These two motives are explained in a speech delivered on August 7,1856, to the young and their families who were taking part in an award ceremony. Don Bosco may have read an outline of it in the New Year's Galantuomo of l865, which was also the strenna (souvenir gift) in Catholic Readings. The text from Lacordaire’s talk had been inserted in an article entitled Il clero e l’educazione della gioventù (The clergy and the education of the young).253 The first three short pages are dedicated to recalling the

dedication shown to the young by St. Jerome Miani, wrongly thought to be a priest, and by St. Philip

Neri. All the rest deals with Fr. Lacordaire and hi s boarding school at Sorèze.

Particularly interesting is Fr. Lacordaire’s insistence on what he means by educational growth, in the first part of the speech: “the fact of being able to see the living marks of the work of the spirit on their foreheads, the signs of reason which holds primacy in their life, the gradual appearance of the beauty which comes from the heart”. The educators, in the evaluation of their students, were not only guided “by justice, but also by tenderness, by the fatherly tenderness which follows on from their parents’ tenderness”.254

This reference leads inevitably to an examination of conscience as far as the identity of the teacher is concerned. This identity draws its value and power from the world of thought: “it comes from where truth resides, together with beauty, justice, order, greatness and all that contributes to the making of a man, a divine being , and of a child, a being who has the vocation to become a man. And this happens, when we recognise that the soul is the country of true freedom and that this freedom is acquired through knowledge and virtue”.255 Teachers live with their pupils to have them start their journey toward this Kingdom with all of their dedication. “They continue God's work and their families’ work, they are the trailblazers of the world”.256

The teacher’s first task is to:

hold on to faith and make it grow to the point of opening up the minds of the young to the

understanding of the invisible world; to hold on to the hope which strengthens the heart

with a view towell-deserved happiness; to hold on to love which makes the young feel

God's presence in life’s cold shadows and, in spite of them, still feel the warm temperature

of eternity…Therefore religion has reclaimed, through the school, a command which will

be never taken away from it; religion reigns not through constraint or just with the prop of

worship, but thanks to a unanimous sincere conviction, to duties secretly carried out, to

aspirations known only to God, and thanks to the peace which comes fromdoing good and

from remorse for the wrong which has been done…Where there is no God you may, at

most, have a ray of light on rubble. Whenever God is present, even the rubble comes back

to life and in time even the rubble will be built up again from the foundations.257

“Love, which extends the work of a family together with affection, is inseparable from God's presence…It is God 's will”. Lacordaire insists:

that no good may be accomplished on behalf of man unless he is loved .God has infused

253 Il Galantuomo e le sue avventure, Almanaco nazionale per l’anno 1865. Strenna offerta ai cattolici italiani. Anno XII,

(Turin: Oratory Press, St. Francis de Sales 1864), 14-21. Anyone familiar with Don Bosco’s style could only believe

with great difficulty that this was written by him.

254 Discours prononcé à la distribution solennelle des prix de l’école de Sorèze le 7 août 1856, in Ouvres du R.P. Henri-

Dominique Lacordaire, book 5, (Paris: Poussielgue-Rusand 1861), 316-317. Concerning tenderness and firmness in

education he writes to a father asking for advice: “Education requires both tenderness and firmness. You have to avoid

the idolatry that forgives everything and smooths over everything, and inflexible severity that closes hearts and

distances them”; he concludes: “I think we have to avoid keeping a child too long in the shadow of the home” (Lettres

du P. Lacordaire, 335).

255 H.-D. Lacordaire, Discours prononcé, 319-320.

256 Ibid., 320-321.

257 Ibid., 322-323.