Large-hearted and practical

Don Bosco com bines a rem arkable breadth o f thinking and planning with practicality in carrying this out and fìnding the means. In this regard we could actually gather an entire anthology o f statem ents revealing Don B osco’s availability, his enterprising and daring spirit. Writing to Bishop Gilardi, Bishop of Mondovì, Don Bosco says: “I have read the program and the project about the Ecclesiastical Library. The undertaking is a diffìcult one and a gigantic one. If collaborators can be found and the program is made know n, as it should be, I am in, at full strength, all the way (Totis Viribus)”.68 Writing to Professor Vallauri and asking publicity in his newspaper L ’Unità

62 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, his procurator in Rome, June 2 8 ,1882, E IV 147. It refers to the Concordia,closing a long dispute with the Diocesan Ordinary.

63 Letter to the Cardinal Vica, July 5,1882, E IV 149-150; cf. also the letter to Fr Savio in Rome, July 6,1882, EIV 150; to Fr Dalmazzo, July 29,1882, EIV 157.

64 Letter toFr Dalmazzo, Aug. 2 7 ,1 8 8 2 ,EIV 165.

65 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, Nov. 2 6 ,1882,EIV215.

66 Letter toFr Dalmazzo, March 1 9 ,1883,EIV215.

67 Letter to Fr Dalmazzo, June 19, 1882, EIV 144. Sunwas a much prized brand of tobacco.

68 Letter March 1869, E I I 15.

Cattolica for the church o f St John thè Evangelist, Don Bosco adds: “The undertaking is a gigantic one but it is absolutely necessary, and therefore I will put my hands to the task “ .69 “This is w hat the Lord wants from us at this time! Houses, and colleges for students coming from lower circumstances, shelters where we could welcome savages or sem i-savages, if w e had th em ...” . “You are a m usician and I am by profession a poet; so both o f us will do our very best to m ake sure that w hatever goes on in the Indies and A ustralia does not upset w hat goes on in A rgentina”.70

“ I find it extrem ely difficult to express the feelings that your letter and the subscription o f the generous people o f Cassine have aroused in me. I have consecrated my entire life to doing good to youth, for I am convinced that the happiness o f a nation depends on the sound education o f youth. I feel alm ost as if I am being dragged w herever I can be to do anything, even in a small way, on behalf o f youth, the chosen p ortion o f civil society. B ut I certain ly did not deserve to have such noble encouragem ent”.71

“W hatever turns out to be beneficiai to youth at risk or what helps to win souls over to God, that spurns me on to the point o f recklessness. Therefore your project o f starting som ething which m ight be beneficiai to poor boys, to boys at risk, keeping boys aw ay from the danger o f crow ding the prisons, m aking honest citizens and good Christians out o f them , this is thè goal that we have set before us” .72

In this climate and in thè m anner he used to present his objective, Don Bosco aimed at expanding the proportion and consistency ofh is works, as they began and in their development. This proved helpful for publicity and for animating his co-helpers and benefactors. “During this m onth we have already opened five houses and they are already pretty crowded; four more houses will be opened next August, God willing.

Isn’t it true that w e are progressives? ”73 “Things are going not only going full steam but they are going like thè telegraph. In one year, with G od’s help and the charity o f our benefactors, w e have been able to open 20 houses. Presently w e have over 70 houses w ith 30,000 pupils . See how your fam ily has increased!”74 “The great undertakings we have at hand, cali for m any prayers that ali may tum out w ell”. This is how he began a letter addressed from France to his closest collaborator (Father

69 Letter Dee. 10,1870,E li 135; cflettertoCountessUguccioni from Florence, Dee. 1, 1871, E II 189, and March 28, 1872, E II 203; to Fr Rua and Fr Lazzero Aprii 25, 1876, E III 50; to Fr Cagliero Aprii 27,1876, E III52; to Fr Rua April-May 1876, E III53-55.

70 Letter toFr Cagliero, June and July 1876, E III68 and 72; cf. also letter Nov. 16,1876, E III 114.

71 Letter to Doc. Peverotti di Cassine (Alessandria), Sept. 6, 1876, E III 93.

72 Letter toCarlo Vespignani, Aprii 1J, 1877, E III166.

73 Letter to Countess di Camburzano, July 28,1878, E III370.

74 Letter to Countess Uguccioni, Nov. 18,1878, E III417.

Michael Rua).75 Don Bosco was projecting similar developments for the young Salesians o f South America: “Things here are taking gigantic steps”76

These were not only ideal ised projects. Don Bosco was great with his projects but no less great in the hidden daily w ork o f setting up the means, the tools needed for the realisation o f the same projects. Perhaps this was the most recognisable aspect o f a life m arked by poverty and by a tireless search for help.

