It might surprise some people that there is, in fact, a patron saint for juvenile delinquents, and it is Saint John Bosco. Patron also of religious education, teachers, editors, stage magicians, and youth, John Bosco was the embodiment of everything we ourselves would want in a mentor and a teacher.  

 

John Bosco was born in Becchi, Italy, in 1815, just at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The youngest of three boys, John lost his father when he was only two years old, leaving his mother, Margherita, alone to raise her family. By the time John was an adult, she had become an active participant in his work and was herself declared Venerable in 2006. 

 

A devout child, John was a hard worker on his family’s farm. At the age of nine, he experienced the first of several vivid dreams that pointed the way to his eventual vocation – the care and education of youth at risk. He developed a unique way of attracting the young people he wanted to serve. Not long after the first of his dreams, a troupe of circus performers and magicians came to his town, and John was so enthralled by their acts that he learned some himself. Once he was proficient, he would stage shows of his own, catechizing his audience and encouraging them to pray with him. 

 

In the course of these performances, John discerned a call to the priesthood, but his poverty was an obstacle to his education. Determined to persevere anyway, he left home at the age of twelve to work as a farm laborer. It would be a few years before he met another future saint, Father Joseph Cafasso, who was willing to help finance his studies. Entering the seminary in 1835, he was ordained in 1841. 

 

His first assignment was in the city of Turin, which was plagued by widespread poverty and slums. After visiting a prison and noting

how many young men between the ages of twelve and eighteen were incarcerated there, he resolved to do something to keep them out of trouble in the first place. He began to exercise an educational and pastoral approach to the issue which emphasized reason, religion and, above all, loving kindness. For these young people, his goal was to unite the spiritual with all aspects of life – work, play, and study. His patience and kindness won over even the most hardened of his charges; the children referred to him affectionately as “Don Bosco.” This “Preventive Approach”, as it was known, was one that was far ahead of its time.  

 

In order to better carry on his work, Father Bosco founded, under the patronage of Saint Francis de Sales, the Salesian Order of Priests in 1859. A few years later, in 1872, he began a similar congregation for women. His goal was to train young people for useful work in an atmosphere of faith. 

 

When Bosco died in 1888, people were already calling him a saint. Canonized in 1934, his feast is January 31.