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We are approaching the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco, which will be celebrated on 16 August 2015. It is a very special event for us, for all the Salesian Family and for the whole Salesian Movement, which requires an intense and profound process of preparation, so that it may prove fruitful for all of us, for the Church, for the young and for society.
The XXVI General Chapter, taking as its theme the motto of Don Bosco “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle” and putting as the foundation of the five key issues “Starting afresh from Don Bosco”, has set us on our way to the Bicentenary. In the letter announcing the GC26 I wrote: «By making our own the motto Da mihi animas, cetera tolle, we intend to take up Don Bosco’s spiritual and apostolic programme resulting in his tireless work for the “glory of God and the salvation of souls.” In this way we can find once again the origin of our charism, the purpose of our mission and the future of our Congregation» (AGC 394 p. 6).
The putting into practice of the GC26, which asks us to strengthen our charism and revive in the heart of each one of us the apostolic passion, is therefore the first practical way of preparing for this bicentenary celebration. On the other hand, for the whole Salesian Movement, for the animation of which we are those primarily responsible, it is important to identify a common path.
1. Three years of preparation for the Bicentenary
The preparation which I am proposing to you, takes the form of a process in three stages which begin respectively on 16 August 2011, 16 August 2012 and 16 August 2013, with each one ending on 15 August of the following year. Each stage is meant to focus on one aspect of the charism of Don Bosco. The theme for each of the three stages of preparation will coincide with the theme of the Strenna for that year.
First year of preparation:
Knowledge of Don Bosco’s history
16 August 2011 - 15 August 2012
The first stage concentrates on a knowledge of Don Bosco’s history and of his context, of Don Bosco as a person, of his experience of life and of his choices. In recent years there have been new publications in this regard, the findings of which need to be assimilated systematically. During this first year of preparation we need to set ourselves a systematic plan for the study and assimilation of Don Bosco. The generations of those who knew Don Bosco or had come in contact with his first witnesses have now come to an end. It is necessary therefore to draw on the sources and on the studies about Don Bosco, in order to deepen our knowledge first of all about him as a person. The study of Don Bosco is an essential condition in order to be able to communicate his charism and propose his current relevance. Without knowledge there cannot be love, imitation or intercession; then only love can lead to greater knowledge. It is a question therefore of a knowledge which starts from love and leads to love: an affective knowledge.
Second year of preparation:
Don Bosco’s Pedagogy
16 August 2012 - 15 August 2013
Some years ago I spoke about the importance of a deeper study of Don Bosco’s pedagogy; now this needs to become a programme to be put into practice in this second year of preparation for the celebration of the bicentenary. Then I wrote: « Nowadays a deeper understanding is needed of Salesian pedagogy. In other words we need to study and apply that updated preventive system desired by Fr Egidio Viganò… developing its great implicit principles, modernising concepts, guidelines and interpretations so as to express the basic ideas in a modern manner: the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls; living faith, firm hope and pastoral charity; the good Christian and upright citizen; the threefold “cheerfulness, study and prayer”; the three “S” (in Italian): health, knowledge and holiness: piety, morality and culture; evangelisation and civilisation.
The same can be said of the great guidelines regarding attitudes: make yourself loved rather than feared; reason, religion, loving kindness; father, brother, friend; familiarity, especially in recreation; winning over the heart; the consecrated educator for the good of his pupils; freedom to run about, play and chatter.» (AGC 394 pp. 11-12).
Third year of preparation:
Don Bosco’s Spirituality
16 August 2013 - 15 August 2014
Finally we must have a knowledge of Don Bosco’s spirituality and live it. A knowledge of his life and activity and of his method of education is not enough. At the basis of the fruitful results of his actions and of his relevance there is a profound spiritual experience. «It is not easy to identify precisely Don Bosco’s spiritual experience. Perhaps this is an aspect of our founder that has not been studied at sufficient depth. He is a man totally intent on work. We have no descriptions of his interior development, nor has he left us any explicit reflections on his spiritual life; he wrote no spiritual diaries, offered no specific interpretations. He preferred to pass on to us a spirit by describing the events of his life, or through the biographies he wrote of his boys. It is certainly not enough to say that his spirituality is that of one engaged not in contemplation but in active pastoral work, a pastoral work of mediation between theoretical spirituality and its popular expression» (ACG 394 p. 12).
