(ANS – Rome) – Don Bosco had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart, and he recommended it to his boys. This devotion was displayed in many forms and expressions during his life: writings, prayers, good advice and recommendations, and even churches.  And his devotion was so compelling that it became part of the Salesian Charism itself, being spread by his Successors and Spiritual Sons to this day.

Speaking of the Sacred Heart Don Bosco once said, “Here one acquires true warmth, I mean the love of God, and not only for oneself, but to take it elsewhere and make souls share in it.” This devotion is expressed in his insistence on frequent Confession and Communion and attendance at daily Mass, pillars that must support the educational edifice and animate the practice of the preventive system.

He also printed the booklets The Nine Offices and the Guard of Honour and commissioned Fr. Bonetti to write A Month in Honour of the Sacred Heart. Observing the First Friday of the Month in honor of the Sacred Heart was prescribed in the “Regulations of the Oratory.” The Chaplet to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was another practice which was found in The Companion of Youth.

The first edition of The Companion of Youth (Il giovane provveduto) appeared in 1847 and was Don Bosco’s greatestpublishing success. The year he died, it had reached its 119th edition. It represents a point of arrival for his pastoral experiences amongst boys at the early Oratory and is the basis for developments in his plans for youthful holiness. We find in it the content and model of Christian living which he offered the boys, his unmistakable “horizons of youth spirituality.” This was the author’s intention, declared right from the preface, where he says he wants to teach “a method of Christian living which is cheerful and pleased at the same time,” “brief and easy, but sufficient” so young people can become “the consolation of their parents, an honor to their town, good citizens on earth to then be the fortunate inhabitants of heaven.”

In this pedagogical framework, Don Bosco inserts the Chaplet to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: “Say this chaplet to the Divine Heart of Jesus to make up for the outrages He receives in the Holy Eucharist from heretics, unfaithful people and unworthy Christians either alone or with others and, if you can, before an image of the Sacred Heart or before the Blessed Sacrament” he wrote, before offering his boys a beautiful prayer to say.

So, Don Bosco wanted to express the concrete and effective part of this devotion in his work for at-risk youth through the good work of leading a companion away from sin and directing him to what is good.

Again, towards the end of his life he accepted Pope Leo XIII’s request to complete the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome. The church, started in 1870 by Pope Pius IX, was taken up and completed thanks to Don Bosco’s tenacity, in just a few years (1880-1887). An enterprise that cost him not a few sacrifices.

The First Successor of Don Bosco, Blessed Michael Rua, consecrated the Salesian Congregation to the Sacred Heart on 31 December 1899 and, on that occasion, sent all the houses an ‘instruction’ on this devotion. He emphasised its importance especially for the formation houses, and asked that the novitiates be dedicated to Him. A few days before his death, Fr Rua asked Fr Francesco Cerruti that a prayer to the Sacred Heart be composed for vocations. The following prayer was presented to him, which he approved, recited, and asked that a copy be placed under his pillow: ‘O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, that you may send good and worthy workers to the Pious Salesian Society and keep them faithful in it, we beg you, hear us!’

Finally, we should not forget what is still stated in Article 11 of the Salesian Constitutions: “The Salesian spirit finds its model and source in the very heart of Christ, apostle of the Father.  Reading the gospel, we become more aware of certain aspects of the figure of the Lord: gratitude to the Father for the gift of a divine vocation offered to everyone; predilectionfor the little ones and the poor; zeal in preaching, healing and saving because of the urgency of the coming of the Kingdom; the preoccupation of the Good Shepherd who wins hearts by gentleness and self-giving; the desire to gather his disciples into the unity of brotherly communion.”