Elements o f the socìology o f youth

W hat undoubtedly impressed public opinion from the outset was Don B osco’s systematic interest in and intentions regarding ‘poor and abandoned’ youth, ‘thè poorest and most neglected’ youth, ‘poor and derelictyouth’, ‘thè most needy and risky children’.

Recalling this thirty years later in the Memoirs o f the Oratory o fS t Francis de Sales, the story o f that early ‘little oratory’, he loved to go back to the originai scope o f “gathering up only the boys m ost at risk, and preferably those who had come out o f prison”6 far from their families, strangers in Turin”, “stonecutters, bricklayers, plasterers, road pavers, plasterers and others w ho cam e from distant villages”.7 A t tim es his preference is expressed broadly by his intention “to be able to decrease the num ber o f rascals and youngsters who end up in prison”.8

This course o f action does not m ark the beginning o f som ething new but rather the continuation o f Don Bosco’s renewed fervour and growing organisational vigour, according to the needs o f the tim es and experiences past and present.9

The problem did not go unnoticed, even in Turin. Initiatives had come into being in the preceding centuries providing help for unfortunate young people whose parents could not or did not care to provide for them . This assistance w as given through catechetical instruction and introduction to skilled labour.

Charitable persons, moved “only by Christian charity”, by loving kindness, went looking for them; they gathered up as m any as possible o f them, and with admirable patience instructed them in Christian doctrine, and provided, to the best o f their ability, for their greater needs. Som e were introduced to some kind o f civil culture.

From 1850 on, this was the aim o f those people who backed the “ Hotel (Albergo) for Virtue” which was established on July 24,1 58 7, by R. Patente. W orkshops were set up to train textile w orkers, hatters, lathe w orkers, upholsterers, blacksm iths, carpenters, furniture experts, foundry workers, tailors and shoemakers, and give them increased cultural enrichment.

6 MO ( 1991 ) 123 ; “especially those w ho carne out o f the prisons” (p. 122). It is significant how ever that in the Storia delPOratorio di s. Francesco di Sales, written by Fr Bonetti, which w ould use the manuscript

7 BS 3 (1879) no. 2, Feb. p. 8 = MO (1991) 122; MO (1991) 124 = BS 3 (1879) no. 3, March p. 6.

8 MO (1991) 147 = BS 3 (1879) no.7, July, p. 16.

9 Cf. R. Chartier, M.M. Compère, D, Julia, L ’éducatìon en France d u X V le auX V IIle siè cle . Paris, Sedes 1976, pp. 57-58; L, Chevalier C lasses \aborieu ses et classes dangereuses à Paris pen dan t la prem ière m oitié du X IX e siè cle, Paris, Librairie Plon 1958; P. Pierrard, Enfants et jeu n es ouvriers en France (XIXe-XXe siècle) . Paris, Les éditions Ouvrières 1987,225 p. However,

Turin in the 1840s was certainly not Paris.

G offredo Casalis goes so far as to consider these ‘Hotels for V irtue’ as, so to speak, “the dawning o f Piedmontese industry.”10 In 1771 an alms-house (it was known as L ’Opera della M endicità Istruita) was set up w ith a broader scope in mind. It had been created to teach Sunday school catechism to the poor and to provide them with basic assistance. Later on this activity broadened even further by offering other kinds o f assistance: technical training, schools in various districts around the city which the Brothers o f the Christian Schools were called to run, during the third decade o f the

1800’s."

N aturally we should not forget the various works promoted by the M archioness Barolo.12

From the early 1840s Don Bosco began to espouse the cause o f poor and neglected youth and give it all his youthful energy. He appealed to people o f various categories and invited them to join him as his d o s e helpers. He did this by means o f personal contacts, individuai and circular letters, appeals, advertising and in language which shifited between the realistic and the rhetorical.

