The journal welcomes, in the STUDIES section, four essays:
The article The First National Salesian Theologate in Spain, El Campello? is the result of research by Fr. Fernando Ría García and Fr. Pedro Ruz Delgado. In Spanish Salesian historiography, the role played by the Salesian work in El Campello (Alicante) in the field of formation was not entirely clear. This article aims to clarify the subject and its role in the theological formation of the first Spanish Salesians, analyzes its vicissitudes, its ups and downs until its traumatic suppression in 1931.
A study by Fr. Aldo Giraudo presents The Foundation of the Oratory of Borgo San Paolo in Turin (1918). An exemplary model of Salesian action in the early postwar period. December 1918 saw the inauguration in Turin of the Salesian Oratory in Borgo San Paolo, a fast-growing suburb with a population of immigrant worker families living in precarious conditions, aggravated by the war. The work began on the threshold of the "red biennium" (1919-1920), marked by workers' struggles, violent strikes, and armed occupations of factories. The article connects the narrative of the start-up of the oratory with social issues and reports how the work became in a few years a successful example of intelligent and creative revitalization of the oratorian spirit, method and mission, starting 20 different groups covering various ages, including fathers of families.
The research paper, The disagreements between Msgr. Louis Mathias and Fr. Jose Luis Carreño from a historical perspective, is written by Fr. Thomas Anchukandam. With the Pontifical Bull Ex primaevae ecclesiae of Nov. 13, 1952, Pope Pius XII erected the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore and appointed Msgr. Louis Mathias SDB as its first archbishop. It was a de facto recognition of the Salesians' unconditional contribution to that area. However, the seemingly invasive manner in which the archbishop promoted the interests of the archdiocese at the expense of those of the province and his tendency to get involved in matters that fell strictly within the purview of the Provincial, Fr. José Louis Carreño, inevitably led to disagreements between these two architects of Salesian works in southern India.
Hendry Selvaraj Dominc is the author of the article, From Madras Mission to Madras Archdiocese: the leading role of Msgr. Louis Mathias SDB and the Salesians of Don Bosco. In it, we read that the first group of Salesians reached Tanjore, in the region of Tamil Nadu, South India, in 1906, under the leadership of Fr. George Tomatis. In 1922, on behalf of Propaganda Fide, a second group of missionaries, consisting of 11 Salesians led by Fr. Louis Mathias, arrived in Assam, Northeast India. This study presents the events that preceded the entrustment of the Archdiocese of Madras, in 1928, to the Salesians, in the person of Louis Mathias, an obvious appreciation of his pastoral work done in Assam. Indeed, the Catholic Church consecrated him, in 1934, the first bishop of Shillong, and then, in 1935, the fourth archbishop of Madras.
The SOURCES section presents an original text, Marxist Rage with the Salesians in Malaga (July 18, 1936 - February 8, 1937), by Antonio Ureña Arroyo, Malaga 1937, with critical elaboration by Fr. Pedro Ruz Delgado. The scholar presents the direct testimony of a young Salesian who experienced firsthand the early days of the Spanish Civil War and the assault on the Salesian boarding school in Malaga - during which nine religious were murdered - and survived thanks to a generous protector. Written in the months following those events, with memories still fresh, this text, with its critical apparatus, lends a charge of emotion to the events narrated and makes known the horror that the Spanish Civil War meant in a city like Malaga, "the martyr city."
Completing the issue are the contributions included in the PROFILES sections - where there is a grateful remembrance of Fr. Arthur J. Lenti, SDB (1923-2022), edited by Fr. Michael Mendl - and in NOTES, REVIEWS, and RECOMMENDATIONS.
