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DON BOSCO

History and Spirit


ARTHUR J. LENTI

DON BOSCO: HISTORY AND SPIRIT Vol. 1

JOHN BOSCO’S FORMATIVE YEARS IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT Second Revised Edition (Edited by Aldo Giraudo)

LAS - ROME


© 2010 by LAS - Libreria Ateneo Salesiano Piazza dell’Ateneo Salesiano, 1 - 00139 ROMA Tel. 06 87290626 - Fax 06 87290629 - e-mail: [email protected] - http://las.unisal.it ISBN 978-88-213-0753-9 ––––––––––– Elaborazione elettronica: LAS Stampa: Tip. Abilgraph - Via P. Ottoboni 11 - Roma


CONTENTS

Basic English-Language Reading List xvii Chapter 1 From the French Revolutionto the Fall of Napoleon 1

French Revolution 2 The First Coalition 3 The Napoleonic Period: Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, Italian and Egyptian Campaigns 4 The Second Coalition (1799-1802) and Napoleon’s Coup d’État (1799) 5 Napoleon Crowned as Emperor of the French (1804), Napoleonic Wars (1804-1814) and

Third Coalition (1804-1805) 6 Fourth Coalition (1806-1807) 7 Peninsular War (1808-1814) and Fifth Coalition (1809-1814) 7 Napoleon’s Russian Campaign 8 Sixth Coalition (1813) and Fall of Napoleon (1814) 9 The Hundred Days 9 Closing Comment: Italy under Napoleon and the Napoleonic Legacy 10 Napoleon’s Ecclesiastical Policy 12 Appendices 14

Chapter 2 The Congress of Vienna,the Restorationin the Kingdom of Sardinia 19

The Congress of Vienna (September 1, 1814-June 9, 1815) 19 The Restoration in Italy 20 Metternich and Austrian Domination of Italy (1815-1848) 21 The Kingdom of Sardinia and the House of Savoy 23 Appendix 27

Chapter 3 The Land of Don Bosco’s Birth 31

Piedmont and Turin, Its Capital 31 Chieri and Castelnuovo 32 The Cascina and Sharecropping in Nineteenth-Century Piedmont 34 Land and Crops 35

Chapter 4 John Melchior Bosco’sBirth and Family 37

The Boscos and Their Social Status 37


vi Contents

Francis Louis Bosco and Family 39 Date of John Melchior Bosco’s Birth and Baptism 39 Death of Francis Louis Bosco 41 Don Bosco’s Birthplace 42 Recent Discussion on the Subject of Don Bosco’s Birthplace 43 The Little House of Becchi 45 Francis Louis Bosco’s Situation 46 Margaret Bosco’s Situation after Her Husband’s Death 47 Conclusion 50 Appendix 52

Chapter 5 General Overview of Sources 53

I. General Overview 54 Archives 54 Don Bosco as Source 54 Early Salesians as Sources 55 Depositions of Witnesses at the Processes of Don Bosco’s Beatification and Canoniza-

tion 56 Don Bosco’s Biographical Tradition 57 II. Chroniclers and Chronicles in Particular 58 First Period of Concerted Recording Activity: The Ruffino-Bonetti Period (1861-1864) 58 Second Period of Concerted Recording Activity: The Barberis-Berto Period (1875-

1879) 62 Third Period of Recording Activity: The Lemoyne-Viglietti Period (1884-1888) 65 Closing Comment 68 Appendices 69

Chapter 6 Don Bosco’s Biographical Tradition 75

I. Early Biographies to the “Biographical Memoirs” 76 Early Biographical Sketches and Biographies of Don Bosco 76 Dr. Charles d’Espiney’s Don Bosco 76 Dr. d’Espiney’s Don Bosco Translated and Adapted 78 Mr. Du Boÿs’ Dom Bosco 79 Mr. Villefranche’s Vie de Dom Bosco and Lady Martin’s English Edition 81 Don Bosco’s Ambivalent Attitude toward His Own Biography 83 II. John Baptist Lemoyne as Don Bosco’s Biographer 84 Project for a Biography and the Choice of Lemoyne for the Work 84 Gathering Documentation 86 Lemoyne’s Documenti 87