He spoke o f “orphans” , “poor and abandoned youth” , “youth at risk”, “risky youth”. Terms like this and others, were repeated, unchanged, for decades in connection with very different types o f youngster staying in his institutions: oratories, hom es, boarding schools for both academic and working students, agricultural schools. Then finally, Don B osco’s w ork extended to youth com ing from the most heterogeneous layers o f society, including youngsters from good fam ilies o f the lower and m iddle class classes, and even o fth e nobility.

In 1857, Don Bosco sent out an invitation to a lottery on behalf o f the three boys’

oratories in Turin, and explained that the aim o f these oratories w as to bring boys together at weekends, “ gathering as m any young people at risk as possible from the city and provincial towns, who had moved to the Capital’. However, the “house attached to the O ratory in Valdocco responds to essential needs such as shelter, food and clothing for those youngsters who, no matter whether from the city or from the provincial

10 G. Casalis, D izion ario g eografico sto rico -sta tistico -co m m ercia le deg li sta ti di S.M. lì re di Sardegna, VoiXXI [v. Turin], Turin, G. M aspero and G. M arzorati 1851, v. A lbergo di Virtù, pp. 690-692; G. Ponzo, Stato e p au perism o in Italia: L'A lbergò di Virtù di Torino (1580-1863). Rome, La Cultura 1 9 7 4,150 p.

11 G. Casalis, D izion ario..., Voi X X IX , v. R egia O pera della m endicità istruita, pp. 700- 709; G. C hiosso, La gioven tù « povera e abban donata» a Torino nell'O ttocento. lì caso degli allievi-a rtig ia n i della M en dicità Istruita (1818-1861), in J.M. Prellezzo (Ed.), L ’im pegno dell'edu care... pp. 375-402,

12 Cf. R.M. Borsarelli, La m archesa G iulia di B arolo e le opere assisten ziali in Piem onte e n e i R isorgim ento, Turin, Chiantore 1933, X I-243 p.

tow ns ... are so poor and abandoned th at they could not, otherwise, be trained for a skilled job or employment.” 13

Similar invitations issued in the following years (1862,1865,1866) took into account not only the home for working boys but also the home for academic students, “ Since, some o f the boys there come from Turin, but the m ajority come from other cities and towns either looking for w ork or to pursue their studies”.14

In the follow ing decades, Don Bosco w ould use the same kind o f language in reference to the situation in Italy, Europe and Argentina.

The Patronage St-Pietre in N ice was opened for “children at risk”. 15 A hom e for poor children to be trained in arts and crafts was opened in Buenos A ires.16 The schools for “poor, working-class fam ilies’ children” was opened at La Spezia.17 The Sacred Heart Hom e in Rom e was opened for “children o f the lower classes” .18

Don B osco repeated this kind o f language, often stereotyped, when he talked about the initiatives he wanted the Cooperators to be involved in:

The main goal o f the Association is the active exercise of charity toward o ne’s neighbour and especially toward youth at risk.19

Over the follow ing decades, in fact, and more so by describing situations and proposing solutions for them, Don B osco’s interest in “poor and abandoned youth”

widened its horizons and became more intense. This gave the originai and apparently conventional terni, “poor and abandoned youth”, other shades o f meaning according to the various circumstances and institutions concerned.

A t any rate, Don Bosco always connected the various situations and steps to be taken for them with the beginnings o f the festive oratory: “Although my purpose had been that o f gathering only children m ost at risk and preferably those com ing out o f

13 C atalogo degli o g g etti esposti in lotteria a f a v o r e dei g io va n i dei tre o r a to r ii,., T urin, G.B. Paravia & Co.

14 Elenco deg li o ggetti g raziosam en te d o n a ti... Turin, Oratory o f St Francis de Sales Pres 1866 p.3 O EXVII 5; c f Elenco degli o ggetti... Turin, Speirani 1862, p. 2, OEX1V 198; Lotteria d ’o g g e tti... Turin, Oratory o f St Francis de Sales Press 1865. p. 2 OE XVI 248: «i giovanetti accolti in questa casa sono divisi in due categorie, studenti ed artigiani».

