Tuesday, January 31, Third Week in Ordinary Time
MEMORIAL OF ST. JOHN BOSCO
ST. GIOVANNI (John) BOSCO, (Italy, 1850-1888) - Priest, Founder of the Society of St. Francis de Sales, 'Father and Teacher of Youth'
Familiarly known around the world as Don Bosco, which is how he was best known in life ('Don' is how Italians address a Catholic priest), his first assignment
as a priest was as chaplain of a girls' boarding school in Turin, when he first started tending to poor children on the side through an 'oratory' he named for St.
Francis de Sales and which did not find a fixed home until much later. His first co-worker was his mother, who became known to everyone as Mamma Margherita
[and who was declared Venerable in November 2006], and who spent the last 10 years of her life helping him care for his wards. In 1846, they started taking in orphans.
Don Bosco's philosophy was to educate young boys with 'reason, religion and kindness', not forgetting music and sport, as well as practical vocational training -
all this continue to be the distinguishing marks of Salesian schools all over the world. By 1859, Don Bosco's work had attracted the attention of Pope Pius IX who
supported him when he decided to establish his Salesian order of priests and lay brothers, now better known as the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB). Eventually,
an order of Salesian sisters was also established. In life, Don Bosco already had a reputation for holiness and working miracles. Shortly after his death, there was
a popular movement to make him a saint. But the hearings for his cause brought out all his adversaries in the Church hierarchy who thought he was a loose cannon
and wheeler-dealer. Pius XI, who had known him personally, pushed his cause in the 1920s, beatifying him in 1929 and canonizing him in 1934 with the title 'Father
and Teacher of Youth'. He is buried at the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/013113.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father met with
= Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life
- Ten bishops of the Campania region (Group 2) of Italy led by Cardinal Crescencio Sepe, Archbishop
of Naples, on ad-limina visit.
A joint communique from the Holy See and the Palestine Liberation Organization reports on the last
bilateral meeting held in Ramallah on the West Bank last January 10. Indications are both sides hope
to conclude a bilateral agreement soon to formally define their relations.
A news conference was held by the Pontifical Council for Culture to announce its plenary session from
February 6-9 on the theme of "Emerging youth cultures".
Along with a number of episcopal appointments made by the Pope, the Vatican announced that he has assigned
the new cardinals created in the November 2012 consistory to various dicasteries of the Roman Curia, as follows:
1) to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria;
2) to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches: Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, O.M.M., Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon and Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, major Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars, India;
3) to the the Pontifical Commission for Latin America: Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, Archbishop of Bogota, Colombia;
4) to the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA): Cardinal James Michael Harvey, Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls.
5) to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura: Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, O.M.M., Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon;
6) to the presidential committee of the Pontifical Council for the Family: Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines;
7) to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: Cardinal Ruben Salazar Gomez, Archbishop of Bogota, Colombia;
8) to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples: Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, O.M.M., Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon and Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines;
9) to the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue: Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars, India; and
10) to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications: Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, O.M.M., Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/02/2013 04:45]