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The bicentenary of St. John Bosco's birth is marked by a miniature sheet of six €0,80 stamps, a joint issue with Italy. John Bosco (1815-1888) is the founder of the Society of St. Frances De Sales (the Salesians) and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. He is most remembered for his dedication to the education of and support for young people, especially the poor. The stamp design is a modern sketch of the saint, surrounded by abstract figures representing young people. On the miniature sheet's left is a line drawing of the Basilica at Castelnuovo Don Bosco, in Asti, Italy, where he is entombed. Citations from John Bosco are also listed on the left side of the MS, which summarize his loving attitude toward children, such as, "My dear, I love you with all my heart, that you are young and just because I love you very much." Such a statement is emblematic of Don Bosco's insistence that children know that they are loved, combining "education and something of the heart." 
 
Don Bosco is one of the most popular saints of the modern era. At his canonization in 1934, Pope Pius XI named the saint "the father and teacher of youth." St. John Bosco has been commemorated on several previous stamp issues, Scott 49 and 52 (1936), Scott 220 and 222 (1957), and the 1988 triptych, 806a-c. An article on the previous philatelic commemoration of John Bosco was published in the Second Quarter 2015 issue of Vatican Notes. 
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REFERENCE: 
<li>James C. Hamilton, Vatican Notes, Volume 63, Number 364, pp. 36-37, 2015, <a href='http://vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=63-364-36-37&r=0'>St John Bosco: 'Father and Teacher of Youth'</a>

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