2. The year of celebration of the Bicentenary
Year of celebration:
Don Bosco’s mission with the young and for the young
16 August 2014 - 16 August 2015
The celebration of the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco will take place after the XXVII General Chapter: it will begin on 16 August 2014 and end on 16 August 2015. The process and the theme of the bicentenary year, following on consistently from the years of preparation, will refer to: Don Bosco’s mission with the young and for the young. The communication to others of the message of the Bicentenary will certainly take into account what has been acquired and matured during the three years of preparation.
The Calendar of the Congregation, in addition to the two celebrations of 16 August in 2014 and 2015 at Colle Don Bosco, includes two international events: the International Congress of Salesian Studies on “The development of the charism of Don Bosco” at the ‘Salesianum’ in Rome in the month of November 2014 and the ‘Bosco Camp’ of the STM with the theme “Young people for the young” in Turin in August 2015.
This year needs to be planned in good time in the Provinces so that we can concentrate on the process of spiritual and pastoral renewal which we intend to pursue as the Congregation, the Salesian Family and the Salesian Movement emphasising the importance and the relevance of the messages we intend to communicate. It is absolutely essential to avoid dispersion, fragmentation and repetition, focusing rather on decisiveness and effectiveness. All of this in view of the aims to be achieved.
3. Prayer to Don Bosco
The preparation and the celebration of the Bicentenary are an opportunity to take up again with the young, the lay people, the Salesian Family and the Salesian Movement prayer to Don Bosco. I propose an updated rewording of the prayer “Father and Teacher of youth.”
Saint John Bosco,
Father and Teacher of youth,
docile to the gifts of the Spirit and open to the reality of your times
you were for the young, especially the little ones and the poor,
a sign of the love and the special care of God.
Be our guide as we walk the path of friendship with the Lord Jesus,
so that we may discover in Him and in his Gospel
the meaning of our lives
and the source of true happiness.
Help us to respond with generosity
to the vocation we have received from God,
so that in daily life we may be
builders of communion,
and may collaborate with enthusiasm,
and in communion with the whole Church,
in creating a civilisation of love.
Obtain for us the grace of perseverance
in living a high standard of Christian life,
according to the spirit of the beatitudes;
and grant that, guided by Mary Help of Christians,
we may one day be with you
in the great family of heaven. Amen
I would suggest that Salesian communities make daily use of this prayer, each day at the end of Evening Prayer or Spiritual Reading just as each day after meditation we invoke Mary Help of Christians with the prayer of entrustment. They should also see to it that this invocation is used in the daily prayers with the young.
May the Spirit of Christ help us to pursue our path of preparation for the Bicentenary and may Mary Help of Christians support us; on the seriousness and the depth of the preparation depend in fact the spiritual, pastoral and vocational fruits which we are looking for from the bicentenary year. May Don Bosco, as always, be our model and our guide.
A Happy Feast of Don Bosco! Yours in the Lord,
Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva
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DIREZIONE GENERALE OPERE DON BOSCO
Via della Pisana 1111 - 00163 Roma
The Rector Major
Prot. 12/0325
Rome, 16th August 2012
Remembrance of the birth of Don Bosco
To the Reverend Provincials
at their respective addresses
Subject: Celebration of the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco
Dear Confreres,
Today, the 16th of August, begins the second year of preparation for the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco. Of the three years of preparation, this year is the most demanding; we are asked to take the experience of Don Bosco the Educator as our starting-point and renew our Salesian pedagogy; in point of fact, the Preventive System has to be inculturated and put into practice.
I now wish to offer you some points that may help you to plan the celebration of the Bicentenary at the local, provincial and national level in good time. I ask every Province to draw up its own programme and coordinate the activities of its local communities. In those countries in which several Provinces are present, it is important that there be a national programme.
I would like to remind you that this celebration will take place after the GC27: it will begin on the 16th of August 2014 and conclude on the 16th of August 2015. The direction and the theme of the bicentenary year, as a logical outcome of the preparatory years, will centre on: Don Bosco’s mission with the young and for the young.
1. World calendar
To celebrate the Bicentenary year, the preparation of the following events is already under way:
In like manner, every Province and country will arrange its own calendar and will involve the young, families, the Church, society and the Salesian Family.
2. Publications
Some publications are foreseen for the bicentenary year; Provinces and countries are invited to do their own planning to disseminate Salesian material.
2.1 Salesian sources
This was requested by the GC26; the work of editing the sources has been entrusted to the Salesian Historical Institute; later, it will be necessary to produce translations in different languages.
