【慈幼通訊社 ─ 2018 年 03月 30 日訊】 ─ 84年前的4月1日亦為復活節，教宗庇護十一世於當天宣佈鮑思高神父為聖人。因而結束了自1890年6月4日在都靈所開始的宣福和封聖的漫長過程。
這位「聖鮑思高的教宗」，在年青司鐸的歲月時，曾有幸與鮑思高神父同坐一桌，並認識到他在華道角創立的慶禮院。他對鮑思高為貧苦無告的青年所作的偉大事業，所知甚詳，因此他毫不猶疑地支持好友鮑思高神父，又或是他神子的封聖程序。我們也要留意，道明．沙維豪獲封真福品，他也是其中的促成者。
慈幼會會士謝理雅(Eugenio Ceria)神父，充滿熱忱地回憶起鮑思高封聖的日子，並因著這個日子，向這位青年聖人撰寫了一首詩詞。「梵蒂岡大殿在慶祝復活節的喜樂時，以前從來沒有，也許將來也不會發生，如同在1934年所看到的意想不到的青春活力。隨著這個復活節，『救贖的恩慈之年』將告結束，而接著慶祝一位充滿聖德的宗徒，把救贖之恩帶給無數的靈魂。」
這首愛的詩歌繼續寫道：「從黎明開始，這大都會的群眾由四面八方，都向聖伯多祿大殿進發。一到六時正，眾守衛打開閘門，在外面的群眾已等候得不耐煩，守衛忙於查閱門票；早上7時45分，6萬群眾已進入大殿，另有至少10萬人在外面不得其門而入。這是舉世無雙的盛事！不同背景、性別、年齡的人們：城中的司鐸、修生、會士、學生、專業人士、工人、貴婦與一般人士，有著各式各異的衣著打扮，說著各種語言，一同擠在大殿的數個拱頂之下，以及世上最大的廣場之中，以獨特的感情與鮑思高及庇護十一世結合一起。」
當時的總會長李嘉堂神父，後來寫上以下的字句：「梵蒂岡，4月1日，早上10時15分，亞肋路亞！基督的代表剛宣佈鮑思高神父為聖人。願他護佑都靈、意大利，以至普世。」
鮑思高神父的封聖，就是要向現今教育者指出，建基於理智、宗教、仁愛的預防教育法，那一份歷久不衰的活力，為使人們成為正直的公民與良好的基督徒：一個經歷逾一世紀驗證的教育法，培育了眾多聖德青年，好像道明．沙維豪、羅蘭．衛冠納、澤菲林．拿蒙古拉、五位Poznań青年殉道者、亞爾伯‧馬唯理、西班牙青年殉道者……以及在將來、來自或遠或近的所有青年，正如現任總會長范達民神父一再強調說：「因為我們的修會的將來，猶勝過去。」
April 1, 1934: Don Bosco, father and teacher of youthful holiness, declared saint
(ANS – 30 March 2018) – On 1 April, 84 years ago, then also Easter, Pope Pius XI proclaimed Saint Don Bosco a saint. Thus ended the long process of beatification and canonization, begun in Turin on 4 June 1890.
The “Pope of Don Bosco Saint” had as a young priest had the pleasure of sitting at the table with Don Bosco and getting to know the Oratory he founded at Valdocco. He got to know in detail the great work Don Bosco had done for poor and abandoned children, why he did not hesitate to support the process of canonization of his friend Don Bosco, or his spiritual children. It is worth noting, too, that he also gave impetus to the cause of beatification of Dominic Savio.
Fr Eugenio Ceria, SDB, remembered the day of the Canonization of Don Bosco with enthusiasm and his writings about that day are a poem to the Saint of the Young. “Rarely, perhaps never, has the Vatican Basilica contemplated an Easter joy so young, so fresh, as unexpected as it did at Easter 1934. With that Easter, the Jubilee of the Redemption came to a close, and the holiness of an apostle who brought the benefits of Redemption to an infinite number of souls was celebrated.”
This poem of love continued: “From dawn a cosmopolitan multitude from all parts of the city headed towards St. Peter’s. At six o’clock on the dot, the passage through the barriers was opened by the guards at the entrances, barriers which contained the impatience of the crowd, and the guards checked for entrance tickets; at 7:45, the sixty thousand people the temple was capable of hosting had already entered. At least another one hundred thousand would be left out. A show unique in the world! People of all conditions, gender and age, priests, clerics, religious, students, professionals, workers, elegant ladies and simple women of the city, with an extraordinary difference in looks, ways of dressing, of languages, were pressed together under the vaults of the basilica and the largest square in the world, united in a unique feeling with Don Bosco and Pius XI.”
Fr Pietro Ricaldone, then Rector Major, would later write: “Vatican City, April 1st, at 10:15. Alleluia! The Vicar of Christ has just proclaimed Don Bosco saint. May he bless Turin, Italy, the world.”
The canonization of Don Bosco inevitably points out the perennial validity, to today’s educators, of the Preventive System, which is founded on reason, religion and loving kindness, destined to the edification of the honest citizen and of the good Christian: a verified educational system, in little more than a century, by a legion of champions of youthful holiness such as Dominic Savio, Laura Vicuña, Ceferino Namuncurá, the five young martyrs of Poznań, Alberto Marvelli, the young Spanish martyrs … and all the young people to come in the future, near and remote, “because our Congregation has more future than past,” reiterated the current Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime. Indeed.