(ANS - Catania) - Last Friday, December 8, the new official website of the Salesians of Sicily and Tunisia (ISI) was officially inaugurated. The website - www.sdbsicilia.org - has been renewed in its layout and enriched in content; it is the result of team work and expresses the desire to offer a pastoral image of the Province, and to become increasingly more "everyone's home", #nessunoescluso, that is, nobody excluded.
Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Italy - December 2017 - Since the end of September, a number of Salesian formation classes have been taking place at Colle Don Bosco for school teachers and teachers of the Centers for Vocational Training (CFP) hired in recent years in the Special Circumscription of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta (ICP). The Provincial and his Council decided to invest in a path of Salesian and charismatic formation in which the Salesian Community of Colle Don Bosco, the Youth Ministry Center and the CNOS-FAP and CNOS-School provincial offices were involved. Three groups of CFP teachers in a two-year project and a group of school teachers in an annual project will go to the roots of the history, pedagogy and spirituality of the saint of young people to be more and more active members, Salesian-trained for, and in, the educational-pastoral communities wherein they work.
Turin, Italy - 8 December 1841 - In the sacristy of the church of San Francesco d'Assisi, Turin, Don Bosco met Bartolomeo Garelli; here was where the Oratory was born and where Don Bosco began to teach his children “the way of Heaven.”
(ANS - Rome) - The First Meeting of Economers and Administrative Directors of Italy took place from 3 to 6 December. The event was attended by the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, who underlined how it was necessary to conduct "war on the temptations of power." And, in the straighforward manner that characterizes him, he added that, "economic resources make sense to the Salesians only if they are at the service of the mission, as in our structures, but if they do not satisfy a service for our recipients, they must be downsized or closed."
(ANS - Turin) - On 9 June 1868, Don Bosco concluded the construction of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, officially inaugurating and consecrating it. A few months from now, 150 years shall have passed since that day. To celebrate, the Salesians of the Special Circumscription of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta (ICP) have prepared a rich calendar of events starting Wednesday, December 6, events that are both religious and civil, the basilica being not only a Salesian asset, but one that is civic and universal.
Turin, Italy - November 2017 - On 25 November at the Casa Madre of Valdocco, the Salesian Circumscription of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta organized a spiritual retreat, open to all Salesians, centered on the figure of Blessed Titus Zeman, and were guided in meditation by Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Chile – Former Salesian student in the fight against Alzheimer's disease(ANS - Santiago) - Dr Nibaldo Inestrosa, graduate of the Salesian Institute in Valdivia and national prize of Natural Sciences winner, is a pioneer and expert in the study of Alzheimer's disease in the country. In this interview, he offers an insight into the current challenges, but not before reflecting on his formative experience at the Salesian Institute in Valdivia and how this influenced his interest in biology and science.
EDITORIAL
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RMG – Don Bosco: “The Fascinating Saint”(ANS - Rome) - Don Bosco is perhaps the most amazing and fascinating saint, history has ever produced. The humble work which he began for the welfare of his poor and abandoned boys in Italy has produced astonishing results, and today there are nearly 14000 Salesians working in 138 countries, and there are more than 200,000 members belonging to the 32 groups of the worldwide Salesian Family sharing the charism of Don Bosco and reaching out to the needy young people.
EVENTS
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Italy – On-Line Course on Integral Ecology 2025: An Initiative of the Alliance for the Care of Our Common Home (Pontifical Universities & Atheneums of Rome)(ANS – Rome) – 2025 marks the tenth anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical letter on the Care for Our Common Home, in which he invited all people of good to “a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet” (Laudato Si’, 14). However, as Pope Francis recognizes in Laudate Deum, the apostolic exhortation published on 4th October 2023, “our responses have not been adequate” and “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.” (Laudate Deum, 2).
SPECIAL REPORTS
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RMG - St. Francis de Sales Communicator: All for Love(ANS – Rome) - The figure of St. Francis de Sales, chosen by Don Bosco as an example of a communicator, teaches that communication is a matter of the heart. In his expression, "Everything in the Church is love: everything lives in love, for love, and of love," we understand his revolution in the way of communicating, and how communication becomes fruitful when it allows communion and the exchange of one's experiences in a path of accompaniment and collaboration in God's project.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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WHAT A GIFT TIME IS!THE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR,
Fr Stefano Martoglio, SDBThe beginning of the new year is illuminated in our liturgy by the ancient formula with which the Israelite priests blessed the people: "May the Lord bless you, and keep you. May the Lord show His face to you, and have mercy on you. May the Lord turn His countenance to you, and give you peace."