Award ceremonies for working boys are recorded for the Oratory in Valdocco on May 30, 1872, July 2,
1876, and August 15, 1878.1253
Also other awards, special awards but much simpler ones, were handed out on a weekly or monthly
basis. Much appreciated was the privilege of sitting at the dinner table with Don Bosco and the
superiors on Sundays, for those who, in every class, had distinguished themselves by their conduct.1254
It was a constant concern of Don Bosco’s that award and praise should not be exclusively given for the
natural or innate talents of the pupils, without considering their goodwill and diligence.1255
Don Bosco, as we already seen in the Rules for the Houses, addresses the boys frankly: “A proud
student is a stupid ignoramus”, and he insistently recommends that teachers avoid giving in to awarding
innate talents or things that the simply like seeing in a boy.
Never praise any young man in a special manner. Praises ruin the best natural gifts. One
boy may sing well, another may perform on the stage with self-assurance…and he is
immediately praised, courted and considered special.... Be sure not to praise them for their
natural looks. The better students of the school become proud if they are overly praised,
while certain less-talented individuals may get discouraged and since they cannot achieve
1251 G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, p. 78-79.
1252 Cf. MB III 357-358, 428; V 279-280; X 187, 373, 1230. In the ‘conference’ on Sept. 1, 1872, we see: “The decision
was made to hold the award ceremony in the courtyard of the younger students, with gas equipment, music etc”.
(Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento..., p. 171); there is a note in the minutes of the meeting on Aug. 6, 1881 (ibid., p.
274) and July 31, 1882.
1253 J. M. Prellezzo, Valdocco nell’Ottocento..., p. 45, 70. “The decision was made to hold the award ceremony for
working boys on the day of Corpus Christi in their courtyard, after vespers, with vocal and instrumental music”. (ibid.,
p. 168).
1254 Cf. MB III 440-441; VI 437; XI 111. For 1876 in his diary, Fr Lazzero notes: “Generally during the month of St
Joseph, those who stood out in every class dined with Don Bosco. On the feast itself the working boys would begin.
This however was ‘ad libitum superioris’”. (J. M. Prellezzo, Valdocco..., p. 109)
1255 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap VI, art. 22. p. 73, OE XXIX 169.

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like the others they hate the teacher, saying that he really does not care much for them.
These ones are in need of some recognition.1256
1256 MB XIV 847.

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Chapter 18
Educational institutions
Don Bosco spoke and wrote about his projects on behalf of youth and his pedagogical approach to the
most diverse range of people: collaborators, cooperators, benefactors; popes, cardinals, bishops and
priests; authorities, politicians, financiers, civil servants, managers of state and local corporations... He
also looked at various possibilities for applying the Preventive System in education: in prisons, with
Urban Rattazzi, Minister for Justice in 1854; in recovery institutions, with the Italian Minister for the
Interior in 1878; in the classroom, with Francis Bodrato, school teacher in 1864; in private educational
institutions and families via the Salesian Bulletin.
However what he gave us, the writings he left us, the experience he handed down to us, refers more
explicitly to the very many institutions that he himself founded, ran or led.
We can divide them into two main categories:
1. Institutions of an open nature such as recreation parks, daily and weekend oratories, youth centres,
Sunday and Night schools, other schools of various levels and degrees, popular and youth press,
missionary residences.
2. Comprehensive (in the sense of offering overall care) institutions such as homes, hostels for young
workers or students, technical schools for the technical and professional training of youth, boarding
schools for students and ecclesiastical seminaries.
All these categories of institution with the exception of the missions which began in January 1880, are
all listed and officially codified in the Salesian Constitutions, officially approved in April 1874, and
translated into Italian in 1875.1257
1. The aim of the Salesian society is the Christian perfection of its members, the
performance of any work of spiritual and corporal charity towards the young, especially the
poor and also the education of the young clergy...
3. The first exercise of charity will be that of gathering together poor and abandoned boys
to instruct them in the holy Catholic religion, particularly on feast days.
4. Since young people are often so totally abandoned that any care exercised on their behalf
would prove useless if they were not given shelter, as far as possible houses will be opened
in which lodging, food and clothing will be provided for them with the means which Divine
Providence provides; and while they are instructed in the truths of the Catholic faith, they
will also be introduced to learning some art or craft.
5. Since the dangers our youth encounter are many and serious, whenever they aspire to
enter the ecclesiastical state this Society of ours will do its very best to foster the piety of
the ones who show special aptitude for study and are commendable for their good morals.
When it is a question of accepting youngsters for studies, let the poorest boys be accepted
by preference, precisely because they would not be able to pursue their studies elsewhere....
1257 Cf. Regulae seu Constitutiones Societatis S. Francisci Salesii juxta Approbatioanis decretum die 3 aprilis 1874.
Augustae Taurinorum, ex officina Asceterii Salesiani An. MDCCCLXXIV, pp. 6-7, OE XXV 416-417.

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6. Support for the Catholic religion is a need felt mostly among Christian people,
particularly in small towns. Therefore Salesian members will do their best to zealously
conduct retreats, strengthen and direct towards piety those who, moved by the desire to
change their lives, might want to go and listen to them.
7. Likewise, they will do their best to spread good books among the people using all the
means which Christian charity inspires. Finally, through word and writing they will try to
stem the increase in godlessness and heresy which in so many ways makes inroads among
uneducated and ignorant people.1258
The reference to the Salesian institutions is essential to understand the evolution and the articulated
make-up of the Preventive System, at least in its three binding elements:
1) The Preventive System is gradually implemented through structures which Don Bosco does not
create ex novo; they are typical of the Restoration, with many of them having roots way back in the
period of the Counter-reformation and the ancien régime. However each of Don Bosco’s institutions is
given a new look of its own by the Preventive System which further delineates its fundamental
features.
2) The ‘system’, as it becomes incarnate in the various institutions is in turn conditioned by them,
taking on different features which help it to better articulate itself. For instance, the system as we find it
in an oratory and a boarding institution or boarding school is not identical.
3) The various Salesian institutions are generally geared to young people of varying social, cultural,
religious and moral levels, and aim at responding to different pressing needs or needs which have
different social, scholastic, professional, catechetical and formation emphases. These emphases in turn,
have an impact on educational methods and content. We cannot, therefore, ignore the many aspects that
such a pedagogy may assume.
A partial institutional and pedagogical typology is also part of Don Bosco’s thinking as evidenced by
one of his most important addresses during the 1880s. In that address he drew up, at least in sketchy
form, an overall picture of his social initiatives on behalf of the young.
There are festive oratories with parks or places for respectable recreation. Young people are
drawn to these places if properly approached and entertained with properly supervised
games and activities; at the proper time and place the youths are instructed in Christian
doctrine in these oratories; they are directed to and assisted in the practice of their religious
duties. There are Night schools for poor young workers who are busy the whole day in their
workplace and cannot acquired the necessary instruction otherwise. There are some day
schools also which offer free tuition. There are Sunday catechism classes and even daily
catechism classes, held either in churches or in private homes.
There are also the so-called sponsorship arrangements where we find employment for
young people with upright employers and see that they run no risk at all as far as their
religion and their morals are concerned. But these at times are not enough... these
youngsters need a home, a roof; a shelter is needed for the ones who are derelict, hence the
necessity of having homes for the most needy youngsters. Therein these youngsters are
provided with everything they need for life; some are placed in workshops and trained to
1258 Regole o Costituzioni della Società di S. Francesco di Sales secondo il decreto di apporvazione del 3 aprile 1874.
Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press 1875, pp. 3-5, OE XXVII 53-55.

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pick up a skill so that one day they can earn an honest piece of bread. Some others, gifted
by God with a particular talent, are directed toward studies and often some of them embrace
a civil career and by being employed in this or that office help their families and society.
Some other youths instead enter an ecclesiastical career and become apostles of religion
and civilisation, not only among us but also among barbarian nations.1259
We may justifiably think of a single Preventive System, but this system is implemented through a
variety of approaches or preventive methods.1260
1. The oratory
The first institution, chronologically speaking and also in terms of importance, is the festive (weekend,
feast days) and daily oratory.
The oratory is the most popular, flexible and personalised expression of the religious, social and
educational activity carried out by Don Bosco. The Preventive System was born, at least in its original
elements, out of the oratory. And the system as implemented at the oratory contains the features which
distinguish it from the one implemented in boarding schools and similar institutions. However the
Preventive System does retain its essential, common dimensions in any setting.1261
The oratory is the off-shoot of the immediate pressing needs naturally connected with additional
elements such as catechesis, religious practices, free time, cultural activities.1262
Later on, there would be additional rules drawn from experience and from statutes for similar
undertakings in Lombardy and Piedmont and then applied to the oratory. But the stamp Don Bosco
gave it is strongly evident. The oratory was fashioned after an initial and clever intuition which does
not exclude an eclectic synthesis of other many additional elements. It was only partially defined by the
first article of the Regulations: “(The Oratory) is intended to entertain the young on weekends with
pleasant and respectable recreation, after having attended the sacred services in church”.1263
The oratories begun by Father Cocchi and Don Bosco were developed precisely at the
intersection of two pressing needs: pastoral (the conversion of the people brought about
within the people themselves by the presence of a priest) and popular educational (helping
young people left to their own devices, abandoned, without anyone to guide them and
1259 Conference to Cooperators in Genoa, March 30, 1882, BS 6 (1882) no. 4, April, p. 71.
1260At least four different methodological versions can be identified already in the social and educational experiences in
the first twenty or so years in Turin: cf. P. Braido, Il sistema preventivo di don Bosco alle origini..., RSS 14 (1995) 310-
312.
1261 Don Bosco has left us fundamental writings of an historical and ideological nature on the oratory; there is also
literature of notable variety. From Don Bosco we have in particular: Cenno storico dell’Oratorio di S. Franceszco di
Sales (1854) and Cenni storici intorno all’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales (1862); in part La foraza della buona
educazione (1855), Severino ossia avventure di un giovane alpigiano (1868), Memorie dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di
Sales dal 1815 al 1855, Regolamento dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales per gli esterni. Worthy of attention are
certain studies: P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol I pp. 103-109; idem, Don Bosco nella
storia economica e sociale..., pp. 71-90, 101-108, 159-174; G. Chiosso, L’Oratorio di don Bosco e il rinnovamento
educativo nel Piemonte carloalbertino, in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco nella Chiesa..., pp. 83-116; idem, Don Bosco e
l’oratorio (1841-1855), in M. Midali (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia..., pp. 297-313.
1262 “This Congregation in 1841 was nothing but a Catechism class, a weekend recreation park which in 1846 [1847]
added a Home for poor working boys, making a private institute a numerous family” (Report to the Holy See, March
1879, E III 462)
1263 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part I, [Introduzione] Scopo di quest’opera, p. 3, OE XXIX 33.

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therefore potentially at risk and risky and helping them in themselves and for society).1264
The pastoral, catechetical and recreational aspects of the oratory are integrated by the concern to
provide young people with a general, moral and cultural formation. And this was to be achieved by
means of associations, Sunday schools, day and evening schools, musical activities, theatre, gymnastics
and sports and also by means of outings.1265
There are two other important intuitions which may be considered as already acquired by
Don Bosco by the time the oratory was finally established at Valdocco. The first has to do
with the flexible structure he wanted to give the oratory: it is not to be parochial (which was
the way Fr Cocchi still envisaged his oratory) and not even inter-parochial but something in
between, namely something suited to Church, urban society and working class youth. The
second was related to the dynamic intertwining of religious formation and human
development, catechism and education. 1266
What stands out, first of all, is the religious element.
(The Oratory is) a house for Sunday gatherings where everyone would had the opportunity
to satisfy his religious duties, receive instruction at the proper time and be given direction,
advice to lead a Christian and upright life.1267
The (Oratory) Regulations contain this warning: when a young man enters this oratory he should be
convinced that this is a religious place where we wish to turn young men into good Christians and
upright citizens.1268
The Regulation concerning the rector summarises the eminently Christian goal of oratorian education.
First of all he is “the principal superior and responsible for all that happens at the Oratory”. “He should
use every possible means to instil in the hearts of the young the love of God, respect for sacred things,
frequent reception of the sacraments, filial devotion to Mary Most Holy and all that constitutes true
piety”.1269Hence the Oratory is a school where one may find religious instruction and practices besides
inspiration to live a Christian life.
One of the few conditions required for acceptance into the oratory was that “the young person be
occupied in some art or craft, because idleness and not doing anything, are the source of all vice and
make religious instruction useless no matter whether it be in the form of Sunday sermons, morning or
afternoon sermons, or catechesis in classes or all together”.1270
As for ‘religious practices’, according to the accounts given of the oratory at its beginnings there is
much insistence on giving the young the opportunity to approach the sacraments of Confession and
Communion.1271 When the first chapel at the oratory was blessed on December 8, 1844, Don Bosco
wanted the chapel to be a sure place where the young could fulfil their duties in church.1272 Even during
the critical times of the ‘wandering oratory’, Don Bosco’s first concern was to find a way for the young
1264 G. Chiosso, Don Bosco e l’oratorio..., in M. Midali (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia..., p. 301
1265 Cf. especially MO (1991) 158-161
1266 G. Chiosso, Don Bosco e l’oratorio..., in M. Midali (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia..., p. 302
1267 Circular, Dec. 20, 1851, Em I 39
1268 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part II, Chap II, art. 6, p. 30, OE XXIX 60.
1269 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part I, Chap 1. art. 1 and 7, p. 5 and6, OE XXIX 35 and 36.
1270 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part II, Cahp II, art. 5, p. 30, OE XXIX 60
1271 Cf. for example MO (1991) 123-124, L’Oratorio nel 1842.
1272 MO (1991) 133.

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to fulfil their religious duties: catechism, hymn singing, Mass and Vespers and religious instruction.1273
The oratory, besides all of the above, was an open structure, extremely flexible as to time and the kind
of young people who attended it. The oratory had no timetable; it was not a school bound to fixed
periods. All workers and students had their days off and free time which might be easily wasted in
idleness and dissipation, especially at weekends.
The oratory was called upon to fill the gaps when the young were not working and needed to be kept
busy. It was called upon to fill the life of the young with new possibilities, joy, human and heavenly
values, formation and recreation, instruction and edifying practices. There was a steadfast concern not
to allow anything which might interrupt the continuity of oratorian educational activity, so much so that
oratorian activity went on, in one way or another, the whole week long. This was Don Bosco’s praxis
and theory:
The entire Sunday was dedicated to taking care of my youngsters. During the week I used
to call on them at their work, in their workshops, in their factories... This proved to be of
the great comfort to the youngsters since they were seeing a friend who was concerned
about them. This also pleased employers who willingly kept youngsters on who were
assisted during the entire week and even more on weekends when they were more exposed
to dangers.
Every Saturday I used visit the prisons with my pockets full of either tobacco or fruit,
sometimes small loaves of bread and always with the objective of taking care of the
youngsters who had had the misfortune to end up in prison, with a view to helping them,
making them my friends and once they were so moved of inviting them to the Oratory as
soon as they had the chance to get out of that place of punishment.1274
Furthermore, the oratory was for everyone, namely for anyone who wanted to use his free time and
wanted to use it constructively. If there was a preference it was for those most in need both materially
and spiritually.
However, those who are poor, the most abandoned ones and the most ignorant, these are
preferably accepted and taken care of because they have the greatest need to be helped so
that they may keep on the way to eternal salvation.1275
In fact, the oratory’s first objective was that of holding on to the young most abandoned and at risk, as
Don Bosco says in the Memoirs of the Oratory.1276
The deliberations of the last two General Chapters presided by Don Bosco, contain the following
decisions:
To achieve the main goal of the Salesian Society more effectively, which is that of
gathering together poor and abandoned youths particularly at weekends, it would be most
beneficial a recreation park, an oratory in cities and towns where there is a Salesian House,
for outside youngsters who need religious instruction and are exposed to the risk of
perversion.1277
1273 MO (1991) 134-146.
1274 MO (1991) 125
1275 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part II, Cap II, art. 2, p. 29, OE XXIX 59.
1276 MO (1991) 133.
1277 Deliberazioni del terzo e quarto capitolo generale della Pia Società Salesiana tenuti in Valsalice nel settembre 1883-

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Differently from homes and boarding schools the oratory on principle excluded any systematic
procedure of accepting, classifying, admitting or dismissing youngsters, except in very rare cases which
called for expulsion. The oratory stands out as the most dynamic and unpredictable of the youth
gatherings planned and implemented by Don Bosco.
The binding elements of the oratory were essentially the interest, attention, adequacy which it was in a
position to express regarding religious awareness, moral commitment, culture, free participation, and
the solidarity of friendship and shared responsibility, a climate of freedom, love and joy.
More than any other institution, the oratory aimed at being a centre of youthful vitality and liveliness,
the full expression of the principle of cheerfulness, as Don Bosco describes it with candid simplicity in
the circular letter of December 20, 1851:
Various little games were introduced which would help develop the physical strength of the
boys and provide respectable recreation for their spirit. This is how we tried to make their
time with us both useful and delightful.1278
If games and joy, according to Don Bosco, make up the essential atmosphere and setting for all his
educational institutions, they must be like this in even more generous measure for the weekend oratory.
The reason is that the oratory is a ‘free’ educational institution where compulsion and imposition of
rules are substituted by the captivating aura of a festive environment, and charity.
The above-mentioned deliberations of the General Chapters insisted on the following:
Especially recommended are the various kinds of games and amusements suited to the age
of the youngsters and to customs of their own towns, for this is one of the most effective
means to attract youths to the oratory. Quite useful to promote the frequent attendance at
festive oratories are the distribution of prizes at given times, for instance such prizes as
books, devotional objects, clothing.. The same can be said for raffles, outings, performance
of easy to understand and morally sound plays, music classes, little parties etc.1279
Games and festivity were the privileged moments for creating familiarity, gregariousness,
friendship and facilitating the sharing of human and religious values.1280
But besides piety and joy, the irreplaceable bond for the oratory more than any other is the bond of
charity. Charity is first of all undoubtedly love supported by strong moral, religious and social
motivations. However charity had also to be translated into human, tangible loving kindness. This is the
way charity makes itself evident and becomes a human way of attracting and winning over the young.
The smooth running of the festive oratory depends, after all and above all on a true spirit of
sacrifice, a great amount of patience, charity and benevolence towards all. This is the way
the boys will be able to have and keep an ever dear memory of the Oratory and will attend
it also when they are grown-up.1281
86. S. Benigno Canavese, Salesian Press 1887. p. 22, OE XXXVI 274. They are similar expressions tot he ones found
in the circular of Dec. 20, 1851: “those youth who through parental neglect or bad companions, or lack of means are
exposed to constant danger of corruption”, “lazy and ill-advised youth” (Em 1139)..
1278 Em I 139
1279 Deliberazioni del terzo e quarto capitolo generale..., art. 7 and 8, p. 24 OE XXXVI 276.
1280 G. Chiosso, Don Bosco e l’oratorio..., in M. Midali (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia..., p. 301
1281 Deliberazioni del terzo e quarto capitolo generale..., p. 24, OE XXXVI 276.

