Don Bosco’s Invitation to Confession
BSOL Editor Confession holds a central place in the life and mission of Saint John Bosco. For...
saints
Teaching Civil Devotion with Saint Francis de Sales
P. Wirth MORAND Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva in the 17th century, revolutionised Christian spirituality by proposing...
Don Bosco and Saint Joseph
Among the saints most venerated by Don Bosco, Saint Joseph holds a place of special...
Getting to know Don Bosco (5). “I was always in his company” Giorgio Moglia, farmer
Cascina Moglia, where Giovanni Bosco lived for about two years. Giorgio Moglia testified at...
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,...
Getting to know Don Bosco (4). Black bread swapped for white bread
Fr Bruno FERRERO We present the testimony of Don Secondo Marchisio, a Salesian priest, which was gathered during...
The Martyrdom of the Servants of God Jan Świerc and 8 Companions
Fr Pierluigi CAMERONI Among the most painful and luminous pages in the history of the Church during the...
Mathilde Salem. A strong and virtuous woman
The story of Matilde Salem is that of a woman who combined deep faith, social...
The Sorrows and Joys of Saint Joseph
St John Bosco Don Bosco’s devotion to Saint Joseph stemmed from his recognition of Joseph’s powerful intercession. For...
Getting to know Don Bosco (3). Don Bosco’s brothers
Young Giovanni’s relationships with his two brothers were very different. Antonio, his difficult half-brother who...
Don Bosco and Pope Pius IX
P. Natale CERRATO Don Bosco was profoundly faithful to the Church and to Pope Pius IX, whom he...
Getting to know Don Bosco (2). Margherita, Christian Mother and Educator
The fountain of Mamma Margaret at the foot of Don Bosco Hill (1960s) Young...
And who is Don Bosco?
To understand Don Bosco, one must perhaps consider contrasting judgements, the voices of the Church,...
Don Bosco: publicist, not journalist
When speaking of Don Bosco and his relationship with the press, a misunderstanding can arise....
Educating for Citizenship with Saint Francis de Sales
“Valiant, obedient, a good citizen and magnanimous”—such were, according to Francis de Sales, some of...
Novena to Saint John Bosco
Saint John Bosco, apostle of the young and father of the orphaned, continues to be...
Getting to know Don Bosco (1). The family’s economic situation
We are launching a new column titled “Knowing Don Bosco”. Conceived by the Salesian Fr....
Don Bosco in a stagecoach
How far and how did the Saint of Youth travel? Let us retrace these paths....
Salesian Holiness 2025
Download the 2025 Salesian Holiness poster The Salesian Postulation presents the 2025 annual dossier, documenting...
Don Bosco and the Name of Jesus
In the spirituality of Saint John Bosco, the Name of Jesus was not a mere...
Mary saves him (1878)
Set on the night of Good Friday in 1878, the story “Mary Saves Him” is...
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
Life is not only made up of work and serious occupations; it is also punctuated...
‘I came to serve and give my life’. Rudolf Lunkenbein (1939-1976)
In July 1976, in the heart of the Brazilian Mato Grosso, a young German Salesian...
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...
Vera Grita, a Woman of Peace
The figure of Vera Grita, a humble Ligurian teacher and Salesian Cooperator, shines as a...
That Hail Mary of don Bosco’s
The meeting between Don Bosco and the young Bartolomeo Garelli, which took place on 8...
Blessed Philip Rinaldi. A father who brought Don Bosco into the heart of the twentieth century
In the journey of Salesian history, Blessed Philip Rinaldi occupies a special place. The third...
Why don’t you speak? (1868)
In the following recounted speech, delivered by Don Bosco between 30 April and 1 May...
It’s your turn! said the gravedigger (1868)
In the dream that Don Giovanni Bosco recounted to his young people on the evening...
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...
Our Lady of Good Counsel of Genazzano
In Genazzano, a small village in Lazio, an extraordinary Marian icon has been venerated for...
Maria Troncatti: woman of reconciliation and peace
Maria Troncatti, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, is a witness of consecrated life “in...
Letter from Nizza Monferrato
An apparently simple letter, yet rich in spiritual and educational meaning: this is what Don...
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...
In Don Bosco’s footsteps: Blessed Michael Rua (1837-1910)
“We will always go halves!” At 9 years of age Michael (already fatherless) was admitted...
Educating the will with Saint Francis de Sales
With the faculties of the spirit, such as intellect and memory, one remains within the...
The hands of Sister Maria Troncatti
Sister Maria Troncatti, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, declared a saint on 19 October...
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...
