Introduction

Don Bosco’s vocation dreams hold an important place in Don Bosco’s vocational development and in the process by which his lifework was determined and specified. Beginning with the original vocation dream (the Becchi or Morialdo Dream of 1824/5) these dreams appear to punctuate the development of his vocation and apostolate up to the settling in of his work of the Oratory at Valdocco. In his autobiographical Memoirs ,[1] Don Bosco confesses that, at the time of the occurrences of his dreams, he was reluctant to put any faith in them. Eventually, however, he was led to believe that through them God was calling him to a special kind of apostolate on behalf of youth.[2]

We are not dealing with a one-time occurrence. Don Bosco himself states that the original vocation dream was repeated at various times:

The dream I had had at Murialdo remained deeply imprinted on my mind; indeed it had occurred at other times in much clearer terms, so that if I wanted to put faith in it I would have to choose the priesthood, toward which I actually felt inclined.[3]

We are evidently dealing with the genre of the vocation-mission dream — a religious experience that is well documented in Christian hagiography, a segment of a wider role of dreams in Christian culture. This essay will not deal with this particular area, though such a study would no doubt be helpful for an understanding of Don Bosco’s own experiences by situating them in a wider context.[4] It will instead be concerned with a study of the many reports and testimonies of Don Bosco’s vocation dreams. Such a study will entail a critical examination of the dream texts of the Biographical Memoirs and their sources, and of the way in which Don Bosco’s biographer, Father John Baptist Lemoyne, has arranged and interpreted them. The ultimate aim is to evaluate the significance of the dream experiences for Don Bosco’s vocational decisions in their actual historical circumstances.

The only treatment of the subject that has come to my attention is Father Francis Desramaut’s valuable examination of the vocation dream’s texts and witnesses, a chapter in his vast and masterful source–critical study of the first volume of the Biographical Memoirs.[5] Since this author is concerned solely with the first volume of the Biographical Memoirs, only the vocation dream narratives relating to Don Bosco’s childhood, adolescence and early manhood come under scrutiny. His study does not include the Dream of 1844, nor the two Dreams of the Holy Martyrs, so-called, that follow in the second volume of the Biographical Memoirs. These, however, will be included in the present essay.

Part I. Witnesses and Reports of Don Bosco’s Vocation-Mission Dreams

1. The Vocation-Mission Dream Line in Lemoyne’s Biographical Memoirs

This survey of the textual evidence of the vocation dreams will begin by examining the reports edited in the Biographical Memoirs. These constitute the final stage of the tradition of the dream texts and of its biographical interpretation. It will then attempt to describe with appropriate critical comments the tradition of the texts (i.e., the prior reports on which they are based)[6] as Lemoyne construed this tradition. It should be emphasized that Lemoyne’s construction of the tradition, as well as his overarching interpretation of Don Bosco’s vocation dream line and its significance, needs critical evaluation.

After speaking about a dream which John, as a seminarian, related to his friend Joseph Turco during a summer vacation at the Sussambrino farm, Lemoyne continues:

At this point we cannot refrain from commenting on the grdual and logical progress of the various extraordinary dreams that followed one upon another [to guide Don Bosco in his vocation]. At the age of nine, John Bosco first learnt of the great mission that would be entrusted to him; at sixteen, he is given assurance that the material resources needed to shelter and to feed countless youngsters would not be wanting; at nineteen, a categorical injunction makes it clear that he is not free to refuse the mission entrusted to him; at twenty-one he is is shown the type of boy whose spiritual welfare he is especially called to look after; at twenty-two, a big city, Turin, is pointed out to him as the field where his apostolic work must begin, and its center established. Nor do these mysterious instructions cease at this point. As we shall see, they will continue as needed ultil the completion of God’s work.[7]

The further ‘instructions’ referred to here are the Dream of 1844 and the two Dreams of the Holy Martyrs that follow in the second volume of the Biographical Memoirs, and presumably later dreams as well.

Ceria follows Lemoyne when he writes:

After the first dream at the age nine or ten Don Bosco had six other dreams, each of which shed light on some further aspect of what that first dream, as it gradually unfolded, was calling him to. Two of these [additional dreams] have already been mentioned — the dream at the age of sixteen, in which he was given assurance that the material resources needed for the attainment of his goal would not be wanting; and the dream at the age of 19, in which he received the express command to look after young people. Two other dreams followed which are not recorded in the Memoirs of the Oratory — the first, at the age of 21, in which he was given to understand the type of youngster he was to look after (cf. EBM I, 284f.); the other at the age of 22, in which the city of Turin was pointed out to him as the place where his apostolate was to begin (cf. EBM I, 315f.) There are two further dreams: the one presently under consideration [the Dream of 1844] and the one referred to at the end of the present paragraph and given in the note [the First Dream of the Holy Martyrs]. In the former he saw clearly the great work that was to rise at Valdocco; in the latter he learned how he was to bind helpers to himself — forecasting the Salesian Oratory and the Salesian Society.[8]

What are we to think of such a construction? It appears that in his effort to paint a charismatic portrayal of Don Bosco for his readers, Lemoyne used and interpreted all available testimonies of Don Bosco’s vocation-mission dream to construct a ‘logical’ dream line tending to show that Don Bosco and his work was guided by a pre-determined divine plan. As our discussion will bear out, he achieves his goal through an uncritical use and interpretation of the sources.[9]

Part I of this essay, therefore, will be devoted to an analysis of the dream texts themselves, as recorded in the Biographical Memoirs and in the sources. In Part II, taking Don Bosco’s own Memoirs as a starting point, an attempt will be made to understand the significance of his vocation-mission dream and its recurrence in in the actual historical junctures of vocational decision. All significant texts of dream narratives will be given in Appendices, transcribed and translated.

2. Text and Source-critical Study of the Vocation-Mission Dream Narratives in Vol. I of the Biographical Memoirs

In the first and second volumes of the Biographical Memoirs, Lemoyne records no less than eight occurrences of vocation dreams that he identifies as stages of the divine guidance. In each instance he provides: a context, that is, the circumstance and the period in Don Bosco’s life at which it occurred; a dream narrative derived from source texts available to him; and various interpretative comments on the significance of the dream. The list is as follows:

(1) The First Dream at the Age of Nine (the Becchi/Morialdo Dream, the original vocation-mission dream which Don Bosco relates in his Memoirs);[10]

(2) The Dream at the Age of Sixteen (First Turco-Related Dream);[11]

(3) The Dream at the Age of Nineteen (Dream of ‘Imperious Command’);[12]

(4) The Dream at the Age of Twenty-one (‘Clothes-Mending’ Dream);[13]

(5) The Dream at the Age of Twenty-two (Second Turco-Related Dream);[14]

(6) The Dream of 1844 (the dream which Don Bosco called, “a sequel to the one first had at Becchi at about nine years of age,” and which he relates in his Memoirs);[15]

(7) The First Dream of the Holy Martyrs;[16]

(8) The Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs.[17]

As expected, Lemoyne’s own Documenti served as the immediate source for the dream narratives of the Biographical Memoirs. The above-listed dream texts had already been fashioned in Documenti before they were edited in the Biographical Memoirs.

For the compilation of the first and second volumes both of Documenti (from 1885) and of the Biographical Memoirs (in 1898 and 1901), the autobiographical Memoirs of the Founder were available to Lemoyne in Ms. form.[18] Obviously these were a prime source. But apart from a few passing references and sketchy reports,[19] Don Bosco’s Memoirs offer extended accounts of only two dreams, the First Dream and the Dream of 1844.[20] What other sources did Lemoyne have at his disposal, and how did he use them?

To answer these questions, and hence and to delineate the tradition of the dream texts, we will review each of the dreams listed above. We will examine its sources, with appropriate text and source-critical comments. This will be done in two sections. First, we will examine the five vocation-mission dream narratives in the first volume of the Biographical Memoirs. These span the period of Don Bosco’s childhood, adolescence and early manhood, and constitute an earlier ‘cycle’. Next, we will look at the last three dream narratives in the second volume of the Biographical Memoirs. These are set in the oratory period, and appear as a second and later ‘cycle’.

(1) The First Dream (the Becchi or Morialdo Dream—the original vocation-mission dream)[21]

“At the age of nine, John Bosco first learnt of the great mission that would be entrusted to him.”[22]

The text of this dream narrative in the Biographical Memoirs is transcribed from Documenti; and, as the author himself avers, it is taken directly from Don Bosco’s Memoirs. Both in Documenti and in the Biographical Memoirs. Lemoyne prefaces the dream text with a kind of ‘theological’ introduction and with an explicit reference to his source. In Documenti he writes:

To persons destined to accomplish great things for the salvation of souls the merciful God is wont to make known, by some sign, the mission to which they are called. This is what he did in John Bosco’s case. Here is how he himself relates the experience in his memoirs.[23]

The more ample rephrasing of this introduction in the Biographical Memoirs has the effect of placing greater emphasis on the charismatic nature of Don Bosco’s vocation:

In his great mercy God is wont to make known to people, through some sign, the vocation in which they are destined to undertake important projects for the salvation of souls. This is what he did in John Bosco’s case. And thereafter, throughout his life, he continued to guide him by his all-powerful hand at every stage and in his every undertaking. [Joel 2, 8, prophesying an abundance of dreams and visions in eschatological times, is quoted.] And John Bosco did have such visions; and here is how he himself relates his first dream in his memoirs.[24]

However, neither in Documenti nor in the Biographical Memoirs does Lemoyne transcribe the text of the Memoirs with perfect fidelity. Generally his editing, more developed in the Biographical Memoirs than in Documenti, is concerned merely with punctuation, spelling, paragraphing, and a few stylistic touches. But there are also some real, though minor, changes.

One change relates to the time of the dream. In the Mss. the opening words of Don Bosco’s narrative are, “At that age [at that point in my life, referring to the time he was attending Fr. Lacqua’s school in Capriglio] I had a dream”. In Documenti Lemoyne specifies the age between brackets: “At that age (nine years) I had a dream.” And accordingly, toward the end, where Don Bosco had written, “At the age of nine to ten”, Lemoyne simply writes, “At the age of nine”. In the Biographical Memoirs, at the beginning of the narrative, Lemoyne resolves the parenthesis by the phrase, “At about nine years of age”, and the time phrase at the end is left unchanged.[25] The content is not substantially altered.

A comment on Don Bosco’s own editing of the dream narrative in the Memoirs may be helpful. Don Bosco’s heavily scored and emended rough copy[26] was faithfully transcribed by Fr. Joachim Berto in neat, almost calligraphic script. This was subjected to further correction by Don Bosco. Hence the Berto text, as corrected by Don Bosco, is regarded as definitive.[27]

Don Bosco’s most significant editing of the practically flawless Berto transcription is in the form of additions.[28] Apart from these there are only a few slight stylistic changes.

Obviously, Don Bosco’s original rough copy with its laborious corrections is to be taken into consideration for a judgment on the dream experience itself. Don Bosco’s emendations of his own original draft (mostly in the dream section)[29] are in the form of stylistic changes, cancellations, interlinear corrections and marginal additions. None of these alter the contents substantially, although the net result is a more ample, some times more detailed, narrative. The most significant correction occurs in the words spoken by the Lady to John. Don Bosco had originally written, “Renditi sano, forte, robusto.” Then he struck a heavy line across the word ‘sano’ [healthy] and wrote the word ‘umile’ [humble] above it.[30] This may represent later moralizing reflection.

The foregoing text and source-critical comments show that the tradition of the text of the First Dream is straightforward. The text is taken directly and with substantial, though not literal, fidelity, from Don Bosco’s own written testimony.[31]

(2) The Dream at the Age of 16 (First Turco-Related Dream)[32]

“At sixteen he is given assurance that the material resources needed to shelter and to feed countless youngsters would not be wanting.”[33]

In the Biographical Memoirs this dream narrative is a compilation of three separate source texts[34] with editorial interpretations. The way these source texts are brought together shows considerable ingenuity, and stands as a good example of Lemoyne’s editorial method. We will look at each element in turn.

[a] The immediate source of the text of the first section[35] is a long marginal note in Documenti, in Lemoyne’s hand , written alongside the printed text of the First or Becchi Dream.[36] It describes a dream which young John Bosco is said to have had when he was at school in Castelnuovo (1830-1831) and which he related to a certain Joseph Turco, ‘a schoolmate’ of his. Mr. Turco is said to have told the story of this dream when he visited the Oratory on October 30, 1875.

From the opening words of the third section,[37] “This report was made to us by Mr. Joseph Turco himself,” one might be led to the conclusion that Lemoyne had himself heard the story from that gentleman, and that, therefore, the Documenti text is a direct report. This, however, is not the case. The Documenti text is taken from a report by Barberis.[38]

This account is in Barberis’ hand, and it is curiously entitled,“Primo Sogno o Visione di D.B. a 15 an.” (Don Bosco’s First Dream or Vision at the age of 15).[39] It bears at the beginning of every line the heavy double slash which is Lemoyne’s marker for his use of the text. Joseph Turco related that one day John Bosco, in a joyful mood, told him and his father that he had had a dream from which he learned that he would be able to continue his studies, to become a priest and to spend the rest of his life in the education of young people.

In transcribing the Barberis report for Documenti, Lemoyne shortens and restyles the opening sentence and introduces a number of smaller revisions that do not substantially affect the contents. At one point, however, he misconstrues Barberis’ text. In reporting young John Bosco’s words, he writes: “Vorrei finir quest’anno il latino e farmi prete” (I should like to finish my [study of] Latin this year and go on to the priesthood), instead of Barberis’ “Vorrei finito quest’anno studiare il latino e farmi prete” (I should like, once this year is over, to study Latin and go on to the priesthood).

In the Biographical Memoirs that anomaly is removed; the story as a whole is rewritten to a considerable extent (to a lesser degree in the significant dialogue); and some new concepts, such as ‘our Lady’, are introduced.[40]

To tie together the first and second section of his narrative in the Biographical Memoirs, Lemoyne uses an editorial device — a ‘bridge’ the purpose of which is to join two different sources, thus creating a time sequence in the story:[41] “The following day, on his way back from the parish church, where he had been to Mass, [John] paid a visit to the Turco family […].”

[b] This leads to Lucy Turco’s report. This is not recorded in Documenti. It came to Lemoyne later through Fr. Michael Rua’s testimony at the Diocesan Process given in 1895.[42] Rua’s testimony contains two separate reports. The first is by Lucy Turco. She is quoted by Rua as saying that one morning John Bosco in a happy mood told her and her brothers (Joseph and John Turco) about a dream in which a Lady of noble bearing, leading a large flock, called him by name and entrusted the flock to him. The second is by ‘others’, by which expression in all probability Rua means that he had it from ‘tradition.’ This second part of the testimony describes John’s apprehension at the difficulty of the charge, and the Lady’s reassurance, “Have no fear, I will help you.”

In the Biographical Memoirs Lemoyne transcribes the dream parts of Rua’s testimony almost word for word, but ascribes everything to Lucy. The ‘others’ are not mentioned. This compiled report ascribed to Lucy does not really tally (though it does not clash) with that of her brother Joseph. But Lemoyne is probably right in taking the two as referring to the same dream experience.

But which dream experience? It appears that Rua intended to refer to the First (or Becchi) Dream. The opening and closing words of his testimony seem to make this clear: John manifested an inclination to be a priest from early childhood; his desire increased after having a certain dream, but it met with drawbacks arising from family circumstances and with opposition from his half-brother Anthony. Overall, such a description points to the context of the original vocation dream at the age of nine and to the period that followed it, rather than to a dream at the age of sixteen, when Anthony had pretty much ceased to be a factor.[43] Also, the dream narrative, sketchy as it is, contains images that match those of the Becchi Dream, and add nothing new.

In this connection, the circumstances described by Mr. Turco should be examined a little more closely. This is the gentleman who also testified at the Diocesan Process in 1892, and his testimony on that occasion, to be more fully discussed below, is helpful here.as well.[44]

In Barberis’ account he states that his own vineyard adjoined that of John’s father (“attigua a quella di suo padre”). Lemoyne in Documenti writes that it was located near that of Mamma Margaret (“vicina a quella di Mamma Margherita”). In the Biographical Memoirs he emends this seemingly misleading description and, in the light of what he knows of Don Bosco’s life, he writes that the vineyard was located in a region called Renenta and that it bordered on the Sussambrino property. Sussambrino was the name of the farm which Joseph Bosco, together with a partner, began to work as a sharecropper, presumably in 1830-1831. The Sussambrino vineyard belonged neither to John’s father (dead eighteen years before) nor to John’s mother. Could Joseph Turco, in the story he told at the Oratory in 1875, have possibly been speaking of a vineyard which the Boscos owned, presumably in the Becchi area, and not of the Sussambrino vineyard? (Did the Turcos own a vineyard in the Becchi locality?). Contrary to this possibility, however, stands the fact that in his testimony of 1892 Joseph Turco speaks in similar terms of adjoining vineyards at Sussambrino-Renenta — his own and that “which his parents worked as sharecroppers (che i suoi genitori coltivavano a masserizia).” It was, of course, his brother that worked the Sussambrino as a tenant farmer. However, Margaret would have gone to live there with Joseph, and John would ‘go home’ there for the holidays. Joseph Turco confirms this in his testimony in 1892, speaking, however, of the time when John Bosco was a seminarian.[45] But this may have been was true also of the time when John was attending school at Castelnuovo.[46]

It is more probable, then, that in the light of Joseph Turco’s testimony in 1892 the time to which he refers in his story in 1875 is the year 1831 and the setting is the vineyards in the Sussambrino-Renenta locality.

