Do you want to receive God’s forgiveness?
BSOL Editor Don Bosco always held the sacrament of Forgiveness in the highest esteem. Even when...
councils
Don Bosco’s Invitation to Confession
Confession holds a central place in the life and mission of Saint John Bosco. For...
The spirit of St Francis de Sales in Don Bosco
Stained glass window of Saint Francis de Sales, Church of Saint Nicholas (Église Saint-Nicolas), Combloux,...
‘Nobelitis’, or when you start to believe you’re an expert in everything
The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious award a scientist can receive. Yet, this supreme...
Conversion
Fr Bruno FERRERO I get up one morning, I leave the house, there is a pothole in the...
The Wonders of Our Lady of Lourdes
St John Bosco In the heart of the French Pyrenees, in Lourdes, on 11 February 1858, one of...
The Phylloxera (1876)
In 1876, during the third series of spiritual exercises preached in Lanzo, Don Bosco recounted...
Salesian Holiness 2025
Fr Pierluigi CAMERONI Download the 2025 Salesian Holiness poster The Salesian Postulation presents the 2025 annual dossier, documenting...
On the bus
A 24-year-old young man, looking through the bus window, shouted, “Dad, look, the trees are...
Mary saves him (1878)
Set on the night of Good Friday in 1878, the story “Mary Saves Him” is...
A challenge to our humanity
P. Fabio ATTARD The wealth that risks making us blind and deaf The parable of the rich man...
Christmas with Don Bosco and his boys
At the beginning of the Christmas novena in December 1859, Don Bosco offered the young...
Educating for rest and leisure with Saint Francis de Sales
P. Wirth MORAND Life is not only made up of work and serious occupations; it is also punctuated...
Don Bosco and the good press: a rediscovered letter
Fr Francesco MOTTO The discovery of an unpublished letter from Don Bosco always offers an opportunity to shed...
The influence of social media on young people
On 10 December 2025, Australia became the first country in the world to ban social...
Why don’t you speak? (1868)
In the following recounted speech, delivered by Don Bosco between 30 April and 1 May...
Why are you shouting?
One day the master asked his disciples the following question: “Why do people shout when...
The Christmas Grotto, where Heaven meets Earth
The mystery of Christmas begins with a scandal of love: the Great becoming small. It...
It’s your turn! said the gravedigger (1868)
In the dream that Don Giovanni Bosco recounted to his young people on the evening...
The Salesian Bulletin. It is not just another magazine
It is distributed all over the world in dozens of different languages. Certainly it has...
Educating for work and solidarity with Saint Francis de Sales
The child, once grown, is destined to integrate more or less quickly into the social...
Letter from Nizza Monferrato
An apparently simple letter, yet rich in spiritual and educational meaning: this is what Don...
Rector Major’s missionary appeal 2025
“An Appeal for Renewed Charismatic Fidelity and Missionary Generosity” Dear Confreres, A fraternal and heartfelt...
A grace obtained, a missed votive offering, an indelible memory
Every unpublished document generally contains something new. Well, the documents we are presenting here not...
Pains of Hell (1887)
In this passage, taken from his 1887 memoirs, Don Giovanni Bosco recounts the most disturbing...
Let me be alone; I suffer too much (1867)
The following dream, recounted by Don Bosco to his young people in 1867, begins with...
From the Pharisee’s Table to the Heart of Ministry
Humility and Charity in the Education and Evangelisation of Young People In chapter 14 of...
Discourse of the Rector Major in Catania. Called to be signs of hope
On 27 September 2025, Father Fabio Attard, Rector Major of the Salesians, received honorary citizenship...
Educating the will with Saint Francis de Sales
With the faculties of the spirit, such as intellect and memory, one remains within the...
At Don Bosco’s school. Offering little sacrifices to Our Lady
For Saint John Bosco, devotion to Our Lady was not a mere accessory religious sentiment,...
On 20th October, the Novena of Blessed Michele Rua begins
Blessed Michele Rua (1837-1910) represents an extraordinary figure in the history of Salesian spirituality. As...
A Raging Bull; Humility, Work and Temperance (1876)
This vivid dream narrative, recounted by Don Bosco at the end of the 1876 spiritual...
