Friday, January 31, 2014

St John Bosco (Jan 31)




St John Bosco's feast is a memorial in the 1962 Benedictine Office.  Here is the Matins reading from the Roman Office:

The childhood of Don Bosco, who was born in a small village was marked both by its hardship and by his happy innocence of soul. He studied at Chieri, where in a short time he earned great praise for his brilliance and his virtue. Ordained priest, he went to Turin, where he made himself all things to all men, and undertook in particular the work of aiding poor and neglected boys. By providing them with teaching in the liberal arts and in trades and keeping them occupied on holidays, he strove with all his might to remove young people from poisonous sources of delinquency and vice. For this purpose, he established two congregations in the Church, one for men and one for women religious. He himself published many books filled with Christian wisdom. He also accomplished great things for the eternal salvation of unbelievers through the missionary enterprises of his congregations. With his mind constantly raised to God, this holy man never seemed to be terrified by threats, worn out by labors, oppressed by cares, or disturbed by adversities. He died in the year of salvation 1888 at the age of seventy-three, and was numbered among the Saints by Pope Pius XI.

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