THE SALESIAN COADJUTORS

Lay Assistants In the great work undertaken by Don Bosco on behalf o f the sons of the people there was room for every kind o f help.1 Some laymen had offered to help him, and it was natural that he should seek to integrate them into his society. The first text we have of the Salesian Constitu­

tions reads: “The aim of this Society is to unite its ecclesiastical, clerical, and evan lay members, so that they may attain perfection by emulating the virtues of our Divine Savior, especially by helping the impoverished young.” 2

On the other hand, Don Bosco believed in the apostolic action o f the laity, whether as Christians in the world, or true religious bound by vows. He had acquired this interest in the laity during his course at the C on vitto and in particular from Joseph Cafasso. For a long time he was faithful to the spiritual exercises organized for the laity of St. Ignatius, near Lanzo. His own experience and contacts with every category o f Christians convinced him that everyone could attain “per­

fection.”

It is difficult, however, to ascertain whether the idea of the coadju­

tor was born together with the idea of a congregation or whether it was the result of later experience. In Don Bosco’s explanation con­

96 D O N BOSCO cerning the lay Salesian, we do indeed find some uncertainties and even contradictions. In any case it seems correct to confirm the neces- ity of qualified men o f professional status as an im portant factor in the enterprise.

One need only think of the difficulties and uncertainties he had to overcome when starting the first workshops for the boarders at the Oratory.3 Whatever his experiments, difficulties always arose sooner or later. The problems that now confronted him can be summed up as follows: There were two alternatives, either he m ust give carte blanche to civilian craftmasters whose only aim was to profit by their independence, or else he had to limit their work to a well-defined task which would ruin the workshop because o f lack o f interest and respon­

sibility. In both cases the results had been deplorable so far: proper instruction in craftsmanship was lacking, discipline suffered, disorders multiplied . . . Various experiments with the equipm ent had been equally disappointing. Eventually the m om ent o f tru th had arrived.

While professional competence was indispensable in the craftmasters, it was not sufficient. Don Bosco felt that he could do nothing for the training of his craftsmen unless he could find members who would combine competence in craftsmanship with the ability to im part their knowledge effectively.

The Salesian Coadjutor provided the ideal solution to his problem.

He would certainly find the qualities of responsibility and training by making them competent. It remained, then, to find laymen who would accept his offer, but that was n ot easy. It was much harder, in fact, than finding priests. On the other hand, we must emphasize (as will be shown later) that not all Coadjutors were destined to become craftsmasters.

The First Lay Salesians As we have already seen, the first layman to be adm itted “ to the practice of the rules o f the Society” was Joseph Rossi, on February 2, 1860. Born in Matteo, in the province o f Pavia, this young man o f twenty-five had come to know about Don Bosco several m onths be­

fore through reading one of his books.4 The word “coadjutor” made

its first appearance in Salesian vocabulary with Rossi. In a letter of Ceria says that he had already had “various romantic adventures” when he decided in 1860 to go on a retreat at St. Ignatius. There Don Bosco

98 D O N BOSCO Belmonte, and Molinari, who had become Coadjutors and were very im portant people down there. Were these explanations enough to overcome the reluctance o f being friars? Statistics provide the answer.

Though they reflect a greater number o f clerics they do show a definite steady rise: 2 Coadjutors in 1860, 23 in 1870, 182 in 1880, and 284 (o f whom 100 were novices) at the time o f Don Bosco’s death.

Origin Many o f these vocations came from among the artisans o f the Oratory; these young men decided to enter the Congregation because Don Bosco had suggested it, and because they saw the life o f the Coad­

jutors with their own eyes.

