The goal of this project is to share the history and legacy of Salesian Fr Ángel (Angelo) Buodo with a series of 8 short films dedicated to him and the works he brought about, as a sign of homage to his work. The most significant places in the footsteps of Fr Buodo and the Salesian missionaries in the Province will also be highlighted, such as the Cathedral in Santa Rosa, which still houses the cart with which the Salesian moved around; and the Museum of the Chapel of Fr Ángel Buodo (closed for years and scheduled to be relaunched for the occasion) where, outside, it is also possible to admire 15 ornamental tiles that represent 15 important episodes in his life, created by artists Andrés Arcuri and Domingo Cerella.
The works that will be valued and included in this path include the Salesian La Inmaculada and Maria Auxíliadora schools and the La Inmaculada Concepción parish of General Acha. Also worth exploring is the figure of Sister María Esther Cortabarría of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and patroness of the reconstruction of the San José Sanctuary, the construction of the San José Carpentry Workshop and the recovery of historical books and liturgical objects that now form a Museum, adjacent to the Pilgrim's House in the Colonia San José - one of the sites selected for the "Mysterious Cities" Secretariat of Tourism’s programme.
The Salesian Family built 5 Salesian schools andthe Daughters of Mary Help of Christians 4 in the Pampas from 1896 to the 1930s, all to the benefit of the education of the area’s population. Fr Angelo Buodo (Barco, Italy, 1867 – Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1947), in particular, was a Salesian priest, itinerant missionary nicknamed "El Hornero de Dios" (God’s baker, from the common name of a bird typical of the region) for the large number of trips he made in the desolate lands of the Argentine pampas and the chapels he built there.
During 33 years of mission in the Pampas, he travelled thousands of kilometres – on horseback, by train or aboard his famous cart – he built twenty-four churches and chapels and distributed more than 30,000 plants and 200,000 vines. His work was immense and he suffered many events, to the point of risking his life, but he always acted confidently – also thanks to the material help and advice to the communities that welcomed him in the vast territory of the Central Pampas – to carry out his evangelising mission. Today his name appears in many corners of the Province of the Argentine Pampas.
Sources: Don Bosco Sur, Turismo La Pampa
