Prevention, not repression

1004G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 3Bis, p. 36.

1005Cf. for example G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 19 instructions for retreat at Lanzo 13 and 14 Sept 1875, pp. 1-14, G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 14, conference at the Oratory, Feb. 4, 1876, pp. 42-45; March 19, 1876, pp. 63-66; G. Barberis, Verbale del Capitolo Superiore, quad II, at Alassio, Feb 7, 1879, pp. 73-76.

1006Cf. for example G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 5, evening sermons March 15, 1876, p. 19; quad. 6Bis to the working boys, March 31, 1876, pp. 14-17; G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 3, May 13, 1877, pp. 1-4.

1007F. Motto, Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6.., RSS 4 (1985) 126.

1008The classic prayer for such practice are introduced already in the first edition 1847, in the Giovane provveduto (pp. 138-143, OE II 318-323). In particular the Preghiera per la buona morte might have been disconcerting. Quoted by J. Delumeau, La Peur en Occident (XIVe-XVIIIe siècles). Une cité assiegée. Paris, Fayard 1978, pp. 25-27: he heard it being said in Nice at the Salesian school where he had entered as a teenager.

1009 Cf. J. Delumeau, Le péche et la peur: la culpabilisation en Occident (XIIIe-XVIIIe siècles). Paris, Fayard 1983, 741 p. This as for the earlier note has also come out in Italian.

1010G. Bonetti, Annali II (1861-1862), pp. 3-4.

1011Death at a young age was not so rare at a time of high infant and youth mortality. Those at the Oratory had already experienced this in their families or birthplace, and several times a year at the Oratory.

1012G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night Dec. 2, 1864, pp. 34-35.

1013G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night Dec. 5, 1864, p. 40.

1014Cf. D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, No 2 1861, Good Night Dec. 31, 1860, pp. 2-6; G. Bonetti, Memoria di alcuni fatti..., pp. 65-69; D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, No. 2 1861, Good Night of 12 and 15 Jan 18612, pp. 6-8, 13; D. Ruffino, Cronache dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, 1861, 1862, 1863, Good Night April 7, 1861, pp. 2-22; G. Bonetti, Annali I, pp. 17-34; G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff Good Night Oct. 22, 1864, pp. 4-8.

1015A brief fragment in G. B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, p. 157; developed in Documenti and MB VIII 275-282.

1016G. Berto, Cronaca 1868-2, pp. 9-20.

1017D. Ruffinom Cronache..., No 2 1861, Good Night of Feb. 17, 1861, pp. 14-15.

1018Cf. G. Bonetti, Annali II (1861-1862), evening talk of April 25, 1862, pp. 68-69; D. Ruffino, Cronaca 1861 1862 1863 1864 Good Night of 11 Jan and Feb. 4, 1864, pp. 14-15; G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night of Dec. 18, 1864, p. 53.

1019G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff, Good Night of March 16, 1865, p. 118.

1020G. Barberis (G. Gresino), Cronaca, quad. 3, Good Night of Aug. 21, 1877, p. 12; cf also G Barberis (E. Dompé), Cronaca quad. 15, p. 27.

1021G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 2 Good Night Wednesday, July 7, 1875, pp. 39-43; similarly in D. Ruffino Le doti grandi e luminose..., Jan 1864, pp. 14-15.

1022G.B. Lemoyne, Cronaca 1864ff evening talk during novena for Immaculate, Dec. 2, 1864, pp. 34-35.

1023G. Reano, past pupil of the Oratory, letter to Fr G. Bonetti Feb. 2, 1885, pp. 40-42; revokes a Good Night by D. Bosco during a novena to Mary in response to the question, Why does God want to give us heaven?

1024G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press 1863, p. 6

1025G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., Turin, Oratory of St Francis de Sales Press 1875, p. 7, OE XXVI 7

1026G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., p. 43, OE II 223.

1027G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., pp. 48-49, OE II 228-229.

