Memoirs of the

Oratory of

Saint Francis de Sales

from 1815 to 1855

the autobiography of saint john bosco

Translated by Daniel Lyons, SDB

With notes and commentary by

Eugenio Ceria, SDB

Lawrence Castelvecchi, SDB

and Michael Mendl, SDB

DON BOSCO PUBLICATIONS

NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK

1989

saint john Bosco (1815-1888), known affectionately around the world as Don Bosco, has had dozens of biographers. Few people are aware that he told his own story in the Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales from 1815 to 1855, his un­finished autobiography.

Several of Don Bosco's early biogra­phers used his memoirs in their research. For the first time, English readers may now read this spiritual and educational classic, unabridged and unadorned, as Don Bosco wrote it. They may admire its sim­ple and direct style and enjoy Don Bosco's escapades and narrow escapes. They may learn from his ways of dealing with young­sters and find encouragement in his strug­gles. They will see how God used a poor farm boy to write a new chapter in the Church's ministry and how a saint handled his weaknesses and grew in faith, humility, and daring.

Readers of Don Bosco's Memoirs will find themselves caught in the turmoil of 19th-century Italian politics. In the 1840s and 1850s Don Bosco's Turin was the heart of efforts to modernize Italian industry and commerce, democratize Italian society, and unite the Italian nation. At the same time, the Catholic Church was striving to maintain its independence and to meet the spiritual needs of a new age. Ital­ian Catholics sought ways to balance their patriotism and their religious faith.

This first English edition of the Memoirs of the Oratory has been carefully edited and richly annotated for the benefit of a wide audience: Catholic and non-Catholic, clergy, religious, and laity, educators of all kinds, and historians of the Christian Church and of 19th-century Italy.

Translated from Memorie dell'Oratorio di S. Franccsco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855, ed. Eugenio Ceria, SDB. © 1946, Societa Editrice Internazionale, Turin, Italy

 English edition by Don Bosco Publications, New Rochelle, New York. © 1984, 1989, Salesian Society, Inc. All rights reserved.

 Printed in the United States of America

 Maps of Piedmont and of Turin on the endleaves reproduced from Baedeker's Italy. First Part: Northern Italy, 1906, by courtesy of Simon and Schuster, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

 Map of Italy on p. lix reproduced from The Makers of Modem Italy by Sir J.A.R. Marriott, published by Oxford University Press, 1931. © 1931, Ox­ford University Press.

 Map of the Turin-Castelnuovo area on p. Ix reproduced by courtesy of SEI from Don Bosco (p. 234) by Leonard von Matt and Henri Bosco, trans. Carlo De Ambrogio. © 1965, Societa Editrice Internazionale, Turin, Italy. Maps of the Oratory on pp. bdv-lxv reproduced by courtesy of SEI from L'Oratorio di Don Bosco (tav. 2 and 4] by Fedele Giraudi. © 1935 Societa Editrice Internazionale, Turin, Italy.

 Maps of the Castelnuovo Don Bosco-Becchi area and of Chieri on pp. Ixi-lxii reproduced by courtesy of the Salesian Department of Formation, Rome, from Sulle strade di Don Bosco (pp. 8-9, 26-27). © 1983 Salesian Society, Inc.

 Map of the Wandering Oratory on p. Ixiii reproduced by courtesy of LDC from Qui E Vissuto Don Bosco (p. 147) by Aldo Giraudo and Giuseppe Biancardi. © 1988, Editrice Elle Di Ci, Turin, Italy.

 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bosco, Giovanni, Saint, 1815-1888.

[Memorie dell'Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855. Eng­lish]

Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales from 1815 to 1855: the autobiography of Saint John Bosco / translated by Daniel Lyons; with notes and commentary by Eugenio Ceria, Lawrence Castelvecchi, and Michael Mendl.

 Includes bibliography, maps, illustrations, and index.

 1. Bosco, Giovanni, Saint, 1815-1888.  2. Christian saints —Italy —Biog­raphy.   I. Ceria, Eugenio, 1870-1957.   II. Castelvecchi, Lawrence, 1925-1987.  III. Mendl, Michael, 1948-    .  IV. Title.

 BX4700.B75A3 1989   271'.79-dc2o [B]   89-36115 CIP

 ISBN        0-89944-135-1 perfect-bound cloth edition

                0-89944-139-4 Smyth-sewn deluxe cloth edition

With affection and esteem

the Salesians dedicate

this English edition

of the

Memoirs of the Oratory to

pope john paul II

A Note on References

A selected bibliography is offered at the end of the book.

Sources frequently cited are referred to by author, some­times with an abbreviation of the work:

BM Lemoyne et al.,            The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco

BN T. Bosco,                      Don Bosco: Una biografia nuova

EcSo                                     Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale

LesMem                               Desramaut, Les Memorie I de G.B. Lemoyne

LW                                        Stella, Don Bosco: Life and Work

MB                                       Lemoyne et al., Memorie biografiche di S. Giovanni Bosco

Mem                                     G. Bosco, Memorie, ed. T. Bosco

MO                                       G. Bosco, Memorie dell’Oratorio ed. Ceria

NCE                                      New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967), 15 vols.

ReCa                                     Stella, Don Bosco nella storia, della raligiosita cattolica, vol. 2

SouAut                                 J. Bosco, Souvenirs autobiographiqueses,Desramaut commentary

SP                                          T. Bosco, Don Bosco: Storia di un prete

SpLife                                   Desramaut, Don Bosco and the Spiritual Life

See the bibliography for complete bibliographic information.