The Venerable Don Bosco, the Apostle of Youth/Chapter XXI
CHAPTER XXI
DON BOSCO'S RELATIONS WITH HIS CO-OPERATORS
Don Bosco lived in a fraternal atmosphere with his Co-operators; his relations with them partook somewhat of the intimate intercourse that love, always the propelling force in his life, gave to his communications with his priests and brethren. Perhaps we may not attribute entirely to charity the munificence with which they met his needs; their generosity and their spirit of emulation in making sacrifices on his behalf, were rewarded by manifest favors from Heaven, spiritual and temporal. He whose prayers were so potent with God and Our Lady, and who gave them so freely for healing to all classes of sufferers, could not fail to obtain extraordinary benedictions for helpers so near and dear to his heart. Hundreds are recorded, many of them being attested miracles. The paralytic, the diseased of all kinds, the deaf and dumb, the blind, all were restored to their normal state, and in gratitude many of the recipients of these divine favors brought him precious offerings in jewels or money.
One day a note fell due of twelve thousand francs, which he had vainly tried to procure. As he was returning to the Oratory, a little heavy hearted after his long and fruitless quest, he was met by a woman who accosted him respectfully: "Pardon me, Father, but my master is very ill and has been asking for you; he thought you were absent from Turin". Don Bosco accompanied her to the house and found the patient in a violent fever. Greeting him with his usual cheerfulness, he sat down by his side while the sick man poured forth entreaties for relief from his sufferings. In half an hour he suddenly arose cured, and signing a cheque for the sum required handed it to Don Bosco with the fervent expressions of a grateful heart.
In a town of Genoa, San Pier d'Arena, there were thirty thousand souls; yet the church was almost deserted, and one priest sufficed for the parish. It happened that a Salesian Co-operator, the wife of a railway official, fell dangerously ill and refused to see any priest but Don Bosco. Her husband, an irreligious man, was highly pleased at her exclusiveness, being fully convinced that the Turin apostle would not travel two hundred miles to hear a woman's confession. To his surprise, Don Bosco hastened to her without delay, heard her confession, and exhorted her to confidence in Our Lady, Help of Christians.
As he rose to depart, he remarked: "As I shall remain here a few days, come to church one of these mornings, and I will give you the Holy Communion."
The husband, with difficulty repressing his indignation, said: "Do you not see she is dying, sir?"
"But Our Lady, Help of Christians is all-powerful," answered Don Bosco with a serene smile. "And if you will pray also, we shall obtain your cure with your wife's."
"Mine?" was the rather sharp rejoinder; "I am not ill."
Don Bosco's response was only to kneel and recite the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Hail, Holy Queen, enjoining them to continue the prayers daily.
A few days after, the official conducted his wife, now wholly recovered, to early Mass, and with tears of pious gratitude she received the Holy Communion from Don Bosco's hand. After Mass Don Bosco greeted them, and said gently to the husband: "Now I confidently await the second recovery." The gentleman understood, confessed on the spot, and became from that time forth a fervent, practical Catholic. This double miracle caused a great stir in the parish; hearts were profoundly moved, and many remarkable conversions consoled Don Bosco and the rector of the church, who had to call on three priests to assist him. Moreover, the happy effect of Don Bosco's brief presence in the town was rendered lasting; a pressing appeal for a foundation was made to him, accompanied with the offer of a suitable house. He gladly acceded to the desires of priest and people; a beautiful church was erected, and an Oratory soon grew into a large and flourishing Institute, under the care of the Salesian Fathers.
A rich marquis one day lamented to Don Bosco that the loss of twenty thousand francs had prevented him from making an offering toward one of the Salesian projects.
"But if you recover it, what will you do?" inquired Don Bosco, pleasantly.
"Father, I will give you one-half," replied the marquis impetuously. "But neither you nor I will ever get one centime of those twenty thousand francs."
"Who knows, my lord?" laughed Don Bosco. "My orphans are in need, and I shall get them to pray."
A few days after the marquis sent a messenger to the Oratory with five thousand francs, half of a sum he had recovered that morning. A week later the remainder of the debt having come to him, the marquis faithfully kept his promise to his benefactor.
The Order of St. Francis of Sales was now widely spreading in France. Besides Nice, houses were opened at Navarre, Marseilles, and Saint-Cyr, in 1879. In 1880, the first Oratory was inaugurated in Spain at Utrera. In 1883, Nichteroy, in Brazil, was favored with a foundation, and missions were established at Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands. In 1887 Austria opened its arms to the son of St. Francis of Sales, and the establishment of the Institute at Trent was the beginning of many blessings to the empire.
During the same year Don Bosco dispatched a number of Salesian Fathers to London, England, where they founded the Institute at Battersea, now one of the most prosperous houses of the Society. Other flourishing foundations have since been made in England. The Salesian Fathers are held in the highest esteem by His Eminence Cardinal Bourne, whose reverence for the Venerable Don Bosco is manifested in the words I quote:
"It is a life-long memory to have known personally one in whom the Church already discerns tokens of heroic sanctity. It was my privilege to see Don Bosco when he visited Paris in 1883, and to be a witness of the extraordinary impression which the fame of his holiness at once produced upon that city.
"Two years later, after my ordination to the priesthood, it was given me to visit Turin and to see the Venerable Founder of the Salesian Congregation in the midst of his religious family at the Mother-House of the Institute.
"In the autumn of 1887 I was able, at his direct request, to render some slight personal service to his sons on their arrival among us to found the first Salesian house in any English Speaking Country.
"Don Bosco teaches us that God still raises up the weak things to confound the strong…… The Providence of God has rarely been manifested more plainly or more decisively than in the origin and growth of the Salesian Congregation."