But there is a further question. Was the Turco-Related Dream a new vocation dream at the age of 16, or was it simply the Becchi dream recalled? Clearly the Turco narrative as gathered by Barberis presents it as a new experience. Young John appeared habitually worried about his future; but one morning he turned up in the vineyard in a happy mood, and related that he had had a reassuring dream the night before: “Last night (Sta notte) I had a dream.”[47] Desramaut, however, does not regard such a statement as decisive, taking into consideration also the years that had elapsed between the occurrence and the testimony.[48]

A note appended to the Documenti transcription of the Barberis report is of interest in this respect. It reads: “N.B. This dream occurs again at 16, and 19 years of age, and at other times (N.B. Questo sogno lo ripete ai 16, ai 19 anni e in seguito)”[49] It would seem that, at the time, Lemoyne regarded this text as a doublet of the original vocation dream. Hence he wrote it in as a marginal note alongside the Becchi Dream, and warned the reader that the dream would occur again at the age of 16, etc. In the Biographical Memoirs, however, this text is given as the dream at the age of 16, and the note is omitted.[50] Thus a specific historical context for the whole is created in accordance with Lemoyne’s construction of the vocation dream line.

[c] To complete the compilation of this dream narrative in the Biographical Memoirs,[51] Lemoye makes two further points. The first refers to the sources jointly: “We have this story from Mr. Joseph Turco himself and from Lucy Turco.” By ‘we’, Lemoyne may mean, ‘we, the Salesians’, rather than ‘I personally’, for, as indicated in the foregoing comments, he himself obtained the reports from Barberis’ and Rua’s accounts. However, as will be seen later in other instances, Lemoyne has a tendency to include himself as a source.

Secondly, Lemoyne finds a confirmation of this dream experience in Don Bosco’s Memoirs: “It corroborates a brief and simple statement in Don Bosco’s own Memoirs: ‘At the age of sixteen I had another dream’.” The reference here is clearly to the so-called Dream of ‘Reprimand’ of which Don Bosco offers the briefest sketch in his Memoirs: “At that time [not, as Lemoyne interprets it, ‘At the age of 16’] I had another dream. In it I was sharply rebuked for having put my hope in human beings rather than in our good Father in heaven.[52] “At that time” refers to the period of grieving following Fr. John Calosso’s death when John was about to enroll, or was already attending, grade school at Castelnuovo.[53] He was indeed going on sixteen at the time, though Lemoyne’s quote is inaccurate. The chief problem here, however, is that Lemoyne’s claim that the Dream of ‘Reprimand’ corresponds, in content or otherwise, to the Turco-Related Dream is really without foundation. He seemed to have realized the problem and he tried to alleviate it by adding: “I am convinced that he saw and was given to understand a lot more than he related [in his sketchy report of the dream], which was merely intended to give vent to the pain that filled his heart.”[54]

The foregoing text and source-critical comments show that Lemoyne’s compilation of the dream at the age of 16 in the Biographical Memoirs is indeed based on source texts. But, first, it is likely that these texts do not represent a new dream which John had at that age, but refer back to the original Becchi dream; and secondly, his reference to Don Bosco’s Memoirs for support is probably gratuitous.

(3) The Dream at the Age of 19[55]

“At nineteen a categorical injunction makes it clear that he is not free to refuse the mission entrusted to him.”[56]

This is the so-called Dream of ‘Imperious Command’. The immediate source for the text of this dream in the Biographical Memoirs is a short printed marginal note to the chapter ‘Scelta dello Stato’ in Documenti .[57] No indication of origin is given in Documenti; but in the Biographical Memoirs, however, the source is given as Barberis: “[Don Bosco] confided [the dream] to Fr. Julius Barberis around 1870.”[58] This reference could not be verified.[59]

The dream narrative is brief and sparing in detail. Our divine Savior, dressed in white, resplendent with light, and leading a throng of children, orders John to look after them. When John objects, the Savior persists in his categorical demand, till John finally takes charge of the youngsters.

Clearly it was the ‘imperious command’ or ‘categorical demand’ detail that prompted Lemoyne’s interpretation quoted above. Taken literally, this detail is unique to this dream narrative. Otherwise the images of the dream, even though only generally sketched, clearly match those of the Becchi Dream. But even the ‘categorical injunction’ is not altogether unparalleled. In the Becchi Dream he was also ‘ordered’ to take charge of the children, though the command is not qualified as ‘imperious’: “At that moment there appeared a man of dignified bearing, mature in years and nobly dressed. He wore a long white cloak, and his face shone with such brightness that I could not look directly at him. He addressed me by name, ordered me to take charge of those children […].” The parallel is striking.

We have no way of telling what the original context of the Barberis account might have been. From the parallel drawn above, one is led to believe that it may have been just a sketchy delineation by Don Bosco of the original Becchi Dream. Lemoyne, however, by his technique of association places it in a specific context of vocational decision.

In Documenti (where, as indicated, it appears as a detached marginal note), the dream acquires its context from being associated with John Bosco’s vocational discernment, as the rhetoric year (the fifth year of secondary studies) was drawing to a close. It is specifically associated with the chapter of Don Bosco’s Memoirs entitled, “Choosing One’s State in Life.” In that connection, Don Bosco speaks of the recurrence of the Becchi Dream and of his own struggle to discern his vocation. Don Bosco is then quoted as saying that the Becchi Dream was still on his mind and that it had occurred “at other times” (though apparently not at this time), with its obvious suggestion of priestly vocation. Then Lemoyne remarks: “On this period in his life Don Bosco has left us lines written out of admirable humility.” For, apart from not wanting to put faith in dreams, he felt unworthy of the priesthood, because of (as quoted by Lemoyne) “my manner of living, and my absolute lack of the virtue necessary to that state.”[60]

In the Biographical Memoirs[61] the context of the dream remains that of Don Bosco’s vocational discernment, and more specifically that of the Franciscan episode. But in dealing with the period of Don Bosco’s vocational discernment toward the end of his secondary studies at Chieri, Lemoyne undertakes an elaborate reorganization of his materials. Essentially, he records two crises. The probable reason for this doubling is that he has data the preservation of which requires such a procedure. The first crisis is dated late during the humanities year (fourth year of secondary studies). For this he has the document of John’s admission by the Franciscans, dated April 18, 1834.[62] He probably also has a report about Fr. Cafasso’s role in dissuading John from entering the Franciscans (unles this be a conjecture of his). The second crisis is dated to the end of the rhetoric year (fifth year of secondary studies) before entry into the seminary. For this he has Don Bosco’s statement in the Memoirs, where he also finds that Louis Comollo and Fr. Comollo (and secondarily Fr. Cafasso) play a role. In the Biographical Memoirs the first crisis, occurring as it does in the context of the Franciscan episode is the more important of the two and is the true parallel to the one described in Don Bosco’s Memoirs. The second crisis, although it incorporates some important words of the Memoirs and Comollo’s role, appears as an additional episode of a protracted crisis, and no more.[63]

Lemoyne reorganizes nthe material at the following crucial points:

(1) In the Biographical Memoirs the passage from Don Bosco’s Memoirs on the recurrence of the Becchi (Morialdo) Dream is quoted twice — the first time correctly,[64] the second time incorrectly for the purpose of introducing the Dream of ‘Imperious Command’ at the age of nineteen.[65]

(2) in Documenti the Franciscan episode, with its Dream on the Franciscans, is related after and independently of the Dream of ‘Imperious Command’; in the Biographical Memoirs, the order is reversed.

(3) Don Bosco’s vocation crisis as described in Documenti (following the Memoirs) is resolved through consultation with Louis Comollo and his uncle, Fr. Comollo of Cinzano; in the Biographical Memoirs Fr. Cafasso plays a role in the resolution of both crises, the first time alone and probably on Mr. Evasio Savio’s advice;[66] the second time, in a secondary capacity together with Fr. Cinzano of Castelnuovo, after Fr. Comollo has been consulted.

It may be noted that both in Documenti and in the Biographical Memoirs Lemoyne quotes Don Bosco’s expression of ‘admirable humility,’ as follows: “My own manner of life, and my absolute lack of the virtue necessary to that state [the priesthood], filled me with doubts and made my decision very difficult.”[67] He omits one of the reasons listed by Don Bosco for his perplexity, “certain habitual tendencies of my heart.”[68] Why?

In conclusion, it will have been clear that the theory of a recurrence of the vocation dream at nineteen, the use of the Barberis report and the construction of a context for that dream, both in Documenti and more so in the Biographical Memoirs, rest on shaky ground. Certainly Don Bosco’s Memoirs do not lend any support to Lemoyne’s interpretation.

(4) The Dream at the Age of Twenty-one[69]

“At twenty-one he is shown the type of boy whose spiritual wekfare he must especially look after.”[70]

This is the dream in which seminarian John Bosco saw himself as a priest working in a tailor shop, not sewing new garments but patching threadbare clothing.

Whatever the exact significance of the dream for Don Bosco at the time, it seems that in retelling it at a later date he attached vocational significance to it, though the nature of the significance is not clear from the sparing narrative. The dream does not contain any of the images of the other vocation dreams, such as the Gentleman and the Lady, the animals, the children, etc. As a consequnce, but for Lemoyne’s interpretation, one would probably not recognize it as a vocation dream at all. But Lemoyne makes John’s dream at the age of 21 an important link in the chain of vocation dreams. And the special slant he gives to the interpretation both in Documenti and in the Biographical Memoirs adds to its significance.[71]

There is no reference to this dream in Don Bosco’s Memoirs. Don Bosco is said to have related the dream to “to a few people privately,” among whom, Fr. John Turchi and Fr. Dominic Ruffino.[72] Neither reference could be verified.[73]

Fr. Barberis preserves accounts of this dream, one of which is given for comparison.[74] Lemoyne does not refer to him as a source; but on reading Barberis’ report one suspects that it may well represents what Don Bosco might have said on that occasion. He would first have recalled the ‘strange experience’ from his seminary days, and then in the same breath would have added Fr. Cafasso’s reaction on hearing of it years later.

Lemoyne, splits the narrative and places each section in their particular historical context (the seminary and the Convitto)[75], respectively in the first and second volumes of both Documenti and the Biographical Memoirs.[76]

It is interesting to see how Lemoyne describes Fr. Cafasso’s mysterious reticence on hearing Don Bosco’s account. In Documenti, vol. I, he says that Fr. Cafasso had no explanation for the dream. This detail is omitted, as would be expected, in the corresponding passage of Biographical Memoirs, vol. I. Then in Documenti, vol. II, he presents Fr. Cafasso as having a deep-rooted conviction about Don Bosco’s vocation, and an understanding of the implications of the dream. All this is made more explicit in the corresponding episode of Biographical Memoirs, vol. II, and the effect is heightened:

Fr. Cafasso had looked at him intently and inquired: “Can you sew like a tailor?” “Indeed I can; and I can also make trousers, jackets, cloaks and clerical cassocks.” “We’ll see what happens when you’re put to the test!” And every time they met, he would ask: “How are things, tailor?” Grasping the meaning of this query Don Bosco would reply: “I am awaiting your decision.”[77]

By the undercurrents of the dialogue Lemoyne suggests that both Fr. Cafasso and Don Bosco have been given illumination regarding the vocational significance of the dream.

Lemoyne’s interpretation of this dream, as defining the type of children Don Bosco was called to serve, is quite remarkable. It refers not to their social condition (poverty), but to their moral condition. Furthermore, Don Bosco’s mission was not intended to cultivate innocent lads, but to rehabilitate “youngsters already tainted by the evil of the world and turned delinquents”[78]

Whether it be regarded as a true vocation dream or not, this occurrence from Don Bosco’s seminary days may indeed have acquired significance for Don Bosco in the light of his experience with poor and abandoned youngsters. One doubs, however, that in itself it had the meaning and the importance which Lemoyne attaches to it.

(5) The Dream at the Age of Twenty-two[79]

“At twenty-two a big city, Turin, is pointed out to him as the field where his apostolic work must begin, and its center established”[80]

This is the Second Turco-Related Dream. It has no counterpart in Documenti; and this is understandable, since the Diocesan Process, from which much of the material for this dream narrative is taken, had not yet taken place when Lemoyne edited the first volume of Documenti in 1885.[81] Not unlike the first,the Second Turco-Related Dream,in the Biographical Memoirs, is a compilation of earlier source texts, joined with editorial comments and interpretations—another good example of Lemoyne’s method.

To achieve this compilation, which serves as a kind of crown in the series of dreams spanning Don Bosco’s formative years, Lemoyne joins sections of Joseph Turco’s testimony at the Diocesan Process (including its short narrative of the dream)[82] with Bishop John Cagliero’s account of a dream given at the same Process.[83] A further speculation by Lemoyne regarding the dream’s contents is derived from a late oral source. Then, in the famous passage already quoted, and referred to throughout the foreging discussion, he proposes his overarching interpretation of Don Bosco’s vocation dreams and his theory of a line of divine guidance.[84]

The setting for Lemoyne’s compilation is the Renenta-Sussambrino farms where John Bosco spent his summer holidays.[85] The time is the summer of 1837.[86] This agrees generally with Jospeh Turco’s testimony.[87]

In this scenario, with substantial though not literal fidelity, Lemoyne quotes Turco’s brief testimony of the dream: John Bosco dreamt “that in future years he would settle in a certain place. and there he would gather a large number of youngsters and educate them in the way of salvation.” Obviously, Lemoyne’s understanding is that Mr. Turco is speaking of a dream which John Bosco had at the time — in other words, a new dream. But Joseph Turco had merely said: “When still a seminarian, he told me one day that he had had a dream […].”[88] The dream need not have accurred when John was a seminarian. It could just have been the Becchi Dream recalled in its essential thrust.

Next Lemoyne, unaccountably, goes on to surmise that Turco’s sketchy report may coincide with the dream narrated in greater detail by Don Bosco “to his spiritual sons at the Oratory for the first time in 1858—among whom were Cagliero, Rua, Francesia and others.” For this text he quotes Cagliero’s testimony at the Diocesan Process.[89]

This then for Lemoyne is the dream at the age of twenty-two. Cagliero, however, is speaking of the Becchi Dream; and the opening and closing words of his testimony put this beyond all doubt:

I know of a dream which the Servant of God had when he was but nine or ten years of age. He saw the valley below [the Becchi hill, obviously] turn into a city. […] I heard this dream from the lips of the Servant of God himself in 1858-59. He had just returned from Rome, where he had gone to petition Pope Pius IX for authorization to establish the Congregation. The Pope had asked him what natural and supernatural promptings he may have had for such an undertaking, and he had then related the dream.

This is in agreement with what Don Bosco writes in his Memoirs when speaking about the First Dream.[90] But Lemoyne, wanting to compile a text for a presumed dream set at Sussambrino at the time when John Bosco was a seminarian, changes Cagliero’s clear statement and the dream setting to read: “He had seen the valley below the Sussambrino farm transformed into a big city.” He also modifies the ending of the dream narrative, perhaps to justify the dragoman procedure, and writes: “Then, as in the first dream, he saw the young people changed into wild beasts and then again into gentle sheep and lambs. And by the Lady’s order he took charge of them as their shepherd.” But he omits one puzzling detail of Cagliero’s account, namely, the image of the lambs changed into shepherds. Cagliero had said: “ Soon he saw those animals changed into so many lambs, with him as their shepherd. Then many of the lambs in time turned also into shepherds.” Evidently Lemoyne felt that this detail belonged to a later dream.[91]

Now that the city of Turin has been designated as the place of Don Bosco’s initial apostolate, Lemoyne goes one step further in his compilation. Utilizing an 1890 oral testimony by a certain Fr. Bosio, an old fellow seminarian of Don Bosco’s, Lemoyne surmises that a vision of the actual Oratory with its churches and buildings was also part of the presumed Dream at the Age of Twenty-Two. These images pertaining to the settling of the Oratory at Valdocco recur in dreams that will be related later, in the second volume of the Biographical Memoirs.[92] But the additional testimony at this point allows Lemoyne to broaden the scope of his theory of pre-determining divine guidance through dreams beyond Don Bosco’s early years. This he does in the passage already quoted and referred to above.

Then, finally, Lemoyne asks, “Can one believe that such dreams were mere constructions of fantasy?” Don Bosco’s real vocation dream and its recurrence are certainly not constructions of fantasy. But Lemoyne’s compilations may be just that — for the most part.

3. Text and Source-critical Study of the Vocation-mission Dream Narratives in Biographical Memoirs II

The foregoing five dream narratives in the first volume of the Biographical Memoirs, and the many source accounts that preceded them, have their settting within Don Bosco’s early formation period. All of these accounts testify to the fact that the vocation dream was a component in his vocational discernment at various stages during that period. Essentially the vocational decision revolved around whether and how he would become a priest, with an option for the young in view. The dream images reflect this historical reality. The fact that Lemoyne’s construction of the dream line is not critically tenable should not blind us to this basic reality. Here Don Bosco’s own testimony about the dream’s recurrence and suggestion is decisive : “The dream […] had occurred at other times in much clearer terms. Hence, if I were to believe it and follow its suggestion, I would have to choose the priesthood, toward which I actually felt inclined.”[93] These words may be regarded as the authoritative resumé of the whole process of vocational decision and of the accompanying dream experiences (not further specified). The end result of the process was that John donned the clerical habit and entered the seminary.

Don Bosco’s Memoirs record a later dream experience, also set in a context of vocational decision. This occurred nearly a decade later, when Don Bosco, a priest of three years, was struggling with the problem of establishing the work he had begun on behalf of young people at risk (the oratory) on a permanent basis. In that context he relates in detail a dream which he himself describes as “a sequel [appendice] to the one I had had at Becchi at the age of nine.” And he adds: “Later, in conjunction with another dream, it even served as a guideline for my decisions.”[94]

In the Biographical Memoirs Lemoyne records three dream narratives, set within the same general period of vocational decision. The first one (the Dream of 1844) is taken directly from Don Bosco’s Memoirs and set in the same narrative context; a second (the First Dream of the Holy Martyrs), ascribed to Barberis as a source, is taken from a Barberis report, but with a change of context; and the third (the Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs) is compiled by Lemoyne on his own authority.

These will now form the object of a few text and source-critical comments.

(1) [6] The Dream of 1844[95]

“[These mysterious instructions] will continue as needed until the completion of God’s work.”[96]

The only other dream which Don Bosco narrates in detail in his Memoirs is the dream of the night preceding the second Sunday of October, 1844, as he was leaving the Convitto For Marchioness Barolo’s Rifugio.[97] This is not accidental. He sees it both as a counterpart to the Becchi Dream (he specifically makes this connection), and, together with yet another (unspecified) dream, as a point of reference in his decisions. Therefore, the vocational significance of this dream for Don Bosco is clear. And that this significance was important to him is borne out by specific editorial reflection on his part as he wrote his Memoirs in the mid-1870s.

