KEY CONCEPTS 1: CONCERNS AND FEARS OF A FOUNDER
Material drawn in substance from Arthur Lenti’s article with similar title in JSS Vol VII, N. 1
Don Bosco as father and founder of the Salesians had much more to say about some of the issues on which he felt deeply than are to be found in Memoirs of the Oratory or the Biogrpahical Memoirs. We know that the original biographers and Salesian reporters drew on other material but this has been almost completely non-existent in English.
For our purposes, therefore, we can be eternally grateful to Fr. Arthur Lenti of the Institute of Salesian Spirituality in Berkeley for his work on these other sources, which means that besides his comments we also have large tracts of text somewhat critically translated into English. You have many of these now in your possession.
Given that most of these texts were either addressed to rectors or drawn up in the context of meetings largely made up of Rectors, they are especially of interest to us. And I am convinced that they help us to gain a helpful perspective on the demands we have to face up to in our own time.
Effectively we are dealing with minutes of the Superior Chapter from 1875 to 1886, Minutes of the Alassio General Conferences which occurred over the period of 1865 to 1877, and minutes of GC II and III.
RELIGIOUS LIFE AND DISCIPLINE
In the decade 1875-1885, Don Bosco seemed more than usually concerned with these issues, and the 2nd GC in 1880, mid-way through the decade, contains major statements on the subject. The majority of participants were rectors.
1879 Alassio Conference, Don Bosco speaks urgently on the topic:
Our job is to perfect…..
After 1875 Don Bosco entered a period of reflection in which he produced major statements on the life and spirit of the Society. Memoirs of the Oratory is one such, little treatise on the Preventive System another, the Letter from Rome a third and so on.
Is there also something in the fact that his conflict with Archbishop Gastaldi was at its height in this period? Gastaldi’s main concern was that Salesian formation was too free – was it now bearing the fruits of that freedom?
Let’s take up some of the issues.
Religious obedience.
GC II session 2, Don Bosco touches on important issues beginning with obedience:
‘ Among the many concerns of this Chapter…’
Don Bosco had reflected on and spoken about religious obedience long before the Chapter, and after it. In 1858 he had accepted Pius IX’s view that religious vows had to be one of two main pillars of his new congregation: ‘Don’t be content with simple promises, for in that case the link […] between superiors and subjects would not be adequate. You could never be sure of them, nor could you count on them for any length of time’.
Obedience is clearly singled out as a basic factor in the bond and certainly that’s how Don Bosco understood it. This may explain Don Bosco’s ordering of obedience, poverty and chastity. As can easily be shown, practical charity was the goal of religious life for Don Bosco. The vows were the means to this end. Poverty and chastity indicate religious consecration, obedience bound the confrere to the superior=community for the work of charity. This finally becomes the means of personal holiness.
At the beginning of GCII Don Bosco lamented the lack of obedience which, in his view threatened the primary purpose of the Society, the exercise of practical charity.
A year later we have the dream of the ten diamonds.
Don Bosco’s concern that Salesians, rectors and perhaps even his closest associates took a cavalier attitude toward obedience to superiors, distressed him. In session 3 he took it up again:
‘Don Bosco again takes the opportunity to speak on obedience…’
Don Bosco asked that practice of obedience be part of the rector’s fortnightly conferences. The manifestation was today’s friendly chat, and Don Bosco was in debate with Rome, a debate he lost, about the extent of it. At base, though, Don Bosc wanted total trust, and this stemmed from his concept of religious obedience. If a confrere, consecrated in poverty and chastity, is to be totally available for the community’s work of charity, then it helps for the superior to know exactly and profoundly what makes him tick.
Helpful reflections for us here, I think on the real reason for the friendly chat.:
‘All confreres should regard their rector…’
It is about unity of direction for the purpose of the mission….not a private psych or spiritual session.
Don Bosco’s concept of religious authority
Don Bosco had a specific understanding of the chain of command based on the principle of unity. Provinces were not about decentralisation but about facilitating government and administration. His view remains one of a unified, centralised, pyramidal concept of the Salesian Society.:
‘The confreres assigned to the various houses of the Congregation take orders….’
In the 9th session he again insists that ‘command [..] is vested in one person alone. He wants everything centred on rectors, rectors to have understandings with provincials who have understandings with the Rector Major.
