Friend of the Young

Welcome to Friend of the Young. This website is run by the Salesians of Don Bosco in Orange, NJ. The men who will contribute to this website are seminarians in formation for the Salesians of Don Bosco.

For those of you who do not know who Don Bosco is; Don Bosco was born John Melchior Bosco on August 16, 1815 to Francis and Margaret (Occhiena) Bosco. Born the youngest out of three. The oldest was Anthony who was John’s half brother. Anthony was born out of Francis’ first marriage in which his mother passed away. Joseph is the middle child in the family. Anthony would later be one of the hardships that John faced in his childhood.

When John was only two years old his father Francis passed away from pneumonia. One of John’s earliest memories was of his mother telling him, “John, you have no father now.” This stuck with John the rest of his life and was something that he remembered when he worked with the youth of Italy, and later around the world.

At the age of nine John Bosco had a dream in which Jesus and Mary appeared to him. In this dream they explained to him the mission of his life. John used this dream at age 9 as a roadmap for the rest of his life.

On December 9, 1859 Don Bosco asked 22 young men into his chambers and talked to them about the beginning of a religious congregation. Don Bosco already had the unofficial approval of the pope to begin this congregation. Don Bosco always had one problem. He could get people to help him in his mission but there was nothing that bound them to him or to the mission. When the 22 met in Don Bosco’s chambers he told them of what he wanted to do and that he wanted them to be a part of it. He asked them not to speak of this to anyone and he wanted all of them to go and pray and discern if this is what God wanted them to do.

On the evening of December 18, 1859 Don Bosco reconvened the young people in his chambers. 17 were present, including Don Bosco. They all took vows on that night and thus began officially the Salesian Congregation. They had the first Superior Chapter that evening too. They began the works that we see today present in over 120 countries around the world, staffed by over 17,000 professed members of the Salesians of Don Bosco, (S.D.B.)