Fr Gildasio, why two books on Don Bosco coming out at the same time?
These are two different and complementary texts, both with their original perspective, dedicated to Don Bosco’s dreams.
As seeing him who is invisible is a book that speaks of the spirituality of Don Bosco through a new perspective, establishing a relationship with the biblical figure of Moses. In this way, I try to go back in time to the story of Don Bosco’s Dream at Nine Years of Age, comparing him to Moses, a pilgrim on his way to the “promised land”. The text is written in brief, fast-moving paragraphs, offering clear brushstrokes that take us inside the daily life of Don Bosco. We can say that it is an informative book is aimed at everyone.
On the other hand, Parallels 15 and 20 talks about Don Bosco’s pedagogy, his educational criteria, the Preventive System and his educational vision, starting from his geographical vision of the world. It is meant for a more specialised audience: academics, people from the world of culture, research, science, to establish a dialogue with them starting from Don Bosco and his way of reasoning, which is visual, graphic, and in this sense absolutely modern. We can say that they are two wings with which we can fly with Don Bosco.
How did the book “As seeing him who is invisible” come about?
I started writing it on the train travelling between Rome and Turin during the period when the General Council was in Valdocco. I wanted to get to know Don Bosco better and how he went ahead, inwardly, with his effort to fulfil God's dream for his life. The idea came to me from research on Don Bosco, especially by reading the Memoirs of the Oratory, some passages from the Biographical Memoirs by Fr Eugenio Ceria, others written by Pietro Braido and some more recent authors on Don Bosco.
In this text, in addition to the famous Dream at 9 Years of Age, much space is given to another dream which Don Bosco had in 1844, by then a young priest. How come?
We all know the Dream at 9 years of age; but in this dream in 1844, which is the continuation of it, the Lady who already appeared in the previous dream urges a restless and hesitant Don Bosco to continue his activity among wolves, lambs and animals of all kinds. In fact, one of the foundational themes of the book is the essential importance of pursuing our dream: living our lives with great love and generosity, giving meaning to the things we do, finding what nourishes the heart, always looking for new horizons. Don Bosco, who at that time found himself alone, with many uncertainties, misunderstandings and even health problems, was a new Moses in continuous movement in search of the Promised Land: his was a “pilgrimage”, whether inwardly to face his doubts, or in concrete, in search of a place to be with his youngsters.
In the same text, you underline another little-known aspect of Don Bosco's life: his hospitality. What can you tell us about it?
This in my opinion is one of the original features of this book – the most difficult of the 25 I have written so far, because it required me to make a direct comparison with all the previous research on Don Bosco, and I tried to examine Don Bosco through the lens of the Theology of Hospitality. And so I realised that there had not been sufficient stress on how much Don Bosco had experienced the difficulties of those who have to offer hospitality when people are far from home: as a young cowherd at Cascina Moglia, a bartender at Caffè Pianta, as a nomad looking for a place for his boys...
Is hospitality therefore a peculiar trait of the Salesian charism?
Of course, because all these experiences forged Don Bosco and allowed him to identify with the needs of the masses of young people who converged on Turin in the industrial era. He understood those boys and gave them full hospitality at the oratory (eating, sleeping, a family, a job, leisure...). It is no coincidence that Valdocco is still called a “Salesian Hospice”. This is why, in my opinion, hospitality is and must always remain a fundamental trait of every Salesian house: practising hospitality is charity, it is living the Preventive System. In addition to the fact that hospitality is a matter that converges with the challenges of society, with Pope Francis' spirituality, and ultimately with the full message of the Gospel.
We now come to the second book Parallels 15 and 20. Why does this title and cover depict Don Bosco surrounded by cartography?
The title and the cover intend to refer in a captivating way to a particular point: he had a spatial-geographical imagination, a visual intelligence. Don Bosco had a great passion for geography; he kept a world globe in his room and in Valdocco he had one of his boys, Marchisio, draw one of the most accurate maps of Italy, later published by the Directorate General of the Post. In the book I express that it was this way of “seeing things” that allowed him to design the educational system as if it were a great educational geometry: it determined the way he organised his writings, defined the place of the educator in educational space, endorsed the role of music, which is a kind of mathematics...
So, did his spatial vision of things influence the charism and the development of Salesian work?
Don Bosco was a dreamer! His countless dreams, with different interpretations, are full of images, drawings, geographical elements (spaces, dimensions, relationships, distances, correlations), visual elements, sounds: all forming a real kaleidoscope. And this mindset also ended up by him projecting his vision of the expansion of the Salesian Congregation throughout the world, as well as the typical structure of Salesian houses, with a playground, church, workspaces and community environments...
You also wrote that “in a world dominated by science and technology... it is my attempt to open one or more doors for dialogue with these people, through a more technical perspective on Don Bosco’s way of educating, as he designed his educational pedagogy.” Can you explain this better?
Today’s society is a society that favours data, numbers, measurements, inductive method... We are all immersed in a world that is not one of metaphysics: rather it is the world of technology. And to dialogue with someone you need to find common ground. Here, my intention with Parallels 15 and 20 is precisely to establish this common ground, underlining the extreme relevance of Don Bosco due to the consonance between his spatial-geographical imagination and everything that today makes up our daily lives. From this affinity I wish to start a dialogue with scientists, mathematicians, experts and scholars, to perhaps approach a humanistic perspective, make a joint reflection on the education of today's young people, the meaning of life and human relationships in cultural diversity...
Does the book therefore also open up new perspectives in the study of the figure of Don Bosco?
I can say that my contribution through this book also aims to open a door on this little-known aspect of Don Bosco, so that other scholars and researchers can then delve into related areas.
So now we just have to read these books. How many languages will the texts be available in and how do we purchase them?
They are already in print and copies will be sent to the Provinces, but digital versions will also be disseminated totally free of charge. As seeing him who is invisible is already available in Italian, English and Portuguese, and we are working on translations into French and Spanish. Parallels 15 and 20 is and will remain accessible only in the original language, English.
Both texts can be downloaded, in the aforementioned languages, at the bottom of the page.
