by Rev. Fr. Juvelan Paul Samia, SDB
1. HE IS KNOWN IN THE CHURCH AS THE “FATHER AND TEACHER OF YOUTH.”
This title was ascribed to him by no less than the great St. John Paul II on the occasion of the first centenary of his death in 1988.
St. John Bosco spent his life taking care of the poorest and most abandoned young people. He also founded a robust association of men, known as the Salesians of Don Bosco, to continue and extend his mission to the youth. At present, there are more than 14, 000 Salesians spread across 134 countries around the world.
2. HE COULD SEE THE DEVIL AND FIGHT AGAINST HIM.
St. John Bosco could see how the devil controls and manipulates the boys. He would then fight the devil, punish it severely, and send it away scampering so that the boys could be freed from its ruse.
3. HIS BEST FRIENDS ARE JESUS AND MARY.
These heavenly friends talk to him plainly in his dreams. Because St. John Bosco is a best friend of Jesus, he was able to perform miracles like multiplying bread and chestnuts, levitating during the Mass, healing sick people, and even raising a dead boy back to life.
4. HE IS THE PATRON OF MANY THINGS.
Here is a shorter list of them:
Youth and Youth Ministers
Catholic Editors and Publishers
Juvenile Delinquents
Young Workers
Jugglers and Magicians
5. HE DEVELOPED A SYSTEM OF EDUCATION BASED ON LOVE.
During the time of St. John Bosco, teachers were more feared than loved by the students. He, therefore, introduced the Preventive System based on the pillars of reason, religion, and loving-kindness as an alternative to the prevailing system of the time.
The Preventive System was so effective that it produced hundreds upon hundreds of saints and heroes among Don Bosco’s boys around the world from his time until the present. Through the Preventive System, even street kids and gangsters and lost boys have the hope to become themselves “saints and heroes.”
And it is because of these (among so many others still!) that I consider St. John Bosco the #CoolestSaintEver
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