L'Opera Salesiana dal 1880 al 1922: Significativita e portata sociale (review)

This particular series of volumes represents a significant step in the historical self-evaluation of the Salesian mission in the period after the death of its founder, Don Bosco, in 1888. What is published here in three volumes are the papers that were first presented to the Salesian International Historical Congress, held at Rome October 31-November 5, 2000. It was the third worldwide conference in a series which the Salesians have organized, the first being the centenary conference in 1988, which considered the state of historical scholarship on Don Bosco's life and work. Under the direction of Father Francesco Motto, the Salesian Historical Institute have organized the subsequent Salesian International Historical Congresses of 1995 and 2000, which concentrated firstly on the available historical sources and then on the early development of the Salesian work in the period after the death of Don Bosco.

The existence of the Salesian Historical Institute and its promotion of deeper research and critical reflection have marked the coming of age of both the Salesian historians and the Major Superiors. Since the election of Father Egidio Vigano as Rector Major, the Salesian Superiors General have been very open to the important part that historical studies can play in developing the self-understanding of a religious family. The ordinary Salesian's natural tendency, given the urgent needs of their mission to the young, is more often to make history and to be rather impatient with those who want to research and study it critically. This series marks a considerable step forward in the acceptance of serious scholarship as part of the common Salesian inheritance.

The present congress focussed on the "social impact and significance" of the Salesian work, and the three volumes are divided thematically. The first volume looks at the wider historical context of the development and attempts to interpret the Salesian phenomenon. The second volume looks at particular experiences in Europe, Africa, and Asia, and the third volume at particular case studies in Latin America.

The very length of these volumes, each running to nearly 500 pages, and the breadth of different experiences represented here highlight both the immense vitality of the early development of the Salesian work and the difficulty of finding adequate historical sources and suitable perspectives for a critical evaluation of this experience.

The diversity of languages: the articles come in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese,and English, and the differences of culture and approach to historical problems in those cultures make the volumes both very varied and also uneven. Sometimes the articles can seem to be more commemorative rather than truly critical.

The proceedings of the third international Salesian Historical Congress are here published for a wider audience of scholars. They include the papers presented by fifty-five different scholars from across the world and reflect the worldwide spread of the Salesian work. This third congress tried to focus on the significance and social impact of the Salesian work from 1880 to 1922, that is, during the last decade of Don Bosco's life and during the massive expansion which took place during the period of his two successors, Father Michael Rua (1888-1910) and Father Paul Albera (1910-1921).

The various papers try to assess whether and to what extent the Salesian model of working of a hundred years ago actually made any significant social impact on building up its chosen field of work, namely, the young and the poor. Father Motto suggests that the answer is a positive one: "The Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters) with their marked effort in the social field (and in others) have left a real mark on the history of the epoch. The pages which follow show or...