Reporting of Federici Studies Center
An interesting court case in Valdocco
A letter to the magistrate of the city of Turin of 18 April 1865 opens an interesting and unprecedented glimpse into the daily life of Valdocco at the time. We are perhaps accustomed to thinking that in Valdocco, with the presence of Don Bosco, things always went well, especially in the fifties and early sixties when the Salesian work had not yet spread and Don Bosco lived in direct and constant contact with the children. Instead later, with a large heterogeneous mass of young people, educators, apprentice craftsmen, young students, novices, students of philosophy and theology, evening school students, “external” workers, difficulties could have arisen in the disciplinary management of the Valdocco community.
A rather serious fact
A letter to the magistrate of the city of Turin of 18 April 1865 opens an interesting and unprecedented glimpse into the daily life of Valdocco at the time. We reproduce it and then comment on it.
To the Urban Magistrate of the city of Turin
Having seen the citations to be given to the cleric Mazzarello assistant in the bookbinders' workshop of the house called Oratory of San Francesco de Sales; having also seen those to be communicated to the young Parodi Federico, Castelli Giovanni, Guglielmi Giuseppe and carefully considered the tenor the sac. Bosco Gioanni, director of this establishment, in the desire to resolve the issue with less disturbance from the authorities of the urban magistrate's court, believes he can intervene on behalf of everyone in the case relating to the young Boglietti Carlo, ready to give whoever the greatest satisfaction.
Before mentioning the fact in question it seems appropriate to note that the article 650 of the penal code seems entirely unrelated to the subject matter in question, since interpreted in the sense claimed, the urban magistrate's court would be introduced into the domestic regime of families, parents and their guardians could no longer correct their children nor prevent insolence and insubordination, [things] which would seriously damage public and private morality.
Also to keep certain young people mostly sent by the government authority in check, they had the right to use all those means deemed appropriate, and in extreme cases to send the public security arm as has been done several times.
Coming now to the matter of Carlo Boglietti, we must regretfully but frankly state:, that he was warned several times paternally to no avail; that he proved not only incorrigible, but he insulted, he threatened and cursed his assistant, cleric Mazzarello in front of his companions. Quell'assistant d'indoles meekest, and very meek, he was so scared, who from then on was always sick without ever being able to resume his duties and still lives as a sick person.
After that event Boglietti fled from the house without saying anything to his superiors to whom he was addressed and only made his escape known through his sister, when he learned that he wanted to hand himself over to the police station. Which was not done to preserve his honor.
In the meantime, a request is made for the damages that the assistant has suffered in honor and person to be repaired at least until he can resume his ordinary occupations.
May the costs of this case be borne by him. That nor it Boglietti Carlo, nor Mr. Caneparo Stefano his relative or advisor no longer come to the aforementioned establishment to renew the acts of insubordination and scandals already caused on other occasions.
Sac. Gio Bosco
What can I say? First of all, that the letter documents how he was among the young people welcomed in Valdocco in the sixties, when almost all the workshops for artisans had already been opened, often orphans, there were some sent by public security. Therefore the Oratory did not only welcome boys like Domenico Savio or Francesco Besucco or even Michele Magone, that is, excellent ones, good people and lively but good-hearted young people, but also difficult young people, problematic, with decidedly negative experiences behind them.
The very young Salesian educators of Valdocco were entrusted with the arduous task of re-educating them, also authorized to resort to "all those means deemed appropriate". Which? Certainly Don Bosco's Preventive System, the validity of which has been demonstrated by the experience underway for two decades in Valdocco. But to the test of facts, “in extreme cases”, for the most incorrigible young people, the same public force that had brought them there had to be resorted to.
In the case in question
Don Bosco, faced with the summons to court of one of his young clerics and some boys from the Oratory, he feels obliged to intervene directly with the established authority for the defense of his young educator, for the protection of the positive image of its Oratory and for the protection of its educational authority. With extreme clarity he indicates to the magistrate the possible negative consequences, for himself, for families and for society in general, of the rigid, and in his opinion unjustified, application of an article of the penal code.
As an excellent lawyer, with a reckless legal-educational harangue, Don Bosco thus transforms his defense into an accusation and the accuser into the accused, to the point of making an immediate request for compensation for the physical and moral damage caused to the young assistant Mazzarello, fell ill and was forced into forced rest.
It is not known, it probably ended in nothing. But the whole story reveals to us a series of attitudes and behaviors of Don Bosco that are not only little known, but somehow always current. We thus come to know that even under the watchful eyes of Don Bosco the Preventive System could sometimes encounter failures. The first interest to be safeguarded always had to be that of the individual young person, obviously on the condition that it did not conflict with the best interests of other comrades. Furthermore, the positive image of the Salesian work also had to be defended in the appropriate judicial bodies. In which case, however, the possible consequences had to be wisely taken into account, so as not to be faced with unpleasant surprises.
Saint too forgotten , to exalt fake saints see mother teresa of calcutta , of whose care of souls I am doubtful.