158. Remedies and dangers of Holy Purity, 1887.
At the end of November 1887 (60 days before the death of the Saint) his dearest friend and disciple, Father Lemoyne (the one who later wrote 10 volumes of the Life of Don Bosco, the Biographical Memoirs) went to visit him and the Saint told him: “Last night I had a dream.
- Call it rather a vision, said Father Lemoyne.
- As you wish. Oh, how good Our Lord is to us! - And what did you know in that dream? - I saw and heard what young people must be told about what they must do and avoid in order to preserve the holy virtue of purity or chastity, and the grave harm and evils that come to those who sin against the virtue of purity. I was told that many who commit impurity die when they least think of it, and are punished. That impure vices attract many deaths. And I believe that these teachings about purity and the dangers of losing it will be of great benefit to those who wish to preserve it or regain it.
Note: Unfortunately, Father Lemoyne saw Don Bosco very tired and believing that he was not going to die soon, he said to him: “Father, you look tired. If you want to tell me later in detail what you were told in this dream and I will write it down.
But a few days later, the Saint got worse and no more details of this dream could be found out.
159. How the Saint flew through the air to bring terrible news to another nation, 1886.
In the year 1886, when there were still no airplanes, helicopters, dirigibles or space rockets, St. John Bosco flew through the air one night from Italy, his homeland, and over the country of France until he reached Spain to bring terrible news to the director of one of his schools.
Let us see how it happened: On the feast day of St. Francis of Sales. That night Father Branda, director of the Salesian College in Barcelona, Spain, was sleeping peacefully when suddenly he woke up and saw in front of his bed St. John Bosco (who lived hundreds of kilometers away, in another country, in Italy) who said to him: - Father Branda, get up and come with me.
The room was illuminated with a mysterious light. Don Bosco's face and his gaze were full of paternal affection.
Father Branda got up and heard the Saint say to him: “Come with me. I will make you see tremendous things of which you have no imagination that they are happening in this house.
The director took the keys to the dormitories of the boarding students and left, following Don Bosco who went up the stairs and entered a dormitory. There the Holy Founder pointed out to him three pupils whose faces were terribly disfigured and said: “Do you see these three wretches? They have been corrupted by an employee of the house. One that if I had not come to warn you, you would never have imagined that it was him. I have come because it is necessary that this secret wickedness be discovered and known.
Father: You trust and have confidence in such an employee, whose name is NNN. But that is the murderer of the souls of these young people. And look at the state of those poor people (the boys appeared with deformed and decomposed faces).
Father Branda remained cold. He had never imagined that this employee was capable of committing such evil deeds.
He appeared outwardly as a good man and was considered in the school as a person of very good conduct. St. John Bosco continued: “Send him away; send him out of the house at once. Do not allow him to remain in the midst of the young people. For he is capable of corrupting others.
They came out of the bedroom and suddenly encountered the corrupting employee. He was motionless. With his head lowered, trembling and frightened like one condemned to death. Don Bosco's face became terribly serious and pointing at him with his finger he said to Father Branda: - This is the one who corrupts young people! And turning to the corrupter he said with a terrifying voice: - Corrupter and corruptor, you are the one who steals souls from Our Lord! You are the one who betrays the trust given to you by your superiors! You are unworthy to work in this house! And with a threatening tone he continued to reproach him for how terribly serious his sins were, and how instead of going to confession and repenting, he had kept quiet and had hypocritically appeared good for many months, when in reality he was so bad.
Then a young teacher appeared nearby, and Don Bosco, looking at him too, although not as seriously as at the other, said to the Director: “Take him away from the house too, because if he stays there, he will be the cause of grave sins.
And saying this, the mysterious light that illuminated all those rooms went out and Father Branda found himself in the middle of his bedroom, with the keys of the dormitories in his hands and very excited.
He lit a candle and saw that it was four o'clock in the morning. He began to pray psalms from the Holy Bible, and at six o'clock he went to celebrate Mass, overcome by a horror that made him tremble, and hearing within him a voice that repeated: - Decide to act! Do not be afraid to proceed! A few days later, from Turin, Italy, Father Rua, St. John Bosco's confidant, wrote to him and said: “While walking with Don Bosco, I heard him say that he went there to visit you while you were asleep. And he asked me to ask you if you have already done what he told you to do.
Poor Father Branda was in anguish. He could not find any reason to expel such an employee, the young teacher and the three students, since they all appeared to the others as people of very good conduct.
And one morning at the beginning of Holy Mass he felt an immense terror and began to tremble and heard a voice saying to him: - Do what Don Bosco told you to do at once, or else this will be the last Mass you celebrate! The Father Director immediately called the head of discipline of the school, Father Aime, and told him: - Please call the three young men, N, N and N separately, one by one, and strongly demand that they tell you the name of the one who has corrupted them. I write here on a sheet of paper, without telling anyone, the name of the one I believe to be the corrupter.
And you write on another sheet of paper the name they tell you. Bring that name. And we compare to see if they match.
Father Aime called the three separately. The first one denied at first, but then knowing that the superiors knew many details, he told him the name of the employee. The other two also pointed to the employee as their corruptor. Father Aime brought the name written on a piece of paper and Father Branda opened the sheet on which he had written the name Don Bosco had given him. It was exactly the same.
Then he called the employee, who for several days had been suffering terrible anguish. The priest said to him in a voice that signified great displeasure: “You are the one who is corrupting our students! - Me? and how can you say that to me? exclaimed the poor man, trembling.
And kneeling down and begging for mercy, he added: “Did Don Bosco write to you about this? - No, he did not write to me. He came personally to tell me.
The poor man began to cry and to ask not to be expelled immediately from the house, but to be given a few weeks to find another job. He said that he would change his occupation, for he was most in danger in that job. And he promised to make amends.
The three young men were sent back to their families, and the young teacher was also dismissed.
When several weeks later Don Bosco arrived in Barcelona, Father Branda told him: “I carried out your orders. The others have already left. The employee has been completely removed from dealing with the students and is waiting to get a new job.
By order of the Saint, a few weeks later that employee left, and he totally changed his way of behaving and became an excellent person, and did not commit these evil deeds any more.
Father Branda, Father Aime and the employee himself later told many people this impressive story, which should make many people think very seriously, since it is the fulfillment of those words of St. Paul: “For everyone who does evil, sorrow and anguish will come”.
And of those other words of Our Lord: “Whoever teaches evil to a little child, it would be better for him if a stone were hanged around his neck and he were cast into the depths of the sea”.
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The end.