2.2 Translation of Fr. Arthur Lenti’s volumes: “Don Bosco: History and Spirit”
Following the Spanish translation and publication in three volumes, the translation and publication in Italian is under way, again in three volumes; it would be appropriate to have translations in other languages as well.
2.3 A new biography of Don Bosco
The LDC is already preparing a new biography in Italian, in popular style, which takes into account the recent studies on Don Bosco.
2.4 The pilgrim’s manual
A manual is being prepared in various languages for pilgrimages to the Salesian holy places.
2.5 Acts of the International Historical Congress of 2014
These Acts are usually published by the LAS of the UPS.
2.6 Salesians 2015
This is a publication in various languages about the life of the Congregation in the world, and is being seen to by the Social Communications sector.
The Social Communications sector may also identify other means and languages to make Don Bosco’s charism known.
3. Pilgrimages to the Salesian holy places
At the present day a pilgrimage is an effective and much appreciated way of communicating a spiritual experience. The Salesian holy places hold an attraction and are a reminder to us about returning to the sources of our charism. It would be appropriate to already begin to consider the time and the manner of arranging a pilgrimage.
Considering the number of bookings, I ask you to address your requests for all the Salesian holy places of Turin-Valdocco, Colle, Chieri, Turin-St. John the Evangelist, San Benigno… to the following e-mail address: bicentenario@salesianipiemonte.it In the case of bookings already made, the Provincial of the ICP Province of Turin asks you to confirm them in writing to the same e-mail address.
I want to thank you for your concern, your closeness to me and your prayers for my health. The Lord, who is infinitely good, listens to you and showers on me an abundance of his blessings, granting me the health, strength, enthusiasm and serenity I need to continue my work of animating and governing the Congregation.
I entrust all of you to the maternal care and guidance of Mary Immaculate, the Help of Christians.
Yours cordially in the Lord,
My dear Mother Yvonne,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the personal message you have sent us on the occasion of the opening of the three year preparation for the celebration of the Bicentenary of Don Bosco's birth. The letter is a beautiful and meaningful sign of yours and the Institute's closeness to us. The thoughts you express are proof the spiritual harmony with which we want to experience this time of grace, a time personal conversion and pastoral renewal. I assure you that even though it may not be possible for you to be there, we will know that you are present with us at the Becchi.
It is wonderful that we share not only our dear Founder, but also his dreams and the responsibility to carry them forward in our time, in our social and ecclesial context. Therefore, in Don Bosco's name, I ask you and through you the whole Institute, not only to be close to us in affection and in charismatic sharing, but also in courage and joy to "revive", as you have written, "Don Bosco's passion for education and bring the preventive system up to date which he bequeathed to his spiritual Family". Thus we will become better sons and daughters of the one Father, and will experience a deeper fellowship and commitment to the common mission: speaking about and offering God the young people today.
I wish you a happy Feast of the Assumption. I will be celebrating this at Castel Gandolfo, beside the Holy Father, and ensure you of a special memento before the Madonna. May she continue to be the Mother and Teacher for you and the all the Sisters.
In the Lord Jesus,
Rome, 14 August 2011
Fr Pascual Chávez V., SDB
Rettor Maggiore
My dear and esteemed Fr Pascual,
Here I am, joyfully, in the name of our General Council and interpreting the wishes of the Sisters throughout the world, to offer the Salesian Congregation a heartfelt greeting of renewed fidelity for the celebrations on 16 August next which will see the official commencement of the three year preparation for the Bicentenary of Don Bosco's birth.
This opening celebration at the Becchi is especially meaningful when you consider what the surroundings evoke for us. In that humble home, which his Sons now look after so well, Don Bosco was born, grew up, and dreamed. He then left there to carry out God's dream for him. It was a dream of interest to the entire Salesian Family, beginning with the groups directly founded by him.
Don Bosco is also God's dream for our time, which needs mothers and fathers, teachers and above all, people who know how to recognise a Father in whom they can entrust their lives, plans, their personal and social destiny.
Don Bosco's mission developed under the protection of the Help of Christians, the teacher who was his guide in the task of educating young people to the Faith. From Her he learned the art of loving-kindness in educational accompaniment.
Recalling that first dream allows us to see the unforgettable difficulties of his life. The dream sustained him, gave him comfort and inspired him. To prepare good Christians and upright citizens in his time he put up with any adversity and embarked on every kind of initiative.
We FMA are also children of that same dream and dreamer.
