Salesians of Don Bosco

The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales, is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1869 by Italian priest Saint John Bosco to help poor and migrant youngsters during the Industrial Revolution. The congregation was named after Saint Francis de Sales, a 17th-century bishop of Geneva. The Salesians' charter describes the society's mission as "the Christian perfection of its associates obtained by the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity towards the young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood". Its associated women's institute is the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, while the lay movement is the Association of Salesian Cooperators. History In 1845 Don John Bosco ("Don" being a traditional Italian honorific for priest) opened a night school for boys in Valdocco, now part of the municipality of Turin in Italy. In the following years, he opened several more schools, and in 1857 drew up a set of rules for his helpers. Bosco admired the simple spirituality and philosophy of kindness of Francis de Sales and established the Society of St. Francis de Sales in his honor in 1859. The rule was approved definitively in 1873 by Pope Pius IX as the Rule of the Society of Saint Francis de Sales. The Society grew rapidly, with houses established in France and Argentina within a year of the Society's formal recognition. Its official print organ, Salesian Bulletin, was first published in 1877.