Contents vii

The “Biographical Memoirs”: The Lemoyne Stage 89 The “Biographical Memoirs”: the Amadei-Ceria Stage 90 Conclusion 91 Appendix I 93 Appendix II 105

Chapter 7 Don Bosco’s “Memoirs of the Oratory”and Bonetti’s “Storia dell’Ora-

torio” 127 I. Don Bosco’s “Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales” 128 Origin and Publication of the “Memoirs” and Related Questions 128 Don Bosco’s Agenda in the “Memoirs” and their Historical Character 140 Educational Concern: The “Memoirs” as Narrative Prelude to the Treatise on the Preventive

System 149 Conclusion 157 II. John Bonetti’s “Storia dell’Oratorio” 158 Father Bonetti’s “Storia” in Book Form and Its English Translation 159 Table of Contents of John Bonetti’s “Storia dell’Oratorio” (Cinque Lustri) Englished as

Don[St. John] Bosco’s Early Apostolate 159 Chapter 8 A Childhood of Promisein Times of Political Upheaval (1815-1824) 165

Political Upheaval: Abortive Revolutions in Naples and Piedmont (1820-1821) 165 Margaret Bosco and Family at the Little House of Becchi 168 Appendix I 183 Appendix II 194

Chapter 9 Trials of an Adolescent (1824-1830) 197

The Trouble with Anthony 197 Margaret’s Options 198 John Bosco’s Period of Service as a Stable Boy (1827-1829) 199 John’s Return from Moglia’s after the Feast of All Saints (November 3, 1829) 202 Don Bosco’s Silence on His Period of Service away from Home 204 Circumstances of John Bosco Meeting with Father John Calosso 205 Division of the Bosco Estate (Late 1830) 208 John Bosco’s Troubled Adolescence and the Calosso Experience 209 Conclusion 213 Appendices 215


viii Contents

Chapter 10 John Bosco at the School of Castelnuovoand the Revolutionary Movement-

sof the Early 1830 227 John Bosco’s First Meeting with Seminarian Giuseppe Cafasso 227 Joseph Bosco a Sharecropper 228 The School Reform of King Charles Felix (1822) 229 John Bosco at the School of Castelnuovo 231 Significance of the Year at Castelnuovo 233 John Bosco’s Summer Vacation at the Cascina Matta of Sussambrino 234 Revolutions of 1830-1831 and the Progress of the Risorgimento in Italy 235 Mazzini and Young Italy 237 Appendices 238

Chapter 11 John Boscoat the Public Secondary School of Chieri(1831-1835) 245

The City of Chieri in John Bosco’s Times 246 The Secondary School in King Charles Felix’ Reform 250 John Bosco at the Secondary School in Chieri (1831-1835) 255 Appendix 268

Chapter 12 John Bosco’s Vocational Crisisand Discenment at Chieri (1834-1835) 291

John Bosco’s Vocation Dream and Its Recurrence 291 John Bosco’s Inner Struggle with Vocation Discernment as Described in the Memoirs of

the Oratory 293 Lemoyne’s Compiled Account of the First Crisis and Discernment 295 Lemoyne’s Account of the Second Crisis and Discernment 297 John Bosco’s Option for the Young 300 Appendix 302

Chapter 13 The Seminaries of the Turin Archdioceseand John Bosco’s Decisionfor the

Seminary of Chieri 311 I. The Seminary of the Archdiocese of Turin 312 The Seminary before the Napoleonic Period 312 The Seminary of Turin (and of Bra) in the Napoleonic Period 314 Seminary and Clergy Reform under Archbishop Chiaveroti 315 Archbishop Chiaveroti’s Statutes for the Archdiocesan Seminary (1819) 316 The Model of Priestly Formation in Archbishop Chiaveroti’s Reform 318 Founding and Organization of the Chieri Seminary by Archbishop Chiaveroti 319 Regulations of the Chieri Seminary by Archbishop Louis Fransoni 321 The Seminaries of the Archdiocese of Turin in the 1840s and Thereafter 324


