In the Salesian tradition, the month of May has always had a Marian connotation. Don Bosco was a practical man who knew how to adapt to the demands placed on him. Convinced that his life was guided by God, he was ready to introduce the changes that circumstances required, without shrinking from difficulties or renouncing his deepest convictions in pastoral and educational activity.
The young John Bosco learned devotion to Mary from the humble people of Morialdo and Capriglio, the birthplace of his mother, Mamma Margaret. There they venerated Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Sorrows. In Castelnuovo d 'Asti, the parish where he was baptised and received First Communion, the Madonna del Castello (Our Lady of the Castle) was better known, while in the cathedral of Chieri the most visited altar was the altar of the Madonna delle Grazie (Our Lady of Graces), before which Don Bosco made the novena that ended with the decision to become a priest.
In the Memoirs of the Oratory he recounts that his mother addressed these memorable words to him: “When you came into the world, I consecrated you to the Blessed Virgin: when you began your studies I recommended devotion to you devotion to this Mother of ours: now I say to you be completely hers: love those of your companions who have devotion to Mary; and if you become a priest, always preach and promote devotion to Mary.”
Mary was always present in Don Bosco's life. From the beginning, writing the life of Luigi Comollo in 1844, and in the Giovane istruuito (The Well-Educated Young Man), written in 1847, he recommended devotion to the Mother of God by saying the Rosary, the three Hail Marys and other widespread practices of his time.
When, following the advice of Pope Pius IX, Don Bosco began to put in writing the Memoirs of the Oratory of St Francis de Sales between 1873 and 1876 , he clearly perceived that throughout his life it had been God who had guided him. He said this without hesitation at the beginning of the narrative, stating: “Now, what purpose can this chronicle serve? It will be a record to hep people overcome problems that may come in the future by learning from the past. it will serve to make known how God himself has always been our guide.”
Don Bosco identified how the privileged instrument of divine assistance had been Mary, the Mother of the mysterious Personage who had promised him in a dream, at the age of nine: “I will give you a teacher. Under her guidance you can become wise. Without her, all wisdom is foolishness.” [...] She then placed her hand on my head and said, ‘In good time you will understand everything.’”
It is probably no coincidence that, in the Memoirs, Don Bosco indicated as his date of birth the “day consecrated to the Assumption of Mary”, 15 August 1815, and not the 16th, as reported in the baptismal register. In the same Memoirs he recalls other dates that mark the narrative evoking Marian events: the meeting with Fr Calosso "on the second Sunday of October when the inhabitants of Morialdo celebrated the Motherhood of Mary Most Holy" (1827); the dialogue with Bartolomeo Garelli “on the solemn day of the Immaculate Conception” (1841); the beginnings of the Oratory “on the feast of the Purification of Mary” and “on the feast of the Annunciation" (1842); the transfer to the new Oratory “on the third Sunday of October, dedicated to the Motherhood of Mary” (1844) and finally the joyful “entrance into the Pinardi House on Easter Sunday” (1846).
Towards the end of his life, on 16 May 1887, to crown the exhausting work of building the Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome, entrusted to him by Pope Leo XIII, on what was the day after the consecration, Don Bosco celebrated Mass at the altar dedicated to Mary Help of Christians. To explain the emotion he felt and that had made him interrupt the celebration several times, he summarised the vocational experience of his entire life with this simple phrase: “She did everything.”
The presence of Mary Immaculate accompanied Don Bosco during the first years of the seminary in Chieri (1835) and at his priestly ordination (1841); from the dedication of an altar in the small church of St Francis de Sales (1852) to the placement of the gigantic statue of the Immaculate on the dome of the great church dedicated to Mary Help of Christians (1867).
In the work of Don Bosco, Mary Help of Christians arrived later, in 1862, when the news of the apparitions of Our Lady in Spoleto, then part of the Papal States ruled by Pius IX, spread in Italy.
In the Memoirs of the Oratory, Don Bosco made no mention of Mary Help of Christians, because what was narrated in them did not go beyond the year 1854. When, twenty years later, he had already completed the construction of the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Turin (1868), he created the Association of the Devotees of Mary Help of Christians (1869), now known as the Association of Mary Help of Christians, founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (1872) and published several works on the wonders attributed to the invocation of Mary Help of Christians.
There is no doubt that among Don Bosco's undeniable convictions must be counted the irreplaceable presence of Mary in his life and in his educational mission. Although some of his life's experiences were conditioned by the culture of his time, it is clear that for him devotion to Mary was based on divine Motherhood, led to an exemplary life and ensured a continuous protection of the Church. This is demonstrated both by the experience of Don Bosco and by the practice of the Blessing of Mary Help of Christians, which he practised until the end of his days.
Fidelity to Don Bosco demands that Marian devotion not be reduced to mere folklore. This was also the persuasion of the first Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians sent as missionaries to Argentina, as demonstrated today by the 73 churches dedicated to Mary Help of Christians – 40 parishes and 33 public churches, not to mention the numerous chapels within the schools – found today in this country.
Fr Juan Picca, SDB
