(ANS- Tucumán) – The centenary of the Salesian presence in Tucumán is a deeply significant date for the social, religious and cultural life of the city. Two priests, a confrere in practical training and three brothers arrived in Tucumán on 11 February 1916. At the time, no one could have foreseen the size that such a presence would have acquired over time, even if in fact it could already have been assumed that the Salesians were capable of achieving, considering what they had already achieved in the vast field of evangelization of Patagonia since 1875, the year of their arrival in Argentina.

In 1880, the Governor of the Province of Tucuman, Miguel M. Nougués, was impressed by the Salesian work he had seen on a trip to Montevideo. He asked the Provincial to open a house in Tucumán. He was told that it was impossible. However, after several years, the first Salesians reached Tucumán: Fr Lorenzo Massa, Fr Federico Della Vedova, a confrere in practical training and three Salesian Brothers, Luis Portella Eustacio Vaquero, Saturnino Eugui and Juan Sassano.  A priest called Fr Zavaleta gave them the "General Belgrano Boarding School of Arts and Crafts". In the chronicle it says: "The house is extremely poor and is not fit for a Salesian school. It bears the name of 'Arts and Crafts', since it consists of a laboratory with a few brushes and a very rudimentary carpentry shop. Thirty orphans are living there." Such were the beginnings.

The boarding school came to be called "General Belgrano Salesian Institute of Arts and Crafts" and on 25 April, after just two months, new laboratories were opened. The opening was a big event, attended by the Governor of the province and the Provincial of the Salesians, Fr José Vespignani. At that point, the institute counted 35 boarders and about 120 external trainees, divided into five classes. About 200 children attended the Oratory.

100 years later, the Salesian work in Tucumán is still going strong and is now very significant. "Since that time. the Salesian mission in Tucumán has continued to grow. Generations of children and adolescents have been taught in their schools. The lifestyle of these priests, characterized by their friendly attitude with the young and by a true vocation of service, has earned them enormous popularity and their influence in Tucuman has been of incalculable importance."

Published 15/02/2016

Source: "The Diary La Gaceta", Argentina