(ANS – Rome – December 18) – In Don Bosco’s mind
there was no other idea but to give himself to God through young people.
Despite the few years of priesthood, he understood that “if we want to have a
good society we must concentrate all our efforts on educating young people
about Christianity. Experience has taught me that caring for young people is
the only way to achieve a sustainable civil society.” Thus, knowing he was
doing the will of God, Don Bosco founded the Salesian Congregation, and
December 18, 1859, can be considered as the official date of the founding of
the Society of St. Francis de Sales (BM 6:181).
The name given by the
founder was “Pia Società di San Francesco di Sales,” or the Pious Society of St.
Francis de Sales, and at its origins it counted 17 members besides Don Bosco: a
priest, 15 seminarians, and a student). The first Salesian coadjutor entered
the Congregation on February 22, 1860. The Church approved the Congregation on
July 23, 1864, and officially recognized its Constitutions and Regulations on
April 3, 1874.
Don Bosco gave the name “Salesians”
to the Congregation in honor of the holy bishop of Geneva, Francis de Sales
(1567-1622). On January 26, 1854, Don Bosco gathered the first four young men
who were proposing to “have ... an experience in the practical exercise of
charity with others” and “according to the words of Father Lemoyne, they took
the name of Salesians for the first time. Looking back, this event would
represent the first significant experience leading to the foundation of the
Congregation in 1859,” wrote Fr. Arthur Lenti.
After these significant
events, the Salesians inaugurated new presences: the first Salesian house
outside Turin was in Mirabello, opened in 1863; while the first house outside
Italy was in Nice, France, in 1875; the first center outside Europe was in
Argentina, where the Salesians arrived in the same year.
On this day, when we celebrate the anniversary of the Salesian
Congregation’s foundation, let us not forget the words of Fr. Angel Fernandez
Artime, the Rector Major: “The first great sensation is that God continues to
want Don Bosco’s charism for the good of the young people of world.”
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