Don Bosco had made several attempts to found a Society to ensure the continuity of his oratorical work, which was growing day by day. However, even if no attempt had materialised, he never gave up on his idea. Thus, in 1859, on the Sunday of 18 December, around 9 am, he finally managed to found what would become the Salesian Congregation with the name of the “Pious Society of Saint Francis de Sales”.
The Dream at nine years of age, which turns 200 in 2024, marked the life of little John Bosco. He took a long time to interpret it and only his mother believed him and encouraged him, but when he understood the meaning of the wolves, the sheep and the woman next to him, he put it into practice until the last breath of his life.
Then, when he entered the seminary in Turin, Don Bosco, with the approval of his superiors, began to gather a group of abandoned boys from the city every Sunday , in a kind of school and recreational centre that he called the “festive oratory”.
On the day of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 he met sixteen-year-old Bartholomew Garelli in the sacristy of a church in Turin. The sacristan was beating him and Don Bosco saved him. They became friends and their friendship began with a simple question - “Can you whistle?” - and with a Hail Mary.
Don Bosco, who worked and wrote a lot, but also slept little, also taught an evening class for young workers and, since the oratory was full, opened two other centres in Turin. Around the same time he began to offer hospitality to abandoned children. In a short time the boys became 40 in number, mostly apprentices, who lived with Don Bosco and his mother, Margaret, in Valdocco.
The founder of the Salesians soon realised that all the good he was doing for his boys was in danger of being lost due to bad influences from outside, so he decided to build his own workshops for apprentices. The first two were opened in 1853 and, within three years, already in 1856 there were 150 young boarders, four workshops, a printing house, four Latin classes and ten priests.
Since its foundation, the Congregation grew rapidly: in 1863 there were 39 Salesians and, at the death of Don Bosco, there were already 768. Today the Salesian Congregation is present in more than 130 countries on five continents.