Don Bosco’s original draft of the text in his Memoirs at this point looks like a good copy, so free is it of additions and emendations. This is contrary to norm. The only significant change is the marginal addition near the beginning: ”[I had another dream] which seems to be a sequel [appendice] to the one I had had at Becchi at the age of nine.”[98] Likewise Don Bosco’s only addition to Berto’s transcription reveals further reflection on his part on the vocational significance of the dream: “And later, in conjunction with another dream, it even served as a guideline for my decisions.[99]

For Documenti and later for the Biographical Memoirs Lemoyne transcribes the text of the Berto Ms. with substantial, but far from perfect, fidelity. One expects certain changes to be made in punctuation, paragraphing, and the like; but one wonders why certain verbal changes are introduced: for example, ‘we wandered like vagrants’ (andammo vagabondi) for ‘we kept wandering’ (andammo vagando); ‘without the least attempt on the part of some [animals] to snap at the others (mordere) for ‘to harm the others’ (nuocere).

A verbal change, which is also a misconstruction of Don Bosco’s meaning, is ‘as these [young shepherds] increased [in numbers] (aumentandosi) they cared for the others’ for ‘as these grew up (crescendo)’.

Again, perhaps to emphasize the recurrence of the Becchi Dream, Lemoyne adds to Don Bosco’s words: “I had another dream, which seems to be an appendix to the one I had had at Becchi at the age of nine ‘for the first time (la prima volta)’.”

Another addition which is due to Lemoyne’s misreading of the Ms. occurs at the very end, where he writes: “And later, in conjunction with another dream, this [dream] even served as a guideline for my decisions at the Rifugio.” The words, ‘at the Rifugio [presso il Rifugio]’ belong to the title of the next section in the Berto Ms., where Don Bosco, speaking of the transfer of the oratory, crossed out what he had originally written (in Valdocco) and wrote above it, “presso il Rifugio.”[100] The damaging effect of this oversight on Lemoyne’s part is that it de-emphasizes the significance of the dream for vocational decision, which is the point of Don Bosco’s comment.

But what is perhaps most remarkable is that Lemoyne apparently failed to appreciate the importance which Don Bosco attached to this dream, even though he transcribes Don Bosco’s words with reference to its ‘sequel character’. He does not in any case make a point of it. He may have thought of Don Bosco’s vocation as decided by divine guidance with his entrance into the seminary, or with his ordination to the priesthood, or with his encounter with young Garelli on December 8, 1841. In fact, he may have regarded the decision confronting Don Bosco in 1844 merely as a troublesome circumstantial ‘difficulty’. Consequently, Lemoyne simply emphasizes that divine illumination continued to guide Don Bosco by disclosing the future to him.[101] But the move of 1844 was more than just a troublesome circumstantial difficulty. Although Don Bosco’s personal resolve never wavered, leaving the shelter of St. Francis of Assisi and the Convitto and creating his own oratory was for Don Bosco a major, perhaps the definitive, vocational step.

To conclude these comments, one may say, after allowing for Lemoyne’s editorial slants, that the tradition of the text of the Dream of 1844 from Don Bosco’s Memoirs to the Biographical Memoirs is fairly straightforward.

(3) [7] [8] The First and Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs[102]

The Dream of 1844, described above, dealt with the establishment of Don Bosco’s own oratory in the Valdocco area. Lemoyne had two further dream narratives, dealing with the same subject, at his disposal. The holy martyrs of Turin are either referred to ,or play a role in them. Hence the designation, ‘Dreams of the Holy Martyrs’.

Don Bosco had spoken of ‘another dream’ which, together with that of 1844, served as a guideline in his decisions.[103] It would have been tempting to identify one of the Dreams of the Holy Martyrs with that ‘other’ dream. Lemoyne, however, refrains from doing so — another instance perhaps of his failure to appreciate the vocational significance of these dreams. He seems to regard them simply as premonitive or predictive dreams come to comfort Don Bosco by disclosing the future to him.

(a) Sources of the First and Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs

In Documenti Lemoyne states that his source for the First Dream of the Holy Martyrs is Barberis: “We shall here report in broad outline the picture seen by Don Bosco [in a dream], just as he himself related it for the first time to Fr. Julius Barberis on February 2, 1875.”[104]

What appears to be Barberis’ ‘original’ draft is an entry entitled, ‘2 Febbraio 1875’ in his chronicle or collection, Notizie varie dei primi tempi. This shorter and densely written account was later expanded and ‘finalized’ by Barberis. For this operation Barberis worked on a good transcription (in another hand), which he annotated and emended profusely. This text seems to represent Barberis’ final version. From this expanded draft were ‘derived’ other good copies. Although Lemoyne’s slashes are found only in Barberis’s ‘original’ draft, the text used by Lemoyne both in Documenti and in the Biographical Memoirs is the ‘derived’ text. It is more polished and better organized, but abridges the description of Don Bosco’s dealings with the Rosminians.[105]

In his ‘original’ draft Barberis writes:

February 2. 1875. Today I was asked by the Rev. Don Bosco to go with him and the Consul of the Argentine Republic to dinner at the Occellettis. After dinner Don Bosco and myself left together. We talked about the novices and of our newly established house of novitiate. We talked at great length, and finally reached Borgo Nuovo Street. Here Don Bosco stopped to call on Marchioness Doria, who was ill. Then on the way home he discussed very important matters with me. Among other things, he told me of a remarkable vision which he had never disclosed to any one before. He assured me that I was the first person to learn of it.[106]

The introduction of his ‘finalized’ report reads:

On February 2, 1875 I was walking with Don Bosco back to the Oratory from Borgo San Salvario.[107] We were alone. Among many other things he related to me the following vision. He said that it was the first he had had regarding the congregation […] He added that he had never opened his heart to anyone about the matter. I was the first person to hear about it.[108]

In the Biographical Memoirs, however, the source is given both as Fr. Julius Barberis and Lemoyne himself: “Extraordinary dreams […] came to comfort Don Bosco, as he confided once and only once to Fr. Julius Barberis and to the author of these pages on February 2, 1875.” Lemoyne’s inclusion of himself as a source is puzzling, in view of Barberis’ statements that he was Don Bosco’s only companion when the latter narrated the dream on February 2, 1875. (In 1875 Lemoyne was stationed at Lanzo, where he had been director since 1865.). However, Barberis himself tells us that Don Bosco later related the dream to Lemoyne and other Salesians.[109]

The source for the Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs is given in the Biographical Memoirs (no source is indicated in Documenti) as Lemoyne himself. He compiled the narrative on the basis of Don Bosco utterances in 1884 and which extended over a period of some twenty years:

He related it briefly, and only to a few close associates, in 1884. But he had disclosed the most magnificent aspects of it earlier, at intervals, over a period of some twenty years. […] The present writer, who was [constantly] at his side, did not allow his utterances to be lost. He took careful note of them each time, and later compiled them to obtain the following dream scene.”[110]

It would not have been difficult for one who heard Don Bosco tell the dream in 1884, to write an account of it on the basis of what he could recall of the narration. And assuming that Don Bosco specified in what connection he had had the dream, then it would have been possible for the biographer to set it in its proper context. Perhaps that is what happened. What is more difficult to understand is how Lemoyne could compile an account of a specific dream for a specific context out of snippets heard over a period of twenty years.

(b) Context of the First and Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs[111]

A remarkable feature of Lemoyne’s use of these texts in the Biographical Memoirs is the context in which they are set. In the case of the First Dream of the Holy Martyrs, he flagrantly disregards his source (Barberis). In the case of the Second, he creates a likely setting on his own authority. Taking the Dream of 1844 as a point of reference, the contexts may be compared as follows:

Dream of 1844

MO: night preceding 2nd Sunday Doc: SAME as MOBM: SAME as Doc & MO

of Oct 1844 (DB is leaving the

Convitto for the Rifugio)

1st Dream of H. Martyrs

Barberis: SAME as MO above Doc: SAME as Barberis & MOBM: May 1845 (Oratory is forced

above to leave Barolo’s Little Hospital, 7

mos. after 1st meeting there)

Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs

Doc:.SAME as BM above BM: 4th Sunday of Advent, Dec 22

[21], 1845 (Oratory is forced to

leave St. Martin’s definitively)

Thus, the setting of the First Dream of the Holy Martyrs in the source (Barberis) is the same as that of the Dream of 1844, the night preceding the second Sunday of October 1844, when Don Bosco was about to leave the Convitto to take up his duties at the Barolo institution. When Barberis wrote his account of Don Bosco’s narration, that very day, February 2, 1875,[112] he certainly set down as accurately as he could what he had heard from Don Bosco. It was Don Bosco himself, then, who established the setting for this dream — that moment of crisis, when he was leaving the Convitto and the future of the oratory seemed in doubt. This is clearly stated in Don Bosco’s introduction to the dream narrative in all archival Mss. The ‘derived’ text mentioned above features a longer introduction which makes the point even more forcefully:

“The white ribbon. Revelation of the Congregation.” […] The oratories were begun on December 8, 1841. Catechetical instruction was conducted for nearly three years in the sacristies of the church of St. Francis of Assisi. I was then attending the conferences in moral theology of which Fr. Cafasso was the director. I also served as tutor in moral theology. However, in 1844 I was due to leave the Priestly Convitto and move to the Rifugio to work with Dr. Borel. I was very much concerned about the youngsters that attended the catechetical instructions in such great numbers. I did not know whether I should disband them or continue to care for them […] On the last Sunday I was to stay at the Convitto I had to notify them [one way or the other] […] The night preceding that Sunday [I had a dream].[113]

In Documenti, Lemoyne records this dream in an ‘additional’ chapter (as an ‘epilogue’). He omits the introduction that he read in his source (his own transcription of Barberis’ ‘derived’ text), but keeps the same setting.

In the preceding chapters we mentioned extraordinary dreams that came to encourage Don Bosco step by step. […] We shall here report in broad outline the picture seen by Don Bosco [in a dream], just as he himself related it for the first time to Fr. Julius Barberis on February 2, 1875. […] On the last Sunday I was to stay at the Convitto […].[114]

In the Biographical Memoirs the setting is changed; for, after all, how could two different dream narratives share the same setting? Or perhaps in Lemoyne’s mind the critical question was less important than preserving a text guaranteed by a source and using it in a likely narrative context. It now finds its setting when the Oratory was forced to leave the Little Hospital in May 1845, after being based there for several months, to begin its ‘wandering’. It might be alleged that Lemoyne was able to ascertain the exact situation from Don Bosco himself, as he did on other occasions. But then why does he not warn the reader, as he ususally does when that is the case; or why does the new context appear only in the Biographical Memoirs (vol. II, published in 1901), and not in his own Ms. copy of the text, nor in Documenti (vol. II, printed after 1885)?

Further questions about this dream, chiefly concerning its relationship to the Dream of 1844, demand an answer. These will be addressed below.

The Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs, presents similar problems. Besides the fact that, as mentioned above, the report as such appears to rest on weak foundations, there is the additional problem that its narrative context in the Biographical Memoirs differs from that assigned to it earlier by Lemoyne in Documenti. In this latter work it is set in that time of crisis when the oratory was forced to leave the premises of the Little Hospital in May 1845. In the Biographical Memoirs this context is assigned to the first dream, and a new suitable situation is found for the second dream, namely, the time when the oratory left the church of St. Martin at the Dora Mills (December 1845).[115]

Perhaps Don Bosco did have further dreams to steady him on his vocational course during those critical eighteen months of the wandering oratory. And Lemoyne could have been privy to special information which he does not tell us about. However, the sources as they stand, and the use Lemoyne makes of them, leave us in doubt.

(c) The Textual Tradition of the First Dream of the Holy Martyrs[116]

After discussing sources and contexts, we turn to the text of the dream as edited in the Biographical Memoirs. It has already been pointed out that the probable tradition of the text is as follows: Don Bosco’s narration to Fr. Barberis on February 2, 1875; Barberis’ ‘original’ draft on the same day; Barberis’ ‘finalized’ report; and ‘derived’ edited copies, including one in Lemoyne’s hand.[117] This last is the text transcribed in Documenti, and subsequently edited in the Biographical Memoirs.

As reported by Barberis (‘finalized’ draft) the text of Don Bosco’s narration contains the following parts: the occasion or setting of the dream, which has been discussed; the dream narrative proper; the comment on the certainty obtained from the dream; the place of martyrdom and the research by Canon Laurence Gastaldi; the place where the church of Mary Help of Christians was to be built and the buying back of the ‘field of dreams’ from the Rosminians, with a concluding comment on the square and the monument.

[a] With regard to the square and the monument a curious difference is noted between Barberis’ ‘finalized’ draft and the ‘derived’ text (Documenti and Biographical Memoirs included). In the former, the appended comment reads: “Also, in front of the church which the Blessed Virgin showed me there lay a beautiful square with a monument in its center. Now I shall wait and see if all this will be feasable.”[118] In the latter texts, there is no mention of a square, and the monument is seen in the center of the Oratory building complex ringing the church.: “I then saw a huge church rising on the very spot [of the martyrdom] […] There were many buildings around the church, and in the center stood a beautiful monument.”[119]

[b] In the ‘derived’ copies, including Lemoyne’s, the section dealing with the location of the church and the buying back of the field from the Rosminians is given in a simplified form. It is in this simpler form that it passes into Documenti. This section, however, is omitted in the Biographical Memoirs at this point and appears later in an edited but expanded form in its proper historical context.[120]

[c] For the rest, the text of the dream in Documenti is the ‘derived’ text, the immediate source being Lemoyne’s manuscript copy, transcribed with some stylistic editing.[121]

In the Biographical Memoirs Lemoyne engages in further editorial activity, producing a fuller text.[122] Generally speaking his additions are in the nature either of elucidations of the text or of topographical explanations. Some times, they are designed to emphasize appropriate religious feeling. Noteworthy is Lemoyne’s typical addition to Don Bosco’s comment on the certainty gained through the dream:

Here then was the source of his unshakable faith in the ultimate success of his mission; of the boldness, regarded by some as foolhardiness, with which he tackled all sorts of obstacles; of the courage with which he shouldered colossal undertakings, difficult beyond the power of human endeavor, and brought them to successful completion nonetheless.[123]

[d] Finally, in the Biographical Memoirs the section on the place of martyrdom and Canon Gastaldi’s research is greatly expanded on the basis of information derived (by Lemoyne, obviously) partly from Gastaldi’s publication and partly from ideas received in Salesian tradition. The whole explanation regarding the place of martyrdom is ascribed globally to Don Bosco.[124]

The most basic questions with regard to this dream, however, remain those of its relation to the Dream of 1844.

(d) The Textual Tradition of the Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs

Apart from the difference in setting, already discussed above, the tradition of this text is short and straightforward, since it was totally under Lemoyne’s control. In the Biographical Memoirs he merely edits what he had written in Documenti to obtain a fuller and certainly more readable text.

The editing consists of descriptive expansions, of explanatory additions, and of touches and emphases. Thus, for instance, he gives a fuller description of Don Bosco’s position and of that of the three young men in the opening scene,[125] and of the Lady and her entourage later in the dream. He explains that the house, as Don Bosco later learned, was the property of a certain Mr. Pinardi. He emphasizes the kindness of the three youths in escorting Don Bosco to the Lady. He reports a lengthy and touching exhortation (to perseverance and trust) from the Lady to Don Bosco; and, to conclude the dream narrative, he writes that Don Bosco had already re-dedicated himself completely to the mission entrusted to him.

On the other hand, he omits mention of the third martyr’s flight to Ivrea, after being wounded at the scene, a detail which is not well handled in Documenti.[126]

Finally, both in Documenti and in the Biographical Memoirs, Lemoyne describes Don Bosco’s visit to ‘the house’, apparently expecting to find a ‘suitable’ building and a church. Now, if the time assigned to this dream by Lemoyne is correct, Don Bosco had been living in the area for quite a while. From his room at the Rifugio he had a practically unobstructed view eastward over the low lying land.[127] He must have been aware of the few scattered houses in the area, as well as of the fact that there was no church in the immediate vicinity. This conclusion has all the earmarks of Lemoyne’s dramatic touch.

Be that as it may, the main question concerning this dream narrative, in view of what has been said above, is whether it should be accorded independent status. It appears that its status is in doubt.

4. Comparative Table and Reference Data of Dream Source Texts Compiled and Interpreted in the Biographical Memoirs

The foregoing study has attempted a critical evaluation of the vocation-mission dream narratives in the Biographical Memoirs, through a critical survey of the sources from which such narratives were compiled and edited by Lemoyne. Before we proceed with comments on what Don Bosco’s actual dream experiences and their significance for vocational decision might have been, it may help to bring together in comparative fashion the reference data to the texts that have been discussed above and selectively transcribed in the Appendices.

____________________________________________________________

[sources of dream narratives] [Ed. in Documenti] [Ed. in Biogr. Memoirs]

[original/early] [intermediate] [final]

________________________________________________________________________________

First DreamFirst Dream (I) First Dream (at age 9)

MO [Intro.], “Un sogno”: Doc I [P. I, C. XVI] 68f IBM I, 123ff; EBM I, 95f

MO-Ber, 5-8 (Micro 60 A9-12); (Micro 967 B2f)

MO-DB, 5-8 (Micro 57 A6-9)

MO-Ce, 22-26; MO-En, 18-21

——– ——– ——–

First Turco-Related DreamTurco-Rel. Dream (II) Dream at Age 16

Barberis Report: ASC 110 (Micro Doc I, 68f (Micro 967 B2f) IBM I, 243f. EBM I, 181f.

