A SHORT LIFE OF ST JOHN BOSCO

Born in 1815 in Piedmont and died in 1888 in Turin, Italy. John Bosco was bought up in a peasant family by his widowed mother and from an early age was drawn to work among boys and young men.

Ordained a priest in 1841 he settled in a suburb of Turin and soon had hundreds of youths attending his chapel and evening classes. He opened a boarding school for apprentices and established workshops to teach tailoring, shoemaking and other trades.

Because of his admiration for the spirit of St Frances de Sales he called his helpers Salesians and they were responsible for developing many schools around the world.

They offered a general education and offered skills in agriculture and trade. Girls were also helped in a similar manner when he established the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians. This was with the aid of Sister Mary Mazzarello, a peasant woman from Genoa.

The Catholic School situated in the parish is named after St Dominic Savio. He was one of the pupils John Bosco hoped to train to be a helper in his work; but the boy died when he was fifteen years old.