John Bosco was born on the 16th of August 1815, in Becchi

John Bosco (Italian: Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; 16 August 1815 – 31 January
1888), popularly known as Don Bosco, was an
Italian Roman Catholic priest of the Latin Church, educator and writer of the
19th century. While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the
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. A follower of the
spirituality and philosophy of Saint Francis de Sales, Bosco dedicated his
works to him when he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco, based in Turin.
Together with Maria Domenica Mazzarello, he founded the Institute of the
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a religious congregation of nuns
dedicated to the care and education of poor girls.



In 1876 Bosco founded a movement of laity, the Association of
Salesian Cooperators, with the same educational mission to the poor. In 1875 he
began to publish the Salesian Bulletin. The Bulletin has remained in continuous
publication, and is currently published in 50 different editions and 30
languages.



Bosco established a network of organizations and centres to carry
on his work. Following his posthumous beatification in 1929, he was canonized
as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI in 1934.