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“The rector”, so the Regulations say “should... constantly show himself a friend, companion and
brother to all”.1282
Besides, “Every catechist should be cheerful and show the importance of what he teaches. When he
corrects or warns he should always use encouraging words and never humiliating ones. He should
praise those who deserve to be praised and be slow to blame anyone”.1283
And finally, everyone is reminded of the following:
Mutual charity and patience in bearing with the defects of others, the championing of the
good name of the Oratory and those employed there, and encouragement to everyone to be
kind and to trust the rector. These are the things which are warmly recommended to all.
Without them we will never be able to keep order, promote the glory of God and the well-
being of souls.1284
Finally the oratory was the first place Don Bosco experienced real solidarity from many of his
collaborators: ecclesiastics, lay people, young and adult, aristocrats, professional people, middle-class
people.1285 Don Bosco writes with gratitude of his collaborators, first of all in his Historical Outline
18541286 and the Historical Outlines1287 1862, and finally with greater insistence and intentionality still,
in the Memoirs of the Oratory when he hinted that he had the idea of forming the Cooperators
Association.1288
2. Home and boarding school (collegio)
When it is a case of the more comprehensive institutions such as boarding schools and homes, the real
measure of Don Bosco’s creativity should not be sought in their structures as such.1289 In fact boarding
institutions, whether they be a home for abandoned youths or a boarding school for academic students
or young apprentices, artisans or a minor seminary, strongly limit the application of some of the most
original and dynamic elements of Don Bosco’s system of education.
These elements, instead, appear to be more obviously seen in the oratory and in any other open
institution: spontaneous access, attendance, fewer disciplinary measures and regimentation, absence of
financial matters to be dealt with, contact with the family and the outside world, evaluation of what was
learned in daily lived experience, the non-existent problem of ‘holidays’.1290
1282 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part I, part I, Chap 1, art. 2, p. 5, OE XXIX 35.
1283 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part I, Chap VIII Dei catechisti, art. 16-17, p. 18, OE XXIX 48.
1284 Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part I, Cahp 1, art. 4, pp. 28-29, OE XXIX 58-59.
1285 “Equally important was the recourse (as Fr Cocchi already did in Vanchiglia) to collaboration from young people
already well formed and able to be significant pedagogical models for boys accustomed to very different settings, as
well as of course helping with catechism and free time”. (G. Chiosso, Don Bosco e l’oratorio..., in M. Midali, Don
Bosco nella storia..., p. 302).
1286 Cenno storico..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco nella Chiesa..., p. 36, 41, 52.
1287 Cenni storici..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco nella Chiesa..., p. 65, 66, 69, 81.
1288 MO (1991) 123, 124, 125, 128, 158, 188-189.
1289 Don Bosco wrote important texts on young people educated as boarders: the Lives of Dominic Savio, Michael
Magone, Francis Besucco, who mirror a kind of boarding setup that is really a seminary for ecclesiastical vocations.
The Oratory as a home for students and working boys – see the Cenno storico and Cenni storici (P. Braido Ed., Don
Bosco nella Chiesa..., pp. 53-59 and 74-81). The boarding school plays an important role in Valentino o la vocazione
impedita (1886) (OE XVII 179-242). The boarding house experience is found in the Il sistema preventivo nella
educazione della gioventù 1877. As a codification of long experience with this institution, see the Regolamento per le
case...., 1877, OE XXIX 111-194.
1290 On the boarding school and ‘collegialisation’ see P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol I, pp.

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On the other hand the boarding institution seems to allow for a more rigorous application of some
protective and disciplinary aspects of the Preventive System. Don Bosco in fact developed the more
mature aspects of the Preventive System in reference to the home and the boarding school.
Vice versa the type of boarding schools he set up are softened by the features and style proper to the
Preventive System. He injected something new into already well-established structures and traditions.
Given the craze for turning to boarding schools at the time, Don Bosco’s collegio gave a new historical
twist to them, but also a new Preventive System came about along with a new type of (boarding)
school.1291
The human, cultural, social qualities of the boys who frequented them necessarily affected the shape of
Don Bosco’s boarding school-boarding house. In many instances they brought a certain simplicity and
poverty. It is this that made their living together less formal, more elementary and therefore more ready
to grasp the features of a ‘pedagogy of the poor’, or ‘poor pedagogy’. “These traits are the sincerity of
friendships, trust placed in the teachers, the experience of community life like at home in the family,
seasoned by loving kindness, evangelical openness to the gifts of grace, appreciation for study and
profession, fascination for games and activities, theatre and the like, which were generally not
accessible to the family environment the youngsters had come from.
For the vast majority of youngsters, life at boarding school was not something taken for granted, a
necessity created by family circumstances or by social status but good fortune, an unexpected gift, an
unforeseen and stupendous opportunity for social and cultural growth, the starting point of a new
course towards the future.
Most of the best requirements of the system found in the boarding school the best locus for their
implementation, above all the fundamental requirement of prevention in its twofold aspect: protective-
preparatory and positive-constructive. It is precisely the concern for prevention which gives origin to
the boarding school-boarding house:
Among the young who attend the city oratory are some who are in such a situation that all
the spiritual means provided for them would be useless were their temporal needs not
responded to.1292
When I came to realise that for many boys, any work undertaken on their behalf would turn
out to be useless if I were not to give them shelter, I took great pains to rent more and more
rooms in a hurry, even though the cost was extremely high.1293
Later on for reasons of pedagogical prevention Don Bosco adopted the rigid approach of the boarding
school both for the working boys and the academic students, introducing workshops and classes to the
121-127; idem, Don Bosco nella storia economica..., pp. 123-157; (Collegi e ospizi in Piemonte e in Liguria 1860-
1870), 175-199 (Giovani e adulti convittori a Valdocco 1847-1870), 289-294 (La popolazione giovanile degli altri
collegi).
1291 Apparently paradoxical,(but only apparently), read O. del Donno, Don Bosco, il demolitore dei collegi, l’antipedogista
di convinzione, l’educatore di vocazione. Bologna, N.U. Gallo 1965, 389 p.
1292 Piano di regolamento per la casa annessa all’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales in Valdocco. Scopo di questa, a
manuscript from 1852 kept in the Salesian Central Archives in Rome. Don Bosco wrote about the question in the Cenni
storici: “Amongst the young people who frequent these oratories there are some who are so poor and abandoned that
any concern for them was almost useless unless there was a place to live, food, clothing. We provided this with the
home attached to the Oratory of St Francis de Sales”. (Cenni storici..., in P. Braido (Ed), Don Bosco nella Chiesa..., pp.
74-75.).
1293 MO (1991) 182

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Oratory premises.
Since we had no workshops, our pupils used to go to work and do their schooling in Turin,
with great detriment to morality due to the fact that the companions they met along the way,
the language they heard and what they saw made what we were doing for them and what
we said to them at the Oratory useless.1294
What was happening to the working boys, lamentably was happening also to the academic
students. For this reason, for the classes they had been divided into, the more advanced in
studies had to be sent to Professor Joseph Bonzanino; Rhetoric students Professor Matthew
Picco. These were excellent schools, but going to and coming from school was full of
dangers. In 1856, the school and the workshops were definitively established at the
Oratory.1295
Clearly, a pedagogy of preservation and ‘immunisation’ seems to be the ideal for a moral educational
structure without breaking its continuity. Don Bosco prefers to build educational structure on ‘virgin
territory rather than on land which needs preliminary restoration and clearing. He does not reject the
second hypothesis but he does not do anything to put it into practice.
This persuasion returned frequently especially during Don Bosco’s final years, in talks given to
Cooperators and benefactors. When he was in Marseilles, he spoke with particular concern about the
country girls going to the city to earn their living and exposed to so many dangers of perversion. On the
one hand the lack of education and religious instruction and on the other the presence of scandal,
corruption, malice.. cause huge disasters among them. Now they are sheltered in the house at St Cyr
where they “till the land and receive intellectual, religious and moral instruction”.1296
In the short novel-like Life of Valentino, Don Bosco intentionally demonstrates the educational
effectiveness of a Catholic boarding school where the fact of being set apart, having perfect
organisation and assistance all with the function of preserving and protecting the young, obtain quick
and convincing educational results.
Set apart from his mates, removed from bad reading, the frequent mixing with his
classmates, the class competitions, music, recitals, some theatrical performances in a small
theatre. all these things had him soon forget the wild sort of life he had been living for
almost a year. And the recollection of his mother’s advice, “Avoid idleness and bad
companions” would often come back to him. And so it was with ease that he picked up the
old habit of keeping the practices of piety again.1297
Several patterns can be seen from the above: a clear-cut separation from the outside world,1298 strict
admissions process,1299 good control processes, and awareness of the rules.1300
The concept of prevention is translated into one of the first boarding school traditions which was later
1294 MO (1991) 187
1295 MO (1991) 187-188.
1296 Conference in Marseilles, March 29, 1883, BS 7 (1883) no. 5, May, p. 79
1297 G. Bosco, Valentino...., pp. 21-22, OE XVII 199-200; cf. The whole of Chap VII Nuovo Collegio, Ritorna alla pietà,
pp. 19.25, OE XVII 197-03
1298 Cf. Regolamento del parlatorio 1860, MB VI 597-598.
1299 Cf. F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori» p. 155
1300 A typical case – the gradual limitations given the presence inside the Oratory of faithful who came for the feast of
MHC.

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proven wrong by events namely, the rather marked mistrust for schools for day-students and boarding
institutions. When Don Bosco was still alive, at a meeting of the Superior Chapter in February 1877 the
boarding school at Valsalice came up for debate and as a consequence, the proposal to transform the
school into a semi-boarding school where the transportation arrangements would take care of picking
up and bringing back the students to and from home.1301 Don Bosco did not accept the proposal.
The main positive aim of boarding school formation was more effective if there was less compromise
in daily contact with the outside world. The history of Don Bosco’s boarding schools reveals this
twofold phenomenon: “annexed to the Oratory”, the main work, a home, room-and-board institution is
added which would soon enough become a boarding school for academic students, those who are
aspiring to an ecclesiastical career or not, and for working boys. It was structured according to what
was demanded by self-sufficient and autonomous formation. Given the increasing number of boarding
schools it is the oratory that ends up by being considered as the ‘school annex’.
From a pedagogical viewpoint there is no difference between the boarding schools and the homes
destined to shelter boys who are orphans and without assistance, either because their parents do not
wish to or cannot take care of them, boys without any skill, without instruction and exposed to the
danger of a miserable future.
The homes are destined to offer their boarders a complete formation in an equally welcoming setting:
instruction, professional skills, discipline for life, moral and religious education.1302 The Rules for the
Houses request that two conditions of pedagogical significance be followed for the acceptance of the
above-mentioned borders: they should be known by the educator, as far as possible and they should be
ready to consider the home as their family.
We will preferably accept those who attend our festive oratories in our charitable
institutions, because it is extremely important for us to know something about the character
of the boys before they are definitively accepted in our houses. Every boy accepted in our
houses should think of his companions as brothers, and his superiors as the ones who take
on the role of their parents.1303
The educational autonomy which Don Bosco wanted rather than the administrative autonomy, leads
him to exclude interference and intrusion from homes and boarding schools which limit the preventive
effectiveness of his system. This is the intent of the earlier cited letter in reference to the peculiar nature
of the Preventive System and addressed to the president of the Roman San Michele a Ripa Home,
apparently about to be entrusted to Don Bosco:
Meanwhile it would be best that I explain my views in reference to the essential part of
your letter: “the direction of the young and their immediate dependence and surveillance
shall be entrusted to us”.
Don Bosco’s explanation consisted in the exact definition of the respective areas of competence,
namely the administrative and the educational areas.1304
Family spirit is another essential element characterising the kind of boarding school Don Bosco
wanted. However, the problem of order, punishments and even expulsions is more keenly felt here that
in any other structure. It is the idea of family that shapes all the organisational and disciplinary aspects.
1301 G. Barberis, Minutes of chapter sittings, quad. 1, fol 32v.
1302 Regolamento per le case..., part II, Chap 1, pp. 59-60, OE XXIX 155-156.
1303 Regolamento per le case..., part II Chap II, art. 5, p. 61, OE XXIX, 157.
1304 Letter to Prince Gabrielli, June 1879, E III 481-482; cf. Also letter to Can. Guiol, Marseilles, Sept. 1879, E III 520.

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The boarding school is ‘a home’, as we have seen underscored by Caviglia in reference to the educative
community.1305 The very continuity and stability of communal living highlights the positive aspects of
formation activities which might find less cooperation in other institutions, things like group activities,
stability of friendships, graduated spiritual direction, the cultural and emotional value of festivities,
entertainment, theatrical and musical performances, the creation of traditions and a particular lifestyle.
Even Don Bosco’s theory and practice regarding holidays, which is somewhat strict, can guarantee the
presence of intensely participative communal forms of living, much like the memorable autumn walks
we mentioned earlier.
In this regard, Michael Magone’s stands out as an exemplar.
During all the time he was with us, only once did he go home on holidays. After that, even
at my urging, he never wanted to go home, even though his mother and relatives, whom he
loved with great affection, expected him home. He was quite often asked the reason for his
attitude but he always shrugged off the question with a laugh. Finally, one day, he explained
the mystery to one of his close friends: “I went home only once to spend some days of
vacation, but in the future, unless forced to, I will never go back home again”.1306
We need to bear in mind once again that certain restrictions, imposed or advised, deal primarily with
some institutions like the academic students’ section of the oratory at Valdocco, which was considered
a minor seminary for ecclesiastical vocations. The following will explained this more thoroughly.
3. The minor seminary
In 1860 the anticlerical Turin newspaper La Gazzetta del Popolo created some polemic about Don
Bosco referring to him as a modern-day ‘Father Lobriquet..., the director of the nest-full of bigots at
Valdocco’. It was a clear reference to the oratory as a boarding school primarily directed to caring for
ecclesiastical vocations.1307
Don Bosco’s minor seminary was not substantially different from other ordinary boarding schools.
However, it is certain that the specific orientation it had strongly conditioned the lifestyle of the
boarders. On the one hand the minor seminary lifestyle highlights its protective elements. On the other
hand it highlights other essential traits, such as the religious atmosphere, sacramental life, family-like
setting pursuing a wide range of ideals.
Naturally the stress is placed on all the procedures which aim at guaranteeing a social, moral, almost
ascetic environment with additional measures to guarantee the ‘immunisation’ of the boarders. During
the summer of 1884, these measures seemed harsher at the time there was a debate about the
disciplinary and vocational crisis at the Oratory. The meeting of the Superior Chapter on June 5, 1884,
was dedicated to the topic of morality and fostering vocations at Valdocco. Don Bosco seemed quite
rigid: The first and fundamental principle is that of “safeguarding the young”. The protection of the
1305 A. Caviglia, Domenico Savio e Don Bosco. Studio, p. 68.
1306 G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul gioanetto Magone Michele..., p. 57, OE XIII 211.
1307 A very useful though indirect source to understand Don Bosco’s thinking regarding formation and vocation is by Fr
Almerico Guerra, Le vocazioni allo stato ecclesiastico quanto alla necessità e al modo di aiutarle. Osservazioni
pratiche antecedute da alcune avvertenze sulla scarsezza del Clero. Rome, Civiltà Cattolica Press 1869., pp. IX-334.
The author often quotes Don Bosco with admiration. His colleagues called him “true sower of virtue” who “formed
very good clerics and excellent priests” (p. 76). Don Bosco, thanking the author for the homage rendered his work.
Writes, “The book is written according to my spirit and I would really like it to be used by educators of the young”
(Letter June 6, 1869, E II 31).

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young had to begin at the moment of acceptance and continue on right up to their expulsion. “Broken
bones should be placed by the door.” “There must be severity in expelling the bad boys”. “During the
formation period discipline and surveillance are needed so that no corner of the house may be a
hideaway. There must also be an appropriate catechesis on Sunday and morality should be constantly
protected”. Don Bosco concluded the meeting by focusing once again on three most immediate means,
needed to reach the set goals of morality and vocations:
1. A specific set of rules on accepting boys;
2. The house must be ‘purged’;
3. Sharing, distribution, regularisation of offices, the boys and the playgrounds etc.1308
This meeting as well as the one held on July 7, 1884 added a few more restrictive measures to the ones
already taken and intensified vigilance, decreased the number of contacts of the young with settings
considered destructive or dangerous like parishes, oratories, institutions for religious women, state
hospitals, and at times even the reduction of the study program to the functional one followed by the
apostolic schools in France. This reduction called, for example, for the exclusion of Greek and
mathematics in the final high school grades to make it impossible for them to take the high school
comprehensive exams.1309
But at the same time and with the same insistence, Don Bosco urged the use of so many other very
constructive tools proposed by the Preventive System itself: the presence of authoritative and
competent teachers, Salesian Confessors specifically assigned to this task and capable of offering
discrete and prudent direction regarding vocation,1310unity of direction, frequent family-style meetings
between the rector or the catechist and the pupils both in public and private,1311 creating an intense
climate of confidence and cordiality, harmony among the educators, loving kindness towards the
young: these are all the things Don Bosco considered to have a key importance.
I see the need to deal with one another with much charity and gentleness, and that we
should deal in the same way with all the members. Seeing the charity and gentleness that
we have towards one another will move the boys to be very much committed to our kind of
life...Therefore, I say it and I repeat it: gentleness and charity among ourselves and with
them are the most powerful means to educate them correctly and to foster vocations.1312
Patience, gentleness, a Christian relationship of the teachers with their pupils will win over
many vocations among them.1313
To all has been mentioned above, there should be added also a courageous pedagogy of the ideals, as
we have seen , when we wrote about the primacy of apostolic charity among the virtues of a Christian
young man and of the educative journey taken towards choosing a vocation.
In conclusion, the Preventive System should lead a young man to a mature vocational choice, and
among these choices also the choice of the ecclesiastical and religious state.
1308 G.B. Lemoyne, Verbali delle riunioni capitolari, quad. 1 13r-14r.
1309 G.B. Lemoyne, Verbali delle riunioni capitolari, quad. 1, fol. 13V, 18r-v, 19r.
1310 G.B. Lemoyne, Verbali delle riunioni capitolari, quad. 1, folo. 13v.
1311 G.B. Lemoyne,Verbali delle riunioni capitolari, quad. 1, folo. 17R-v and 18r.
1312 G. Barberis, Verbali del secondo capitolo generale (1880), FdB 1857 C10-12., quad. 1, folo. 13v.
1313 F. Motto, Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6..., p. 106. He wrote to Fr Tomatis in Argentina: “Through your exemplary
way of life. Charity in speaking, commanding, putting up with others’ defects, you will win many for the Congregation”
(letter of Aug. 14, 1884, E IV 337).

