JANUARY 20

One midnight in 1861 a mighty rumbling shook the Oratory to its very foundations. A thunderbolt fell into the room of Don Bosco. It threw him into the middle of it unconscious, and left the place in disorder. His first thought, on coming to, was for his boys who slept on the floor above. He prayed to Mary for them; and there was need of his prayers. The electric discharge had passed through the dormitory, wrecked the roof, and filled the boys with so much fear that their panic would have complemented the work of the thunderbolt In the Babel of cries, shouts, weeping and darkness the sweet and smiling figure of Don Bosco appeared holding a lamp before him and standing on a pile of bricks and mortar.  

"Fear not!" he called in a reassuring tone. "We have a good Father and a good Mother in heaven watching over us!" 

As God willed, the confusion subsided. The father ascertained whether all were safe and having seen that, he uttered a "Thanks be to God!" that came straight from his heart. 

"Let us thank...!" he continued, "our Lord and Our Blessed Lady! They have preserved us from a grave danger. Woe to us if the house had also caught fire! Who of us would have been saved then?"

Not so much occupied was he in that moment as to forget to make all, there and then kneel before an image of Our Lady and recite the Litany in her honor. Later on the clerics came to visit him and ask him if he had suffered any injuries. It was the third time that a thunderbolt had played havoc on the Oratory but this last time far surpassed the other two. Don Bosco nevertheless said: "We have obtained one of the best favors of Mary; let us thank her from the bottom of our hearts!’

In fact later investigation showed clearly that nothing was wanting to turn the accident into the hecatomb. He was told to put up a lightening conductor. "Yes! he replied, "Up there we shall set up a statue of Mary. Mary saved us so wonderfully from the lightening that it would be rank ingratitude to trust any other. 

The little statue, the true protectress of the pioneer Oratory still stands there as token of the filial love of Don Bosco for the Queen of Heaven. Before the end of that year the Oratory was again frightened: This time by the sinking of a vault beneath a new building. Don Bosco calmed them by his example. "The devil, if he remarked tranquilly, "wanted to put his tail in again! But never fear; 'onward' is the word!