The jar
A professor arrived in class with a glass jar, the kind usually used to preserve...
The Divine Folly of the Sower who “sows in the dark”
The parable of the sower, narrated in the Synoptic Gospels, is a powerful and foundational...
Monsters that Hurt Young People (1865)
In this lively account, dated 24 February 1865, Don Bosco speaks to his pupils about...
Family Education
Alongside the “sentiment for the child”, the 15th century saw the development of a sentiment...
The shepherdess, the sheep and lambs (1867)
In the following passage, Don Bosco, founder of the Valdocco Oratory, recounts a dream he...
Conversion
Conversation between a man recently converted to Christ and an unbelieving friend: “So you were...
Prophets of Forgiveness and Gratuity
In these times, where day after day the news communicates experiences of conflict, war, and...
The Education of Conscience with St. Francis de Sales
It was most likely the advent of the Protestant Reformation that brought the issue of...
Nobody frightened the hens (1876)
Set in January 1876, the piece features one of Don Bosco’s most evocative “dreams,” his...
The tree
A man had four children. He wanted his children to learn not to judge things...
The Tenth Hill (1864)
Don Bosco’s dream of the “Tenth Hill”, recounted in October 1864, is one of the...
Female education with Saint Francis de Sales
The educational thinking of Saint Francis de Sales reveals a profound and innovative vision of...
The wise man
Emperor Cyrus the Great loved to converse amiably with a very wise friend named Akkad.One...
Missionary volunteering changes the lives of young people in Mexico
Missionary volunteering is an experience that profoundly transforms the lives of young people. In Mexico,...
The Little Lambs and the Summer Storm (1878)
The dreamlike tale that follows, recounted by Don Bosco on the evening of 24 October...
Visiting Rome with Don Bosco. Chronicle of his first trip to Rome
The first time Don Bosco went to Rome was in 1858, from February 18 to...
The cricket and the Coin
A wise man from India had a close friend who lived in Milan. They had...
The Syndrome of Philip and the Syndrome of Andrew
In the Gospel account of John, chapter 6, verses 4-14, which recounts the multiplication of...
Interview with the Rector Major, Fr. Fabio Attard
We had an exclusive interview with the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr. Fabio Attard,...
Message from Father Fabio Attard on the Feast of the Rector Major
Dear Confreres, dear Collaborators in our Educative Pastoral Communities, dear young people, Allow me to...
Don Bosco’s devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Don Bosco’s devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus originated from the revelations to Saint...
Don Bosco attends a devils meeting (1884)
The following pages take us into the heart of Saint John Bosco’s mystical experience, through...
Educating the Human Heart with Saint Francis de Sales
St. Francis de Sales places the heart at the centre of human formation, as the...
Don Bosco and the Sacred Heart. Protect, atone, love
In 1886, on the eve of the consecration of the new Basilica of the Sacred...
Don Bosco and Eucharistic processions
A little-known but important aspect of St John Bosco’s charism is Eucharistic processions. For the...
St Francis de Sales instructs him. Future of vocations (1879)
In the prophetic dream Don Bosco recounted on 9 May 1879, Saint Francis de Sales...
The Prophecies of Malachy. The Popes and the End of the World
The so-called “Prophecies of Malachy” represent one of the most fascinating and controversial prophetic texts...
The exegetes
A famous biblical scholar had invited a group of colleagues to his home. They sat...
Educating Beyond Weaknesses
The encounter between Jesus and Peter sheds a special light on our mission as evangelizers...
From CGS20 to GC29. The “interior” journey of the Salesians: between fidelity to God and response to the young
At the conclusion of the 29th General Chapter of the Salesians, we invited Don Pascual...
Educating the Faculties of Our Spirit with Saint Francis de Sales
St. Francis de Sales presents the spirit as the highest part of the soul, governed...
Is Confession Still Necessary?
The Sacrament of Confession, often overlooked in today’s hectic world, remains for the Catholic Church...
Young people’s gifts to Mary (1865)
In a dream recounted by Don Bosco in the Chronicle of the Oratory, dated May...
Election of the 266th Successor of Saint Peter
Every death or resignation of a Pontiff opens one of the most delicate phases in...