Charity and gentleness towards pupils
The Salesian educational method was at stake here. It always required uncommon dedication and not a few skills. Don Bosco lamented a breakdown in the gentle spirit of St. Francis de Sales, and in the educator-pupil relationship:
‘We must also make a joint effort and find ways of cultivating ..’
In accepting schools and works, Don Bosco used insist that the Salesian educational programme and method not be interfered with in any way. Premises or financial administration could be done by others but not Salesian education:
‘The present administration will have control over…’
The Letter on punishments 1883 may be an expression of Don Bosco’s real concerns in this area, along with the Letter from Rome 1884, Don Bosco’s last extended statement on his educational philosophy.
Don Bosco spoke on this at GC III:
‘With regard to the administration of punishment…’
Fostering vocations through charity, good morals and other means
The spirit of St. francis of Sales was not just something to be practised between educator-pupil but also amongst Salesians – this would make them vocationally attractive. He spoke at length on this point:
‘Vocations have been declining…’
Remember that recruiting vocations to the priesthood in general and to the Salesians in particular was one of Don Bosco’s important concerns. The 1860’s expansion of Salesian work in terms of the boarding school was chiefly for this purpose. We can note a shift from ‘poor and abandoned’ to the acceptance of boys of good moral character in whom the ideal of a vocation could be developed. Don Bosco deplored the situation in society generally and that of sexual licence, noting that the boarding schools could hardly be immune from this:
‘A good moral life is the foundation of a vocation…’
In the period preceding GC II vocations promotion appears to have been often on Don Bosco’s mind. He discussed it in the Alassio Conference too, emphasizing the role of the sacraments and of the confessor.
‘Basic to the development of…’
He further expounded on the subject in GC II emphasizing the role of a good moral life:
‘The Lord plants the seed of vocation…’ then good advice on how to go about the task of promoting: ‘we must not tell the young man….’
Working for the young in need: our spirituality and a means of survival of the Congregation.
The exercise of pastoral charity is the Salesian way of spiritual life and in practical terms it will secure the goodwill of all types of people, especially if we are found working for poor and homeless children:
‘Let us therefore work hard…’
The priority of pastoral charity in Salesian spirituality was one of Don Bosco’s most rooted convictions. His Society, in its very earliest wording, according to Rua’s version was ‘an experiment in the practical exercise of charity toward neighbour, in order eventually to make a promise, and later if possible and appropriate, a vow of it to the Lord’. Don Bosco proposed the imitation of Christ the Good Shepherd. (Preamble and art. 1 of chapter on purpose of the society). In Don Bosco’s earliest wording, holiness is expressed through the exercise of charity.(eventually gets changed by others to a coordination of various purposes). He didn’t alter his conviction – cf Savio biography: The first piece of advice he was given for achieving holiness was that he should endeavour to win souls to God; because there is no holier work in this world than that of contributing to the salvation of souls…’
In the Cenno Istorico Q-A approach …is your aim the good of neighbour or that of its members? The answer is: …the spiritual advancement of its members through the exercise of charity toward neighbour, especially toward poor young people.
We find the same in the Regulations for Salesian Cooperators:
…the main purpose of this Association is the active life and the exercise of charity toward neighbour especially toward young people at risk.
He adds to this the effect it has on people and the goodwill we can expect.:
‘As for schools…’
And finally, the issue of what people are reading – young Salesians, and the boys.
We have already noted elsewhere Don Bosco’s concept of ‘ritiratezza’ or ‘fuga mundi’ or renunciation of the world. In this light we should understand his concern about what people were reading. He wanted rectors to avoid praising books that may be good in part but somewhere objectionable in terms of faith or morals. He had produced his own library of Italian literature for young people, expurgated of course. And then wrote two circular letters, one on curbing unsuitable books and the other on spreading good books. We have to understand them in historical context but they give us much to think about today just the same.
The circular letter on spreading good books, written 1885, is a uniquely beautiful piece of writing almost poetic in style and inspiriation, It’s helpful to know that apart form his own long-term involvement in this area, Don Bosco’s response was also in response to the call of the Church at the onset of the liberal revolution. In 1848 the Bishops Conference in Piedmont called for ‘irreligion and immorality [to be countered with] good books so that the people may not need to have recourse to bad books to satisfy their desire to read’. Don Bosco’s response? ‘This is one of the most important apostolates entrusted to me by Divine Providence..’.
SUMMARY of main points and maybe a discussion of some of the implications for us now…
