austraLasia #3146
ROME: 20 October 2012-- Amongst the works listed as essential for anyone wanting to come to grips with the preventive system and Don Bosco's overall educational approach, Peter Braido's Don Bosco educatore, looms large.
It has not been translated into English, and at nearly 500 pages of critical apparatus, dealing with texts for the most part written in Don Bosco's 'ottocento' Italian, and in places where the size of a single footnote is more than the other content on the page, it may yet take some time before it is!
But at least Braido's introduction to this book (which he edited, so there are other well-known contributors such as Ferreira da Silva, Prellezzo, Motto involved) is now in English, and it makes an interesting read. It also contains a simple but useful list of biographical dates which quickly display Don Bosco's prodigious effort and output as an educator.
Braido's introduction is especially valuable in itself, as it manages to explain fairly briefly how 'preventive' is not a univocal term once we start looking at Don Bosco's practice, how the constant relationship between texts and works is essential if we are to understand both, and what are the key criteria for reading these texts.
The untranslated bulk of this book contains fragments and documents from Don Bosco's early years at the Oratory (1845.1854), documents of a narrative nature where he describes or 'tells about' his pedagogy (1854-1862), his normative and policy-oriented documentation (1863-1878). There is a final section containing material written (or possibly written!) by Don Bosco in the last five years of his life - this includes his Spiritual Testament, the two letters from Rome. three letters to Salesians in Argentina, about which Braido says: "these represent the best in terms of expressing his 'system', not only pedagogically and socially, but also in the general style of life and relationships, principle of a true spirituality of religious, personal and community life".
In some ways, if anyone does have the courage to tackle this very demanding work of translation, it might be better to start from the back of the book! It would provide a hundred or so pages of very illuminating reading!
--------
MYM
One senses the increased pace, even around the Region, of interest in Don Bosco's pedagogy. We know that Francis Gustilo has been moving through parts of south-east Asia recently. News from MYM indicates that he has presented his material on Don Bosco's Preventive System there too, as he did earlier in Thailand and Cambodia.
BERKELEY
But keep an eye on another very valuable resource coming out of Berkeley and now available online. salesianstudies.org. Amongst other things you will find the Ongoing Formation Bulletins or Don Bosco Study Guides, as they are now called. The October 2012 one contains a challenging relfection by Jack Finnegan from IRL.
Don Bosco, Educator and associated matters
It has not been translated into English, and at nearly 500 pages of critical apparatus, dealing with texts for the most part written in Don Bosco's 'ottocento' Italian, and in places where the size of a single footnote is more than the other content on the page, it may yet take some time before it is!
But at least Braido's introduction to this book (which he edited, so there are other well-known contributors such as Ferreira da Silva, Prellezzo, Motto involved) is now in English, and it makes an interesting read. It also contains a simple but useful list of biographical dates which quickly display Don Bosco's prodigious effort and output as an educator.
Braido's introduction is especially valuable in itself, as it manages to explain fairly briefly how 'preventive' is not a univocal term once we start looking at Don Bosco's practice, how the constant relationship between texts and works is essential if we are to understand both, and what are the key criteria for reading these texts.
The untranslated bulk of this book contains fragments and documents from Don Bosco's early years at the Oratory (1845.1854), documents of a narrative nature where he describes or 'tells about' his pedagogy (1854-1862), his normative and policy-oriented documentation (1863-1878). There is a final section containing material written (or possibly written!) by Don Bosco in the last five years of his life - this includes his Spiritual Testament, the two letters from Rome. three letters to Salesians in Argentina, about which Braido says: "these represent the best in terms of expressing his 'system', not only pedagogically and socially, but also in the general style of life and relationships, principle of a true spirituality of religious, personal and community life".
In some ways, if anyone does have the courage to tackle this very demanding work of translation, it might be better to start from the back of the book! It would provide a hundred or so pages of very illuminating reading!
--------
MYM
One senses the increased pace, even around the Region, of interest in Don Bosco's pedagogy. We know that Francis Gustilo has been moving through parts of south-east Asia recently. News from MYM indicates that he has presented his material on Don Bosco's Preventive System there too, as he did earlier in Thailand and Cambodia.
BERKELEY
But keep an eye on another very valuable resource coming out of Berkeley and now available online. salesianstudies.org. Amongst other things you will find the Ongoing Formation Bulletins or Don Bosco Study Guides, as they are now called. The October 2012 one contains a challenging relfection by Jack Finnegan from IRL.