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Don Bosco does not fail to point this out: “Financial and personal sacrifices may need to be made, but
if the Preventive System is put into practice we will have an abundance of vocations”.1314
Speaking in general terms during the meeting of the Superior Chapter on September 12, 1884, Don
Bosco said:
I recommend something else. Study should be done and effort made to introduce the
Preventive System in our houses and practise it. The rector should hold talks on this very
important point. Countless are the advantages for the salvation of souls and the glory of
God.1315
4. The school
Don Bosco’s theory and praxis on the school do not offer original features other than the originality
which comes from the application of the principles of preventive pedagogy.
Perhaps something can be found in things relating to technical or professional training of the working
boys and, in some remarks also religious education. All of his schools demonstrate two fundamental
aspects: their ethical religious objective and their social and professional usefulness.
School and culture are considered essentially as means for acquiring moral fibre in a Christian sense,
and for the necessary preparation for life: “In order to be able, at the proper time, to earn the bread
needed to live.”
4.1 Humanities
The Latin school - generally the five years of high school as indicated by the Casati Law(1859) -
presents no remarkable innovations in structure or teaching methods.1316 The only remarkable item is
the insistence on the usual principle: Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This meant that
honouring and loving God are the beginning, means and end of scholastic formation and the humility
of the learner is the indispensable inner disposition for it.
Don Bosco frequently commented on a biblical reference in his Good Nights and included it in the
Rules for the Houses.
Let him who has no fear of God quit studying, because he works in vain. Knowledge will
never enter the wicked soul, neither will it live in a body enslaved to sin.... The beginning
of wisdom is the fear of God.1317
The teacher “will do his best to draw moral lessons from sacred and secular classical texts when the
subject matter gives occasion to do so, but only with a few words and without much fuss. Once a week,
they should have a lesson on Latin texts taken from a Christian author”.1318
In this light, given debate over the question of whether to include Latin and Greek classical authors in
1314 F. Motto, Memorie..... p. 106.
1315 G.B. Lemoyne, Verbali delle riunioni capitolari, quad. 1, fol. 33v.
1316 Cf. G. Proverbio, La scuola di Don Bosco e l’insegnamento del latino, in Don Bosco nella storia della cultura
popolare, ed. F. Traniello. Tuirn, SEI 1987, pp. 143-185; B. Bellerate, Don Bosco e la scuola umanistica, in M. Midali
(Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia..., pp. 315-329.
1317 Regolamento per le case..., p.
1318 Regolamento per le case..., p.

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the classroom Don Bosco could not, in practice, follow the stricter thesis championed in France by
Father Gaume against Dupanloup, on account of the iron-clad demands of state-imposed programs, but
at the same time he deplored the consequences of a scholastic education which had become pagan
because of this.1319
As he confidentially told a lawyer from Nice (France), he favoured the introduction of (Christian) Latin
authors into his schools. The director-general of Salesian schools at the time, who championed
Gaume’s viewpoint, made reference to the point:
This education, based entirely on pagan classical authors, saturated with exclusively pagan
maxims and sayings dished out in a pagan manner, will absolutely never form true
Christians, especially in our days when the school is everything. It saddens me. I have
fought all of my life, followed Don Bosco vigorously against this type of perverse
education which ruins the minds and the hearts of the young during the best years of their
life. It has always been my ideal goal to reform the school and to put it on a truly Christian
basis. It is with this in mind that I undertook the printing and editing, revision and
correction of secular classic Latin authors mostly used in our schools. I have begun
publishing classic Christian Latin authors. I consider these authors, the holiness of their
doctrine and their examples rendered more beautiful by their elegant and at the same time
robust style, would provide what was missing in the secular authors, which are mostly the
product of reason alone. My hope has been that they can nullified the destructive effects of
pagan materialism and give due honour to what Christianity has also produced in the field
of literature.1320
We should also remark that, from a teaching point of view Don Bosco gives preference to traditional
approaches because of their family-oriented traits. Some of Don Bosco’s recommendations on how
teachers should conduct themselves are well known: esteem for the textbook, faithfully explained; the
students should be questioned on it; they should keep in mind the intellectual average of the students in
the classroom; they should make use of literary academic entertainment and theatrical performance of a
humanistic nature; they should use dialogue in their teaching.
More binding force was given by Don Bosco to some regulatory matters:
4. The most backward students should be the main concern of the teachers; they should be
encouraged and never humiliated.
5. The teachers should quiz everyone, without distinction and frequently. Let them show
great esteem and affection towards all of their pupils especially towards those who are
intellectually slow. Let the teachers avoid the bad habit of some who entirely give up on
those students who are negligent and slow to learn.1321
1319 On arguments that broke out in Frnace on the thesis of Jean-Joseph Gaume, cf. D. Moulinet, Les classiques païens
dans les collèges catholiques? Le combat de Monseigneur Gaume (1802-1879). Paris, Éditions du Cerf 1995, 485 p.
1320 F. Cerrutti, Le idee di D. Bosco sull’educazione e sull’insegnamento e la mission attuale della scuola. Lettere due. S.
Benigno Canavese Salesian Press and Bookshop 1886, pp. 4-5.
1321 Regolamento per le case..., part I, Chap VI, pp. 33-34, OE XXIX 129-130. The idea was also familiar to Ferrante
Aporti.. The teacher should reach out to everyone, the sick, the mediocre, the more capable. “A teacher’s attitude should
not be measured by having helped the learned ones but by helping those of any ability; the expert farmer is not the one
who gets results from fertile ground but who can make sterile ground more fertile” (Elementi di pedagogia..., in F.
Aporti Scritti pedagogici, vol II, pp. 87-88.

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4.2 The working boys and their formation
The technical and professional school for working boys deserves some mention. This type of school is
less relevant from a pedagogical and didactic point of view than it is from a social and welfare
perspective, since it expanded in an extraordinary way the world over.1322
This line of work began when Don Bosco opened up his humble home. This home provided food,
shelter and social assistance to a limited group of boys who were employed by artisans in the city. They
often had a guaranteed regular contract, and were surrounded by educational concern and care. We find
the gradual organisation of the workshops taking place in the Oratory during the period 1853-1862.
The workshops were opened for moral, religious, educational and economic reasons: tailors and
shoemakers in 1853; bookbinders in 1854; carpenters in 1856; printers in 1861; blacksmiths in 1862. In
July 1878, two agricultural schools were opened up for boys and girls at La Navarre and at St-Cyr,
France.
The technical professional schools, besides having the above-mentioned religious and moral objectives,
also took on important social, technical and professional aspects of sufficient value to create a formula
for craft which admits a relative amount of culture but is especially practically oriented.
“After all”, Don Bosco declared openly in 1881, “I do not want my children to be walking
encyclopedias; I do not want my carpenters and blacksmiths and shoemakers to be lawyers; I do not
want my printers, bookbinders and booksellers to act as though they were philosophers and
theologians... For me it is enough that they are competent in what belongs to their trade. And when an
artisan possesses the knowledge which is useful and appropriate for his skilled work then I say that this
kind of individual is learned enough to render service to society and religion and has the right to be
respected as much as can be”.1323
The last official stage in the evolution of the technical schools which Don Bosco witnessed is indicated
by a well-drawn-up document already developed at the Third General Chapter of 1883 and later on
finalised and approved at the Fourth General Chapter of 1886.
The two General Chapters had included among the topics to be studied: “directions to be given to the
working sector of the Salesian houses and the means needed to develop vocations among the young
artisans”.
It is in the these Chapters that we find the orientations and norms used as the basis for the
developments to be followed later on within Salesian professional schools. Until then the professional
schools were at a rather embryonic stage.1324
In the document approved in 1886, there is a preliminary reminder about the threefold goal which led
the Salesians to take care of young artisans, working boys:
To have them learn a trade, so they can honestly earn the bread they need to live on; to have
them instructed in religion; to provide them with the knowledge required by and suited to,
1322 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale..., pp. 243-258 (I laboratori di arti e mestieri); L. Pazzaglia,
Apprendistato e istruzione degli artigiani a Valdocco (1886-1846), in F. Traniello (Ed.), Don Bosco nell storia della
cultura popolare..., pp. 13-80; D. Veneruso, Il metodo educativo di san Giovanni Bosco alla prova. Dai laboratori agli
istituti professionali, in P. Braido (Ed), Don Bosco nella Chiesa..., pp. 133-142; J.M. Prellezzo, Don Bosco e le scuole
professionali (1870-1887), in M. Midali (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia..., pp. 331-353.
1323 BS 5 (1881), no. 8, August, p. 16
1324 Cf. L. Pazzaglia, Apprendistato e istruzione...., in Traniello (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia della cultura popolare..., p.
63; J.M. Prellezzo, Don Bosco e le scuole professionali...., in M. Midali (Ed.), Don Bosco nella storia..., p. 349.

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their state. From this threefold goal we can draw the threefold orientation to be followed in
setting up programs and methods to be used in professional schools .
Naturally, the first orientation is the religious and moral one; the second is an intellectual
orientation which includes the necessary wealth of literary, artistic and scientific
knowledge, as well as knowledge of drafting and of French; the third orientation is the
professional one which aims at training the artisan in everything pertinent to his trade, not
only theoretically but also practically. For this reason the artisans shall be trained to a level
of competence in their trade which includes step-by-step procedures carried out quickly.
This was a demanding requisite which foresaw that the duration of the practical training period would
generally last five years.1325
4.3 Religious education
As for religious education, it is self-evident that well-formed religious culture is the stronghold of
holistic education for Don Bosco. But other elements characterise his activity in this field.
We have a document, which goes back to Don Bosco’s final years, which sheds light on the exceptional
importance he gave to religious instruction: it is the basis of any reform both in society and education.
This document is a hand-written note left for Fr Dalmazzo, the Procurator General in Rome. The note
contained ideas, proposals which he intended to have presented to the Pope and which, probably, were
given to Pope Leo XIII in the audience he had on April 5, 1880.
Urgent matters for which only the Vicar of Jesus Christ can provide appropriate solutions:
1. Children: Catechism should be taught to children at least every feast day. There are few
towns and very few cities where such catechism classes are generally being held - and even
fewer for poor and abandoned boys. Very little attentive concern is expressed in inviting the
boys to make their confession.
2. Clergy: Greater care in instructing the faithful according to the norms established by the
‘Catechism for Pastors’ published by order of the Sacrosanct Council of Trent. It is hard to
find a parish with such instructions, if we exclude the towns of Northern Italy. Greater
eagerness and greater charity in hearing the confessions of the faithful. Most of the priests
never carry out the ministry of hearing confessions, since they only hear confession during
Easter time and then no more.
3. Ecclesiastical vocations...
4. Religious Orders: religious orders are undergoing a terrible crisis. Two things should be
promoted: all dispersed religious should be gathered, insisting that they live a common life
and open up the activities of their respective Orders. The religious who live a contemplative
life should extend their zeal to teaching catechism to the children, religious instruction to
1325 Deliberazioni del terzo e quarto capitolo generale..., pp. 18-22, OE XXXVI 270-274 (Dei giovani artigiani...). Deeper
research on the genesis of this document can be found in a critical edition by J.M. Prellezzo, La «parte operaia» nelle
case salesiane. Documenti e testimonianze sulla formazione professionale (1883-1886), RSS 16 (1997) 353-391.

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the adults and hearing their confession....”1326
The number of educational recommendations on this topic is considerable even though there are no
particularly innovative elements. What prevails is the will to use what is easy and what is substantial
both in catechesis and preaching which, after all, is particularly directed towards catechesis.
Sermons should be simple: we define what we want to deal with, we divide it into parts and
explain each of them... We should not lose ourselves in dissertations or in examples. We
should not pile up many texts or many stories, which are only there to prove a point. But we
should explain the text or the few texts well and have them standout. Instead of so many
stories, take one suitable story and tell it entirely, in all its more appropriate detail. The
limited mental ability of the child will not be able to appreciate and understand all that
proofs you might offer but he will hold on to the story and keep it in his memory. His
powerful memory will recall it even when many years have gone by.1327
“An easy and popular style”1328 is what Don Bosco requested of catechism textbooks. Generally he
preferred that texts be written in dialogue form and have intuitive visual aids.
The historical structure Don Bosco gave to the teaching of Christian doctrine is remarkably interesting.
This structure appears with greater evidence during the first fifteen years (1844-1858) of Don Bosco’s
involvement with youth and during his intense activity as a writer on biblical and ecclesiastical history
and also as a writer of works of religious and apologetic nature.1329
Story is certainly taken in several contexts as a didactic aid to draw the attention, awaken the interest of
the listener and as a way to add to dogmatic truths and moral precepts to real experiences. But Bible
History and Church History have had an impact on the contents of catechesis and all its objectives.
Histories of the Bible and the Church help present human history as the history of salvation wrought by
God through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah (Old Testament), the one who has
come to work and still works on earth (New Testament) and who lives on in the Catholic Church
which, in turn, guarantees the indissoluble bonding of all the faithful with their closest Shepherds, the
priests, and with the bishops, the Roman Pontiff, Jesus Christ and God.
Naturally, during the 1850s Don Bosco gives a markedly apologetic tone to such a theological vision,
dealing as he was with Protestantism, Jewish religion and the keener attention given to the ‘history of
salvation’.1330 From the 1860s on, it does not seem that these enthusiastic beginnings developed into a
consistent and significant catechetical tradition of the same intensity, even though it was further
clarified and looked at. Whatever elements of originality may have been developing along with Don
Bosco’s praxis should be attributed more to the general inspirations of the system than to innovative
directions.
5. Forming the educators
Don Bosco did not create an institution to form his teachers and educators: clerics, priests, Coadjutors
of the Salesian society, Sisters of the Institute of The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians; men and
1326 E III 561-562; see also MB XIV 467
1327 G. Barberis, Verbali del primo capitolo generale (1877), quad. III, XXVI session, pp. 55-56.
1328 MO (1991) 167; cf. Preface to Storia sacra (1847), p. 5 and 7, OE III 5 and 7.
1329 Cf. P. Braido, L’inedito «Breve catechismo pei fanciulli ad uso della diocesi di Torino» di don Bosco, pp. 7-8.
1330 Cf. the monograph by N. Cerrato, La catechesi di Don Bosco nella sua «Storia sacra», Rome, LAS 1979. He points
out significant changes that occurred between the first edition in 1847 and the second and third in 1853 and 1863.

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women of the laity ready to collaborate in the education sector as Cooperators.
For priests: Don Bosco expected them to follow the normal seminary and religious curriculum: high
school, novitiate, college with philosophy and four years of theology.
For Coadjutors: a course of professional formation, the novitiate and a period of religious and technical
updating were expected to be followed.
For Cooperators: periodical meetings for spiritual and apostolic animation were expected to be
followed as well.
It was not only practical reasons like preparing personnel for his rapidly expanding and wide-reaching
work which saw Don Bosco reluctant to have his collaborators go through a period of formation. His
socially-directed educational system demanded the continuous and active presence of the educators
among the boys and the sharing of their lives and interests.1331
Ascetic, cultural and professional formation could never have had an adequate development apart from
the educative community. The formation of priests and brothers who wanted to consecrate their entire
life assisting full-time in educating the young would not have occurred unless within the educative
community or with a close connection with it. Experience, made more meaningful by the daily contact
with the young and with co-workers, guided by the rector who is the ‘educator of the educators’, had to
stand as a qualifying factor in the educational maturing of Don Bosco’s Salesians.
Naturally, this maturing process had to be supported by a process of cultural, philosophical, theological
and basically professional formation.1332
The Constitutions of the Salesian Society published and presented to Rome for definitive approval in
1874, have a chapter, chapter 14, which deals with the Director of Novices and their formation.
The following mandate was included in it:
The aim of our Congregation is that of instructing the young and especially the poorest
among them surrounded by the dangers of the world, with knowledge and religion, and to
guide them along the way to salvation. Therefore all the novices after their second trial
period should be engaged in the demanding exercise of studying, teaching in night and day
schools, teaching catechism to the children and offering assistance in more difficult
cases.1333
Don Bosco was motivated to seek a special dispensation: “for the right to have a trial period to find out
whether the aspirants have the ability to assist and instruct youth”.1334 But the battle was lost; the norm
was not approved.
Practically speaking, Don Bosco already carried out a practical training in education and kept on
carrying it out, both as part of and beyond the novitiate, as a necessary complement to the spiritual and
cultural formation of the Salesians.1335
1331 M. Guasco, Don Bosco nella storia religiosa del suo tempo, in Don Bosco e le sfide della modernità, pp. 32-33. He
speaks of Don Bosco “a man of sharing”, and “incarnation” who created a certain “kind of priest”.
1332 Cf. P. Braido, Un nuovo prete e la sua formazione culturale secondo don Bosco. Intuizioni, aporie, virtualità, RSS 8
(1989) 7-55.
1333 Regulae Societatis S. Francisci Salesii, Romae, Typis S.C. De Propaganda Fide 1874, caput XIV, art. 8, p. 35, OE
XXV 287, published again the following March, OE XXV 329.
1334 Consultazione per una Congregazione particolare, in March 1874, p. 12, OE XXV 398.
1335 Cf. P. Braido, L’idea della Società Salesiana nel «Cenno istorico» di don Bosco del 1873/74, RSS 6 (1987) 261-301.

