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Don Bosco. History and Spirit. 1 Extrait de la publication Extrait de la publication DON BOSCO History and Spirit Extrait de la publication Extrait de la publication ARTHUR J. LENTI DON BOSCO: HISTORY AND SPIRIT Vol. 1 JOHN BOSCO’S FORMATIVE YEARS IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT Second Revised Edition (Edited by Aldo Giraudo) LAS - ROME Extrait de la publication © 2010 by LAS - Libreria Ateneo Salesiano Piazza dell’Ateneo Salesiano, 1 - 00139 ROMA Tel. 06 87290626 - Fax 06 87290629 - e-mail: [email protected] - http://las.unisal.it ISBN 978-88-213-0753-9 ––––––––––– Elaborazione elettronica: LAS Stampa: Tip. Abilgraph - Via P. Ottoboni 11 - Roma Extrait de la publication CONTENTS Basic English-Language Reading List xvii Chapter 1 From the French Revolutionto the Fall of Napoleon 1 French Revolution 2 The First Coalition 3 The Napoleonic Period: Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, Italian and Egyptian Campaigns 4 The Second Coalition (1799-1802) and Napoleon’s Coup d’État (1799) 5 Napoleon Crowned as Emperor of the French (1804), Napoleonic Wars (1804-1814) and Third Coalition (1804-1805) 6 Fourth Coalition (1806-1807) 7 Peninsular War (1808-1814) and Fifth Coalition (1809-1814) 7 Napoleon’s Russian Campaign 8 Sixth Coalition (1813) and Fall of Napoleon (1814) 9 The Hundred Days 9 Closing Comment: Italy under Napoleon and the Napoleonic Legacy 10 Napoleon’s Ecclesiastical Policy 12 Appendices 14 Chapter 2 The Congress of Vienna,the Restorationin the Kingdom of Sardinia 19 The Congress of Vienna (September 1, 1814-June 9, 1815) 19 The Restoration in Italy 20 Metternich and Austrian Domination of Italy (1815-1848) 21 The Kingdom of Sardinia and the House of Savoy 23 Appendix 27 Chapter 3 The Land of Don Bosco’s Birth 31 Piedmont and Turin, Its Capital 31 Chieri and Castelnuovo 32 The Cascina and Sharecropping in Nineteenth-Century Piedmont 34 Land and Crops 35 Chapter 4 John Melchior Bosco’sBirth and Family 37 The Boscos and Their Social Status 37 Extrait de la publication vi Contents Francis Louis Bosco and Family 39 Date of John Melchior Bosco’s Birth and Baptism 39 Death of Francis Louis Bosco 41 Don Bosco’s Birthplace 42 Recent Discussion on the Subject of Don Bosco’s Birthplace 43 The Little House of Becchi 45 Francis Louis Bosco’s Situation 46 Margaret Bosco’s Situation after Her Husband’s Death 47 Conclusion 50 Appendix 52 Chapter 5 General Overview of Sources 53 I. General Overview 54 Archives 54 Don Bosco as Source 54 Early Salesians as Sources 55 Depositions of Witnesses at the Processes of Don Bosco’s Beatification and Canoniza- tion 56 Don Bosco’s Biographical Tradition 57 II. Chroniclers and Chronicles in Particular 58 First Period of Concerted Recording Activity: The Ruffino-Bonetti Period (1861-1864) 58 Second Period of Concerted Recording Activity: The Barberis-Berto Period (1875- 1879) 62 Third Period of Recording Activity: The Lemoyne-Viglietti Period (1884-1888) 65 Closing Comment 68 Appendices 69 Chapter 6 Don Bosco’s Biographical Tradition 75 I. Early Biographies to the “Biographical Memoirs” 76 Early Biographical Sketches and Biographies of Don Bosco 76 Dr. Charles d’Espiney’s Don Bosco 76 Dr. d’Espiney’s Don Bosco Translated and Adapted 78 Mr. Du Boÿs’ Dom Bosco 79 Mr. Villefranche’s Vie de Dom Bosco and Lady Martin’s English Edition 81 Don Bosco’s Ambivalent Attitude toward His Own Biography 83 II. John Baptist Lemoyne as Don Bosco’s Biographer 84 Project for a Biography and the Choice of Lemoyne for the Work 84 Gathering Documentation 86 Lemoyne’s Documenti 87 Contents vii The “Biographical Memoirs”: The Lemoyne Stage 89 The “Biographical Memoirs”: the Amadei-Ceria Stage 90 Conclusion 91 Appendix I 93 Appendix II 105 Chapter 7 Don Bosco’s “Memoirs of the Oratory”and Bonetti’s “Storia dell’Ora- torio” 127 I. Don Bosco’s “Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales” 128 Origin and Publication of the “Memoirs” and Related Questions 128 Don Bosco’s Agenda in the “Memoirs” and their Historical Character 140 Educational Concern: The “Memoirs” as Narrative Prelude to the Treatise on the Preventive System 149 Conclusion 157 II. John Bonetti’s “Storia dell’Oratorio” 158 Father Bonetti’s “Storia” in Book Form and Its English Translation 159 Table of Contents of John Bonetti’s “Storia dell’Oratorio” (Cinque Lustri) Englished as Don[St. John] Bosco’s Early Apostolate 159 Chapter 8 A Childhood of Promisein Times of Political Upheaval (1815-1824) 165 Political Upheaval: Abortive Revolutions in Naples and Piedmont (1820-1821) 165 Margaret Bosco and Family at the Little House of Becchi 168 Appendix I 183 Appendix II 194 Chapter 9 Trials of an Adolescent (1824-1830) 197 The Trouble with Anthony 197 Margaret’s Options 198 John Bosco’s Period of Service as a Stable Boy (1827-1829) 199 John’s Return from Moglia’s after