892 A8) Marg. note in L’s hand

+Rua quoting Lucy Turco & others

POCT [S. 358, 4/29/95, 12], 4036f

(ASC 161: Micro2184 E7)

+Unspecified Dream of Reprimand

MO[1. Dec., 4º]: MO-Ber, 20f

(Micro 60 B12); MO-DB, 18 (Micro

57 B7); MO-Ce, 43f; MO-En, 48

Refer. to Recurrence of DreamDream. of Imp.Comm. (III) Dream at Age 19

MO [1. Dec., 14º]: MO-Ber, 50 Doc [P. II, C. XVI], 153 IBM I, 305; EBM I, 229)

(Micro 60 E7); MO-DB, 44 (Micro 57 D9) Printed marg. note told to Barberis ca. 1870

MO-Ce, 79f; MO-En, 110

Clothes-mending Dream Clothes-mend. Dream (IV) Dream at Age 21

ASC 111: Sogni-Barberis Doc I [P. III, C. III], 179 IBM I, 381f; EBM I, 284f

(Micro 1294 A2f) (Micro 968 E8)

Doc II [P. V, C. III], 144f IBM II, 202; EBM II, 159f.

(Micro 972 A11f)

Second Turco-Related Dream (V) Dream at Age 22

Joseph Turco’s Testimony: IBM I, 381f; EBM I, 315f

POCT [S. 89-90, 7/6-7/92, 23], 1387

(Micro 2135 C2-11)

Bp. Cagliero’s Testimony:

POS [XVI, 12], 87f (Micro 2213 D7f)

Dream of 1844 Dream of 1844 (VI) Dream of 1844

Sequel to Dream at Age 9 Sequel to Dream at Age 9 Sequel to Dream at Age 9’

MO [2. Dec., 15º]: Doc II [P. V, C. IV], IBM II, 241f. 243ff;

MO-Ber, 84. 86ff (Micro 61 C12.D2ff.); 148f (Micro 972 B3f) EBM II, 189. 190f

MO-DB, 93ff (Micro 58 C10ff)

MO-Ce, 133-6; MO-En, 203f. 209f

First Dream of Holy Martyrs First Dream. of HM (VII) First Dream of HM

Told to Barberis 1875 Told to Barberis 1875

Barberis’ ‘Orig.’ Draft:

ASC 110: Cron-Barb (Micro 892 A11f;

Barberis’ ‘Final.’ Draft:

ASC 110: Cron-Barb (Micro 866 B10-C1)

Derived Copies: Doc II [P. V, C X], 189f IBM II, 297-301;

ASC 111: Sogni-Barb (Micro 1279 (Micro 972 E8f) EBM II, 231-235

C6-11); ASC 111: Sogni-Lem (Micro

1314 B10-C5)

Second Dream of HM (VIII) Second Dream of HM

Told to a few SDBs (1884)

Reconstructed by Lemoyne.

Doc II [P. V, C. V], 157 IBM II, 341-344; EBM II, 267f

(Micro 972 B12)

Part II. Don Bosco’s Vocation-Mission Dreams in Their Historical Setting and Their Significance for Vocational Discernment at Critical Turning Points

1. Evaluation of Data and Conclusions to Be Drawn from the Foregoing Text and Source-critical Study

In his critique of Lemoyne’s use and interpretation of the sources for the dream narratives recorded in the first volume of the Biographical Memoirs (Dreams I-V as listed above), Desramaut[128] makes what may be valid points.

He observes, in the first place, that the six chief source-texts on which Lemoyne relies may be distributed into two series, of three witnesses each, harking back to Don Bosco and to the Turco family respectively. The Bosco series comprises Cagliero’ s testimony at the Diocesan Process (Dream V above) Barberis’ report as quoted in Documenti (Dream III above), and, of course, Don Bosco’s own account in his Memoirs (Dream I above). The Turco series comprises Joseph Turco’s report “through an unidentified intermediary” in Documenti (Dream II, above),[129] Rua’s testimony at the Diocesan Process quoting Lucy Turco (Dream II, above), and Joseph Turco’s testimony at the Diocesan Process (Dream V, above).

Secondly, Desramaut argues, not without some reservation, that all six narratives, refer to the same dream experience, that is, to the First Dream.[130]

When we evaluate Lemoyne’s construction of the three dreams in the second volume of the Biographical Memoirs, as discussed above (Dream VI-VIII above), further observations are in order.

To begin with, it appears that for the first two dream narratives (the Dream of 1844, related in Don Bosco’s Memoirs, an the First Dream of the Holy Martyrs, reported by Barberis) their setting is determining. In the sources both are set in the same narrative context, namely, the evening preceding the second Sunday of October, 1844, the time of Don Bosco’s move out of the Convitto to Barolo’s Rifugio. The conclusion then would be that the two are variant recollections of the same dream experience. This one dream, however, would have offered such a wealth of images that, building on the same core, different narratives could be constructed in accordance with the narrator’s point of view and purpose at the time of narration. And after all, dreams are pretty elusive when it comes to expressing them in words. In narrating his dreams Don Bosco often refers to this phenomenon. On this very occasion, according to Barberis, Don Bosco remarked, “A lot of other things occurred [in the dream], but there is no need of relating them now.”[131] Lemoyne makes this very point in relating this dream (in a different setting) in Documenti.

A noteworthy feature of these mysterious visions is the presence of complex skeins of interrelated scenes which keep recurring and changing into new ones, always with surprising effects. They might also merge simultaneously with other representations, the whole seeming to merge into one point.[132]

Then, as is known, in his Memoirs and in connection with the Dream of 1844, Don Bosco refers to ‘another dream’, obviously in a different but similar setting, that he considered equally important. Might this be that ‘other dream’? If so, then we are forced to conclude that Don Bosco’s recollection faltered when he told it to Barberis on February 2, 1875.

This, however, seems unlikely, also due to the fact that events of 1844 must have been very much on his mind at the time of the narration (early1875). He was then writing his Memoirs, and we know from internal evidence that the better part of his Ms. (comprising the Dream of 1844) was composed between 1873 and 1875.[133]

Thirdly, as already indicated above, the Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs, in terms of source, context and content (apart from the image and role of the three youths) may not have a claim to independent status.

If Don Bosco’s vocation-mission dream experiences did not occur as the biographer says they did — How and in what historical junctures in Don Bosco‘s life did they occur? And how did these experiences function in Don Bosco vocational discernemnt?

2. Don Bosco’s Memoirs — the Point of Reference

Here a comment on method is in order.[134] To address these questions one has to fall back on what Don Bosco tells us himself about his experiences, and this means that the text of his Memoirs must be our point of reference. True, as he tells us himself, the vocation-mission dream recurred at various, perhaps numerous, times. But the few instances which he relates, and the references that he provides, pinpoint the crucial situations of his vocational discernment and decision. The understanding is that God normally reveals his will not independently of a complex set of interacting socio-historical and psychological forces at work. Therefore, this seems the only reliable course to take, not only because most of the dream narratives reported in the sources may be brought back to the data of the Memoirs, but also because Don Bosco gives us therein a reliable historical context in which to understand that data. After all, Don Bosco’s purpose in writing the Memoirs of the Oratory was precisely to describe the progress of his vocation and his definitive option for the young, which he sees as the origin of the Salesian Society.

Admittedly, Don Bosco’s Memoirs are not ‘pure history’. Fr. P. Braido’s judgment may be taken as a guideline not only for an overall understanding of the work, but specifically for an evaluation of Don Bosco’s own understanding of his vocation.

The events recorded and the things described [in the Memoirs] reflect real-life experiences. But [in real life] those experiences were most likely not perceived as possessing that fulness of meaning or that organic relationship, which the author [Don Bosco] attributes to them [in retrospect] out of an understanding gained through the mature achievement and reflection of a lifetime. […][135]

For, after all, one of his aims in writing his story was, as he states, “to make known how God himself has [always] guided [me in] everything, and in every circumstance.”[136] But there is no reason to doubt that Don Bosco maintained the detachment necessary for a basically realistic portrayal of the situations he is writing about. We may, therefore, take him at his word with respect to the dreams which he relates or refers to in his Memoirs, and which he presents, with sobriety and even self-doubt, as playing a role in his vocational decisions. Hence, the comments that follow.will will focus on the dream material of Don Bosco’s Memoirs.[137]

3. First Vocational Awareness and the First Dream at the Age of Nine

For Don Bosco’s earliest years, dates and sequences of events can be established only with approximate accuracy. Fr. Teresio Bosco, in his popular biography, remarks that in writing his Memoirs, Don Bosco’s photographic (not logical) memory portrays early scenes and experiences with refreshing vividness, but not necessarily with chronological accuracy.[138]

It should be noted, however, that Don Bosco’s dating of the First Dream at the age of nine or ten (or better, between the age of nine and ten) never varies. Moreover, the dream is related in a context which has all the likelihood of being the true one. And the sequence is as follows: Mamma Margaret’s religious teaching and John’s first Christian commitments; schooling and Christian education by Fr. Lacqua in Capriglio; the dream; and lastly his early activity with the local children.[139] These elements belong together and reinforce one another.

The dream is introduced with the words: “At that point in my life I had a dream” (A qell’età ho fatto un sogno). This refers to the immediately preceding notice that he had reached the age of nine, that Mamma Margaret decided that John should have proper schooling, and that arrangements for this were made with Fr. Joseph Lacqua at Capriglio.[140] Don Bosco says of this priest-teacher: “He was very attentive to my needs, seeing to my instruction and even more to my Christian education.” Immediately after relating the dream, he continues: “You have asked me at what age I began to take an interest in children. When I was ten years old, I was [already] doing all that a child could possibly do at that age, and this was to run a kind of ‘festive’ oratory.” He begins his description of his early apostolate among his peers with words that seem to hark back to an even earlier time: “I was still very small, when I was already studying my companions’ characters.” All this seems to point to the fact that something was already going on in John’s life when the dream occurred. These experiences included Mamma Margaret’s religious upbringing, her desire to give John a chance at proper schooling, Fr. Lacqua’s teaching and spiritual influence, and John‘s aptitude for, and early involvement with, peer ministry. One cannot but believe that all these converging circumstances did Indeed carry with them the suggestion, not only implicit but at some point explicit, of the priesthood. Consequently, when Mamma Margaret on hearing John’s dream made the comment, “Who knows, you may become a priest,” it was not the first time that the thought had accurred to her or that the subject had been mentioned. It is quite possible that Fr. Lacqua himself may have set in motion or added impetus to the idea of a priestly vocation in connection with John’s desire ‘to study’. The dream, then, would have been the subconscious reaction to the psychological situation created in John by such a possibility and the family debate.surrounding it.

Fr. P. Stella’s plausible suggestion that the dream took place on the occasion of the patronal feast (St. Peter, June 29), when liturgical texts such as, “Feed my lambs, feed my sheep,” were heard in Morialdo, would explain some of the dream’s specific images.[141]

The dream’s suggestions are immediately evident. The images symbolize priestly ministry, and specifically priestly ministry to children in need or at risk. These images are a constant not only in prime account of the dream in Don Bosco’s Memoirs, but also in all the variants preserved in the sources that have been cited above.

P. Stella’s concluding words are also worth quoting:

For Don Bosco this dream at the age of nine was not just another of the many dreams that he undoubtedly had during childhood. There are unresolved problems surrounding it, of course. Some of these have to do with the accuracy of his later recollection, and with the nature of the reports that have come down to us; others, with the actual time of its occurrence (no longer ascertainable), or with the circumstances that may have provided the stimuli for the dream and its immediate fantastic images, etc. In spite of such unanswered questions, however, this much is abundantly clear: Don Bosco was deeply affected by the dream. In fact, the evidence suggests that he must have experienced it as some sort of divine communication; as an event invested , as he himself avers, with the ‘appearance’ (the signs and guarantees) of the supernatural. It was as if his life had been indelibly stamped with with some new divine seal.[142]

4. The Calosso Experience[143] and the Dream of ‘Reprimand’

John’s year with Fr. Calosso was a memorable and significant one for his vocation, even though it ended in tragedy. For, if on the one hand the experience stands in continuity with earlier vocational elements and decisions, on the other, it appears to have been so transforming that by it John’s vocational course was definitively set.

John started school with Fr. Calosso at Morialdo almost immediately after their meeting, when Anthony’s opposition was still a problem. At first he walked back and forth from Becchi for his lessons, then began to stay with the priest the whole day, and finally moved in with him. In Fr. Calosso young John found not only a teacher and a spiritual guide, but also (and this was perhaps a new experience for him) a good father. When it appeared that things were finally going well for John, Fr. Calosso died suddenly of a stroke in November 1930. John grieved for this loss to the point of becoming ill and deserving a reprimand in a dream[144]

But before discussing the Calosso experience and what it meant for John, a comment of a more general nature may be helpful. How did the loss of his father in early childhood affect little John?[145] The absence of a father in childhood and adolescence is regarded as a serious matter for a boy; and John’s loss was aggravated by the situation in which the immediate family found itself: a mother left to cope with extreme conditions of hardships and strife alone.

No doubt, Margaret succeeded in providing steadying support and sure guidance by her instinctive understanding of the situation, her clear religious beliefs, her strong moral principles, and her sound decisions. Also, the good image which the mother has of the father and which she can make present to the child can provide substantial compensation. That this was the case may be gauged by the fact that John from early infancy gave evidence of unusual courage and self-possession, coupled with a sense of reality, duty and personal sacrifice, all evidences of a constructive motherly presence.

From an even more basic standpoint, Margaret’s presence as a mother was constructive. In earliest infancy, when the child begins to distinguish objective from subjective reality, it needs an adult person to interact with and to help it in the process. This adult person is usually the mother; so that a child’s relationship with its mother will determine its relationship to itself and to the external world. A good relationship with the mother establishes in the child that ‘primary trust’ which is the matrix out of which the child’s self-esteem and self-reliance grow. Self-trust, self-acceptance and love of self; trust in others, acceptance of others and love of others; the feeling of being trusted, accepted and loved by others–all of this in the child grows out of a good relationship with its parents, especially with the mother. Failure in the child to achieve ‘primary trust’ will inevitably result in a ‘negative identity’, an inability to trust, accept and love self and others. There results an individual who is depressed, unsatisfied, insecure; one who is forever in need of, and seeking, other people’ approval; one whose self-valuation depends on the judgment of others; one whose love life is disturbed (e.g., loves possessively, or feels ‘unworthy’ of being loved); one whose sexuality is also disturbed (e.g., unable to relate, or to relate realistically with a person of the opposite sex). The emotional experiences of childhood can become permanently fixated.

There is every indication that John’s relationship with his mother in childhood was ‘constructive’, and that his psychological development took a normal course. Never repressed or withdrawn, he appears self-reliant, able to relate to others, and endowed with a happy reflective-active personality.

But the fact remains that the absence of the father can never be fully compensated by the presence of the mother alone, no matter how devoted and capable that parent may be. The absence of a father of itself need not cause grave damage, only if such a lack is compensated both by the constructive presence of the mother and by the positive presence of some father substitute in a situation where a reciprocal emotional relationship is established.

Apparently there were no father figures available to assist John in a realistic fashion. Presumably the men of the extended family (e.g., uncles Francis and Michael Occhiena and legal guardian John Zucca) could to some extent fill that role. But it seems that they stuck to a well-meaning but rigidly traditional role of merely occasional support. Far from being present for a meaningful personal relationship, they were probably habitually absent.

Fr. Calosso comes into John’s life at a critical juncture, and the father-son relationship that developed between the two was perhaps a new and transforming experience for John. In Fr. Calosso John, now an adolescent, met the “good father” that he had been needing and yearning for all along. Fr. Calosso had enough psychological experience to understand John’s problem, compounded as it was by the fact that at the age of fifteen John found himself in the middle of his adoloscent crisis. And on the other hand, the good (but probably disillusioned) priest found himself in need of a son to whom he could be a father, and saw the opportunity of doing something worthwhile and fulfilling in his old age. Thus there quickly developed a deep bond and mutual relationship. Don Bosco expresses himself in the most emphatic terms.

Fr. Calosso had become my idol. I loved him more than a father, I prayed for him and served him willingly in every way I could. My greatest happiness was to do things for him; and, believe me, I would gladly have given my very life to make him happy.[…] On his part, that holy man loved me so much, that he would frequently reassure me: “Do not worry about your future. As long as I am alive I shall see to it that you lack nothing; and I shall provide for you for after I am gone.”[146]

No wonder then that Fr. Calosso’s death was so traumatic for John. Again Don Bosco writes:

Fr. Calosso’s death was a disastrous loss for me. I wept inconsolably over my dead benefactor. I thought of him in my waking hours and dreamt of him when asleep. It affected me to the point that my mother became alarmed over my health and sent me off to my grandfather at Capriglio.[147]

Thus the Calosso relationship was truncated by tragedy; and the yearning with which John sought a good father figure seems not to have been satisfied until he came under Fr. Cafasso’s influence. But the experience was important for John’s vocation.

In the first place, the loss and the grieving were the occasion of another dream, to which Don Bosco refers briefly: “At this time I had another dream. In it I was harshly rebuked for having put my hope in human beings and not in our good Father in heaven.”[148] It has already been pointed out that there is no way of telling from such a sketchy description whether we are dealing with a recurrence of the vocation dream or not. Likewise Lemoyne’s supposition that it coincides with the First Turco-Related Dream has already been been critically examined. Lemoyne’s further claim that by this dream John Bosco “was given assurance that the material resources needed to shelter and to feed countless youngsters would not be wanting,” also seems unwarranted.[149] It supposes that the rebuke was motivated by the fact that John had hoped that Fr. Calosso would supply the material means necessary to ensure his education. Indeed Fr. Calosso had given him that assurance, and his entrusting the key of his strongbox to John showed that he fully intended to do so. But John, on the other hand, by freely renouncing his right showed that he had not put his trust in human beings for the material security to be gained. In view of what has been said above, the rubuke was given on more general human grounds. John had come to rely on the good priest in more important ways than his need for money. And it was his personal loss that was the reason for the inconsolable grieving that called forth the rebuke.

In the second place, study and priesthood (with an option for the young) became inseparably linked in John’s mind as a result of the Calosso experience, if they had not been so linked before. For he mentions the dream and the rebuke, and then he adds: “Meanwhile the thought of going ahead with my studies was uppermost in my mind.” He goes on to remark on the aloofness of the local priests and he continues: “If I were a priest, I would act differently. I would approach the children, speak kindly to them, and give them good advice.”

