Don
Bosco was in love with the missions from his early years. In his young age, he
felt an interior voice calling him to preach the Gospel in mission lands. But
Fr. Cafasso guided him to fulfill God’s plan for another mission. Though Don
Bosco never went to the missions, he never abandoned his missionary ideal;
rather, he nurtured it in his heart. It was this zeal that inspired him to send
his sons as missionaries all over the world. One of his last recommendations
was: “Save many souls in the missions.”(Don
Bosco nel mondo 157) 
The
ideal of the missions was always alive in Don Bosco. In 1861 in the “dream” of
the magic lantern the Lord disclosed to him the future of the Salesian
Congregation. He showed him “an immense crowd of youth, from different
countries, speaking various languages… ‘They are all your sons’.”[VI
897-916].Eleven years later the Lord revealed to him the mission field for his
sons: Patagonia. The dream was rich in hope because Don Bosco saw that his
sons, with the help of the Blessed Virgin, were reaping abundant fruit where
others had failed. (X: 54—55). After this dream “he felt his zeal for the
missions burning bright, but he could not understand where the crowd of young
people belonged. (X 1267).
However, in 1874 when the Consul for
Argentina came to see Don Bosco, everything became instantly clear to him; with
great enthusiasm he began making preparations for the first missionary
expedition. He invited his Salesians to volunteer. “They must give an
application in writing, stating their willingness to go as members of our
Congregation. The members of the Superior Chapter will then take into
consideration the health, knowledge, physical, and moral strength of each of
them. Only those will be chosen who give guarantee that the expedition will be
for the good of their souls and for the glory of God.”(Annali I. 250). It is really interesting to read how Don Bosco’s
words in all his talks triggered “an increase of vocations; many asked to join
the Congregation, and apostolic zeal animated all of them.” (Annali I. 252). On November 11, 1875, in
the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, a solemn function marked the
expedition of Fr.Cagliero and nine other young missionaries. [XI 372-390].
Expeditions have followed ever since.
We can have a good idea about the
spirit of our first missionaries by browsing through the souvenirs that Don
Bosco gave to them; they must seek souls; they must love all, working for them
with all their strength; they must respect authorities and all persons; they
must promote frequent reception of the sacraments, and devotion to the Blessed
Virgin; they must shine out with lives of poverty and union with God, expecting
their reward from Him alone. (XI 389) Don Bosco loved to speak of the missions
and his missionaries. Speaking to the boys he would say; “To give you an idea
of the need of priests in the missions I shall read you al letter I have just
received… ‘Here, even at the point of death, it is not possible to receive the
comforts of our holy religion. Many people are without a priest. They have no
mass on Sundays. Some travel days and nights by all means of transportation, in
order to be able to attend Mass…’” Don Bosco also had a world atlas kept in his
room to which he would constantly refer.
His
talks gave rise to the “Scuola di Fuoco” designed to prepare adult candidates
for the missions. “I’d like to cast the net far and wide and catch many fish.
From America they continually plead for more missionaries. There is an acute
scarcity of priests there.” Listening to
these words of Don Bosco the boys were caught up with the ideal. They prayed
fervently. More and more boys desired to become Salesians and go to the
missions.
Animated by a true ecclesial spirit
Don Bosco tried to make the cooperators aware of the needs in the missions.
From them, he received the means for the journeys and for other most urgent
needs. (XIII. 626).
Such
was the zeal of our Father. He was a missionary, though he did not go to the
missions. He lived the missionary ideal intensely. He used to say: “How
wonderful it will be when our missionaries from the Congo, going from one
station to another, will meet their confreres coming from the banks of the Nile
and will embrace each other praising the Lord.” Sometime later, the shepherd
girl of the dream he had in Barcelona, revealed to Don Bosco that from Santiago
in Chile to Peking cutting across Africa, all the lands will constitute the
mission fields of the Salesians.
Don Bosco wanted his Congregation to
have a strong missionary character. In 1875, he chose 10 Salesians who would be
sent to South America. Before he died he had already sent out 10 missionary
expeditions. In 1883, in the time of Don Bosco, the Salesians overseas numbered
153, i.e. almost 20% of the then total membership.
The successors of Don Bosco,
faithful to the spirit of the Founder, have always given special consideration
to the missions of the Congregation. The 19th G.C underlined the ideal of Don
Bosco who wanted the work of the missions to be the constant concern of the
Congregation. The missions form part of its nature and scope.
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