(ANS - Montevideo) - About 3,300 Catholics from all over Uruguay participated on Sunday 15 November in the Eucharist presided over by the Archbishop of Montevideo, the Salesian Cardinal Daniel Sturla, to mark the end of the celebrations in the country for the 200th  anniversary of the birth of Don Bosco.

As part of this initiative, about 1,300 boys and girls camped out and slept in the open last night, in the western part of Montevideo, to commemorate the bicentenary of the founder of the Salesian Congregation, and creator of the preventive system "that stresses the education of young people to promote their development and combat poverty" as it says in a statement of the Episcopal Conference of Uruguay.

On the Sunday morning, in addition to the young people, about 2,000 adults from the Salesian Family and from all over the country gathered in the National Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Montevideo to attend the Mass presided over by Cardinal Sturla.  The Apostolic Nuncio in Uruguay, Archbishop George Panikulam, concelebrated as did several other bishops, and the Provincial of the Salesians in the country, Fr Néstor Castell.

The presence of the Salesian Family in Uruguay is significant. They work in schools and colleges and in centres of non-formal education, as well as in parishes and oratories. As a result, many tributes were paid to Don Bosco to mark his bicentenary in 2015, in this secular country with a strongly secular Constitution.

In September, for example, the Senate stressed the work of Don Bosco, in a tribute that was welcomed by representatives of all political parties in the country.  Many of them were educated in the schools of the congregation founded by the Italian saint - including the current President of the Republic, Tabaré Vázquez.

Similarly, the Uruguayan Post Office honoured the Saint of Youth with a commemorative stamp; and other tributes have come from other public entities.

The awards bestowed by the Uruguayan State were part of the festivities of the Salesian Congregation and the Catholic community. They included religious and cultural events and the launch of a musical comedy about the history of the saint.

Published 17/11/2015