(ANS - Turin) - On the occasion of the visit of Pope Francis to Turin to venerate the Holy Shroud and pay homage to Don Bosco, the Mayor of Turin, Piero Fassino, will donate to the Pontiff copies of twenty-two letters that Don Bosco wrote to his friend and benefactor Baron Feliciano Ricci des Ferres, a noble Catholic with a strong social conscience.

The gift, which will be presented on Monday 22 June, is intended as a "visible manifestation of the pride we feel for the history of Piedmont which created the conditions for the emergence and development of those saints engaged in social work which owed much to the social doctrine of the Church and to the secular philosophy of solidarity," the Mayor wrote.

The original letters were acquired at the time by the then Province of Turin and kept in the Giuseppe Grosso Library of the history and culture of Piedmont. The theme of the letters is the constant appeal to Baron de Ricci Ferres for help in the form of money and various objects that might be of use in the Salesian Houses for the Oratories and other works of Don Bosco.

The style is sober, immediate and natural. Don Bosco’s requests are accompanied by sincere expressions of gratitude to the Baron. Don Bosco writes also of his profound spirituality and his concern for what matters most: eternal salvation. A note of January 1888 was penned with a trembling hand by the Saint now close to death, and ends with a request for prayers.

"Dear Baron,” Don Bosco writes, “You absolutely must save your soul, but you have to give to the poor all that you do not need from what the Lord has given you. I pray to God to grant you this extraordinary grace. I hope we will meet in a blessed eternity. Pray for the salvation of my soul."

Among the letters of interest mention must be made of one dated 11 October 1883. Writing about the missions in Patagonia, Don Bosco asks Baron Ricci for help to send thirty priests and catechists to Patagonia which the Pope had entrusted to the pastoral care of the Salesians.

As well as the letters signed by Don Bosco, the Library contains other letters sent to Baron Ricci by priests who were colleagues of Don Bosco and collaborators in his mission, such as Fr Federico Oreglia, Blessed Philip Rinaldi, Fr Paolo Albera and Fr Carlo Cays.

Published 19/06/2015