This is why, in sending you these greetings, we offer you, Fr Pascual, our pledge: to revive Don Bosco's passion for education, bring up to date the preventive system which he bequeathed to his spiritual family. Today that family is a spreading tree of 28 groups. The humble seed developed into a tree and the tree into a forest (Strenna 2009). This image presents well the shared commitment to the unique charism that enlivens the various groups while each maintains the specific nature of its calling.
The communion between the various branches of the SF is important and significant, we feel, beginning with Salesian spirituality. The common witness that enlivens this spirituality, at a time marked by individualism and relativism, can reveal the youthful face of the Church, and is a spirituality which can experience and share its joy, and offer especially to the young, concrete signs of hope.
In the network of exchange and communion in the Salesian Family we want to be a vital and active node.
We pledge to be a sign and expression of God's preventive love, by being an authentic way of holiness following in our Father's footsteps, and this seems to us to be the best contribution to prepare together for the Bicentenary of the birth of our common Founder, as also taking up the Charter of Identity of the Salesian Family with conviction.
It is my hope that the event for which we are preparing will make Don Bosco alive today in his sons and daughters spread around the world.
This will be the best way to honour his memory. Along with these greetings I offer the profound thanks of the Institute for the priestly and pastoral service the Salesians offer the FMA across the Continents.
Rome, 15 August 2011
Sr Yvonne Reungoat
DIREZIONE GENERALE OPERE DON BOSCO
Via della Pisana 1111 - 00163 Roma
The Rector Major
Prot. 11/048
Rome, 31 January 2011
Solemnity of Saint John Bosco
To the Confreres
of the Salesian Society of Saint John Bosco
Subject: Preparation for the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco
Dear Confreres,
We are approaching the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco, which will be celebrated on 16 August 2015. It is a very special event for us, for all the Salesian Family and for the whole Salesian Movement, which requires an intense and profound process of preparation, so that it may prove fruitful for all of us, for the Church, for the young and for society.
The XXVI General Chapter, taking as its theme the motto of Don Bosco “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle” and putting as the foundation of the five key issues “Starting afresh from Don Bosco”, has set us on our way to the Bicentenary. In the letter announcing the GC26 I wrote: «By making our own the motto Da mihi animas, cetera tolle, we intend to take up Don Bosco’s spiritual and apostolic programme resulting in his tireless work for the “glory of God and the salvation of souls.” In this way we can find once again the origin of our charism, the purpose of our mission and the future of our Congregation» (AGC 394 p. 6).
The putting into practice of the GC26, which asks us to strengthen our charism and revive in the heart of each one of us the apostolic passion, is therefore the first practical way of preparing for this bicentenary celebration. On the other hand, for the whole Salesian Movement, for the animation of which we are those primarily responsible, it is important to identify a common path.
1. Three years of preparation for the Bicentenary
The preparation which I am proposing to you, takes the form of a process in three stages which begin respectively on 16 August 2011, 16 August 2012 and 16 August 2013, with each one ending on 15 August of the following year. Each stage is meant to focus on one aspect of the charism of Don Bosco. The theme for each of the three stages of preparation will coincide with the theme of the Strenna for that year.
First year of preparation:
Knowledge of Don Bosco’s history
16 August 2011 - 15 August 2012
The first stage concentrates on a knowledge of Don Bosco’s history and of his context, of Don Bosco as a person, of his experience of life and of his choices. In recent years there have been new publications in this regard, the findings of which need to be assimilated systematically. During this first year of preparation we need to set ourselves a systematic plan for the study and assimilation of Don Bosco. The generations of those who knew Don Bosco or had come in contact with his first witnesses have now come to an end. It is necessary therefore to draw on the sources and on the studies about Don Bosco, in order to deepen our knowledge first of all about him as a person. The study of Don Bosco is an essential condition in order to be able to communicate his charism and propose his current relevance. Without knowledge there cannot be love, imitation or intercession; then only love can lead to greater knowledge. It is a question therefore of a knowledge which starts from love and leads to love: an affective knowledge.
Second year of preparation:
Don Bosco’s Pedagogy
16 August 2012 - 15 August 2013
Some years ago I spoke about the importance of a deeper study of Don Bosco’s pedagogy; now this needs to become a programme to be put into practice in this second year of preparation for the celebration of the bicentenary. Then I wrote: « Nowadays a deeper understanding is needed of Salesian pedagogy. In other words we need to study and apply that updated preventive system desired by Fr Egidio Viganò… developing its great implicit principles, modernising concepts, guidelines and interpretations so as to express the basic ideas in a modern manner: the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls; living faith, firm hope and pastoral charity; the good Christian and upright citizen; the threefold “cheerfulness, study and prayer”; the three “S” (in Italian): health, knowledge and holiness: piety, morality and culture; evangelisation and civilisation.
