(ANS – Rome) – The Salesians of Don Bosco began to accept and form Slovakian personnel in Italy in 1914, receiving young Slovaks and Hungarians in their institutes. In 1921/22 the first Slovak Salesian house was opened in Perosa Argentina, in Piedmont. Then, in 1924, at the request of the Slovak Episcopal Conference, Šaštín was chosen as the site for the first Salesian house in Slovakia, opened on 7 September 1924 by Father Viliam Vagáč and Father Jozef Bokor. Over time, other houses were opened in Vráble and Svätý Beňadik, and in 1935 the independent Province of Czechoslovakia was established, entrusted to the protection of Don Bosco.
(ANS – Rome) – The history of the Salesians in Andhra Pradesh can be traced way back to 1964. Rt Rev. Ignatius Mummadi, then Bishop of Guntur, offered St Michael’s Industrial School, to the Salesian Province of Madras. Fr John Med, the Provincial then accepted the offer. Three Salesians - Fr Benjamin Puthota, Fr Panampara Abraham and Br Gabriel Fernandez - took up this mission on 24th June 1964. Five other houses namely Brahmana Koduru (P.T. Parru in 1971), Cuddapah (1973), St. Therasa's Church, Hyderabad (1975), Mangalagiri (1976) and Ravulapalem (1978) were opened.
(ANS – Rome) – The Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians arrived in Peru on 28 September 1891, under a contract signed in Turin on 26 July 1890 between the Society of Public Charity Lima and the Society of St Francis de Sales and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. The mission consisted of nine Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and four Salesians as their chaplains, who entered Peru through the port at Callao.
(ANS – Rome) – The Salesian Province of Mary Help of Christians, Philippines South was canonically established on 31 May 1992. As of this year, 2025, the Philippines South (FIS) will be 33 years old, however, its work started in 1951, when there was still one Salesian Province for the entire country. To date, the FIS have thirteen houses in seven sites in Southern Philippines and two sites in Pakistan. Cebu City, having the most number of the houses, is the headquarters of the Province.
(ANS - Rome) - The St John Bosco Province of the Antilles (ANT) is made up of three countries: Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic; they are three very different socio-political realities, but they have the Spanish language and the joviality typical of the Caribbean populations in common. The three islands are located in the so-called ‘hurricane route’ and are regularly hit by these during the cyclone season, between June and November each year. Cuba is a socialist state with a population of 9,860,000. Puerto Rico is a free state associated with the United States, with a population of 3,203,000. The Dominican Republic is a democratic republic with a population of 11,428,000. Territorially, Cuba is the largest of the islands, followed by the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
(ANS - Rome) - In the second episode of the ‘SDB Provinces’ column, conceived to illustrate various Salesian provinces around the world, the object of attention is the Saint Stanislaus Kostka Province of Warsaw, Poland (PLE).