basis, sometimes seemed out of kilter as one element might have been valued more than another. It may also be noticed that religious and supernatural values receive a more preferential treatment than the temporal, earthly values; individual values more than social and political values. But Don Bosco's real situation might justify a deeper re-assembling of all the aspects of his educational system into a holistic, substantial and Christian humanism.816

2. A humanist and Christian view some between the 'old' and the 'new': educational goals

There are countless practical and theoretical expressions which reveal Don Bosco's mind-set on this subject. Even leaving aside characteristic ways of highlighting this, Don Bosco's mind-set is not entirely new when we think that the tradition he followed goes back to the very beginnings of Christianity, and is expressed in classic pedagogical features of the Middle Ages, consolidated during the Humanist and Renaissance periods, and made evident by the flourishing of teaching Congregations (of men and women) in the modern era, which often used the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum as their model.817 Do n Bosco anchored his belief, which became a program, to the oft -repeated phrase “good Christian and upright citizen”. Later on, at the time of his missionary initiatives from 1875 onwards, this was translated into others with a wider meaning yet with the same inspiration: civilisation and religion, civilisation and evangelisation, championing “the good of humanity and religion”, expanding the kingdom of Jesus Christ by bringing religion and civilisation to people who ignore both.818

But the first of these, ' good Christian and upright citizen', is the most widely employed

819

with some variations: 'good citizens and true Christians', 'good Christians and wise citizens', 'good Christians and

upright men.

820

As for its content, the formula is a shortened expression of a unique educational

manifesto with a traditional flavor, but virtually open to what is new. The formula is first proclaimed in

Don Bosco's first important book, which served as a religious guide of life: The Companion of Youth.

I am presenting you with a way of life which is short and easy but good enough to allow

you to become the consolation of your parents, the honour of your country, good citizens on

earth and, one day, the lucky inhabitants of Heaven.821

These images more or l ess explicitly express a moderate mind -set, not a rare one in a Catholic world engaged in the rebuilding of the moral and civil fabric of society after the revolutionary storm.

On the one hand a certain nostalgia for the good old times can hardly be hidde n, the times prior to the upheavals provoked by the French Revolution. There is a strong aspiration to return to a society seen as

fully Christian and based on the classical religious and moral values: faith, generally followed by the

practice of religion , Sacramental life, catechism taught in the family and by the church, the practice of

the corporal works of mercy, obedience to the paternal governance of the legitimate, religious and civil

authorities, respect for order and hierarchies, being content wit h one's state in life, industriousness, acceptance of sacrifice, the hope of an eternal reward.

On the other hand, there is likewise a real feeling that the new world is fascinating, pressing, vigorous

816J. Scheppens writes about this divergence and a certain reconciliation of the differences in the already cited essay,

'Human nature in the educational outlook of St John Bosco', in particular in RSS 8 (1989) 265-277.

817This is outlined in its essential aspects in P. Braido, Breve storia del «sistema preventivo». Rome, LAS 1993, especially

pp 15-45. Silvio Antoniano, also found in this volume, is an outstanidng witness to the preventive system in the family. 818Letter to Fr Bodrato, 15 April 1880, E III 576-577, and to a Hungarian benefactor, 1 Nov 1886, E IV 364.

819Cf. P. Braido, Buon cristiano e onesto cittadino, Una formula dell' «umanesimo educativo» di don Bosco, RSS 13

(1994) 7-75.

820Cf. for example the address to those taking part in his Name day celebrations, 24 June 1879, BS 3 (1879) no. 9, 7 July,

p. 9; a past pupils of the Oratory, 24 June 1880, BS 4 (1880) no.9, Sept, p. 10; conference to Cooperators in Florence 15

May 1881, BS 5 (1881) no. 7 July, p. 9.

821G. Bosco, Il giovane provveduto..., p. 7. OE II 187.