15 Inaugurazione del patronato di S. Pietro in N izza a M are... Turin, Oratory o f St Francis de Sales Press 1877, p,l. 4, O E X X V III382.

16 Letter to Dr Edoardo Carranza, president o f the Conference o f St Vincent de Paul in Buenos Aires, Sept. 30, 1877, E III 221.

17 Circular on the work opening in La Spezia, Oct. 11,1880, E III 627.

18 Letter to Leo XIII March 1878, E III 317.

19 A ssociazion e di buone opere. Turin, Oratory o f St Francis de Sales Print Shop 18775, p.

6 OE. X X V 486; C o o p era to ri sa lesia n i o ssìa un m odo p ra tic o p e r g io v a re al buon costum e e d alla civile società. Turin, Saiesian Press 1876, p.6, OE X X V III260; last edition in San Pier d ’Arena, Press and B ook shop o f St Vincent de Paul 1977, p.30, OE X X V III368.

jail, in order to build up a basis for discipline and moral behaviour, 1 also invited some other well behaved and educated youngsters” .20

The Rules fo r D ay Students ended up sanctioning an already w ell-established practice, w hich m ade such an undertaking less selective and m ore open: “We aim primarily at young workers... However, the academic students who might want to join in on w eekends or in vacation tim e are not excluded” .21 Later on, new situations arose: Protestant proselytising, dangers associated with religious indifference, anticlerical secularism in the school and the press.22

Logically, the picture one had o f “poor and abandoned youth and youth at risk”

picked up an entirely new m eaning: m ore than being at the level o f econom ic and legally determined poverty, the danger was seen essentially from a religious and moral perspective which overrode all other differences. As a m atter o f fact, before any kind o f ‘ redem ption’ however legitimate, be it cultural or professional, the preservation o f the faith and its stability for everyone appeared m ore urgent.

W ith regard to the danger o f heresy, we do have a clear sum m ary in a short, historical note dated M arch 12,1879, and presented to Cardinal N ina, Secretary o f State, in the Vatican. Don Bosco first o f all recalled his anti-Protestant efforts from

1848 on, in the afterm ath o f the Constitution and its consequent liberalisation o f the laws. This he took up through the press, by spreading good books, teaching catechism classes, preaching, setting up the festive oratories and charitable homes. Then Don Bosco restated the specific objective o f the Salesian vocation, which aimed at “liberating the m ost needy class o f people, namely, poor youth, from Protestant snares” .

He also pointed out a broad gam ut o f undertakings such as: the St A loysius Oratory in Turin; the St Paul Home at La Spezia; the church and gram m ar schools in Vallecrosia, Ventim iglia; St L eo ’s H om e in M arseilles; the agricultural school at St Cyr and Navarre, Toulon; St P eter’s Home in N ice (France); St Vincent’s Home at Sam pierdarena; the O ratory o f the Holy Cross at Lucca; the hom es o f M ontevideo and Buenos A ires.23

Very similar undertakings, indicative o f a Catholic reawakening, were opened in Uruguay and Argentina. These were actually considered to be the more or less remote

20 MO (1991) 123 = BS 3 (1879) no. 3, March, p.6.

21 Regolamento d e ll’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales p e r gli esterni. Turin Salesian Press 1877, first part, Scopo di quest 'opera,p.3,O E X IX 33.

22 Don Bosco wrote many times about it to bishop friends and the Pope himself: letter to Pius IX, Nov. 9,1859, Em 1386-387; April 13,1860. Em 1400-401 ; March 10,1861, Em 1441-442;

Dec. 27,1861. Em 1471-473.

23 E III 455-456; similar concepts taken up again in a memorial to Leo XIII also March 1879, EIU 462-464.

launching platform for a different kind o f missionary evangelisation. This strategy is recorded in num erous docum ents which prefigure a rather am bitious plan which he had already m ade known to Cardinal Franchi in 1877.

