Bosco's concern for vocations remained constant and even increased with the expansion of his work and wider perspectives on the needs of the young. To achieve his goal, Don Bosco founded colleges organised along the lines of minor seminaries, and at times he accepted the administration of diocesan seminaries when some bishops entrusted them to him.

For this undertaking, Don Bosco promoted charitable endowments and support; he made sacrifices to obtain hard-won exemptions from military service and from other economic burdens. As a way of supporting this initiative, he founded the Work of Mary Help of Christians for vocations to the ecclesiastical state, mostly for young-adults. This was an offshoot of the generous missionary drive which animated his religious society in 1875.564

Another wide-open field particularly suited to Don Bosco’s gifted approach and understanding was publishing, editorial work and book shops. Don Bosco’s written was prodigious, especially in the catechetical, religious, devotional, apologetic and hagiographical fields. But he soon widened the possibilities of spreading his publications by creating printing presses, bookstores and publishing houses of ever growing proportions.565

Don Bosco never overlooked his concern for the schools, as proven by his publication on The metrical- decimal system (1849) nor his concern for the entertainment field, as proven by the production of short stories and even by drama: The House of fortune (l865). He also began a newspaper, short-lived, entitled The friend of youth (1848-1849).

Along with the above, Don Bosco set up the structures required for periodicals and book series. These were successful in the field of popular culture and with Catholic schools. This is shown by: the Catholic readings which began in l853,566 the Library for Italian Youth, (1869-1885, 204 small volumes), Selected readings taken from Latin writers and for the use of schools (from l866)567, The Salesian Bulletin (from 1877), A short collection of dramatic readings for educational institutions and families (from l885).

This literary activity was joined by a rich production of books and booklets of a controversial nature for “the defense the Catholic faith against the proselytising of reformed churches, and against the anticlerical press”.These books and booklets were widely distributed and at a very root of pastoral and educational initiatives such as the foundation of Oratories, Hospices and Churches. The main objective was always the salvation of the young and the ordinary folk: "To wrest the souls of poor youngsters from the jaws of heresy”.568

In addition to the above, Don Bosco was also a generous and courageous builder of churches and chapels, and centres for pastoral ministry among the people. We are dealing with something which finds its humble roots in the tiny chapel made from the Pinardi Shed in 1846, followed, years later, by the Church of St. Francis de Sales and, a few years later still, by the Church of Mary help all Christians. The larger Churches, such as the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Turin, and the Church

actually occupied by the military and as a consequence the clerics of our diocese were left without teachers and without

a place to gather” (MO 1991, 194).

564 Cf. Opera di Mari Ausiliatrice per le vocazioni allo stato ecclesiastico. Messis multa, operarii autem pauci; rogate ergo

Dominum messis ut mittat operarios in vineam suam… (Turin: Oratory Press of S. Francis de Sales, 1875), 8 pages;

other editions, (Fossan: tip. Saccone, 1875), 8 pages, OE XXVII 1-8.

565 Cf. P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol. 1, 229-249, Don Bosco scrittore ed editore; Don

Bosco nella storia economica, 327-368, Imprese editoriali 1844-1870.

566 Cf. P. Braido, “L’educazione religiosa popolare e giovanile nelle Letture Cattoliche di Don Bosco”, in Salesianum 15

(1953): 648-672; L. Giovanni, Le “Letture Cattoliche” esempio di “stampa cattolica” nel secolo XIX, (Naples: Liguori,

1984), 280 pages.

567 Cf. G. Proverbio, La scuola di don Bosco e l’insegnamento del latino (1850-1900), in Don Bosco nella storia popolare,

ed. F. Traniello, (Turin: SEI, 1987), 143-185.

568 Cf. first appeal for the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista, 12 October 1870, E. II 121-123: letter to the mayor of

Turin, 3 June 1871, E II 162-163.