My dear friends, We have entered a new year in History and stepping into this month of January, it becomes even more special for us sons, daughters and devotees of Don Bosco whose feast day we celebrate on the last day of January, and thus have this entire month dedicated to him. Who was Don Bosco? John Melchior Bosco who lived from 16 August 1815 to 31 January 1888 and popularly known as Don Bosco, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, educator, and writer of the 19th century. So what's so special and striking about him? While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the ill-effects of industrialization and urbanization, that rendered many people unskilled and jobless and were thus getting into crime and destructive lifestyles, Don Bosco dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. Now that's where we see a man who responded so aptly to the crisis of the times. What did he do? He opened up Oratories, Schools and Technical Institutions in order to address the needs of the young. Don Bosco didn't run his oratories and works in a routine way but added his unique personal style and spirit to make it completely different from the approaches prevalent in his times. What was this uniqueness? In the years Don Bosco had spent running his oratory and giving spiritual and practical instruction to the boys he had housed there, he relied on a different approach on education and general instruction which he believed to be superior to traditional educational methods which he labelled as a Repressive System of Education and which was based on punishment and fear. He called his approach the ‘Preventive System’ and in 1887 penned down a systematic exposition of his educational system in his essay ‘The Preventive System in the Education of the Youth’. It espoused the values of reason, Religion, and loving kindness as a pedagogical tool for the education of the young, with a goal of producing 'good Christians and honest citizens'. Don Bosco’s teaching methods were thus based on love rather than punishment. He envisaged that all his institutions should have four fundamental dimensions that relate to the key areas that account for the integral growth of the person. What were these? He designed his institutions to be 1) a home where the child is loved (emotional growth), 2) a playground where a child is socialised (physical and social growth), 3) a temple where the child is grounded in the Divine (Spiritual Growth) and 4) a school where the child learns the theories and principles of life and how to apply these in practice (Intellectual growth). A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of St. Francis de Sales, Don Bosco was an ardent devotee of Mary, mother of Jesus, under the title Mary Help of Christians. In order to carry out his momentous works for the upliftment and empowerment of the poor young, and to ensure that it does not die with him, he founded the Society of St. Francis de Sales which today is the Congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco. 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. Dominic Savio was one of the boys in his oratory, whom he taught, and of whom he wrote a biography that helped the young boy be canonized a Saint in the Catholic Church. On 18 April 1869, one year after he constructed the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, Don Bosco established the Association of the Devotees of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) connecting it with commitments easily fulfilled by most common people, to the spirituality and the mission of the Salesian Congregation. The ADMA was founded to promote the veneration of the Most Holy Sacrament and Mary Help of Christians. 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. In 1876, Don Bosco founded a movement of laity, the Association of Salesian Cooperators, with the same educational mission to the poor. Don Bosco established a network of organizations and centers to carry on his works which are executed today by the vast Salesian Family, which he has left as a legacy of love for the young. Following his beatification in 1929, he was canonized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI in 1934, when he was also given the title of "Father and Teacher of Youth". Dear friends it is my hope that in this month when we commemorate Don Bosco, we may get to know him more intimately, so that we are truly inspired to love, care and educate our own children the way he did, and pledge to collaborate in his mission for the salvation of souls. St. John Bosco – Pray for us! God bless you all!