The theme is part of this year's 2025 Strenna for the entire Salesian Family: "Anchored in Hope, Pilgrims with the Young," aligning with the significant universal Church event of the 2025 Jubilee Year.
"We wish to be 'pilgrims of hope with the young,' taking Don Bosco as our model," explained the Rector of the Basilica, Father Michele Viviano. "For this reason, we want to deepen our understanding of him by reflecting on three fundamental aspects of his life, updated to the present day: his religious, pedagogical, and social dimensions."
The first evening, on Tuesday, January 14, at 8:30 PM (UTC+1), will be led by Prof. Fr. Luigi Maria Epicoco, a well-regarded writer and speaker, on the topic "Don Bosco and His Religious Dimension Today." He will be introduced by Fr. Luca Ramello, a priest of the Diocese of Turin and Susa and the national president of the "NOI ORATORI e CIRCOLI" (We Speakers at Circles) Association.
On Tuesday, January 21, at 8:30 PM, Prof. Rosanna Giacometto, a Salesian Cooperator and lecturer at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome, will reflect on Don Bosco's pedagogical dimension as applied to contemporary times. The coordinator of the Salesian Cooperators of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, Mrs. Marina Busso, will introduce the speaker.
Finally, on Tuesday, January 28, also starting at 8:30 PM, the distinguished Rector of the State University of Benevento and a former Salesian alumnus, Prof. Giuseppe Acocella, will address the topic of Don Bosco's social dimension in the context of today. He will be introduced by Marco Gallo, President of the Federation of Past Pupils of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta.
Each evening will begin and end with a hymn to Don Bosco, performed respectively by the young confreres of the Turin-Crocetta Studentate, the postulants of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and the Choir of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians.
"In this year 2025, marking the 150th anniversary of the first Salesian Missionary Expedition, anchored in Christ, our hope, and inspired by Don Bosco, we can be pilgrims with the young for a mission that still has a great future," concluded Fr. Viviano.
