"His heart remains here!"

The following comes from the Salesian News Agency:


On 23 August the journey involving Don Bosco`s relics in Querétaro in southern Mexico came to an end after visiting 19 different places.

The common feature everywhere the casket went was the number of faithful  who wanted to see, albeit briefly, the,  the relics of the Father of youth, and who wanted to pray before him.

The Casket will continue its journey through Mexico until 11 September, and is now in the region covered by Mexico-Guadalajara (MEG), the Salesian province and Mexico-Monterrey (MMO) which is the Sisters` province.

The first stop along this second part of the pilgrimage was in Celaya where many people spent the night praying and thanking God while waiting to venerate Don Bosco`s relics, which arrived at 4 a.m. Then, briefly, in Guanajuato State, the Casket came to Irapuato and thence to León.

In León there was a huge crowd. Civil Protection authorities estimated there to be around 60,000 people who filed past at the various points where the Casket stopped. Most were at the National San Juan Bosco Shrine, then the Metropolitan Cathedral in León and the Salesians` Don Bosco Boys Town.

The manifestation of faith and devotion of the people who “visited” Don Bosco made one think of the undeniable truth of something said by Fr Renato Ziggiotti, 5th  successor of Don Bosco, when he visited the city: “His body might be in Turin, but his heart is here in León!”.

At the moment the Casket is in Guadalajara where it will remain two days before proceeding through other parts of the country.

Further information can be found on www.donbosco.mx.

The Latest Info on Don Bosco's Relic and the Youth Rally at the Marian Shrine

Wednesday - Sept 29, 2010 Morning-set up tent and prepare all arrangements for check in Set up stage 3:00 set up sound systems 5-7pm-check in for all team leaders and groups who are staying 8:00pm-team meetings-final run throughs Welcome of the relic 10:00-  Reflection on Don Bosco and night prayers (Chapel) 11:30 -retire Thursday - Sept 30, 2010 8:00am-- relic to Outdoor altar 8:00-9:30am-- all will view relic Breakfast- pavilion Some animation by Becchi House Procession of Relic 10:00am-Youth Rally  ---music -animation-skit---prayer Rector Majors taped address, Provincial welcomes Schedule for 1-Hour Youth Rally during Relic Day Opening Medley Intros of Meg and Mike (aka Mag Dee) as MCs (1 min) (Salesian Scene It Question - 1 min?) Icebreaker - How to say hello around the US (about 5mins) Shout-outs (about 1 min) Rector Major (about 4mins) (Salesian Scene It Question - 1 min?) Skit/Entertainment (about 5 mins) Fr. Provincial welcomes (Salesian Scene It Question - 1 min?) YouTube Who is Don Bosco? (about 4 mins) Witness Talks (about 20 mins) (Salesian Scene It Question - 1 min?) Closing Song (about 3 mins) 11:00am-Holy Mass with Archbishop Dolan 12:30  lunch  (visit-relic) 1:00-2:00  more music, some school bus departures, 2:00-5:00 music under the tent 3:00-Ultimate Frisbee tournaments 5:00 Dinner 6:30 Candle light Rosary 7:30 - 8:30 Korean Prayer Service 9:00PM - 10:00 PM ---Hispanic praise and worship Stories of Don Bosco and Camp Fire

Miami Preparing for Don Bosco's Relic!

Miami is preparing for the relic of Don Bosco!  To check out there very cool link please click here!

Don Bosco Relics in Mexico

The video is of the second day of the visit of the relics of Don Bosco in Mexico.

Relics of St. John Bosco to Visit San Francisco

The following comes from the CNA:

Relics of St. John Bosco will stop in San Francisco on Saturday, Sept. 11 as part of a worldwide tour commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the patron saint of youth and students.

A portion of Don Bosco’s right arm bone is encased in a 1,800 pound reliquary. It will be driven to San Francisco’s Sts. Peter and Paul Church from Tijuana, Mexico, a press release from the church reports.

Receiving the relics will be an honor guard including members of the Knights of Malta, the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, the San Francisco Fire Department and the San Francisco Police Department. After the relics arrive at 11:30 p.m., the church will be open all Saturday night for veneration by the faithful.

On Sunday, Sept. 12 there will be five Masses at the church to emphasize a particular aspect of Don Bosco’s ministry: as a model of service, as an apostle to the young, as a missionary to the world, as a model of holiness, and as someone faithful for the kingdom.

Don Bosco founded the Salesian religious order to minister and to serve young people orphaned and dispossessed by the industrial revolution. He is recognized as the patron of young people, Mexican youth, boys, schoolchildren, apprentices, laborers, stage magicians and editors.

The saint is particularly revered in Latin America and news of his relics’ visit has reportedly generated great enthusiasm, especially among the Latino population of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sts. Peter and Paul Church was the first place the Salesians established a presence in North America, but the Salesians are not numerous in the United States. However, they serve an important role in other countries. Because of their work, the Salesian founder’s relics were received in some countries by government dignitaries such as the presidents of Nicaragua and Honduras.

The relics have also visited Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, El Salvador, Bolivia, Guatemala and Mexico.

The Salesians are now the third largest men’s order in the Catholic Church, with over 20,000 members in 130 countries. The Salesian Sisters, known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, are the second largest order of women religious with 14,000 members in 89 countries.

