Saint John Bosco

Growing up in poverty after his father's early death, John Bosco understood firsthand the vulnerability of poor children, and after his ordination as a priest in 1841 he began gathering abandoned and at-risk boys off the streets of Turin, a city being transformed and destabilized by rapid industrialization. He offered them not only religious instruction but food, shelter, education, and job training, at a time when such boys had almost nowhere else to turn. Don Bosco, as he became known, developed what he called the 'preventive system' of education, rejecting corporal punishment and harsh discipline in favor of reason, religion, and genuine kindness — an approach that was radical for its time. To sustain and expand this work, he founded the Salesian Society in 1859 and, with Saint Mary Mazzarello, a corresponding congregation of sisters. By the time of his death, his schools and programs had spread across Europe and into South America.