Contents ix

II. John Bosco’s Decision to Enter the Seminary 325 Historical Factors Affecting John Bosco’s Option for the Diocesan Seminary 325 John Bosco’s Opting for Entering the Chieri Seminary as a Resident Seminarian 327 Comment on the Non-Resident Seminary 329 Taking the Clerical Habit 330 Entrance into the Seminary 331 Appendices 332

Chapter 14 John Bosco’s Seminary Formation 343

Seminary Life 344 Summer Vacations 345 Louis Comollo’s Friendship and Untimely Death 347 Father John Borel 349 Studies 349 John Bosco’s Readings in the Seminary 352 John Bosco’s Experience of Louis Comollo and His Spirituality 355 Don Bosco’s Biography of Louis Comollo 359 Appendix 362

Chapter 15 Don Bosco’s Last Year at the Seminaryand First Priestly Ministry (1840-

1841) 369 I. John Bosco’s Last Year at the Seminary Priestly Ordination and First

Masses 370 Holy Orders: General Framework 370 Tonsure and Minor Orders 371 John Bosco Reads Fourth Theology during the Summer Vacations of 1840 373 Subdiaconate and Diaconate 373 Preparing for Priestly Ordination 375 Spiritual Retreat, the Keepsake and the Nine Resolutions 376 Priestly Ordination and “First Mass” 383 Don Bosco’s Masses from Turin to Castelnuovo—a Pilgrimage 385 Don Bosco’s Solemn Mass in His Home Parish of Castelnuovo 387 II. Don Bosco’s First Priestly Ministry at Castelnuovo (June 10 - November 2,

1841) 389 1. Limited Ministry 389 2. Anecdote: Don Bosco Thrown from his Horse 391 3. Don Bosco Chooses the Pastoral Institute (Convitto) 391

x Contents

Chapter 16 Theologicaland Ecclesiological Context 393

Jansenism 394 Probabilism, Probabiliorism, Equiprobabilism 403 Conciliarism: History and Ecclesiology of Consiliarism in the Context of the Great Schism

(1378-1417) 409 Gallicanism 412 Febronianism 415 Josephinism 417 Appendix 420

Chapter 17 History and Theological Orientationsof the “Pastoral Institute”—Father

Cafasso’s Role 421 Introduction 422 Context: Trends in Theology and Ecclesiology 423 The Jesuits and Their Activity in Turin 426 The Amicizie (Friendship Associations) 427 The Congregation of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary 428 Projects for the Pastoral Institute 428 The Pastoral Institute Established at St. Francis of Assisi 430 Life and Spirit of the Pastoral Institute as Expressed in the Regulations 433 Academic Activities at the Pastoral Institute 438 Practical Pastoral Experiences of the Pastoral Institute Students 440 The Pastoral Institute’s Survival and Growth: The Guala Rectorate (1817-1848) 441 The Pastoral Institute’s Golden Period: The Cafasso Rectorate (1848-1860) 444 The Pastoral Institute after Father Cafasso: Crisis in the Gastaldi Period (1860-1876) 446 The Pastoral Institute’s Deepening Crisis and Closure 450 Father Giuseppe Allamano and the New Pastoral Institute 450 Conclusion 452 Appendix I 454 Appendix II 460 Appendix III 466

Chapter 18 Don Bosco at the Pastoral Institute(1841-1844) 473

Introduction 473 Don Bosco at the Pastoral Institute: Survey of Years 1841-1844 474 Framework 475 Vocational Decision 476 Don Bosco’s Experience with Father Cafasso as Teacher and Spiritual Director 479 Don Bosco’s Conservative Political and Ecclesiological Formation 479 Catholic Liberals 481 Appendix 483

DON BOSCO: HISTORY AND SPIRIT

A Surveyof the Life and Work of Saint John Bosco (1815-1888)

A Word to the Reader The chapters that make up this series of volumes are a survey of the life

and times of St. John Bosco, framed and punctuated by the events that brought both the Western Church and the Western World into modern times.

