St. Don John Bosco

In the Columbus Diocese, we celebrate today's Saint by holding a youth rally for middle-school students in the middle of Winter -- I have had the great pleasure of attending Bosco Bash and had a great time!

St. John Bosco lived in Italy in the 19th century.  Born of poor parents, his father died when he was two years old, leaving his mother to raise her two boys.  He was a smart boy and enjoyed his studies, but the poverty of his family meant that he often had to abandon his books to work in the fields. His desire for study did not leave him and he was eventually able to enter seminary and become a priest ("Don" is an honorific title used for priests in Italy, similar to us calling a priest "Reverend").
Early in his priesthood, Don John Bosco witnessed the plight of young boys confined in prisons or roaming the streets, exposed to evil influences, with little to anticipate from life except the gallows.  His heart went out to these street urchins and he started an Oratory for them.  The primary focus of the Oratory was prayer, but he also took the boys on outings, started a band and night schools for the boys who worked in the factories.

Unfortunately, Don Bosco had to give up the rooms he had procured for his Oratory and his efforts to help the youth were plagued with petty annoyances and obstacles.  Complaints were lodged that his community was a nuisance owing to the character of the boys he befriended.  His perseverance in the face of difficulty led some to believe that he was insane and efforts were made to put him in an asylum.

The Oratory moved several times before finding a permanent location where the night schools resumed.  Some of the boys desired to live at the Oratory, and dormitories were built, becoming the first Salesian Home.  The municipal authorities came to realize the importance of Don John Bosco's work and he began a fund for the erection of technical schools and workshops without much difficulty. In 1869, fifty priests and teachers who had been assisting him formed a society under a common rule -the Salesian Society.  At the time of Don Bosco's death in 1888 there were 250 houses of the Salesian Society in all parts of the world, containing 130,000 children, and from which there annually went out 18,000 finished apprentices. (Info courtesy of NewAdvent.org)

John Bosco's feast day is January 31 (which is why we have Bosco Bash in mid-winter).