When the Lord Knocks
A confrere told me, “Father, we only need your closeness, your listening, your prayer. This...
The way to hell paved with feeble resolutions (1873)
San Giovanni Bosco recounts in a “good night” the result of a long plea to...
Educating our emotions with Saint Francis de Sales
Modern psychology has demonstrated the importance and influence of emotions in the life of the...
Purity and ways it can be safeguarded (1884)
In this dream of Don Bosco, a heavenly garden appears: a green slope, festooned trees,...
Final Address of the Rector Major at the conclusion of the General Chapter 29
Dear confreres, We have come to the end of this experience of the 29th General...
If Patagonia must wait… let’s go to Asia
The expansion of Salesian missionaries in Argentina during the second half of the 19th century...
With Don Bosco. Always
P. Stefano MARTOGLIO It makes a difference whether or not a General Chapter is held in one place...
The dream of the 22 moons (1854)
In March 1854 on a feast day, after evening prayer Don Bosco gathered all the...
Educating the body and its 5 senses with Saint Francis de Sales
A good number of ancient Christian ascetics often considered the body as an enemy,...
Election of the first Rector Major
During the eleventh General Chapter of the Salesian Congregation, the first Rector Major, Fr. Paolo...
The name
In the Faculty of Medicine at a major university, the professor of anatomy distributed a...
Leaving for the missions… trusting in dreams
Don Bosco’s missionary dreams, without anticipating the course of future events, had the flavour of...
A Mysterious and Prophetic Wheel (1861)
The wise man’s heart,” we read in Holy Scripture, “knows times and judgments; for there...
“The Roman Stations”. A millenary tradition
The “Roman Stations” are an ancient liturgical tradition that, during Lent and the first week...
Education according to st. Francis de Sales
Education according to St. Francis de Sales is a path of love and care toward...
The Jubilee and devout practises for visiting churches. Dialogue
Saint John Bosco fully understood the importance of Jubilees in the life of the Church....
The handkerchief of purity (1861)
On June 16, Don Bosco gave the boys the spiritual nosegay to pray for...
Hiking to Heaven (1861)
We shall now narrate another inspiring dream of Don Bosco which occurred on the nights...
Good, trustworthy and courageous slaves
In this Jubilee year, in this difficult world, we are invited to stand up, restart,...
Faith, our shield and our victory (1876)
“When I devoted myself to this part of the sacred ministry, I intended to consecrate...
Salesian Holiness 2024
Every year, the postulator for the causes of saints of the Salesian Congregation, Don Pierluigi...
The Jubilee of 2025 and the Jubilee Basilicas
On December 24, 2024, on Christmas Eve, the Pope opened the Bronze Door in St....
Saint Francis de Sales, founder of a new school of perfection
For Francis de Sales, religious life is “a school of perfection”, in which one...
The “Good Night”
P. Natale CERRATO One evening, saddened by a certain general indiscipline noticed at the Valdocco Oratory among...
What a gift, time!
The start of a new year in our liturgy, is enlightened by the ancient blessing...
Profiles of families wounded in the history of Salesian holiness
Prof. Lodovica Maria ZANET 1. Stories of wounded families We are used to imagining the family as a harmonious...
Blessed Maria Troncatti, a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, will be canonised
On November 25th, 2024, Pope Francis authorised the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to...
St Francis de Sales, personal companion
‘My spirit always accompanies yours,’ wrote Francis de Sales one day to Jeanne de...
The perfume
One cold March morning, in a hospital, due to serious complications, a baby girl was...
The Cardinal Protectors of the Salesian Society of St John Bosco
From the very beginning, the Salesian Society had, like many other religious orders, a cardinal...
Life according to the Spirit in Mamma Margaret (2/2)
(continuation from previous article) 4. Exodus to her son’s priesthood From the dream at the...
Blessed Michael Rua.The Consecration of our Pious Society to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
On 24 October last, the Holy Father wished to renew devotion to the Sacred Heart...
Life according to the Spirit in Mamma Margaret (1/2)
Fr Lemoyne leaves us a truly outstanding portrait in his preface to the life...
Great saint, great manager
It is not easy to choose, from the hundreds of unpublished letters of Don...