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This was an intuition in tune with Don Bosco’s sensitivity, his vast visionary capacity, which included
realism enveloped by the passion to achieve grandiose projects which youth needed. For these visions
and these tasks, these dreams, the simple traditional formation process, however necessary, was not
enough and not even a simple traditional pedagogy was enough for such visionary scenarios.
The educator, whose heart was as wide as the sand on the seashore, had to be much more than a simple
priest, religious, instructor and educator, and much more than a pedagogue or social activist.
The new priest or religious or educator had to develop in contact with a living experience, a reality full
of pressing needs such as misery and abandonment, with a great sense of humanity and a steadfast faith
inflamed by charity, all of which was to be achieved along with an overflowing passion and sensitivity.
What contribution could have been provided by ‘a pedagogical Institute’ or by ‘a course or curriculum
on formation of educators’ when their presence was needed right away and so badly? However, on an
historical and concrete level the processes of ecclesiastical formation of educators using the Preventive
System - a philosophical and theological formation - could not have stopped at just emergency
structures, the rudimentary structures Don Bosco was constrained by all kinds of troubling needs to put
into place.
In 1901 the Ninth General Chapter of the Salesian Society was finally able to tackle the problem of the
general organisation needed for ecclesiastical studies for Salesians. That organisational plan included a
period of practical training which was meant to be the experiential moment in the formation of the
Salesian educator, in tune with Don Bosco’s intuition as priest-educator formed according to the
demands of the Preventive System and of his added cultural, professional and practical formation.

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Chapter 19
Towards tomorrow
At the end of this summary presentation we can ask ourselves to what extent historical reality can be
the basis for formulating a valid preventive project now and in the future. It is clear that the Preventive
System was thought out and implemented by Don Bosco in the 1800s and therefore is inevitably dated,
and not only chronologically! It would not be presumptuous to say once more, that with the Preventive
System of the 1800s a period of the history of Christian education came to an end.
The vital continuity of this system, we concluded, was entrusted to the regenerating task of new
reflection and future research.1336
1. Modernity’s educational revolution
It is already difficult, no doubt, to reconstruct yesterday’s Preventive System with today’s mentality:
that is the advantage and disadvantage of any historical work. But more difficult still is to understand
past events in terms of their eventual implementation in the present or projection into the future.
Regarding Don Bosco’s world, the world of his educational institutions and therefore the world of the
system he practised or proposed for various and wide-ranging ways of implementation, we have to
acknowledge that such disconcerting events have intervened that understanding the old terminology
and its general interpretation has been made difficult.
We have already mentioned some of the more outstanding changes: the gradual expansion of the
Industrial Revolution; the triumph of science and technology (up to the appearance of scientism and
positivism); the birth of the so-called human sciences (sociology, psychology etc.); a new evaluation of
the body and sex; the transition from monarchic absolutism to a liberal parliamentary system and
democracy; the commanding prominence of the ‘social question’ in socialism, Marxism, ‘the social
doctrine of the Church’; growing disputes between revealed religions, with touches of anti-clericalism
and atheism; the appearance of Freudian and in-depth psychology; the ‘discovery of the child; ‘new
education’ and activism; religious evolution within the Church from modernism to Vatican Council II
(Christian practice, theology, liturgy, Scripture, ecumenism, the role of the laity and of the young) and,
at the same time, wars and political and social revolutions of global dimensions; more recently,
widespread relativism in the fields of thought, ethical thinking and moral practices.1337
We should pay particular attention to a modern ‘Copernican revolution’ with secular roots but with
effects relevant to the world of education, achieved well before the experience of ‘preventive’ educators
who were born within the traditional Catholic world and active during the 19th and 20th centuries. This
is particularly significant because it highlights with exceptional vigour the two hinges of the Preventive
System as it proposes, once again, but in new terms, the classic opposition between authority and
freedom:
1. Attention given the child, its exuberant energies and therefore central role in education;
1336 Cf. P. Braido, Presentation, second volume of Esperienze di pedagogia cristiana nella storia, ed. P. Braido, Rome.
LAS 1981, p.8.
1337 P. Briado, La prassi di don Bosco e il sistema preventivo. L’orizzonte storico, in Il sistema preventivo verso il terzo
millennio, Atti della XVIII Settimana di Spiritualità della Famiglia Salesiana, Rome, Salesianum Jan. 26-29, 1995.
Rome. SDB 1995, p. 12.

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2. The consequent reconsidering of the preventive, protective and promotional function of the adult
educator.
Among pedagogical theoreticians we could consider as forerunners of the new approach to education,
J. Amos Komenski (1592-1670), and John Locke (1632-1704), and as the recognised ‘founding father’,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), who has had extraordinary influence.
According to Jan Amos Komenski man, created and redeemed by Jesus Christ, is a child in the likeness
of God, called upon to fulfil the task of “mediator” between the Creator and his creatures. Education is
certainly “discipline”, but this discipline presupposes the rich and natural possibilities of cooperation,
provided by the pupil. In his growth through education, the pupil sets in motion all the lively potential
he is endowed with: “senses, reason and faith”. Engaging “mind, hands and tongue” the pupil grows to
maturity through the three capacities of “knowing, acting, speaking”.
The process, then, is characterised by “naturalness and spontaneity”, with the growing participative and
active causality of the pupil: “one learns by doing”; “one builds oneself by building”. For his part the
educator, more than reflecting a violent and decadent society, is the prophet of a new civil and religious
world.
Formation, explains Komenski,
...should take place with the utmost delicacy and gentleness, almost spontaneously, just like
a living body grows in height step-by-step without the need of stretching or spreading out
its limbs; likewise, if you feed the body with prudence, nurture and exercise it, it will
almost unconsciously acquire height and robustness; likewise I say that, in the soul, the
food, the nourishment, the exercises, are all converted to wisdom, virtue and piety
Everyone should be educated in such a way as to attain a real rather than fictitious culture, a
solid, not superficial one so that the human being as a rational soul may be guided by his
own reason and not by the reason of others; everyone should get accustomed not only to
read and understand the opinion of others from books, and also memorise and recite them,
but to delve, by himself, into the roots of things and draw authentic knowledge and
usefulness from them. The same solidity is needed for morality and piety.1338
The pupil’s active role was also highlighted in the empirical world of John Locke, in his Thoughts on
Education (l693). The crisis of the true absolute, the appearance of tolerance, and the birth of
individualism are all linked. The starting point for an educator’s activity needs to be an attentive
knowledge of the aptitudes and inclinations peculiar to each individual. The starting point for this
activity is childhood, in order to impede further deviations in less positive inclinations and consolidate
properly oriented inclinations and passions:
The great principle and foundation of all virtues and values consist in this: that one is able
to deny oneself, one’s desires, go against one’s inclinations and follow only what reason
indicates as something better, even though one’s natural appetites are bent toward a
different direction.1339
The method, then, should be “proportionate to a person’s capacity and responsive to his natural talents
and constitution. This is actually what should be looked at in education rightly conceived”. “For, in
1338 J. A. Comenio, La grande didattica, in Opere, ed. M. Fattori, Turin, UTET 1974, pp. 192-193.
1339 J. Locke, Some thoughts concerning education, edited... by J. W. and J. S. Yolton. Oxford, Clarendon Press 1989, §33,
p. 13.

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many cases, all that we can do or should long to do is to draw what is best from what nature has
provided, to prevent vices and defects to which a given character is more inclined and direct it to
achieve the benefits of which it is capable. Every natural talent should be helped to progress as much as
possible, while it would be a wasted effort to try to graft into it a different one”.1340
When it is a question of finding a tutor for his son, a father should first of all try to find someone who is
a good teacher. “Look for someone who knows out to discreetly train him in good manners”, Locke
writes, “entrust him to his hands, so that as much as possible he may guarantee his innocence, protect
and nourish his sensitivity to what is good, gently correct and root out his bad inclinations and firmly
establish in him good habits”.1341
It is in this light that we should view Locke’s critique of punishments. which humiliate, and awards,
which are materially delightful, and his theory of “natural punishments”. “I do not consider useful for a
child corrections where physical pain is somehow a substitute for the shame and sorrow for having
done something wrong”. Locke instead considers esteem, or lack of it, approval or disapproval for what
has been done as more effective.1342 “The shame of having failed and deserving punishment is the only
true support for virtue. At times a warning, an indication, a reprimand, a show of surprise and
amazement would be sufficient”.1343
But the most radical turn in education was determined by the appearance of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s
Émile ou de l’education in 1762. Rousseau is the one who has inspired the great far-reaching
dimensions of education and pedagogy of the last two centuries.1344 From the countless debates and the
quite diverse interpretations of Rousseau’s contributions, we can select some leading motifs which have
made history.
1. The turning point is the statement which opens Rousseau’s masterpiece: “Everything coming
from the hands of the Author of things, is good; and everything degenerates in the hands of
man”.1345 This is the manifesto of what would come to be understood as natural education,
active education focused on man. “We take as our starting point the incontrovertible maxim that
the first motions of nature are always right: originally there is no perversity at all coming from
the human heart; there is no vice at all of which we cannot say how or in what way it has
entered (into the human heart). The only passion natural to man is love of self or self-love taken
in its broad sense. Self-love in itself or in reference to us is good and useful”. 1346 “Oh Man!
Your freedom, your power are as extensive as the limits of your natural powers and no further;
all the rest is only slavery, illusion, and prestige”.1347 “There are two kinds of dependence:
dependence on things, which is proper to nature; and dependence on man, which is proper to
society. “Dependence on things, since it does not have moral traits at all, does not damage
1340 J. Locke, Some thoughts concerning education, §66, p. 122.
1341 J. Locke, Some thoughts concerning education, §147 p. 208.
1342 J. Locke, Some thoughts concerning education, §48, pp. 112-113; cf. §§ 43-63, pp. 110-120.
1343 J. Locke, Some thoughts concerning education, §66, p. 78-79, 85, p. 138, 141, 145.
1344 Citations from G. G. Rousseau, Emilio, Complete translation, introduction and notes in Italian by G. Roggerone,
Brescia, La Scuola 1965.
1345 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. I, p. 7.
1346 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. II, p. 89. “The fundamental principal of every morality about which I have reasoned in all
my writings”, he tells Christophe de Beaumont in an open letter, “and that I have developed in this latest one with all
the clarity I can muster, is that man is naturally good, loves justice and order; that there is no original perversity in the
human heart and that the first motions of his nature are right... I have shown that all the vices we impute to the human
heart are not in fact natural” (J. J. Rousseau, Lettre a C. de Beaumont archevêche de Paris, in Oeuvres complètes. Paris,
Gallimard 1969, pp. 936-936).
1347 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. II, p. 75

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freedom and it does not generate vice. Dependence on man, since it is disorderly, generates
every vice and it is mainly because of it, that the master and slave indulged in mutual
depravedness”.1348
2. What follows naturally is a recognition of the intrinsic, absolute value of “childhood” which
should not be appreciated in terms of adulthood to be achieved but rather as a paradigm of what
the adult state should be, if carried out along the development of the original qualities according
to nature. “Humanity has its place in the order of things; childhood has its own place in the
order of human life. We should consider the man in man, and the child in the child. Although,
all that we can do for his well-being is to assign to every child his own place, to establish it
firmly, and to direct human passions according to man’s constitution.1349
3. Education cannot be but natural; education is the development of the potential which the Author
of creation has placed within man, not yet soiled by society and by education, which is its
deputy. Look at nature and follow the path it marks out for you. This is nature’s rule.1350
4. The educator is not called to direct those faculties which have a finality and resources of their
own but to preserve them, protect them so that they may not be blocked or swayed by negative
interferences but rather find positive support from the great ‘masters’, namely from the natural
world of the countryside, away from the city, and from those who live and work there: this is
‘nature’s education’ and ‘the education of things’.1351 “Religiosity itself is professed and lived
by being in contact with nature, interpreted by reason, and in spontaneous harmony with the
Creator”1352
The action of the educator for the first period of a child’s life is defined as “negative education”, and,
after the child’s’ second birth’ (14/15 years of age) “indirect positive education”: “We are born twice,
so to speak: the first time, we are born to exist, the second time we are born to live; the first birth is for
the species, the second for the sex.”1353 “Zealous teachers, may you be simple, discrete, reserved: never
be in a hurry to act, except to prevent others from acting”1354 “Young instructors, I am preaching to you
on a different art, that of teaching without precepts, and that of doing everything without doing
anything at all. This art, I agree, does not belong to your age... You will never be able to create wise
men if you do not first of all make little rascals out of them”.1355
5. Even though Rousseau’s attention, in this book, is focused on the ‘Tutor’, the Gouverneur, he
‘holds forcefully’ that, if inspired by the principles expressed, first-childhood educators are the
parents, first of all the mother, soon enough actively helped by the father.
To the mother, Rousseau directs the rest of this appeal:
Tender and far-sighted mother, you who have been able to get off the main thoroughfare
and protect the nascent tiny tree from the clash of human opinions! Cultivate and sprinkle
1348 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. II, pp. 77-78.
1349 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. II, pp. 69-70.
1350 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. I, p. 23.
1351 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. I, pp. 9-10.
1352 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. Cf. G.G. Rousseau, Emilio, pp. 346-418, Professione del vicario savoiardo. The second part
will come under particular fierce debate (pp. 389-418), when after exposing his natural theistic religion the vicar
answers the listener’s request: “speak to me of revelation, the scriptures, obscure dogmas that I have been getting wrong
since my childhood without being either to understand them nor believe in them and not knowing how to either accept
or reject them”. (p. 389).
1353 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. IV, p. 265.
1354 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. II, p. 94.
1355 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. II, p. 130.

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that little plant before it dies; its fruits, one day, will be your delight; build a fence around
your child’s soul in good time: another may mark out the perimeter, but only you should
build the barrier, preventing him from being overcome by ‘human opinions’, by the existing
artificial and conforming society so that he may see with his own eyes and hear with his
own heart”.1356
Émile was taken by Catholics and Reformers as the expression of rationalistic naturalism that led a
fundamental attack against the specific nature of Christianity founded on the divine adoption of man,
the reality of original sin, the reality of Revelation and Grace.1357 Rousseau’s thinking had Calvinistic
roots and Émile is first of all a protest against the pessimistic view of man after original sin, as viewed
by Protestants and Jansenists. This is highlighted by Rousseau himself in an answer to the newspaper
Mandement on November 8, 1762, when the archbishop, who was decidedly anti-Jansenism,
condemned the book.1358
Leaving aside the theological conflict and the well-founded suspicion of ‘naturalism’, Catholics,
without the Reformers, could have taken advantage of the occasion to revise their view of man after
original sin, and they could have corrected obvious deviations created by Protestants and Jansenists. A
correct rediscovery of what was left in a human being from original creation would have helped
reclaim the human potential to rely to construct a Christian education respectful of what was human
and natural in the child. Revelation and grace certainly did not imply that the Gouverneur was to have
an authoritarian and oppressive role at all levels: political, ecclesiastical discipline, education.
Rousseau became the forerunner of the ‘Copernican revolution’ in pedagogy and in didactics which
would end up as ‘new education’, carried out in ‘new schools’. ‘New education’ has a critical stance
vis-a-vis education and traditional schools. They are accused of focusing on the objectives, the
programs, on the educator and therefore on an adult-oriented education far from the complete life of the
student to be educated.
‘New education’ aims at giving the old relationship a new place, setting the pupil at its centre, as the
protagonist of his own development, in terms of his own needs and interests, which happen to be a
hunger for life rather than for culture. In Europe there is discussion of the ‘active school’, (Adophe
Ferrière)1359, of ‘functional education’, ‘school made to measure’, (Edward Claparede).1360 In the United
States there is talk of ‘progressive education’ (John Dewey).1361 In Italy there is discussion of
‘activism’. The last qualification marked the beginning, among Catholics, of attempts to revise, to
acclimate one’s positions within the perimeters of a Christian vision of the world, of education and
catechesis. 1362
1356 G. Rousseau, Emilio, lib. I, I, p. 8. Rousseau has a lengthy note to justify the primacy of education by the mother
1357Jacques Maritain, in his Trois réformateurs. Luther, Descartes, Rousseau (Paris, Plon-Nourrit 1925) speaks of Jean-
Jacques ou le saint de la nature (pp. 131-237).
1358 Cf. J.J. Rousseau, Lettre..., in Oeuvres complètes, t. IV, pp. 932-933.
1359 Cf. A. Ferrière. La scuola attiva. Florence, Bemporad 1930 XXIV-313 p.; L’école active. Textes fondateurs, par D.
Hameline, A. Jornord, M. Belkaïd. Paris, PUF 1995, 128 p.
1360 É Claparède, L’education fonctionelle, Neuchâtel, Delachaux et Niestlé 1931, 266 p.; idem, L’école sure measure.
Neuchâtle, Delachaux et Niestlé 1953, 140 p.
1361 J. Dewey, Interest and Effort in Education. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1913, IX-101 p; Democracy and Education.
New York, MacMillan CO. 1916, XII-434 p.; My Pedagogic Creed, New York, E.L. Kellogg 1897, 36 p.; C. W.
Washburne, Che chos’è l’educazione progressiva? Florence. La Nuova Italia 1953 (original edition, New York, The
John Day Co. 1942).
1362 É Devaud, Pour une école active selon l’ordre chrétien. Paris, Desclée de Brouwer 1934, 368 p. - interpretations and
additions; M. Casotti, Scuola attiva. Brescia, la Scuola 1941, 318 p.; A. Agazzi, Oltre la scuola attiva. Storia, essenza,
significato dell’attivismo. Brescia, La Scuola 1955, 244 p.; G. Nosengo, L’attivismo nell’insegnamento religioso della

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The reason for the existence of the ‘new schools’ and ‘activism’ vary according to the different
orientations, authors and experiences. At times some references are made to features which could be
compared to the classic “Preventive System”. The preferred setting is that which is set apart from
everything and protected, like the countryside. There is repeated use of terms such as experience,
research, manual work, ability to work with ones hands, and the pupil’s autonomy. Adolphe Ferrière
expresses, in thirty specifications, the peculiar features of a ‘new school’, offering ten indicators for
three types of formation: general, intellectual, moral.
The ‘new school’ is a ‘laboratory’ of ‘practical pedagogy’; a boarding institution located in the
countryside, it divides the pupils into groups and puts them in separate houses; it prefers co-education,
promotes work; priority is given to workshops for manual work such as the carpenter shop, agricultural
training, both with regulated and free; it leaves room for natural gymnastics; it organizes outings and
camps.
For its part, intellectual education opens up broad horizons for the spirit, with ‘general culture’ and
‘spontaneous specialisations’. These specialisations are based on facts, experiences, personal activity
and are in response to spontaneous interests proper to the various stages of a child’s age. ‘Individual
research work’ is favoured along with group discussion. The teaching is only done in the morning,
following this rule: two or three subjects per day, and a just few per month.
Moral education is carried out from within; gradual practice of a child’s critical sense and freedom in
the context of a community which follows the ‘school republic’ or ‘school-city’ system. The ‘school-
city’ is run by a general assembly involving the director, teachers, pupils and staff. The community may
also follow a kind of ‘constitutional monarchy’ which calls for the election of heads, definite
responsibility and other helpful social assignments. This type of school envisages positive rewards,
punishments or negative sanctions and ‘emulation ‘. The ‘new school’ must have a beautiful
environment. Group music and choral singing are fostered. There are also daily exercises to educate
one’s ‘moral conscience’, and to educate one’s ‘practical reason’. Most of the ‘new schools’ adopt a
non-confessional or inter-confessional position as far as religion is concerned, with tolerance for the
diversity of ideals, even though there are efforts made the spiritual growth of the human being.1363
Maria Montessori (1870-1952) takes her cue from the scientific psychology and experiences of J. M.
Itard (1775-1838) and E. Seguin (1812-1880) rather than from ‘new education’, but she integrates them
decidedly with her direct experience of psychology and ends up with La casa dei bambini or children’s
home (1907). Within this ‘home’ and from it Montessori finds the rich and vital potential of childhood -
this is her ‘discovery of the child’ - and of the circumstances for their development, uniting science and
spirituality.1364
The primary measure taken by Montessori consists in preventive action directed towards protecting the
scuola media. Milan, IPL 1938, 281 p.; idem, Sette lezioni di attivismo catechistico. Milan, IPL 1940, 184 p.; S. Riva,
Esperienze e indirizzi di pedagogia attiva religiosa. Florence, LEF 1940, 184 p.; idem, La pedagogia religiosa del
novecento in Italia. Uomini, idee, opere. Roma, Brescia, Antoniannum/La Scuola 1972, 379 p.; for a discussion on the
broad spectrum of pedagogues and Catholic philosophers cf. L’attivismo pedagogico. Atti del II Convegno di Scholé,
Brescia, Sept. 9-11, 1955. Brescia, La Scuola 1956, 358 p.
1363 A. Ferrière, Préface to A. Faria de Vasconcellos, Une école nouvelle en Belgique, Neuchâtel, Delachaux et Niestlé
1915, pp. 7-20. At the end of the preface he offers a grading for various famous ‘schools’: 30/30 to 17½/30: Odenwald
(Germany), Bierges (Belgium), Bedales and abbotsholme (England), Lietz (Germany), des Roches (France). This last-
mentioned, while offering a complete education also provides room for Christian formation: cf. The monograph of L.
Macario, Les Roches. Una comunità educativa, Zürich, PAS-Verlag 1969, 329 p.
1364 This is certainly the reason why Montessori wanted to change the title of Il metodo della Pedagogia Scientifica
applicata all’educazione infantile nelle Case dei bambini (1909) to be altered to La scoperta del bambino (Milan 1950,
VIII-379 p); cf Maria Montessori e la liberazione del fanciullo, ed. Elena Faber. Rome, Cremonese 1974, 128 p.

