Don Bosco told this dream and commented on it to members of the General Council on the evening of 2 July 1885.
It seemed that I stood before a high mountain. At the summit, a magnificently radiant angel who lit up the remotest corners of the horizon stood. A giant crowd of unknown people had gathered all around the mountain.
The angel held a sword that blazed like a flame in his right hand, and he pointed out the surrounding countryside to me with his left. He said, “Angelus Arphaxad vocat vos as proelianda bella Domini et ad congregandos populos in horrea Domini” [The Angel of Arphaxad summons you to wage the battles of the Lord and to gather all peoples into His granaries.]
A wonderful crowd of angels, whose names I did not know or cannot remember, surrounded him. Among them, I saw Louis Colle, who was surrounded by a crowd of younger people. He was teaching how to sing the praises of God, which he himself was singing.
A great number of people lived all around the mountain and on its slopes. They were talking among themselves, but I did not know their language and could not understand them. I only understood what the angel was saying. I cannot describe what I saw. There are things that you can see and understand, and yet they cannot be explained.
At the same time, I saw isolated things all simultaneously, and these changed the scene that was before me to the point that it now looked like the plains of Mesopotamia. Even the mountain on which the Angel of Arphaxad stood assumed a myriad of different characteristics at every moment, until the people living on it looked like mere drifting shadows. Throughout this pilgrimage and in the face of this mountain, I felt as if I were being elevated above the clouds and that an infinite void surrounded me. Who could find words to describe that height, the spaciousness, the light, the radiance, or the vision before me? One could delight in it, but not describe it.
In this and other scenes, there were many people who accompanied and encouraged me. They also encouraged the Salesians not to stop along the road. Among those who eagerly urged me onward were our dear Louis Colle and a band of angels who echoed the canticles of the youths gathered around Louis.
Then I thought I was in the heart of Africa in an immense desert. Written on the ground in gigantic, transparent letters was one word: Negroes. Here stood the Angel of Cam, who said, “Cessabit maledictum [the curse will stop] and a balmy salve and the blessing of their labor shall descend upon His sorely-tired children and honey shall heal the bites of the serpents. Thereafter, all the sins of the children of Cam will be covered.”
Finally, I thought I was in Australia. Here, too, there was an angel, but he had no name. He shepherded and marched, urging the people to march toward the south. Australia was not a continent, but a number of islands grouped together, whose inhabitants varied in temperament and appearance. There was a big crowd of children living there who tried to come toward us, but could not because of the distance and the waters that separated them from us. Nevertheless, they held out their hands towards Don Bosco and the Salesians, saying, “Come and help us! Why do you not fulfill what your fathers have began?”
Many held back, but others made every possible effort to push their way through wild animals to reach the Salesians, who were unknown to me, and they began to sing “Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini [blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord].”
A little distance away, I could see groups of many islands, but could not distinguish any details. I felt that all this indicated that Divine Providence was offering part of this evangelical field to the Salesians, but for some future period. Their efforts will bear fruit, for the hand of God will be constantly out-stretched over them, unless they become unworthy of His graces.
If only I could preserve some fifty of the Salesians we have with us now! They would be able to see the magnificent destiny Divine Providence has reserved for us within a five-hundred-year span from now, provided we remain steadfast.
We shall always be well liked, even by malevolent people because our particular activity is one that arouses benevolence in everybody, good and bad alike. There may be a few hotheads who would prefer to see us destroyed, but these will only be isolated incidents and will not find any support from others. It all depends on whether the Salesians will resist the desire for comforts and will thereby shirk their work. Even if we were only to maintain what we have already founded, we would have a long-standing guarantee, provided we do not become victimized by the vice of gluttony.
The Salesian Society will prosper in a material sense if we uphold and spread the Bulletin and the institution of the Sons of Mary Help of Christians. These we will uphold and spread. Many of these dear children are so good! The institution of the Sons of Mary will provide us with valiant confreres, who are steadfast in their vocation.
On the following 10 August Don Bosco wrote to Count Fiorito Colle of Toulon, Luigi's father: “Our friend Luigi took me on a trip to the centre of Africa, ‘land of Cam’ as he said, and to the lands of Arfaxad, that is to say China.”
After the dream, Don Bosco instructed the cleric Festa to do research in Bible dictionaries on the enigmatic Arfaxad, who is mentioned in Chapter ten of Genesis. He then believed he had found the key to the mystery in the first volume of Rohrbacher's History of the Church, which states that the Chinese descend from Arfaxad.
Don Bosco particularly focused on China and said: “If I had 20 Salesians to send to China, it is certain that they would receive a triumphant welcome there, despite the persecution.”
Don Bosco showed he often thought about this dream, discussed it willingly and saw in it a confirmation of his previous dreams about the Missions.
