SPECIAL REPORTS
(ANS– Rome) – After recalling some of Don Bosco's famous dreams with a clearly educational and pedagogical value, today begins the mini-cycle of three events dedicated to rediscovering the "missionary" dreams of the holy founder of the Salesian Congregation. Given the development of the Society he founded, the countless works started and carried out with the collaboration of many other men and women religious and lay people of the Salesian Family, and the precision of many details reported about countries and situations that Don Bosco never visited in person, these dreams are among the most fascinating visions that he has reported. Let's start, of course, with the first, concerning the first land of mission of the Salesians: Patagonia (Biographical Memoirs X, 53-55).
(ANS – Rome) – A bumpy and tiring path, a lot of commitment, a lot of zeal, many difficulties, but also heavenly music and splendid visions: all this can be found in Don Bosco's third dream that we are rediscovering in view of his liturgical feast and in this Bicentennial year of his most famous dream at nine years of age. Today the dream known as “the ten hills” is presented (Biographical Memoirs VII, 466-471). In this account, Don Bosco offers his young people various important teachings: the importance of preserving innocence and following the teachings of the Christian life; the value of perseverance and fidelity to the path undertaken; and finally the fundamental dimension of caring for each other along life's common path.
(ANS – Rome) – The figure of Mary also returns in the second dream of Don Bosco that is presented to ANS readers in this bicentenary year of the Dream at Nine Years of Age and in preparation for the feast of the Saint of Youth. “Gifts for Mary” is the title with which it is remembered (Biographical Memoirs, Vol. VIII). The Mother of Jesus in this case is the explicit goal of the devotion that is manifested in the dream, but Don Bosco, to educate his boys, points out that one cannot deceive oneself and one's neighbour by venerating the Virgin while at the same time leading a life that is only apparently Christian. The dream then ends with Don Bosco who knew young hearts so well, leads the boys to continue their journey of accompaniment with him.
(ANS – Rome) – Many of the dreams that Don Bosco told his boys had obviously educational purposes, so much so that very often not even his biographers were able to clearly demarcate the boundary between dream, vision and pedagogical storytelling. Among these we can certainly include the one known as “the dream of the snake and the rosary” (Biographical Memoirs – VII 141-145). Occurring in the summer of 1862, it is a clear manifestation of how central Mary Help of Christians was not only in the saint's life, but in his pedagogical vision; and how Marian devotion was never in contrast to, but rather an encouragement for his boys to move towards a full experience of sacramental and ecclesial life.