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Thus was born the Youth Centre (which he called an "Oratory"). This was not simply a charitable institution, and its activities were not limited to Sundays. For Don Bosco the Oratory became his permanent occupation and he looked for jobs for the ones who were unemployed. He tried to obtain a fairer treatment for those who had jobs, he taught those who were willing to study after their day's work. But some of his boys did not have sleeping quarters and slept under bridges or in bleak public dormitories. Twice he tried to provide lodgings in his house. The first time they stole the blankets; the second they even emptied the hayloft. He did not give up though, obstinate optimist that he was. In the month of May 1847, he gave shelter to a young lad from Valesia, in one of the three rooms he was renting out in the slums of Valdocco where he was living with his mother. "I had three lire when I arrived in Turin," said the boy sitting near the fire, "but I found no work and no place to sleep."
Money problems
After the youngster from Valsesia, another six boys arrived that same year. In the first months money became a big problem for Don Bosco. It would remain a problem throughout his life. His first benefactor was his mother. Mamma Margaret, a 59 year old poor peasant, had left her house at Becchi to become mother to these poor boys. To be able to put something on the table, for them to eat, she sold her wedding ring, her ear-rings and her necklace, things she had kept jealously until then. The boys sheltered by Don Bosco numbered 36 in 1852, 115 in 1854, 470 in 1860 and 600 in 1861, and reached a maximum of 800 some time later.
Some of these boys decided to do what Don Bosco was doing, that is, to spend their lives in the service of abandoned boys. And this was the origin of the Salesian Congregation. Among the first members we find Michael Rua, John Cagliero (who later became a Cardinal), and John Baptist Francesia.
In the archives of the Salesian Congregation some extraordinary documents are to be found, such as an apprenticeship contract on ordinary paper, dated November 1851; another one on stamped paper costing 40 cents, dated 8 February 1852; there are others with later dates. These are among the first apprenticeship contracts to be found in Turin. All of them are signed by the employer, the apprentice and Don Bosco.
In those contracts Don Bosco touched on many sore spots. Some employers made servants and scullery-boys of the apprentices. Don Bosco obliged them to employ them only in their acknowledged trade. Employers used to beat the boys. Don Bosco required of them that corrections be made only through words. He cared for their health, he demanded that they be given rest on feast days, that they be given their annual holidays. But in spite of all the efforts and contracts, the situation of the apprentices of the time remained very difficult.
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