Abide by the limit, cross the limit. Blessed Titus Zeman, martyr, and the relevance of his message today
Prof. Lodovica Maria ZANET Don Tito Zeman (1915-1969), a Slovak Salesian, lived his priestly vocation with evangelical radicalism right...
Sister Maria Troncatti, missionary of hope among the peoples
In the photo, Mr. Juwà Bosco, a member of the Shuar people, miraculously healed through...
A Raging Bull; Humility, Work and Temperance (1876)
This vivid dream narrative, recounted by Don Bosco at the end of the 1876 spiritual...
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...
Monsignor Giuseppe Malandrino and the Servant of God Nino Baglieri
Monsignor Giuseppe Malandrino, the ninth Bishop of the Noto diocese, returned to the House of...
Crown of the Seven Sorrows of Mary
The publication “Crown of the Seven Sorrows of Mary” represents a cherished devotion that St....
The Venerable Monsignor Stefano Ferrando
Ángel Card. FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME Monsignor Stefano Ferrando was an extraordinary example of missionary dedication and episcopal service, combining the...
Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine, witness of hope
A woman of unshakeable faith, of fruitful tears, answered by God after seventeen long years....
The shepherdess, the sheep and lambs (1867)
In the following passage, Don Bosco, founder of the Valdocco Oratory, recounts a dream he...
To the heights! Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati
“Dearest young people, our hope is Jesus. It is He, as Saint John Paul II...
Don Bosco with his Salesians
If Don Bosco happily joked with his boys to see them cheerful and serene, he...
Cardinal Augustus Hlond
The second of 11 children, his father was a railway worker. Having received a simple...
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...
Don Bosco and the Church of the Holy Shroud
The Holy Shroud of Turin, one of Christianity’s most revered relics, has a thousand-year history...
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...
Joseph Augustus Arribat: Righteous Among the Nations
1. Biographical Profile The Venerable Joseph Augustus Arribat was born on 17 December 1879 in...
Venerable Ottavio Ortiz Arrieta Coya, Bishop
Octavio Ortiz Arrieta Coya, born in Lima, Peru, on 19 April 1878, was the first...
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...
Beatification of Camille Costa de Beauregard. And afterwards…?
The diocese of Savoy and the city of Chambéry experienced three historic days on 16,...
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...
The Venerable Father Carlo Crespi “witness and pilgrim of hope”
ather Carlo Crespi, a Salesian missionary in Ecuador, lived his life dedicated to faith and...
The Evangelical Radicality of Blessed Stefano Sándor
Stefano Sándor (Szolnok 1914 – Budapest 1953) was a Salesian coadjutor martyr. A cheerful and...
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...
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...
With Nino Baglieri, Pilgrim of Hope, on the Journey of the Jubilee
The path of the 2025 Jubilee, dedicated to Hope, finds a shining witness in the...
Novena to Mary Help of Christians 2025
This 2025 Novena to Mary Help of Christians invites us to rediscover ourselves as children...
Young people’s gifts to Mary (1865)
In a dream recounted by Don Bosco in the Chronicle of the Oratory, dated May...
St Dominic Savio. The places of his childhood
Saint Dominic Savio, the “little great saint,” lived his brief but intense childhood among the...
Father Crespi and the Jubilee of 1925
In 1925, in anticipation of the Holy Year, Father Carlo Crespi promoted an international missionary...
The way to hell paved with feeble resolutions (1873)
San Giovanni Bosco recounts in a “good night” the result of a long plea to...
Don Bosco promoter of “divine mercy”
As a very young priest, Don Bosco published a booklet, in tiny format, entitled “Exercise...
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,...
Venerable Francesco (Francis) Convertini, pastor according to the Heart of Jesus
The venerable Father Francesco Convertini, a Salesian missionary in India, emerges as a shepherd after...
Social inclusion according to Don Bosco
Don Bosco’s far-sighted proposal for the ‘unaccompanied minors’ of Rome. The history of the church...
Don Elia Comini: martyr priest at Monte Sole
On December 18, 2024, Pope Francis officially recognized the martyrdom of Don Elia Comini (1910-1944),...
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,...
Vera Grita, pilgrim of hope
Vera Grita, daughter of Amleto and Maria Anna Zacco della Pirrera, was born in...
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 Life of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles
The culminating moment of the Jubilee Year for every believer is the passage through the...
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...
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...
Blessed Luigi Variara: 150th Anniversary of His Birth
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Luigi Variara, an extraordinary...
Life of Saint Paul the Apostle, Doctor of the Gentiles
The culminating moment of the Jubilee Year for every believer is the passage through the...
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”
One evening, saddened by a certain general indiscipline noticed at the Valdocco Oratory among...