However, right from the start vocations also came from outside, as was the case with Frederick Oreglia. The fame o f Don Bosco, his many schools, and his books attracted young men and adults. In January 1880, at a time when new foundations were demanding per­

sonnel, he sent a circular to various parish priests in which he asked them to send young men between twenty and thirty-five years o f age who wanted to “leave the world,” to the Oratory on condition that they would be “ready to undertake any kind of w ork.”6

In some cases future Salesians wavered between the vocation o f a religious priest and that o f a lay religious. Several became Coajutors after having first thought o f the priesthood. This happened with Joseph Buzzetti who had started to study Latin and put on the clerical cassock in 1851. When he lost his left index finger in an accident, he decided against the priesthood. He became a Coadjutor, officially, only in 1877.

Others followed the opposite course. Father Angelo Lago, who was for many years personal secretary to Don Bosco, had first been a Coadjutor. At the I General Chapter there was much discussion about this kind of “prom otion” ; it was noted that other congregations were opposed. Don Bosco was rather in favor as long as the applicant pos­

sessed “the morality and the disposition” required of a priest.7

Of course the different backgrounds and abilities created certain difficulties in the ranks o f the Coadjutors. It was only natural that those who knew something o f the more learned professions should

have found some difficulty with the others, and vice versa. In Septem­

ber 1884 Father Rua proposed that there should be two distinct categories. In his opinion, it was not desirable that “a lawyer, a doctor, a pharmacist, or a professor should find himself next to an uneducated com panion.” 8 Don Bosco was categorically opposed: “I cannot allow two classes o f Coadjutors,” adding, however, that individuals who were uncouth or simpletons would not be able to join his society anyway.

Father Rua then suggested to establish a category similar to the Fran­

ciscan Tertiaries, but he could not change Don Bosco’s mind.

Duties The duties of the first Coajdutors, Frederick Oreglia, Joseph Rossi, and Joseph Buzzetti were as varied as their origins and capacities.9 They saw to the discipline and the upkeep of the workshops which were directed by outside masters. Others who had been artisans took over the direction o f the workshops, where they themselves had been trained, but not everyone was necessarily assigned to a professional section. Marcello Rossi, one of the most popular, had been doorkeeper for forty-eight years. Others were sacristans like Dominick Palestrino and A nthony Lanteri, or cooks like Joseph Falco, Francis Mascheroni, and Joseph Ruffato. (Don Bosco said, that for the good management of a Salesian house, it was necessary to have at least three persons of the highest competence: the director, the doorkeeper, and the cook).

Some were factotums, like Louis Nasi who acted as inflrmarian and helped in the workshops, the kitchen, and the barbershop, etc.; or Peter Enria who was at various times music-master, in charge of the theater, cook, painter, and organizer o f the “autumn outings.” Don Bosco used to say, jokingly, “You are a person of such importance that you are not only useful but essential.”

Some Coadjutors became well known in their field, as the composer Joseph Dogliani, the Salesian archivist Joseph Gambino, the printer Andrew Pelazza, the master tailor Peter Cenci, and the administrator Joseph Rossi who was much trusted by Don Bosco and took care o f numerous affairs for him in Italy and abroad.

Father Braido insists that the first Coadjutors were not limited to

100 D O N BOSCO their professional occupations.10 Many assisted the priest in areas that were directly apostolic and educative. For example, Marcello Rossi, the porter, taught a catechism class on Sundays at the festive Oratory, and Joseph Buzzetti did “assisting and catechism.” Belmonte, at Buenos Aires, was sacristan, musician, and catechist at the same time.

Progressive Elaboration When dealing with basic questions concerning the place o f laymen in the Salesian Congregation, one cannot help being rather surprised.

“The figure of the Coadjutor,” writes Father Braido, “as it appears to us today after a hundred years of progressive doctrinal clarification, did not come about by chance as a totally new and original ‘creation,’

but it emerged gradually amid fluctuations and uncertainties. . . ” n It is not surprising then to find that the term “Coadjutor” was used for a time to mean both Salesian religious and so-called “ familiars”

who live in Salesian houses. A manuscript of 1867 actually says: “The Coadjutors are three in number: the cook, the laundryman, the porter.”

