course of the day”.381 The Brothers were committed to “teaching them how to read and write and making good Christians and useful citizens for the state of them at the same time”.382
The Brothers pedagogical spirituality is often expressed in terms which Don Bosco would never cease to live by: vigilance, guidance, ardent zeal, warding-off evil, inspiring horror for impurity, exhorting and urging them to do good now and for eternity: “Give me souls and take away the rest”; “charity, love, correction, gentleness, patience, prudence, reasonableness”.383 “The teacher, besides teaching ability, should also and first of all have the ability to “win over the hearts of his pupils”.384 The privileged references from an educational perspective, are those to St. Anselm of Aosta and to St Francis de Sales. St. Anselm “did his very best to lead his religious with so much gentleness and charity that he was able to win over their hearts”.385 Then, the meditation on the modern patron saint of gentleness and tenderness ends up with an examination of conscience as follows:
Do you have those feelings of charity and tenderness for the poor boys you are expected to educate? Do you take advantage of the affection they have for you to direct them towards God? If you have the firmness of a father with them to draw them back and keep them away from disorder, you should also have the tenderness of a mother to gather them together and do all the good to them which depends on you”.386
It is likewise probable that Don Bosco may have been led to read pamphlets by two De La Salle Brothers chronologically and geographically closer to him: Brother Agathon (l731-1798), Superior General of the Congregation up to the end of the 18th Century and author of a summary on: Les douze vertus d’un bon Maître (Melun, l785/87); and Brother Theoger who was working in Turin. Don Bosco may easily have read Br. Agathon's booklet edited in Italian by Marietti of Turin in l835. The twelve virtues of the good teacher as laid out by Brother De la Salle, Founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and explained by Fr Agathone, Superior General of the same Institute. As for seriousness, the term with which the book opens, this is what it says of the teacher:
He has a kindly aspect, uses few words and a moderate tone; he does not use harsh words;
he is not biting or haughty; he is not boorish; he is not ill mannered with anyone. Well
persuaded and convinced that seriousness, modesty and moderation cannot exclude
goodness or tender affection, he tries his best with all his kindly qualities to win over the
loving kindness of his students…Far from trying to make himself only feared, his main task
is to win his students’ confidence... Besides, he wants to be esteemed and respected by
them”.387
The statements about humility are consistent with what was said above. “Humility is not ambitious”, “humility is not jealous”, “humility allows a good teacher to deal with his equals and subjects with the esteem, cordiality, friendship and kindness due to them”. “The humility of a good teacher is charitable. It makes lovable, obliging, courteous and easily approachable”. “Therefore, he never takes on an
381 Méditations pour le temps de la retraite. A l’usage de toutes Personnes que s’employent à l’éducation de la Jeunesse,
Par Jean-Baptiste de al Salle, a Rouen, Chez Antoine le Prevost [1730?] 9, 11-12.
382 Méditations sur tous les dimanches et les principales festes de l’année, Par Monsieur Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, A
rouen, Chez Jean-Baptiste Marchal [1730?] 138-139.
383 J.-B. de la Salle, Méditations sur tous les dimanches, 184-188; Méditations pour le temps de la retraite, 32, 444-45, 54-
56, 58-63.
384 J.-B. de la Salle, Conduite des écoles chrétiennes, (Avignon: Chastanier 1720), 185-186.
385 J.-B. de la Salle, Méditations sur tous les dimanches, Sur saint Anselme, 3rd point, 45.
386 J.-B. de la Salle, Méditations sur tous les dimanches, Sur la vie de S. François de Sales, 3rd point, 19.
387 Fr. Agatone, Le dodici virtù, 5-6.