The official Salesian position was so clear as to appear almost brutal. Perhaps we should not be surprised that no record has been found to show that the negotiations were continued. However, Don Bosco might have apprised the Nuncio in Madrid of the matter. In fact the Nuncio wrote to Don Bosco as follows:

I would not be able to tell you why no answer was given to the communication which you

sent to Minister Silvela, regarding the project submitted to you. I believe I will have the

occasion, during these days, to meet with some members of the family of the above-

mentioned gentleman. You may be sure that I will never allow the occasion to pass by

without confirming my particular good will toward the Salesian Congregation.810

The reformato

ry school was later accepted by The Third Order Regulars of St. Francis of Assisi.

4. A preventive project for boys at risk

A few months after the publication of the booklet on the preventive system, Don Bosco sent Francis Crispi, Minister for the Interior, a memo by the same title, with the intention of “presenting the basis on which to set up the preventive system in an educational setting and hospice for youngsters at risk and roaming he streets”.811

According to a letter which goes back to the following year, July 23, and sent to Joseph Zanardelli, the newly appointed Minister for the Interior, it was Crispi who had asked Don Bosco for his thoughts on the preventive system and on the possibility of providing for the needs of children who were not malicious but merely abandoned and, therefore, at risk in the various cities in Italy and especially in Rome.812

There is a radical difference between the booklet issued in 1877 and the one issued in 1878, both as far

as their basic aspirations and thei r contents are concerned. The first booklet is the mature expression of

Don Bosco's style of education to be imparted in his institutions. The second booklet has a rather socio - political style. It especially highlights the massive social changes making t he problem of 'abandoned youth more acute and alarming, and a level of social exclusion more serious than the one which existed

during the 1850s. Instead of speaking of 'pedagogy', Don Bosco raises the problem of educational and

re -educational structures, and the problem of making them work through a harmonious agreement

between private initiative and public support.

Don Bosco articulated his thoughts in four points aimed at capturing the attention of the ministers in

charge of public order, calling on them not to limit their activity to mere repressive ones. As mentioned,

the two ministers were familiar with the opposition between repressive and preventive in a socio - political context.

813

Don Bosco specified first of all which children were to be considered 'at risk': “Immigrants in search of work in the city, with the risk that they would remain unemployed and engage in small thefts; orphans, abandoned to themselves and loitering with other rascals; boys neglected by their parents or even kicked out of their families; vagabonds who end up into the hands of the police but who are not yet rascals.

Don Bosco then proceeded hypothetically suggesting the measures most suited for youth-work of this kind, measures which were inspired by other works he had already undertaken: “recreational parks to be used on weekends, work-placement programs, assistance provided during the week for those who

810Letter of Archbishop Rampolla to Don Bosco, 5 Jan. 1887, in MB XVII 832.

811Letter to F. Crispi, 21 Feb., 1878, E III 298.

812Letter to G. Zanardelli, 23 July 1878, E III 366; another letter to the secretary general of the Minister , Comm. John

Baptist Aluffi, had preceded it on 25 April 1878, E III 335.

813Cf. Chap 2, §1.