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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE ENTRUSTMENT OF THE CHINA SALESIAN FAMILY AND ITS WORKS TO MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS BY DON LUIGI VERSIGLIA AND MONS. MICHELE ARDUINO
Exactly 90 years ago in Shiuchow, on Friday, October 24, 1919, in the poor chapel of the first missionary residence of the Salesians (San Tung Mun), Fr. Luigi Versiglia, together with a dozen other missionaries, solemnly entrusted the incipient Salesian mission to Mary Help of Christians, reciting the Prayer of Entrustment before a statue of Mary Help of Christians that had been solemnly enthroned the night before (Thursday, October 23, 1919). This Act of Entrustment itself had its own interesting historical background.
One year before, on June 9, 1918, in Turin, while World War I was still raging, the Rector Major Fr. Paolo Albera had commemorated with a solemn Mass the 50th Anniversary (Golden Jubilee) of the consecration of the Mary Help of Christians Church built by Don Bosco (1868). After the Mass, Fr. Paolo Albera had put a golden scepter, donated by the Salesian Cooperator Princess Czartoriski, in the hands of the holy image of Mary Help of Christians and had entrusted all Salesian works to her, using a Prayer of Entrustment composed by himself. A characteristic of this Prayer is that it takes into account not only the Salesians of Don Bosco, but also the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and the Salesian Cooperators, men and women. Even though at that time Salesians did not speak yet of “Salesian Family”, still the reality of the Salesian Family was already there. After the Act of Entrustment made in the name of all by the Rector Major Don Paolo Albera on June 9, all the Houses of the Salesians and of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and all the families of Cooperators all over the world were encouraged to entrust themselves to Mary Help of Christians using the same Prayer of Entrustment.
Only three days before, on June 6, 1918, in the same Church of Mary Help of Christians, Fr. Paolo Albera had conducted the first expedition of seven Salesian missionaries to the new Salesian mission of Shiuchow in China. The ceremony of the sending-out was presided over by the Venerable Bishop Luigi Olivares. The “Farewell Sermon” was preached by Cardinal Giovanni Cagliero. It was on that occasion, that Cardinal Cagliero told the Chinese missionaries: “What last word shall I give you in particular? The word that Don Bosco gave me and my companions at the first expedition of 1875: ‘Look for souls, not for money, or fame, or honors: Da mihi animas, coetera tolle! Take special care of the children, the poor, the aged, the sick, and you will gain the blessing of God and the good-will of men. Recommend and spread constantly the devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary Help of Christians, and you will see what miracles are’.”
The seven missionaries were: Fr. Sante Garelli, Fr. Vincenzo Barberis, Fr. Ernesto Cattaneo, Fr. Carlo Frigo, Fr. Bassano Lareno-Faccini, Fr. Gaetano Pasotti, and Br. Giovanni Gnavi. Before leaving Turin, these missionaries had taken part in the Golden Jubilee celebrations of June 9 and had brought with them the text of the Prayer of Entrustment to Mary Help of Christians written by the Rector Major Fr. Paolo Albera for the occasion. They also brought with them the beautiful statue of Mary Help of Christians that will be enthroned in the San Tung Mun chapel one year later. Six of the seven missionaries, accompanied by Fr. Luigi Versiglia, on October 17th, 1918 arrived in Shiuchow, where they were welcomed by Fr. Ludovic Olive. After a few months of study of Chinese, they scattered in the mission residences.
On August 9, 1919, a second group of nine missionaries was sent out to China by Fr. Paolo Albera. They were Fr. Giuseppe Colombo, Fr. Galdino Bardelli, Fr. Luigi Boccassino, Fr. Stefano Bosio, Fr. Carlo Braga, Fr. Giuseppe Cucchiara, Fr. Umberto Dalmasso, Fr. Bortolo Fochesato, and Fr. Beniamino Ronchi. They arrived in Macau on September 29th. While Fr. Boccassino and Fr. Ronchi remained in Macau, the others left for Shiuchow where they arrived on October 20th, 1919, welcomed by Fr. Giovanni Pedrazzini (Fr. Ludovic Olive had died just one month before on September 17th, the first Salesian to die in China). The evening of Thursday, October 23rd, the statue brought the year before by the first group of missionaries was solemnly enthroned by Fr. Luigi Versiglia in the little chapel. On Friday, October 24th, at 7:30 a.m. Fr. Versiglia celebrated the solemn votive Mass of Mary Help of Christians with the participation of all the missionaries. In the evening, after the Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament, all the missionaries recited the Prayer of Entrustment to Mary Help of Christians composed by the Rector Major Fr. Paolo Albera the year before.
On Sunday, October 26th, the Act of Entrustment was repeated with the participation of all the faithful. On Monday, October 27th, the new missionaries departed for their mission residence, each one coupled to a “veteran” missionary who had arrived the year before…
The history is not yet finished. Sixty years ago, in 1949, Mons. Michele Arduino, second successor of Mons. Luigi Versiglia as Bishop of Shiuchow, given the difficult times that had come upon the Salesian work in China, renewed together with his missionaries the entrustment of Salesian works to Mary Help of Christians, using the same formula used thirty years before by Fr. Luigi Versiglia and his missionaries.
(This historical material has been derived from the following publications: 1. Bollettino Salesiano, Periodico mensile dei Cooperatori di Don Bosco, Anno XLII, N. 6-7, giugno-luglio 1918, pp. 1-39. Also in http://www.sdb.org/bs/1918/191806.htm 2. Eugenio Ceria, Annali della Società Salesiana, Volume Quarto: Il Rettorato di Don Paolo Albera 1910-1921, Torino: Società Editrice Internazionale, 1951, Capo VI: Due centenari e due cinquantenari, pp. 73-92. 3. Michele Arduino, “La divozione a Maria Ausiliatrice in Cina”, in Accademia Mariana Salesiana, L’Ausiliatrice della Chiesa e del Papa. Relazioni commemorative per il cinquantenario dell’incoronazione di Maria “Auxilium Christianorum” nella sua Basilica in Torino 1903 – 17 maggio – 1953, Torino: Società Editrice Internazionale, 1953, pp. 271-274. 4. Mario Rassiga, Breve cenno storico sull’opera salesiana in Cina, Hong Kong: Aberdeen Technical School, 1973, Capo XII: Le Spedizioni Missionarie del 1918 e 1919, pp. 80-83).
