By Bro. Hilario Seo, SDB

Seoul, Korea, August 16, 2015 - At the provincial house in Seoul there was a special event to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Don Bosco's birth attended by more than 150 people, including Salesian family group member as well as some superiors of other religious congregation.

It started at 11am with a Holy Mass presided by the provincial, Fr. Stefano Yang at the chapel on the 7th floor. In his homily he mention about the Don Bosco’s fatal attraction which is the irresistible power to make everyone as a spontaneous cooperator for the mission of saving the youth.

After the Mass, the provincial gave a series of the complete works of Arthur J. Lenti's book, “Don Bosco: History and Spirit”, in seven volumes translated in Korean language to the president of the Union of Superiors/Female Superiors which served as a symbolic act for the project of free distribution to the 200 significant subjects in the Church including the all Dioceses Offices, Religious Congregations, Seminaries, Theological Institutes, and Catholic media in order to spread effectively the spirit of Don Bosco. KOR realized the translation and publishing this series as one of the main project for the preparation of bicentenary from 2010 to 2015.

It was followed by the opening ceremony of the Salesian Historic Hall, which was prepared since last February. The Salesian Historic Hall was completed through the effort of Fr. Francis Na on the third floor of the provincial house with an area of approximately 240m². The basic idea of setting this memorial place is to look back with gratitude on the 60 years of Salesians in Korea, checking the present situation in which the spirit of Don Bosco was implemented, with a commitment to help young people to dream for their future. The opening ceremony started with the ribbon cutting by some representatives, the provincial of SDB/FMA/SCG, SDB senior confrere and the rector of the provincial house. After the ribbon cutting, all the participants made a rounding on the new setting. In particular, the reproduction of Fr. John Lee's room which is a small space arranged with bed, wardrobe and a small desk used by him at the last moment has attracted much attention. It is expected to act as a meeting place for the Salesian family at the same time to be a reference place to look back at the past years and to explore more deeply the spirit of Don Bosco.

All participants in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Don Bosco in Korea prayed so that his spirit and life bloom in full for the young especially those most in need.