by Arthur J. Lenti, SDB

Subjects:

• Introduction
• Part I: Turin in the 1840s and the “Poor and Abandoned” Young People at Risk
• 1. Demographic Shift, Population Increase and Urban Expansion
• 2. The Northern Districts
• 3. The “Poor and Abandoned”: Young People and Children at Risk
• (1) Kinds of Young People at Risk
• (2) Children of the Poor
• (3) “Abandoned,” Homeless, Neglected or Left to Themselves
• (4) Juvenile Delinquency
• (5) Prisons and Penal Policy
• (6) Addressing the Problem
• Part II: Don Bosco and Young People at Risk: The Beginnings of the Oratory and of the Home Attached to the Oratory
• I. The Beginnings of the Oratory
• 1. The Beginnings of the Oratory in Don Bosco’s Memoirs
• (1) The Beginnings of the Oratory and “the Young People Released From Prison or Liable to Being Sent There” in Don Bosco’s Memoirs
• (2) Bartholomew Garelli and the Beginnings of the Oratory
• 2. The Beginnings of the Oratory in Don Bosco’s Early “Official” Statements
• (1) The Beginnings of the Oratory in the Historical Outline (Cenno Storico) of 1854
• (2) The Beginnings of the Oratory in the Historical Outlines (Cenni Storici) of 1862
• 3. Comment of the Garelli Tradition
• (1) The Garelli Tradition
• (2) The Name “Garelli”
• (3) Possible Typical and Symbolic Role of the Garelli Story
• 4. Further Statements by Don Bosco on the Origin of His Work
• II. Beginnings of the Home Attached to the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales
• 1. Settling at Pinardi’s: Don Bosco’s Letter of March 13, 1846 to Marquis Michele Cavour, Vicar of Turin
• 2. The Beginnings of the Home or Shelter attached to the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales (Casa Annessa)
• (1) The Beginnings of the Home in the Pinardi House and its First Boarders.
• (2) The Home in “Don Bosco’s House”
• (3) Development of the School and of StudentCommunity at the Home
• Part Ill: Don Bosco’s Abiding Commitment to the “Poor and Abandoned”
• 1. Don Bosco’s Letter to King Victor Emmanuel II, before November 14, 1849
• 2. Letter to the Administrators of the Mendicita lstruita, February 20, 1850
• 3. Letter to Father Antonio Rosmini, March 11, 1850
• 4. Don Bosco’s First Raffle Appeal, December 20, 1851
• 5. Letter to Mayor Giorgio Bellono, November 8, 1852
• 6. Letter to the City Council, August 3, 18531
• 7. Letter to Count Clemente Solaro della Margarita, January 5, 1854
• 8. Letter to Mayor Giovanni Battista Notta, January 25, 1855
• 9. To Defense Minister Giacomo Durando, probably November 1855
• 10. Invitation to a Raffle, February [21), 1857
• 11. Invitation to a Raffle, [January 30 1862]
• Comments and Conclusion
• Appendices
• Appendix I Introduction to the Draft of Regulations for the Boys’ Oratory of St. Francis de Sales in Turin, in the Valdocco District [1854)
• Appendix II Historical Outline [Cenno Storico]-a Foreword to the Draft Regulations for the Boys’ Oratory of St. Francis de Sales in Turin, in the Valdocco District [1854)
• Appendix III Hisotrical Outlines [Cenni Storici] on [the Origins and Development of] the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales (1862)
• General Comments