(ANS – Catania) – Expectations are high in Sicily as it awaits the arrival of Don Bosco's Casket. The Salesian Family is getting ready to welcome the relic from 1 - 20 November.

Four thousand volunteers are already at work organising the various stopovers. Thirty five cities are all keyed up. The Casket will pass through the various diocese on the island and will be welcomed by Bishops and Local Church. There will be many associated events taking place on the days preceding and during the Relic's stayover in any one city. There will be meetings of students. Solemn celebrations, vigils and prayer opportunities for encountering and getting to know the young people's saint. A travelling exhibition of Don Bosco's spirituality and pedagogy will go ahead of each of the Casket's staging points.

This tour is neither nostalgic nor about revisiting history: “We feel that he is alive”, said Fr Gianni Mazzali, Salesian Provincial of Sicily. “Don Bosco is alive in his holiness, his message in the people's expectations. Sicily has always shown great affection for him and continues to do that now. Today, despite all the social problems we have, we feel challenged by the needs of poor youngsters who are a resource, not a burden on society.”

“Looking  Don Bosco profoundly in the eye,” Sr Anna Razionale, Provincial of the Salesian Sisters in Sicily says, “can revive our passion for God and for the young so we can go out to them with a heart in love with Don Bosco who spared no effort or sacrifice and worked solely for their salvation.”

The first official encounter will be on 1st November at Alì Terme – an encounter amongst Saints, under the aegis of Christian and Salesian education: Don Bosco will be in Blessed Sr Maddaelna Morano FMA territory. On 3rd November the Salesian Family will gather around the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, and his vicar, Fr Adrian Bregolin at Pala-Catania, where they will renew their fidelity to the Salesian charism. There will be a full program of arts, games in Salesian style, and a solemn Eucharist

Other special moments will include an encounter with inmates of the juvenile prisons at Bicocca, Catania and Malaspina at Palermo where over a good number of years now the Salesians have developed interesting initiatives for the technical formation  and accompaniment of inmates.

The entire pilgrimage will be followed by the media, especially the Press. Partly as background to the many planned celebrations is a hymn composed by the CGS or Salesian Youth Association, entitled, “Don Bosco is here”.

Published 29/10/2013