children with religious education and the acquisition of skills without which they grow up in the midst of misery and licentiousness as a disgrace to Christianity and the scum of society”.
The Institute’s goal, then, is to be “influential, as much as possible, in reforming a rotten and depraved world and therefore giving back to the Church some excellent Christians and to the State, good artisans as well as virtuous and loyal citizens”.303 The formula “good Christian and upright citizen” (the subject, in an absolutist regime) was particularly apt in the social and political context in which Pavoni was operating: the Hapsburg Empire.
Let this turn out to be your glory: the fact that you sacrifice your talent and dedicate your
work to give back well-behaved children, faithful subjects, and useful citizens to the
Church, to the country, to the state,.304
(The Rector) will give all of his mind and heart to make sure that the sheltered youngsters be properly instructed and firmly trained in their religion and in civility, so that they may turn out to be excellent Christians, good family fathers, faithful subjects, in a word, children dear to religion and useful to society.305
To achieve the successful religious and civil education of youth, methods and means proper to preventive pedagogy are adopted: religion and reason, love and gentleness, vigilance and assistance within a family-like milieu, dedicated to an intensive commitment to work. The lifestyle and the activity of every educator must conform to a family-like structure according to the specific
responsibilities entrusted to them: such as the prefect of the congregation, choir members inspector, regulator, the workshop supervisor.
The Prefect is invited to remember that “his zeal should not at all alter the exercise of humility and charity and gentleness which are to be his distinctive virtues. And so when he is dutifully called on to admonish some of the youngsters about some of their defects, he should try his best to do it in a kindly way. And when he knows that there is need for an authoritative reproach, he has no other choice than to let the Rector be told about it”.306
The Choir members’ Inspector. Since he is dealing with an elite group of youngsters, he should keep in mind that he has been entrusted with a job requiring great caution, vigilance and tact. It is his task, then, to direct them through persuasion and first of all with gentleness, to fulfil their duties, using his good example as the most effective means to achieve his goal.307
The Regulator is the one Don Bosco called the “prefect of studies”. The regulator was expected to be always with the boys. Therefore, the first duty of the regulator is to exercise continuous supervision over the young people entrusted to him both in the oratory and outside. He should try his best to keep in touch with their parents or guardians, to inform them about their school attendance or truancy, and let them know about their behavior. The regulator “should gently urge them to receive the sacraments frequently... He should correct them about their defects with loving kindness. The regulator should also try to instill the love of piety and the hatred of vice in them by word and example,”.308
Regulations for the workshop supervisors are particularly full of educational and innovative ideas which have, to a great extent, being included in the Constitutions. The shop heads should see to it that the young entrusted to their care apply themselves diligently to their assignments and are assisted with
303 Regole fondamentali, in Raccolta, 64.
304 Regolamento del Pio Istituto, in Raccolta,. 43.
305 Costituzioni della Congregazione religiosa dei Figli di Maria. Brescia episcopal press 1847, part 7, chap. 5, art. 224,
88.
306 Organizzazione e Regolamento, in Raccolta, 19.
307 Ibid., 21.
308 Organizzazione e Regolamento, in Raccolta, 2-23.