We thought it best to create a new experiment. We are no longer going to send missionaries to work among the savages but go to the outskirts o f civilized towns and then found churches, schools and homes with a twofold objective: 1. Help preserve the faith o f those who have already received it. 2. Instruct and provide shelter for the indigenous (Indios) people living among Catholics either by religious desire or for other needs. The goal was to establish relationships with the parents through their children, so that the savages m ight become the evangelisers o f the savages them selves.2'1

There is another kind o f interest in the young, particularly dear to Don Bosco, and w hich occupied him throughout his life: interest in young people called to an ecclesiastical or religious state. Naturally, these young people cannot be referred to as

‘at risk ’ or ‘abandoned’, even though at tim es they came from fam ilies o f m odest means. “They are good-natured youngsters, who love the practices o f piety, and who offer som e hope that they are called to the ecclesiastical state” .25 The danger to w hich these youths are exposed does not com e from the street or from the fact o f being abandoned, but that they m ight “ lose their vocation” through lack o f material means and adequate care. This is one o f the primary objectives o f the Salesian Society:

“ Since the young w ho aspire to the ecclesiastical state are exposed to m any and serious dangers, this Society will do its very best to m ake sure that those youngsters who show a special capacity for study and are commendable for their moral behaviour, be fostered in the upkeep o f their piety” .26

The Cooperators Association’s regulations called on them to support “youngsters who have an ecclesiastical vocation” apostolically, spiritually and financially.27

24 Letter o f Dec. 31,1877. E III 257-259. Identical ideas expressed to the new Prefect of Propaganda Fide, Car. Simeoni, in March 1877, E III 320-321; to Leo XIII April 13,1880, E III 568-567; the Memoriale intorno alle Missioni salesianepresents an analytical view o f Salesian work overseas, substantially the same as what is in Europe adding certain concrete missionary ideas for the future; to Propaganda Fide in Lyon March 1882, E IV 123-127.

25 Conference to Salesian Cooperators, Turin, Valdocco 23 May 1879, BS 3 (1879) no. 6, June, p.3.

26 Regole o Costituzioni della Società di S. Francesco di Sales.Turin, Salesian Press and Book shop 1875, chap 1, art 5, p.4. OE X X V II54

27 Cooperatori salesiani ossia un modo pratico...1876, p. 7, OE XX V III261,

The vocation experience has its beginning in 1849 and Don Bosco, despite obvious exaggeration, wrote about it as follows: “ We might say that the house attached to the Oratory becam e a diocesan sem inary for som e tw enty years” .28

A similar function is attributed to all the undertakings that followed: homes, boarding schools and agricultural schools, all o f which offered cheap tuition. They had exactly the same aim: “to give the greatest number o f talented young people the opportunity to receive an education which was a Christian education so that in tim e they may turn out to be good priests or courageous m issionaries or wise fathers o f fam ilies” .29

In 1877, Don B osco would establish a stable set o f rules, the ‘Rules for the Houses’, for the gradually developing works, along with the parallel ‘Rules for the day students’. Every house, as far as possible, was expected to have an oratory attached to it: “The general aim o f the houses o f the Congregation is to provide help, do good to o n e’s neighbour especially by educating youth, taking care o f them during the most dangerous years o f their lives, educating them in the sciences and arts and leading them to practise religion and virtue. The Congregation does not refuse to take care o f any class o f people, but it prefers the m iddle and poorer classes since these are the ones mostly in need o f help and assistance” .30

Don B osco w as an am bassador for his ow n undertakings, and during the last years o f his life and particularly during his historic trips to France and Spain, would come up with more engaging and definitive formulations of his system and its objectives, through the many talks and conferences. These would but confirm and further explain things.

