This fifth volume in the series, Don Bosco: History and Spirit, is chiefly devoted to a description of the institutional expansion of the Salesian work. The first two chapters describe the school reform legislation in the Kingdom of Sardinia, noting that the secularization of the public school was the first significant step taken by the liberal revolution in its program aimed at a general secularization of society and the gradual elimination of the Church’s influence. In this context Don Bosco’s historic decision to undertake the school apostolate in a major way in Piedmont and Liguria is understood as part of the Church’s effort to counteract the process of secularization. This may be rated as the the first great "external" expansion, spanning the 1860s and early 1870s. A second expansion described in the last chapter (Ch. 8) spans the decade 1875-85 and sees the Salesian work established in France and Spain, and further in Italy. This presentation is preceded, by way of context, by a brief historical survey of united Italy under the governments of the radical Left (from 1876), and by an even briefer sketch of the political-social situation in France in the first decade of the Third Republic (1875-85)–all this in the pontificate of Leo XIII (from 1878).
The middle section of the volume (Chs. 3-6) looks at the internal development of the institution especially from the standpoint of Don Bosco’s response to perceived needs of society and Church. This includes: Don Bosco’s espousal of the devotion and ideology of Mary, the Immaculate Help of Christians, and his decision to build the great church in her honor (1860s); Don Bosco’s protracted involvement (in a private capacity) in the negotiations between the Holy See and the Italian State for the appointment of bishops to vacant dioceses and obtaining for them the royal Exequatur (1865-74); Don Bosco’s founding, in association with Mary Mazzarello, of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christans as a companion congregation to the Salesian Society (1864-1872); lastly (from the 1860s), Don Bosco’s on-going reflection on the Salesian lay vocation and his articulation of the Salesian Brother’s participation in the Society’s mission.
This fourth volume of the series Don Bosco: History and Spirit,focuses on the early Salesian constitutions as presented by Don Bosco for approval (1860-1874)–in the times of the Turin Archbishops–of Luigi Fransoni (in exile) and ensuing four-year vacancy, of Alessandro Riccardi di Netro (1867-1870) and of Lorenzo Gastaldi (1872-1874).
In introductory Chapters 1 and 2, the process of approval is set in the context of the historic events of the unification of Italy by the taking of Rome and the dispossession of the pope, at the time of the of the First Vatican Council and of the Franco-Prussian war. Out of these painful experiences, Don Bosco "prophetically" decries the hubris of the perpetrators of such injustices (France and Italy) and envisions God’s terrible chastisements in prophecies and letters of 1870-1873.
The constitutions are discussed from a double point of view: first, under the aspect of the historical process of approval and of the principles that brought Don Bosco in confrontation with his Archbishops and the Roman authorities (Chs. 3-6); secondly, under the aspect of the novel religious outlook, profound insights and spirituality that Don Bosco sought to embody in the constitutions (Chs. 7-10). To highlight this second aspect, selected articles from selected chapters are chosen for discussion.
The series Don Bosco, History and Spirit consists of seven volumes. The first three volumes survey the life and times of John Melchior Bosco ("Don Bosco," 1815-1888) up to 1864, with particular attention to nineteenth-century political, social and religious history. This survey looks at Don Bosco’s own education, at his spiritual and theological formation. It examines the growth of the work, and the founding and initial development of the Society of St. Francis de Sales, in the context of the liberal revolution and the unification of Italy (1848-1861).
This and the next three volumes describe Don Bosco’s life and work in the period following the unification of Italy. In this setting Don Bosco, History and Spirit discusses the institutional developments and organization of the Salesian Society. It describes Don Bosco’s further ministerial choices, and surveys the expansion of the Salesian work. At the same time it examines the development of permanent structures to guarantee the continuance of the Salesian work, and discusses some of the founder’s insights and ideas, especially as they emerge from the reflective writings of his maturity.
La bolla "Auctorem fidei" è stata un documento di primaria importanza nella formazione del clero in senso ultramontano nell'800 e poi più in generale del clero cattolico nella prima metà del '900. La gran parte del clero non era portato alla filologia o alla ricerca storica, ma piuttosto al proprio compito di pastori nella Chiesa. Le 85 proposizioni dell'Auctorem fidei erano come un quadro comodo di riferimento: una sorta di catechesi papale e cattolica proposta in termini essenziali e rispondente pienamente alle urgenze dei tempi nuovi.