[...] 29th, 2007 by intothedeep Want to impress your Salesian friends? Good! Just click this link to read up on some little known facts about St John Bosco, and to find some links to some fun [...]
Don Bosco Trivia
- Don Bosco was only about 5′4″ tall. (source)
- Due to an eye problem he had to wear blue sunglasses. When he would wear them he would say jokingly say, “Now, my dear young friends, I can see not only you, but also your thoughts.” (source)
- In the following picture - click for a larger image - (often said to be the best and most realistic one of Don Bosco) he is almost completely blind in his right eye. (source)
- Bosco means “wood” or “forest” in the Piedmontese dialect, so the Salesian coat of arms contains an allusion to it.
- As a kid Don Bosco learned how to juggle, walk a tight rope, perform magic tricks, and apprenticed as a carpenter, printer, blacksmith, tailor, and cobbler (shoe-maker). He later used all of these skills to help his boys. (source)
- Don Bosco once tried to teach himself English so that he could travel to England and America, but his spiritual director (St Joseph Cafasso) upon seeing him getting frustrated with his English grammar, told him that he would never do so, so he prompty switched to French! (Biographical Memoirs)
- Don Bosco surived being hit by lightening TWICE! (source)
- Prince Augustus Czartoryski, the grandson of Queen Maria Christina of Spain, asked Don Bosco if he could enter the Salesian Order on May 24, 1884. Don Bosco, doubting that the prince would be able to endure the poverty of the Salesian life, refused him several times to test his resolve. Knowing that Don Bosco was always obedient to the pope, Prince Augustus went asked Pope Leo XIII for his support. Although he did not pull any strings for St Therese when she appealed to him (many years later) for assistance, he told the prince to tell Don Bosco to let him become a Salesian! Prince Augustus’ spiritual director was Blessed Michael Kalinowski who later became a Carmelite. (source)
- Blessed Pope Pius IX once offered Don Bosco the title of “Monsignor” but Don Bosco asked to always remain a “Father”. (source)
- Don Bosco was a friend of many other saints during his life time. (source) Among them are
- St Joseph Cafasso - his spiritual director
- St Maria Mazzarello - Co-founder with him of the Salesian Sisters
- St Dominic Savio - his student
- St Leonard Murialdo - fellow priest and advocate of the poor
- St Benedict Joseph Cottologeno - Founder of the Little House for the Poor
- Blessed Michael Rua - one of his first followers and boys, first sucessor
- Blessed Philip Rinaldi - Salesian and 3rd successor as head of the Salesians
- Blessed Luigi Guanella - former Salesian novice
- Blessed Louis Orione - former Salesian novice
- Blessed Augustus Czartoryski - Salesian and Polish Prince
- Venerable Margaret Occhiena - his mother
- Venerable Andrew Beltrami - Salesian
Feel like you know a lot about Don Bosco now? Why not take a short quiz on his life to see how much a Salesian scholar you really are!
Wondering what kind of Salesian you would be? Try this quiz to find out!
Want to become a Salesian? Email me and I will hook you up!
Responses
By: Bored? Try Trivia! « Casting out into the deep, in a JPII sort of way… on May 29, 2007
at 10:42 pm
Great trivia… I will do you one on Opus Dei …. Have a good night
By: Rod on June 2, 2007
at 3:03 pm
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
By: Idetrorce on December 15, 2007
at 8:40 am