I call this survey, “Don Bosco, History and Spirit”—“History,” because Don Bosco’s life and work were played out in the context of the fateful events that created a new religious and political world, and thereby also shaped his thinking and action; “Spirit,” because through discernment, in-terpretation and acceptance he discovered the meaning of this new world and courageously responded to its challenges: his vocation.

These chapters were born, so to speak, in the classroom. The historical materials were the burden of private reading as well as of the instructor’s presentation. But the “Spirit” in them emerged through fairly intensive criti-cal reflection involving the collaboration of both instructor and students.

For the present purpose the material had to undergo considerable revi-sion and re-writing for greater readability, and a number of chapters had to be expanded with Appendices. These contain biographical sketches of fig-ures that were deemed relevant to the matter under treatment. They also contain texts that seemed necessary or useful for a better understanding of the topic under discussion.

Acknowledgments The presentation at many point is indebted, sometimes heavily, to the

work of scholars, too numerous to mention, who have labored diligently and critically in the field of Salesian Studies, and other related fields. To them goes my grateful acknowledgment.

To Father Aldo Giraudo, of the Don Bosco Studies Center at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, go my most heartfelt thanks for his interest and support. He has devoted precious time and care to reading and editing the material.

xii Don Bosco: History and Spirit

I gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Father Morand Wirth, of the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, who patiently read my English text.

I owe a large debt of gratitude to Very Reverend Father Pascual Chávez Villanueva, Salesian Rector Major, Father Francesco Cereda, Department Head for Formation, and to Father Luigi Zuffetti of the Mission Procure in Turin, for approving and supporting the project.

Finally, I thank the Director and Staff of Don Bosco Hall for their sup-port over the years.

Arthur J. Lenti Institute of Salesian Spirituality Don Bosco Hall Berkeley, California (U.S.A.).


Vol. 1

JOHN BOSCO’S FORMATIVE YEARS IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT

This first volume of the series, Don Bosco: History and Spirit, deals with the his-

torical context and sources for a succinct description of the world into which John Bosco was born, and in which he grew up and received his education and forma-tion.

Accordingly, the volume briefly describes the events of the of the Napoleonic period, of the Restoration in Italy and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, of the revolutionary movements that eventually led to the liberal revolution, the constitu-tion and the unification of Italy.

Then in this context, after a mention of archival Salesian sources and literature, on the basis of Don Bosco’s own Memoirs, we look in some detail at the stages of John Bosco’s education and formation.

This itinerary begins in the Little House of Becchi, where John Bosco receives his initial, but all-important, religious education and formation from his widowed mother. He then comes under the guidance of good priests-teachers for his pri-mary schooling and education.

There follows the significant decision for him to pursue his secondary studies in the district city of Chieri, in the public school run by Church personnel in ac-cordance with the school reform of the Restoration.

After protracted and painful vocational discernment, acting on advice, he opts for the seminary in preference to the novitiate. In the six years spent at the semi-nary in Chieri, though not free of trials and tribulation, John Bosco acquires a ba-sic (though perhaps incomplete) theological formation in preparation for his ordi-nation to the priesthood (1841).

Again, acting on advice, Don Bosco declines good offers for priestly ministry and enrolls in the Pastoral Institute of Turin (Convitto ecclesiastico), where, under the guidance of Father Giuseppe Cafasso, he “truly learns to be a priest.” It is from this base that Don Bosco undertakes the work of the oratory in behalf of young people at risk.

[See detailed Syllabus heading each chapter].


