St.Don Bosco

Born in the small rural hamlet of Castelnuovo in the Piedmont region of northern Italy to a poor peasant family, John's father died when he was only two years old. Despite dire poverty and severe family dysfunction, John's early life is characterised by great vivacity, deep religiosity and a willingness and ability to try to do almost anything. He demonstrated great aptitude for study, devoured books, had an incredible memory and great perseverance. He entertained young and old with his abilities at acrobatics and held them spell-bound with his talent for story-telling.
At the age of nine, John had a dream, which influenced and gave great meaning to the rest of his life. In the dream John saw himself amidst a great throng of young people whom he was charged to care for by means of goodness, kindness and love, rather than by means of force and compulsion. Even as a boy he commented to his mother, Margaret, on the fact that priests when they met him on the road were cold and distant and never bothered to speak to him. "If I am ever a priest," he said, "I won't be like that. I shall devote my life to young people. Children shall never see me pass by them looking grave and distant. I shall always be the first to speak to them."
Despite being forced to leave home at the age of twelve because of his relationship with his older brother, John persevered with his studies. To pay for his schooling, he took on part-time jobs and learnt skills including carpentry, tailoring and cobbling. He would later use these skills to train his own students. John entered the seminary and was eventually ordained a priest on June 5, 1841. After his ordination, Don Bosco undertook post-graduate studies in Turin, the provincial capital and the seat of the Kingdom of Savoy.