During this visit he will meet Salesians, Salesian Family members, families, Church representatives and authorities, but in particular he will have the opportunity to meet students at the school and young members of the Salesian Youth Movement, the main beneficiaries of Salesian activity who are preparing various events to welcome the Rector Major.
The 26 April program will begin at 6:30 p.m. with his arrival at the Salesian presence, where he will be received by a welcoming committee at the Salesian school facilities. He will be shown the new facilities for children's education, and will be able to share Evening Prayer with the community. Afterwards, at 8:30 p.m., he will visit Don Bosco House, a social project of the FISAT Salesianos Social foundation, where he will have the opportunity to meet the children housed there and share dinner with them, before giving them the Salesian Goodnight.
Activities on Saturday, 27 April will begin at 10 a.m. in the parish dedicated to St Anthony Abbot, with the start of the Educative and Pastoral Community Day which will take place throughout the morning with the families from the Salesian presence. At 12:30 p.m. he will visit the headquarters of the FISAT Foundation to learn about the residential care, socio-educational and job placement projects that the Salesian organisation carries out with at-risk youth. There he will meet with technical teams and volunteers; then, at 1:15 p.m., he will be involved in an exchange with young people placed on vocational discernment paths.
In the afternoon, starting at 4:30 p.m., there will be a meeting of all the youth from the Valencia Community, the Region of Murcia and Aragon, beginning in the parish church, continuing in the theatre and concluding with snack and games in the courtyard, along with the traditional group photo.
On the last day of the visit, Sunday, 28 April there will be a nmeeting with the Salesian Family. This will be followed at midday by the Eucharist of Renewal of Salesian Commitment, presided over by the Rector Major, which will serve as the closing ceremony of the visit as part of the "125 Years of Living History" program.
It was on 28 November 1898, when the then Provincial of Salesian Spain and future Rector Major Fr Filippo Rinaldi began this Salesian work in the district of Sagunto in Valencia. The house, which is of humble origins, has experienced important moments since the decade 1910-1920, thanks to the work of Salesians such as Guillermo Viñas, a rector who left a deep mark on the institute. Later, after the darkness of the Civil War, the house managed to resume its tireless service and in the decades 1946-1966 – in collaboration with the archbishop of Valencia, Salesian Archbishop Marcelino Olaechea – further extended its pastoral activity.
Today the work is a complete Salesian house, with many activities and vibrant and active pastoral environments and a series of proposals aimed at the education and evangelisation of young people (currciulum of education to the faith, Educational sport, Professional animation, Art). All this from the perspective and in the spirit of Don Bosco, to make young people good Christians and upright citizens.
San Antonio Abad is, in the first instance, a house that focuses particularly on the care of boys and girls in situations of greater vulnerability in all environments and, above all, in various social projects, and also houses a series of provincial offices and the headquarters of the Ángel Tomás Solidarity Initiative Foundation and the Bosco Global NGO.
