Saint John Bosco

FATHER AND TEACHER OF THE YOUTH

also Patron of the Youth, Editors, Publishers and Printers

Saint John Bosco (August 16, 1815 - January 31, 1888) is the patron saint of editors, publishers, printers, and the youth. He was born in Piedmont, Italy to poor parents who named him GIOVANNI MELCHIORRE BOSCO.

Commonly called Don Bosco, he was an Italian Catholic priest and educator who dedicated his life to the upliftment and education of underprivileged youth. Saint John Bosco used teaching methods based on love rather than punishment. "I do not remember to have used formal punishment; and with God's grace I have always obtained, and from apparently hopeless children, not alone what duty exacted, but what my wish simply expressed.” (Saint John Bosco, 1887)

Quotes from Don Bosco

"Frequent confession, frequent communion, daily Mass: these are the pillars which should sustain the whole edifice of education," Saint John Bosco wrote. In the late nineteenth century, Saint John Bosco founded a religious order, the Salesians of Don Bosco (originally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales; now popularly known as the Salesian Society). Later he founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (popularly known as the Salesian Sisters), a religious congregation of nuns dedicated to the care and education of poor girls. In recognition of his work for the disadvantaged youth, he was declared a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1934.