My dear confreres, the GC21 asked for a genuine renewal of our devotion to Mary Help of Christians. With this renewal that Salesian "life" of which there is so much need in our communities, and with which we will again render present the charism of our Founder, will become concrete and genuine. I beg the confreres of each house to study local possibilities and methods, and I ask provincials and their councils to insert a carefully prepared Marian activity into their plans for the province, in dialogue with the other groups of the Salesian family and especially with the FMA. An immediate increase of devotion to the Help of Christians will give everyone both uplift and hope, and will bring something of value to the Church. Paul VI reminds us: "Contemplated in the episodes of the gospels and in the reality which she already possesses in the City of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary offers a calm vision and a reassuring word to modern man, torn as he often is between anguish and hope, defeated by the sense of his own limitations and assailed by boundless aspirations, troubled in his mind and divided in his heart, uncertain before the riddle of death, oppressed by loneliness while yearning for fellowship, a prey to boredom and disgust. She shows forth the victory of hope over anguish, of fellowship over solitude, of peace over anxiety, of joy and beauty over boredom and disgust, of eternal visions over earthly ones, of life over death."42 Dear confreres, let us listen again to the last words of Don Bosco: "The Blessed Virgin Mary will certainly continue to protect our congregation and our Salesian works if we continue to place our trust in her and promote devotion to her."43 Let us promise Don Bosco that we will really act in this way as true sons, imitating his great trust and his ardent gift of self. I send you my warmest good wishes and joyfully impart to you the blessing of Mary Help of Christians. Fr. Egidio Vigaṇ 2 Jn 19, 26-27. 3 LG 62. 9 Cf LG 52, 53, 63, 64, 65; AG 4; etc. 16 A. Caviglia, "Vita di domenico Savio", Opere e ined. di DB, SEI, Torino, IV 314. 17 Don Bosco, Meraviglie della Madre di Dio invocata sotto il titolo de Maria Ausiliatrice, Torino 1868, p. 45; Opere ed., vol. XX, p. 237. 18 Cf. as an example of the expression of his meditation the prayer he composed for setting to music by Cagliero: "O Maria, Virgo potens..." (MB 17, 309-310). 19 G. Martina, Pio IX, Chiesa e Mondo moderno, ed. Studium, Rome 1976, p. 7-8. 20 Don Bosco writes in fact: "While the title for the new building was under consideration, there occurred an incident which removed all doubt. The Pope then reigning, Pius IX, whom nothing that would benefit religion escaped, being informed of the need for a church in the place referred to, sent a first kind donation of 500 francs with an indication that Mary Help of Christians would be a title certainly pleasing to the august Queen of Heaven." (John Bosco, Meraviglie della Madre di Dio invocata sotto il titolo di Maria Ausiliatrice, Torino 1868, p. 108-109 - Opere ed. vol. XX, p. 300-301; John Bosco, Maria Ausiliatrice col racconto di alcune grazie, Torino 1875, p. 30 -Opere ed. vol- XXVI, p. 334; John Bosco, Associazione dei divoti di Maria Ausiliatrice, Torino 1869, p. 27 - Opere ed. vol. XXI, p. 365. 21 Albera, Circular Letters, Torino 1965, p. 286. 22 John Bosco, op. cit. (Meraviglie...) p. 6-7 - Opere ed . XX, p. 189-199. 23 Bibliographical Notes. The following publications are worthy of special mention: - P. RICALDONE, "Devotion to Mary Help of Christians", in ASC, Sept.-Oct. 1948. - The 11 Volumes of The "Atti Dell' Accademia Mariana Salesiana": I. L'Ausiliatrice nel Domma e nel culto. Reports presented at the international Marian congress (Rome 1950). II- L'Ausiliatrice della Chiesa e del Papa. Commemorative papers for the 50th anniversary of the coronation of Mary Help of Christians in the Basilica in Turin, 1903 - 17 May 1953. Preface signed by Pius XII. III. L'Immacolate Ausiliatrice. Commemorative papers of the Marian Year 1954. IV. L'Immacolata e S. Giovanni Bosco. (Fr. Dominic Bertetto). V. Maria e la Chiesa. (Fr Joseph Quadrio). The social mediation of Mary in the teaching of the Popes from Gregory XVI to Pius XII. VI. Relazioni commemorative del Centenario delle Apparizioni di Lourdes. VII. Aiuto dei Cristiani, Madre della Chiesa. Commemorative papers for the centenary of the consecration of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin. VIII. La Madonna nella nostra vita. Twelve studies dealing with Marian devotion lived and propagated pastorally and pedagogically. For the fourth centenary of the manifestation of the Help of Christian