black cat.489

4. At the Convitto Ecclesiastico

Several times when Don Bosco referred to the Convitto Ecclesiastico, the residential college for seminarians from the Diocese of Turin, he also stressed its friendly, practical, pastoral character, in harmony with the mission of a priest, understood as the art of dealing with souls, (ars animarum), a pedagogy of spirituality.490

In his Memoirs of the Oratory, Don Bosco presents the Convitto as an institution founded:

So that young priests, after their seminary courses, might learn the practical side of their

sacred ministry. These were the things to which we had to give all our attention: meditation,

reading, two walks a day, lessons on preaching, a retreat kind of life, devoting all our time

to study and reading good authors. This was a marvellous time of preparation, providing so

much that was good for the Church; it especially helped to root out some Jansenistic

tendencies still latent among us.491

This is how Don Bosco remembered an institution to which he was constantly, even emotionally, so attached, particularly during the time when Fr Louis Guala and Fr Joseph Cafasso were teaching there. The Regolmento or Rules issued by the Convitto's founder, Fr. Louis Guala, contained this advice:

Study-time should be divided up so that some of it will be devoted to practical moral

theology; the rest shall be devoted to the practical teaching of sacred preaching and liturgy,

according to the manner prescribed.492

The guidance contained in the original manuscript written by Fr. Guala, referring to the subject matter of sermons, was more detailed and accurate:

The starting point will be the writing of meditations for retreats. This subject matter is to be

preferred, because it is more natural, more useful to the one who writes it. It can also be

used in any sermon delivered from the pulpit. Besides, it is particularly useful in the

Confessional. Later on, after the written meditations, comes the writing of sermons on the

Gospels, and sermons for instructional purposes.493

Actually, we still have a dozen such compositions written by Don Bosco when he was studying at the Convitto. They all stress the themes of meditations and instructions which ordinarily, as a century-old tradition, were delivered to the faithful in parish missions or spiritual retreats.

Fr Joseph Cafasso, besides being a guide in the study of moral theology, also taught Don Bosco spirituality and life. It was Fr Joseph Cafasso who encouraged Don Bosco to follow an educational

489 MO (1991), 91. Many impressions at the moment of his departure, MO (1991), 110. In a book by priest F. Falcone, Per

la riforma dei seminari in Italia (rome: F. Pustet, 1906), Don Bosco’s preventive system is also proposed for

“seminaries, especially for Middle and High schools”, although combined substantially for the particular aims of

ecclesiastical formation, with the “substance of the S. Charles educational system”. (Ibid., 56-66).

490 Cf. G. Usseglio, Il teologo Guala e il Convitto ecclesiastico di Torino, in Salesinaum 10 (1948): 453-502.

491 MO (1991) 116-117. Ideals and impressions highlighted by Don Bosco in Ragionamento funebre esposto il giorno XXX

agosto nella Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi (1860): “The aim of this Convitto is to teach new priests practical

matters in their sacred ministry, especially for the administration of the sacrament of Penance and preaching the Word

of God…” (Biografia del sacerdote Giuseppe Caffasso esposta in due ragionamenti funebri dal sacerdote Bosco

Giovanni, (Turin: Paravia, 1860), 73-74, OE 12, 423-424).

492 Regolamento del convitto ecclesiastico compiled by Luigi Guala, in G. Colombero,Vita del servo di Dio D. Giuseppe

Caffasso, con cenni storici Sul Convitto ecclesiastico di Torino, (Turin: Fratelli Canonica 1895), 361 (Pietà e Studio). 493 Cf. Regolamento, original draft,reported by A. Giraudo,Clero, seminario e società. Aspetti dellal Restaurazione

religiosa a Torino, (Rome: LAS, 1993), 395.