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child from the impact of negative environments of inept families or the widespread forms of ‘coercive
and repressive education’. “In dealing with the psychic side of the child we should be concerned not so
much with education but with the child. Practically the child disappears as a personality underneath
education: and this happens not only in schools but anywhere where the word ‘education’ is found, so
at home with parents, relatives and any adult who might have to take care of or have responsibility for
children. Even for conscience, education has taken the place of the child”. This so-called education
which, in reality, is lowered to the condition of being domination of the child by the adult and
manipulation of the child, is debatable no matter what methods are being used to implement it.
“When I speak of education”, Montessori clarifies, “I am referring to any kind of dealings with the
child. I do not intend to distinguish between loving kindness and harshness in dealing with the child”.
Instead, according to Montessori, “it is a question of placing the child right in the centre, just the way
he is, pure and simple. There is no doubt that we have been unknowingly overpowering the human
shoot which blossoms as a pure entity and is charged with energy. We should not be the “masters of a
child’s soul, but only and simply its helpers in the exercise of its activities and in the expansion of its
personality”. “When room is left for the child to expand, then it shows surprising activity, and a truly
amazing capacity to improve its actions”.1365
The creation of a world suited to the child is then inevitable. “When the adult does not take the place of
the child, but it is the child himself who acts, immediately the need arises to provide the child with a
suitable environment”.1366 “In this environment the child must be free to act, namely, it must have
reasons to act but in a way suited to it; it must have contact with an adult who knows the laws which
govern its life and who will not stand as an obstacle for it, either by protecting it or by guiding it or by
forcing it to act independently of its needs”.1367
This is the foundation on which Montessori builds her method, which is preventive when compared
with traditional systems or methods either repressive or preventive. This is one of the most original and
most universal versions of ‘new education’.1368 The period of childhood may be the crucial time for a
regeneration of humanity oriented towards living together and in peace. “The child is the father of
humanity and civilisation”.1369 The basic attitude of an adult should be one of “interest and love”.1370
A more recent pedagogical direction is represented by the so-called non-directive education, the
pedagogical version, foreseen by Carl Ranson Rogers himself,1371 of non-directive psychotherapy or
client-centred psychotherapy, as proposed and practised by Rogers himself.
This is a more linear and coherent form of education distinct from those mixed up with various
1365 M. Montessori, Manuale di pedagogia scientifica, Naples, Morano 1935 (III ed.), pp. 15-20.
1366 M. Montessori, Manuale di pedagogia scientifica,p. 20.
1367 M. Montessori, Educazione e pace, Milan, Garzanti 1964, pp. 118-119.
1368 Cf. amongst the best summary studies in the Acts of the 11th International Montessori Congress, Rome, 26-28 Sept
1957, Maria Montessori e il pensiero pedagogico contemporaneo, Rome. Ed. «Vita dell’Infanzia», s. d., 366 p.; G.
Calò, Mari Montessori (1870-1952), in J. Chateau (Ed.), Les grandes pédagogues. Paris PUF 1956, pp. 310-336; R.
Finazzi Sartor, Maria Montessori. Brescia, la Scuola 1961, 191 p.; A. Leonarduzzi, Maria Montessori, Il pensiero e
l’opera. Brescia Paideia 1967, 243 p.; T. Loscho, Maria Montessori. Il progetto-scuola nella visione ecologica
dell’uomo e del bambino, costruttori di un mondo migliore. Bologna, Capelli 1991, 202 p.
1369 M. Montessori, La mente assorbente, third conference at the 8th Congress in San Remo 1949 on La formazione
dell’uomo nella ricostruzione mondiale. Rome, Ente Opera Montessori, s.d., p. 340; Cr. R Regni, Il bambino padre
dell’uomo. Infanzia e società in Maria Montessori. Rome, Armando 1977, 287 p.; A. Scococchera, Maria Montessori
una storia per il nostro tempo. Rome, Edizioni Opera Nazionale Montessori 1997, 196 p.
1370 M. Montessori, L’unità del mondo attraverso il bambino, 4th conference at the 8th Congress, San Remo 1949: La
formazione dell’uomo...., p. 431.
1371 C.R. Rogers, Freedom to learn. Columbus Ohio, C.E. Merrill 1969, X-358.

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versions of institutional pedagogy. As with therapy, so with the educational process it is up to the
individual to build his own personality. Both therapist and educator facilitate the growing process while
acting as catalysts for sound and constructive energies which spring from within the patient and pupil
towards self-realisation.1372
Both patient and pupil will be helped to have a positive perception and acceptance of themselves and of
others: this will be the starting point of any effective cultural, ethical and social growth. The successful
result is tied up with the quality of relationship which the therapist and the educator have been able to
establish and with the attitudes that follow it: the genuineness, sincerity, consistency of the relationship
with the individual and with the group, alien from any professional masks; positive consideration,
esteem, trust shown in reference to the potential and aptitudes of the individuals; empathic
understanding, by means of which the other feels that he is understood from his own point of view.
This is a non-authoritarian and non-troublesome way of becoming accustomed to freedom, one’s
capacity for self-determination, sense of responsibility and spirit of initiative.1373 This is a
psychotherapeutic and educational activity which entails latent yet inevitable and consistent changes,
Rogers says, in all areas where authority and freedom meet: therapy, education, administration, politics,
and institutions of all kinds.1374
It is impossible to supply a panoramic overview of institutional pedagogy because this pedagogy is a
galaxy of positions and people differentiated over time rather than a theory universally shared by those
who profess it. We limit ourselves to singling out some of the attitudes and innovative motivations
emerging from it.
There are various directions: activism, the class-community and class-laboratory of C. Freinet (1896-
1966); the non-directive psychology and psychotherapy of C. Rogers (1902-1987); group dynamics,
with K. Lewis’s field and vital space theories (1890-1947). In its more specific forms, institutional
pedagogy was the offshoot of a protest against oppressive and manipulative social and political
structures which heavily condition the cultural and educative growth processes.1375
Institutional education has as its objective that of transforming institutional formation: school,
classrooms, university laboratories, culture and work groups from ‘instituted’ to ‘instituting’. This
naturally implies a radical change in the way those taught and those who teach are simultaneously
present to one other in an active way. In any kind of authoritarian and bureaucratic government the
teacher-educator represents ordinances, programs, goals, methods which are all imposed from on high,
and operates within the institution much like a father in his family. Fathers and teachers have a well-
defined idea about what they intend to propose as a goal and their task is simply that of finding ways to
‘boss’ youngsters around without attention to their aspirations, inclinations, desires and needs.
1372 In a developing process that from Client-centered Therapy. Its current practice, implications and theory, Boston
Houghton Mifflin, 1951, XIII-560 p.; and On becoming a person. A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. Boston.
Houghton Mifflin 1961, XI-420 p.; he ends up at A Way of Being. Boston Houghton Mifflin 1980.
1373 Cf. R. Zavalloni, Educazione e personalità. Milan, Vita e Pensiero 1955; idem, La terapia non-direttiva
nell’educazione. Rome, Armando 1971, 223 p. (in particular, pp. 129-215); idem, La psicooogia clinica
nell’educazione, Roma/Brescia, Antonianum/La Scuola 1972, 482 p; M-L. Poeydomenge, L’éducation selon Rogers.
Les enjeux de la non directivité. Paris, Dunod 1984, XIII-194 p.
1374 Cf. C. R. Rogers, Un manfeste personaliste. Fondements d’une politique de la personne. Paris, Dunod-Bordas 1979,
XIII-241 p. (original, On personal power. New York, Delacorte Press 1977.
1375 Cf. Les pédagogues institutionelles par J. Ardoino et R. Lourau. Paris, PUF 1994, 128 p.; G. Snyders, Où vont le
pédagogues non-directives? Autorité du maître et liberté des élèves. Paris, PUF 1973, 324 p.; R. Hess, La pédagogie
institutionelle aujourd’hui. Paris, J.-P. Delarge 1975, 142 p.; G. Avanzini, Immobilisme et novation dans l’education
scolaire. Toulouse, Privat 1975, pp. 143-154, Chap III Pédagogie institutionelle et révolution; L.-P. Jouvenet, Horizon
politique des pédagogies non directives. Toulouse, Privat 1982, 291 p.

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Institutional Pedagogy instead champions the right of individuals and groups to self-manage their own
human and cultural growth through freely choosing objectives, programs and methods: this is the right
to self-management.1376
Pedagogical self-management is an educational system where the teacher gives up his claim to transmit
messages and, from that moment on, defines his educational intervention beginning with the ‘medium’
of formation, letting pupils decide on the methods and programs to be used in learning. This is what is
called negative education today.1377
Given the various orientations pedagogical self-management assumes the forms such as group
dynamics, non-directive method, group- psychotherapy and co-operative work.1378 The teacher or
educator is directly involved in the group, but only as one of its members, at its disposal, at its beck and
call as a facilitator, expert, consultant, adviser.1379 This way institutional education promotes a different,
autonomous access to knowledge, culture, way of thinking, and at the same time an experience of
freedom and conflict and also strong emotional bonds. Institutional education also leads to a deep
transformation of the personality of the young person and disposes him to achieve the most remote goal
namely self-management of a social, political, democratic, and dynamic kind.1380
There is also the more general denunciation of the danger of repression constituted by the invasion of
the pedagogical into all the forms of social life.1381 The very notion of ‘education’ is debatable when it
is understood as a way of promoting the growth of the one to be educated, urged to achieve
predetermined goals: religious, ideological and political; or when it is understood as necessarily
authoritarian and intrinsically repressive. Everything that deals with the pedagogical world is radically
questioned and especially so when it turns out to be a question of functional method.1382
Seen this way, preventions would become repression.
2. Restoration, reinvention, rebuilding
Among the various formulas coined to respond to age-old and pressing needs and proposals, the ‘new
Preventive System’, with the catch-cry “With Don Bosco and with the times”, has made inroads. This
new formula is the outcome and almost a necessary development of two more universal formulas: ‘new
evangelisation’ and ‘new education’.
In the Apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II, Christifideles Laici, December 30, 1988, among the
1376 Cf. M. Lobrot, La pédagogie institutionelle. L’école vers l’autogestion. Paris, Gauthier-Villars 1972: I Part, Pédagogie
et beuracratie, pp. 11-123; II part, Pédagogie et autogestion, pp. 127-277.
1377 Cf. G. Lapassade, L’autogestion pédagogique. Paris, Gauthier-Villars 1971, pp. 5-6. Lapassade interprets it, however,
in a radical ‘libertarian’ sense leaving it up to groups of teachers to give life to anti-institutions, so-called ‘internal
institutions’ (cf. G. Lapassade, Groupes, Organisations, Institutions. Paris, Gauthier-Villars 1967, pp. 57-64.
1378 G. Ferry, La pratique du travail en groupe. Une expérience de formation d’ enseignments. Paris, Dunod 1970, XI-227
p; M. Lobrot, L’animation non directive des groupes. Paris Payot 1974, 252 p.
1379 With time someone has sensibly reshaped the earlier radical non-directive approach: cf. D. Hameline, M.-J. Dardelin,
Liberté d’apprendre. Justification d’un enseignement non directif. Paris, Éditions Ouvrières 1967, 341 p. e idem, La
liberté d’apprendre. Situation II. Rérospective sur un enseignement non-directif. ibid. 1977, 349 p.
1380Cf. R. Barbier, Une expérience de pédagogie institutionelle ò l’Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Saint-Denis, in
«Orientations», t. 14, no. 50, avril 1974, 218-219; M. Lobrot, La pédagogie institutionelle, p. 5 and 203; cf. M. Lobrot,
L’animation non-directive des groupes....,: various proposals offered by A. Vasquez-F. Oury, L’educazione nel gruppo-
classe. La pedagogia istituzionale. Bologna. Edizioni Dehoniane 1975, 351 p.
1381 Cf. J. Beillerot, La societé pédagogique. Action pédagogique et contrôle social. Paris, PUF 1982, 223 p.
1382 A. Hocquad, Édequer à quoi? Ce qu’en disent philophes, anthropologues et pédagogues. Paris PUF 1996, 263 p.: on
personalistic and humanistic positions responses prevail which are inspired by Sartre’s existentialism, in the form of
scepticism, problematicism, nihilism, and a vague eudemonism or economically or profesionally useful functions.

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novelties included within evangelisation we also find new players like the laity and, among the laity,
the young: they are beneficiaries but also “leading characters in evangelization and participants in the
renewal of society”1383
The new historical, civil and ecclesiastical climate would no less urgently lead to, following in the
footsteps of Don Bosco, a new education, a creative and a faithful one aiming at generating the ‘new
man’.1384 Even this new form of education explicitly expects the active involvement of the young who
are the beneficiaries of the fatherly and motherly care provided by the educators, acting as natural
fathers/mothers or their substitute. They both work together: “The young person is an active individual
in educational praxis and must feel truly involved as a leading player in the work of art to be
created”.1385 What follows, almost necessarily, is the idea of a ‘new Preventive System’ equivalent,
according to the person who coined the formula, “to launching Don Bosco’s charism towards the third
millennium”.1386
Actually, the roots’ of the ‘new Preventive System’ are solid, and it is from them that we can see the
birth of a really ‘new Preventive System’ with updated forms of great value for the future. It contains
principles endowed with endless potential. It also contains particular suggestions pregnant with
possibilities for development; there are buds ready to blossom and expand.
1. What stands out, at the outset, is the personality of a great educator who musters within himself all
the anxieties of so many others who have dedicated themselves to the salvation of the young in the
same century in their clearly preventive intention, mentality, means and methods. What links them is
their passion for the salvation (in its broadest sense) of the young, which Don Bosco expressed in
singular breadth of perspectives and projects.1387 Everyone is included in these perspectives, but
particular predilection is shown towards the young and, among the young, towards those more at risk:
from East to West, from North to South, from Valparaiso, Chile, to Peking, China, from Europe to
Africa and Australia.
Don Bosco brings a steadfast, eminently Catholic conviction, that “Faith without works is dead”, that
charity and good deeds are the only sure way to witness the truth of God’s love. The educator’s work is
a continuous process of invention, or better, the ability to grasp, with practical intuitions, the right
moment, the suitable place for acting. The Preventive System formulated by Don Bosco in his 1877
treatise, but lived and practised before that, is one of these unexpected but surprising and timely
educational works, emerging during the time of his religious maturity. The Preventive System is the
masterpiece of a craftsman, an artist, architect and builder: Don Bosco. And like any true artist, he
shows the difference between what is imagined and planned and what is actually implemented and
expressed.
2. For this reason, ‘what is expressed’, even with its limitations, is something extra-rich, something
which those who practise it can read and re-interpret in the present and in the future; they are able to
appreciate it and bend it to suit new demands for action. It is enough not to move too far from the great
ideas which inform it, some of which are rooted in the faith, and others in the daily theatre of life: “The
greater glory of God and the salvation of souls”; “A keen faith, steadfast hope and ardent charity”; “A
1383 Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici, Dec. 30, 1988, no. 46; E. Viganò, La Nuova Evangelizzazione, Atti del
Consiglio generale della Società salesiana, no. 331, Oct-Dec 1989, pp. 3-32, in particular4 pp. 21-22.
1384 E. Viganò, Nuova educazione, ACG n. 337, a. 72, July-Sept 1991, pp. 3-43.
1385 E. Viganò, Nuova educazione, pp. 13-14, 18-19, 30.
1386 E. Viganò, Nuova educazione, comment on the Strenna 1995, Called to freedom (Gal 5:13), let us rediscover the
Preventive System by educating young people to values. Rome, FMA 1995, pp. 9-12; idem, Un nuovo sistema
preventivo, BS 119 (1995) no. 4, April, p. 2 (a simple summary of the commentary)
1387 See what was proposed in Chap. 8.

