From June 29 to July 5, a group of 41 educators, Salesians and lay people, who work in the various environments of the Youth Ministry of the Mary Help of Christians Province (SMX) completed, in the land of Don Bosco, their Formation in Salesian Spirituality (FES) organized by the Delegation for Shared Charisma and Mission.
After the experience lived in Godelleta during the month of January, in which the educators were able to approach the life of Don Bosco and the features of Salesian spirituality in a theoretical way; The group of educators has toured the Salesian places in Piedmont to delve deeper into Salesian Spirituality, the Preventive System and Educational Pedagogy lived by the saint of young people in his Valdocco oratory.
In the words of the Delegate for the Shared Charisma and Mission, José Luis Navarro, «the pilgrimage to the Salesian places of Piedmont is a unique experience to delve deeper into the life and work of Don Bosco. Going through his childhood and adolescence, walking through the streets of Turin and imagining the young priest who seeks to fulfill the dream that God has for him until he reaches Valdocco is a true privilege.
The pilgrimage began in Don Bosco’s birthplace, I Becchi, where educators were able to get closer to the first years of the Salesian founder’s peasant life. There they rediscovered the simple life of the Bosco family, the great importance of Mama Margarita as an educator and the figure of Don Calosso as one of the first companions of young Juan.
On the second day the group traveled to Chieri to visit the most significant places in Don Bosco’s life during the ten years of his training in the city. Time in which Don Bosco had to combine work and study, especially in the first four years of his stay in Chieri while he studied in public schools. Once this stage was completed, not without difficulties, he entered the diocesan seminary where he established great spiritual friendships and prepared to be a priest. The educators understood the importance of discernment in the life of Don Bosco, and approached a very human Don Bosco, with doubts about what God was asking of him. During the afternoon they were also able to learn about the figure of Saint Dominic Savio when visiting Morialdo and Mondonio, an expression of the validity of Don Bosco’s educational system as a path to holiness for young people.
On the third day the pilgrimage began with a visit to the Salesian Turin, from the place where he performed his first spiritual exercises before being ordained a priest, passing by the Ecclesiastical Convitto and the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, where the meeting with Bartholomew took place. by Garelli and the moment in which we traditionally recognize the birth of oratorio. Once again, the importance of accompaniment emerges strongly at this stage, especially from Don Cafasso, who discovered a Don Bosco who put himself in the hands of the Lord and his companion to discover what God wanted from him. Even without being clear about the vocation to which God was calling him, Don Bosco began his work in the Refuge with the Work of the Marchioness of Barolo, awaiting the construction of the Hospitalillo to which he had been destined, while, in agreement with the Marchioness, He continued to attend to the boys who sought him more and more. There are some years in which the oratorio becomes an incipient work that travels itinerantly through many places. The educators discovered here the first and great difficulties that Don Bosco’s work had in establishing the Oratory. The day ended at the place where the Pinardi house was located, the beginning of what is today’s Valdocco.
The fourth and fifth day of this experience wanted to delve into the birth of Don Bosco’s work in Valdocco, the evolution of the oratory, the expansion of the congregation and the construction of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians to conclude the day approaching the last years of his life. An experience to know the steps of the mature Don Bosco, already with a clear vocation of full dedication to young people, fully living the Da mihi cheers, coetera tolle with the birth of the Salesian Congregation, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Salesian Cooperators. The group was able to understand that Don Bosco’s work was full of difficulties but that it was consolidated thanks to the many collaborators who supported his work in different ways.
The last part of the training, the participants dedicated to a morning of retreat to approach their educator hand in hand with Don Bosco. The Letter from Rome read in Valdocco, together with Don Bosco, was the protagonist of the last formative moment of this experience that culminated with the celebration of the Eucharist in the Church of Saint Francis de Sales.
«Living this experience together with the lay people with whom we share the life and mission in our province is a true gift. I encourage all houses to promote among their educators participation in this rich experience that aims to be an intense formative moment that fully reflects our vocation as educators with a Salesian style,” concluded José Luis Navarro about these days framed in the #SalesianSummer. .
Once the training experience is concluded, the next edition is now being prepared for next year 2025 as a privileged training space for the educators of the Salesian houses of the Mary Help of Christians Province.