at Lepanto (7 October 1971). XI. La vita Salesiana oggi nella luce di Maria. (Fr Dominic Bertetto) 23 lectures on Salesian life and mission in accordance with the Salesian Constitutions as renewed by the Special General Chapter. X. La Madonna oggi. Sintesi Mariana attuale. (Fr. Dominic Bertetto) Marian doctrine in the light of Vatican Il and subsequent developments. For the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Salesian Marian Academy. XI. Maria Ausiliatrice e le Missioni. The missionary ideal carried out with Mary's help, Patroness of the Mission and Evangelizing Star. Papers on the occasion of the Centenary of the Salesian Missions. - F. GIRAUDI, Il Santuario di Maria SS. Ausiliatrice, SEI, Torino 1948. - P. STELLA, Don Bosco nella storia della religiosità cattolica, vol. 2, cap. 7; PAS-Verlag 1969. 24 On 21st November 1964 Paul VI officially proclaimed the Marian title "Mother of the Church". It was at the end of the third session of Vatican II, in which the dogmatic constitution "Lumen Gentium" was promulgated which outlined the conciliar doctrine on the Church and on Mary. In his historic address the Pope declared: "Reflection on this close relationship of Mary with the Church, so clearly set out in the present conciliar Constitution, leads us to think that this is the most solemn and appropriate moment to fulfil a desire which, after we had mentioned it at the end of the previous session, very many Council Fathers have made their own. They have insistently asked for an explicit declaration during this Council of the maternal role of the Blessed Virgin in respect of Christian people. To this end we have decided to dedicate in this session a title in honor of the Virgin that has been suggested from various parts of the Catholic world, a title particularly dear to us because it synthesizes in an admirable way the privileged position of the Virgin in the Church, already recognized by this Council. To the greater glory therefore of the Virgin and for our own encouragement and consolation, we proclaim Mary most holy to be Mother of the Church, of all the people of God, the faithful as well as their pastors, who see in her their loving Mother; and it is our wish that henceforth the Blessed Virgin be still further honored and invoked by all Christian people with this endearing title." (AAS, 56 [1964] 1015). 25 M. Magrassi, Maria e la Chiesa una sol Madre, ed. La Scala, Noci 1976, p. 40. 26 Max Thurian, Tradition et renouveau dans l'Esprit, Taise 1977, p. 193. 28 Cf. Traitè de l'amour de Dieu, lib. 7, c. 7, in Opera Omnia V, 29-32. 32 Homily in St. Peter's, Rome, during the beatification ceremony of Don Rua, 29 October 1972. 33 Cf. Rua, Circular Letters, Turin 1965; e.g. pp. 178, 293-294, 348, 367-368, etc. 35 Circular Letters, Turin 1965: p.285; cf. also pp. 169, 223, 234, 284, 466, 477, etc.. 37 Cf. encyclical Mediator Dei of Pius XII, n.n. 38-40. 38 Max Thurian, op. cit. p. 197 39 P. Ricaldone, Maria Auxiliatrice, i sei libretti de Don Bosco, LDC 1951, pp. 39-44. 40 The formula of the blessing was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on 18th May 1878. I think it both opportune and enlightening to quote in full the letter of Don Bosco to Pope Leo XIII (MB 13, 489), and this will also serve to commemorate the centenary: Most Holy Father, In the sadness of the times in which we are living it seems that God wishes in wondrous ways to glorify his august Mother under the title of Mary Help ot Christians. Among the various points to be considered in this connection is the efficacy of the blessings with the invocation of this title which are being given in various places, and especially in the sanctuary in Turin dedicated to her. But in order that such blessings may be stable and regulated according to the spirit of the Church, Fr John Bosco, Rector of the above-mentioned sanctuary and the arch-confraternity established there, humbly prays that the enclosed formula be given your kind consideration, examined, modified, and where necessary corrected, so that it may be used to give the so-called Blessing of Mary Help of Christians, especially in the sanctuary dedicated to her here in Turin. 'there is a continual throng of people here asking for the blessing, and it bears obvious fruit in assisting them in both their spiritual and material needs. The words of the formula are a collection of ejaculations already in use and approved by the Church in the liturgy. They are gathered here for the greater glory of God and of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
41 J. Aubry, Cooperatori di Dio, Rome 1977, p. 444. 43 From Don Bosco's "Spiritual Testament" in Scritti Spirituali, J. Aubry |