The confusion in terms is a reflection o f certain facts that made the Coadjutors complain periodically that they were treated as “servants.”

No less significant, however, was Don Bosco’s reaction against any possible downgrading of the lay element within his Congregation. These measures grew more precise and detailed towards the end of his life. As far as we know, the most im portant clarifications o f the position o f the Coadjutor were given at a conference of the Coadjutor-novices in San Benigno on October 19, 1883, and in an intervention during the general chapter of 1886. It is there that one should look for the definitive attitude of Don Bosco.

The Place o f the Layman in the Salesian Society It is obvious therefore that the Coadjutor is neither a servant nor a laybrother. “Notice also,” said Don Bosco in 1876, “ th at there is no distinction among the members o f the Congregation: all receive the same treatm ent, whether they are artisans, clerics or priests; we are all

brothers.” 12 In his classic discourse of 1883, he insisted strongly on the “ dignity” of the Coadjutor w ithout going into precise definitions or juridical terms: “ You are not to toil and labor; you are to direct, you

sider Coadjutors second-class Salesians. And if this tem ptation was great outside, we know that some Salesian priests were also guilty of chapter of 1886 found rather positive expressions to define the specific contributions of the laymen and therefore o f the Coadjutor: “In our religious in the Congregation. “The Salesian Coadjutor,” affirms Father Louis Rinaldi, “is neither secondary nor just help, nor even the right- hand man o f the priest who is his brother in religion, but he is his equal, and, concerning perfection, he can often be better, as daily experiences show.” 16 Notice the curious point: in stating that the Coadjutor is not the priest’s helper, Father Philip Rinaldi contradicts the literal sense that Don Bosco had given the word “ Coadjutor.”

102 D O N BOSCO does not celebrate Mass and cannot have the responsibility o f spiritual direction.” 17

An Apostle and Educator On reading some o f the founder’s remarks, one might be led to believe that he asked from the Coadjutors merely a material “ assis­

tance” in the management of the houses. In the above m entioned letter to parish priests in 1880, for example, he does n o t speak of apostolic or educational assignments for the Salesian candidates. All he asked was for men to be ready “for that life of sacrifice fitting a religious,” ready to help “in the fields, garden, kitchen, and bakery;

look after the refectory and help with the cleaning of the house;

and, if sufficiently instructed, perform secretarial work. When trained in crafts or trades as practiced in our schools, they were to continue in our various workshops.”

As Father Ceria used to say, Don Bosco can be explained only by Don Bosco himself. In his mind, the Coadjutors can and should be

“true evangelical workers.” Their presence among the boys in a house should never be a merely administrative one, and he felt this was so obvious that he never bothered at all to put it in formal terms. How­

ever, the regulations for the oratories drawn up during the III (1883) and IV (1886) General Chapters brought out incidentally the apo­

stolic task of the Coadjutors in this type of work: “ All the Salesian members, whether ecclesiastical or lay, should deem themselves for­

tunate and regard their work as an apostolate o f the highest im por­

tance.” 18 The examples of Coadjutor catechists confirm that this apostolate was carried out by men already engaged in various practical duties.

The intuition of the founder concerning the apostolic and educa­

tive mission of the Coadjutor has subsequently been further explained and developed. Father Albera drew up some conclusions for those con­

cerned, saying: “ Our Coadjutors must train themselves to teach cate­

chism, to hold socio-religious conferences, to teach in primary and secondary schools, to become craftmasters, to help the boys day and night, to manage the goods of the community, in other words to

fulfill, in the varied program of our apostolate, all those duties that do not require priestly functions.” 19

A R e lig io u s The lay Salesian is a religious in the full sense o f the word. Father Rinaldi says that Don Bosco wanted to make him “ a complete religious, because evangelical perfection was not the monopoly of priestly digni­

ty .” 20

This type o f religious carries certain obligations. “ In every place and situation,” said the IV General Chapter, “inside the house and outside, in words and actions, let them show themselves always good religious, because it is not the habit that makes a religious but the practice of the religious virtues.” 21

In this connection it should be noted that it was Don Bosco’s wish that their clothes should not distinguish them from ordinary persons to facilitate contact with the world and enable them to set a good example. Father Eugene Ceria, author o f Profili di trentatre coadiutori salesiani (Profiles of Thirty-Three Salesian Coadjutors), speaks with admiration of that “ great group of men who impress others with their dignity and simplicity and edify by spontaneous friendliness and enlightened, religious spirit.”

