Dear Confreres, Sisters, Cooperators & Other Members of the Salesian Family, 

The peace of the Lord be with you always!

In this sesquicentennial (150) anniversary of the foundation of the Salesian Society by our dear Father St. John Bosco, in response to the serious difficulties that our educational and pastoral work is facing, I write to invite you to do, during the coming month of October, a very meaningful act of piety and devotion, namely, the entrustment of all Salesian works in China to Mary Help of Christians. 

I am prompted to encourage you to do this, because of the very interesting historical background that I outline here below (for a more detailed account see Attachment I). 

Ninety years ago in Shiuchow, on Friday, October 24, 1919, in the poor chapel of the first missionary residence of the Salesians (San Tung Mun), Don Luigi Versiglia (the Head of the Salesian Mission, but not yet a Bishop), together with a dozen other missionaries, solemnly entrusted the incipient Salesian mission to Mary Help of Christians, reciting the Prayer of Entrustment used one year before, on June 9, 1918, in the Church of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, while World War I was still raging, by the Rector Major Fr. Paolo Albera. A special characteristic of this Prayer is that it is made not only for the Salesians, but also for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the Cooperator Salesians, i.e for the whole Salesian Family. 

Again in Shiuchow, sixty years ago (in 1949), Mons. Michele Arduino, second successor of Mons. Luigi Versiglia as Bishop of Shiuchow, given the difficult times that in that year 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 Prayer formula used thirty years before by Fr. Luigi Versiglia and his missionaries. 

   This year, ninety years since the Entrustment made by Fr. Luigi Versiglia and sixty years since that made by Bishop Michele Arduino, I invite all communities of the Salesian Family (each community of the Salesians of Don Bosco, of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, of the Salesian Cooperators, of the Volunteers of Don Bosco, of the Sisters Announcers of the Lord, of the Past Pupils, and of the ADMA) to renew this Entrustment, using the Prayer of Entrustment written by Fr. Paolo Albera and used by Fr. Luigi Versiglia and Bishop Michele Arduino. The exact date for the renewal is Saturday, October 24^th, 2009, but any other date, deemed more suitable for the local community, can be chosen. The Salesian Family as a whole will perform this Act of Entrustment on Sunday, October 11^th,  2009, on the occasion of the meeting of the Salesian Family representatives with our Regional Superior Very Rev. Fr. Andrew Wong. 

Enclosed please find, besides the Historical Background mentioned above, the Chinese and English translation of the Prayer of Entrustment. The difficulties that the Salesian work is encountering today are not lesser or smaller than those met by our forefathers. We still need to entrust ourselves completely to the loving care of our heavenly Mother and Help. Each community may choose the date and the way it prefers for making this Entrustment, but let this Entrustment, however simply done, be one of the highpoints of this sesquicentennial year of the foundation of the Salesian Society.  

In Jesus, Mary, Don Bosco,

　

Yours affectionately,         Fr. Simon Lam Chung Wai Provincial         Hong Kong, September 24th, 2009

※ 將慈幼事業託付給瑪利亞進教之佑邀請信

※ 歷史背景 (附件一，英文 ENG)