PHOTO ARCHIVES
Cuenca, Ecuador - 1970-1980 - An old photograph by Fr Carlo Crespi at the “Mary Help of Christians” Park, surrounded by his favorites: poor children, abandoned and in danger. Father Crespi was an apostle of the poor, a great educator, botanist, anthropologist, musician, a pioneer of cinema. Because of his virtues, the cause of his beatification is currently underway.
Turin, Italy - 1910 - In 1852 Don Bosco began hosting many poor and abandoned boys and felt the need to create and offer laboratories for their formation. Thus, in 1853, he started his first footwear and tailoring workshop.
Turin, Italy - 1879 - Visit of a young Fr Michele Rua to Valdocco, in 1879. In the photo, also the student Fedele Giraudi (last lower right) who will later become Economer General and writer of the first years of Valdocco.
Turin, Italy - 1848 - According to tradition, Mamma Margherita started the practice of leaving a message to the children before they went to sleep. But it was then Don Bosco who gave a short speech to his boys every day, which in time took the name of "Good Night". Don Bosco began this custom in 1848: "From that moment on, I began to give them a small sermon after the prayers of the evening," he narrates. If this "chair" could bring back all the good stories of Don Bosco, we would be able to relive the charism of the Saint in his original version.