1028Cenni storici..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco nella Chiesa... pp. 78-79.

1029Regarding sexual problems during puberty Pietro Stella observes: “We could tentatively say that Don Bosco and his times, incomprehensibly. Did not know or tackle problems tied to masturbation by young people”. (P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol II p. 262). Instructive though elusive are observations in the following pages: Problemi particolari dell’educazione tra pubertà e matrimonio (pp. 262-274).

1030Lemoyne accredits this to a diary entry by John Bonetti which we cannot trace. Ruffino’s text is shorter than the longer one in MB VII 192.

1031D. Ruffino, Memorie 1862 1863, p. 79.

1032M. Rua, Cronache, p. 6.

1033Letter to 19-year-old nobleman Ottavio Bosco di Ruffino, Aug. 11, 1859, Em I 381-382.

1034Letter to the same person, Jan. 9, 1861, Em I 433-434.

1035Letter to Gregorio dei Baroni Garofali, a 14-year-old in the Jesuit college at Mongré (Southern France) June 1, 1866, Em II 252.

1036Letter to Baronness Cavalletti in Cappelletti, Oct. 22, 1866, Em II 305.

1037Letter to the same individual May 25, 1868, Em II 536.

1038Letter to Miss Barbara Rostagno June 27, 1874, E II 391.

1039Letter to lawyer Luigi Fleury Colle, May 22, 1881, E IV 55; his son was called Louis Antoine, 22 Sept 1864-3 April 1881. The parents were benefactors.

1040Il sistema preventivo (1877). p.46, XXVIII 424

1041Il sistema preventivo (1877). p. 52, OE XXVIII 430

1042Circular already cited, of Feb. 5, 1874, OE E II 347.

1043Il sistema preventivo (1877). pp. 46, 60 OE XXVIII 424, 438.

1044V.G. Galati, San Giovanni Boco. Il sistema preventivo. Milano-Varese, Educational Institute Cisalpino 1943, p. 152.

1045A. Aufray, La pedagogia di S. Giovanni Bosco. Turin, SEI 1942, pp 83-84.

1046G. Bosco, Il metodo preventivo. Con testimonianze e altri scritti educativi inediti. Introduction and notes by Mario Casotti, Brescia, La Scuola 1958, pp. 49-59.

1047N. Endres, Don Bosco Erzieher und Psychologe. München, Don Bosco-Verlag 1961, pp. 72-79.

1048P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, Vol II, pp. 461-462, 471-472.

1049P. Braido, ‘Due lettere datate da Roma...’, in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., pp. 364-365, 368-369, 381-382. The texts which emerge from the final redaction (pp. 381-382), far from that Roman May, are identical to those already presented in the two draft manuscripts which he drew up towards the end of April, beginning of May 1884.

1050Regolamento per le case..., General articles, art. 2 and 3, p. 15, OE XXIX III.

1051P. Stella, Don Bosco e le trasformazioni sociali e religiose del suo tempo, in La famiglia salesiana riflette sulla vocazione nella Chiesa di oggi. Turin-Leumannm Elle Di Ci 1973, p. 162

1052MO (1991) 35.

1053Il sistema preventivo (1877). p.46, 50, 56, 60, OE XXVIII 424, 428, 434, 438. OE

1054Writing about the lad who was being chased out of the sacristy at St Francis of Assisi church, Don Bosco says: “He was trembling and crying from the beating he had been given. Have you heard Mass? I asked him with all the loving kindness I could muster”.

1055Esercizio di divozione alla misericordia di Dio. Turin, Eredi Botta 1846/1847, p. 75, OE II 145.

1056G. Bosco, Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., p. 27, OE XIII 181.

1057G. Barberis, Cronaca, quad. 14 bis, conference to Rectors, Feb. 4, 1876, p. 45.