Studies and priesthood for her son seem to have been uppermost in Margaret’s mind as well, for now she embarks on a course of action that will soon assure John his freedom.[150]

4. Vocational Decision at Chieri[151]

As the Rhetoric year drew to a close (1835),[152] John began seriously to consider his options for the future. The importance of the recurrence of the Becchi Dream has already been emphasized, and Don Bosco himself makes a point of it, though he does not state that it was repeated at this time. But the dream and its possible suggestions become a serious consideration and a problem for John at this critical turning point, when he is trying to discern his vocation. He writes:

The dream I had had in Morialdo remained deeply imprinted on my mind. It had even occurred at other times and in much clearer terms; so that, if I wanted to believe it and follow its suggestion, I would have had to choose the priesthood, toward which I acutally felt inclined.

It has also been mentioned that Don Bosco, when writing his Memoirs, makes a point of stressing the ‘supernatural’ character of the experience. But even as he tells the story of supernatural guidance from the vantage point of the mid-1870s, he also reveals the self-doubt and uncertainties entertained at the time of the actual events, when he was struggling with discerning his vocation. Thus he adds:

However, a natural reluctance on my part to put faith in dreams, my [worldly] lifestyle, certain habitual tendencies of my heart, and the absolute lack of the virtue necessary to this state [the priesthood] filled me with doubts and made any decision in this regard extremely difficult.

His spiritual director or confessor, Fr. Maloria, who had been so helpful in guiding John in the basics of Christian life and devotion, consistently refused to take a stand in the matter of the choice of a state in life.[153] After much thought and after reading some books on the subject of vocation, John decided to join the Franciscan Friars Minor of the Observance at the local monastery of Our Lady of Peace. The books that John read stressed the importance for one’s salvation of choosing the right state in life..[154] Further, it appears that here the choice was clearly between the seminary and the religious life; and apparently the books that he read suggested that a diocesan priest would be exposed to the gravest dangers, that his responsibility was staggering, and that a strict account would be demanded of him by God, and such things. The religious life was perceived as a haven of refuge from the dangers of the world where one could more easily save one’s soul and find peace.[155] He applied for admission to the Franciscan novitiate, took his entrance examination in Turin and, as the records show, he was accepted. But then a dream dissuaded him from entering the monastery of peace where there would be no peace.

As Don Bosco relates it, this dream does not qualify as a recurrence of the vocation dream.[156] Nor does Lemoyne regard it as such. It is not, however, without vocational significance. Negatively, it dissuaded John Bosco from entering upon a way of life which would have run counter to the evident thrust of the vocation dream. Positively, it indicated to John that his true vocation lay in another direction (“another place, another harvest”), alluding to the mission imaged in the vocation dream.

Whether this dream by itself would have forced him to reconsider his choice we can only speculate. Don Bosco continues with a puzzling statement, which in literal translation reads: “Then some incident (caso) occurred that made it impossible for me to carry out my plan; and since the obstacles [arising therefrom] were many and lasting, I decided to disclose the whole matter to my friend Comollo.” While John is making a novena for guidance, Louis Comollo writes to his uncle, Fr. Joseph Comollo, pastor of his home town of Cinzano, seeking a sloution to John’s problem. By the end of the novena a reassuring letter arrives from Fr. Comollo.

What ‘plan’ is Don Bosco referring to? The context seems to favor understanding the ‘plan’ as John’s intention of joining the Franciscans. So Ceria takes it and speculates no further.[157] One must then conclude that the dream by itself would not have been a good enough reason for John to reconsider his decision. Reading on, however, one suspects that Fr. Comollo’s reply addresses a larger problem, for he writes:

Having given careful consideration to the matters you wrote to me about, I would advise your friend not to enter a monastery at this time. Let him don the clerical habit. As he goes on with his [seminary] studies he will better understand what God wants of him. He should not be be afraid that he will lose his vocation, because by shunning the world and by being diligent in prayer he will be able to overcome all obstacles.”

If this is the case, one may ask further, What was the nature of the ‘incident’ and of the ‘many and lasting obstacles‘ arising from it? Is Don Bosco referring to special personal problems, or to unreachable ideals of holiness, or to anxiety connected with choosing a ‘predestined’ vocation? It may not be just out of humility that in connection with his vocation discernment he writes, as already mentioned: “my [worldly] lifestyle, certain habitual tendencies of my heart, and the absolute lack of the virtue necessary to this state [the priesthood] filled me with doubts and made any decision in this regard extremely difficult.” It may indeed point to a very serious inner conflict.

Did a vocation dream come to comfort and reassure John at this critical juncture? As seen above, Lemoyne thinks so. Now, even though his identification of the dream narrative for this occasion and his recourse to the Memoirs for support may not be critically tenable, a dream at this stage would be plausible, if not expected.[158]

Be that as it may, as in the case of any young man, so also in John Bosco’s case, a complex set of historical factors, of a socio-economic-cultural nature, were at work in his decision to enter the seminary.

One of these would be the religious-cultural milieu of the school. The school system under which John received all his education was totally under the Church’s control. The school curriculum, the organization of the students’ social and religious life, the overwhelming presence of the Church and its personnel, both diocesan and regular, throughout the school system, from the highest echelon of its administration down to the teacher in the lowest grade, guaranteed such control. The whole educational system was calculated to foster and channel vocations to the priesthood and to the religious life. Recruiting by religious orders (all of which suffered from lack of vocations during this period) must have been brisk. Perhaps that had something to do with John’s decision join the Franciscans. But it seems that, overall, the stronger influence on John was diocesan. Some of his favorite teachers at the school were diocesan. The advice that finally shaped his decision to enter the seminary came from diocesan priests: Fr. Comollo, Fr. Cafasso and Fr Cinzano.

Secondly, Fr. Lemoyne’s passing comment is worth noting: “John was now twenty-one, and only his entrance to the seminary could exempt him from military service.”[159] From what has been said, we may be sure that this consideration alone would not have been decisive, but it should not be overlooked.

In the same passage Lemoyne states that John was facing serious financial difficulties. If John had entered the Franciscans his financial problems would have been resolved. Entering the seminary on the contrary would not only not alleviate, but would aggravate, his financial position. In the seminary there were fees to be paid and few opportunities for lucrative odd jobs (although John did help himself in various ways).[160] And it was diocesan priests and well-to-do lay people connected with local parish life that came to the rescue.[161] It appears, therefore, that the stronger and decisive influence in John’s vocational decision was diocesan.

Finally, the question may be asked, What role did John’s option for the young play in this period of vocational decision? Was it a real factor? Don Bosco tells us in his Memoirs that by the age of ten he was already engaged in a youth apostolate compatible with his age. Throughout his student days at Chieri, what we now call ‘peer ministry’ was a serious commitment on his part. Moreover, the basic image of the vocation-mission dream (youngsters and animals being changed and the ‘order’ to take charge of them) symbolized youth apostolate, and the dream is said to have occurred at various times in even clearer terms. The priestly vocation, which was the dream’s direct suggestion, was in view of an option for the young. This is the basic meaning that he reads into the dream, according to the sources. How then explain his desire to become a Franciscan? Would he permit any reason whatever, theological, moral or practical, to override the call to the young that he had heard in the dream and that re-enforced his own Christian instincts? Lemoyne senses the difficulty and claims that “He was convinced that this step could not obstruct the plan that God had laid out for him.”[162] But how could he hope to be able to carry on a youth apostolate, as envisioned in the dream, as a Franciscan under obedience?

Perhaps this is another proof that in the actual circumstances of vocational decision, the vocation dream (assuming that there was one at this time) did not bring the clarity and the certainty that would have allowed John Bosco to cope with, if not to bypass, the play of historical forces.

5. Vocation Decision in 1844

Don Bosco’s option for the young found fresh opportunity and confirmation on his entering the Convitto and coming under Fr. Cafasso’s direct influence. In his Memoirs Don Bosco writes of his immediate involvement with youngsters on entering the Convitto:

No sooner had I enrolled at the Convitto of St. Francis that I found myself surrounded by a crowd of youngsters who followed me around in the streets, in the squares and in the very sacristy of the church attached to the institute. But the lack of suitable premises prevented me from becoming directly involved with them. An amusing incident provided me with the opportunity I was looking for, of attempting to put into effect a plan that would benefit boys roaming the streets of the city and juvenile delinquents, especially of those just released from prison [163]

This ‘amusing incident’ is his meeting with young Bartholomew Garelli on December 8, 1841.[164] These words seem to imply that before the Garelli episode, and hence immediately upon entering the Convitto, he had already been involved with youngsters. This would have been through the catechetical program established at the church, or when going after young people in the streets and squares of the city, as Fr. Cafasso required his catechists to do. But the words also reveal that he had not yet really begun to gather them as his own; in fact, that he had not yet really discovered them. For, after relating the Garelli episode he writes:

I learnt from personal experience that when youngsters were released from detention and found a good-hearted person who showed interest in them, was present with them on feast days, and demonstrted his concern by finding them a good employer and visiting them occasionally at work during the week — then these youngsters were more likely to mend their ways, put past bad experiences behind them, and begin to live as good Christians and honest citizens [165]

These words clearly indicate the essential nature of oratory work, as Don Bosco came to practice it. But they are significant also in that they express the ‘revelatory’ character of the Garelli experience and of the first experiments that followed it. The encounter was for Don Bosco the personal discovery of a certain type of youngster. This was an entirely new experience. The early industrial and urban development in Turin in those historic years and the social conditions it produced brought about the conditions fo an apostolate that hardly bore any resemblance to Don Bosco’s early activities with the simple country lads of Becchi or with the students at Chieri. This perception must have begn to haunt him, and finally to address him personaly and demand a commitment. Thus did a ‘new’ option for the young take shape, and the oratory experiment at St. Francis of Assisi continued with increasing success until 1844.

“Toward the close of his third year at the Convitto”, 1844, Don Bosco entered another critical period of vocational discernment. This time it was marked by a twofold crisis.

First, Don Bosco again entertains the idea of joining a religious congregation (the Oblates of the Virgin Mary), and of going to the missions. He makes no mention of this in his Memoirs, but Lemoyne reports the episode at length, if somewhat off-handedly, in the Biographical Memoirs. Fr. Cafasso repeatedly dissuaded him, though not as firmly as one would expect. In June 1844 Fr. Cafasso advised Don Bosco to make a spiritual retreat, which he was preaching for the first time at St. Ignatius’ Retreat House, to help him discern his vocation. After the retreat Don Bosco served notice on Fr. Cafasso that he was packing his trunk and leaving the Convitto to become a religious. Fr. Cafasso is quoted as replying: “Forget about becoming a religious.[…] Continue to work for your boys. This and none other is God’s will for you.”[166]

The reasons for this lingering uncertainty are biographically unclear; but the same vexing questions may be raised here as in the case of the Franciscan episode, especially with regard to Don Bosco’s option for the young.[167]

Secondly, as Don Bosco relates in his Memoirs, he must leave the Convitto and must choose one of three possible assignments. The crisis in this case is not from within, but from the circumstances. His reply to Fr. Cafasso’s question shows that his commitment to the work of the oratory was not flagging: “My inclination is to work for young people.[…] At this moment I see myself in the midst of a crowd of children calling to me for help.” But none of the assignments offered realistic possibilities in that respect. Fr. Cafasso’s decision cut the gordian knot, but did not unravel it. He told Don Bosco to accept the chaplaincy at Marchioness Barolo’s Little Hospital (under construction at the time), and in the meantime to help Fr. Borel at the Rifugio and live with him: “Meanwhile God will show you what you are to do for the young.”[168]

This would mean that the little oratory activity at St. Francis of Assisi, good an experiment as it was, had to be left behind, albeit with the expectation that God would meanwhile make it possible for the work to continue. Don Bosco accepted the arrangement. But even Fr. Borel’s suggestion to hold the meeting in their rooms at the Rifugio for the duration was not very reassuring, given the circumstances.[169] Don Bosco did not have the heart to disband the group of youngsters that had become attached to him personally at St. Francis of Assisi. Thus we can still hear the anguish in his words as he told the story thirty years later to Fr. Barberis:

It was the year 1844. I was due to leave the Convitto and move to the Rifugio to live with Dr. Borel. I was very worried about [what I should do with] my youngters who were attending religious instruction [the oratory] on Sundays and holy days. I did not know whether I should disband them or continue to look after them. My desire was to continue with [the work of] the oratories; but I did not see how I could. On my last Sunday at the Convitto I had to notify my youngsters that they should no longer meet there, as they did usually. In fact I was debating whether to tell them outright that there was no need to meet at all anywhere, since the oratory would be terminated there. If the oratory was to continue, I would, of course, have to indicate a place.[170]

To make a long story short, the illumination of a new dream (the Dream of 1844) was necessary for him to re-start the work under completely new circumstances. Certainly the group from St. Francis of Assisi would along with him, but the oratory was no longer under the Convitto’s protection. Marchioness Barolo’s Rifugio and Little Hospital would offer him a degree of personal security, but only for the duration. The Rifugio priests, especially Fr. Borel, would provide considerable support, but the oratory would nonetheless be his personal responsibility. Such responsibility would demand of him an all-out commitment. He was about to enter into a covenant, fidelity to which would require of him the sacrifice of virtually everything else. It would seem, then, that lack of space at the Rifugio was not the primary cause of Don Bosco’s anguish at that historic turning point. Thus a new inspiration was required for him to re-start the oratory on this new basis, making it permanently his own, the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales.[171]

The dream has been discussed above.[172] Here we need only enphasize its significance for Don Bosco at that moment of vocational decision. In speaking of the origin of the Salesian Society Don Bosco refers to different dates ranging from 1841 to 1859 and beyond. Obviously 1841 is an important point of reference. But perhaps more appropriately, in a memorandum addressed to Pope Pius IX in 1864 he writes: “The purpose of [this Society] is to continue [the work] which for about 20 years has been in progress at the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales.”[173] The year of reference here is 1844, the year when the oratory was re-founded, so to speak, out of the earlier group, as Don Bosco’s very own. The Oratory of St. Francis de Sales may indeed by regarded as a continuation of the earlier experiment at St. Francis of Assisi — provided it is also viewed as the result of a new and definitive vocational option, which must have entailed considerable soul searching on Don Bosco’s part, under the circumstances. It was in 1844 that Don Bosco’s vocational option for “poor and abandoned” young people was finalized never again to waver.

Rightly, therefore, has the time that followed (namely, the time of the wandering and the settling at Valdocco) been characterized as the period of Don Bosco’s vocational maturity. On the one hand, there is on Don Bosco’s part total dedication, pervasive joy and bright hope for the future of the work; on the other, daunting trials and difficulties encountered for the first time: serious sickness, exasperating difficulty of finding a permanent home, objections of parish priests, suspicion and harassment by the police, abandonment by friends and helpers, and more.[174] Through it all Don Bosco never wavered: “I had an inner certainty about what I was doing, and felt that events would prove me right at the end.”[175]

The First Dream of the Holy Martyrs[176] belongs to the same setting of final vocational crisis and definitive decision. One may consider it a more detailed doublet variant of the Dream of 1844, as Don Bosco told it to Barberis in the same setting. One may regard it as ‘the other dream’ that Don Bosco considered important for decision, set by Don Bosco in 1844 through faulty recollection, but the setting of which can no longer be determined. Again one can, with Lemoyne, set it in the context of the eviction of the oratory from Barolo’s Little Hospital in May 1845; or in any other crisis of that period of the wandering oratory — provided it be understood in continuity with, and not separately from, the definitive option of 1844.

Conclusion

In the foregoing pages — in Part I we have surveyed critically the texts of the narratives of Don Bosco’s vocation-mission dreams in the Biographical Memoirs, in Documnenti, and in the sources and testimonies that preceded them; in Part II we attempted to describe the significance of the dream experiences in the actual situations of Don Bosco vocational decisions, as he records them in his Memoirs. Some brief concluding comments are now in order.

The general nature and the specific character of Don Bosco’s mission are aptly portrayed in the many images with which Don Bosco describes his dream experiences, and in significant words reported by him in that connection.[177] These important elements may be listed as follows:

1. The Gentleman and the Lady (Shepherdess) — mediators of the call.

2. The crowd of children engaged in games, fighting and mischief — the field of apostolic labor and the option for the young.

3. The calling by name and the order — vocation as personal address.

4. Exhortation to kindness and love — words expressing the style of the apostolate.

5. Exhortation to teach the children about the ugliness of sin and the beauty of virtue — words expressing the priority of religion.

6. Children as wild animals; pack of assorted wild animals led by the Shepherdess — the special type of John’s future youth apostolate.

7. Wild animals grazing peaceably together; turned into gentle lambs — the social, religious, moral significance of Don Bosco’s youth apostolate.

8. John’s awe and avowal of insufficiency — the magnitude and committing nature of the task.

9. Exhortation to obedience and education; to humility, steadfastness and toughness — preparation and equipment for the apostolate.

10. The Lady as Teacher — the role of Mary in Saslesian spirituality and apostolic action.

11 Reliance on the Father’s goodness rather than on human beings — the special character of Don Bosco’s trust.

12..Shepherds (priests and seminarians) helping for a while, then leaving — Don Bosco’s struggle to gather his men.

13. The ribbon of obedience — forming of group of collaborators.

14. Lambs turned to shepherds in great numbers and taking charge of other flocks — growth.of the idea.

15. Wandering from place to place and stops — the struggle for permanence.

16. A field in the open — like Christ and the Apostles.

17. And enclosed place, building, a small church, a little courtyard — initial establishment.

18. A courtyard, a portico, a larger church and building — progress of the work.

19. The place of the Holy Martyrs — numinouys guarantee and protection.

20. The great church in the vegetable field rising on the martyrdom site, many buildings, a square and a monument — Hic domus mea; inde gloria mea.

These images from various successive dreams beautifully describe, by their premonitive suggestions, Don Bosco’s vocation-mission itinerary. Even in the midst of the harsh reality of his real life experiences, as he struggled painfully to find and establish his way at various critical junctures, the dream and its call were an ever-present source of strength. And later in life as he reflected, wrote, and spoke about his life’s work, he could clearly point to the dream as a component of vocational decisions.

