HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
OF THE ENTRUSTMENT
OF THE CHINA SALESIAN
FAMILY AND ITS WORKS
TO MARY HELP OF
CHRISTIANS
BY DON LUIGI VERSIGLIA
AND MONS. MICHELE ARDUINO
Exactly 90 years ago in Shiuchow, on Friday,
October 24, 1919, in the poor chapel of the first missionary
residence of the Salesians (San Tung Mun), Fr. Luigi Versiglia,
together with a dozen other missionaries, solemnly entrusted the
incipient Salesian mission to Mary Help of Christians, reciting the
Prayer of Entrustment before a statue of Mary Help of Christians
that had been solemnly enthroned the night before (Thursday, October
23, 1919). This Act of Entrustment itself had its own interesting
historical background.
One year before, on June 9, 1918, in Turin, while
World War I was still raging, the Rector Major Fr. Paolo Albera had
commemorated with a solemn Mass the 50th Anniversary
(Golden Jubilee) of the consecration of the Mary Help of Christians
Church built by Don Bosco (1868). After the Mass, Fr. Paolo Albera
had put a golden scepter, donated by the Salesian Cooperator
Princess Czartoriski, in the hands of the holy image of Mary Help of
Christians and had entrusted all Salesian works to her, using a
Prayer of Entrustment composed by himself. A characteristic of this
Prayer is that it takes into account not only the Salesians of Don
Bosco, but also the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and the
Salesian Cooperators, men and women. Even though at that time
Salesians did not speak yet of “Salesian Family”, still the reality
of the Salesian Family was already there. After the Act of
Entrustment made in the name of all by the Rector Major Don Paolo
Albera on June 9, all the Houses of the Salesians and of the
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and all the families of
Cooperators all over the world were encouraged to entrust themselves
to Mary Help of Christians using the same Prayer of Entrustment.
Only three days before, on June 6, 1918, in the
same Church of Mary Help of Christians, Fr. Paolo Albera had
conducted the first expedition of seven Salesian missionaries to the
new Salesian mission of Shiuchow in China. The ceremony of the
sending-out was presided over by the Venerable Bishop Luigi
Olivares. The “Farewell Sermon” was preached by Cardinal Giovanni
Cagliero. It was on that occasion, that Cardinal Cagliero told the
Chinese missionaries: “What last word shall I give you in
particular? The word that Don Bosco gave me and my companions at the
first expedition of 1875: ‘Look for souls, not for money, or fame,
or honors: Da mihi animas, coetera tolle! Take special care of the
children, the poor, the aged, the sick, and you will gain the
blessing of God and the good-will of men. Recommend and spread
constantly the devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to
Mary Help of Christians, and you will see what miracles are’.”
The seven missionaries were: Fr. Sante Garelli,
Fr. Vincenzo Barberis, Fr. Ernesto Cattaneo, Fr. Carlo Frigo, Fr.
Bassano Lareno-Faccini, Fr. Gaetano Pasotti, and Br. Giovanni Gnavi.
Before leaving Turin, these missionaries had taken part in the
Golden Jubilee celebrations of June 9 and had brought with them the
text of the Prayer of Entrustment to Mary Help of Christians written
by the Rector Major Fr. Paolo Albera for the occasion. They also
brought with them the beautiful statue of Mary Help of Christians
that will be enthroned in the San Tung Mun chapel one year later.
Six of the seven missionaries, accompanied by Fr. Luigi Versiglia,
on October 17th, 1918 arrived in Shiuchow, where they
were welcomed by Fr. Ludovic Olive. After a few months of study of
Chinese, they scattered in the mission residences.
On August 9, 1919, a second group of nine
missionaries was sent out to China by Fr. Paolo Albera. They were
Fr. Giuseppe Colombo, Fr. Galdino Bardelli, Fr. Luigi Boccassino,
Fr. Stefano Bosio, Fr. Carlo Braga, Fr. Giuseppe Cucchiara, Fr.
Umberto Dalmasso, Fr. Bortolo Fochesato, and Fr. Beniamino Ronchi.
They arrived in Macau on September 29th. While Fr.
Boccassino and Fr. Ronchi remained in Macau, the others left for
Shiuchow where they arrived on October 20th, 1919,
welcomed by Fr. Giovanni Pedrazzini (Fr. Ludovic Olive had died just
one month before on September 17th, the first Salesian to
die in China). The evening of Thursday, October 23rd, the
statue brought the year before by the first group of missionaries
was solemnly enthroned by Fr. Luigi Versiglia in the little chapel.
On Friday, October 24th, at 7:30 a.m. Fr. Versiglia
celebrated the solemn votive Mass of Mary Help of Christians with
the participation of all the missionaries. In the evening, after the
Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament, all the missionaries recited
the Prayer of Entrustment to Mary Help of Christians composed by the
Rector Major Fr. Paolo Albera the year before.
On Sunday, October 26th, the Act of
Entrustment was repeated with the participation of all the faithful.
On Monday, October 27th, the new missionaries departed
for their mission residence, each one coupled to a “veteran”
missionary who had arrived the year before…
The history is not yet finished. Sixty years ago,
in 1949, Mons. Michele Arduino, second successor of Mons. Luigi
Versiglia as Bishop of Shiuchow, given the difficult times that had
come upon the Salesian work in China, renewed together with his
missionaries the entrustment of Salesian works to Mary Help of
Christians, using the same formula used thirty years before by Fr.
Luigi Versiglia and his missionaries.
(This historical material
has been derived from the following publications: 1. Bollettino
Salesiano, Periodico mensile dei Cooperatori di Don Bosco, Anno
XLII, N. 6-7, giugno-luglio 1918, pp. 1-39. Also in
http://www.sdb.org/bs/1918/191806.htm 2.
Eugenio Ceria, Annali della Società Salesiana, Volume Quarto:
Il Rettorato di Don Paolo Albera 1910-1921, Torino: Società Editrice
Internazionale, 1951, Capo VI: Due centenari e due cinquantenari,
pp. 73-92. 3. Michele Arduino, “La divozione a Maria Ausiliatrice in
Cina”, in Accademia Mariana Salesiana, L’Ausiliatrice della
Chiesa e del Papa. Relazioni commemorative per il cinquantenario
dell’incoronazione di Maria “Auxilium Christianorum” nella sua
Basilica in Torino 1903 – 17 maggio – 1953, Torino: Società
Editrice Internazionale, 1953, pp. 271-274. 4. Mario Rassiga,
Breve cenno storico sull’opera salesiana in Cina, Hong Kong:
Aberdeen Technical School, 1973, Capo XII: Le Spedizioni Missionarie
del 1918 e 1919, pp. 80-83).
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