Saint John Bosco

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint John Bosco who was born in 1815 near Turin, Italy. As a young boy he and his family suffered many hardships as they were poor farmers. John Bosco was very eager to study and with the support of his mother he was able to leave home to go to a different town to pursue studies. He was ordained a priest in 1841. John Bosco is most well known for his many visions and dreams which were of supernatural nature.
At the age of nine John Bosco had a dream where he saw children playing in the field and behaving very poorly. He ran among them and began to hit them to get them to stop cursing and fighting. Jesus appeared and told him that he would give him a teacher who will show him how to correct these boys in a gentle way. Immediately he saw the Blessed Virgin Mary and by now the children had turned into goats, dogs, cats and other animals. She told him that this was to be his mission in life which is to work among these children. The children turned into lambs. Later Saint John Bosco as a priest started an oratory for boys who were on the streets and involved in crime. He also founded the Salesian order of priests, named after Saint Francis de Sales. One of the boys of his oratory was the young Saint Dominic Savio.
Among many supernatural  events experienced by Saint John Bosco, the most noteworthy is the vision of May 14, 1862 where he saw the Catholic Church in the form of a big ship which was being attacked by several smaller enemy ships on very turbulent seas. There were also some of smaller ships that were being attacked by these enemy ships. As the captain of the big ship who was the Holy Father tried to save the ship  from destruction, there were two pillars that rose from the sea. One had the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the words "Help of Christians" and the second pillar which was higher with a very large Eucharistic Host on top and the words "Salvation of the faithful". The captain of the big ship is shot and falls dead but a new captain takes over and guides the ship towards the two pillars. The storms cease when the ship is anchored between these two pillars and there is a great calm and all the enemy ships are destroyed. Saint John Bosco explained that the small enemy ships are the persecutions that the Church and the Holy Father would suffer and that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and frequent Holy Communions will save the Church from its persecutors.
Saint John Bosco also fondly called as Don Bosco is the patron saint of children especially foster children and boys who are delinquent or have a rough childhood due to poverty and violence.
Saint John Bosco, pray for us!