Saint John Bosco: A Priest Present for Street Youth

Saint John Bosco's attention was turned to boys from the streets. This priest, better known as Don Bosco, did not just think about them from afar. He approached them and tried to prepare them for work. The Church sources used here do not specify the city where they lived or the conditions of their lives, but his choice is clear: to be present for those boys.

The direction of his life is summed up in the Latin motto Da mihi animas, cetera tolle, which means give me souls, take away the rest. The motto shows what he put first: souls, not other things. He strengthened that motto with two very down-to-earth elements: work and temperance.

His first step was the oratory. The available sources do not tell how the oratory began, but they do mention the direction it developed in: after the oratory, Don Bosco continued his work through schools and workplaces. The goal was concrete. Children who had been living on the streets were prepared for work.

Many vocational schools arose from that work. There, young people could work while being educated in human and Christian values. In the legacy of Don Bosco carried on by the Salesians, the two are not separate: proclaiming the faith to young people goes hand in hand with the effort to educate them so that they grow as human beings.

The way he accompanied young people is also remembered. Don Bosco handed on his experience and what is called the preventative system. The sources used here only mention its name, without explaining its content. What is clearer is his attitude: the tenderness he called fondness, a language of the heart for approaching young people and befriending them.

His life was also simple. Pope Francis spoke of the poverty of Don Bosco, together with the poverty of Mamma Margherita, as an inspiration for the Salesians to live austerely, hold on to the essentials, and stay close to the poor.

Pope Francis also saw educational work like this as a work of mercy, namely instructing the ignorant. According to him, the pioneers of such education restored the dignity of many people with ordinary work and few means, and education became a unique way of proclaiming the Gospel. In another audience, the Pope said that Don Bosco knew how to make all the young people he met feel God's embrace, because he gave them hope, a home, and a future.

That work did not end with him. Don Bosco was the founder of the Salesian Society of Saint John Bosco and handed on a family spirit to his community. The Salesians continue to carry on his charism. The Church commemorates him as a saint, and Pope Francis called him father and teacher of young people, a good priest.

Church status

Saint; the Church celebrates his liturgical memorial

Known as

Father and teacher of young people, a good priest

Motto

Da mihi animas, cetera tolle (give me souls, take away the rest), complemented by work and temperance

Main work

Preparing boys from the streets for work through the oratory, then schools and workplaces

Founder of

Salesian Society of Saint John Bosco