(ANS – San Juan) – Last July the Diario de Cuyo, a daily newspaper in the province of San Juan, Argentina, acknowledged the work done by the Salesians in training many generations of young people in agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, viticulture and wine-making, combining the Salesian charism and Don Bosco’s spirit of work.

The article begins: “The community of San Juan has a particular devotion to Mary Help of Christians and a love for the Salesian religious community in our province, for many reasons, and among them the valuable training given to many good workers in local agriculture and food production.”

The first Salesians arrived in the province in 1930 in the Desamparados area. The newspaper article goes on to say: “On Sunday 2 February 1930, the dusty General Belgrano railway brought Fr Paul Vicari, the then Superior of the Salesians, Fr Joseph Fanzolato, founder and first Rector of the new house, Fr Emilio Lenzi and Salesian Brother Luis Campos”.

Regarding devotion to Mary Help of Christians, introduced to Argentina by the Salesians, it says: “It spread throughout all the rural parts of the country, and in a particular way in San Juan. In many agricultural companies in our area you can still see statues erected by local producers to invoke her assistance.  Through her intercession they entrust their hopes and dreams, their plans and their disappointments, to God. By Presidential Decree in 1949, she was declared the patroness of agriculture in the whole of Argentina, on account of the work done by the Salesians in the country for the benefit and development of rural areas of Argentina and for the dignity of the workers.”

It is acknowledged that this work formed many generations and led to important developments in the agricultural sector, not only in Argentina but in the whole southern hemisphere. “At Rodeo del Medio, in the province of Mendoza, there is the Faculty of Wine-Making and Horticulture which supplies well trained professionals in the principal industry of the area of Cuyo. Among its productions there are the books on Wine-Making by Fr Francisco Oreglia, which have added to the knowledge of generations of wine producers in the southern world.”

The article contains other references to Salesian work, not only in San Juan but also in 10 other centres – out of a total of 120 in the whole country – in which the Salesians are training young people in agriculture and related sectors.

The article can be read in full in Spanish on the website of Diario de Cuyo. It concludes by inviting its readers to thank the Salesians for their work in the country, and even more, to ask for the intercession of Mary Help of Christians for future Salesian vocations.

Published 23/08/2013