Confessor, Father and Teacher of Youth

Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888. His funeral was attended by thousands, and very soon after there were popular demands to have him canonized. Accordingly, the Archdiocese of Turin began to investigate and witnesses were called to determine if his holiness were worthy of a declared Saint. As expected, the Salesians, Daughters and Cooperators gave fulsome testimonies. But many remembered Don Bosco’s controversies in the 1870s with Archbishop Gastaldi, and some others high in the Church hierarchy thought him a loose cannon and a wheeler-dealer. In the canonization process, testimony was heard about how he went around Gastaldi to get some of his men ordained, and about their lack of academic preparation and ecclesiastical decorum. Political cartoons from the 1860s and later showed him shaking money from the pockets of old ladies, or going off to America for the same purpose, and were not forgotten. These opponents, including some cardinals, were in a position to block his canonization and many Salesians feared around 1925 that they would succeed.

Pope Pius XI had known Don Bosco, and pushed the cause forward. Bosco was declared Blessed in 1929, and canonized on Easter Sunday of 1934 and was given the title of “Father and Teacher of Youth.” [7]

Fr. Silvio Mantelli, SDB, had petitioned Pope John Paul II to acclaim St John Bosco the Patron of Stage Magicians. Catholic stage magicians who practice Gospel Magic venerate Don Bosco by offering free magic shows to underprivileged children on his feast day.

Don Bosco’s work was carried on by his constant companion, Don Michael Rua, who was appointed Rector Major of the Salesian Society by Pope Leo XIII in 1888.

• Born: August 16, 1815, Castelnuovo, Piedmont, Italy


• Died: January 31, 1888 (aged 72)

• Venerated in: Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion

• Beatified: June 2, 1929, Rome by Pope Pius XI

• Canonized: April 1, 1934, Rome by Pope Pius XI

• Major shrine: The Tomb of St John Bosco, Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians, Turin, Italy

• Feast Day: January 31

• Patronage: Christian apprentices, editors, publishers, schoolchildren, young people

Saint John Bosco (born Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco, known in English as Don Bosco), was an Italian Catholic priest, and recognized educator, who put into practice the dogma of his religion, employing teaching methods based on love rather than punishment. He placed his works under the protection of Francis de Sales; thus his followers styled themselves the Salesian Society. He is the only Saint with the title “Father and Teacher of Youth.”

St John Bosco succeeded in establishing a network of centres to carry on his work. In recognition of his work with disadvantaged youth he was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934. One of his students, Dominic Savio, was subsequently also canonized, becoming the youngest non-martyr to be named a saint.