Since they are religious Don Bosco looked after them, encouraged them in their vocation and helped them with their problems. Barthol­

omew Scavini, tired o f missionary life and ready to abandon the Con­

gregation, changed his mind upon receipt o f a short note from Don Bosco. Another, Rizzaghi, had left the house where he was stationed, but when, after some time outside, he decided to return, Don Bosco welcomed him back in a fatherly way.

W ithout pretending to make Don Bosco the precursor of the idea of the lay apostolate as it has appeared, for example, in recent secu­

lar institutes, it is n o t difficult to see that his views on the lay reli­

gious were balanced and well adapted to a society that was becoming ever more democratic. “By calling us to live in com m unity,” says an article o f the Salesian Constitutions, “God gives us brothers to

104 D O N BOSCO love. United by the bond of charity and the simple vows, we form one heart and one soul in supporting one another and in loving and serving God.”

NOTES ON CHAPTER 9

1. See the analysis of the reasons that may have influenced the creation of the Coadjutors: P. Braido, Religiosi nuovi per il m ondo del lavoro, Rome 1961, pp. 15-20. This volume contains a very prac­

tical collection of the main official texts from 1860 to 1960, pp. 43- 205. See also by the same author Vocazione del coadiutore salesiano alVapostolate caritativo, pastorale e educativo, Rome 1964.

2. “ Scope of this society,” art. 1.

3. See ch. 3. of this volume; also J. Aubry and P. Schoene- berger, Le Coadjuteur salesien, Nice 1952, pp. 1-2.

4. Individual details of the first Coadjutors are taken from E. Ceria: Profili di 33 coadiutori salesiani, Colie Don Bosco 1952.

5. E. Ceria, Annali, I, 704-07.

6. E. Ceria, Memorie biografiche, XIV, 783-84.

7. E. Ceria, Annali, I, 708.

8. Ibid., 709.

9. See E. Ceria, Profili di 33 coadiutori salesiani, ed cit.

10. P. Braido, Vocazione del coadiutore, pp. 6-7.

11. Ibid., p. 7.

12. E. Ceria, Memorie biografiche, XII, 152. (English ed., pp.

121-2 2).

13. Ibid., XVI, 313.

14. Quoted by P. Braido, Religiosi nuovi, p. 27.

15. See E. Ceria, Memorie biografiche, XVIII, 699, “ Dei coadiu­

tori.”

16. See an interesting letter of Father Rinaldi on the Coadjutors in Acts of the Superior Council, July 24, 1927, no. 40, pp. 572-80.

17. A Candela, “ L’apostolato dei tempi nuovi. II coadiutore salesiano secondo il pensiero di Don Bosco,” in II salesiano coadiu­

tore, VIII, 1955, 6-9.

18. P. Barido, Religiosi nuovi, p. 64. Re: the Coadjutor as an

“ apostle and educator” see also J. Aubry and P. Schoeneberger, Le coadjuteru salesien, passim, and G. Favini, Salesiani coadiutori: Carat- teristiche di una grande vocazione, Turin 1963, pp. 53-93.

19. Extract from a letter “ Sulle vocazioni” of Don Albera in Acts of the Superior Council, May 15, 1921, no. 4, pp. 205-07.

20. Letter of Father Rinaldi on the Coadjutors, ibid., 21. E. Ceria, Annali, I, 711.

10