In May 1887 Don Bosco, ill and failing, attended the consecration of the church of the Sacred Heart in Rome. While celebrating Mass he was overpowered with such emotion that he was forced to interrupt the celebration no less than fifteen times. Later his secretary, Fr Charles Viglietti, who had assisted him at the Mass, wanted to learn the reason for his tearful emotional outburst. Don Bosco replied:

With the mind’s eye I saw vividly laid out before me the scene of my childhood when, at about the age of ten, I dreamt of the Congreation. I could see and hear my mother and brothers, as clearly as though they were there present, arguing over the meaning the dream.[178]

[1] Mss. held at the Archivio Salesiano Centrale, Via della Pisana, Rome, Italy [cited as ASC], the Don Bosco files of which (Fondo Don Bosco) are reproduced in microfiches [cited as FDBMicro]:

Memorie dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855, written in the mid-seventies. Don Bosco’s original manuscript: ASC 132: Autografi-Oratorio, “Memorie[a] dell’Oratorio…,” FDBMicro 57-60 [cited as MO-DB]; Father Joachim Berto’s copy, with Don Bosco’s correction and additions: Ibid., FDBMicro 60-63 [cited as MO-Ber].

This work was written by Don Bosco following a suggestion, and later a command, from Pius IX. It describes the origin and establishment of the work of the oratory up to 1855, beginning with Don Bosco’s childhood. Its chief purpose (so Don Bosco states) was to acquaint the Salesians with “how God himself has always been our guide.” Internal evidence would indicate that the bulk of Don Bosco’s rough copy was set down in writing between 1873 and 1875; and the rest perhaps in the few years that followed. Berto’s copy, most of it revised by Don Bosco, was produced not long after that, since it can be shown that Fr. John Bonetti made use of parts of it for his serial History of the Oratory, published in the Salesian Bulletin, beginning with January 1879.

Italian edition: San Giovanni Bosco, Memorie dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales dal 1815 al 1855, ed. Eugene Ceria. Torino: SEI, 1946 [cited as MO-Ce].

English edition: Memoirs of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales from 1815 to 1855: The Autobiography of Saint John Bosco, tr.by Daniel Lyons, with notes and commentary by Eugenio Ceria, Lawrence Castelvecchi and Michael Mendl. New Rochelle, New York: Don Bosco Publications, 1989 [cited as MO-En].

Other sources cited:

Diocesan Process of Beatification: Processus ordinarius curiae taurinensis [cited as POCT], in ASC 161: Deposizioni dei Testi, FDBMicro 2,100ff. (to be specified).

Summary of Diocesan Process: Processus Ordinarius, Positio super introductione causae, Summarium et Litterae Postulatoriae [cited as POS], in ASC 163: Processo… Documenti ufficiali stampati, FDBMicro 2,212ff. (to be specified).

[G. B. Lemoyne], Documenti per scrivere la storia di D. Giovanni Bosco, dell’Oratorio di San Francesco di Sales e della Congregazione Salesiana, 45 volumes [1885ff.] [cited as Doc], in ASC 110: Cronachette-Lemoyne-Documenti, FDBMicro 966ff. (to be specified).

A note of explanation as to the nature of this much-cited work may be of help to the reader. When Fr. John Baptist Lemoyne was recalled to Turin as secretary in 1883, he began to bring together source material on Don Bosco and his work (collected by him and others over many years) and to edit it in view of a large biography. The collection began to take printed shape in 1885, and eventually reached forty-five large volumes. The Documenti. are work printed for private use in single copy. The first 40 volumes of the Documenti contain material distributed chronologically over the years 1815-1890. To these were added 4 volumes collecting additional material covering the same period. (A forty-fifth and last volume contains material pertaining to the Bosco-Gastaldi controversy.) New material was entered at different times, for each page contains only one column, printed on separate paper and glued on the blank page of the folio register. This column is only 60 mm. wide, set off center to the right on the page, thus leaving ample room for further entries. Lemoyne continued to affix in their proper place additional items from various sources: handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, etc. In time each volume took on the form of a scrap book. The work is the forerunner of the Biographical Memoirs and served as their immediate basic source..

Giovanni Battista Lemoyne, Angelo Amadei and Eugenio Ceria, Memorie Biografiche di Don Giovanni Bosco, 19 volumes. San Benigno Canavese: Scuola Tipografica Libraria Salesiana; Torino: Tipografia S.A.I.D., S.E.I., 1898-1938 [cited as IBM]. Lemoyne is the author of the first nine volumes, of which the first two (1898 and 1901) cover the period of the vocation dreams.

The first fifteen volumes have been translated into English as, The Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco, vol. I-XV, Diego Borgatello, Editor-in-Chief. New Rochelle, New York: Salesiana Publishers, 1965-1988 [cited as EBM].

Other works cited: P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol. I: Vita e Opere, 2. ed.; vol. III: La Canonizzazione (1888-1934). Roma: LAS, 1979 & 1988 [cited as Stella, DB I & DB III]. Volume I is translated into English as: Don Bosco, vol I: Life and Work, tr. by John Drury. New Rochelle, New York: Don Bosco Publications, 1985 [cited as DB I-En].

P. Stella, Don Bosco nella storia economica e sociale (1815-1970) (Pubblicazioni del Centro Studi Don Bosco, Studi storici 8). Roma: LAS, 1980 [cited as Stella, DB-EcSoc ).

F. Desramaut, Les Memorie I de G.B Lemogne. Étude d’un ouvrage fondamentale sur la jeunesse de Saint Jean Bosco. Lyon: Maison d’études Saint-Jean Bosco, 1962, (esp. p. 250-258) [cited as Desramaut, Mem I ].

[2] “This dream [of 1844] lasted most of the night. […] At the time I understood little of its meaning since I put little faith in it. But I my understanding grew as its premonitions came true one after another. Later, together with another dream, it even served as a basis for my decisions” [MO-En, 210]. Later in life, as he looked back on these experiences, he saw in them a proof of divine guidance: “[These memoirs] will serve to make known how God himself has always been our guide” [Ibid., 3]; “When I went to Rome in 1858 to speak to the Pope about the Salesian Congregation, he asked me to tell him everything that had even the suggestion of the supernatural about it. It was only then, for the first time, that I said anything about this dream which I had when I was nine or ten years old” [Ibid., 20].

[3] MO-Ce, 79, translation mine; compare with MO-En, 110]. Further on in the Memoirs, after relating a dream which he had in 1844 and which he calls “a sequel [appendice] to the one I had at Becchi when I was nine years old,” he concludes: “Later, together with another dream, [this dream] served as a blueprint for my decisions” [MO-En, 209f.]

[4] Such a discussion would take us too far afield. Works on the subject in English (though not restricted to the subject of vocation-mission dreaming) are the following: For a discussion of the dream in Christian culture, Morton Kelsey, Dreams: The Dark Speech of the Spirit. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1968; re-edited as God, Dreams and Revelations. Minneapolis:Augsburg Press, 1974; and the short and popular, Dreams: A Way to Listen to God. New York: Paulist Press, 1978. For a discussion of the religious and psychological value of dreams, John Sanford, Dreams, God’s Forgotten Language. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1968.

[5] Desramaut feels that his treatment is shorter than the subject deserves: “I have had to summarize here what would have been the matter of a long article.” [Desramaut, Mem I, p. 250, note 128]. I am not aware that such an article has ever been written.

[6] The text of these reports is provided in Appendices to which the reader will be referred.

[7] IBM I, 382; EBM I, 317.

[8] MO-Ce 134f., note to line 8.

[9] Desramaut writes, for example: “The dream [Don Bosco had] at the age of nine was repeated without any doubt. Don Bosco’s own testimony cannot be disputed [cf. note 3 above, and text relating thereto] But Fr. Lemoyne’s dates and descriptions are not at all firm. […] Faced with related texts which were in essential agreement as to content, but which diverged in non-essential details, he failed to recognize them as true doublets” [Desramaut,Mem I, 255 and 256].

[10] Cf. IBM I 123ff.; EBM I, 95f.

[11] Cf. IBM I, 243f.; EBM I, 181f.

[12] Cf. IBM I, 305f.; EBM I, 229.

[13] Cf. IBM I, 381f.; EBM I, 229.

[14] Cf. IBM I, 424f.; EBM I, 315f.

[15] Cf. IBM II, 243ff.; EBM II, 190f.

[16] IBM II, 297-301; EBM II, 232ff.

[17] IBM II, 342ff.; EBM II, 267f.

[18] Cf. note 1 above, and Desramaut, Mem I, 116ff.

[19] The references are to the recurrence of the dream [cf. note 3 above, and text relating thereto]. Sketchy reports are given of a Dream of ‘Reprimand’ [cf. MO-En, 48] and of a Dream on the Franciscans [cf. MO-En 110f.].

In spite of the fact that this latter dream occurred in a context of vocational decision, it is not regarded as a vocation-mission dream, for it does not contain any of the images of Don Bosco’s apostolate which are characteristic of the vocation dreams. It is not, however, deprived of all significance in this respect.

It might be remarked that the Dream on the Franciscans is not to be construed as reflecting actual religious life situations in the Franciscan convent of Our lady of Peace. It manifests rather the conflict raging in John Bosco’s soul, as he tried to flee from the ‘awesome responsibility’ of priestly life and apostolate in the world (which was his vocation) in order to seek the peace and security of the monastery.

[20] Cf. MO-En 18-21 and 209f.

[21] Cf. Appendix I, where the text of the Biographical Memoirs and that of the Berto Ms. of Don Bosco’s Memoirs are given for comparison.

[22] Cf. note 7 above and text relating thereto.

[23] Doc I [P. I, C.. XVI “Il primo sogno”], 68.: FDBMicro 967 B2.

[24] Appendix I, B.(T-B).

[25] Other changes will be apparent through a comparison of the text of Don Bosco’s Memoirs with that of the Biographical Memoirs, in Appendix I, A (T-A) and B (T-B).

[26] MO-DB, 5-8: FDBMicro 57 A6-9. Cf. note 1 above.

[27] This is the text used by Lemoyne in both Documenti and Biographical Memoirs, and by Ceria in his 1946 Italian edition [cf. note 1 above]. This is also the text given in Appendix I, A.

[28] Cf. Appendix I, A, italicized text.

[29] MO-DB: FDBMicro 57 A6-9.

[30] MO-DB:FDBMicro 57 A7 (bottom)

[31] As will be discussed below, Lemoyne had other narratives of the original vocation-mission dream at his disposal that were not directly derived from Don Bosco. He rightly opted for the prime source. But instead of exercising critical judgment on the other narratives, he used them as further separate dreams within his construct of a line of divine guidance. This is in full accord with his compilation methods [cf. F. Desramaut, “ Come hanno lavorato gli autori delle Memorie Biografiche,” in Don Bosco nella storia: Atti del 1º Congresso Internazionale di Studi su Don Bosco (Università Pontificia Salesiana, Roma, 16-20 gennaio 1989) (Pubblicazioni del Centro Studi Don Bosco, Studi storici 10), ed. Mario Midali. Roma: LAS, 1990, p. 45-60; A. Lenti, “Don Bosco’s Boswell: John Baptist Lemoyne—The Man and His Work,” Journal of Salesian Studies 1 (1990:2) 36ff.]

[32] Cf. Appendix II.

[33] Cf. note 7 above and text relating thereto.

[34] In Appendix II, B these are distinguished as B-1, B-2 and B-3.

[35] Cf. Appendix II, B-1.

[36] Cf. Doc I, 68f.: FDBMicro 967 B2f.

[37] Cf. Appendix II, B-3 (T-B-3).

[38] Cf. Appendix II, A-1.

[39] It may be on account of the words, “Primo Sogno,” that Lemoyne entered this text in Documenti alongside the Becchi Dream.

[40] Cf. Appendix II, B-1 compared with A-1. The Documenti text is not provided in Appendix II; but it may be gauged by reference to the Barberis text (A-1), keeping in mind the observations made above.

[41] The contents of this ‘bridge’ are not derived from any particular source. The device is used merely to provide a chronological sequence or framework. Desramaut discusses this editorial technique of Lemoyne’s, quoting this very passage as an example, cf. Desramaut, Mem I, 276f.

[42] Cf. Appendix II, A-2.

Rua was the twenty-sixth of forty-five witnesses called, and he testified in thirty-eight sessions from April 29 to July 10, 1895 [cf. Stella, DB III]. The testimony in question was given on April 29.

For the Biographical Memoirs (from 1898), but not for the Documenti (from 1885), Lemoyne made use of the testimonies given at the Diocesan Process (1890-1896), in spite of what he writes in the preface to the first volume: “My work could be considered complete only if the canonical inquiry into Don Bosco’s life were already terminated and we could read and quote the depositions of sworn witnesses. This we cannot do until the canonization proceedings are over” [EBM I, xii]. The fact is that he found a way of circumventing this standing prohibition [cf. Desramaut, Mem I, 218f.

[43] By the time John was sixteen the Bosco inheritance had been divided by Margaret, precisely in order neutralize Anthony’s opposition and to set John free [cf. MO-En, 48f.]

[44] Cf. Joseph Turco’s testimony in Appendix V, A-1 (T-A-1). From scattered bits of information we gather that Joseph was the son of Dominic Turco and Catherine Pilone, and that the elder Turcos had at least two other children, Lucy and John. According to his own testimony [cf. Appendix V, A-1-a (T-A-1-a)] Joseph was eighty-two years of age in 1892. He would, then, have been born in 1810 and would have been twenty-one years of age in 1831, when John Bosco was sixteen and was attending school at Castelnuovo. They could hardly have been schoolmates. Mr. Turco, who lived in Castelnuovo, states that he became acquainted with John Bosco at that time, but not that they were at school together. It must have been Barberis who drew that conclusion when he heard Mr. Turco relate the episode in 1875. Cf. also Stella, DB III, 75, 80 and 118 (where one should read Joseph, not John, Turco).

[45] Cf. Appendix V, A-1-a (T-A-1-a). For the Bosco property and its location (all in the Becchi area), cf. Stella, DB-EcSoc, 15-22.

[46] Some time in 1831, Don Bosco’s brother, Joseph, (with partner Joseph Febbraro) undertood to work the Susambrino as a tenant farmer or sharecropper. Joseph lived at the farm. Don Bosco in his Memoirs states that when he was attending school at Castelnuovo, he had to make four trips back and forth, covering twenty km. every day [cf. MO-En 49].This implies that he walked to and from Becchi, not to and from Sussambrino, which was located just outside Castelnuovo. Joseph Turco in his testimony confirms this: “In the evening [John Bosco] would return home to his parents (“genitori”) in the hamlet of Becchi” [cf. Appendix V, A-1-a (T-A-1-a)]. Perhaps in the winter of 1830, when John started attending school at Castelnuovo, Joseph was not yet established at Sussambrino, but he would have been by early spring, 1831. Joseph worked the Sussambrino farm until he returned to Becchi in 1839.

[47] Cf. Appendix II, A-1 (T-A-1).

[48] “In my opinion, positive arguments in support of a new dream experience are still lacking. It is likely that John related to Joseph Turco a dream he had had recently […]. But must one insist on such details? Had there been no contact between the Turcos and the Boscos from about 1825 on, the time of the dream at the age of nine, or were there contacts only from 1830 on, as Lemoyne believes? If the latter be the case, then the doubling would be justified. However, the possibility that his memory could have been interfered with or hampered should be considered […]” [Desramaut, Mem I, 256, note 162].

[49] Desramaut remarks that the physical style of the note differs from that of the main text. It may have been added later from some source, perhaps Don Bosco himself [cf. Desramaut, Mem I, 253, note 149].

[50] It may be that, when the first volume of Documenti was fashioned (1885, the marginal note having been added later), Lemoyne had not yet fully elaborated his theory of a vocation dream series with its predetermined step-by-step line of divine guidance. Hence he had not yet proceeded to organize, as he does instead in the Biographical Memoirs, all available testimonies of the vocation dream in accordance with that theory.

[51] Cf. Appendix II, B-3 (T-B-3).

[52] Cf. Appendix II, A-3 (T-A-3). In Don Bosco’s original draft of the Memoirs, this sketchy notice on the dream, “In quel tempo […] Padre Celeste,” was added as a marginal note [MO-DB [First Decade, 4ª]: FDBMicro 57 B7].

[53] Fr. Calosso died on November 21, 1830. John had met him a year earlier, and had been under his tutorship that whole year.

[54] Appendix II, B-3 (T-B-3).

[55] Cf. Appendix III.

[56] Cf. note 7 above, and text relating thereto.

[57] Cf. Appendix III, A-2. The marginal additions in Documenti are in both printed and handwritten form. A printed note is usually glued in in the ample margin provided for this purpose [cf. note 1 above].

[58] Cf. Appendix III, B-1; EBM I, 229.

[59] A search through the Barberis chronicles and dream collections proved fruitless.

[60] Cf. Appendix III, A-1 (T-A-1), A-2 (T-A-2).

Documenti followsMO [cf. Doc I, 153f.: FDBMicro 968 D1f. and MO-Ce 79ff.; Mo-En, 110f.]. In both he sequence is as follows: vocational discernment as the rhetoric year (fifth year of secondary studies) draws to a close; reference to the recurrence of the Becchi dream “at other times’ with suggestion of the priesthood; John’s doubts and ‘humility’ statement; (in Documenti the Dream of ‘Imperious Command’ is added at this point😉 lack of a spiritual guide; John decision to join the Franciscans, and resons for wanting to become a religious; application, examination, acceptance for the Franciscans; (at this point in Documenti a marginal note in Lemoyne’s hand records the document of acceptance;) the Dream on the Franciscans raises doubts in John’s mind; the confessor is no help; the “incident’ and the ‘obstacles’; Comollo’s advice; decision to enter the seminary.

[61] Cf. Appendix III, B-1 (T-B-1).

[62] Cf. Secondo Caselle, Giovanni Bosco a Chieri 1831-1841: Dieci anni che valgono una vita. Torino: Edizioni Acclaim, 1988, p. 97]. Lemoyne transcribes this document both in Documenti and [cf. note 60 above]in the Biographical Memoirs [cf. IBM I, 301f; EBM I, 226].

