SPECIAL REPORTS
(ANS – Rome) – One of the most important legacies that Don Bosco left to the Salesian Family is devotion to Mary Help of Christians. Countless schools, chapels, squares and neighbourhoods around the world bear her name. Millions of children, older youth and adults gather around the Virgin and are sheltered beneath her mantle. Although the devotion existed before, it was Don Bosco who made it popular all over the world and left it as an example, for protection and encouragement.
(ANS - Rome) - Making one’s own the recommendation of the Rector Major to extend the devotion to Mary Help of Christians throughout the Salesian world and beyond, ANS - Agenzia iNfo Salesiana is launching today a series of in-depth articles on the figure of "Don Bosco’s Madonna." The focus on this first day is on how Don Bosco's devotion to Mary Help of Christians was born and developed.
(ANS - Rome) - On May 13, the Salesian Family celebrates the memory of St. Maria Domenica Mazzarello, Cofounder together with Don Bosco of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. Between her and Don Bosco, there was a profound charismatic harmony: Mother Mazzarello had a marked educational capacity, the gift of a serene and reassuring joy, and the art of involving other young women in the commitment to devote themselves to the promotion of women so that they might be good Christians and upright citizens in the family, the Church, and society.
(ANS - Rome) - Today marks 139 years since the famous "Letter from Rome" that Don Bosco wrote to his Salesians to warn them of the risk of losing the truly "Salesian" nature of being among young people, of educating and evangelizing them. A way of being present among young people that implies loving, requires the visibility of this love, knows how to raise questions, provide models, gives birth to dreams, projects and prospects, and finally generates mature men and women capable of building the Kingdom of God in service to their brothers and sisters. In recent times, Rector Major Emeritus Fr. Pascual Chávez Villanueva proposed an updated reading of this letter, which is and remains a charismatic cornerstone for the whole Congregation and for the Salesian Family.