20. Great funerals at the Court 1854
I seemed to find myself in a corridor of the Oratory, I was surrounded by priests and clergymen; suddenly I saw an employee of the palace, in a red uniform, come forward in the middle of the courtyard and, approaching quickly, he shouted at me: - Important news! - What is it? - I asked him - Announce: Great funeral at the court! Great funeral at the court! At the sudden appearance and that shout, I remained cold and the employee repeated: - Big funeral at the court! I wanted to ask for an explanation of the funeral announcement, but the employee had disappeared. I woke up, I was as if out of my mind, and, understanding the mystery of the apparition, I took my pen and immediately wrote a letter to King Victor Emmanuel, telling him what had been announced to me and simply recounting the dream.
After noon, with much delay, I entered the dining room: it was a very cold year, I was carrying a packet of letters. A circle formed around me. There were there Don Victor Alasonatti, Angel Savio, Cagliero, Francesia, Giovanni Turchi, Reviglio, Rua, Anfossi, Buzzetti, Enria, Tomatis and others, mostly clergymen. I said smiling: - This morning, my dear, I wrote three letters to very important people: to the Pope, to the King and to the executioner.
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There was a general burst of laughter at hearing together the names of these three personages. The executioner did not surprise them because they knew that Don Bosco was friends with the prison guards and that that man was a good Christian.
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As for the Pope, they knew that I was corresponding with him. But their curiosity was piqued by the desire to know what Don Bosco had written to the King, especially since they knew of my opposition to the laws that stole ecclesiastical goods. I told them what I had written to the King so that he would not allow the presentation of the law against the Church. Then I narrated the dream, ending thus: - This dream made me ill and tired me very much.
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I was troubled and exclaimed from time to time: - Who knows?... Who knows?..., Let us pray! The clergymen, surprised, began to converse, asking each other if they had heard that in the royal palace, there was some nobleman sick, but they all concluded that there was not the slightest news of anything. In the meantime, Don Bosco called the clergyman Angel Savio and gave him the letter: - Copy it - I told him - and announce to the King: Great funeral at court! And the cleric Savio wrote. But the King read the letter with indifference and ignored it.
--
Five days passed since the dream, and I dreamed again that night. I seemed to be in my room, sitting at the table, writing, when I heard a horse galloping in the courtyard. Suddenly I saw the door open and the palace clerk in a red uniform appear, who, stepping forward to the center of the room, shouted: - He announced: not great funeral at court, but great funerals at court! And he repeated these words twice. Then he hastily withdrew and closed the door behind him. I wanted to know, I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask for explanations; so I got up from the table, went out onto the balcony and saw the clerk in the courtyard on horseback. I called out to him, asked him why he had repeated that warning; but he answered by shouting, "Great funerals at court," and disappeared.
At dawn, I wrote another letter to the King, telling him of the second dream, and ended by saying: "Try to act in such a good way as to avoid the announced punishments", and I begged him to prevent at all costs the approval of the law against the Church.
In the evening, after supper, I said to the clerics: "Do you know that I have to tell you something stranger than what happened the other day? And I told them what I had seen during the night. Then the clerics, more astonished than before, wondered what those announcements of death could mean; and one can already guess their anxiety, waiting for how those predictions would come to be verified.
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In the meantime, he openly manifested to the clergyman Cagliero and to some others that these were threats of the punishments that the Lord was sending to those who had already caused many damages and evils to the Church and were preparing others. Those days, he was very distressed and often repeated: "This law will bring great misfortunes in the house of the Sovereign.
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He said this to the students to encourage them to pray for the King and that the mercy of the Lord would prevent the dispersion of many religious and the loss of many vocations.
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The King entrusted the letters to the Marquis Fassati, who, after reading them, came to the Oratory and said to Don Bosco: - Does this seem to you a decent way to put the whole court in anguish? The King is impressed and upset! Even more, he is furious. I answered him: "And if what is written is true, what is going to happen? I am sorry to have frightened the king, but it is a matter of avoiding harm to him and the Catholic Church."
A law was going to be passed against the Catholic Church, taking away many convents and houses, and suppressing many religious communities. The law was proposed to the Senate on November 28, 1854. Don Bosco wrote to the King asking him not to sign or approve it. King Victor Emmanuel does not pay attention to the threats of this dream and then the following funerals take place: January 12, 1855: Queen Maria Theresa, mother of the King, dies. She was only 54 years old.
