
January 31 + Saint John Bosco
John Bosco was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, educator and writer of the 19th century. While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment, a method that became known as the Salesian Preventive System.
John’s theory of education was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings that removed the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.
A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of Saint Francis de Sales, John was an ardent devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He later dedicated his works to Francis when he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco. Together with Maria Domenica Mazzarello, he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a religious congregation of nuns dedicated to the care and education of poor girls. He taught Dominic Savio, of whom he wrote a biography that helped the young boy be canonized.
After serving as chaplain in a hospice for girls, John opened the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys — shoemaking and tailoring. Within a few years, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. His interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers.
John educated the whole person — body and soul united. He believed that Christ’s love and our faith in that love should pervade everything we do — work, study, play. For John, being a Christian was a full-time effort, not a once-a-week, Mass-on-Sunday experience.
John died in the early hours of January 31, 1888 after conveying a message: “Tell the boys that I shall be waiting for them all in Paradise.” John is the Patron Saint of Christian apprentices, editors, publishers, schoolchildren, young people and juvenile delinquents.
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