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good Christian and upright citizen”; “cheerfulness, study and piety”; the three SSSs; the five SSSSSs;
“evangelisation and civilisation”.
Nor must we overlook the great methodological orientations: “Make yourself loved before making
yourself feared” or “if you want to make yourself feared”, “rather than making yourself feared”;
“Reason, religion and loving kindness”; “fathers, brothers, friends”; “familiarity, especially during
recreation time”; “to win over the heart”; “an educator is a person consecrated to the good of his
pupils”; “ample freedom to jump around, to run and shout as much as they wish”.
3. But if we want Don Bosco’s experiences, ideas and system not to end up being merely a jealously
guarded heritage but form the actual beginning of a real educational innovation for the new youth and
for new and deeply changed times, then they have to be studied in-depth; they have to be thought out
again, integrated, updated theoretically and practically.
Don Bosco’s Preventive System was came into being and was formulated within a limited world,
centred mostly on the experience of the oratory at Valdocco, Turin, even though it was proposed for a
variety of situations far and wide. Today this system is called upon to meet the challenge of the world
of the young which even from a quantitative point of view presents problems that cannot in any way be
compared with those of the 19th century. Among the more outstanding problems the following four
could be singled out:
1. The unlimited extension of ‘youth’ when compared with ‘youth’ of the 19th century, even
simply in demographic terms;
2. The extended age range of youth from the brief childhood of the past, 1-6/7 years of age, to
something which might include the first 25/30 years of life;
3. The countless variety of circumstances the young find themselves in. Following the criteria
used in Don Bosco’s times, not only economic, social and cultural, but also moral and religious,
most young people today might be considered ‘at risk’, ‘abandoned’, ‘poor’;
4. The extraordinary cultural pluralism, often involving conflict, which young people experience
today.
4. For these and other reasons the original educational hypothesis seems to have been superseded. It
created an institutional, separate, apolitical system. The Preventive System must be written all over
again and implemented in many versions to reach the entire gamut of people involved, more or less
explicitly, and systematically associated with the growing up process, beginning with the leading
players: parents, teachers, other educators, pupils and those being educated in any shape or form.
Naturally, we must be aware of the existence of divergent and conflicting forces which are to be tackled
cooperatively from a pedagogical point of view.1388
In tackling them the following need to be involved: politicians, economists, scholastic organizers, mass
media, cultural and sporting associations, leisure clubs, churches, ideologies, administrators at all
levels. No institutional education sector can considered self-sufficient from now on. And even the
1388 Cf. P. Braido, Pedagogia dell’identità, della differenza, della solidarietà, in «Orientamenti Pedagogici» 37 (1990) 923-
930. We cannot overlook research, reflection and writings on ‘complex society’ and the ‘educating society’: cf. For
example, As. Pe. I., Per un’educazione nuova di fronte alla società complessa. Acts of the 18th National Congress,
Catania, Nov. 3-7, 1987, Catania C.U.E.C.M. 1989, 229 p.; G. Angelini et al, Educare nella società complessa.
Problemi Esperienze Prospettive. Brescia, La Scuola 1991, 225 p.; N. Galli, Educazione familiare e società complessa,
Milan, Vita e Pensiero 1991, 482 p. (with a complete bibliography, pp. 455-472); cf. S. Colonna, Senso di una
pedagogia della «scoietà educante». Lecce, Milella 1978, 246 p.; idem, Società educante e umanizzazione sociale, Ibid
1979, 252 p.

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theoretical revision of the Preventive System cannot be carried out except within a broad are of
cultural, social and political discussion.
5. At a formal educational level the following needs stand out: frank realisation that there are lacunae
and retrograde elements within the traditional Preventive System; an effort is requested to create and
rebuild the system almost from its very foundations. There are some parts of the Preventive System,
which Don Bosco was unable to explore profoundly and fully implement due to personal, cultural
limitations as well as historical circumstances.
What stand out first of all are social and political areas, and formal education, without neglecting
consideration of strong moral content already generously present in the system.1389
Here there is an obvious need to engage in a specific theoretical and technical in-depth study of the
“Good Christian and upright citizen”.1390 No less needed is a radical reconsideration of affectivity,
sexuality and human love in reference to different vocational choices. This radical reconsideration is
urgently required of a system which makes affectivity, loving kindness and kindred realities one of its
foundations.1391 In fact, even though it has the ambition of being an open system and a system for the
young, the Preventive System has proven to be, perhaps not so rarely, a suspicious, rather cautious one,
at times indifferent, fearful, prudent and inclined to control and to silence.
A third item to add is a more positive appreciation and explicit use of the inner energies of the young
and an increased recourse to personal and group autonomy within the framework of educative
cooperation and even as part of teaching and catechetical activities.
Finally, we need to get beyond a ‘traditional’ culture, a pragmatic view of what we understand
‘profession’, ‘student’, ‘artisan’ or young worker to be. The revision of the Preventive System also
demands overcoming a prevalently authoritarian culture, closed to free reading, personal research,
confrontation and debate.1392 Turin, with its advanced industrial culture and associated social issues, and
the birthplace of the Preventive System, has recognised some strong limitations of Salesian culture:
strictly traditionalist and conservative!1393 Of the three great words used to express the Preventive
System, it appears that ‘reason’ in particular needs to reclaim the fullness of its meaning and its
theoretical and practical functions: understanding, explaining, judging and deciding. This way reasons
can be the guardian of affectivity and religiosity, an enlightened practical guide for acting, key in turn
to moral existence, and the place for timely, creative intuitions.1394
6. The Preventive System came about and grew over millennia, in a religious, biblical and Christian
atmosphere. It now needs a new and vigorous anthropological and theological foundation, which might
restore and strengthen the fragile practical and moralistic foundation of the 19th century. The
1389 Cf. for example, F. Desramaut, L’azione sociale dei cattolici del secolo XIX e quella di don Bosco, in L’impegno della
famiglia salesiana per la giustizia. Leumann-Torino, Elle Di Ci 1976, pp. 21-77; in particular pp 46-75, L’azione e il
pensiero cristiano di don Bosco.
1390 Cf. P. Braido, Una formula dell’umanesimo educativo di don Bosco: «Buon cristiano e onesto cittadino», RSS 13
(1994) 75.
1391 Cf. P. Braido, La prassi di don Bosco e il sistema preventivo, in Il sistema preventivo verso il terzo millennio. Rome,
Editrice SDB, 1995, pp. 145-148. X. Thévenot insists on this in his studies cited in the bibliography. Elements of
reconsideration and proposals connected with a new problem in respect to Don Bosco’s experience can be found in the
collaborative work ed. by C. Semeraro, Coeducazione e presenza salesiana. Problemi e prospettive. Leumann-Torino,
Elle Di Ci 1993, in particular pp. 81-151, Coeducazione tra storia e vita salesiana.
1392 For some fragmentary consideration cf. F. Desramaut, Don Bosco e l’indifferenza religiosa, in C. Semeraro (Ed.), I
giovani fra indifferenza e nuova religiosità. Leumann (Turin), Elle Di Ci 1995, pp. 143-160.
1393 Cf. G. Pollano (Ed.), Cristiani e cultura a Torino. Acts of the Congress in Turin, 3-5 April 1987. Milan. F. Angeli
1988, pp. 41-44.
1394 Cf. M. Pellerey, La via della ragione...., pp. 385-396.

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theological vision presupposes previous reflection of a rational character on the human being, on what
it means to be a young man or a young woman.
The opening gambit of Rousseau’s Émile is not per se heretical. Christopher de Beaumont was able to
grasp the opportunity not so much to condemn but to clarify Catholic teaching on the effects of original
sin within Adam’s race. A human being is God’s creature; in his essential and original structure, a
human being is a value, something good. This essential structure was not destroyed nor corrupted in its
‘naturalness’.
Original sin stands for the condition of being deprived of the state of justice and therefore of being
slaves of Satan (this does not mean that Satan has taken possession of man), of being exposed to
suffering, death, lack of the original harmony between the senses and spiritual faculties. But these
faculties still hold on to their intrinsic value and dynamism.1395
The disharmony expressed by the easy straying of passions no longer subject by grace to the law of the
spirit, through concupiscence leads to an actual weakening of reason and will as they strive to achieve
their proper object, namely, what is true and good, but it does not lead to their intrinsic corruption.
Passions such as self-love, the tendency to love and defend oneself, sensitivity, and affectivity which is
food or sex-oriented, are not per se negative; they have simply lost their original subordination to the
law of reason and grace. And therefore, thanks to the nature proper to all human faculties and thanks to
the grace of redemption, all the possibilities of rebuilding God’s original plan in every human being, in
justice and holiness, remain alive, re-fashioned by evangelical newness.1396
7. Likewise, we can say the same thing about the second part of Rousseau’s claim. Youth sociology and
the psychology of growing up, which Don Bosco loved to tie to his rather bare formulas1397 have, at
their disposal all the tools which were unthinkable for Don Bosco, the tools needed to describe and
interpret the causes, effects and measures of what has become “degenerate in the hands of man”,
compared to their original status. Both at the local and regional level and beyond, it is possible to carry
on the needed research with more precise, systematic and properly articulated information on the real
situation of the young. Only this way can old and new language overcome its status as mere
terminology, as it reflects notions which are real and call for action: poverty, abandonment, risk,
deprivation, social distress, violence; needs, aspirations, opportunities, values; family or school
education either in crisis or lacking or even deviant; ‘dangerous’ society which produces children ‘at
risk’;’ distant’ ‘closed’ ecclesiastical institutions. Education and pedagogy call for an on-going creative
imagination, instead of tired repetition of formulas.
8. A serious theological vision also correctly guides us in understanding the real circumstances of the
main players in the growing-up process, their potential, the energies they have and their need to be
respected and assisted in their development. This assistance must be provided through differentiated
resources and approaches for childhood, boyhood, adolescence and adulthood. The fact that we rely on
1395 “Love of self” is different in Rousseau’s conception of it: it is the natural goodness of the individual. Education has the
task of allowing it to develop correctly since, as a result of a sick society, it should develop away from any contact with
it. This is Rousseau’s strong point anthropologically speaking: through education ideas of wellbeing, goodness,
freedom, happiness are sublimated and become moral ideas. But that means being closed within Émile’s selfishness,
deprived of true disinterest, social ability, sense of common humanity. The ‘new schools’ did not follow Rousseau in
this, opening themselves instead decidedly to social ability. (cf. A. Ravier L’éducation de l’homme nouveau. Essai
Historique et Critique sur le Livre de l’Émile de J. J. Rousseau, t. II. Paris, Éditions SPES 1941, pp. 505-509.
1396 Elsewhere we have noted the moral emphasis of Don Bosco’s pedagogical spirituality, with explicit lack of basic
dogmatic aspects: cf. P. Braido, La prassi di don Bosco..., also cited there a note by P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia
della religiosità cattolica, vol II, pp. 116-117.
1397 Cf. Chap 9, §1 and 2.

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these resources does not mean that we are following Naturalism as viewed, conceived and implemented
in different theoretical contexts by Komenski, Locke, Rousseau and Montessori, or the ‘new schools’
by ‘activism’, and ‘institutional pedagogy’.
We do not have to be child or youth ‘worshippers’ to understand the real historical discoveries made.
These discoveries can be confirmed and enriched by old and updated anthropological and theological
beliefs. On the one hand there is an innate tendency to happiness in every human being, eudaimonia.
The great Greek moralists have written pages of high even though elitist calibre on this and the great
Christian theologians of the first centuries and of the Middle Ages welcomed it in their writings.
This is the starting point of every authentic moral and educational journey at a human level, which calls
for mobilising every human energy, psychic, physical and spiritual, capable of reaching the constantly
moving goal-posts: the realisation of a complete, individual and social existence.
Added to all this is the abundant in-pouring of the gifts of grace infused in a human being at Baptism:
the sharing of divine life, the theological and moral virtues which protect it and help it grow towards
the attainment of happiness in the beatific encounter with God.
Human and divine pedagogy meet to bring about human happiness, which is sublimated in the Gospel
Beatitudes. The young will be able to proclaim these Beatitudes because of the aspirations and
impulses of their age, but they will be seriously and responsibly proclaiming them only if they are in a
situation of doing it one their own, thanks to the twofold and unified pedagogy of God and man.
9. From this perspective it becomes a duty to appeal to all the experiences and kinds of knowledge
which may provide us, even through nature and reason, with information on the real situation and
disposition of the various stages of the young. For a correct education we have an abundance of
research work at our disposal and scientifically precise information, both on the fundamental
importance of childhood and the psychological and cultural complexity of adolescence. As far as
childhood is concerned, no authentic theology of sin leads us to deny what experience and science have
discovered and have already made public on the original virtue of the child. The intuitions of the great
educators, from Froebel to Aporti, to Montessori, agree on the data provided by the sciences on the
child: the child possesses a huge potential of marvellously creative energy which, if not tampered with
at its roots, has a decisive impact, beginning from the earliest years, on his future.
Modern psychology and in particular depth-psychology, in their investigations into the adult psyche,
have found evidence of the deep causes from an adult’s far distant childhood, marks of character flaws,
psychic turmoil and imbalance.1398 But it would be wrong to attribute these negative traits which may
have come from so many contexts in the family and society to childhood: shortcomings, inter-conjugal
and domestic conflict, neglect, hurts, violence, and what might have come from physical and psychic
pathologies in the conscious or unconscious. Childhood, recognised as such from its very foundation
and in its environment, must unquestionably be the primary and privileged reference point for a
responsible preventive education.
10. Anyone who professionally deals with the successive stages of youth development, should first of
all beware of any mythologising the age of adolescence, ignoring its previous historical period or stage.
The literature which inspired Don Bosco to write The Companion of Youth might lead someone to
understand adolescence in Rousseau’s terms at least partially and unconsciously, as an immaculate
‘second birth’, a ‘new beginning’, without any inherited debts or strings attached. During this stage,
positive potential intertwines with the shortcomings and deficiencies due to the education or bad
1398 M. Montessori, L’intelligenza absorbante and L’umiltà del mondo attraverso il bambino: interventions at the VIII
International Montessori Congress, San Remo, Aug. 22-29, 1949, pp. 369-383 and 528-537.

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education, or lack of education preceding it. Childhood and adolescent psychopathology aims precisely
at separating the apparent anomalies due to the growing process itself from pathologies with far distant
roots already set in motion and in need of psychotherapeutic and educational interventions.1399 The
prevention offered initially (Primary Prevention) might also at times turn into prevention which is good
for the years to follow (Secondary prevention). Following this line of development, we could hold to
the conviction that Don Bosco’s initial preventive experience, essentially of the primary type, might be
extended to all the circumstances of human growth, even to the most complex ones up to the second
and third levels.
At any rate, right from the beginning, the Preventive System was exercised at both pedagogical and
positive levels and also at the level of social assistance, by different interventions, to the point that they
seem much more appropriate now than they were then.1400
12. (NB, 11 was skipped in the original Italian text!)
The fact of having the same final goal, a multiplicity of objectives and different paths to follow means
first of all a diversified and qualitative articulation of the final goal. This final goal can be legitimately
expressed and summed up in the classic term ‘Salvation’. It could also be equated with holiness, if this
is not identified with canonised holiness or the like but taken in its the original sense: “To live in Christ,
to be in a habitual state of grace,” have a permanent awareness of one’s Christian dignity as a child of
God, even though at times a ‘prodigal’ child of God.
As far as the various levels of belonging to the Kingdom of God on earth are concerned, Don Bosco, as
we have already remarked, wrote of them in his Historical Outlines (1862), jotting down the balance
sheet of twenty years work among the boys. What he wrote is significant and open to broader
development.1401 It deals with concrete initial hints to some sort of differentiated pedagogy. We can
speak about it and even begin the different requirements presented to the young in different educational
institutional settings: the oratory, the boarding school, the home and the Minor Seminary.
13. There is another difference to be considered with regard to education and it is related to two
fundamental pedagogical directions:
1) The individualised or rather personalised aspect of the educational journey, in reference to the
pupil’s freedom, taken as an individual or as a group, demand for autonomy in choosing the
objectives and the means and methods to attain them;
2) Legitimate educational pluralism which takes into consideration the increased number of
circumstances within which young people grow up today.
This is something which was almost ignored by Don Bosco and his collaborators, since they worked in
a fundamentally homogeneous world, or one considered as such, and the same system might be (too)
easily transferred to more heterogeneous worlds resulting from gender, ethnicity and political, social
and cultural circumstances.
14. As a result the person and activity of the one to be educated has changed. This has been vindicated
by the most recent and advanced findings of those who champion activism and institutional pedagogy,
and by the relevant and continuing phenomena of protest and self-management. The fact that some
1399 V.L. Castellazzi, Psicopatologia dell’infanzia e dell’adolescenza: Le nervosi. Rome, LAS 1988, 156 p.; Le psicoso.
ibid. 1991, 159 p.; La depressione, Ibid, 1993, 174 p.
1400 As indicated in the bibliography, the perceptive contributions of Giancarlo Milanesi and others are significant in this
order of thinking. They have seen how to understand and re-propose – theoretically and practically – the Preventive
System as something multidisciplinary, historical, sociological, psychological, pedagogical.
1401 Cf. Chap 11, §4 and 5 and Chap 13, §6.

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inspirations are ideological does not eliminate the legitimate question-mark they raise. It needs to be
evaluated and responded to by approaches more suited to all these many differences. Research into the
cultural, scientific and technical foundations of the various different interventions can help.1402
With this reservation it is legitimate to hold that the Preventive System may profitably be linked to
various forms of activism, self-government and self-management and versions of these proportionate to
the maturity already reached. This is especially so during adolescence and young-adulthood. Any
preconceived pessimism, which might tend to see educational activity as a nagging kind of assistance
aimed at protecting the weak or the young person at risk or some poor unfortunate minor should be
disposed of. Psychology of development, depth-psychology, social psychology, the psychology of the
family and of institutions, might provide helpful indications for inventing solutions of various kinds,
highly differentiated and inspired by the gradualness of the process and a sense of what is possible.
At the time when youth protests were getting under way, Achilles Ardigo asked himself this question:
“Could we hypothesise a youth culture as a vital component of a renewing force, maybe even a
revolutionary one regarding the civilisation of well-being in one part of the world? It would seem to fit
the present state of things in a society of huge organisations or those in an advanced stage of
transformation. The discourse becomes rather difficult and high-falutin’ at this point”.1403
15. The more we stress the dignity, virtue and active role of the child and young person, the greater is
the educator’s need to play the role of innovator. This ‘Copernican revolution’ in education and
pedagogy should be considered as a definite conquest. Don Bosco might have had some practical
intuitions concerning this but there is no doubt that in his preventive initiative the educators are the
uncontested owners of the entire system: its goals, content, methods and means.1404 After more than a
century of theory and practice, youth-adult relationships have undergone deep change, if for no other
reason at least for the fact that in today’s society the attainment of adult status has been delayed for
several years. This holds true in reference to profession, financial independence, emancipation from
parents, and the possibility of forming a family.
But for this reason alone the natural and legitimate process of maturing should not be held in check or
blocked1405 as might happen when prevention and assistance are ambiguously understood. All this
means a radical new way of interpreting and experimenting with the roles of ‘father, brother and
friend’. The educator who is sure of himself and reassuring, aware of his role and responsible is not
authoritarian but only authoritative and capable of combining deep respect and unconditional trust with
his boundless affective involvement. Only this way can there be an authentic dialogue and a
constructive confrontation with the young person, who is respected in his rights, his active role,
including his right to dissent and protest.
Not only are sodalities expected to be, as Don Bosco wanted, something for the young people
themselves to run, but everything pertinent to them should first of all and more universally be their
business too: their life, desires, ideals, restlessness, their proposals, reasons and collaboration. As a
consequence the educative community, experienced as a family, undergoes a radical change of meaning
and style. It is inevitable that the kinds of relationships which in Don Bosco’s era might have been
rather paternalistic or too much like a family, should be replaced by free and liberating relationships
1402 Cf. P. Braido, Appunti per una interpretazione pluridimensionale della «constestazione giovanile», in «Orientamenti
Pedagogici» 15 (1968) 1284-1304.
1403 A. Ardigo, La condizione giovanile nella società industriale, in Questioni di sociologia vol II, Brescia, La Scuola
1966, p. 609.
1404 Highlighted in Chap. 14 §1; cf also P. Braido, La prassi di don Bosco..., pp. 135-136.
1405 G. Lutte, Lo sviluppo della personalità. Prospettive pedagogiche. Presentation of the work of D. P. Ausubel, Zürich
PAS-Verlag 1963, pp. 21-22.