Don Bosco at Tehuacán

The following comes from the Salesian News Agency:

The relic of Saint John Bosco left the city of Puebla do los Ángeles on Wednesday 10 August for Tehuacán, where it was welcomed in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

The casket of Don Bosco was welcomed with a solemn Mass in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, in the presence of a great crowd of the faithful. The main celebrant was past pupil Bishop Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez and the concelebrants included Don Miguel Agustín Aguilar Medina, Provincial of the Mexico City Province (MEM), Don Jesús Ambrosio Ramírez Aragón, director of Unità Educativa Benavente, Don Abel Jorge Morales Cedillo, Don Crisóforo Chaves Ramírez, Don Alberto Domingo Chávez Durán, director of the liturgy, and other priests from the diocesan clergy.

In the homily, Bishop Aguilar gave a brief account of the life of Don Bosco and how he had trained his boys to be good Christians and honest citizens. He described him as “A prudent man, who had chosen St Francis de Sales and Mary Help of Christians as his patrons. A shepherd for the young, whom he considered always loved by God.”

“Don Bosco lent his attention to the rejected... the Word of God was his light, something very present, in a situation and a society which, having distanced itself from God, had need of models. May the witness of St John Bosco enable us to become yeast, fermenting the masses, and a source of change in a situation which seems impossible to transform”, the bishop insisted.

After the homage of the faithful and various spiritual activities, the relic of the Saint of Youth left Tehuacán for Mérida.

Don Bosco in Mexico (Day 1)

Pilgrimage Tour of Don Bosco's Relic Arrives in Mexico

You can follow Don Bosco's visit to Mexico here! Viva Don Bosco!

Relics of St. John Bosco to tour US, Canada in September, October

In the tradition of pilgrimage, the relics of St. John Bosco are being carried into the towns and villages, neighborhoods and centers where the Gospel is announced among the young and the poor today. This pilgrim journey through 130 nations began on January 31, 2009, the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the Salesian Congregation. It prepares us for the 2010 celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Don Bosco’s birth near Turin, Italy on August 16, 1815. For more information on the tour please click the Don Bosco Among Us site.

The following comes from the CNS:

More than 16 months after it began a world tour touching over 100 nations, a casket containing relics of St. John Bosco is scheduled to visit the United States and Canada beginning in mid-September.

The pilgrimage of the relics began April 25, 2009, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Salesians of Don Bosco and is to continue until shortly before the 200th anniversary of the saint's birth near Turin, Italy, on Aug. 16, 1815.

For the tour, the bones and tissues of the right hand and arm of the 19th-century Italian saint have been placed within a wax replica of St. John Bosco's body, which is being displayed in a glass box mounted on a large wood and metal cart.

The display -- weighing more than 1,800 pounds and measuring approximately 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall -- has been transported around the world by plane and in specially designed and built trucks.

Its scheduled stops in North America include California, New Orleans, Florida, Washington, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal and Surrey, British Columbia.

According to the Salesian News Agency, the relics have been receiving an enthusiastic welcome and yielding spiritual fruits at every stop.

"The presence of the relics among us (Salesians) has made it very clear that Don Bosco is very much alive among us, through us and in us for the benefit of many," wrote Father Horacio A. Lopez, former provincial of the La Plata province of Argentina, in a letter thanking Father Pascual Chavez Villanueva, the Salesian rector major, for the tour.

The relics were in Haiti to mark the six months that had passed since the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation. In a video message in the Creole language that accompanied the relics, Father Chavez expressed solidarity with the people of Haiti and prayed that "this tragedy may be transformed into a blessing for the country."

"Let us rebuild the country; Haiti must be reborn," he said. "Young people, don't be discouraged but work to bring new life to the country."

The itinerary for the pilgrimage thus far has included Italy and most of the Latin American countries. On July 29, the relics were traveling from Honduras to El Salvador; they were scheduled to arrive in California from Mexico Sept. 11.

Here is the schedule for the relics in the United States and Canada:

-- Sept. 11-13, San Francisco.

-- Sept. 14, Richmond, Berkeley and Watsonville, Calif.

-- Sept. 15, Watsonville and Los Angeles.

-- Sept. 16, Los Angeles and Rosemead, Calif.

-- Sept. 17-18, Bellflower, Calif.

-- Sept. 19-20, Harvey, La.

-- Sept. 21, Westwego, La.

-- Sept. 21-22, Harvey, La.

-- Sept. 22-23, St. Petersburg, Fla.

-- Sept. 24-25, Belle Glade, Fla.

-- Sept. 25-26, Miami.

-- Sept. 26-29, Washington, D.C.

-- Sept. 30, Stony Point, N.Y.

-- Oct. 1-2, New York City.

-- Oct. 4-6, Toronto.

-- Oct. 6-8, Montreal.

-- Oct. 8-10, Surrey, British Columbia.

After the relics leave Canada, they are scheduled to travel through 17 countries of East Asia for about a year.

Father Vaclav Klement, Salesian general councilor for missions in Rome, said the relics will tour Asia in three forms -- a casket, reliquary and statue -- "for culture-specific reasons."

"South Korea, Philippines and Thailand will get the traditional life-size casket containing a statue of Don Bosco similar to the one preserved in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians" in Turin, he said in a statement. "Japan will have an ostensory of the relics in a monstrance-type reliquary. Other Asian countries will have a near-life-size statue of Don Bosco with his relics."

"Everywhere the casket has received overwhelmingly grand reception beyond our expectations and calculations," said Father Pier Luigi Zuffetti, relics tour coordinator and director of Don Bosco Missions in Valdocco, Italy.

"In Asia, we expect the same enthusiasm, not only from Christians but also from thousands of past pupils and friends of Don Bosco coming from religious traditions other than Christianity," he added.