Personal reflection on the end of the relics pilgrimage of Don Bosco

Having spent two weeks travelling the country in draughty minibuses at unreasonable hours it would be normal to be relieved that the whole event is over. In fact as the relic of Don Bosco left the Sacred Heart Church in Battersea on Tuesday evening January 15th there were few dry eyes in the congregation. Some of the congregation reported a real sense of loss including some of the Bishops that attended the final farewell.

The idea of bringing relics to Great Britain was met by some scepticism by some members of the church and with enthusiasm by others. In the end the latter group won through and the pilgrimage can be said to have achieved its aims.

As a congregation in this country we wanted to unlock the wisdom of this saint for a church that has been embattled with various challenges over the last decade. We have tried to present the earthy, relational and optimistic lay spirituality of a saint who believed in people. His motto "give me souls, nothing else matters" underlines the focus on people. So whilst others argue rightly about liturgy and theology in one part of our church others, like Don Bosco speak about the politics of the Our Father and the need to let people know that they are loved.

One aspect of the experience of the relics made a powerful impression on the travelling team of thirty five mainly young people; they discovered the real experience of the catholic church in this country. Wherever they went, in England, Scotland and Wales they were welcomed by a community that cared. Each Cathedral was a community where the Gospel was being lived in hospitality before a prayer was said. The contact and confidence was immediate between the team and the local community. Don Bosco spoke about this confidence as being like an electric current that ran between people through which hearts were opened and needs were shared. That experience followed the team wherever they went.

This earthy and people-centered focus is balanced by a deep and almost mystical awareness of God's presence living in people.  That was the energy that created  resilient hospitality in each of the communities that welcomed the relics. It is a spirituality that we as a province want to offer to the church in this country in a much more explicit way. In a real sense we want to give this charism away to others so that they can recognise the intimate closeness of God in themselves and others.

We want to challenge parents youth workers and teachers to put into practice the preventive system of Don Bosco which changes these roles and especially parenting into a path of holiness.

We want to offer those who need more life balance a model that challenges us all to meet God in church but also in the school of life in the home that we create and most of all, in the playground of life.

We want to offer the whole country a way to make young people feel precious as well as challenged by life and to do that work for deeper and spiritual reasons whatever their faith background.


The Salesian network of lay people, Cooperators, Sisters, Brothers and Priests is spread across the country and ready to engage in a quiet and gentle affirmation of ordinary catholic life and Gospel living. They are also there to challenge us all to look on the world optimistically and meet life with a smile. Don Bosco's simple message is that holiness consists in being cheerful. His patron St Francis de Sales said that you can catch more bees with a spoonful of honey than with a barrel full of vinegar. That cheerful optimism, that honey, is what Don Bosco offers to our church in Great Britain as we move through changing times. Such a cheerful faith can move mountains of sadness and uncertainty. It can bind the church into a community balanced between the past and the future and free up the energy to live the resurrection as much as we live the cross.

We want, as a pilgrimage team to thank The Parish of OUr Lady and All Saints in Basildon who hosted our team for five days. There the team met a community focussed on Gospel hospitality and cheerfulness. Their warmth and care lifted the whole team at a time when we were all flagging.

Mr Gerry Kehoe managed this event for us with huge insight and dedication. Without his professionalism and the involvement of DPL event management we could not have presented Don Bosco so well to the country.

Thanks also go to Rualink the Salesian Media Office in Cowley for the late night work and the quality of their output. (see web site for details at www.donboscorelics.co.uk 

Finally we owe a debt of gratitude to all the Archbishops of England, Wales and Scotland who opened their churches and their hearts to Don Bosco, the friend of youth.

The pilgrimage moves on through Europe and will reach Italy by 2015 for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Don Bosco.

First report Battersea Departure January 15th

Guests from all over Britain gathered to say farewell to Don Bosco's relics as they left from the the Church of The Sacred Heart in Battersea; the last foundation by Don Bosco before his death.

The fourteen day pilgrimage ended with thanksgiving and blessings for all those involved and for the hidden and not so hidden good that the pilgrimage has generated in the hearts of many people across the nation. Over 20,000 people have visited Don Bosco's relics and the stories of their encounter with the saint of youth have been captured by many members of the team in moving conversations from Glasgow to the South of London.

The final service saw Archbishops and bishops gathering to acknowledge the debt we all owe to this saint. During the service Jess Barnett, a team member spoke about her uncertainty about the idea of a relic but meeting an old visitor who was able to play games and do action songs and speak of his dreams for his grandchildren convinced Jess that something special was happening that had little to do with bones.

