The presence of the Shrine of St John Bosco in the city of León dates back to well before the Salesians arrived. It was 21 December 1951, in fact, when Juvencio Cajiga, Lino Martínez, Gabriel Moreno and Fr Tomás Becerra asked Mr Adrián López González for a place to build a chapel dedicated to the Saint of Youth.
A few weeks later, on Tuesday 17 February 1952, the foundation stone was laid and on 24 June of the same year, the local Bishop Manuel Martín Del Campo y Padilla blessed the work and celebrated the first Mass there.
From that moment on, the sanctuary became a pulsating centre of devotion to Don Bosco, which quickly spread throughout the city thanks also to Lino Martínez, who started the ‘Tuesday pilgrimages to the chapel of St. John Bosco’. These events soon achieved great popularity and thousands of people began to flock to the chapel on foot.
On 27 March 1956, the 5th Successor of Don Bosco at the head of the Salesian Congregation, Fr Renato Ziggiotti, visited Leon and the city news sources report that he was received by the ecclesiastical, civil and military authorities. The rocky hill where the chapel was located was covered by a crowd of people singing and cheering St John Bosco. Then Fr Ziggiotti said: ‘I did not expect such a great homage to the Successor of Don Bosco, which reveals the love felt here for him. This spectacle can be compared to what was seen in Turin on the day of the transferral of Don Bosco's body from his tomb to the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, where it remains today. Don Bosco, Don Bosco, your body is there in Turin, but your heart is here in León'.
On that occasion Bishop Martín del Campo y Padilla asked Fr Ziggiotti to send Salesians to the city too and on 9 March 1959 he was granted his request.
On 31 January 1960, the new church was blessed and the construction of the Shrine began.
On 22nd January 1974, Bishop Anselmo Zarza Bernal, the new Bishop of León, elevated the church to the category of Shrine because, he said: ‘it is a centre of spiritual life where multitudes of the faithful come to receive the holy sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, and the growing general devotion to St John Bosco is a clear sign of the divine liberality that joyfully pours out its spiritual benefits among its Holy People’.
In 1988, the first centenary of Don Bosco's death, a mural called ‘Salesian Pentecost’ was unveiled in the central part of the Sanctuary, the work of artist Jesús Tavera Carrillo, recalling the event of the evangelisation of Mexico and the arrival of the Salesians in the city. There are also four lateral murals by artist Jaime Reyes Tavera, depicting some of the most significant moments in the life of Jesus: the birth, the baptism, the Beatitudes and the passion and resurrection.
On 6 May 1997, the Shrine was erected as a parish to serve the approximately 18,000 inhabitants; it was then structured into three pastoral zones where religious, educational and recreational activities take place.
Finally, the Don Bosco Museum was inaugurated on 5 March 1999 to make the life of St John Bosco and the Salesian charism known throughout the world.
In León, devotion to Don Bosco is handed down from father to son. It is estimated that every Tuesday the Shrine is visited by 7,000 to 9,000 people who thank God and Saint John Bosco for some grace or favour obtained. In addition, two first degree and one second degree relics of St John Bosco are kept in the Shrine, exposed to the devotion of the faithful who lovingly ask for his intercession for their many needs.
Luis Antonio Alvarez Barroeta, SDB
Director and Parish Priest
