don bosco

St John Bosco is remembered as a man who
dedicated his life to the service of abandoned
young people. Over 150 years ago he
challenged the way young people were treated in
the desperate poverty that existed at that time in
the city of Turin, Italy. He was driven by
first-hand experience of the effects of dreadful
poverty and hunger on the young people he
came across, he was determined to change their
condition. Others were inspired to follow him in
responding to the needs of the young. John
Bosco created an order in the Catholic Church,
called the Salesians. They were founded in the
poverty of a city we consider to be one of the
most prosperous in the world today.

Upon becoming a priest, Don Bosco realised how he needed to live out his vocation. The
Industrial Revolution was spreading into Northern Italy, there was a great deal of poverty,
desolation, turmoil and revolution on the streets of the city. Young people had been
abandoned and lived in hopelessness. They lived their awful lives whatever the cost to
themselves or others. He was shocked at the conditions they endured and the things they
did to enable them to eat, and to survive. This was the cost of the Industrial ‘improvement’
that would bring us all the high standards we have enjoyed this century. The cost of this
progress in human terms was unbearable. Don Bosco, the young priest, became
completely focussed on his vocation when he entered the prisons. He wrote: “To see so
many children, from 12 to 18 years of age, all healthy, strong, intelligent, lacking spiritual
and material food, was something that horrified me.” In the face of such a situation he
made his decision: “I must, by any available means, prevent children ending up here.” Don
Bosco now saw how his dream and the guidance it gave were needed. He knew a new
approach was required. He needed to show there were better ways for these healthy
intelligent young people to lead their lives.