PHOTO ARCHIVES
São Paulo, Brazil - 1886 - This is how the main building of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Lyceum and the chapel of the same name appeared in 1886, when they were handed over to the first Salesians who arrived in São Paulo. Today, the premises of the Lyceum house the MOSB, the Museum of the Salesian presence in Brazil, officially established in 2008. The Museum, which can also be visited through Google Arts & Culture, has a vast collection of historical images and photographs, which trace the history of the Salesian Congregation in Brazil.
Asunción, Paraguay - 1896 - In 1894, Mons. Luigi Lasagna wrote to Don Rua, Don Bosco's first successor: “Paraguay is the land that many Salesian hearts desire”. It was a prophetic vision that began to be fulfilled two years later, in July 1896, when the first four Salesians who arrived in Paraguay took possession of the premises made available to them by the government. Welcomed with joy by the population and the authorities, the Salesians started the School of Arts and Crafts, thus getting closer to the young Paraguayans. 124 years later, the Salesian Family in Paraguay continues to be alive and dynamic and carries on the dream of Archbishop Lasagna.
Braga, Portugal - 1895 - 126 years ago the first Salesians arrived in Portugal for the direction of the College of “St. Caetano de Braga”. The three who initiated the Salesian presence in Portugal were: Fr Pedro Cogliolo, 28, Fr Angelo Bergamini, 30, and the cleric José Galli, 17. The photo shows the group of Salesian personnel from 1895/1896; in the center, Fr Pedro Cogliolo.
Rome, Italy - On September 12, 1952, the first stone of the new building was set by the cardinal vicar Clemente Micara, but the actual works began about a year later, in an area which saw much urban growth starting from the Quadraro along the Tuscolana road up to the Cinecittà film studios. Thus in the early fifties the intensive district of Don Bosco was born, established indeed with the promotion of the Salesians around the homonymous Basilica, inaugurated in 1959. The day following the consecration, May 3, Pope John XXIII came to visit the new church to pray in front of the tomb of the Turin saint to whom the sacred building was dedicated and whose relic, for the occasion, had been transferred from Turin to Rome.