Don Bosco heroically; "I shall not give one up; if I cannot hire a house I shall build one; and I tell you that one day, with God's help and the protection of His Blessed Mother, these children and a great many more will have a house, workshops, a college, a church and their own professors," and his eyes glowed with a supernatural light as he raised his hands toward Heaven.
No more was said and his friends left him free, rather awed at his sublime faith and hope, though many wise people thought him mad.
Just then, when all seemed lost, a man named Pinardi, offered Don Bosco a lease for some years of an old, neglected house, surrounded by a large field, in Valdocco, a suburb of Turin. Valdocco is very celebrated in Salesian annals, for there Don Bosco settled on Easter Sunday, 1846, and began his permanent work. A poor, broken-down house indeed it was; but there were playgrounds and plenty of room to build for the five hundred children that had to be sheltered there. The government was still obstinate in its opposition. King Charles Albert, however, made investigations, became convinced of the good and lasting results of Don Bosco's work and extended to him his approval and assistance. Among these orphans and waifs were found many with latent and extraordinary talents; these were educated to their capacity by the holy director himself, aided by the Abbé Borel, his devoted friend, and other good priests, who often went to help him in his arduous labors; and in their turn these boys became teachers of lower classes.
God is jealous of His elect and would have them like His Son in suffering; on the bed of pain He holds long and serious and loving commune with the soul, and the light of His Holy Spirit shines in its secret places uniting it more closely to the Adorable Trinity during this enforced solitude. Don Bosco was to be His victim for a while; he fell ill with bronchitis, accompanied with a violent cough and dangerous inflammation, and in eight days he was at death's door. With heavenly resignation he received the Last Sacraments, amid the tears of his friends, and to the indescribable grief of his boys of the Oratory, whose prayers and Communions were fervently offered for his recovery. "Some watched in prayer through the night; others vowed to say the Rosary daily, some for a year, and not a few for their whole lives. Many fasted on bread and water, and promised to fast for months or years if Our Lady would restore their beloved Don Bosco to health." Father Borel was watching at midnight by his side expecting at any moment to receive his last sigh, when suddenly he felt inspired to ask the dying man to pray for his recovery.
"Let us leave God to do His Holy Will," was Don Bosco's reply.
"Say at least, Lord, if it be Thy Will, let me recover." But Don Bosco was silent.
"Grant me this favor," pleaded his friend. "Say only those words and say them with your whole heart."
Don Bosco yielded and in a weak voice said: "Yes, Lord, if it so please Thee, let me recover."
The prayer was heard; and the next morning the doctors to their astonishment found him, not dead, but out of all danger. Joy flooded every heart, and the universal gladness was still more pronounced when Don Bosco was able, supported by a cane, to be among his dear children again cor the first time. A year of rest was prescribed; but after three months spent with his own family at Castelnuovo, where the boys and those of the neighboring villages formed a new Festive Oratory every Sunday around him, his heart was moved by the entreaties and affectionate letters of his Turin disciples, and he turned his steps again to Valdocco, where he was to refrain from teaching, preaching or hearing confessions!
"At first," he said years after, "I certainly intended to obey and keep my promise; but when I saw that Abbé Borel and the other Fathers were unable to attend to all the boys, and that on feast-days many of them were without confession or instruction, I could no longer remain idle. So I took up my wonted occupations again, and for upwards of twenty-five years I have had no further need of doctors or medicine. This has made me believe that after all methodical work does not injure bodily health."
The First Oratory, Turin, from 1841 to 1852
DOMINIC SAVIO
"Death rather than Sin!"
Born April 2, 1842. Died March 9. 1857.
One of Don Bosco's first Pupils
His Cause of Canonization was introduced February 11, 1914.
CHAPTER V MARGARET BOSCO IN VALDOCCO. SUCCESS OF THE ORATORY. ATTEMPTS ON THE LIFE OF DON BOSCO
We must not overlook those of the gentler sex who contributed of their means and labors to Don Bosco's work, the ladies who clothed such numbers of his poor children, made and mended their garments and nursed them when they were sick. But it was Margaret Bosco, his saintly mother, who led the way. Poor Margaret! She was already fixed in the home of her son Joseph and loved and was beloved by his children; she seemed, indeed, settled in repose for the rest of her life when one day during his convalescence at Becchi, he seemed unusually serious as he sat down to talk with her. She noticed it and asked the cause.
"Madre mia," he said caressingly, "I need a mother for my poor boys, some one to care for them and love them, some one to manage my large household. Ah, if I could only bring the most precious treasure I have here in Becchi—my mother—to Turin!"
Margaret started. The tears sprang to her eyes; a few words of grief at such a separation—final and complete, she saw it must be—from her lifelong home; a little word of the great sacrifice demanded of her, escaped her lips; but in a moment, calm and resolute and brushing away the tears, she said simply: "My son, Joseph and the children do not need me; but you do. If you think such a step will be pleasing to our Lord I am ready to go with you to Turin."
And she went, the brave woman, and never flinched or failed Don Bosco during the ten years that she lived in dire poverty, in toils and sacrifices, the extent of which even Don Bosco's passionate love did not suspect—she was too skillful in hiding her sufferings. Five hundred children, think of it! Margaret washed and ironed for them, made and repaired their clothes, cooked, swept and did the menial work of the house, besides cultivating a vegetable garden and keeping a poultry yard. She was never idle and no religious was ever poorer. Mamma Margaret, as she was called, was so beloved that she had a host of little self-constituted helpers who took delight in relieving her. Other kind women, too, came to her assistance in the sewing and laundry work, or she would have fainted under her burden. And, amid all these activities, she was leading the most beautiful interior life of union with God, with the Divine Sufferer on Calvary, and with His Blessed Mother, her model from childhood.
You will think I have said much in praise of this heroic mother; but the present Archbishop of Bologna, Monsignor Gusmini, lately raised to the Sacred College of Cardinals by his Holiness, Benedict XV, in his eloquent pastoral, delivered to the "Salesian Co-operators" at the celebration of the centenary of Don Bosco's birth, speaks of her as a holy and admirable woman who not only had a share in the individual life, but also in the social life of Don Bosco; and placing around Margaret the aureole of sanctity, he compares her to St. Teresa, St. Jane Frances de Chantal and the Blessed Sophie Barat.
With his noble and self-sacrificing mother Margaret at the household helm, guiding and ordering all with the prudence of the valiant woman, Don Bosco was now able to give his whole attention to the development of his great ideal. The studies were carried on with such ardor and assiduity that soon the Oratory of St. Francis of Sales had its own professors in the various scholastic departments; and wonderful vocations to the priesthood became evident, so that a college and seminary grew within the Oratory. There were day schools for those who had leisure and night schools for those who had to work; for Don Bosco would educate, as far as possible, every member of his Society