ST. JOHN BOSCO AND ST. LOUIS GUANELLA

[Photo: San Giuseppe al Trionfale – the church by St. Louis Guanella in honor of St. Joseph]

From an article I wrote for the Salesian Bulletin…

Don Guanella was very much attached to Don Bosco. In fact, he became a Salesian in temporary vows for three years (1875-1878). But he had to leave Don Bosco in obedience to a higher calling. God had set him aside to work for the poor, the aged, the orphans and the handicapped. To this end he founded two religious congregations: the Servants of Charity and Daughters of Our Lady of Divine Providence.

But his attachment to Don Bosco remained. A year or so after Don Bosco's death, he wrote to Don Rua: "I want to record my immense attachment to Don Bosco. Certainly, leaving him was like leaving home. There (in the Congregation) I had the example of so many virtues, and the spiritual direction of Don Bosco who did so much good to all. Don Bosco's heart was like a magnet which drew all to himself; his words, few and well-pondered, were as lightning flashes to the mind.”

While reading the life of St. Louis Guanella, I discovered several interesting similarities between him and Don Bosco. I would like to point out a few of them.

In 1858 Don Bosco went to Rome to seek an audience with Pius IX regarding his plan of establishing a religious congregation. In his second audience on Sunday evening, March 21, he was asked by the Pope if he ever had any supernatural revelation about his undertakings. With some embarrassment, Don Bosco told the Pope everything he had seen in his dreams, beginning with his dream at the age of nine. Don Guanella, too, had an extraordinary dream at the age of nine. It was the day of his First Holy Communion. In that dream a Lady (that was how he called the Blessed Virgin) showed him everything he would do for the poor. Many years later in 1907 in a conversation with his nephew, Fr. Constantino Guanella, he said that the dream was like watching a movie.

Don Bosco and Don Guanella were both diocesan priests. Don Bosco belonged to the archdiocese of Turin while Don Guanella belonged to the diocese of Como. Both of them suffered because of misunderstanding with their respective bishops.

In a time of anti-clericalism, both of them took up the defense of the Church and the Pope. And for that they suffered persecution and harassment from government authorities. Both of them were put under police surveillance for a time, especially when they were preaching. And speaking of the Pope, if Don Bosco found a staunch supporter and friend in Pius IX, Don Guanella found the same thing in Pius X. The close friendship between Don Bosco and Pius IX was attested by the fact that the Pope could joke with Don Bosco. The same was true with Don Guanella and Pius X.

Don Bosco and Don Guanella lived at a time of great social change that brought about the marginalization of the poor. They responded by becoming apostles of charity along with other contemporary Saints like St. Joseph Cafasso, St. Joseph Cottolengo, St. Leonard Murialdo and Blessed Louis Orione. Don Bosco gave himself to the education of growing boys and young men, especially those who are poorer and in danger. Don Guanella saw his mission in the field of education but also in the care of the sick, the aged, the orphans and the handicapped. In this he was inspired by the example of St. Joseph Cottolengo whose influence made Don Guanella call his houses, “Houses of Providence”.

Both of them were founders of two religious congregations. Don Bosco founded the Salesian Society of St. Francis de Sales and then the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. Don Guanella founded the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence and later, the Servants of Charity. In the case of Don Bosco he transformed an existing association (the Association of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate) into a religious congregation. The association had been founded by a diocesan priest (Fr. Dominic Pestarino) who later joined Don Bosco and became a Salesian himself. In Don Guanella’s case the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence already began as a religious community. It had been founded by a pious priest, Fr. Coppini. When he died, the bishop asked Don Guanella to take over from him.

Both of them built a church in Rome. Considering the wish of Leo XIII a command, Don Bosco built the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. He also established an Association of the Sacred Heart based in that basilica. Don Guanella, on the other hand, was inspired to build a church and start an association in honor of St. Joseph, the patron of the dying. And when Pius X expressed the desire to have a church built in a very poor area near the Vatican, Don Guanella saw that as a confirmation of his desire to build the Basilica of St. Joseph at Trionfale, Rome.

Both of them published a magazine: Don Bosco’s Salesian Bulletin and Don Guanella’s Divine Providence. In the August 1908 issue of “Divine Providence” we find a prayer with these words: “May the great soul of John Bosco, who from on high protects the Congregation of his sons the Salesians, now too numerous to count, be pleased to turn his gaze on the Institutes of Divine Providence and extend the kindness of his protection on all those who belong to these works and especially on his devoted admirer and student, Fr. Louis Guanella.”

There is still one last common denominator. Both of them have been canonized by the Pope. Declared Saints, they are presented to us as models of the high standard of Christian life and as intercessors. To these two men who became friends on earth and remain friends in heaven, we pray: St. John Bosco and St. Louis Guanella, pray for us.