The same can be said of the great guidelines regarding attitudes: make yourself loved rather than feared; reason, religion, loving kindness; father, brother, friend; familiarity, especially in recreation; winning over the heart; the consecrated educator for the good of his pupils; freedom to run about, play and chatter.» (AGC 394 pp. 11-12).
Third year of preparation:
Don Bosco’s Spirituality
16 August 2013 - 15 August 2014
Finally we must have a knowledge of Don Bosco’s spirituality and live it. A knowledge of his life and activity and of his method of education is not enough. At the basis of the fruitful results of his actions and of his relevance there is a profound spiritual experience. «It is not easy to identify precisely Don Bosco’s spiritual experience. Perhaps this is an aspect of our founder that has not been studied at sufficient depth. He is a man totally intent on work. We have no descriptions of his interior development, nor has he left us any explicit reflections on his spiritual life; he wrote no spiritual diaries, offered no specific interpretations. He preferred to pass on to us a spirit by describing the events of his life, or through the biographies he wrote of his boys. It is certainly not enough to say that his spirituality is that of one engaged not in contemplation but in active pastoral work, a pastoral work of mediation between theoretical spirituality and its popular expression» (ACG 394 p. 12).
2. The year of celebration of the Bicentenary
Year of celebration:
Don Bosco’s mission with the young and for the young
16 August 2014 - 16 August 2015
The celebration of the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco will take place after the XXVII General Chapter: it will begin on 16 August 2014 and end on 16 August 2015. The process and the theme of the bicentenary year, following on consistently from the years of preparation, will refer to: Don Bosco’s mission with the young and for the young. The communication to others of the message of the Bicentenary will certainly take into account what has been acquired and matured during the three years of preparation.
The Calendar of the Congregation, in addition to the two celebrations of 16 August in 2014 and 2015 at Colle Don Bosco, includes two international events: the International Congress of Salesian Studies on “The development of the charism of Don Bosco” at the ‘Salesianum’ in Rome in the month of November 2014 and the ‘Bosco Camp’ of the STM with the theme “Young people for the young” in Turin in August 2015.
This year needs to be planned in good time in the Provinces so that we can concentrate on the process of spiritual and pastoral renewal which we intend to pursue as the Congregation, the Salesian Family and the Salesian Movement emphasising the importance and the relevance of the messages we intend to communicate. It is absolutely essential to avoid dispersion, fragmentation and repetition, focusing rather on decisiveness and effectiveness. All of this in view of the aims to be achieved.
3. Prayer to Don Bosco
The preparation and the celebration of the Bicentenary are an opportunity to take up again with the young, the lay people, the Salesian Family and the Salesian Movement prayer to Don Bosco. I propose an updated rewording of the prayer “Father and Teacher of youth.”
Saint John Bosco,
Father and Teacher of youth,
docile to the gifts of the Spirit and open to the reality of your times
you were for the young, especially the little ones and the poor,
a sign of the love and the special care of God.
Be our guide as we walk the path of friendship with the Lord Jesus,
so that we may discover in Him and in his Gospel
the meaning of our lives
and the source of true happiness.
Help us to respond with generosity
to the vocation we have received from God,
so that in daily life we may be
builders of communion,
and may collaborate with enthusiasm,
and in communion with the whole Church,
in creating a civilisation of love.
Obtain for us the grace of perseverance
in living a high standard of Christian life,
according to the spirit of the beatitudes;
and grant that, guided by Mary Help of Christians,
we may one day be with you
in the great family of heaven. Amen
I would suggest that Salesian communities make daily use of this prayer, each day at the end of Evening Prayer or Spiritual Reading just as each day after meditation we invoke Mary Help of Christians with the prayer of entrustment. They should also see to it that this invocation is used in the daily prayers with the young.
May the Spirit of Christ help us to pursue our path of preparation for the Bicentenary and may Mary Help of Christians support us; on the seriousness and the depth of the preparation depend in fact the spiritual, pastoral and vocational fruits which we are looking for from the bicentenary year. May Don Bosco, as always, be our model and our guide.
A Happy Feast of Don Bosco! Yours in the Lord,
Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva
Request the original files in Photoshop for your adaptations - infoans@sdb.org
The Significance of the Pilgrim Casket
