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A Life Sketch |
Near the city public market (Turin had a population of 117,000 inhabitants at that time) he discovered a real market of young workers. The part near Porta Palazzo, he wrote years later, swarmed with pedlars, shoeshine boys, stable-boys, vendors of any kind, messenger boys: all poor people who barely eked out a living day after day. These boys who roamed the streets of Turin were the cruel result of an event that was throwing the world into confusion: the industrial revolution. This started in England but it soon crossed the English Channel and made its way to the South. It would bring a sense of well-being unheard of in previous centuries, but it would be at a very high human cost: the problem of labour and the gathering of great numbers of families below the poverty line in the slums of the cities, coming in from the countryside in search of a better life.
Boys in prison
But Don Bosco got his biggest shock when he entered the prisons. He wrote: "To see so many boys, from 12 to 18 years of age, all healthy, strong, intelligent, insect bitten, lacking spiritual and material food, was something that horrified me." In the face of such a situation he made his decision: "I must prevent boys ending up here by whatever means I can." There were 16 parishes in Turin. The parish priests were aware of the problem of the young but they were expecting them to come to Church for the required catechism classes. They did not realise that, because of population growth and migration to the city, this way of doing things was inefficient. It was necessary to try new ways, to invent new schemes, to try another form of apostolate, meeting the boys in shops, offices, market places. Many young priests tried this.
Don Bosco began his work on 8 December 1841 with just one boy. He took care of him. Three days later there were nine; three months later twenty-five, and by summer eighty. They were stonecutters, masons, and plasterers who came from distant places.
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THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF
DON BOSCO
The most significant achievement of Don Bosco was the revolution he brought about in the concept of education. While living with youth, teaching them and sharing his life with them, Don Bosco understood the importance of reason, kindness and Godliness in dealing with youth. He made these elements the raison d'etre of his educational system which he called the "Preventive System".
This system is based entirely on reason, religion and loving-kindness. Instead of constraint, it appeals to the resources of intelligence, love and the desire for God, which everyone has in the depths of his/her being.
Reason: Appealing to the power of intelligence the young person has been endowed with, it inculcates in the young person an openness to truth and the capacity to grow in responsible freedom.
Kindness: Believing in the premise that God loves all and that we are all his children, the young are helped to experience this love and share it with one another. The constant love and care the young receive from their educators prompt them to share the same love and kindness with others.
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