The presence of Danny Curtain and representatives of CYMFED and progression pointed out the wide range of appeal Don Bosco holds form many areas of Catholic ministry. The team have said that they were delighted and overwhelmed by the warmth and welcome they have encountered ineach Cathedral community as well as in Basildon where they were hosted by wonderful families from the parish in Laindon. The privilege of making this journey through the grass roots of the church has transformed the image of the church in many youthful minds.

Fr Coyle spoke of his gratitude for so many people and places that had hosted the relics and for the sense of church that had grown and developed in the process. The theme of holiness as cheerfulness leading to a balanced spirituality was reinforced by the joy and energy in the church. Because of that energy of the spirit we were all surprised that our own lives had been transformed, perhaps forever, by this experience.

After a unique litany of thanksgiving that followed Don Bosco's favourite piece of scripture from the letter to the Phillipians , the team gathered to receive commemorative medals for their pilgrimage work. Then as the team launched into the pilgrimage song, Friend of youth, there was an explosion of white confetti over the team and the relic. As the relic was moved on in the care of Fr Michael , Provincial of the Irish province, the altar was left open with the symbol of the catholic youth ministry federation lit by a candle. It remains as a symbol that the legacy of the pilgrimage lies with the catholic youth of Great Britain . This event now flows back into the normal pattern of yoyth ministry in the church.

Relics departure Battersea quotes

Departure service for Don Bosco's relics from Battersea Sacred Heart Church January 15^th

Quotes

Fantastic organisation and a great teaching and information experience. It was inspirational. It was great to see so many thousands of young people visiting Don Bosco. My personal highlight was the hours prayer with the relics and an extended and prayerful conversation with Don Bosco. |Built into the experience was the incentive to understand Don Bosco and not just learn about him. The challenge of the pilgrimage for me was to really live the preventive system not just in school settings but in the whole of life. Its a way of living that was demonstrated by the fantastic team that accompanied the relics.

Sr Mary Treacy FMA

A wonderful experience for me( almost as good as being at Stamford Bridge!) I couldn't get over the numbers or the enthusiasm of young people.

Sr Mary Louise Ballard FMA

The highlight for me was watching some of the older Salesians, both men and women, walking the pilgrim experience with such devotion and a homely familiarity with all that they were experiencing.

|Helen O'Brien Chief executive officer CSAN

It was wonderful for Birmingham to take part in this pilgrimage of the relics of Don Bosco. For us it is an important reminder of the legacy of the Salesian presence in our diocese. It helps us to cherish the charisms that have been enriching the diocese for many years, especially through the work of the Salesians in Cowley, in the school and in the parish of Mary help of Christians.

Through the pilgrimage we have been made aware of a new dimension of being a church involved in love and service of the young in Great Britain inspired by the example of Don Bosco during the visit of his relics.

Archbishop Bernard Longley Birmingham

I've been following the journey of Don Bosco's relics around the world through the internet. I think the experience has been fantastic here but it connects to a world-wide journey that is scattered with marvels and miracles. Its good to know that this amazing experience fits into a pattern that embraces the whole world.

Peter Hunter Salesian Past Pupils Association

It has been a very moving experience most was on Sunday when I received the message that we would be able to take Don Bosco's relics to Feltham Young Offenders Institution. IT was one of Don Bosco's major concerns: to keep young people out of prison. At a personal level I am supporting a family who are having to deal with the imprisonment of their son so this visit meant so much to me. The overall impression of the pilgrimage is one of family; being united around Don Bosco and being proud to say this is our province!

Sr Pauline Clark FMA

It has been a wonderful experience I have been to Turin to Don Bosco's shrine and this ezxperience has brought all of this back as I walked the pilgrim path with Don Bosco. I gained a wonderful sense of peace and tranquillity. I really didn't want the relics to leave the church at the end. I told my siter in Ireland that the relics are on their way and she is looking forward to engaging in the Irish pilgrimage.

Don Bosco's approach to young people is so down to earth that it has made me realise that I can use it more consciously in my work with training nurses. I want to explore how to make the preventive system work in that adult training context.

Marguerite Lydon Nurse Education Officer Chertsey

I am impressed by the down to earth spirituality of Don Bosco. In my previous Anglican role I ran a church youth club and we were always concerned to be with young people. That same concern is recognised and celebrated in Don Bosco's spirituality. We need more emphasis on the playground in working with the young.