January 20, 1855: Queen Maria Adelaide, wife of the King, dies. She was only 33 years old.
February 11, 1855: Prince Ferdinand of Savoy, brother of the King, died. He was 33 years old.
May 17, 1855: Prince Victor Leopold, the King's youngest son, died. He was only 4 months old.
The King approved and signed the law against the Catholic Church but in his family there were in only a few months, four big funerals. God is not to be trifled with.
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[In 1864, Don Bosco, with Fathers Rua and Cagliero, had gone to the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven]They [the people of the village] invited him to preach in the village of Montemagno, where for three months not a drop of water had fallen, and the people were going through a situation of poverty, hunger and desperate drought. They had made several supplications and the sky did not give even the slightest sign of coming rains. St. John Bosco had to preach nine sermons. Three each day.
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And in the first sermon, with the church completely full of people, the Saint said with a powerful voice: "If you attend the preaching of these three days, if you reconcile yourselves with God by making a good confession, if you prepare yourselves in such a way that next August 15, Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, you will all receive communion, I PROMISE YOU IN THE NAME OF OUR LADY AN ABUNDANT RAIN THAT WILL COME TO REFRESH YOUR FIELDS.
At the end of the sermon, the other priests said to him: "It takes a lot of courage to promise rain in three days' time, in the midst of this dreadful summer we are in.
-But did I say this? - replied the saint.
"-Yes, yes," they all answered him. So you said.-
And they called some peasants and asked them: "What did Don Bosco say in his sermon? Well, he told us that if we come to the sermons and receive communion, he promises us in the name of the Virgin Mary that we will receive a good rain.
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The people took the promise seriously. Everyone attended the sermons. Everyone, everyone went to confession. There were not enough priests to confess so many people. Day and night they were hearing confessions.
And Don Bosco continued to preach, while the people thought and asked themselves: "What about the rain, will it come?
-
-And the saint answered: "Get rid of your sins and the rain will come.
The day of the Assumption of the Virgin arrived. The communion was so numerous that it had never been seen in that town (years later the priests still commented that they had never had to confess or distribute communion to so many people as on that occasion). But noon arrived and there was no sign of rain. The sun was shining brighter than ever.
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Don Bosco got up before the others from lunch. He was worried. The people had done everything he had advised them to do. And now, the rain? Leaning against a window he looked at the horizon and seemed to question the sky. But the answer was negative. The heat was suffocating.
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The bells were ringing for the last sermon.
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It is three o'clock in the afternoon. The people are sweating profusely. Don Bosco goes to the church. The Marquis Fossati [or Fasati] says to him: "Don Bosco: this time you are going to be very bad with your promises. You promised us rain and look how the people are sweating with this sun.
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Don Bosco sends to the sacristan: "-go at the nearby height and see if there is hope of rain-". [another version: "Juan, go behind Baron Garofoli's castle and see how the weather changes, and if there are indications of rain". The sacristan goes, comes back and says: "It is clear as a mirror, there is only a small cloud the size of a foot towards the Biella side."]
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The sacristan returns: "Nothing! Very clear sky. Just a very small cloud in the distance.
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-Well, well," answers the saint ["give me the stole"], and he goes up to preach. As he goes to the place of preaching he says interiorly to the Blessed Virgin:
"Lady: it is not my good fame that is at stake at this moment. It is your good name. You decide if you make me look bad. These poor people have done everything possible to please you. You will decide if you let them go away disillusioned.
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He began his sermon by making all the people sing the hymn of thanksgiving composed by the Blessed Virgin herself: "The Lord has done marvels in me, glory to the Lord"!
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An immense crowd listens to him, their eyes fixed on him. They all pray: [The “Memorae"] Remember, O Holy Mother, that never was it heard that anyone ever prayed without your help to receive..." and he begins to speak of the marvels of the power of the Mother of God.
--
Five minutes of the sermon have passed. The sun begins to darken. An immense rumbling is heard in the firmament: a mighty thunder, another and another. On the roof of the church one hears thick drops falling. A murmur of joy went through the whole church. Don Bosco is silent for a moment. A heavy downpour is felt falling. The windows of the church rattle in the wind waves charged with refreshing rain.
Don Bosco continues his sermon: a "Thank you" to the Mother of Heaven. He is moved. He has to wipe with his handkerchief the tears of gratitude that well up in his eyes. And many of those rude peasants also felt tears of thanksgiving flowing from their warm eyes.