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which are authentically personalised and personalising.1406
16. Along with these main players in the system, once conceptual and concrete changes have been
made, the entire methodology of the Preventive System is involved, and it should start from the basic
concepts of love and fear, reason, religion and loving kindness.
Any pastoral ministry and pedagogy based on ‘servile’ fear which generates real, mental and affective
dread of the ‘master’ cannot but be up for question. Dread should be substituted by mutual respect, just
as the commandment ‘honour your father and your mother’ is not just a one-way street. Only someone
who has shown himself to be respectable and trustworthy can desire respect. And then, the three words
which were proper to a vaguely and obscurely romantic world (when God, country and family were
‘it’) should be reinterpreted in the light of totally new concepts and thinking. We also have a different
view of the Christian Faith than Don Bosco had: liturgical renewal, new bases for moral theology and
spirituality, a return to the sources of the Christian message as proclaimed in the Scriptures and gently
channelled into dogmatic reflection.1407
Loving kindness needs to be re-conceived in terms of its foundations, content, the way it is
demonstrated, in view of an essential and desirably different relationship between adults and young
people, and on the basis of the self-awareness of young people today which makes them less disposed
to be won over in their affections and less exposed to its latent dangers.
Reason, particularly should recover its full meaning. The clarification of the concept of reason and its
re-evaluation is essential to an educative prevention the more young people and adults are exposed to
contrasting tensions such as the sudden appearance of technological rationality, the demands made on
education to control the world of desires, evasion through the world of instant emotions, the pressing
need to fantasise power, the advent of weak thinking, and the same time the demand for critical
thinking amidst the wilds of multiculturalism.1408
Solutions may be found, given renewed methods, in the blending of instruction and education, in the
recovery of all the roles that reason should play within the ambit of human potential.1409
17. In the general process of recovering what is ‘preventive’, one thing must now be given its proper
value since it is on this that the system finds its basis in its more natural and primitive form: the
family.1410 Family stands out among other things as the system which is most open to the possibilities,
problems and related solutions of the young. It is open to the unexpected, to risks and to quick
decisions, new and timely ones so long as they remain consistent with fundamental general principles:
legal, moral, religious.
The family may become the paradigm of ‘renewal in continuity’ for the Preventive System, in
preference to the formalised model of a closed system such as the boarding institution or school. The
oratory, associations and groups are forms very close to it. We need to invent a concrete and articulate
preventive family-like pedagogy and re-apply the key concepts of the system (carefully, in view of
changed circumstances) especially loving kindness, oscillating between affective creativity, a
reassuring sense of belonging and concern for possessiveness and violence.
1406 P. G. Grasso, Gioventù: gruppo marginale in crisi di identità, in «Orientamenti pedagogici» 12 (1966) 759.
1407
1408 Cf. M. Pellerey, La via della ragione, Rileggendo le parole e le azioni di don Bosco, in «Orientamenti pedagogici» 35
(1988) 383-384.
1409 Cf. again M. Pellerey, La via della ragione...., pp. 395-396.
1410 In 1869 Don Bosco wrote to a benefactor in Milan: “I believe you did well to bring the boy back to be educated at
home: better a father’s eye than the eye of a hundred assistants. This can be said of parents who have the means to
educate them at home, as you have”. Letter to Giuseppe Brambilla, 8 May 1869 Em III, lett no. 1312).

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If the family can rightly be considered the actual cradle of the Preventive System it also calls for an on-
going regeneration, education and preventive re-education. Radical changes are needed today [on
behalf of the family] and they have to be of a welfare, political and social character, but it is impossible
for preventive educators not to also include educational and re-educational interventions, therapeutic
interventions even, on behalf of anyone aspiring to marriage and the mission of transmitting life. These
interventions should take place before, during and after creating a conjugal and family community.
18. Finally, it becomes inevitably essential for preventive educators to have renewed readiness to learn.
This is the primordial condition for proclaiming (though not yet defining) a ‘new Preventive System’.
Besides all the earlier mentioned circumstances, there also must be a recourse to the human sciences
and in particular to the education sciences. These have made an immeasurable progress since Don
Bosco’s times. We cannot do without them at all epistemological levels, at time when all pedagogical
thinking, whatever leaning it may have, is at a painstaking stage of critical reflection.
Even given the multiplicity of preventive interventions, the Preventive System understood as pedagogy
and pastoral ministry is subject to all the tensions which characterise the epistemological basis of
science or of the sciences of educational and pastoral activity.1411
And the reality of youth with its vast gamut of situations and problems is still more pressing than the
theory.1412
Don Bosco’s fundamentally dogmatic system was not only drawn from general anthropological and
theological principles. His experience as an educator, and the formulation it received reveal a pedagogy
which is, to some extent experimental, but an experimental pedagogy which was practised, evaluated,
improved upon tirelessly in the pedagogical laboratory which we know as the Oratory in Valdocco and
the institutions which branched out from the Mother House.1413
1411 Cf. C. Nanni, Pedagogia in discussione, in «Orientamenti pedagogici» 36 (1989) 890-914; C. Volpi, Paideia ‘80.
L’educabilità nell’era del post-moderno. Naples, Tecnodid 1988, 162 p.; F. Cambi, R. Fornaca, G. Cives, Complessità,
pedagogia crtica, educazione democratica. Florence, La Nuova Italia 1991, III-23e4 p.; A Granese, Il labirinto e la
porta stretta. Saggio di pedagogia critica. Florence, La Nuova Italia 1993, VIII-399 p.; G. Acone, Declino
dell’educazione e tramonto d’epoca. Brescia, La Scuola 1994, 268 p.
1412 Cf. Ripartire dalla strada (Turin, SEI 1997), cited in the bibliography, the pertinent insistences of Domenico Ricca: I
salesiani nel pianeta minori (pp. 28-29): I salesiani nel pianeta tossicodipendenza (pp. 137-157).
1413 Cf. P. Braido, Pedagogia perseverante tra sfide e scommesse, in «Orientamenti Pedagogici» 38 (1991) 906-911.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Bibliographic collections
General bibliography of Don Bosco:
Vol 1 Bibliografia italiana 1844-1992, ed., S. Gianotto. Rome, LAS 1996, 409 p.
Vol 2 Deutschsprachige Don-Bosco-Literatur 1883-1994, zusammengestelt von H. Diekmann, Rome,
LAS 1997, 113 p.
P. Stella, Gli scritti a stampa di San Giovanni Bosco, Rome, LAS 1977, 176 p. [complete list of titles
and editions of printed writings, classified into three groups: I Books and shorter works; II Circular
letters, appeals, testimonials, transcripts, cards III Circulars, articles, conferences published in the
Salesian Bulletin]
2. Don Bosco’s writings
Opere e scritti editi e inediti di «Don Bosco» nuovamente pubblicati e riveduti secondo le edizioni
originali e manuscritti superstiti a cura della Pia Società Salesiana, 6 vol in 8 tomes [introduction,
studies and commentary by A. Caviglia]. Turin SEI 1929-1965.
Vol I, Part I. Storia sacra. Turin, SEI 1929, LI-422 p. A preceding introductory note «La “Storia sacra”
e la “Storia ecclesiastica” nell’idea e negli scritti di Don Bosco» by A. Caviglia, pp. VII-XXIV.
Vol I. Part II. Storia ecclesiastica. Turin, SEI 1929, XXIV-570 p. with a preliminary note «Gli originali
superstiti degli scritti di Don Bosco sulla Storia Ecclesiastica» by A. Caviglia, pp. VII-XXIV.
Vol II. Le Vite dei papi, in two parts: first series, Da san Pietro a san Zefferino. Turin, SEI 1932,
XLIII-444 p. An introductory note «Le “Vite dei papi” di Don Bosco e la sua coltura storica» byA.
Caviglia, pp. VII-XLIII; second series, Da san Callisto alla pace della Chiesa, Ibid. 1932, pp. XII-590.
Preliminary note and postscript by A. Caviglia, pp. VII-XII.
Vol III. La storia d’Italia. Turin, SEI 1935, CXII-642 p. with introduction «La “Storia d’Italia”
capolavoro di Don Bosco» BY a. Caviglia, pp. VII-CXII.
Vol IV. La Vita di Domenico Savio e «Savio Domenico e Don Bosco». Studio di Don Alberto Caviglia.
Turin, SI 1943, XLIII-92 + 609 p. Introduction to reading «La Vita di Savio Domenico scritta da Don
Bosco» by A. Caviglia, pp. IX-XLIII.
Vol V. Il primo libro di Don Bosco – il «Magone Michele». Turin SEI 1965, 252 p., preceded
respectively by a preliminary note on the “Cenni sulla vita di Luigi Comollo”, pp 9-29, and «Il
“Magone Michele, una classica esperienza educativa», pp. 129-200.
Vol VI. La vita di Besucco Francesco. Turin, SEI 1865, 265 p., preceded by «La vita di Besucco
Francesco scritta da Don Bosco», pp. 7-19.
G. Bosco, Opere edite: first series, Libri e opuscoli, 37 vol. Rome LAS 1976-1977; second series,
Contributi su giornali e periodici, I vol, Rome, LAS 1987. Facsimile reproduction of all texts printed
by Don Bosco excluding programs, testimonials, reports, cards. Circulars and appeals are included in
the collection of letters.
G. Bosco, Epistolario. Introduction, critical texts and notes, ed. F. Motto: vol I (1835-1863). Rome,
LAS 1991, 718 p.; vol II (1864-1868). Ibid, 1996, 731 p. [cf. In «Rivista di Scienze dell’Educazione»
31 (1993), «L’edizione critica dell’Epistolario di S. Giovanni Bosco»: F. Motto, L’edizione critica
dell’Epistolario nelle sue scelte metodologiche, pp. 13-21; A. Monticone, Approccio storico alle lettere
di don Bosco, pp. 22-31; P. Caviglia, Tratti tipici di don Bosco emergenti dall’Epistolario, pp. 22-31.
G. Bosco, Memorie dell’Oratorio di S. Francisco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855. ed. E. Ceria, Turin, SEI

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1946, 260 p.
G. Bosco, Memorie dell’Oratorio di S. Francisco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855. Introduction, notes and
critical text ed. by A. da Silva Ferreira. Rome, LAS 1991, 225 p.
G. Bosco, Memorie dell’Oratorio di S. Francisco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855. Introduction and notes,
ed. A. da Silva Ferreria. Rome, LAS 1992, 235 p.
G. Bosco (S.), Scritti sul sistema preventivo nell’educazione della gioventù. Introduction, presentation
and alphabetical, systematic index, ed. P. Braido. Brescia, La Scuola, 1965, LVII-668 p.
J. Bosco, Obras fundamentales. Edición dirigida po J. Canals Pujol y A. Martínez Azcona. Estudio
introductório de P. Braido, Madrid, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos 1978, XXXIII-831 p.
G. Bosco, Scritti spirituali. Introduction, choice of texts and notes by G. Aubry, 2 voll. Rome, Città
Nuova Editrice, 1976, 258 p and 356 p.
G. Bosco, Scritti pedagogici e spirituali, ed. P. Braido et al, Rome, LAS 1987, 385 p.
Don Bosco educatore. Scritti e testimonianze, ed. P. Braido et al., Rome, LAS 1997, 472 p.
F. Motto, Juan Bosco. Cartas a jóvenes y educadores. Madrid, Editorial CCS 1994, 279.
3. Don Bosco’s writings in critical edition
Costituzioni della Società di s. Francesco di Sales (1885)-1875. Critical text ed. F. Motto. Rome, LAS
1982, 272 p.
Costituzioni per l’Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice (1872-1885). Critical text ed. C. Romero.
Rome, LAS 1983, 357 p.
F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori» di don Bosco, RSS 3 (1984) 125-126.
J. Borrego, Recuerdas de San Juan Bosco a los primeros misioneros, RSS 3 (1984) 167-208.
F. Motto, Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6 pel sac. Gio. Bosco a’ suoi figliuoli Salesiani, RSS 4 (1985)
73-130.
P. Braido, Il sistema preventivo» in un «decalogo» per educatori, RSS 4 (1985) 131-148.
Il sistema preventivo nella educazione della gioventù. Introduction and critical text by Pietro Braido,
RSS 4 (1985) 171-132.
P. Braido, L’idea della società salesiana nel «Cenno istorico» di don Bosco del 1873/1874, RSS 6
(1987) 245-331.
Valentino o la vocazione impedita. Introduction and critical text by M. Pulingathil, Rome, LAS 1987,
111 p.
P. Braido, Don Bosco per la gioventù povera e abbandonata in due inediti del 1854 e del 1862, in P.
Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco nella Chiea al servizio dell’umanità. Studi e testimonianze. Rome, LAS 1987,
pp. 13-81.
Braido P. and F. Motto, Don Bosco tra storia e leggenda nella memoria su «Le perquisizioni». Critical
text and introduction, RSS 8 (189) 111-200.
Decanco B., «Severino». Studio dell’opuscolo con particolare attenzione al «primo oratorio», RSS 11
(1992) 221-318.
P. Braido, Tratti di vita religiosa nello scritto «Ai soci Salesiani» di don Bosco del 1875. Introduction
and critical text, RSS 13 (1994) 361-448; Tratti di vita religiosa salesiana nello scritto «Ai Soci
Salesiani» di don Bosco del 1877/1885. Introduction and critical text, RSS 14 (1995) 91-154.
4. Writings inspired by Don Bosco
Braido P, La lettera di don Bosco da Roma del 10 maggio 1884 RSS 3 (1984) 295-374; re-edited and
reviewed in P. Braido, Don Bosco educatore, Scritti e testimonianze. Rome, LAS 1997, pp. 344-390

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Due lettere datate da ROMA 10 MAGGIO 1884.
Ferreira Da Silva A., Il dialogo tra don Bosco e il maestro Francesco Bodrato, RSS 3 (1984) 375-387.
Prellezzo J. M., Dei castighi da infligersi nelle case salesiane. Una lettera circolare attribuita a don
Bosco, RSS 5 (1986) 263-308.
Prellezzo J. M., La «parte operaia» nelle case salesiane. Documenti e testimonianze sulla formazione
professionale (1883-1886), RSS 16 (1997) 353-391.
5. Secondary sources
Bibliofilo Cattolico o Bollettino Salesiano mensuale (begun in Turin in August 1877) e Bollettino
Salesiano (from January 1878, anno II no. 1) [from 1877-1888 are years of particular value for the
history of Don Bosco, with texts which he wrote or at oleast summaries of his addresses and
conferences].
Memorie biografiche di don [del beato... di san] Giovanni Bosco, 20 vol [including index], in a non-
commercial edition S. Benigno Canavese – Turin, 1898-1948. These are not only ‘annals’ but a rich
source of Don Bosco’s direct words (conferences, conversations, Good Nights), letters, circulars,
documents and testimonials, essential for knowing about his educational activity and his pedagogical
thinking.
6. Manuscript sources used.
Barberis Giulio (1847-1927), Cronichetta: 15 handwritten exercise books; covering 1875-1879, with
various reminiscences of Don Bosco on the preceding years.
Barberis Giulio, [Diary]: 20 exercise books mostly written by aspirants, novices or postnovices (G.
Gresino, E. Dompé, F. Ghigliotto) on commission from Fr Giulio Barberis; covering 1875-1878 (the
numbering does not follow chronological order of contents).
Berto Gioachino (1847-1914), Raccolta di detti, fatti e sogni di don Bosco: regarding the period from
June to December 1868.
Berto Gioachino, Fatti particolari, vol I, 9 Sept-31 December 1867.
Berto Gioachino, [Diary] 1868-2: from April 29 or 30 to May 14, 1868.
Berto Gioachino, Diary from June to December 1868.
Bonetti Giovanni (1838-1891), Memoria di alcuni fatti tratti dalle prediche o dalle storia ecc.; covers
1858-1859, with strennas for 1861 and 1862 added.
Bonetti Giovanni, Annali I, 1860-1861; Annali II 1861-1862; Annali III 1862-1863: three exercise
books.
Lemoyne Giovanni Battista (1839-1916), [Diary without a title] Inc. «martedì 18 8bre»: covers from
October 1864 to April 1865.
Reano Giuseppe (n. 1826), [Diary-testimonial without title] Inc. «Molto Rev.do Signor D. Bonetti»:
two exercise books.
Rua Michele (1837-1910) [with interventions of Don Bosco], Viaggio a Roma 1858
Rua Michele, [Diary without a title] Inc. «Persuaso di far cosa...»: cricitcal editions ed. P. Braido,
Don Michele Rua precario «cronacista» di don Bosco RSS 8 (1989) 329-367.
Ruffino Domenico (1840-1865), Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales N. 1 1860.
Ruffino Domenico, [Diary – part destroyed] Inc. «in tal modo questa motì»; viaggio a Bergamo del
maggio 1860.
Ruffino Domenico, [Diary] 1861 1862 1863 1864 – Inc. «Le doti grandi e luminose».
Ruffino Domenico, Cronaca, 1861 1862 1863 – Inc. «D. Bosco venuto da Bergamo» [viaggio del