Monsignor Keith Newton

It was such an uplifting experience to celebrate Don Bosco's charism. I was surprised to feel so sad at the end when Don Bosco's relics had to leave.

Bishop Philip Pargeter

The whole experience was beautifully done. It was wonderful for me to see the quality and commitment of the young team. I was delighted t5o be invited and consider that it has been an honour to be present at such a unique event.

Superintendent Stuart Smith Metropolitan Police

It has been a real pleasure coming here. There is an energy that seems to flow from this spirituality that brings a much needed joy into education.

Paul Barber Director of Westminster Education Services

Battersea arrival of Don Bosco's relics background

Sacred Heart Parish Battersea was looking resplendent with flowers and new lighting to welcome the relics of Don Bosco home to the mother church of the Salesian family in Great Britain. Don Bosco sent the first Salesians to Battersea with the encouragement and support of The Countess Georgiana  de Stacpoole who had been a great supporter of Don Bosco in Paris.

The first Salesian priest to arrive in London was Fr Dalmazzo who was impressed by the impact of Clapham Junction and knew of Don Bosco's concern to establish houses near the newly developed railway hubs. He however found the climate and the smogs unbearable and returned to Italy. It was in 1887 that Don Bosco was able to build up a team to come to London and so achieve a long ambition in the year before he died. Frs McKiernan and Macey  arrived with a lay Brother Rossaro. Within a year Fr McKiernan had died of TB and Fr Macey, an convert from the Anglican Church, took on the leadership of the mission.

This was one of the last missionary projects begun by Don Bosco which met a long ambition to engage with the challenge of a more secularised culture with his preventive approach to youth ministry. Since his early years Don Bosco had wanted to follow his friend Canon Gastaldi who travelled to Cardiff to support the emerging St David's mission. Don Bosco had begun to learn English and was encouraged by St Dominic Savio, one of his early pupils, to engage with this part of the world. Today, in one sense, Don Bosco has achieved that ambition and come to the British Isles as he had always hoped.

Since then the Salesian mission has developed in Great Britain with great encouragement from the hierarchy to provide education for the poor. For that reason the Salesians have committed large amounts of time and resources to secondary education and to youth ministry. More recently they have begun to diversify into volunteer programs, retreat ministry and development abroad. The pilgrimage which has  been led largely by young adult volunteers is a statement about how the Salesians hope to move forward in their future work. Partnership with the young generates many virtuous circles of energy and creates a path to maturity for the older adults with whom they work.

Don Bosco will arrive in a few hours and the team are now preparing to welcome VIPs from the |hierarchy of the church and from the civil authorities such as the police. This will be a memorable place to bring the pilgrimage of Don Bosco relics to a close.

Fr David O'Malley SDB

Quotes from Southwark day One and two 13th and 14th January

It was a wonderful and moving experience to hear so many good confessions. I can see the grace of God touching many peoples. Fr Joseph Elavanal

It feels so strange that we have arrived at our final day of pilgrimage. All those involved have given their all to celebrate the spirit of Don Bosco and reach out to the 1,000s of pilgrims who have come. It will be such a wrench to see the relics leave our shores and go to Belgium. Over many months, we may have the opportunity to gradually unwrap and share the tremendous richness of the experience. There is little doubt that all of us have been renewed in our commitment to work to allow the voice and energies of the young a central place in the life of our Church. Don Bosco, I think, would have been proud and would had a wry smile or two at some of the trials, minor mishaps and the various characters we have all met along the way.

Bro Kevin O’Donnell

There was an extraordinary response from the people.

Fr Des O'Riordan SDB Farnborough

Pretty Cool

Craig altar server at Battersea

I was disappointed it wasn't the whole body

Thomas altar server at Battersea

Superb! Because the people are trusting an intuitive need to connect with Don Bosco a\nd it becomes a very deep experience.

Fr Saju SDB Battersea

Fantastic! Definitely rewarding and proof that church can be interesting and enriching in this friendlier and happier way of praying and reflecting.

Alice Ford Tunbridge.

I came down from Newcastle because I wanted to pray with Don Bosco for personal reasons but what has struck me is the way that young people and older adults can share the same experience without complaints. Where some chatter from young people can add to the prayer atmosphere and young people can be reverent and respectful among praying adults. I wasn't expecting to be inspired by young people but that is the gift I have taken away from this visit.

