(ANS – Ivrea) – The casket with Don Bosco’s relic passed through Ivrea on January 17-18, 2014. The visit turned out to be a great and symbolic event. The director of the Salesian house at Ivrea was presented with two bricks representing the two Salesian missionary aspirantates of India – namely, Sirajuli (in Northeast India, founded in 2011) and Perambur (in South India – Chennai, 2012).

The regional councilor for South Asia, Fr. Maria Arokiam Kanaga, presented the bricks. He said: “These two bricks were made by children who work at brick kilns at Jhajjar (Haryana, India), where we have a Salesian apostolate caring for those young people at risk. Hence, the bricks are, so to speak, the fruit of child labor and at the same time symbolize all those to whom our mission is focused.”

The Salesian mission at Ivrea today is made up of a school, a religious house, and a youth center. But the school was once the first and the most important missionary aspirantate of the Congregation, aptly named the Cardinal Cagliero School after the leader of the first Salesian missionary expedition. This school trained and formed hundreds of Salesian missionaries who have educated, evangelized, and spread the Salesian charism in every part of the world. Quite a number of them were assigned to India over the years, the most notable being Venerable Francesco Convertini. Another distinguished alumnus was Venerable Giuseppe Quadrio, professor at the Salesian Pontifical Athenaeum in Turin.

In recent years, the Cardinal Cagliero School has been adapted to support the undertakings at Sirajuli and Perambur especially through the sharing of documents and experiences. We must also mention that as a token of the “twinning” between the Salesian work at Ivrea and the two missionary aspirantates, in July 2012 Fr. Caprioglio (director at Ivrea) donated a brick from the chapel of the Salesian religious house of Ivrea to Fr. Kanaga. To confirm this twinning-relationship, the two bricks donated from India now have been placed within the same chapel from where the first brick was taken.

“Let us hope that what has ceased in Ivrea [missionary formation] because of the changing times, will now continue in India,” said Fr. Kanaga in his concluding words.

Published 22/01/2014