[63] The contents and sequence in the first crisis are as follows [cf. IBM I, 286-306; EBM I, 214-229. and MO-Ce, 79ff.; MO-En, 110f]: vocational discernement late during the humanities year (fourth year of secondary studies); first (accurate) quoted reference to the recurrence of the Becchi Dream at ‘other times’ with suggestion of the priesthood; John’s doubts and ‘humility’ statement; lack of a spiritual guide; John’s decision to join the Franciscans and resons for wanting to become a religious; John obtains necessary papers, but Mamma Margaret is not told; John’s return to Chieri with new lodging arrangements; life at the Pianta Café; John’s piety, good example, apostolate, lessons to sacristan Palazzolo; Pastor Dassano tells Mamma Margaret of John’s decision to join the Franciscans; Mamma Margaret’s selfless words; John’s dire need; Joseph’s Blanchard’s charity and Don Bosco’s later acknowledgement; John’s application, examination and acceptance for the Franciscans (document of acceptance is given in a footnote); the Dream on the Franciscans; the confessor is no help; John is doubtful, but decides to go ahead and takes leave of Mamma Margaret and of the new parish priest, Fr. Cinzano; Mr. Evasio Savio advises John to consult Fr. Cafasso and acts to obtain financial help for him; Fr. Cafasso advises John to enter the seminary; Margaret is in agreement provided it is God’s will; God manifests his will through another dream; second (inaccurate) quoted reference to the recurrence of the Becchi dream “at the age of 19 and at other times thereafter”; the Dream of ‘Imperious Command’ (narrated to Barberis around 1870) is reported; for all these reason John drops the idea of joining the Franciscans.

The contents and sequence in the second crisis are as follows [IBM I, 363-366; EBM I, 271ff.]: at the end of the rhetoric year, again doubts arise whehter to enter the seminary or join the Franciscans; the ‘incident’ and the ‘obstacles’ are reported in the words of Don Bosco’s Memoirs; Louis Comollo’s and Fr. Comollo’s role; Fr. Cafasso and Fr. Cinzano, consulted again to the same effect; decision to enter the seminary.

[64] “The Murialdo [Becchi] dream remained imprinted [on my mind]; indeed it had recurred at other times in much clearer terms, so that to put faith in it I would have to choose the priesthood, toward which I actually felt inclined” [IBM I, 286; EBM I, 214; cf. MO-En, 110].

[65] “The Murialdo [Becchi] dream recurred at the age of 19 and at other times thereafter” [IBM I, 305; EBM I, 229].

[66] “It seems that he urged John to seek Fr. Cafasso’s advice” [cf. IBM I, 303; EBM I, 228].

[67] Doc I, 153: FDBMicro 968 D1; IBM 1, 286f.; EBM I, 214.

[68] MO-En, 110; Appendix III, A-1 (T-A-1).

[69] Cf. Appendix IV.

[70] Cf. note 7 above, and text relating thereto.

[71] Cf. Appendix IV, A-1 (T-A-1), B-1 (T-B-1)

[72] Ibid. Fr. Turchi alone is mentioned in Documenti; both are given as source in the Biographical Memoirs.

[73] A perusal of the Ruffino chronicles [cf. ASC 110: Cronachette-Ruffino: FDBMicro 1206-1218] failed to turn up the passage in question. No reference is made to the dream in Fr. John Turchi’s testimony at the Diocesan Process [cf. ASC 161: Testi: FDBMicro 2196ff.]. Fr. John Turchi, who left Don Bosco soon after his ordination in 1861, presumably authored a chronicle as a member of the original ‘historical committee,’ but it is no longer extant [cf. EBM VI, 505ff.; Deramaut, Mem I, 203 and 137ff.] Perhaps that was Lemoyne’s, as well as to Barberis’, source.

[74] Cf. Appendix IV, A-3 (T-A-3).

[75] After his ordination in 1841 Don Bosco, on Fr. Cafasso’s advice, enrolled in the Convitto. This was a pastoral institute for newly-ordained priests housed in a former Franciscan monastery, attached to the churtch of St. Francis of Assisi, in Turin. Its full name was Convitto Ecclesiastico di San Francesco d’Assisi [Pastoral Institute for Priests at St. Francis of Assisi]. In the present essay the traditional short form ‘Convitto’ will be used exclusively.

Don Bosco in his Memoirs speaks highly of this institution, and in particular of it ‘founders’, Fr. Guala and Fr. Cafasso [cf. MO-En, 180ff.]. The merit of having conceived and realized the institute is variously attributed to Fr. Pius Bruno Lanteri (1739-1830) or to Fr. Louis Guala (1775-1848), or to both. Probably it was Fr. Lanteri who conceived the project (intending it to be one of the purposes of his congregation, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary). But when he was unable to put the plan into effect himself, his associate Fr. Guala started conferences in moral theology which he later developed into a proper program as Rector of the church of St. Francis of Assisi.

The trwo-year program of studies at the Convitto included the following; (1) Conferences in moral-pastoral theology, with an anti-rigorist, Alphonsian orientation, especially with regard to sacramental practice; (2) Renewal of preaching in content and style; (3) Opportunity for the student priests to explore practical applications of the moral pastoral teaching, and hence to be involved in basic and new priestly ministries (preaching, visiting the sick, prison ministry, catechetical instruction, care of poor and neglected young people).

Fr. Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860) enrolled in the Convitto after his ordination in 1833. He stayed on to serve as assistant lecturer under Fr. Guala. In 1844 he became principal lecturer and acting-Rector, and finally succeeded Fr. Guala as Rector of both institute and church on the latter’s death in 1848.

Besides distinguishing himself as a lecturer and pastor, Fr. Cafasso was the inspired spiritual director and guide of the Convitto priests. He directed them towards various ‘new’ ministries, with special attention given to the problem of prison inmates of juveniles at risk. Don Bosco made his apprenticeship in Fr. Cafasso in the years 1841-1844. And it is out of this experience that his definitive option for the young was formed [Cf. L. Cristiani, A Cross for Napoleon: The Life of Father Bruno Lanteri (1759-1830), tr. K. Mayes and M. Soudée. Boston: St. Paul Ed., 1981; Stella, DB-EcSoc, 43-48; Sussidi 2: Dizionarietto. Roma: Dicastero per la Formazione, 1988, p. 289f. G. Usseglio, “Il teologo Guala e il Convitto Ecclesiastico,” Salesianum 10 (1948) 453-502].

[76] Cf. Appendix IV, A-1 (T-A-1) and A-2 (T-A-2) for Documenti, vol. I and II; B-1 (T-B-1) and B-2 (T-B-2) for Biographical Memoirs, vol. I and II.

[77] Biographical Memoirs: Appendix IV, B-2 (T-B-2) compared with A-2 (T-A-2). It may be noted that Barberis’s account [cf. A-3 (T-A-3)] is quite free from such ‘psychic’ undercurrents.

[78] Appendix IV, A-1 (T-A-1) and B-1 (T-B-1). In the Biographical Memoirs Lemoyne appears to want to soften this statement, and writes that Don Bosco’s mission was not only to work among innocent lads. But the second part of his sentence does not properly complete the thought.

[79] Cf. Appendix V.

[80] Note 7 above, and text relating thereto.

[81] The Diocesan Process took place between 1892 and 1897. Hence its testimonies became available to Lemoyne for use in the Biographical Memoirs (Vol. I was published in 1898), but not in Documenti [cf. also note 42]. He could, of course, as he did in other instances, insert the testimonies as marginal additions at the appropriate place in Documenti. That he did not do this might be explained by the fact that by that time he was already working on the Biographical Memoirs [cf. A. Lenti, “Don Bosco’s Boswell: John Baptist Lemoyne—the Man and His Work,” Journal of Salesian Studies 1 (1990:2) 31ff.].

[82] Cf. note 44 above, and text relating thereto. Mr. Joseph Turco was the seventh of forty-five witnesses who testified at the Diocesan Process. He testified at sessions 89-90, July 6-7, 1892 [cf. Stella, DB III, 75. 79. 80 and 118, where one should read Joseph, not John Turco].

[83] Bishop John Cagliero was the sixteenth of forty-five witnesses to testify at the Diocesan Process (from March to May 1893, 23 sessions, 143 to 168) [cf. Stella, DB III, 75 and 119]. For this discussion the relevant portion of his testimony is quoted from the Summarium [cf. Appendix V, A-2].

[84] Cf. note 7 above, and text relating thereto. Cf. also Appendix V, B-4 (T-B-4).

[85] Cf. Appendix V, B-1-a (T-B-1-a); Joseph Bosco (by this time married to Maria Calosso) worked and lived at the Sussambrino farm. Margaret lived there for the most part, and John would also stay at Sussambrino ‘with the family’ during the holidays [cf. also note 46 above, and text relating thereto].

[86] This may be argued from the episode’s position in the Biographical Memoirs, where it is placed before John Bosco began his theology in the fall of 1837 [cf. EBM I, 310-330).

[87] Cf. Appendix V, A-1-a (T-A-1-a).

[88] Cf. Appendix V, A-1-b (T-A-1-b) compared with B-1-b (T-B-1-b).

[89] Cf. Appendix V, B-2 (T-B-2) compared with A-2 (T-A-2). The comparison shows that without a doubt Lemoyne quotes Cagliero’s testimony. Cf. also note 82 above.

[90] Cf. MO-En, 20f. and Appendix I, A (T-A), ending.

[91] Cagliero’s account of the Becchi Dream does indeed offer some puzzling elements. Don Bosco in relating the First Dream in his Memoirs writes, “I seemed to be standing near my home, in a very large courtyard […].” [cf. MO-En, 18; Appendix I, A (T-A), beginning]. Cagliero, on the other hand, says: “He saw the valley transformed into a city.” This image is unique to Cagliero’s account of the Becchi Dream. Did it originate with Don Bosco or with Cagliero? Is it one of the images of the original dream experience, or an extrapolation from the fact that historically the city of Turin became the theater of Don Bosco’s oratory activity?

Then Cagliero says that in the dream John saw that “many of the lambs, as they grew up, turned also into shepherds.” This image is absent from Don Bosco’s account of the Becchi dream in his Memoirs, but it occurs in the Dream of 1844, also related in the Memoirs [cf. MO-En, 210; Appendix VI, A-2]. Again, Is this one of the images of the Becchi Dream omitted by Don Bosco in his narrative, or is it due to ‘interference’ from another dream in Cagliero’s recall when he testified in 1893? After all, it is likely that Cagliero was acquainted, if not familiar, with Don Bosco’s Memoirs (written in mid-1870s); in which the Becchi Dream and the Dream of 1844 are the only vocation dreams related in extensive detail.

[92] Cf. Appendix VI, VII and VIII (Dream of 1844, First and Second Dream of the Holy Martyrs).

[93] Cf. MO-En, 110; note 3 above, and text relating thereto; also, Appendix III, A-1 [T-A-1].

[94] Cf. MO-En, 209f. and note 2; also, Appendix VI, A-1 (T-A-1) and A-3 (T-A-3). These dreams, to be discussed more fully below, accompany that period of vocational discernment through which Don Bosco re-founded the oratory (so to speak). This was in 1844, when he left the haven of the Convitto and the church of St. Francis of Assisi, and out of the little oratory he had begun there he created his very own, the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales.

[95] Cf. Appendix VI.

[96] Note 7 above, and text relating thereto.

[97] Julie V. F. Colbert (1785-1864) with her husband, the rich Charles Tancred Falletti, Marquis of Barolo, founded, in Turin, numerous works of charity and religious congregations to take care for them. The shelter for girls and young women at risk, called the ‘Rifugio’, dedicated to Our Lady, Refuge of Sinners, was founded in 1821 in the Valdocco area. Fr. John Baptist Borel, Don Bosco’s great friend and supporter, was its chaplain and spiritual director. After her husband’s death, she increased her benefactions. Among other foundations, in 1845 she established the Little hospital of St. Philomena, for handicapped young girls, also in the Valdocco area. Don Bosco was apponited its chaplain-designate in 1844 while it was being built. She was also planning to establish a society of priests under the patronage of St. Francis de Sales, housed at the same hospital. to care for her foundations as chaplains [cf. Sussidi 2: Dizionarietto. Roma: Dicastero per la Formazione, 1988, p. 236-239].

Don Bosco lived at the Rifugio with Fr. Borel from October 1844, when he left the Convitto, until he moved to the Pinardi house in 1846. He gathered his oratory on the premises of the Rifugio for six weeks, and thereafter at the Little Hospital’s ‘priests’ quarters’, until ‘evicted’ in May 1845

In this essay these institutions will be referred to as the Rifugio and the Little Hospital, respectively.

[98] MO-DB, 94: FDBMicro 58 C11. Cf. Appendix VI, A-1-b [T-A-1-b].

[99] MO-DB, 95: FDBMicro 58 C12. Cf. Appendix VI, A-3 [T-A-3]. Don Bosco’s additions are italicized.

[100] MO-Ber, 88: FDBMicro 61 D4. For these and the other editorial changes cf. Appendix VI A-2 and A-3.

[101] Both in Documenti and in Biographical Memoirs Lemoyne speaks of this dream as of a wonderful and comforting experience that came to relieve Don Bosco’s mind and to reveal the future to him [cf. Appendix VI, B-1-a-Doc (T-B-1-a-Doc) and B-1-a (T-B-1-a)]. It may also be noted that when Lemoyne records yet another onset of missionary desire on Don Bosco’s part in 1844 (which Don Bosco does not mention in his Memoirs), he fails to attach much vocational significance to it. In fact one gains the impression (from Lemoyne’s account), that it was all for Fr. Cafasso’s benefit — namely, to get Fr. Cafasso to come out and say what the will of God was in Don Bosco’s regard [cf. IBM II, 203ff.; EBM II, 160ff.].

[102] Cf. Appendices VII and VIII.

[103] Cf. note 99 above, and text relating thereto.

[104] Appendix VII, B-1-a-Doc (T-B-1-a-Doc)

[105] ‘Original’ draft: Notizie varie dei primi tempi dell’Oratorio su D Bosco ecc., p. 11f., ‘2 Febbraio 1875’ in ASC 110: Cronachette-Barberis, FDBMicro 892 A11f. It is a neatly but densely written report in Barberis’s hand, with few corrections. It is remarkable in that it lacks the dream scenes where Don Bosco is shown churches and buildings, but it nonetheless records the scene where the Lady points out the spot of the martyrdom. This document bears the heavy double slash at the beginning of each line, the mark of Lemoyne’s (intended) use of the text.

Barberis’ ‘finalized’ report is at ASC 110: Cronachette-Barberis, “Sogni Diversi a Lanzo”, FDBMicro 866 B10-C1. This is the text transcribed in Appendix VII, A. One of the features of this text is that it gives the most detailed description of Don Bosco’s dealings with the Rosminians for the re-purchase of the ‘field of dreams’. Identical ‘Derived’ copies (all virtually identical) are: ASC 111: Sogni-Barberis, “Il nastro bianco +Rivelazione della Congregazione” (calligraphic copy), FDBMicro 1279 C6-11 and 1282 E8-1283 A1; ASC 111: Sogni-Lemoyne, “Visione riguardante la Congregazione’ (in Lemoyne’s hand), FDBMicro 1314 B10-C5. This last text should be considered the immediate source for Lemoyne’s narrative in Documenti and in the Biographical Memoirs.

[106] Note 103 above (FDBMicro 892 A11). The Occellettis lived in Via Federico Campana at the the southern edge of the Borgo San Salvario. Borgo San Salvario itself lay at the southern end of the city, south of the Viale del Re or dei Platani (CorsoVittorio Emanuele II). The Oratory of St. Aloysius had been established at the northern edge of this borough in 1847 and the church of St. John the Evangelist would be dedicated here in 1882. In 1859 Chevalier Charles Occelletti had begun, at his own residence, the Oratory of St. Joseph, subsequently run by the Salesians (1863-1866).

[107] They had been to dinner at the Occellettis [cf. note 106 above, and text relating thereto].

[108] Note 103 above (FDBMicro 866 B10). Cf. Appendix VII, A-1-a (T-A-1-a).

[109] Appendix VII, B-1-a (T-B-1-a).

Cf. J. Barberis, Il culto di Maria Ausiliatrice. Torino: SEI, 1920. After transcribing his report of Don Bosco’s narration regarding the purchase of the ‘field of dreams’ and the place where the church of Mary help of Christians was eventually built [cf. Appendix VII, A-5 (T-A-5)], Barberis writes: “Thus far, my report. Later the Venerable [Don Bosco] related the same story, with further details, to other Salesians, and to Fr. John Lemoyne in particular. The latter made use of my report and of what he himself had heard from Don Bosco. He thus compiled the most detailed account yet of those events for the biography of the Venerable which he authored” [p. 53]. (These are the details edited in IBM VII, 372ff. and 380ff; EBM VII, 223f. and 227f.].

[110] Appendix VIII, B-1-b (T-B-1-b). The twenty years are reckoned from 1864, when Lemoyne first entered the Oratory. In 1865 he was sent to Lanzo as director, in which capacity he served until, in1877, he was sent (farther away) to Mornese and Nizza as chaplain to the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. He was recalled to Turin as secretary in 1883 [cf. A. Lenti, “Don Bosco’s Boswell […],” Journal of Salesian Studies 1 (1990:2) 12-19].

