Six scholars at the State Archives in Piazza Castello will be giving a talk at 3:00 PM (UTC+2) about Don Bosco’s letters. These letters were written to the people of Turin and Piedmont, as well as to civic and religious institutions, and to individual people who wrote to the saint. Don Bosco, who traveled the world in his lifetime with his dreams and letters, continues to do so even after his death. His relics have been revered all over the world. His letters, whether they had been delivered by hand, sent by carriage, train, or ship, -well over 5,000 of these letters stamped with the city of Turin have made their way back home thanks to the efforts of archivists. These letters are now collected together in ten big volumes. They narrate a story about a very important part of 19th-century history—civil, religious, social, educational, cultural, and economic—that happened in Turin, Italy, Europe, and South America.

Later that evening, at 8:30 PM in the Salesian theatre of Valdocco, Don Bosco’s letters will be the centrepiece of a captivating reading performed by students from the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS) in Rome. The event will be attended by the entire 29th General Chapter, comprising over 220 distinguished Salesian delegates from more than 135 countries. These representatives are the living embodiment of those letters—many of which were penned late at night, illuminated by candlelight, in a modest room situated just a few dozen meters from the very theatre where they will now be read aloud.

"Hic digitus Dei" (“Here is the finger of God”—that is, Divine Providence is at work), Don Bosco once wrote as he witnessed extraordinary events unfolding before his eyes. And now, looking back, one could say the same. It all began in November 1846, when Don Bosco moved to Valdocco with his mother to establish his Oratory—rich in faith, yet completely lacking in financial resources. His 5,000 letters tell the story of this priest for the young, a man who might have been a farmer but instead dedicated his life to youth, from that moment until his death in January 1888. Since then, tens of thousands of men and women have followed in his footsteps, and millions of young people around the world have called—and continue to call—him father and teacher.

Both events will be streamed live and will feature the participation of the newly elected Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr. Fabio Attard, the 11th Successor of Don Bosco.

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