1058Letter to Prince Gabrielli, June 1879, E III 482. Recalling his stay in Marseilles with the Brothers of the Christian Schools in March 1877, Don Bosco told Fr Barberis what he told the Brothers who asked him how he acted to attract “the sympathy and benevolence of everyone”: “I explained something of our Preventive System to them, loving kindness etc., while mostly in colleges (boarding schools) we only find the repressive system, serious, grumpy superiors”. (G. Barberis, Cronichetta, quad. 11, p. 69).

1059Letter to Fr Giuseppe Bertello, 9 April 1875, E II 471.

1060Cf. for example his address to past pupil priests, BS 4 (1880) no. 9, Sept. p. 11.

1061Letter to the Bishop of Biella, March 4, 1852, Em I 156; G. Bosco, La forza della buona educazione..., p. 74, OE VI 348; letter to pupils at Lanzo, Jan. 3, 1876.

1062For example, in a letter to teachers and boys, E III 6, 53, 128 (1\876), 447 (1879); IV 138 (1882).

1063E III 379 and 425 (1878), 525 (1879), 550 and 641 (1880).

1064Cf. for example E II 328-329, 329-330, 331, 339, 343, 359, 361-362, 377, 378. 379 (1874); E III 5, 9, 42, 64 (1876); 380 (1878); IV 9, 35, 40, 55, 59 (1881), 248-249 (1883), 238 (1884).

1065F.X. Eggersdorfer, Jugenderziehung (München, Kösel 1962), interprets it as “affective benevolence” (pp. 239-241); On amorevolezza, cf. R. Zavalloni, Educarsi alla responsabilità Milan, Edizioni Paoline 1986, pp. 95-105, Significato di una pedagogia dell’amorevolezza; X. Thévenot, Don Bosco éducateur et le «système préventif», in Éducation et pédagogie chez Don Bosco. Colloque interuniversitaire, Lyon, 4-7 April 1988. Paris, Éditions Fleurus 1989, pp. 95-133. La place de L’amorevolezza et de l’amour, pp. 116-124; idem, L’affectivité en l’éducation, ibid., pp. 233-254.

1066MB X, 1023

1067Il sistema preventivo (1877). p. 48 and 50, OE XXVIII 426 and 428.

1068Metodo dell’amore, the Preventive System could be equally described as a method of reason and persuasion; cf. Minimus, ‘Metodo della ragione’, in «Salesianum» 9 (1947) 273-277; M Pellerey, Il metodo della ragione, in «Orientamenti Pedagogici» 35 (1988) 383-396.

1069Letter from Rome to working boys at the Oratory in Valdocco, Jan. 20, 1874. E II 339

1070Letter of Jan. 3, 1876, E III 5.

1071Jn. 13, 14-15 and Gal. 2:20.

1072The term is frequently employed by Sister Celeste, the older sister of Galileo Galilei, when she is thanking her father for his ‘amorevolezza’, the gifts he gave to the monastery, and the ‘amorevolezza’ he exercises towards his daughter. (Cf. M.C. Galilei, Lettere al padre, ed. Giuliana Morandini. Turin, Edizione La Rosa 1983).

1073Mt. 18:15-17.

1074Letter to Bishop John Cagliero, Feb. 10, 1885, E IV 313.

1075MB X 1022.

1076MB XIV 513.

1077Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, Vol II, pp. 37-41.

1078G. Barberis, Verbali, quad. 1, Capitolo generale II, Sept. 4, 1880, pp. 16-17.

1079Circular to Salesians Nov. 29, 1880, E II 638.

1080Letter to Fr Costamagna, Jan. 31, 1881, E IV 7.

1081Letter to Bishop Cagliero, Aug. 6, 1885, E IV 328.

1082Letter to Fr Costamagna, Aug. 10, 1885, E IV 332.

1083Letter to Fr Lasagna, Sept. 30, 1885, E IV 340.

1084E IV 76.

