(ANS – Turin) – On 29 October the day on which the whole Salesian Family  celebrates the liturgical memorial of Blessed Michael Rua, the first full working day took place of the V International Salesian Historical Congress organised by the Salesian Historical Association  (ACSSA) and by the Salesian Historical Institute (ISS).

The day began with the talk by Sr Grazia Loparco, of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) a lecturer at the Auxilium Pontifical Faculty in Rome, on “Don Rua and the Institute of  Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, continuity and innovation”. Afterwards  Fr José Manuel Prellezo SDB and lecturer at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, spoke about the monthly circular letters and the collective circulars of the Superior Chapter (1878-1895), as sources for the study of Don Rua, Prefect General, Vicar and Successor of Don Bosco.

Fr Francesco Motto, Director of the ISS, spoke on  the subject of  Don Rua and emigration, while Sr Gina Colombo, FMA lecturer at the Second Level Institute in Genoa, spoke about Don Rua’s travels.

In the second part of the morning there were two other talks: the first by Fr Miguel Canino, with a degree in Church History from the Gregorian University in Rome, who dealt with the prohibition imposed on the Superior of the Salesians by the Holy See to hear the confessions of his subjects; the second, entitled “An identity acquired in Palestine. The Daughters of Mary  of Giacinto Bianchi between the work of Antonio Belloni and the arrival of the Salesians 1890-1893” was given by Sr Antonietta Papa, Daughter of Mary the Missionary (FMM) and the lay scholar Fabrizio Fabrizi, who underlined how it was necessary in dealing with the Salesian presence in the Holy Land to refer to the FMM.
 
In the afternoon speakers and participants were divided into two groups: the first chaired by Fr Nestor Impelido SDB, examined the influence of Don Rua on the FMA in Uruguay (Sr Martha Franco) and the work of the FMA in Colombia (S Vilma Parra),
the FMA and the church in Lombardy (Sr Maristella Zanara) and  Don Rua and the Roman Province of the FMA.

The second, chaired by  Fr Joaquín Torres SDB, considered: “Don Rua and the Mother House in Nizza Monferrato” (Sr Eugenia Meardi); Salesian Work in Central America in the period of Don Rua as Rector Major (Fr Norman José Bercián); and Salesian Work ion Ecuador (Fr Pedro Creamer).

The second day of the V International ’ACSSA Congress, dedicated to Don Rua, the first successor of Don Bosco, concluded with a solemn Mass in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians  at which the Vicar of the Rector Major, Fr Adriano Bregolin presided.

Published 30/10/2009