St.JohnBosco, popularly known as Don Bosco was born on 16th August 1815 in a little hamlet called Becchi, in northern Italy. He was the youngest son of FrancisBosco and Margaret Occhiena. When John was two, his father died, leaving the widow Margaret with an ailing mother-in-law, a stepson and two other boys,Antonio and Giuseppe, to eke out living at a farm on the hills of Piedmont. Love and hardship characterized the home despite all odds. John wanted education as he wanted to become a priest.

At the age of nine, Bosco had the first series of dreams which would play an influential role in his work and outlook. This dreamleft a profound impression on him for the rest of his life, according to his own memoirs. The man in the dream said to him.

“You will have to win these friends of yours not with blows, but with gentleness and kindness. So begin right now to show them that sin is ugly and virtue, beautiful”. At the age of twelve, he left home to find work. At fifteen, he began taking jobs of many kinds to pay for lodging and schooling. At the age of twenty- six, he realized his dream of becoming a priest in 1841.

“I want to be a priest who cares about children”, he said and that is what he did. He began, faltering and searching at first in the industrial city of Turin. His first permanent school was a dilapidated shed. The trades he had learnt while working his way through school became the trades he even taught thekids in his kitchen

St.JohnBosco, popularly known as Don Bosco was born on 16th August 1815 in a little hamlet called Becchi, in northern Italy. He was the youngest son of FrancisBosco and Margaret Occhiena. When John was two, his father died, leaving the widow Margaret with an ailing mother-in-law, a stepson and two other boys,Antonio and Giuseppe, to eke out living at a farm on the hills of Piedmont. Love and hardship characterized the home despite all odds. John wanted education as he wanted to become a priest.

Historians know him as a social innovator, saint and educator. Common people claim him as a clairvoyant, visionary and prophet. Churchmen and psychologists wonder at the catalogue of his prophetic dreams and miracles. But his special mission was the care that enriched their minds, taught them trades and filled their souls with peace and joy. The Church has proclaimed him as a saint and the “Father and Teacherof Youth” in 1934.