of Turin.507
During the same period Don Bosco was able to acquire a particular knowledge of St Vincent De Paul (1581-1660). The Vincentians and the Sisters of Charity were well known in Piedmont. The former were known especially because of the Parish Missions they preached, for their retreats and for the formation of the clergy, The latter were known for the care they had for the poor, for the sick and for the soldiers located in military hospitals.
The House of Divine Providence had been founded by Father John Baptist Cottolengo, under the protection of St Vincent De Paul and was inspired by St Paul’s words: Caritas Christi urgent nos (The Love of God urges us on.) His message, according to a scholar who had studied his life, could be summed up in this formula: The spirit and mystery of charity.508 Don Bosco made his retreat, prior to his priestly ordination, in the house of the Priests of the Mission in Turin, from March 26 to July 4, 1841.509 Here is what Don Bosco wrote about St Vincent De Paul in his Church History:
Animated by a true spirit of Charity there was no calamity of any kind that he did not attend to. Everyone felt the effects of St Vincent's fatherly Charity. 510
The proof for the existence of the perfect harmony between Don Bosco and the Saint of the effective and affective love, is given in the book, The Christian guided toward virtue and civility according to the spirit of Saint Vincent de Paul. This book was prepared by Don Bosco himself and edited by the French Benedictine Joseph Ansart (1723-1790).511
6. The oratory experience
The basis of Don Bosco's entire formation as a priest was pastoral priestly ministry and purpose. This purpose reflected the spirit which animated the reform of seminary studies undertaken by Archbishop Colombano Chiaverotti.
The seminary studies were directed toward the formation of the priest, who would be spiritually and culturally well equipped to act as a teacher and as a guide of his people, as a shepherd, as a Victim of Charity (Victima Charitatis) entirely dedicated to promoting the glory of God and the salvation of souls. He would be a priest entirely dedicated to liturgical worship, preaching, teaching catechism, the administration of the sacraments. This priest, so Aldo Giraudo writes, seems to be the accepted model of the priest who, during the second half of the 19th Century become a priest committed to social ministry.512
At the Convitto Ecclesiastico the pastoral qualifications of a priest were to be enriched by other charitable and social dimensions, thanks to his encounter with the poverty of those who lived on the margins of society, a poverty which afflicted especially the young who had come to Turin from the countryside as well as from the mountainside. St Joseph Cafasso in particular had the intention of forming newly ordained priests as men who would seek the salvation of the poor as their ultimate responsibility in life.513 The priest, as shepherd and catechist, was expected to be a person intent on doing good: this is how Cafasso, in his meditations and instructions given to the clergy, had
507 MO (1991), 132-133.
508 A. Dodin, St. Vincent et la charité, (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1960), 72-75, 127-133.
509 Don Bosco records this in theMemorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6, reporting the resoltuions taken, amongst which “may the
charity of kindness of St. Francis de Sales guideme in everything”. (F. Motto, Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6 pel sac.
Gio. Bosco a’ suoi figli salesiani, RSS 4 (1958): 88-89).
510 G. Bosco, Storia ecclesiastica, 328, OE I 486.
511 (Turin: tip. G. B. Paravi,a 1848), 288 pages OE III 215-502. Cf. D. Malfait – J. Schepens, Il Cristiano guidato alla
virtù ed alla civiltà secondo lo spirito di San Vincenzo de’ Paoli, RSS 15 (1996), 317-381; on St Vincent de Paoli, cf. G.
Bosco, Storia ecclesiastica, 328-329, OE I 486-487.
512 A. Giraudo, Clero, seminario e società, 288; cf. 277-288 (L’ideale sacerdotale del Chiaverotti).
513 L. Nicolis di Robilant, Vita del Ven Giuseppe Caffasso, vol 2, 1-16, 208-230.