BASIC ENGLISH-LANGUAGE READING LIST

I. Basic Books

1. Memoirs of the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales from 1815 to 1855. The Autobiography of Saint John Bosco, tr. by Daniel Lyons, SDB, with notes and commentary by Eugenio Ceria, SDB, Lawrence Castelvecchi, SDB and Michael Mendl, SDB (New Rochelle, NY: Don Bosco Publications, 1989)—MO-En.—[for which see A. Lenti, “Memoirs of the Oratory of[...],” Journal of Salesian Studies 1:1 (1990) 47-56. [Essay review correcting the many errata in the English edition]. This is a translation (with a new introduction and a new set of notes) of San Giovanni Bosco, Memorie dell’Oratorio di San Francesco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855, a cura di Eugenio Ceria. Torino: SEI, 1846. This, in turn, is a careful (though not strictly critical) edition (with introduction and notes) of archival manuscripts—MO-Ce. The Istituto Storico Salesiano published a critical edition of the Don Bosco-Berto manuscripts: Giovanni Bosco, Memorie dell’Oratorio di San Francesco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855, Introduzione, note e testo critico a cura di Antonio da Silva Ferreira [I-stituto Storico Salesiano - Roma. Fonti - Serie prima, 4] (Roma: LAS, 1991)—MO-daS.

2. Giovanni Bonetti, Don Bosco’s Early Apostolate (London: Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1908); reprinted for the canonization as St. John Bosco’s Early Apos-tolate (London: Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1934)—Bonetti, Early Ap. This is a translation of Giovanni Bonetti, Cinque Lustri di Storia dell’Oratorio Salesia-no fondato dal Sac. Don Giovanni Bosco, Torino: [Tipografia Salesiana], 1892 (pub-lished after Fr. Bonetti’s death under Fr. G.B. Francesia’s supervision). This, in turn, is an adaptation of [Giovanni Bonetti], “Storia dell’Oratorio di San France-sco di Sales,” published serially in Bollettino Salesiano from 1879 to 1886.

3. Giovanni Battista Lemoyne, Angelo Amadei, and Eugenio Ceria, The Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco, vol. I-XIX, ed. by Diego Borgatello, Michael Mendel and Vincent Giuliani (New Rochelle, NY: Salesiana Publishers, 1965-2003)—EBM. This is a translation and adaptation (with considerable condensations and omis-sions) of the first 16 volumes of the Italian Memorie Biografiche di San Giovanni Bosco, 19 vol.: 1-9 (1898-1917) by Lemoyne); 10 (1939, by Amadei); 11-19 (1930-1939, by Ceria)—IBM.

4. Pietro Stella, Don Bosco: Life and Work, tr. by John Drury (New Rochelle, NY: Don Bosco Publications, 1985)—Stella, DB:LW—Id., Don Bosco: Religious Out-


xvi Basic English-Language reading List

look and Spirituality, tr. by John Drury (New Rochelle, NY: Salesiana Publishers, 1996)—Stella, DB:RO&S. The above are a translation of the first and second volume of Pietro Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, 3 vol.: Vol. I: Vita e opere (2 ed.); Vol. II: Mentalità religiosa e spiritualità (2 ed.); Vol. III: La Canonizzazione (1888-1934) (Ro-ma: LAS, 1979, 1981, 1988)—Stella, DB I-It, DB II-It and III.

5. Morand Wirth, Don Bosco and the Salesians, tr. by David de Burgh. New Rochelle, NY: Don Bosco Publications, 1982)—Wirth I. This is a translation (with additions by David. de Burgh) of Morand Wirth, Don Bosco et les Salésiens: Cent-cinquante ans d’histoire / Don Bosco e i Salesiani. Centocin-quant’anni di Storia (Torino-Leumann: LDC, 1969), published simultaneously in French and Italian. [Original French, not yet Enlished].

6. Morand Wirth, Don Bosco et la Famille Salésienne. Histoire et nouveaux défis (1815-2000) (Paris: Éditions Don Bosco, 2002)—Wirth II. This is a completely re-written, updated and expanded edition of the above.

7. Francis Desramaut, Don Bosco en son temps (1815-1888) (Torino: Società Editrice Internazionale, 1996)—Desramaut, DB. This critical biography of Don Bosco, is the final editing of 9 large biographical studies (Études I-IX) published between 1988 and 1995, in Cahiers Salésiens, the journal of the Groupe Lyonnais de Recherches Salésiennes (Salesian Studies Center in Lyons, France), directed by Father Francis Desramaut.

