148. Journey from Valparaiso, Chile to Peking, China, 1886
On the night of April 9, 1886, I dreamed that I was climbing a small mountain from which I could see an immense jungle and many crops, and I heard the immense shouting of an uncountable number of children. And I saw a huge group of young boys running towards me and telling me: -We have waited for you so long! We have waited so long for you. But now you are with us and we will not let you go.
I did not understand what that meant, but at that moment a huge flock of lambs appeared, led by a little shepherdess, who said to me: “Look at what you have in front of you and remember your dream of the age of nine.
And calling the youngsters to come closer to me, she added: - Look into the distance and you will see what awaits you in the future.
And one of the youths exclaimed: - I see a sign that says: Valparaíso, Chile.
And another added: - I see another sign that says: Santiago, Chile.
The shepherdess said: - Now look the other way and you will see the road to travel.
Then the young boys, looking into the distance, shouted: - We read a sign that says: Peking, China.
Then I saw there a huge city.
And the little shepherd informed me: - If you draw a line from Valparaiso, Chile, to Peking, China, passing through the center of Africa, you will have the route that your Salesians will take in the future evangelizing.
I answered: - But the distances are immense and the Salesians are few.
She answered me: - Don't be upset and don't worry, do you see there? There are 50 Salesian missionaries already prepared. And what are you seeing in that line that goes from Chile to Africa? - I see that it says Mission Centers.
- Well, those mission centers will be houses where the Salesian missionaries who will go to work in those regions will be prepared. And now if you look again at the line that goes from Africa to Beijing, you will see another 10 mission centers. And those 10 houses will provide missionaries to all those regions. Look: Hong Kong, Calcutta, Madagascar. In all these cities and many more cities there will be Salesian houses, schools and novitiates. I asked her anxiously: “And how can you get missionaries for so many houses and missions? - For that, it is necessary that you use all your good will and that you tell and recommend to your disciples to cultivate and take care of the holy virtue of purity, the virtue of Mary.
- Very well. I seem to have understood. I will repeat to them those words that you have said.
She added: “And take care not to make the mistake of mixing those who study the religious sciences with those who dedicate themselves to the study of the worldly sciences. Those who dedicate themselves to the study of divine sciences should not mix with those who dedicate themselves to the study of worldly sciences.
I wanted to ask her another question, but at that moment the vision disappeared: Explanation: Monsignor Cagliero tells that when he arrived in Chile in 1887 (the year after this dream) at a reception, they said these words: For two years we have prayed and sighed that Don Bosco would send us his Salesians.
And Monsignor Fagnano says that when they arrived in Valparaiso, more than two hundred children went out to welcome the Salesians and exclaimed: - At last our Fathers have arrived! From tomorrow we can go to study! And a group of young boys from another place in Chile exclaimed: - The girls have sisters to educate them. Why can't we have Salesian Fathers to teach us? When will our Father Don Bosco send us his religious? (What Don Bosco heard in the dream was repeated: “We have waited so long for you”).
In the year of this dream, 1886, Don Bosco had 600 Salesians, and his religious houses were in very few countries. Now his Salesians number 17,000 in 105 countries. The ten houses for the formation of religious he saw between Chile and Africa and the other ten he saw between Africa and Asia already exist (and in that year there were none of these yet).
The fulfillment of this dream has been amazing. In all the cities where he saw houses of his community, there are now and in many more cities. There are 1,300 Salesian houses in the world.
And the Divine Shepherdess, the Virgin Mary, continues to bring thousands and thousands of young people to the Houses of Don Bosco all over the world.
149. Dreaming of the Oratory, 1886
On April 25, 1886, while Don Bosco was in Barcelona, Spain, he saw in his dreams his students at the Oratory in Turin, Italy. And he noticed that Father Lemoyne was inviting the students of the two upper classes to attend a religious conference, and that many of them did not want to attend. Then he went down in a dream to the Church of Mary Help of Christians while Holy Mass was being celebrated there and saw that the communions of the students had greatly diminished. And he also observed that many young people who should have come to speak to the superior did not do so.
The next day he had this written to Turin and advised that when he returned to that city he would call the young people and tell each one how he had seen him in this dream