SUMMER CAMPING ——
DON BOSCO STYLE

by Fr. Michael Ribotta, SDB

They were always heard before they were even seen. A blare of bugles and the banging of drums announced their coming. Heads poked out of windows, children came running, and farmers working in nearby fields stared in disbelief as they watched a small band followed by a dust-covered line of boys with Don Bosco bringing up the rear, straggle towards the village square. This motley crew was Don Bosco’s Oratory boys on one of their autumn outings in Piedmont’s verdant countryside.

It had all begun innocently enough when in 1858 the priest from Valdocco, to escape the humid and oppressive heat in the capital, headed for his brother’s farm in the Becchi to spend a few days of fun and frolic on Joseph Bosco’s farm. Joseph played the genial and generous host to John and his boys. He closed an understanding eye as the young marauders raided his vineyard, chased his cows and frightened his chickens. They were city boys, and for many this was their first sight of farm animals.

Soon these brief weekend outings in the country stretched into weeks and longer distances were conquered. Village pastors welcomed these children crusades and even the mayor, if the town had one, formed part of the welcome committee. When Don Bosco and his boys reached their destination ravished with hunger, they were fed from cauldrons of pasta, slabs of cheese and bread, fruit from the local orchards, all washed down with discreetly watered wine. And in the evenings they slept in barns or haystacks or under the stars. But on the following evening Don Bosco repaid the villagers’ hospitality with music and entertainment. The several donkeys that were always part of the entourage came loaded down with band instruments, provisions, and make-do stage sets. So in the cool of the evening the amazed country folks were regaled in the village square with lively band tunes and comic theatricals. Never had they been so freely and enthusiastically entertained.

These autumn wanderings in the hills of Monferrato did not just happen. Don Bosco carefully planned and prepared them well in advance. Moreover, as the aura of Don Bosco’s saintliness and charm began to spread beyond the environs of Turin, local neighboring pastors vied with each other to host Don Bosco and his boys. Canon John Anfossi, who had participated in several of those autumn outings as a lad, later wrote:

Often Don Bosco’s hiking horde of boys would number as many as a hundred. I myself witnessed how Don Bosco not only charmed the villagers but was able to control his rabble with a smile or a mere disapproving nod. We always entered a village in some semblance of order. Our little band led the way. They were followed by two bedraggled lines of us boys with Don Bosco encouraging the smaller stragglers with his wit and stories. Don Bosco entered each village like a conquering hero. Mothers brought their children to be blessed, shopkeepers looked on in amazement from their doorways, and workmen dropped their tools drawn by the visitors. Our first destination was always the village church where we sang lustily at Benediction services. Then our Don Bosco held everyone spellbound as he spoke to them in their Piedmontese dialect. He really conquered their hearts.

For Don Bosco, the autumn outings proved a source of rich unseen spiritual harvests. It was on these ramblings through the countryside that he first met little Philip Rinaldi, who would become his third successor and who has recently been declared Blessed. The first Salesian cardinal, Michael Cagliero, succumbed to Don Bosco’s amiable ways during a stopover in the lad’s village. And in 1864 during his boys’ visit in Mornese, the priest from Turin was introduced to 27-year-old St. Mary Mazzarello who became the first superior general of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

It was only Don Bosco’s many pressing activities that forced him to bring his autumn excursions to an end. They had lasted 10 years and towards the end his outings became increasingly adventuresome and far-reaching. On one occasion he and his boys wandered so far from their home base that they ended up in Genoa. Thanks to government officials, two railways cars were made available to him to bring his exhausted troop back to Turin — much to their delight, as most of them enjoyed their first train ride. Today Salesian summer camps the world over continue Don Bosco’s love for the outdoors where nature and God are a constant inspiration.