Easter is a very memorable day for us, Salesians. It was in fact one of the happiest days in the life and ministry of Don Bosco. We recall that it was Easter Sunday on 12 April 1846 when Don Bosco, after five years of aimlessly wandering around the city of Turin, finally opened the permanent oratory of St. Francis de Sales at the Pinardi Shed in Valdocco, to the great joy of hundreds of oratory boys.
On the afternoon of Palm Sunday previous to that, Don Bosco was actually in distress, almost desperate, not knowing where he would gather his boys next, since they were being evicted for the nth time from the place where he had tried to gather them. Providentially, before dismissing the boys that afternoon, someone showed him the Pinardi Shed which seemed small and unworthy but was available for rent. Don Bosco, seeing it as the answer to his desperate prayer, immediately rented it. And, obedient to what the Lord had told him to do, he transformed it into the permanent house for his growing oratory where the Salesian Congregation would eventually be born.
Today, therefore, we commemorate the 180th anniversary of the Pinardi House as the first permanent Oratory of St Francis de Sales. Indeed, God moves in mysterious ways. Just when Don Bosco’s struggling oratory was in the brink of death, the Lord in his mercy raised it up and gave the Pinardi Shed in Valdocco to be the motherhouse of our Congregation. And from that one little shed, God has given the Salesians over 1,900 houses more, spread out in 138 different countries today. And so Don Bosco’s mission goes on. GiGsss!
Just consider this: Don Bosco is still calling. Do you hear his voice?
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