II. Articles

1. Journal of Salesian Studies (Institute of Salesian Spirituality, Berkeley, CA). Many articles published therein are directly related to the topics of this survey.

2. Don Bosco’s Place in History. Acts of the First International Congress of Don Bosco Studies. Rome 1989. Ed. by Patrick Egan and Mario Midali (Roma: LAS, 1993). A number of papers in this collection are directly related to topics of this sur-vey.

III. Historical Context—Political and Ecclesiastical (1789-1888)

Roger Aubert et al., The Church in a Secularized Society. The Christian Centuries 5

(New York: Paulist Press; London: Darton Longman and Todd, 1978) esp. Part I, 3-206.

M.E. Barlen, Foundations of Modern Europe 1789-1871 (London: Bell & Hyman, 1968). Frank J. Coppa, Pope Pius IX: Crusader in a Secular Age (Boston: Twine, 1979).


Basic English-Language reading List xvii

Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy (Cambridge University Press, 1994), esp. 87-170.

E.E.Y. Hales, Pio Nono: a Study in European Politics and Religion in the Nineteenth Century (Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, 1962).

Harry Hearder, Italy in the Age of the Risorgimento 1790-1870 (London-New York: Longman, 1983).

Edgar Holt, The Making of Italy, 1815-1870 (New York: Atheneum, 1971). Kenneth Scott Latourette, The Nineteenth Century in Europe. Background and the Roman

Catholic Phase (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1958). F.M. Jamison, C.M. Ady, K.D. Vernon and C. Sanford Terry, Italy Mediaeval and

Modern: A History (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917). Denis Mack Smith, Cavour (New York: Knopf, 1985). J.A.R. Marriott, The Makers of Modern Italy: Napoleon—Mussolini (London: Oxford

University Press - Humphrey Milford, 1931). Roland N. Stromberg, European Intellectual History since 1789. 6th ed (Englewood

Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994), esp. 1-187. Arthur James Whyte, The Evolution of Modern Italy (Oxford: Blackwell, 1959). Stuart Woolf, A History of Italy, 1700-1860: the Social Constraints of Political Change

(London: Methuen, 1979).

IV. Some Writings of Don Bosco for an Understanding of His Thought in the Areas of Education and the Spiritual Life

—The Companion of Youth (Il Giovane provveduto, 1847...).—Especially Introduction and Part I.

Several English-language editions, e.g.: The Companion of Youth by Saint John Bosco, edited by the Salesian Fathers (London: Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1938), esp. 3-55.

—The Biographies: Life of Dominic Savio (1859...), Life of Michael Magone (1861), Life of Francis Besucco (1864).—The biographies have a specifically educational and spiritual aim.

Handy English edition: Wallace Cornell, Don Bosco Spiritual Director of Young Peo-ple (Manila: Salesiana Publishers, 1986).

—Little Treatise on the Preventive System (March-April 1877). Produced by Don Bosco in connection with the dedication of the Salesian or-

phanage in Nice (France). —Letter on Punishments (Feast of St. Francis de Sales, 1883). This letter reflects Don Bosco’s ideas with regard to discipline problems en-

countered in the education of young people. Cf. Michael Ribotta, “Tough Love is Not the Answer—Don Bosco’s Views on Punishment,” Journal of Salesian Studies 6:1 (1995) 81-108.

—Letter from Rome (May 10, 1884).


xviii Basic English-Language reading List

The letter restates, in dream form, the basic principles and norms experienced as valid and viable in the education of young people. It particularly describes the educational relationship that Don Bosco saw as all important.

—Spiritual Testament (Memoirs from 1841 to 1884-5-6). This important writing was produced at intervals between 1884 and 1886; with

final additional notes in 1887 (38 days before his death). —Joseph Aubry, The spiritual Writings of St. John Bosco, tr. by Joseph Caselli (New

Rochelle, NY: Don Bosco Publications, 1984). —Excerpts in Appendices to the Constitutions and Regulations of the Society of

St. Francis de Sales.


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