[111] The various stages and stops of the oratory from the time it left St. Francis of Assisi (October 1844) to the settling at Pinardi’s (April 1846) may be listed as follows: (1) On the second Sunday, 13th of October, 1844 (after the dream of the preceding night) Don Bosco announced that the oratory would thereafter meet at the Rifugio. It met there for the first time on the third Sunday (October 20) and continued to meet there until the first Sunday of Advent, December 1. (2) Meanwhile Don Bosco was given permission by Marchioness Barolo to use two rooms and some adjacent space at the Little Hospital of St. Philomena, which was under construction at the time and of which Don Bosco was chaplain-designate. The oratory met there for the first time on December 8, 1844 and continued to use the premises until Sunday, May 18, 1845 [cf. note 97 above]. (3) By permission from the resident chaplain, though not from the City, Don Bosco gathered his oratory at the Cemetery of the Holy Cross (St. Peter in Chains) on one Sunday, May 25, 1845, and was promptly evicted. (4) For a few Sundays thereafter the meetings may have taken place out-of-doors and at various churches, until (5) Permission for restricted use of the church of St. Martin at the Dora Mills was granted by the City to Fr. Borel by letter of July 12, 1845. The oratory continued to meet at St. Martin’s, not without local protest, until Sunday, December 21 (not 22) permission being officially terminated by an official communication dated January 1, 1846. (6) After Christmas of 1845 Fr. Borel and Don Bosco rented three rooms in Fr. John Baptist Moretta’s house, in the Valdocco area, and the oratory met there until some time in March 1846, when Fr. Moretta, under pressure from disgruntled tenants, refused to renew the lease. (7) In March and early April, 1846 the oratory (by now 300 or 400 strong) used a grassy field rented from the Filippi brothers and located near the Moretta house. (8) Meanwhile Fr. Borel’s and Don Bosco’s attention was drawn to a shed attached to a house in the vicinity, by a Mr. Pancratius Soave who had rented the house, but not the shed, from the owner, a Mr. Francis Pinardi. On April 1, 1846 the lease for the use of the shed was signed by Fr. Borel for three years, and the oratory met there for the first time on Easter Sunday, April 12, 1846, never again to leave. [Cf. MO-En, 215-262; EBM II, passim; P. Stella, DB-EcSoc, 74ff.; F. Giraudi, L’Oratorio di Don Bosco. Inizio e progressivo sviluppo edilizio della casa madre dei salesiani in Torino. Torino: SEI, 1935; p. 32 and passim.

[112] Cf. note 106 above, and text relating thereto (“Today”).

[113] ASC 111: Sogni-Barberis (FDBMicro 1279 C6). Identical text in Lemoyne’s hand in ASC 111: Sogni-Lemoyne, “Visione riguardante la Congregazione” (FDBMicro 1314 B10). Cf. note 104 above.

[114] Appendix VII, B-Doc (T-B-Doc).

[115] Cf. Appendix VIII, a-1 (T-A-1) and B-1-a (T-B-1-a).

[116] Cf. Appendix VII.

[117] Cf. note 105 above and Appendix VII, A.

[118] Appendix VII, A-5 (T-A-5), at the end.

[119] Appendix VII, B-2 (T-B-2).

[120] Cf. Appendix VII, B-5-Doc and B-5 (IBM VII, 372ff. and 380ff.; EBM VII, 223f. and 227f.) [cf. note 109 above, and text relating thereto].

[121] Cf. note 105 above.

[122] Cf. Appendix VII, B-2.

[123] Appendix VII, B-3 (T-B-3) and B-6 (T-B-6).

[124] Cf. Appendix VII, B-4 (T-B-4) compared with B-4-Doc (T-B-4-Doc) and A-4 (T-A-4). Canon Gastaldi memoir of the Holy Martyrs was published anonymously in the Catholic Readings as, Memorie storiche del martirio e del culto dei SS. Martiri Solutore, Avventore ed Ottavio, protettori della città di Torino, raccolte da un sacerdote torinese (Letture Cattoliche XIV: 1, Gennaio 1866). Torino: Tipografia dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales, 1966, esp. p. 42f. The partial dependence of the passage of the Biographical Memoirs on Gastaldi’s monograph is virtually certain. But apparently Gastaldi was willing to expand orally for the Salesians what he had set down more sparingly in writing. This may be the origin of the more detailed Salesian tradition about the place. For a fuller discussion, see E. Valentini, “Hic Domus Mea: Storia del santuario di Maria Ausiliatrice in Torino (1868-1968),” in Aiuto dei Cristiani Madre della Chiesa. Nel Centenario della Consacrazione della SuaBasilica di Torino 1868 – 9 giugno – 1968 (Accademia Mariana Salesiana VII). Zürich: PAS_Verlag, 1968, p.96-99.

[125] In Documenti Lemoyne writes that Don Bosco was standing at the border of the so-called Bordò di S. Massimo. In the Biographical Memoirs he replaces this designation with more recent names and speaks of Rondò or Valdocco Circle and Corso Regina Margherita. This boulevard was formerly known as Viale San Massimo, and the Bordò would have been where it came to an end, at the Circle.

[126] Cf. Appendix VIII, A-2 (T-A-2).

[127] Cf. Stella, DB-EcSoc, 73.

[128] Desramaut, Mem I, 251-255.

[129] Actually the intermediary has been identified. He is none other than Barberis [cf. note 38 above, and text relating thereto; Appendix II, A-1].

[130] “There would be, then, only one dream reported in a slightly different manner by six different witnesses. This conclusion, however, is at variance with a few small but troublesome phrases or reflections [in the texts]” [Desramaut, Mem I, 253]. Cf. also note 47 above, and text relating thereto.

[131] Appendix VII, A-3 (T-A-3)

[132] Appendix VII, B-1-a-Doc (T-B-1-a-Doc).

[133] Pages 29 to 158 of Don Bosco’s original draft., cf. Desramaut, Mem I, 116. The Dream of 1844 occurs on page 93f. of MO-DB (FDBMicro 58 C11f).

[134] This observation refers to historico-critical methodology. But it is understood here that such experiences (in our case, Don Bosco’s vocation-mission dream experiences) are approached with a more general method that includes a certain Christian understanding of reality. For instance, in this regard, M. Kelsey, after quoting a skeptical statement by B.H. Streeter, writes: “This is the attitude of many intellectuals […]. A world view that includes a belief in spiritual reality, however, would enable us to conclude the following. 1. God is always present, not only in the physical world, but also in the spiritual world, which constantly breaks through into our consciousness via the dream and the vision. 2. God gives direction to those who are open to them. 3. We can directly confront and experience this spiritual world […]” [Dreams: A Way to Listen to God, p. 69; cf. note 4 above].

[135] P. Braido, S. Giovanni Bosco. Scritti sul sistema preventivo nell’educazione della gioventù Brescia: La Scuola Ed., 1965, p.4.

[136] MO [Introd.]: MO-En, 3.

[137] The following passages of the Memoirs, together with the material connected with them, will be discussed or referred to: (1) The First Dream [MO [Intro.]: MO-Ce, 22-26; MO-En, 18-21]; (2) the short narrative of the Dream of ‘Reprimand’ [MO, 1. Dec., 4º: MO-Ce, 43f.; MO-En, 48]; (3) the reference to the recurrence of the dream with the accompanying comment [MO, 1. Dec., 14º: MO-Ce, 79f.; MO-En, 110]; (4) the short narrative of the Dream on the Franciscans [MO, 1. Dec., 14º: MO-Ce, 80f.; MO-En, 110f.]; (5) the Dream of 1844 [MO, 2. Dec., 15º: MO-Ce, 134f.; MO-En, 209f.].

[138] Teresio Bosco, Don Bosco. Una biografia nuova. Leumann (Torino): Editrice Elle Di Ci, 1979, p. 13.

[139] Cf. MO [Introd.]: MO-Ce, 21-27; MO-En, 9f. 18ff. 27.

[140] At this time Joseph was eleven years of age, and Anthony sixteen. As records show, Joseph remained illiterate throughout his life (although Lemoyne says that he did learn how to read and write [cf. IBM I, 96; EBM I, 73]). Anthony was able to sign his name to documents, and must have acquired rudimentary literacy. John had already received some instruction from a local farmer. But Margaret had proper schooling for John in mind, obviously at the public elementary school at Castelnuovo, for Becchi was a hamlet of Morialdo under Castelnuovo. But two miles was too great a distance to walk four times a day for one so young. So Margaret succeeded in enrolling John in Fr. Lacqua’s school in the nearby town of Capriglio, probably through the influence of her unmarried sister Joan Marie, nicknamed Marianna, who had entered Fr. Lacqua’s service as housekeeper around this time [cf. also Ibid.,94-100 and 72-76]. (Marianna remained in Fr. Lacqua’s service, when the latter moved to another town, also as municipal school teacher, until his death in 1850; whereupon she moved to Valdocco to help Margaret and became one of the Oratory ‘mothers’.)

Don Bosco makes another remark that is of interest in this respect. In speaking of the difficulty connected with attending school in Castelnuovo because of distance, he mentions an alternative that must have been discussed: “Recarmi in collegio si opponeva il fratello Antonio” [MO [Introd.]: MO-Ce, 22]. In context this appears to mean that Anthony was opposed to his ‘boarding’ in Castelnuovo (the alternative to walking the distance four times a day) [so MO-En, 9]. However, Lemoyne may have understood that the alternative discussed was a ‘boarding school’ (collegio)[IBM I, 96; and clearly so EBM I, 73], This is unlikely not only in view of context, but in view of the child’s tender age (eight years). If this were the case, however, then we would have to conclude that Margaret’s plans for John went far beyond elementary schooling, and certainly included the priesthood.

[141] “Perhaps the dream occured toward the end of John’s reduced period of schooling under Fr. Lacqua, in the year 1824-25. And it may have taken place at the time of the patronal feast of St. Peter [and Paul], when [such liturgical texts as] ‘Feed my lambs, feed my sheep’, were heard in [the village of] Morialdo. That was also the time when John, between nine and ten years old, had begun to put on Sunday entertainments, consisting of magic tricks and acrobatic stunts interpersed with prayers and religious instruction. It was in this context that he had the experience which was to “remain deeply impressed on his mind for the rest of his life”

[Stella, DB I, 29; cf. DB I-En, 7f.]

[142] Stella, DB I, 30, cf. DB I-En, 9.

[143] Fr. Calosso’s spotty records show him born in Chieri in 1760, studying theology in Turin, and ordained probably in 1782. After holding a parish for twenty-two years in a small town, he resigned at the age of fifty-three. There is practically no further record of his doings until, in the summer of 1829 (while John was still working at the Moglia farm), he was appointed chaplain of Morialdo, one of the villages of Castelnuovo, to which Becchi belonged. He was nearly seventy years old at the time, and he died a year later.(The age of seventy-five given in the parish record of his death and burial is an error.) John returned to Becchi from the Moglia farm at the beginning of November 1829 and met Fr. Calosso a few days later on the occasion of a Jubilee celebration.

This was the Jubilee proclaimed by Pius VIII on his accession to the papacy in March 1829 (not to be confused, as Don Bosco has it in his Memoirs, with the Holy Year kept four years earlier under Leo XII). It was to be celebrated in the various dioceses on dates established by the local ordinaries. Archbishop Chiaverotti of Turin set the dates of November 8-22 for his archdiocese. A triduum preparatory to the Jubilee exercises was held in the town of Buttigliera, beginning on November 5, with sermons by preachers that attracted people from towns, villages and hamlets round about. It was under these circumstances that Fr. Calosso and John Bosco, now fourteen years old, met one evening after devotions [Cf. J. Klein – E. Valentini, “Una rettificazione cronologica delle Memorie di san Giovanni Bosco,” Salesianum 17 (1955) 581-610; Desramaut, Mem I, 128f.; M. Molineris, Don Bosco inedito. Quello che le biografie di San Giovanni Bosco non dicono. Colle Don Bosco: Istituto Salesiano Bernardi-Semeria, 1974, p. 153-162. Stella, DB I, 37-40; DB I-En, 17-20.

[144] Cf. MO, 1. Dec., 2º-3º: Mo-Ce, 33-41; MO-En, 33-36. 41-43.

[145] For the comments that follow, cf. G. Dacquino, Psicologia di Don Bosco, 2. ed., Torino: SEI, 1988, p. 20-23. 26-31.

[146] MO, 1. Dec., 3º: MO-Ce, 40; MO-En, 42.

[147] MO, 1 Dec., 4º: MO-Ce, 43; MO-En, 48.

[148] MO, ibid.

[149] Cf. pp. 12-19 above.

[150] MO, ibid.

[151] All quotes from, and references to, Don Bosco’s Memoirs in the paragraphs that follow under the present heading are from: MO, 1. Dec., 14º: MO-Ce, 79-83; MO-En, 110ff.

[152] As has been mentioned , the crisis centering on the Franciscan episode took place during the humanities year (1834). John applied to enter the Franciscan convent, took his examinations and was accepted on April 8, 1834 [cf.note 60, 62 and 63 above, and text relating thereto].

[153] On Fr. Maloria, and the possible didactic aim of Don Bosco’s characterization of him in this matter, cf. Stella, DB I, 44f.; DB I-En, 26f.

[154] Cf. Stella, DB I, 46f.; DB I-En, 28f.

[155] “If I become a secular priest […] my vocation runs a great risk of shipwreck. I will embrace the priesthood; but I will renounce the world, enter the cloister, and dedicate myself to study and meditation. Thus in solitute I will be able to combat my passions, especially my pride” [MO, ibid.]

[156] Cf. note 19 above.

[157] MO-Ce, 81, note to line 42.

[158] For a discussion of the Dream at the Age of Nineteen (Dream of ‘Imperious Command’) cf. pp. 19-23 above.

It was noted at that point that in quoting the ‘humility statement’ just referred to here, Lemoyne, both in Documenti and in the Biographical Memoirs, skips what may be the key phrase in it, namely, “certain habitual tendencies of my heart” [cf. notes 67 and 68 above, and text relating thereto].

The doublet of the crisis as recorded in the Biographical Memoirs has also been discussed [cf. note 63 above, and text relating thereto]. It may be pointed out that in reporting the ‘incident’ and the ‘obstacles’, and Comollo’s role, in connection with the second crisis, Lemoyne sees no problem and expresses no curiosity.

[159] IBM I, 366; EBM I, 274. In effect, the name John Melchior Bosco appears on the list of draftees of the military district of Asti prepared for a drawing on November 5, 1835. He had disqualified himself by opting for the seminary and by receiving the clerical habit on October 25. Opposite John’s name there appears the notation, “exempted […] as a cleric called by his Lordship the Bishop” [S. Caselle, Op. cit., p. 145. Cf. note 62 above].

[160] An author quoted by Caselle maintains that the real reason John wanted to join the Franciscans was precisely because neither he nor his family could meet the financial obligations of the seminary [cf. E. Dervieux, Un secolo del Seminario Arcivescovile di Chieri 1829-1929. Chieri: Premiata Officina Grafica G. Astesano, 1929, in S. Caselle, Op. cit., p. 83. Cf. note 62 above].

[161] Lemoyne mentions Fr. Michael Anthony Cinzano (pastor of Castlnuovo), the well-to-do Fr. Louis Guala (Rector of the Convitto), and Fr.Joseph Cafasso (by now finishing his course at the Convitto); also the laymen, Mr. Spirito Sartoris and the Chevalier John Baptist Pescarmona.

[162] IBM I, 363; EBM I, 272.

[163] MO, 2. Dec., 12º: MO-Ce 124; MO-En, 187.

[164] It may noted that whereas in his Memoirs Don Bosco speaks of one young man (Bartholomew Garelli), in the Cenno Storico of 1854 he speaks of two young adults [cf.Pietro Braido, Don Bosco per i giovani: l”<Oratorio>; Una <Congregazione degli Oratori>. Documenti (Piccola Biblioteca dell’Istituto Storico Salesiano 9). Roma: LAS, 1988, p. 35.

This is a critical edition of a number of documents in which Don Bosco speaks of the origin and work of the Salesian Society: [1] Introduzione and [2] Cenno storico dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales (from the Piano di Regolamento per l’Oratorio […] of 1854); [3] Cenni storici intorno all’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales of 1862; [4] Cenno istorico sulla Congregazione di S. Francesco di Sales e relativi schiarimenti [drafted early August1873 at Lanzo]. Roma: Tipografia Poliglotta della S.C. di Propaganda, 1874. [5] Riassunto della Pia Società di S. Francesco di Sales nel 23 Febbraio 1874. [6] Don Bosco’s Letter on the Origin of the Oratory to Marquis Michael Benso of Cavour, Vicar for the City of Turin, March 13, 1846, [orig. in Archivio Storico della Città di Torino, Vicariato].

[165] MO, Ibid., 126 and 190.

[166] Cf. IBM II, 203-207; EBM II, 160-163. It is in this connection that Lemoyne recalls the Clothes-Mending Dream and Fr. Cafasso’s “deep-rooted conviction” regarding Don Bosco’s true vocation.

[167] Cf. notes 154, 155, 162 above, and text relating thereto. Lemoyne even quotes Don Bosco as saying: “If Our Lord calls me to the religious life, he will find some one else to take care of the young people” [IBM, EBM, ibid.].

[168] Cf. MO, 2. Dec., 14º: MO-Ce, 132ff.; MO-En, 202ff.

[169] Cf. MO, ibid.

[170] Appendix VI, A-1-b (T-A-1-b).

[171] Cf. Cf. Ramón Alberdi, “Don Bosco Fondatore dei Salesiani,” in Don Bosco Fondatore della Famiglia Salesiana. Atti del Simposio, Roma-Salesianum (22-26 gennaio 1989), a cura di Mario Midali. Roma: Dicastero per la Famiglia Salesiana, 1989, [pp. 149-196], p.153f.

[172] Cf. pp. 32ff. above and Appendix VI.

[173] [Don Bosco] Cose da notarsi intorno alle Costituzioni della Società di S. Francesco di Sales, in F. Motto, Giovanni Bosco. Costituzioni della Società di S. Francesco di Sales [1858–1875. Testi critici. Roma: LAS, 1982, p. 229 (IBM VII, 622; omitted in EBM VII, 376); Cf. Alberdi, op. cit., 149f.

[174] Alberdi, op. cit., 153f.

[175] Cenno Storico of 1854, in Braido, op. cit.[cf. note 164 above], 44.

[176] Cf. pp. 34-44 above for a discussion, and Appendix VII for the text.

[177] This list of essential vocation-mission images is compiled from the dreams related by Don Bosco in his Memoirs [cf. note 135 above] and from Barberis’s report of the First Dream of the Holy Martyrs.

[178] IBM XVIII, 340f.