Manzini – Swaziland

50th anniversary of the arrival of the Salesians

14 August 2003

Luc Van Looy, sdb

1. An important subject on an important day

On this wonderful occasion of the 50 anniversary of the arrival of the Salesians in this country we do well giving a little attention to the inspiration don Bosco has had and the way he succeeded in developing it. In the world of education don Bosco is known for his “Preventive System” as a counterweight against the repressive system which often is used by parents and educators. The term “preventive” and “repressive” has been used before don Bosco in legislations of Belgium and France when determining the school-system. Politicians and educators were well acquainted with the terminology at the time of don Bosco, giving every one his own interpretation and content to it. Don Bosco in his way gave to the concept a particular pedagogical meaning. He made prevention into a system, not so much through the publication of studies about it, but by living the system himself with his collaborators. Finally, when urged by the Holy Father, he wrote a small pamphlet about the system explaining his own experience for the use of people who wanted to understand it better. ¹

Another document written by don Bosco is precious for the correct understanding of the preventive system, that is the letter from Rome, in which he recounts a dream he supposedly had in which past pupils of his questioned him about what was happening in those days in the oratory at Valdocco. ²

Looking only at the dates of these fundamental documents (don Bosco died in 1888) we can see that he did not so much describe the system, he preferred to live it, only towards the end of his life he wrote about it.

One famous educator, Father Duvallet, has this to say about the meaning of the system of don Bosco. When speaking to a group of Salesians he said: “ You have institutions, schools, oratories, homes for the young, but you have only one treasure: the pedagogy of don Bosco”³