In a letter to the Cooperators in January 1880, D on Bosco presented a complete list o f the institutions he had set up on b ehalf o f youth at risk: “Recreational parks, oratories, Sunday schools, evening schools, day schools, homes, boarding schools, educational institutions... all open for the public benefit in Italy, France, Am erica”.31

In April 1882, Don Bosco offered further explanation in Lucca: “Many thousands o f youngsters in more than 100 houses receive a Christian education; they are instructed, introduced to learning an art or skill which will help them earn their bread honestly...

Charitable contributions are used to prepare these children for civil society, so they may become either good Christian workers or faithful soldiers or exemplary masters

28 MO (1991) 195.

29 Conference to Cooperators at Casale Monferrato Nov. 17,1881, BS 5 (1881 ) no. 12, Dec,p.5.

30 Regolamento per ie case della Società di S. Francesco di Sales.Turin, Salesian Press 1877, part 2, Chap 1, Scopo delle case della Congregazione di S. Francesco di Sales, p. 59, OE X X IX 155.

31 BS 4 (1880) no. 1, Jan, p. 1; information follows on works o f various kinds in Italy, France, Argentina, including the Patagonian missions (pp. 1-3).

and teachers or priests and even missionaries who might bring religion and civilization to barbarians”.32

Don Bosco gave a talk at the C ooperators’ m eeting in Turin, on June 1, 1885:

“H e seem ed very tired and his voice w as soft. As he was telling the C ooperators about Salesian undertakings, he emphasised the reasons why they should be supported:

Because they educate youth to pursue virtue, the way leading to the aitar; because their main goal is that o f instructing youth who today have become the target o f wicked people; because in their boarding schools, homes, festive oratories, their families they promote, in the m idst o f the world they promote, I repeat: love o f religion, good morals, prayer, frequent reception o fth e sacraments”.33

As a consequence, it is not possible to reduce Don Bosco’s practical interests to only one category o f person, namely “poor and abandoned youth” .

Don B osco’s active interests encom pass a w hole netw ork o f young people, a rather broad one which had the restricted and diverse world o f delinquents at its lower level, those who needed to be corrected, those w ho had had to deal with the courts;

there was the less defined world o f the almost unredeemable, by using only preventive discipline. These youngsters could be harmful to many ofthe youth he had the intention o f caring about the most.

Looking at higher levels, in principle, at least as far as the boarding schools and the homes were concerned, boys from upper-class families (financial or noble status) were excluded. These youngsters would have found themselves ili at ease in relatively

‘cheap’ institutions as far as buildings, food, cultural activities, generai tone o f life were concerned.34

Don B osco’s perspective w as quite broad when he spoke and wrote, hearing in mind the varied circum stances o f young people and people in generai. W hether he was writing books to uphold the faith or whether he was doing his best to point out the need for w elfare and educational intervention beyond his own area o f activity for young people, Don Bosco never excluded the w idest possibility o f applying the Preventive System, probably including some additional ‘repressive’ approaches. For

32 BS 6 (1882) no. 5 ,M a y p . 81.

33 BS 9 (1885) no. 7, July, p. 94

34 A more detailed researeh w ould be needed for individuai institutes to detail the purpose and those they w ere looking after, their setting, the level and requests o f fam ilies, the expectations o f religious and civil authorities, historical development, quality o f those running them and o f the education they offered. From the monographs available some excellent researeh has been done, som e less so. A m ongst the m ost important o f these concerning works undertaken by Don Bosco: P. Stella, Don B osco n ella sto ria econom ica e so c ia le (1815- 1870% already cited; F. Desramaut, Don B osco à Nice. L a vìe d'une école profession elle catholique entre 1875 et 1919. Paris, Apostolat des Éditions 1980, 397.

instance, he suggested thè use o f thè Preventive System in Turin’s prisons to Urban Rattazzi and he suggested to Francesco Crispi that the same system be em ployed for

instance, he suggested thè use o f thè Preventive System in Turin’s prisons to Urban Rattazzi and he suggested to Francesco Crispi that the same system be em ployed for