The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales, is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1869 by Italian priest Saint John Bosco to help poor and migrant youngsters during the Industrial Revolution. The congregation was named after Saint Francis de Sales, a 17th-century bishop of Geneva.
John Melchior Bosco, SDB, popularly known as Don Bosco, was an Italian Catholic priest, educator, writer, and saint of the 19th century. While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the ill-effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment, a method that became known as the Salesian Preventive System.
Michele Rua was an Italian Catholic priest and professed member of the Salesians of Don Bosco. Rua was a student under Don Bosco and was also the latter's first collaborator in the order's founding as well as one of his closest friends. He served as the first Rector Major of the Salesians following Bosco's death in 1888. He was responsible for the expansion of the Salesians and the order had grown to a significant degree around the world at the time he died. Rua served as a noted spiritual director and leader for the Salesians known for his austerities and rigid adherence to the rule. It was for this reason that he was nicknamed "the living rule".
The Salesian Pontifical University is a pontifical university in Italy run by the Salesians of Don Bosco. It has three campuses, one in Rome, one in Turin, and one in Jerusalem. The Salesian Pontifical University is an ordinary member of the International Federation of Catholic Universities, the European Federation of Catholic Universities, the European University Association and the International Association of Universities.
The Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians is a church in Turin, northern Italy. Originally part of the home for poor boys founded by John Bosco, it now contains the remains of Bosco, and 6,000 relics of other saints.
A Salesian school is an educational institution run by the Roman Catholic Salesian Congregation of Saint John Bosco, and one that uses his methods. Salesian schools are dedicated to young people in an educational and formative environment. According to promoters, a Salesian school is a home, church, playground, and school where students find a new way of life, and prepare for their future as good citizens of their country, while being faithful to their own religion.
Xavier College is a Catholic co-educational college north of Adelaide, South Australia, consisting of three campuses: Evanston catering for Reception - Year 6 students, Gawler Belt for Years 7 - 12 and Two Wells which will eventually cater for Reception - Year 12 students. The College was founded in 1995 and operates according to the traditions of the Salesians of Don Bosco. The school enrols approximately 2,000 students across all campuses. Its patron is the priest Saint John Bosco.
Carlo Braga was a professed priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco and known as "the Little Don Bosco of China" for his missionary works towards the children in China. He died in the Philippines in 1971.
The Salesian Preventive System is the educational method of the Salesians, built upon the pedagogical experience of Saint John Bosco with poor children in 19th-century Turin. It is based on the three pillars of reason, religion, and loving kindness and is opposed to school punishment, or what Don Bosco refers to as the repressive system of education. Don Bosco is the principal historical representative of this method of formation of the young; he was preceded in its development by such luminaries as Philip Neri and Francis de Sales.
The Salesian Bulletin is an official publication of the Salesians that was founded in August 1877 by Don Bosco. It has been published without interruption since then. The purpose of the Salesian Bulletin is the proliferation of the educational works of Don Bosco all over the world. As for 2010, the Bulletin was published in 56 different editions and 29 languages for 135 countries.
Nazzareno Camilleri (1906–1973) was a Maltese philosopher, theologian, and mystic. His areas of specialisation in philosophy were chiefly metaphysics and pedagogy.
José Luis Carreño Etxeandía S. D. B. was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest.
Margherita Occhiena Bosco was the mother of John Bosco and worked with the poor and the less fortunate. Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed her to be venerable in 2006.
José Vandor Puchner – born as József Wech – was a Hungarian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Salesians of Don Bosco. He served in the missions on the island nation of Cuba where he was stationed from 1936 until his death but spent the bulk of that time in Santa Clara where he was since 1954.
Juan Edmundo Vecchi was a Catholic Roman Priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco, who was the 8th Rector Major of that order between March 20, 1996, until his death in 2002. He was the first non-Italian successor of Don Bosco and the first Argentinian to get such position. He was also the nephew of St Artémides Zatti.
Filippo Rinaldi was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Salesians of Don Bosco; he served as the third Rector Major for the order from 1922 until his death in 1931. He founded the Secular Institute of Don Bosco Volunteers. Rinaldi was close friends since his childhood to Giovanni Bosco and Paolo Albera and it was Bosco who guided Rinaldi who was torn in his adolescence between the farming life and the religious life. The order held him in high esteem from the outset and noted the potential within him as well as seeing the charism of Bosco encompassed in Rinaldi.
Leonardo Murialdo was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the co-founder of the Congregation of Saint Joseph - also known as the Murialdines. Murialdo's call to the priesthood did not manifest until late in his education in Savona; he pursued his ecclesial studies and was ordained as such in 1851 before dedicating himself to social work alongside the poor and with adolescent men. This put him into contact with other priests of the era such as Giovanni Bosco and Giuseppe Cafasso who held Murialdo in great esteem. His zeal for social concern saw his frequent calls for an end to worker exploitation and the granting of further rights to workers in factories.
Oreste Marengo was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and professed member from the Salesians of Don Bosco. He served as the Bishop of Diburugarh from 1951 until his transferral in 1964 to Tezpur where he served until 1969. From that point until 1979 he served as the apostolic administrator for the new Tura see. He was dedicated since his childhood to joining the missions and in his late adolescence was permitted to go to the missions in India. Marengo often trekked on foot to remote villages where he evangelized to the people and provided for their educational needs as best he could. He was reluctant to accept his episcopal nomination but did not cease his catechizing and evangelizing in his dioceses. His time spent in India saw him learn prior to his ordination under the Venerable Stefano Ferrando and the Servant of God Costantino Vendrame.
Francesco Convertini was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and professed member from the Salesians of Don Bosco. He served in the missions in India since arriving there in the mid-1920s and dedicated his apostolate to tending to children suffering from malnutrition and fostering interreligious dialogue and tolerance. He also dedicated himself to preserving the environmental protection of local communities in waste-ridden areas and travelled to various communities to bring forth the Gospel message to all people.
Attilio GiordaniA.S.C. was an Italian Roman Catholic and member from the Association of Salesian Cooperators. Giordani studied in Milan where he encountered the Salesians of Don Bosco alongside his brother Camillo. His brother was inspired to become a priest while Giordani was inspired to become a catechist and evangelist catering to the needs of the local children and adolescents. His work at a Salesian-managed oratorio was where he would meet his future wife during the time he did mandated service with the Italian armed forces during World War II. He had three children and followed them to Brazil to do volunteer work in the missions there. His time there was short-lived as he died suffering a heart attack while giving an address to a crowd.