1085Cf. P. Braido, «Poveri e abbandontai, pericolanti e pericolosi»: pedagogia, assistenza, socialità nell’«esperienza preventiva» di don Bosco, in «Annali di storia dell’educazione e delle istituzioni scolastiche» 3 (1996) 183-236.

1086Il sistema preventivo (1877). p. 46, OE XXVIII 424.

1087Due lettere datate da Roma..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore...., p. 386.

1088F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»... p. 153

1089One example of a sever interpretation of the assistant of offered in the short essay by Minimus, Metodo della vigilanza, in Salesianum 9 (1947) 122-128. There are many warnings, public and private on danger especially in the boarding setting of “already rotten boys”, on “disorders”: cf. P. Braido, Il sistema preventivo di Don Bosco, Zurich, PAS-Verlag 1964, pp. 208-210.

1090Il sistema preventivo (1877). p. 46. OE XXVIII 424.

1091A. Aufray, La pedagogia di S. Giovanni Bosco, p. 44.

1092A happy synthesis of “preventive” and “assisting” understood as “being amongst the young” is offered by H. Henz, Lehbuch der systematischen Pädagogik, pp. 230-232. A good analysis of assistance as a promoting and animating presence can be found in G. Dho, L’assistenza come ‘presenza’ e rapporto personale, in Il sistema educativo di don Bosco tra pedagogia antica e nuova. Leumann-Turin, LDC 1974, pp. 104-125; and by F. Wöss, Salesianische Assistenz: der Erzieher als Animator. Köln, Kölner Kreis 1976, 31 p.

1093Fr Mario Barbera (Turin, SEI 1942) dedicates the first chapter in his San Giovanni Bosco educatore, to Don Bosco “educator of the masses”: this inspired the essay Don Bosco educatore delle moltitudini, in «Civiltà Cattolica» 139 (1988) II 230-244.

1094Cf. H. Bouquier, Don Bosco Éducateur, Paris, Téqui 1950, chap 9. L’éducation problème de milieu, pp. 1-2; A. Caviglia, Domenico Savio e Don Bosco. Studio, p. 286.

1095A. Caviglia, Il «Magone Michele»..., p. 141.

1096A. Caviglia, La vita di Besucco Francesco..., pp. 157-158.

1097“Don Bosco”, writes Franz Xavier Eggersdorfer, “can be taken as a paradigm of the shaping power of the environment. A good family was the dominating factor in his educational approach in his communities” (Jugenderziehung, p. 83)

1098Regolamenti per le case...., part II, Chap. VIII, art. 2And 7, pp. 75-76, OE XXIX 171-172.

1099Regolamenti per le case...., Part II, Chap IX, art. 1 and 2, p. 77 OE XXIX 173.

1100D. Ruffino, Libro di esperienza 1864, pp. 17-18

1101D. Ruffino, Libro di esperienza 1864, p. 73.

1102MB VII 602. Lemoyne says it is an address recorded in a diary along with others, but without giving a date.

1103Quoted from MB XVI 168-9.

1104A more realistic view of the Oratory, a large community of more than 800 with two sections, students and working boys, is offered by J.M. Prellezzo in «Ricerche Storiche Salesiane» (1989-1992), in the already quoted Valdocco nell’Ottocento tra reaòe e ideale; cf also P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale, especially Chaps. VIII-XII (pp. 175-288).

1105MB IV 339.

1106MB VII 503. The text is taken up again, according to Fr Lemoyne, in a diary entry by John Bonetti. We have not found it.

1107Cf. ‘Due lettere datate da Roma...’, in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., p. 351.

1108Due lettere datate da Roma..., n P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., p. 383-384

1109Due lettere datate da Roma..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., pp. 385-386.

1110Due lettere datate da Roma..., in P. Braido (Ed.), Don Bosco educatore..., pp. 374.

1111Cf. [G. Bosco], Cenni storici sulla vita del chierico [called ‘giovane’ in the second edition, 1854] Luigi Comollo..., pp. 13-72, OE I 13-72.

