Adopting the Name "Salesian"

January 26, 1854: “From that evening we adopted the name Salesian”

(ANS – Rome – January 26, 2022) – When walking by the exterior balcony, one enters the little room in Valdocco that Don Bosco lived in from 1853 to 1861, later the antechamber of the room where he lived until the end of his life. So one retraces the same journey that on the evening of January 26, 1854, Michael Rua and John Cagliero, both 16 years old, made, and with them Joseph Rocchietti, 17, and James Artiglia, the youngest, 15.

What happened was written by Michael Rua in a notebook that is now in that same room, one of the most precious mementos of the Don Bosco House Museum. If you see it once, you will never forget it, because of its size: 10 cm by 5 cm, a little bigger than a matchbox. It is made of a few pages, but only the first one was used by Michael, who, with the beautiful handwriting that always distinguishes him, has handed down this memory:

“On the evening of January 26, 1854, we gathered in Don Bosco’s room; with Don Bosco himself, Rocchietti, Artiglia, Cagliero, and Rua. A practical exercise of charity toward one’s neighbor, with the help of the Lord and of St. Francis de Sales, was proposed to us; and later to take a promise, if it seems possible and convenient, to make a vow to the Lord. From that evening the name Salesian was placed on those ready to do the same.”

This minute document is like a baptismal certificate: from that evening the name SALESIANS was given. It is very beautiful to remember that humble beginning, extraordinarily fruitful, in the year in which we celebrate the fourth centennial of the death of St. Francis de Sales. He has been with us from the very beginning. Thirteen years earlier, John Bosco, a deacon, had already chosen him as a model to imitate. He wrote in his resolutions in preparation for priestly ordination: “May the charity and gentleness of St. Francis de Sales guide me at all times.” With the “trial of the practical exercise of charity towards one’s neighbor” begun that evening, 168 years ago, St. Francis de Sales enters his name into all who will continue to do charity toward their neighbor, as Don Bosco lived it, their reason for living.

Last year, one of the video-seeds for the diffusion of “Young Salesians and Accompaniment - Orientations and Guidelines” was made in those rooms. It’s three minutes long, and it’s worth watching again: a simple glance at the “team” of young Salesians who collaborated to make that video in 5 languages: (from left to right) Kenneth from Nigeria; Brandon from Guatemala; Giorgio, Orazio, Silvio, from Italy; Jean Paul from Congo; Felix from India; Anselmo from Brazil - already tells us how that small seed has become big and continues to grow.

Don Bosco saw far ahead and could not have used a more appropriate name to help us grow in the practical exercise of charity toward our neighbor, with the gentleness of Francis de Sales as he interpreted and lived it, from those early days of the Valdocco Oratory.

The video made in Don Bosco’s rooms at Valdocco: ”Accompanying the first steps like Don Bosco.”