111. An agricultural school, 1878
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In August 1877 a Bishop, Monsignor Terris, sent a letter to Don Bosco asking him to found an agricultural school in France. Don Bosco had always been opposed to his community founding agricultural schools because it seemed to him that it would be very difficult to provide good assistance to the pupils there. But the night before the arrival of the Bishop's letter he had the following dream: I saw myself in a dream on a farm that had a rustic house full of tools for agriculture. I began to visit the house, which was totally deserted, when I heard a child singing in the field. I looked out the door and saw a boy about 10 years old, dressed as a farmer, who with a beautiful voice was singing me a song that said: - Respectable friend, be our kind Father.
I called out to the boy and asked him what he wanted, but in reply he resumed his song: - Respectable friend, be our kind Father.
I asked again: - What do you want, a little gift, a medal, help? But the young man, pointing to a group of companions, sang again: - These are my companions who will say what we want.
A large group of young people appeared and sang to me, saying: “Our Father, teach us the way that leads to the garden of good works.
I asked them: - But who are you? Where do you come from? What do you want? And they began to sing: - Our beloved homeland is the land of Mary.
I said to them again: - But what do you want from me? And they sang a new song saying: - We hope that you will be a friend who will lead us to paradise.
I said to them again: - Do you desire a place in my schools? Do you want me to teach you catechism or to hear your confession? They sang again: - Our beloved homeland is the land of Mary.
Then a lady dressed as a shepherdess appeared and led the young people to a country house surrounded by farmland. The young men were carrying farming tools, and the number of boys grew to thousands upon thousands. The Lady said to me, pointing to this multitude of young men, “These young men are my sons. I entrust them to you.
I asked Her, “And how can I alone lead and teach such a multitude of young people?” Then the Lady pointed to a group of clerics and priests and, spreading Her protecting mantle over them, said to me, “They will help you.”
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And at the Lady's command, all the young people began to sing in beautiful chorus that hymn which, according to the Apocalypse, is sung by the angels in Heaven and which says: “Praise, glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, obedience and recognition be given to our God forever and ever” (Rev. 7,12).
And to this hymn they responded with an AMEN so loud and powerful that I... woke up.
E xplanations: The day after Don Bosco had this dream a letter came to him from the Bishop of Navarre in France, asking him to found an Agricultural School in that region. The Saint immediately accepted this request.
When Father Lemoyne was sent by Don Bosco to see the farm that was offered to him, he was astonished to see that it was completely the same as the one the Saint had told him he had seen in the dream. The house, the tools hanging on the walls, the surrounding fields, everything was just as Don Bosco told him it had appeared to him in his dream.
And all this was in another country than the one in which our Father lived.
And other surprises were to come later. When years later Don Bosco went to visit that new Salesian work, he was met by some students preceded by a young boy carrying a bouquet of flowers. Don Bosco turned pale with emotion: this was the young man he had seen in his dream and who had said to him in song: - Respectable friend, be our kind Father.
That young man later became a Salesian, Father Blain, and worked for the salvation of souls for more than 50 years, until 1947, when he died.
In the evening, when he was offered an academy and the young Blain sang a solo in honor of Don Bosco, and his companions then accompanied him in a beautiful choir, Don Bosco said excitedly to the Father Director: - Exactly what I saw and heard in the dream is being repeated here.
As for the helpers that Our Lady promised Don Bosco that She would send him, it goes without saying that in France numerous vocations have come to the Salesian Congregation and even today many clergymen and priests dedicate themselves to educating Salesian students, always protected in an admirable way by the Blessed Virgin, the Holy Shepherdess, the Mother of the Good Shepherd.
The thousands and thousands of young agronomy students that Our Lady pointed out in this dream to the Holy Founder, have been arriving for more than a hundred years to the Salesian Agronomic Schools in more than 50 countries of the world.
As for the phrase sung by the children, “Our beloved homeland is the land of Mary”, it is worth noting that France is called : “Land of Mary” because in that nation the Blessed Virgin appeared to recommend the devotion to the Miraculous Medal (1830) and then appeared 18 times to St. Bernadette in Lourdes (1858). And from there, devotion to the Virgin Mary spread wonderfully throughout the world. Pilgrimages from all over the world come to Lourdes every day. It should also be remembered that all that the children sang to Don Bosco in this dream, they sang it to him in French.
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112. The dogs and the cat, 1978
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On the night of Good Friday 1878, Don Bosco's nurse heard him screaming in his sleep, as if he was very frightened. The next day he asked him the cause of his screams and the good Father told him the dream he had had: “I dreamed that a poor kitten was running after two ferocious, very big dogs. I called to the cat to take refuge beside me, and the two dogs approached, barking furiously. I shouted to the dogs, “Get out of here, and leave this poor kitten alone.
And then the dogs spoke and said to me: - We have orders to kill him.
And they rushed to kill the poor cat. I took a stick in my hands and began to defend that poor little animal against his two ferocious attackers and shouted to them what I heard them say during the dream: - Stay. Stay back. Get away.
And suddenly I saw that the cat had turned into a little lamb and that the dogs had turned into two ferocious bears, which then took the form of two horrible demons that shouted: - Lucifer ordered us to take this individual to him.
I turned to look at the little lamb, but it had become a young boy from our schools who, full of fear, repeated to me in supplication: “Don Bosco, please save me. Save me Don Bosco, please.
I answered him emotionally: - Don't be afraid, are you determined to be good and behave well? - Yes, yes Don Bosco, but what do I have to do to save myself? I recommended him: - You must always carry with you the medal of the Blessed Virgin. Kneel down and let us both say a prayer.
And I remember very well who this young man was.
Note: In this kitten turned into a lamb and then into a person, each one of us can be represented, and we already know what the Holy Bible says: “The enemy, the devil, circles around us like a raging beast, seeking someone to devour” (1 St. Peter 5:8). Who knows how many young, weak and naive as lambs, are being persecuted and cornered by Satan's envoys, to end the life of their souls. Devotion to the Virgin Mary, prayer and the good advice of their educators can free them from such a horrendous danger.