Saint John Bosco
January 31
Two favorite quotes of Saint John Bosco
"Enjoy yourself as much as you like, just keep away from sin."
"Only two things can save us in such a grave hour:
Devotion to Mary most holy and frequent communion."
Devotion to Mary most holy and frequent communion."
Today's saint, Saint John Bosco was an Italian priest who had mystical prophetic dreams. One of these dreams occurred in the spring of 1862, when he had a vision for the future of the Catholic Church. The following is Saint John Bosco's description of that dream from Forty Dreams of Saint John Bosco, compiled and edited by Fr. J. Bacchiarello, S.D.B.
“Imagine yourself to be with me on the seashore, or better,
on an isolated rock and not to see any patch of land other than that under your
feet. On the whole of that vast sheet of
water you see an innumerable fleet of ships in battle array. The prows of the ships are formed into
sharp-spear-like points so that wherever they are thrust they pierce and
completely destroy. These ships are
armed with cannons, with lots of rifles, with incendiary materials, with other
firearms of all kinds, and also with books, and advance against a ship very
much bigger and higher than themselves and try to dash against it with the
prows or burn it or in some way to do it every possible harm.
As escorts to that majestic fully equipped ship, there are
many smaller ships, which receive commands by signal from it and carry out
movements to defend themselves from the opposing fleet. In the midst of the immense expanse of sea,
two mighty columns of great height arise a little distance the one from the
other. On the top of one, there is the
statue of the Immaculate Virgin, from whose feet hands a large placard with his
inscription: Auxilium Christianorum – Help
of Christians; on the other, which is much higher and bigger, stands a Host of
great size proportionate to the column and beneath is another placard with the
words: Salus Credentium – Salvation of the Faithful.
The supreme commander of the big ship is the Sovereign Pontiff. He, seeing the fury of the enemies and the evils among which his faithful find themselves, determines to summon around himself the captains of the smaller ships to hold a council and decide what is to be done.
All the captains come aboard and gather around the Pope. They hold a meeting, but meantime the wind
and the waves gather in storm, so they are sent back to control their own
ships. There comes a short lull; for a
second time the Pope gathers the captains around him, while the flag-ship goes
on its course. But the frightful storm
returns. The Pope stands at the helm and
all his energies are directed to steering the ship towards those two columns
from whose summits hang many anchors and strong hook linked to chains.
All the enemy ships move to attack it, and they try in every
way to stop it and to sink it: some with
books and writings or inflammable materials, of which they are full; others
with firearms, with rifles and with rams.
The battle rages every more relentlessly. The enemy prows thrust violently, but their
efforts and impact prove useless. They
make attempts in vain and waste all their labor and ammunition; the big ship
goes safely and smoothly on its way.
Sometimes it happens that, struck by formidable blows, it gets large,
deep gaps in its sides; but no sooner is the harm done that a gentle breeze
blows from the two columns and the cracks close up and the gaps are stopped
immediately.
Meanwhile, the guns of the assailants are blown up, the
rifles and other arms and prows are broken; many ships are shattered and sink
into the sea. Then, the frenzied enemies
strive to fight hand to hand, with fists, with blows, with blasphemy and with
curses.
Suddenly the Pope falls gravely wounded. Immediately, those who are with him run to
help him and they lift him up. A second
time the Pope is struck, he falls again and dies. A shout of victory and joy rings out amongst
the enemies; from their ships an unspeakable mockery arises.
But hardly is the Pontiff dead than another takes his
place. The pilots, having met together,
have elected the Pope so promptly that the news of the death of the Pope
coincides with the news of the election of the successor. The adversaries begin to lose courage.
The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every
obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between
them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor
of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which
hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor
hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.
At this point, a great convulsion takes place. All the ships that until they had fought
against the Pope’s ship are scattered; they flee away, collide and break to pieces
one against another. Some sink and try
to sink others. Several small ships
that had fought gallantly for the Pope race to be the first to bind themselves
to those two columns. Many other ships,
having retreated through fear of the battle, cautiously watch from far away;
the wrecks of the broken ships having been scattered in the whirlpools of the
sea, they in their turn sail in good earnest to those two columns, and having
reached them, they make themselves fast to the hooks hanging down from them and
there they remain safe, together with the principal ship on which is the
Pope. Over the sea their reigns a great
calm.”
Saint John Bosco explains his dream this way: “Very grave
trials await the Church. What we have
suffered so far is almost nothing compared to what is going to happen. The enemies of the Church are symbolized by
the ships trying to sink the Pope’s ship.
Only two things can save us in such a grave hour: Devotion to Mary most
holy and frequent communion. Making use
of every means and doing our best to practice them and having them practiced
everywhere and by everybody.”
Saint John Bosco Pray for Us
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