the Feast of All Saints (November 3, 1829) 202 Don Bosco’s Silence on His Period of Service away from Home 204 Circumstances of John Bosco Meeting with Father John Calosso 205 Division of the Bosco Estate (Late 1830) 208 John Bosco’s Troubled Adolescence and the Calosso Experience 209 Conclusion 213 Appendices 215 Extrait de la publication viii Contents Chapter 10 John Bosco at the School of Castelnuovoand the Revolutionary Movement- sof the Early 1830 227 John Bosco’s First Meeting with Seminarian Giuseppe Cafasso 227 Joseph Bosco a Sharecropper 228 The School Reform of King Charles Felix (1822) 229 John Bosco at the School of Castelnuovo 231 Significance of the Year at Castelnuovo 233 John Bosco’s Summer Vacation at the Cascina Matta of Sussambrino 234 Revolutions of 1830-1831 and the Progress of the Risorgimento in Italy 235 Mazzini and Young Italy 237 Appendices 238 Chapter 11 John Boscoat the Public Secondary School of Chieri(1831-1835) 245 The City of Chieri in John Bosco’s Times 246 The Secondary School in King Charles Felix’ Reform 250 John Bosco at the Secondary School in Chieri (1831-1835) 255 Appendix 268 Chapter 12 John Bosco’s Vocational Crisisand Discenment at Chieri (1834-1835) 291 John Bosco’s Vocation Dream and Its Recurrence 291 John Bosco’s Inner Struggle with Vocation Discernment as Described in the Memoirs of the Oratory 293 Lemoyne’s Compiled Account of the First Crisis and Discernment 295 Lemoyne’s Account of the Second Crisis and Discernment 297 John Bosco’s Option for the Young 300 Appendix 302 Chapter 13 The Seminaries of the Turin Archdioceseand John Bosco’s Decisionfor the Seminary of Chieri 311 I. The Seminary of the Archdiocese of Turin 312 The Seminary before the Napoleonic Period 312 The Seminary of Turin (and of Bra) in the Napoleonic Period 314 Seminary and Clergy Reform under Archbishop Chiaveroti 315 Archbishop Chiaveroti’s Statutes for the Archdiocesan Seminary (1819) 316 The Model of Priestly Formation in Archbishop Chiaveroti’s Reform 318 Founding and Organization of the Chieri Seminary by Archbishop Chiaveroti 319 Regulations of the Chieri Seminary by Archbishop Louis Fransoni 321 The Seminaries of the Archdiocese of Turin in the 1840s and Thereafter 324 Extrait de la publication Contents ix II. John Bosco’s Decision to Enter the Seminary 325 Historical Factors Affecting John Bosco’s Option for the Diocesan Seminary 325 John Bosco’s Opting for Entering the Chieri Seminary as a Resident Seminarian 327 Comment on the Non-Resident Seminary 329 Taking the Clerical Habit 330 Entrance into the Seminary 331 Appendices 332 Chapter 14 John Bosco’s Seminary Formation 343 Seminary Life 344 Summer Vacations 345 Louis Comollo’s Friendship and Untimely Death 347 Father John Borel 349 Studies 349 John Bosco’s Readings in the Seminary 352 John Bosco’s Experience of Louis Comollo and His Spirituality 355 Don Bosco’s Biography of Louis Comollo 359 Appendix 362 Chapter 15 Don Bosco’s Last Year at the Seminaryand First Priestly Ministry (1840- 1841) 369 I. John Bosco’s Last Year at the Seminary Priestly Ordination and First Masses 370 Holy Orders: General Framework 370 Tonsure and Minor Orders 371 John Bosco Reads Fourth Theology during the Summer Vacations of 1840 373 Subdiaconate and Diaconate 373 Preparing for Priestly Ordination 375 Spiritual Retreat, the Keepsake and the Nine Resolutions 376 Priestly Ordination and “First Mass” 383 Don Bosco’s Masses from Turin to Castelnuovo—a Pilgrimage 385 Don Bosco’s Solemn Mass in His Home Parish of Castelnuovo 387 II. Don Bosco’s First Priestly Ministry at Castelnuovo (June 10 - November 2, 1841) 389 1. Limited Ministry 389 2. Anecdote: Don Bosco Thrown from his Horse 391 3. Don Bosco Chooses the Pastoral Institute (Convitto) 391 x Contents Chapter 16 Theologicaland Ecclesiological Context 393 Jansenism 394 Probabilism, Probabiliorism, Equiprobabilism 403 Conciliarism: History and Ecclesiology of Consiliarism in the Context of the Great Schism (1378-1417) 409 Gallicanism 412 Febronianism 415 Josephinism 417 Appendix 420 Chapter 17 History and Theological Orientationsof the “Pastoral Institute”—Father Cafasso’s Role 421 Introduction 422 Context: Trends in Theology and Ecclesiology 423 The Jesuits and Their Activity in Turin 426 The Amicizie (Friendship Associations) 427 The Congregation of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary 428 Projects for the Pastoral Institute 428 The Pastoral Institute Established at St. Francis of Assisi 430 Life and Spirit of the Pastoral Institute as Expressed in the Regulations 433 Academic Activities at the Pastoral Institute 438 Practical Pastoral Experiences of the Pastoral Institute Students 440 The Pastoral Institute’s Survival and Growth: The Guala Rectorate (1817-1848) 441 The Pastoral Institute’s Golden Period: The Cafasso Rectorate (1848-1860) 444 The Pastoral
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