From whom did little Johnny Bosco learn to pray?

“In the beginning was the mother” So begins a biography of Don Bosco written by Johannes Jorgensen (ed. SEI, 1929), in which the author wanted to emphasize how important it was for this saint to have received his first education from his mother.

Don Bosco learned to pray from Mamma Margaret. He himself says: “My mother took maximum care to educate her children in the faith, emphasizing obedience and doing one’s duty according to one’s age. As long as I was little, she herself taught me the prayers till I was old enough to join my brothers when I could kneel with them in the morning and at night when we recited the prayers and a third of the Rosary in common (BOSCO JOHN, Memoirs of the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales from 1815 to 1855. Introduction and notes edited by A. Da Silva Ferreira, Rome 1992).

The main and most authoritative biographer of Don Bosco Fr. John Baptist Lemoyne, the author of the first nine volumes of the Biographical Memoirs (BM) writes about Mamma Margaret: “God was uppermost in her thoughts and so always on her lips (…). “ God sees you” was the great slogan with which she often reminded the children that they were always under the great gaze of God who would one day judge them. If she allowed them to go to play in the meadows, while they were leaving she would say: “Remember that God sees you.” If she saw them sometimes pensive and feared that they harboured some little grudge in their souls, she would suddenly whisper into their ears: “Remember that God sees you and he even sees your innermost thoughts.” (…). Beholding the spectacle of nature that impressed them they were continually reminded of the Creator. On a beautiful starry night, standing out in the open she would point to the sky and say: “It is God who created the world and put so many stars there. If the firmament is so beautiful, how beautiful must Paradise be?” At the onset of summer, looking out over the meadow or the countryside all strewn with flowers, at the break of dawn or at the spectacle of an awesome sunset she would exclaim: “Has not the Lord done so many beautiful things for us!” (LEMOYNE, JOHN BAPTIST, Inspirational insights from the life of Margaret Bosco: pleasant and edifying stories, Torino 1886 – In Italian)

In the first volume of the Biographical Memoirs Fr. Lemoyne also wrote: “As long as her children were very young Margaret taught each of them individually their daily prayers. She did the same with John till he was able to join the others morning and evening on his knees as they recited the prayers together. Though John was the youngest of the brothers he was the first to remind them of their duty when it was time and the way he prayed with great devotion was a source of edification to the others (…). His good mother then prepared him for his first Confession as soon as he reached the age of reason. She would accompany her boys to church and would begin by herself going first to Confession after which she would request the confessor to help her boys make their Confession after which she would help them with their thanksgiving. She continued to assist them until they were capable of praying by themselves. And with these promptings John began to make his Confession very fervently, sincerely and as frequently as he thought necessary. Every Sunday and on feast days Margaret led her sons to the little church in the village called St. Peter’s, to hear Mass and where the chaplain preached a sermon and gave a little catechism lesson thereafter. John returned home and repeated some of the instruction he had heard and everyone very gladly listened to him.

Margaret’s gentle manner in guiding her children with their prayers and the sacraments made a deep impression on their souls, which was not lost on them after they had grown up, it only increased. When her children had grown up, she, without any embarrassment and with true maternal authority asked them if they had fulfilled their Christian obligations as good Christians and if they had recited their morning and night prayers. And the children, thirty-plus years later, responded with the same candor and confidence as when they were children. It was the same when John became a priest. She did not fail to caution him. If he returned home in the village after a tiring mission in the countryside or tired and perspiring after a long trip home or when he was already at the Oratory, though he had preached and heard confessions all day, when he reached his room and was about to undress before dropping off to sleep his mother would stop him and inquire: “Have you said your prayers already?” The son, who had already said his prayers, knowing what consolation it would give his mother would reply: “I’ll say them now.” And his mother would add: “Because you see, by studying Latin you will only learn your theology but your mother knows more than you, she knows you ought to pray.” Her son would get down on his knees while his Mamma Margaret would tiptoe around the room, turning up the lamp, tucking the sheets and when her son had finished his prayers she would leave the room without saying a word.

As little Johnny Bosco learned from his mother, he soon began to teach others by his example and when that was not enough he would use words.

George Moglia, a peasant, the son of the owner of the farm at which little John (aged 12) was apprenticed when he went there to work in 1827 as a farm hand, testifies: “My mother told me that one day, young Johnny Bosco returned at noon from the field with my father’s uncle he went into the house and laid down to rest. On seeing that Johnny Bosco had heard the sound of the Angelus bell (the prayer that recalls the annunciation to the Virgin Mary) he was exceedingly astonished and said: “This is fine, I’m the boss and I’m exhausted and here is my farm hand instead on his knees!” The young Bosco added: “See, if all goes well, I will have gained more by my prayer than you by your work. If you pray and sow two grains, four will sprout and if you do not pray and you sow four grains you’ll be able to collect only two.” And he added laughing: “Why don’t you pray you’ll reap four instead of two.” In the first volume of the Biographical Memoirs Fr. Lemoyne writes: “A little girl, a certain Rosa Febraro (…) led her herd to graze between the spurs of Becchi and Castelnuovo d’Asti. She recounts how sometimes young Johnny Bosco, so deeply absorbed in his own thoughts would not notice that his cows had strayed and entered a cultivated field. She hastened to bring them back to their place and John on perceiving this courtesy thanked her briefly. He sometimes left his animals in her care while he went off as usual to the shade of the nearby copse of willows to pray or to read.”

FOR PERSONAL MEDITATION.

Who taught me to pray?.

What do I remember about that?. How can I increase my love of prayer?. Who or what can assist me at this moment along my journey?