| Spain – Don Bosco, a patron for all |
| Israel – Producing wine for over 120 years |
| Argentina - The important role of a Salesian house in the development of oenolgy |
Two Salesians: Fr Sabino Frigato and Fr Egidio Deiana contributed to the event. The first who teaches at the “Don Bosco” International Theological Institute in Turin, spoke about the saint who incarnated the typical values of the countryman. Fr Deiana, in his turn, presented the educational and training work which the Salesians undertake in vocational training centres especially agricultural colleges.
Don Bosco’s interest in the fields and vineyards as a result of his own life lived in the countryside: at 12 years of age he was looking after the cows and worked in the vineyard at Moncucco. The vineyard of his brother Joseph registered in John’s name was the “dowry” necessary for his priestly ordination, as was the custom in the church of those days. Not by chance therefore Don Bosco often took his boys to the vineyards of Monferrato, and to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Don Bosco’s great interest in the subject was also noted in the testimony of the old vine growers of the Chieri area in addition to his writings in the “Galantuomo” column in the monthly series of the “Catholic Readings”. In fact in one of his articles from 1857 one reads: “Wine is good for you if drunk in moderation; over-indulgence shortens life and is the unhappy cause of problems and poverty in many families.”
The saint’s biography in fact mentions book entitled “Italian vine-cultivation”, a small volume written perhaps towards the end of 1844, in which the process of the cultivation of the grape is explain in a simple and popular style: the conditions required for a good cellar, the preparation of casks and vats and how to make wine.
Published 17/03/2009
