that I may find mercy and forgiveness from the very first moment I appear before the tremendous majesty of my Creator.998
Don Bosco's language about the last things, intense as it may appear, does not lessen the value of
temporal life and circumstances . On the contrary they are the price of a happy life here and now and in
eternity. There is no doubt, however, that Don Bosco intends to draw the thoughtful attention of his
boys towards eternity which is immeasurably more important than anything else: an eternity with God, filled with happiness, paradise; or an eternity of damnation and unhappiness, hell. Death and judgment
are the door to both: the moment on which our eternity depends, an eternity full of joy or an eternity
full of suffering.
It is from s uch preparation for and meditation on death that the monthly practice of the Exercise for a
Happy Death comes.
999Ideally it is repeated countless times, with announcements about forthcoming
fatal illnesses, foreseen and sudden deaths, exhortations and predictions. In this regard Don Bosco follows the centuries' old pastoral practice of care for souls, perhaps stressing a little more the 'ministry
of fear' side of this but blending catechetical recollections, echoes of his mother's warnings, the
sermons heard in his parish or preached during parish missions, the meditations from the seminary,
advice received from his confessors and spiritual directors. He did all this in accord with the most
widely accepted canons of traditional religiosity.
1000
For severa l years, when he was offering the Strenn for the new year, Don Bosco repeated the same
wish given on December 31, 1861:
Let us all stay ready so that when death unexpectedly appears we may be found prepared to
leave for eternity, in peace.
1001
He ties the end of the year to the end of our earthly life (the 'last things') neatly together.
Don Bosco begged educators to be very frank when preaching or giving spiritual guidance to the boys,
with regard to the 'last things'. Even in this, Don Bosco was an uncontest ed master also. We see it in his writings and reminders, Good Nights at the end of the year, the various Strennas, the little notes handed
out to individuals, the sayings written on the walls of the Oratory porticoes.
In certain contexts, for example in th e 'Lives' of young people, the idea of paradise finds privileged
treatment. In other contexts Don Bosco re -awakens the thought that death is weighing on us with all the
seriousness and responsibility it implies
1002
and the thought that there may be no more ti me available for repentance for one's sins, and, therefore, the possibility of going to hell.
In one of the traditional Novenas to Our Lady, Don Bosco was able to say with in simplicity:
The Novenas in honor of our Heavenly Mother are days packed with favours and the grace
of good health. Woe to those who do not take advantage of them. I hope, rather I'm sure,
that nineteen out of twenty will take advantage of these Novenas and that our go od Mother
will welcome them into paradise. Others who do not want to take advantage of these
Novenas should remember that the eternal flames of hell await them if they do not show
998F. Motto, Memorie dal 1841 al 1884-5-6.., RSS 4 (1985) 126.
999The 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.
1000 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.
1001 G. Bonetti, Annali II (1861-1862), pp.3-4.
1002 Dath 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.