![[photo of Saint John]](stj14001.gif "17kb gif photo of Saint John Bosco; please do not write to ask about the image")
Don Bosco Giovanni Bosco Giovanni Melchior Bosco John Melchoir Bosco
Worked as a tailor, baker, shoemaker, and carpenter while attending college and the seminary. Ordained in 1841. Teacher. Worked with youth, finding places where they could meet, play and pray, teaching catechism to orphans and apprentices. Chaplain in a hospice for girls. Wrote short treatises aimed at explaining the faith to children, and then taught children how to print them. Friend of Saint Joseph Cafasso, whose biography he wrote, and confessor to Blessed Joseph Allamano. Founded the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in 1859, priests who work with and educate boys, under the protection of Our Lady, Help of Chistians, and Saint Francis de Sales. Founded the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians in 1872, and Union of Cooperator Salesians in 1875.
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Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Catholic Community Forum Catholic Encyclopedia, by E F Saxton Catholic Online, by Terry Metz Domestic-Church, by Catherine Fournier Don Bosco UK Don Bosco's writings available on CD-ROM Father W G Austen S.D.B. For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein Google Directory New Catholic Dictionary Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson Saint John Bosco Camp, Saskatchewan, Canada The Secret of Saint John Bosco, by Henri Gheon Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society- Saint John Bosco
Enjoy yourself as much as you like - if only you keep from sin.
- Saint John Bosco
Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit him often. Do you want him to give you few graces? Visit him seldom. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament are powerful and indispensable means of overcoming the attacks of the devil. Make frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the devil will be powerless against you.
- Saint John Bosco
My sons, in my long experience very often I had to be convinced of this great truth. It is easier to become angry than to restrain oneself, and to threaten a boy than to persuade him. Yes, indeed, it is more fitting to be persistent in punishing our own impatience and pride than to correct the boys. We must be firm but kind, and be patient with them.
See that no one finds you motivated by impetuosity or willfulness. It is difficult to keep calm when administering punishment, but this must be done if we are to keep ourselves from showing off our authority or spilling out our anger.
Let us regard those boys over whom we have some authority as our own sons. Let us place ourselves in their service. Let us be ashamed to assume an attitude of superiority. Let us not rule over them except for the purpose of serving them better.
This was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalized and still others to hope for God's mercy. And so he bade us to be gentle and humble of heart.
from a letter by Saint John Bosco