Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Good Christians and Upright Citizens

Good Christians and Upright Citizens


Each year the successor of St. John Bosco as rector major of the Salesians and head of the Salesian Family worldwide designates a theme (strenna in Italian, aguinaldo in Spanish) for the year.  This is a custom that goes back to the early years of Don Bosco's ministry to the young people of Turin.

In recent years the rector major has been announcing the strenna for the year to come in July, usually with a short explanation.  For 2020 the theme is "Good Christians and Upright Citizens," a frequent statement of St. John Bosco regarding the goals of his program of formation for the young.  Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, rector major, offered this presentation last July:  https://donboscosalesianportal.org/wp-content/uploads/Strenna-2020-outline.pdf

In the contentious years of Italy's revolutionary political unification, Don Bosco also referred to his program as practicing the "politics of the Our Father."  This forms a subtitle for the 2020 Strenna: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

In recent days he gave a fuller commentary at the generalate of the Salesian Sisters in Rome--which is the annual custom.  We're still waiting for a publication of that fuller commentary.  But a video on the strenna was released on Dec. 27: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC_-LLGAf4k&feature=youtu.be

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