St. John Bosco School Prayer
Saint John Bosco,
You were a friend to all young people.
Be a friend to me.
As I grow up,
Help me to be the best
that I can be.
I want to use
the gifts God has given me
to make the world
a better place.
Help me to know what I
should do with my life.
Help me to see that I will be
really happy when I help others.
Saint John Bosco
you were a friend to all young people
Be a friend to me
Amen
SAINT JOHN BOSCO
Founder of the Salesian Order (1815-1888)
Feast Day: January 31
Saint John Bosco accomplished what many people considered an impossibility; he walked through the streets of Turin, Italy, looking for the roughest boys he could find and made good men of them. His success can be summed up in the words of his patron Saint, Francis de Sales: “The measure of his love was that he loved without measure.”
Saint John Bosco was born in 1815 in the Piedmonte, Italy and raised on a small farm. When his father died, John joined his brothers in the farm work.
As he grew older, John began to think of becoming a priest, but poverty and lack of education made this seem impossible. A kindly priest recognized his intelligence and gave him his first encouragement by teaching him to read and write. Later, he was admitted to a diocesan seminary where he devoted his spare time to looking for young boys who roamed the slums of the city. Every Sunday, he taught them catechism, supervised their games and entertained them with stories and tricks; before long his kindness had won their confidence, and his “Sunday School” became a ritual with them.
After his ordination in 1841, John became assistant to the chaplain of an orphanage on the outskirts of Turin. This position was short-lived, for when he insisted that his Sunday-school boys be allowed to play on the orphanage grounds, they were turned away, and John resigned. He began looking for a permanent home for the boys, but no “decent” neighborhood would accept the noisy crowd. At last, in a run down section of the city, where no one was likely to protest, the first oratory was established and named for Saint Francis de Sales. At first the boys attended school elsewhere, but as more teachers volunteered their time, classes were held at the house. Enrollment increased so rapidly that by 1849 there were three oratories in various places in the city.
Don Bosco started his own religious order of priests called the Salesians, after St. Francis de Sales. He also started the order of the Salesian sisters.
Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888 and was canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI. The work of John Bosco continues today in over a thousand Salesian oratories throughout the world. No modern Saint has captured the heart of the world more rapidly than this smiling peasant-priest from Turin, who believed that to give complete trust and love is the most effective way to nourish virtue in others.
Source: Lives of the Saints for Every Day of the Year Source: Lives of the Saints for Every Day of the Year. (Reprint of the work of John Gilmary Shea, with Appendix including recently canonized Saints) (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1955. Third Edition: Tan Books and Publishers: Rockford, Ill., 1995).
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