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<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/806.jpg'> 
Saint John Bosco, Educator 
100th Anniversary of Death 
Scott 806 (1988)</center> 
 
January 31st is the feast day of St John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Order. He is known for his educational efforts on behalf of working-class boys and young men in the Turin, Italy area.
 
Born in 1815, and raised in extreme poverty, Saint John Bosco entered a seminary in 1831 and was ordained priest in 1841. Initially serving as a chaplain, he resigned to live with his mother and approximately forty destitute boys, later opening workshops to train shoemakers and tailors. Biographer of saints David Farmer writes: “his attractive charismatic personality soon drew many to his oratory and his evening classes.” Farmer states that by 1856 there were 150 resident boys and another 500 children attracted to the oratories, along with ten other priests as teachers. Some of the young men were difficult to manage but Bosco treated them with “gentle firmness” rather than punishment. On Sundays, he took boys on expeditions to the countryside for games, a picnic, and catechism, followed by Vespers.
 
An official Congregation of the Salesian Fathers was approved in 1874 and the type of schools developed by John Bosco spread to other locations in Europe as well as North and South America. The types of training increased to include technical and agricultural skills, as well as seminaries. A similar organization, The Daughters of Our Lady, Help of Christians, was established for girls.
 
John Bosco died in 1888 and he was canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI.
 
"Don Bosco" is one of the most popular saints of the modern era, and has been presented in five stamp sets issued by Vatican City. He appears on two stamps from the 1936 Catholic Press Conference set:
 
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<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/49.jpg'>
<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/52.jpg'>
 Saint John Bosco 
Scott 49 and 52</center>
 
He also appears on two of the stamps from the 1957 set commemorating the centennial of the death of Saint Dominic Savio (shown here are the ornamental corner blocks for those stamps):
 
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<img height='200' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/220I.jpg'>
<img height='200' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/222I.jpg'>
 Saint John Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio 
Scott 220I & 222I</center>
 
The 1988 triptych, issued for the 100th anniversary of his death, is shown at the top of this article (Scott 806).
 
In 2015, a joint issue with Italy featured a stamp (issued as a six-stamp minisheet) commemorating the bicentennial of his birth:
 
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<img height='300' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1589M.jpg'> 
Saint John Bosco: Bicentennial of Birth 
Minisheet, Scott 1589M
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Most recently, in 2024, a stamp was issued to remember the 200th anniversary of the prophetic "Dream of Saint John Bosco":
 
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<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1848.jpg'> 
Bicentennial of the Dream of Saint John Bosco 
Scott 1848</center>
 
REFERENCES: 
<li>David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints 
<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> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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