(ANS - Rome) - As part of the celebration of the Bicentenary of the Birth of Don Bosco - officially recognized by the Committee for Scientific and Historical Anniversaries of Italian National Interest – a conference  is scheduled for 18 November on the theme: "Italians at the end of the world. Salesian missionaries in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego." The event will take place in Rome, in the Aldo Moro Room of the Italian House of Parliament in Montecitorio. The Rector Major Fr Ángel Fernández Artime will participate.

The welcome address will be given by the President of the Chamber of Deputies. He will be followed by Professors María Andrea Nicoletti (National University of Río Negro, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina); Nicola Bottiglieri (University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy) and Gabriella Dionisi (University of Tuscia, Italy). They will describe the experience of the pioneer Salesian missionaries from Italy among the indigenous people  of America. The missionaries were sent by Don Bosco in 1880 to the Indians of Patagonia. The evidence is contained in the sixth volume of the Letters of Don Bosco which will be presented by the event coordinator, Professor Fr Francesco Motto.

At the conclusion of the speeches, the Rector Major Fr Ángel Fernández Artime will describe the pilgrimage of the relics of Don Bosco - by plane, boat, train, tram and car - in Argentina and in a thousand  cities of a hundred 100 countries on four continents. This is unique for anyone born in Italy.

Among the guests at the conference will be the ambassadors of Argentina and Chile; Cardinal Raffaele Farina SDB, Librarian Emeritus of the Vatican Library; honourable deputies and professors. Tribute will be paid to Salvatore Metastasio, author of the film "South of the South," and the historical consultant,Fr Motto. The film will be made available on DVD in the next few days  at LDC.

The event takes place just before the International Historical Congress of the Bicentenary which is scheduled to run from the morning of the following day, Wednesday 19 November to Sunday 23 November. The theme of the Congress is "Development of the charism of Don Bosco until the mid-twentieth century."

Published 14/11/2014