1112In the Cenno biografico on Magone he speaks of ‘companions’ but there is a closer spiritual relationship, a more personal one, with some which is closer to ‘amicizia’, friendship. cf. G. Bosco Cenno biografico sul giovanetto Magone Michele..., pp. 43-53, OE XIII 197-207.

1113On friendship in Don Bosco’s writings, from the collection of letters to the various ‘Lives’, J. Canals Pujol, Salesian, has carried out extensive research. Part of this is published in an essay La amistad en las diversas redacciones de la vida de Comollo escrita por San Juan Bosco, RSS 5 (1968) 221-262.

1114G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., pp. 83-88, 88-93, OE XI 233-238, 238-243.

1115G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico...,p. 86, OE XI 236.

1116G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., pp. 88-89, OE XI 238-240.

1117G. Bosco, Vita del giovanetto Savio Domenico..., p. 91, OE XI 241.

1118For sociological types of the family, which would embrace most of Don Bosco’s large educational communities, especially the boarding schools, cf. P. Melograni (ed.), La famiglia italiana dall’Ottocento ad oggi. Bari, Laterza 1985, XVIII-712 p: differentiates between farming, working, middle class families; M. Barbagli, Sotto lo stesso tetto. Mutamenti della famiglia in Italia dal XV al XX secolo, Bologna, Il Mulino 1984, 557 p; M. Marbagli and D.I. Kertzer (Eds), Storia della famiglia salesiana 1750-1950. Bologna, Il Mulino 1992, 367 p.

1119The terms “figli”, “figliuoli” can sometimes seem to be simply an Italian translation of the Piedmentese term “fieuj”, that in certain contexts simply means “ragazzi”. In Don Bosco’s familiar language applied to each Rector there is a more specific connotation of a paternal spiritual and educational relationship with the boys.

1120Cf. F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 1\51.

1121F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 151.

1122Regolamenti per le case...., part I, Chap I, art. 3, p. 19, OE XXIX 115.

1123Regolamento dell’Oratorio...per gli esterni, part I, Chap. I, art. 1,2,7, p. 5-6. OE XXIX 35-36.

1124F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 156.

1125Cf. A. Caviglia, Savio Domenico e Don Bosco. Studio, pp. 82-87, La direzione di don Bosco.

1126P. Brocardo, Direzione spirituale e rendiconto. Rome, LAS 1966, p. 150.

1127Cf. C. Colli, La direzione spirituale nella prassi e nel pensiero di don Bosco: «memoria» e «profezia», in M. Cogliandro (ed.), La direzione spirituale nella famiglia salesiana. Rome, Editrice SDB 1983, pp. 53-77.

1128E. Valentini, La direzione spirituale dei giovani nel pensiero di don Bosco, in Salesianum 14 (1952) 354.

1129F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., p. 149

1130F. Motto, I «Ricordi confidenziali ai direttori»..., pp. 155-156. Regarding the noisy, happy unorganised recreation at the first oratory, Don Bosco writes in the Memoirs of the Oratory: “to one I might whisper a recommendation to be more obedient, to be more prompt in attending to his duty; to another I would suggest regular attendance at catechsim, or at confession, and so on”. MO (1991) 160.

1131Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 56, 58, OE XXVIII 434, 436; cf E. Ceria, Annali della Società Salesiana, vol II, Turin, SEI 1946, pp. 856.869, Di una cosa tutta salesiana: la buona notte.

1132Letter to Fr Giuseppe Ronchail, March 23, 1877, E III 158.

1133Regolamenti per le case...., Articoli generali, art. 1, p. 15, OE XXIX 111; part I, Chap XV, pp. 47-49, OE XXIX 143-145 Del portinaio.

1134Il sistema preventivo (1877), p. 56, OE XXVIII 434.

1135Regolamenti per le case...., part I,

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