John Michael Bosco Essay, Research Paper

One of the more recognizable saints in the Bible, Christianity’s

holiest teachings, is John the Beloved Apostle of Christ. He was

the chosen one of the twelve who would recieve Mary as his

Mother, and the only apostle to die a non-tragc death. Mary’s

beloved apostle in the 1800s was St. John Bosco, or Don Bosco as

he is familiarly called. Throughout his life, John was the

Blessed Mother’s instrument, he brought thousands upon thousands

to his Mother’s service, repaying them with the loving knowledge

of Christ and his Church. After dying his aura lives on in the

hundreds of Salesian Institutions throughout the world.

Born John Michael Bosco on August 16, 18151, he came into a

poor family. From birth he was endeared to the Virgin Mary by his

mother, whom we call Mama Margaret. Mama Margaret, Ochienna was

originally her name before marriage to Francesco Bosco, was a

pious woman who also knew how to lay down the law and keep he

sons, three of them, in line. John’s life was not ideal, his

father died at the early age of 34, on the seventeenth of May,

18172. He didn’t have a father after that day. From then on it

was a tough road, he had to work in the farms and also try to

foster a good education. But God always came first in the Bosco

home , in the early morning, the whole family was on its knees

praying In the fields, he sought to make the bad children good,

when his mother asked why, he said “Because when i am with them

they behave better.” Really, to teach them the Chatechism was his

only intention, and he would do it by performing for them.

In the fields he also had another problem, his older brother

Antonio, who derided him for wanting to learn, wanting to

succeed. He went to learn at his mother’s old school, becoming

half-farmer and half-school.boy. When he once admitted to his

friends that he wished to become a priest, he was formally

ridiculed once more. Not giving up he trudged onward. During his

years of study, he had a dream, one which led him to the Blessed

Mother. It was also in this dream that he had recieved the

calling to minister to children, to bring them where he was, with

God and the Virgin Mary. During all of his performences, John

made it the rule for the audience to pray the Rosary every time,

at the beginiing and the end or his show. On a Jublilee

pilgrimage, he astounded the priest with his knowledge and piety,

recounting sermons word for word and then giving their meanings.

Up until John Bosco was ordained priest on 5 June, 18413-the eve

of the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, in the private chapel of

the Archbishop of Turin. On the sixth, in that church of St.

Francis of Assisi which was to be the birthplace of his Oratory,

he said his first mass privately, with only Don Cafasso present.,

he never stopped reaching for his dream, and even after, he

reached yet harder still.

During his ministry, he always sought to remove the leprosy

of the soul from troubled boys, for as real leprosy can be cured

in time, spiritual leprosy only festers and grows with the

passage of time. Bartolomeo Garrelli was his first curing,

teaching the boy to read, write, sing , and pray, he thus started

his Oratory, or his place for prayer. Later Bart brought a dozen

of his friends to come and see the wonders that Bosco might have

done for them, which they accepted. He brought their souls out of

the preverbial blight, and into the splendor of God’s saving

warmth.

His oratory constantly moved, is was like “transplanting

cabbages” as he called it, the more you plant and replant them

, the bigger and sturdier the grow. So it was with that sermon

of his, that they sought their final, “transplant” site. It was a

farmhouse with dirt floors, which also came with a small shack.

The shack was to be used for their chapel Now four hundred

strong, they were called an army of derelicts by the townsfolk.

But John persevered, bulding his oratory, teaching trades and

religion. He spread the christian truths and catholic teachings

throughout Italy and later his sons and daughters will spread it

throughout the world. And his oratory did

grow, seen in the Salesian schools in North America and South

America, because of a dream, his dream that the Salesians would

civilize the natives, and the students of Don Bosco Prep are an

example, we’ve been civilized by the Salesian influence, for the

most part

His ministry to those outside of his oratory was also

profound. He helped people on their way to God, who in their

passing would find peace, serenity and everlasting life with the

Father, he took Penance from all; sometimes recieving divine

intervention in having it given, he built cities with the help of

God, cities in men’s sould which housed them evil, protected them

from sin. Mary was constantly on his side, she helped him build

the Basillica in Turin, she helped him select his boys for the

oratory, she helped him live through some of his most trying

tmes, and in the end it was her who brought him to God, and he

who will bring Us closer with her help.

His message was continued by many, most notably his first

successor, Blessed Michael Rua, who started in the fledling

oratory as one of Bosco’s own “cabbages.” It is also being

continued by hundreds upon thousands of Salesian brothers,

missionaries, sisters, lay people, and Salesian cooperators.

These people, hand-picked by the Blessed Mother themselves, are

now Bosco and the Blessed Mother’s instrument to show more boys

and girls the love and power of God. In addition to being Bosco’s

boys, and due to his friendship with the Pope, we are also Sons

of the Church who will strive to build it and continue fostering

the values we were taught in Bosco’s loving attitude.