St John Bosco by Olivia Aitken https://padlet.com/21aitko/6vmksvcgf78m Olivia Aitken en-us 2018-05-22 01:46:08 UTC 2018-07-23 12:06:09 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/File.png About John Bosco 21aitko https://padlet.com/21aitko/6vmksvcgf78m/wish/267149255 His father, Francis died only 2 years after John Bosco’s birth. When he was 9 years old, he had his first dream that would significantly influence his life, sending him messages about helping young people, particularly vulnerable boys. Developed an interest in the circus and used this opportunity and interest to get to know young boys and deliver sermons to them at the end of the shows.
This influenced his decision to become a Priest. In 1841: ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. While working in Turin, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. In 1859 he founded the Salesian Society - now the third largest Catholic religious order in the world. The Society was named after St. Francis de Sales who was known for his kindness and gentleness, a trait which Don Bosco wanted his Salesians to acquire. By the 1860’s, he and his mother were responsible for finding housing for 800 disadvantaged boys. 
]]> 2018-06-14 07:01:39 UTC https://padlet.com/21aitko/6vmksvcgf78m/wish/267149255 More Information 21aitko https://padlet.com/21aitko/6vmksvcgf78m/wish/267711381 Francis died only two years after John's birth, leaving Margaret to raise three boys by herself.  She taught them that they each needed to carry his weight and help with the keep of their home and farm.  There were house chores to do, firewood to cut and gather, fields to plow, and crops to tend. Little John and his older brother Joseph, supervised by their stepbrother Anthony, tackled the endless work with energy.  Margaret taught them that work was a privilege and that joy would make the work lighter. She was a woman of character and tenderness. All who knew her called her Mama Margaret. Fathomless was the love she showed her sons, not in coddling words but in deeds; innumerable were the lessons in upright living, Christian fortitude, and fear of God, which she taught by her example. A pillar of goodness, she stood before them as sturdy as the very Alps.  At her knee John first heard the voice of the Master calling him to a special assignment.  It was a low insistent voice, an urge that once in a while manifested itself in a sudden outburst, like the time Margaret and John were walking along the countryside and met one of the local priests.]]> 2018-06-19 01:46:27 UTC https://padlet.com/21aitko/6vmksvcgf78m/wish/267711381 Writings 21aitko https://padlet.com/21aitko/6vmksvcgf78m/wish/267868128 On June 5, 1841, John was ordained to the priesthood in Turin.  He celebrated his first Mass the next day in the church of St. Francis of Assisi.  "During my first Mass," he said, "I asked for the gift of efficacy of speech, and I think I got it!
With ordination came the release of a powerful spiritual energy, which, joined to his rare human gifts, was calculated to exert a lasting influence on modern youth.
The beautiful Lady of his dreams was not slow in showing Don Bosco (Don is the title given to priests in Italy) just what she expected him to do.  On the feast of Mary Immaculate, December 8, 1841, the first sign came.  While vesting for Mass, the priest heard the sacristan shrieking at a poor young boy who had sneaked into the church to get warm.  "Here, call the boy back," cried Don Bosco, "he's my friend!"  The boy came over to Don Bosco.

Don Bosco asked, "What is your Name?"
"Bartholomew Garelli" the boy answered.
"How old are you Bartholomew?"
"Sixteen," answered the boy.
"Can you serve Mass?"
"No."
"What do you do?"
"I'm a bricklayer," he responded, head lowered.
"Your mother and father..." Don Bosco continued.
"I'm alone," the boy responded sadly.
"Can you whistle?" Don Bosco broke in.
"Of course I can whistle!" exclaimed Bartholomew laughing.

And that friendship, struck up on the spur of the moment, began Don Bosco's worldwide ministry to bring young people to God.  He told Bartholomew to stay for Mass.

]]> 2018-06-19 23:43:39 UTC https://padlet.com/21aitko/6vmksvcgf78m/wish/267868128 21aitko https://padlet.com/21aitko/6vmksvcgf78m/wish/267868844 In the 1840s the slums of Turin were overrun by the poverty that resulted inevitably from sweatshop factories with their hazardous machinery, child labor, and starvation wages.  Walking through these slums, Don Bosco came face to face with his mission.  As he visited the prisons with Father Cafasso, the conviction of his vocation seemed to shout within him: "These boys are not bad.  Take care of them before they fall into crime--that is your task!"

With his heart full of trust in his Lady and his pockets empty, Don Bosco courageously took up the work.  From then on, it was only "Give me souls--the souls of young people.

Don Bosco called his weekly band of ragged young people "the Oratory," a term which to his mind suggested prayer and organized recreation.  In the beginning it was a floating thing, its membership growing daily in large proportions.  There was no one place to meet because in those troublesome times people were afraid of a large group of working boys and besides, who relishes the uproar of some 200 boys enjoying a day's freedom from the imprisonment of a factory.

Every Sunday they would meet in a different place, a city church, a cemetery chapel, or an empty lot.  Don Bosco would hear their confessions and say Mass for them.  An hour of religious instruction would follow, plain, simple talks coming from the heart and embodying the solid truths of the faith.  Then the priest would take his band of ragged boys into the country for an all-day outing of games.  A final talk would close the "Oratory day," and the tired bunch would trail into Turin, scattering to their homes along the way

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