(ANS – Buenos Aires) – The 'Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro' is an Argentinian sports club based in Buenos Aires, best known for its football team. Together with Boca Juniors, River Plate, Racing and 'Independiente', it is one of five major Argentinian teams. Few would have imagined such an outcome when the team began in a Salesian Oratory, thanks to the efforts of Fr Lorenzo Massa for local street kids.

Fr Massa, born in 1882 of Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, spent his whole life for young people. Ordained in 1907, he was appointed the following year as Rector of the Oratory of St. Anthony of Padua, in the Almagro area, Buenos Aires, where following the example of Don Bosco, he undertook to remove children from the street.

Almagro was a popular neighbourhood with many immigrants and a lower-class origin, where most were destined to a life of delinquency from childhood. The Almagro boys, just for fun, started playing a new sport from Europe known as "football".

Fr Massa saw them play. One day he saw a child chasing the ball and nearly run over by a tram. He then suggested that the children continue their game in a safe and appropriate place, the courtyard at the Oratory, on condition that they attended Mass and Catechism, a restriction that the lads willingly agreed to. This was the way he ensured that they grew up in a safe place and were drawn closer to their religion.
 
The first group of minors who came along called themselves the Almagro conscripts and soon decided to form a real club, based at the Oratory. But Fr Massa wasn't happy with the idea of 'conscripts' so he asked them to find an alternative name. One of them suggested that the team call itself "Lorenzo Massa" in honour of the priest, but he declined and made several attempts to make a compromise: the team could use his name, but as a sign of devotion to Saint Lorenzo (Lawrence), and along with the name of the neighbourhood. That's how San Lorenzo de Almagro came about.

Fr Massa explained that the name "refers to the courageous Roman martyr, Saint Lawrence, and the heroic battle for independence fought near the city of Rosario", and it expresses "the virtues and the commitment necessary to satisfy their desire to one day be among the best teams in Argentine football".

Not even the colours had been left to chance: the San Lorenzo de Almagro jersey is blue and red, the colours of Mary Help of Christians, who wears a red robe and blue cloak in the usual pictures we see of her.

With time the team grew; the oratory and courtyard filled with young people. Parents, who came to see their sons play, began to come regularly, and also went to Church there. Astrong bond between the neighbourhood and the Oratory developed. New teams in athletics and basketball were formed ... and in the midst of it all was Fr Massa, always proud of "his boys".

Today the San Lorenzo de Almagro team shows off 13 Argentine Championships, 1 South American Cup and 1 Mercosur Cup.

Meanwhile, Fr Massa is also known for another great work in favour of Argentinian youth: the Exploradores de Don Bosco or Boy Scouts, together with Fr. Giuseppe Vespignani, his superior. It is a Salesian version of the Scout movement. This project has exceeded all expectations and it too began in Almagro, then spread throughout the country.

Published 17/12/2012