(ANS - Rome) - A visit to animate the Salesian Family present in the land of Don Bosco, just days from the feast of Mary Help of Christians, is what the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, shall start from Friday, May 18th, to Monday, May 21st. Immediately after, numerous other appointments await the Rector Major, beginning with the traditional events linked to the celebration of the "Madonna of Don Bosco" as well as others organized specifically to celebrate this year's 150th anniversary of the inauguration of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco.
(ANS - Rome) - The "global" novena to Mary Help of Christians begins today, 15 May. To participate in the novena proposed by the Rector Major to the entire Salesian Family, all nine videos in Italian, English, Spanish and French are currently on the web, and the videos of the first days in Portuguese and Polish editions.
(ANS – Rome) – Already 40 years ago the Italian Salesian Fr. Teresio Bosco published his “New Biography of Don Bosco” with another updated edition in 1988. Since then this Biography was translated into some (estimate) 40+ different languages. According the Don Bosco scholars this is so far the best biography ever published. Fr. Teresio based his wonderful, popular and attractive narrative on the serious research of Don Bosco scholars like Fr. Pietro Braido or Fr. Pietro Stella and on his personal knowledge and research in the Salesian heartland of Piedmont.
(ANS - Rome) – 2018 celebrates the 150th anniversary of the inauguration and consecration of Turin's Basilica of Mary Help of Christians (1868-2018). To mark this important anniversary, the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, with the support of the Dicastery for Social Communication, has launched an initiative to unite the whole Salesian Family in prayer around Mary: a "global" novena to Mary Help of Christians in view of the festivities (May 24) via videos to be made available in the next few days on various channels.
(ANS - Rome) - With the intention of helping the communities and each individual Salesian in the ordinary habit of "Salesian Meditation", the Dicastery for Formation will meet on 11 and 12 May with a group of 10 Salesians in the "San Callisto" community of Rome.
Rome, Italy - In 1930 the Holy See, owner of the catacombs, entrusted the custody of the Catacombs of San Callisto to the Salesian Congregation. In the catacombs, divided into 4 levels, for a total extension of about 20 km, about 500,000 people were buried, including 16 Popes, Saint Cecilia and Saint Tarcisio. Saint Callisto was Pope and died a martyr.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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RMG - Preparation, objectives, challenges and perspectives of GC29: in dialogue with the Moderator, Fr Alphonse Owoudou(ANS - RMG) - Just a few days before the beginning of the 29th General Chapter (GC29) of the Salesian Congregation, Fr Alphonse Owoudou, Councillor for the Africa-Madagascar Region and Moderator of GC29, recounts in detail, through an articulate interview, the work preceding and underlying this responsibility, indicating the spirit that will animate it and the attitudes and conditions to make it truly a Cenacle in which the Holy Spirit can act, for the benefit of the Congregation, the Salesian mission and the youth of the world.
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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India – INS youth solemnise Don Bosco’s Feast Day with ‘Ka Sur Kynud S-3’ Grand Finale(ANS – Shillong) – The Youth of St John Paul II, Shillong Province, celebrated the Feast Day of St. John Bosco with the Grand Finale of “Ka Sur Kynud, Season 3.” Organised by Don Bosco Media Network Television, the Social Communication Department of the Province, at Don Bosco Youth Centre, Laitumkhrah, Shillong, this two-month-long singing competition, which imitates the global singing competition The Voice, concluded on 31 January 2025, coinciding with the Solemnity of St John Bosco.
SPECIAL REPORTS
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United States – CATHOLIC WORLD DAY OF THE SICK: Salesian Missions highlights medical programs for people in need around the globe(ANS – New Rochelle) – Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins Catholic organizations around the globe in honoring the Catholic World Day of the Sick. Every year on Feb. 11, the Pope marks the day with a special message calling for spiritual and physical closeness to all those who are ill. Saint John Paul II instituted the day “to encourage the people of God, Catholic health institutions and civil society to be increasingly attentive to the sick and to those who care for them.”
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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GOOD, FAITHFUL, AND COURAGEOUS SERVANTSTHE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Stefano Martoglio, SDB
During this Jubilee year, in this difficult world, we are invited to rise up, set out again, and, in newness of life, make our journey as human beings and believers.