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1861]
Ruffino Domenico, Memorie 1862 1863
Ruffino Domenico, Libro di esperienza – 1864.
Viglietti Carlo Maria (1864-1915), Continua la Cronaca per Cura del Segret. Viglietti Carlo.
Barcellona, dal 15 aprile 1886 al 16 maggio 1886.
7. Literature
Amadei A., Don Bosco e il suo apostolato. Turin SEI 1940, 2 vol (! ed. 1929, I vol), 526, 557 p.
Attualità educativa e pastorale di don Bosco e del sistema preventivo, in «Note di pastorale giovanile»
22 (1988) nn. 1-2 pp. 3-132 [In particular: R. Tonelli, Con don Bosco crediamo nell’educazione, pp.
20-334; G. Milanesi, Il rischio della marginalità: un modo di leggere la situazione giovanile, pp. 37-
48].
Barbera M., s.j., San Giovanni Bosco educatore. Turin, SEI 1942, 144 p.
[G. Bonetti], Cinque lustri di storia dell’Oratorio Salesiano fondato dal Sacerdote Don Giovanni
Bosco per cura del Sacredote Don Giovanni Bonetti suo allievo. Turin. Salesian Press, 1892, 744 p. It
is la Storia dell’Oratorio published in parts in the «Bollettino Salesiano» from 1879 to 1887.
Braido P., Il sistema preventivo di Don Bosco. Zürich, PAS-Verlag, 1964 (I edition 1955), 418 p.,
bibliogrpahic note, pp. 9.15.
Braido P., Don Bosco educatore delle moltitudini, in «La Civiltà Cattolica» 139 (1988), vol II, pp. 230-
244.
Braido P., Caratteri del «sistema preventivo» del beato Luigi Guanella. Ipotesi di ricostruzione e
interpretazione. Rome, Nuove Frontiere Editrice 1992, 113 p.
Braido P., Breve storia del «sistema preventivo». Rome, LAS 1993, 111 p.
Braido P., Il sistema preventivo di don Bosco alle origini (1841-1862). Il cammino del «preventivo»
nella relatà e nei documenti, RSS 14 (1995) 255-320.
Braido P., «Poveri e abbandonati, pericolanti e pericolosi»: pedagogia, assistenza, socialità
nell’esperienza preventiva di don Bosco, in «Annali di storia dell’educazione e delle istituzioni
scolastiche» 3 (1996) 236-183.
Casotti, M., Il metodo educativo di don Bosco. Brescia, La Scuola 1960, 134 p.
Caviglia P., -M. Borsi, Solidale nell’educazione. La presenza e l’immagine della donna in don Bosco.
Rome, LAS 1993, 195 p.
Ceria E., Annali della Società Salesiana [dal 1841 al 1921], 4 vol., Turin SEI, 1941-1951: 779, 773,
926, 469 p.
Cerrato N., La catechesi di don Bosco nella sua «Storia sacra». Rome, LAS 1979, 360 p.
Cerrato N., Don Bosco e il suo tempo. Frammenti di cultura popolare nella vita di un Santo. Rome,
LAS 1994, 220 p.
Colli C., Pedagogia spirituale di don Bosco e spirito salesiano. Abbozzo di sintesi, Rome, LAS 1982,
204 p.
Desramaut F., Don Bosco et la vie spirituelle. Paris, Beauchesne 1967, 379 p.
Desramaut F., Don Bosco et son temps (1815-1888). Turin, SEI 1996, XIX-1451 p. Of special note is
his Bibliography at the end of the book, set up in several sections: 1. Archival documents on the life of
Don Bosco (pp. 1357-1364); 2. Canonisation process (pp. 1364-1369); 3. Don Bosco’s books published
while he was alive (pp. 1369-1382); 4. Studies: a) on his life and writings; b) on the historical, civil and
ecclesiastical context (pp. 1382-1389).
Don Bosco e la sua esperienza pedagogica. Eredità, contesti, sviluppi, risonanze, in «Orientamenti
Pedagogici» 36 (1989) 1-242 [in particular P. Braido, L’esperienza pedagogica di don Bosco nel suo

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«divenire», pp. 11-39; B. Bellerate, Ragione, religione, amorevolezza, pp. 62-73; G. Chiosso,
Popolarità e modernità nella esperienza pedagogica di don Bosco. Il sistema preventivo nella società
italiana dell’800, pp. 77-99; L. Pazzaglia, Il tema del lavoro nell’esperienza pedagogica di don Bosco,
pp. 113-131; R. Massa, Istanza religiosa e istanza umana nella pedagogia di don Bosco, pp. 135-147;
G. Milanesi, Sistema preventivo e prevenzione in don Bosco, pp. 148-165].
Don Bosco e le sfide della modernità. Turin, Centro Studi C. Trabucco 1988, 46 p. [Contributions from
P. Scoppola, Don Bosco nella storia civile, pp. 7-20; M. Guasco, Don Bosco nell storia religiosa del
suo tempo, pp. 21-38; F. Traniello, Don Bosco e il problema della modernità, pp. 39-64].
Don Bosco nella Chiesa a servizio dell’umanità. Studi e testimonianze, ed. P. Braido. Rome, LAS
1987, 430 [in particular: G. Chiosso, L’oratorio di don Bosco e il rinnovamento educativo nel
Piemonte carloalbertino, pp. 83-116].
Don Bosco nella storia. Atti del 1 Congresso Internazionale di studi su don Bosco (Università
Pontificia Salesiana – Roma, 16-20 gennaio 1989), ed. M. Midali. Rome, LAS 1990, 572 p. [In
particular: M. Marcocchi, Alle radici della spiritualità di don Bosco, pp. 157-176; L. Pazzaglia, La
scelta dei giovani e la proposta educativa di don Bosco, pp. 259-288; G. Chiosso, Don Bosco e
l’oratorio (1841-1855), pp. 297-313; J. M. Prellezzo, Don Bosco e le scuole professionali (1870-1887),
pp. 331-353; J. Scheppens, Don Bosco e l’educazione ai sacramenti della penitenza e dell’eucaristia,
pp. 371-392; F. Malgeri, Don Bosco e la stampa, pp. 439-447; G. Rosoli, Don Bosco e l’assistenza agli
emigranti, pp. 507-516].
The same Publishers also saw to editions in Spanish, French and English.
Don Bosco nella storia della cultura popolare, ed., F. Traniello. Turin, SEI 1987, 391 p. [In particular:
L. Pazzaglia, Apprendistato e istruzione degli artigiani a Valdocco (1846-1886), pp. 13-80; F.
Traniello, Don Bosco e l’educazione giovanile: la «storia d’Italia», pp. 81-111; G. Proverbio, La scuola
di don Bosco e l’insegnamento del latino (1850-1900), pp. 143-185; G. Tuninetti, L’immagine di don
Bosco nella stampa torinese (e italiana) del suo tempo, pp. 209-251; S. Pivato, Don Bosco e la
«cultura popolare», pp. 253-287; G. Rosoli, Impegno missionario e assistenza religiosa agli emigranti
nella visione e nell’opera di don Bosco e dei Salesiani, pp. 289-329].
Éducation et pédagogie chez don Bosco. Colloque interuniversitaire – Lyon, 4-7 avril 1988. Paris,
Éditions Fleurus 1989, 347 p. [In particular F. Desramaut, Jean Bosco éducateur, pp. 23-55; G.
Avanzini, La pédagogie de saint Jean Bosco en son siècle, pp. 55-93; J. Scheppens, Les structures de
pensée, notamment théologiques, sous-jacentes à la pratique pédagogique de don Bosco, pp. 135-163].
Endres N., Don Bosco Erzieher und Psychologe. München, Don Bosco Verlag 1966 (I ed. 1951, II ed.
1961), 147 p.
Fascie B., Del metodo educativo di don Bosco. Turin, SEI 1929, 115 p.
Fischer K. G., Giovanni Bosco: Pädagogik der Vorsorge. Paderborn, Schöningh Verlag 1966, 214 p.
Lemoyne G. B., Vita del venerabile servo di Dio Giovanni Bosco fondatore della pia società
salesiana... Turin, Libreria Editrice Internazionale «Buona stampa» 1911, vol I, 655 p.; 1913, vol II,
736 p.
Leoncio Da Silva C., Il sistema pedagogico di don Bosco. Notes for use by students at the seminar on
pedagogy, academic year 1939-1940, Faculty of Philosophy at the Pontificio Ateneo Salesiano, Turin,
E. Gili 1940. 104 p.
Milanesi G., Sistema preventivo e prevenzione in don Bosco, in Don Bosco, Ispirazioni, proposte,
strategie educative. Leumann-Turin, Elle Di Ci 1989, pp. 33-62.
Morano C., San Giovanni Bosco e la sua pedagogia. Dissertation at the Faculty of Teaching,
University of Turin, academic year 1940-1941. Turin, L.I.C.E. R. Berruti 1941, 112 p.
Pensiero e prassi di don Bosco. Nel 1 centenario della morte (31 gennaio 1888-1988), in
«Salesianum» 50 (1988) 5-214. [In particular: J. Schepens, L’activité littéraire de don Bosco au sujet

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de la pénitence et de l’eucharistie, pp. 9-50.]
Prellezzo J. M., Valdocco nell’Ottocento tra reale e ideale. Documenti e testimonianze (1868-1889).
Rome, LAS 1992, 336 p.
Motto F., La figura del superiore salesiano nelle Costituzioni della Società di S. Francesco di Sales
del 1860. Testi, fonti, interpretazioni, RSS 2 (1983) 3-53.
Ricaldone P., Don Bosco educatore, 2 voll. Colle Don Bosco (Asti), Libr. Dottrina Cristiana 1951-
1952, XXIV-720, XX-497 p. At the end of the second volume there is a more complete bibliography
for its time, relating to Gli scritti editi di don Bosco (pp. 631-650) and to Scritti su don Bosco (pp. 651-
705), including international works.
San Francesco di Sales e i Salesiani di Don Bosco, ed. J. Picca and J Struś. Rome, LAS 1986, 342 p.
Schepens J., Human nature in the educational outlook of St John Bosco, RSS 8 (1988) 263-287.
Schepens J., «La forza della buona educazione». Étude d’un écrit de don Bosco, in J. M. Prellezzo
(Ed.), L’impegno dell’educare, Rome, LAS 1991, pp. 417-433.
Stella P., I valori spirituali nel «Giuvane provveduto» di san Giovanni Bosco, Rome, [PAS] 1960, 131
p.
Stella P., Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol I. Vita e opere. Zürich, PAS-Verlag
1968 (II ediz Rome, LAS, 1979), 303 p.; vol II Mentalità religiosa e spiritualità. Zürich, PAS-Verlag,
1969 (II ediz. Rome, LAS 1981, 585 p.); vol III La canonizzazione (1888-1934). Rome, LAS 1988, 310
p.
Stella P., Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale (1815-1870). Rome, LAS 1980, 653 p.
Stella P., Juan Bosco en la historia de la educación. Madrid Editorial CCS 1996, 284 p.
Stickler G. Dalla perdita del padre a un progetto di paternità. Studio sulla evoluzione psicologica
della personalità di don Bosco, in «Rivista di Scienze dell’Educazione» 25 (1987) 337-375.
Torino e Don Bosco, ed. Giuseppe Bracco, 3 vol. Turin, City Historical Archives 1989, 378, 171 p.
(illustrations) + documents (maps, plans).
Valentini E., La spiritualità di don Bosco, in «Salesianum» 14 (1952) 129-152.
Valentini E., La direzione spirituale dei giovani nel pensiero di D. Bosco, in «Salesianum» 14 (1952)
343-383.
Valentini E., La pedagogia eucaristica di S. Giovanni Bosco, in «Salesianum» 14 (1952) 508-621.
Valentini E., Don Bosco restauratore del sistema preventivo, in «Rivista di Pedagogia e di Scienze
Religiose» 7 (1969) 285-301.
Weinschenk R., Grundlagen der Pädagogik Don Boscos. München, Don Bosco Veralg 1987 (1 ed.
1980), 240 p.
8. Contributions to innovation
Arimpoor J. Panorama of Youth poverty and emargination in Asia and the Pacific, in Emarginazione
giovanile e pedagogia salesiana. Turin (Leumann), Elle Di Ci 1987, pp. 307-326.
Caliman G. La strada come punto di partenza. Un modello interpretativo di intervento educativo per
ragazzi di strada, in «Orientamenti Pedagogici» 45 (1998) 309-356.
Caviglia P., Don Bosco: un maestro per una «nuova educazione». Riflessioni sulla Lettera Iuvenum
Patris di Giovanni Paolo II, in «Rivista di Scienze dell’Educazione» 26 (1988) 309-356.
Dalcerri L., Un fecondo innesto della pedagogia di don Bosco nell’azione educativa di madre Emilia
Mosca. Rome, Istituto FMA 1977, 220 p.
Donna e umanizzazione della cultura alle soglie del terzo millennio. La via dell’educazione. Convegno
di studio interdisciplinare e interculturale – Collevalenza (Perugia), 1-10 ottobre 1997. Ed. E. Rosanna.
Rome, LAS 1998, 634 [In particular: P. Braido, «Prevenire» ieri e oggi con don Bosco. Il significato

30 Pages 291-300

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storico e le potenzialità permanenti del messaggio, pp. 273-325; P. Caviglia, La proposta di
educazione preventiva delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice. Eredità e prospettive, pp. 327-371; Y. Ne B.
Kim, Il sistema preventivo in contesti non cristiani, pp. 427-440].
Don Bosco educatore oggi. Convegno di aggiornamento sul «sistema preventivo» - Rome, September
1960. Zürich, PAS-Verlag 1963 (1 ed. 1960), 281 p.
Franta H., Relazioni interpersonali e amorevolezza nella comunità educativa salesiana, in R.
Giannatelli (Ed.), Progettare l’educazione oggi con don Bosco. Rome, LAS 1981, pp. 19-40.
Franta H., L’«assistenza» dell’insegnante come presenza attiva nelle situazioni sociali e di
rendimento. Lineamenti per una pedagogia preventiva, in J. M. Prellezzo (Ed.) L’impegno
dell’educare. Rome, LAS 1991, pp. 493-504.
Gatti G., Educazione alla sessualità e dell’amore, in R. Giannatelli (Ed.), Progettare l’educazione
oggi con don Bosco. Rome, LAS 1981, pp. 125-151.
Heimler A., I disturbi strutturali dell’io, problema centrale per la comprensione, trattamento e
prevenzione del comportamento deviante marginale, in Emarginazione giovanile e pedagogia
salesiana. Turin (Leumann), LDC 1987, pp. 36-55.
Hess J. R., O amor em dom Bosco e em Rogers. Santa Rosa, Facultade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras
Dom Bosco 1979, 180 p.
Karotemprel S. (Ed.), Don Bosco’s Charism and Asian Culture. Studies towards an Interpretation of
Don Bosco’s Charism for Asia. Dimpaur, India, Salesian College Publications 1988, 233 p.
Kim Ne Y. B., Verso un progetto di educazione integrale ispirato al «sistema preventivo» di don Bosco
per i contesti non cristiani, in Rivista di Scienze dell’Educazione» 29 (1991) 303-327.
Mazzarello M. L. (Ed.), Sulle frontiere dell’educazione. Maddalena Morano in Sicilia (1881-1908).
Rome, LAS 1996, 224 p.
Milanesi G., Un nuovo concetto di prevenzione: una riflessione sociologica, in Emarginazione
giovanile e pedagogia salesiana, pp. 219-239.
Milanesi G., Prévention et marginalisation chez don Bosco et dans la pédagogie contemporaine, in
Éducation et pédagogie chez don Bosco. Colloque interuniversitaire, Lyon, 4-7 avril 1988. Paris.
Éditions Fleurus 1989, pp. 195-226.
Peretti A. de, La pédagogie de don Bosco et la modernité. Colloque interuniversitaire, Lyon..., pp. 315-
327.
Petitclerc J. M., Come valutare un’azione educativa in favore di giovani emarginati, in Emarginazione
giovanile e pedagogia salesiana, pp. 56-77.
Progettare l’educazione oggi con don Bosco. Study Seminar, Rome June 1-7, 1980, ed. R. Giannatelli,
Rome, LAS 1981 344 p.
Ricca D. (Ed.), Ripartire dalla strada. La presenza salesiana accanto ai minori in difficoltà, ai
tossicodipendenti, agli immigrati. Turin, SEI 1997, XII-356 p.
Rodriguez J., El muchacho de la calle: ¿Educación vs. marginalidad o marginalidad vs. educación?,
in Emarginazione giovanile e pedagogia salesiana, pp. 159-191.
Il sistema educativa di don Bosco tra pedagogia antica e nuova. Acts of the European Salesian
Convention on Don Bosco’s Preventive System. Turin-Leumann 1974, 320 p. [In particular: P. Braido,
Le proposte metodologiche principali del «sistema preventivo» di don Bosco, pp. 38-85; P. Scilligo,
Dimensione comunitaria dell’educazione salesiana, pp. 86-103; G. Dho, L’assistenza come «presenza»
e rapporto personale, pp. 104-125; L. Calonghi, Il sistema preventivo di don Bosco nella scuola, pp.
170-208; R. Tonelli, Il sistema preventivo di don Bosco nelle associazioni e nei centri giovanili, pp.
248-278].
Il sistema preventivo e l’educazione dei giovani, ed. C. Nanni. Roma, LAS 1989, 142 p.
Il sistema preventivo verso il terzo millennio. Acts of the 18th Salesian Family Spirituality Week –

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Rome, January 26-29, 1995, ed. A. Martinelli and G. Cherubin. Rome, Editrice SDB 1995 [In
particular: P. Braido, La prassi di don Bosco e il sistema preventivo. L’orizzonte storico, pp. 119-177; P.
Caviglia, Riattualizzare o rinnovare il metodo educativo di don Bosco? Un contributo alla riflessione.
pp. 179-220]
Thévenot X., Don Bosco éducateur et le système préventif. Un examen memé à partir de
l’anthropologie psychanalytique, in Éducation et pédagogie chez don Bosco. Colloque
interuniversitaire, Lyon..., pp. 95-113.
Thévenot X., L’affectivité en éducation, in Éducation et pédagogie chez don Bosco. Colloque
interuniversitaire, Lyon..., pp. 233-254.
Thévenot X., Le système préventif face au pluralisme des croyances, in Éduquer à la suite de don
Bosco, under direction of X. Thévenot. Paris, Cerf/Desclée de Brouwer 1996, pp. 155-172.