Robert Campbell Newcastle

Southwark Day two Don Bosco Relics Jan 14th

Day two Southwark Cathedral January 14th
Southwark Cathedral was dusted with snow and whipped by cold winds as the second day of Don Bosco's relics opened. One of the first people through the doors was a local nurse coming off her night shift. She wanted to come to the relics to give thanks for her work that night when she had been able to save a patients life by removing a ligature from her throat. Her gratitude was for the skill and knowledge she carried as a gift from God to help others.

After that many people began to gather to walk the pilgrim pathway on their way to work or after the early mass in the Cathedral. But the day belonged to the young people who  began to arrive in numbers from Farnborough, Chertsey, Wandsworth, Chatham and Canterbury. The nursery from Bermondsy came in as well as groups from Notre Dame and Corpus Christi schools close by. The groups divided up among the team and began the banter that Don Bosco always enjoyed. One young lad claimed that his Dad was Boris Johnson, the mayor of London. Another believed that he was already a saint himself but his friends found it easy to disprove that theory. The Cathedral began to echo with pools  of laughter, occasional clapping and some thoughtful silence. In the pool of silence around the relic young people and adults met together to bring their concerns to God.

Just before mass there was a partial power cut so that the lights in part of the church failed along with the organ. The priests vested in semi darkness but still turned out looking tidy. Bishop Pat Lynch led the Eucharist  with warmth and  understanding.   Pupils from Chertsey Salesian College read and pupils from St Anselm's  Canterbury served at the mass. Fr Coyle, Salesian Provincial spoke after the Gospel  and encouraged the congregation to smile and  become holy by being cheerful.  The offertory saw a procession of banners as the gifts were brought forward by  St Anselm's from Canterbury and St John Fisher from Chatham. Communion was followed by a hymn written by Fr Martin Poulsom, “Friend of the young.”  The mass ended with warm words of encouragement from Bishop Pat and a hope that the Irish stage of the pilgrimage through his home country would go as well.

Jess Wilkinson, a member of the road crew, met some of the young people she had taught in year one and was delighted that they still remembered her six years later. The team have been receiving much affirmation from the pilgrims because of the way they were living out Don Bosco's spirituality through hospitality. Typical feedback is the comment received by Siobhan who was told that the team had i”nspired people by their joy and graciousness.”
One person was glad to re-connect with Don Bosco after being in a Salesian school in Hong Kong.”I have always loved Don Bosco,” he said  ”and it is good to be here and re-connect with this great saint.”
Altar servers arrived from a number of parts of London to meet up for a visit to Don Bosco's relics. They were all part of an association of altar servers in Nigeria and felt drawn to visit Don Bosco and  re-live their shared experience in Nigeria.

The closing service at 4pm brought the day to an end with a reflection on listening to the call of God in the ordinary story of our lives. The goodnight focussed on the call coming through gifts but perhaps more importantly through our weaknesses. Don Bosco's sense of abandonment and the absence of a Father in his life led to a commitment to work for abandoned youth and to become a Father to many young people and adults.

As the pilgrimage song was sung the casket was prepared for departure and was taken triumphantly into the street and loaded onto the van ad the crew sang once again “da mihi animas” Don Bosco's motto give me souls (people) nothing else matters. Passers by on coaches waiting at the traffic lights were looking confused. But it was an ending point of the public part of the relics of Don Bosco and the team were aware of the ending even as they were celebrating.

Over 1200 people visited Don Bosco's relics today.

Southwark Cathedral day one report

Southwark Cathedral Don Bosco Relics January 13^th

The queues wound around the corner before Don Bosco's relics arrived in its own transport at around 3.00. The road was closed temporarily whilst the casket was brought out into a guard of honour formed by the road crew who sang “da mihi animas” as the relics moved into the church.

There was a great welcome from Southwark Cathedral staff and the diocesan youth service who came along to support the music and the media team for the occasion, The pilgrim experience was followed by groups from across the diocese. From Tunbridge, New Malden, Rotherhythe, Battersea, Balaham and from as far away as High Wycombe.

One of the pilgrims today was a young boy, Jonathan, whose middle name was Bosco because his family had a great devotion to Don Bosco. In his pocket he had brought a relic of his own given to him by his own father. It was a fragment of Don Bosco's right hand contained in a small reliquary. Jonathan s father had been given this by an old salesian priest and it was his most treasured possession.

Among the pilgrims were natives of the Philippines, Venezuela, Kerala, Portugal and Ghana among many others. Each of them were aware of the work of Don Bosco in their own countries. It was a great bonus to have four polish brothers on the team and especially when some Polish pilgrims arrived and could not speak English.

