Don Bosco as a priest. #Don Bosco#

Don Bosco devoted his whole life for his poor boys. From his earliest interaction with the poor boys he never failed to see under the dirt, the rags and the rudeness but above all he still saw kindness and goodness in them. “Not with blows but with but with gentleness much you dram these friend to the path of virtue” these were the words heard by Don Bosco in his dream which he put to practice when he had his poor boys with him. Don Bosco as a priest animated excursions for his poor boys  and then he would say Mass in the village church and give a short instruction on the Gospel, followed by games and then he would give them catechism lessons since the boys there didn’t go to any church and finally he would prepare them for the sacrament of reconciliation. 

When Don Bosco visited the prisons with Fr. Cafasso for the first time, it was his motherly heart that ached and his fatherly affection that went out to them. He would come to visit these boys at prison and would teach them some games through which he gained their trust and finally tried to save their souls through the sacrament of reconciliation. The beloved Saint was in constant demand as a pulpit preacher. He accepted all engagements for the sake of the excellent public relations thus established for his work. Valuable lieutenants were drawn to devote their lives to his work, among them Dominic Savio, the young Cagliero who, before becoming a Cardinal, led the first missionary expedition sent forth by the Salesians, and Paul Albera, destined to be one of his successors as the Head of the Salesian Congregation.