The first nightm are has a nam e: “the B aker” . “M iseries keep on re-doubling and I am w orking out day and night how to pay the Baker, I stili have the B ak er’s M arch bill to pay and I do not know where to get the money from ” .77“ Should you be able to help me, you would be feedingpoor and hungry boys”.78 “Here we are doing all we can. The mice cannot play near the cat’s claw s!” 79 “The price o f bread leaves us desperate” .80

Poverty afflicted every part o f his work. “Our houses arepenniless”.81 “Misery is the only song you hear sung everywhere, but we have an abundance o f youngsters entrusted to our care every day. We are hoping and w e are praying”82 Don Bosco also fìnds inspiration in The Barber o f Sevi Ile: tutti ne chiedono, tutti ne vogliono.

Un poco alla volta, per carità. (They all ask for it. They all w ant it. A little bit at a tim e, for G od’s sake).83

This search for bread alm ost becam e a “testam ent” in one o f his last letters, dated N ovem ber 7,1887: “Hunger m oves a w o lf out o f his den, so the proverb says, The same way my needs move me to bother certain benefactors, something I would not do in ordinary circum stances.. Please, help me to the degree w hich suits you best... I can no longer write. These are the last efforts o f my poor hand”.84

Don B osco’s efforts to m uster the help o f his collaborators and benefactors were uninterrupted. He did this through personal contacts, with hundreds of individuai letters and circular letters. “ Keep on being cheerful’, he wrote to his best helper,

75 LettertoFrRua Jan. 11, 1879, E llI 4 3 6 ; “Ouraffairsherearegoingaheadfabulously, as the world would say, but we say prodigiously” (Letter to Fr Rua from Marseilles, Jan. 17, 1879, E III 442).

76 Letter to Fr Taddeo Remotti, Jan. 31,1881, EIV 9; cf. letter to Fr G. Fagnano, Jan. 31,1881, E IV 13-14.

77 Letterto Canon De Gaudenzi, Dee. 17,1855, E m i 276; cf. letter Jan. 1 9 ,1854,Em I215.

78 Letter to Baron Feliciano Ricci des Ferres, May 7,1856, Em 1288.

79 Letter to Cavalier Oreglia Dee. 7,1867, Em II456.

80 Letterto Cavalier Oreglia Aprii 10,1868, Em II5226.

81 LettertoFrRua, July 1876E III 77.

82 LettertoFrRua, Oct. 13,1876, E III 104.

83 Letterto Fr Rua, Jan. 1878, E III285.

84 Letter toMrs. Zavaglia-Manica,Nov. 7,1887, EIV 384.

“Look for money. L et the Cavaliere carry on a successful business and let Buzzetti help him. This is all I can do from h ere”.85 “You, then, in omnibus labora. Do your best to collect donations and if we cannot do it in any other way carry out or pian to carry out a useful robbery, or better stili, w ork out som e sort o f m athem atical

‘su btraction’ in som e B ankers’ H ouse” .86 Don Bosco asked for loans; organised lotteries; invented all sorts o f ways o f begging; promoted benefit concerts”.87 He was gifted with the art o f ‘cultivating’ his benefactors efficiently, to the point w here it m ight have appeared to be the end result o f cunning, w ere it not to spring from an intensive love for the ones who were to benefit from it all, and first o f all the benefactors them selves. “The only thing that I can stili do and I am w illingly doing for you” he w rites in his last or next to the last letter “and for your loved ones, both living and deceased, is to pray for them every day so that their riches, which are thorns, may be turned into good works, namely, flowers, which the Angels can use to weave crowns for their brow s for all eternity. So be it!”88

Don Bosco begged, out o f love for those in need, but also for those who gave.

And from tim e to tim e, love takes on the hue o f affection, even hum an affection, sincere gratitude, friendship. This friendship is never without a touch offilial confidence, fam iliarity, kindness show n by the exchange o f sym bolic gifts, invitations sent or received, “D istinguished H onours” requested or received, prayers, greetings and personal recollections, even letters to third parties, with friendly and sincere wishes. It is within the context o f exquisitely personalised feelings that one can understand how Don Bosco succeeded in establishing relationships with benefactors and ‘m am m as’

who were m ost generous and supportive. These relationships were neither imposed norartificial, butfilial.89