Another pilgrim was delighted to have found some simple books on spirituality for young adults as she was starting a job in prison chaplaincy the following day. It was another reminder of Don Bosco's work with young prisoners which was commemorated at a visit to Feltham Young Offenders Institution by the relics earlier in the day.

One trend in conversations today was that many people wanted to visit the relics but the could not really say why. This experience of the relics seems to draw people in a quite intuitive ways.People are drawn by their own needs, by curiosity, by uncertainty, gratitude and often simply a vague sense of searching. Afterwards visitors seem to have a greater confidence or peace or certainty about some of their issues but still find it hard to answer that question; “why have you come to the relics?”

At 6pm Archbishop Peter Smith welcomed the relics and the Salesians across the diocese. During the mass both the Archbishop and Fr Martin Coyle mentioned the arrival of the first Salesians to Britain in Battersea some 125 years ago. Fr McKiernan SDB then became the first of many Salesians to work in the diocese in Sacred Heart Parish and primary school, in Salesian College and in Bermondsey. The Archbishop expressed the hope that the Salesian family would stay in in the diocese for another 125 years but pointed out that none of us would be around to see it!

Fr Coyle, picking up the theme of the feast of the baptism of Jesus, spoke about the need for The Spirit to move us and to be cheerful because we are all children of God in whom he is well pleased. The optimistic celebration continued as the flags of Don Bosco and panels on his spirituality were brought forward with the gifts. The family that brought the gifts up were overwhelmed to be asked. \They had travelled from High Wycombe and the journe6 had been a gift from the whole family since she wanted to gather her family around Don Bosco. The cost of the whole journey was covered by the eldest son who had recently begun work.

Towards the end of the mass the pilgrim hymn was sung with a fantastic organ support. Thirty four altar serves from Sacred Heart Battersea filled the sanctuary. The road crew gathered under Salesian flags to sing “da mihi animas” before Archbishop Peter gave the final blessing.

Afterwards twelve foot banners closed off the relic until tomorrow morning as the congregation dung “Tell out my soul”.

Feltham visit of Don Bosco's Relics background

Don Bosco's visit to Feltham young offenders institution Sunday January 13^th 2013

Turin in 1841 had a population of 117,000, a number which was to triple within the next decade. The building of the city required labour and it came in all shapes and sizes from the surrounding rural area already devastated by war and famine. Many of these new arrivals were young; from eight or nine years old they arrived in Turin and began to work as casual workers as builders, pavement layers, tanners and general slaves to their often unscrupulous masters. They would gather each day at a place calle Porta Palazzo to be hired or ignored. If they were not hired these mainly teenage lads had to learn to live by their wits on the streets and the outcome was often prison.

Don Bosco as a young priest was asked to visit the prisons by his mentor Fr Joseph Cafasso who later became the patron saint of prisons. It was of these visits that Don Bosco wrote:

To see so many lads from the age of 12 to 18 years of age, all healthy and strong, intelligent, insect bitten and lacking any personal or spiritual support was something that horrified me. On release they often returned within a few days for another long sentence.

Don Bosco also had the task of attending public executions of some of these young lads. The gallows were not far away from his home and he recorded that this experience broke his heart and left him traumatised to the point that Fr Cafasso asked him not to attend any more. Don Bosco's reaction to this trauma was typical of his personality. He said:

I must by any available means prevent these lads from getting into this situation and offer them the hope of a better life.

It was in this situation that Don Bosco approached the minister of Justice and asked for permission to take the boys out of the prison for a day in the country. The minister eventually accepted because he believed that Don Bosco would disgrace himself as a naïve do-gooder. In fact Don Bosco ran the full day out and returned with all the inmates in the evening and no prison officers accompanied them. They had of course underestimated the strength of positive relationship that Don Bosco had established with the lads.

Since that time Salesians have been involved in prison ministry across the world. Even in this country Salesians have been involved in prison ministry in Feltham and in the north of England. At a world level a new Salesian project opened in Krishnagar within the state prison providing training in electronics and resistant materials for young prisoners. The need for support for young people in prison and for after-care continues around the world and whilst Salesians in the U|K are involved largely in parish and education work they always have a real concern for those who seem to be abandoned and at risk.

Fr. David O'Malley SDB

Don Bosco 1815-1888 patron saint of youth

Largest youth organisation in the catholic church