The 1st Feast of St. John Bosco in Vanuatu
Don Bosco works miracles in Oceania
(ANS – Port Vila, Vanuatu – February 2, 2026) – The first Salesians arrived in Port Vila on 13 December 13, 2025. On December 18, they settled into their temporary residence, with the aim of understanding the pastoral context and local culture and, over time, preparing a Salesian project capable of responding to the situation of young people in this country, the most recent to welcome Bosco’s Salesians, the 137th[1] overall in the world.
Being new, the Salesian pioneers had
planned to celebrate the feast of Don Bosco in a simple way, together with just
the clergy and religious. Unexpectedly, however, it was the parishioners
themselves who approached the Salesians, asking to learn more about Don Bosco.
Accepting the invitation of the parishioners, the novena Mass was celebrated in
the main church and, in the afternoon, the Salesians, together with the parish
leaders, visited the nine communities, bringing with them a picture and a relic
of Don Bosco.
The visit included a brief presentation of
Don Bosco’s life, an explanation of the meaning of the relic, the Rosary with
the possibility of confessions, and finally a moment of pastoral exchange
during which the local communities expressed their spiritual needs and desires,
while the Salesians explained how they could walk together.
Unexpectedly, during the novena, it was Don
Bosco himself who performed miracles. “The way people venerate the relic with
great devotion and prayer was something that moved us all. Local communities
flocked in large numbers to welcome ‘Don Bosco’s visit’, and many approached us
for confession after 5 or even 10 years!” testified one of the missionary
pioneers.
During the same novena, a teacher from the
Catholic school approached Salesian Bro. Paulus Bataona, telling him that he
wanted to become a Salesian. “I explained to him that, being married, he could
become a Salesian Cooperator,” says Bro. Bataona, “and he replied: “Yes, I want
to become one! In recent days, I have already searched for information on the
internet and I understand quite well who a Salesian Cooperator is!”
“It was a pleasant surprise,” continued the
Salesian, “because none of us had talked about the Cooperators; in fact, we
thought it was still too early to talk about the Cooperators, even though we
had already begun to spread devotion to Mary Help of Christians and were also
open to the possibility of the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA).
But Don Bosco has gone ahead of us,” Bro. Bataona explains.
When the teacher then approached Fr. Alfred
Maravilla, the director of the mission, expressing the same desire, he told him
that a formation program could begin once the minimum number of four candidates
had been reached. “In that case, Father, we can start right away, because I
already have 4 adults who, like me, want to become Cooperators too!”
“We are deeply touched to see how Don Bosco
is truly helping us to realize his dream in Oceania,” exclaimed Fr. Maravilla.
During the feast of Don Bosco, the small
village church was packed with faithful for Mass presided over by the chancellor
of the diocese of Port Vila, as the bishop was out of the country.
“We were really touched by how the people
prepared practically everything: the celebration, the lunch according to
Vanuatu tradition, the program, and the logistics,” observed Fr. Moïse Paluku,
the 3d member of this 1st Salesian community in the Melanesian archipelago. We
really have no words to express our joy at seeing how the first feast of Don
Bosco resonated in the hearts of the people. They themselves said it publicly: “From
now on, this is our ‘Don Bosco Day’!”
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