The grateful saint ends by reminding everyone of the famous phrase that he will later have engraved on the bells of the Church of Mary Help of Christians: "WHEN MARY ASKS: EVERYTHING IS OBTAINED. -NOTHING IS DENIED".
[The rain continues while Don Bosco gives thanks to the Madonna and praises the faithful, they recognize the miracle because in the nearby town of Grana, in which they had organized a public dance for the failure of Don Bosco, fell a terrible amount of hail that ruined their harvest, and because beyond the District of Montamagno, not a single drop of rain fell (Zarba D'Assoro, 1938, pp 313-315].
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Don Bosco's mother, Margherita, helped him all his life, until the end. They had always been very close to each other. In November 1856, Margherita contracted pneumonia. When she felt she was dying she gave John her last advice and asked him to go and pray for her. Don Bosco went to his room. Strangely, he turned on the light three times, and all three times the light went out. When the light finally stayed on, he saw that Marguerite's portrait had fallen against the wall. At three o'clock on November 25, he heard the footsteps of his brother José: Margarita had left this world.
In 1860, while Don Bosco was walking near the Consolata Church, he saw his mother:
"What, you here, but you died?"
"Yes, I have died," answered Marguerite, "but I am alive."
"Are you happy?"
Yes, very happy...... [read the rest in number 25.]
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When Don Bosco arrived in Rome in 1869, Cardinal Berardi's carriage was waiting for him. The Cardinal implored him to go to see his nephew, an eleven-year-old boy, the only son of a wealthy noble family, who was ill. The boy had typhoid fever, malignant and resistant, which seemed to be taking the boy to the grave. "Don Bosco, cure him, cure him," the family implored. As Don Bosco approached the sick boy's bedside, he repeated to the family, "Have faith, pray to St. Mary, and you, Cardinal, help the Salesian Society." Then, as if speaking to himself, he said: "Let Our Lady begin". After praying, he blessed the child, and the child felt better immediately. A few days later, the child was in perfect health.
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One of the greatest miracles produced by Jesus was the resurrection of Lazarus. Don Bosco produced the same miracle in the presence of several witnesses. In 1849, a 15 year old boy, a day student at the Oratorie, also close to death, asked Don Bosco to come and hear his confession. Don Bosco was not in Turin at the time.
A day and a half later, the young man died, still insisting that he wanted to speak to Don Bosco. When Don Bosco returned and heard the case, he immediately went to see the boy. The father was the owner of the hotel. When Don Bosco arrived, one of the waiters told him, "It's too late, Carlos died more than twelve hours ago."
"Nonsense," said Don Bosco, "he is sleeping and you think he is dead.
So family members arrived, tearfully confirmed the loss of the beloved boy and took Don Bosco to the room where the young man's body rested. The corpse had been prepared for the grave, shrouded in a tightly sewn sheet, as was then the custom. The face was covered with a veil. The mother and an aunt were weeping quietly. Seeing this, Don Bosco was moved by a supernatural emotion, he prayed and blessed the boy, and then with an imperious voice he called him: "Carlos, Carlos" This powerful voice, like the "Lazare, veni foras" of Jesus, renewed the miracle: death gave back its prey.
Don Bosco removes the veil and tears the sheet. Everyone observes the livid face, the half-open mouth, the glassy eyes that seem to contemplate a horrible mystery. Now the boy opens his eyes and smiles, but the smile dissolves as he seems to remember a terrible dream:
"Oh, Don Bosco, if you only knew... The last time I went to confession I did not dare to tell of a sin I had committed a few weeks before... I had a dream that has terrified me. I was on the edge of an immense fire and I was trying to escape from a multitude of demons who were trying to take me and put me prisoner. Just as they were about to throw me into the fire, a Lady stepped in and said, "Wait, he has not yet been judged!" After this anxiety, I heard your voice calling me and now I wish to confess."
When the family returned after the confession, the boy told them, "And Don Bosco has saved me from hell" For almost two hours he continued conscious, but during this time, even when he moved, looked around and spoke, his body remained cold as before he came back to life. Don Bosco asked him: "Now that you are in the Grace of God, heaven is open to you. Do you want to go there, or do you want to remain among us?
Charles replied: "I want to go to heaven". Then St. John Bosco said: "Until we meet again in Paradise".
Charles put his head between the pillows, closed his eyes, and left this world.