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DON BOSCO EDUCATORE

PASCUAL CHÁVEZ VILLANUEVA

IT’S ABOUT THE BAD GUYS TREMBLING BEFORE THE GOOD

AND NOT THE GOOD TREMBLING BEFORE THE BAD

DON BOSCO RELATES

I was a lively and attentive boy who, with mum’s permission went to the various festivals where there were acrobats and magicians. I always put myself in the front row, eyes fixed on their movements with which they tried to distract the audience. Little by little I could see their tricks; returning home, I repeated them for hours. But often the moves did not produce the desired effect. It wasn’t easy to walk on that blessèd rope between two trees. How many tumbles, how many peeled knees! And how many times I was wanted to throw everything into the air ... Then I started again, sweaty, tired, sometimes even disappointed. Then, a little by little, I was able to get it together; I could feel the soles of my bare feet clinging to the rope; becoming one with my footsteps and I then did as I wanted, glad to repeat and to invent other movements. That's why, when I spoke to the boys, I said to them: "Let's hold on to easy things, but let's do it with perseverance." There you have it: my down-to-earth pedagogy, the result of so many victories and as many defeats, with the stubbornness that was one of my most marked characteristics.

That’s how my style came into being, to educate without using big words, without any great ideological schemes, without references to many famous authors. That was how my pedagogy was born: I learned on the meadows of the Becchi, later on the streets of Chieri, later still in prisons, in the streets, in the alleys of Valdocco. A pedagogy built in a courtyard.

I dared to prove it a few years later when I went to Chieri to continue my studies and was accepted by the teacher, in front of the whole class, with a not very exciting sentence: "This is a guy or a large mole or a great talent". It made me feel awkward in the extreme; I remember coping with these words: "That’s something beyond the pale, Sir: I am a poor young man who wants to do his duty and progress in studies".

Then there was that blessed dream when I was 9-10 years old (the dream which was repeated many more times!) that I would get hammered, and the desire to become a priest for the boys became stronger ... And then I did something that didn’t make a genius of me, but in fact, achieved a beautiful victory in my character, a real breakthrough; i.e., stretch out your hand to ask for help, something just to realise my dream. I would admit a little later to a Salesian: "You don't know how much this begging cost me". With my proud temperament, it was certainly not easy to be humble enough to ask. My courage was empowered by a high level of trust in Providence; and also what I had learned from my mother. At her school I had learned one rule that led me everywhere: "When I encounter a problem, treat it as if I found the road ahead blocked by a big boulder; if I can't remove it, I just turn around."

And I assure you: I found many large boulders on my path. I shall briefly mention some of them:

1860, for example, was a typically difficult year. Fr Cafasso, my friend, confessor and spiritual director had died,: how much I missed his presence, his advice and his help with finances.

Then, from the Government side, I encountered serious difficulties, authentic "boulders": targeted searches which were disastrous to Valdocco, as if I were a criminal! My boys were living in fear, while armed guards entered every where. The searches continued, creating a climate of fear and uncertainty. I wrote to the Minister of the Interior, Louis Farini, for an interview. I had the guts to tell him with humble determination: "For my kids I demand justice and restoration of honour so that they don't lack the bread of life". I know that he took a great risk because these men were an anticlerical Government, but I didn’t lack the necessary courage. And so gradually the searches stopped.

I never gave up! I said to the boys: "The courage of the bad guys is not what makes others afraid. Be brave and you'll see them fold their wings". A French benefactor from Lyon had sent me a holy picture with a phrase I have never forgotten because it served as a guide: "Be with God like the sparrow that feels the branch shake but still continues to sing, knowing that it has wings". It wasn't just a poetic expression, but an act of courageous confidence in the Providence of the Lord, because He alone "is the master of our hearts".

When they were about to leave for their holidays, I used to say this to my kids: "Be men and not branches! Lift your head high, walk straight in the service of God, within the family and outside, in the Church and in the square. What is human respect? A papermachè monster that does not bite. What are the impertinent words of these bad guys? Soap-bubbles that disappear in an instant. We cannot cure adversaries and their taunts. Remember that knowledge without conscience is nothing but the ruin of the soul.”

I never got tired of instilling into their little heads: "Give glory to God with your conduct, consolation to your relatives and your superiors. Otherwise a young, undisciplined ‘lazybones’, will be a disgraceful youth, a burden to his parents, a weight to his superiors, and a weight for himself".

The future would arise from Valdocco, "good citizens and honest Christians" of which the world has much need.