John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, was a 19th-century Italian priest who dedicated his life to educating and helping poor and neglected youth. He founded the Salesian order and the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, and he is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He is also the patron saint of editors, publishers, youth, apprentices, and magicians. But how did John Bosco die? What was his cause of death?
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John Bosco’s Early Life and Ministry
John Bosco was born on August 16, 1815, in Becchi, near Turin, in the kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy). He was the youngest of three sons of a poor farmer and a pious mother. His father died when he was two years old, leaving his mother to raise him and his brothers in poverty. As a young boy, he learned magic tricks and acrobatics from a traveling circus troupe, and he used them to entertain and teach other children about religion and morality. He felt called to the priesthood, but he lacked the necessary education. He eventually found a sympathetic priest who helped him with his studies, and he entered the seminary in 1835. He was ordained a priest in 1841 in Turin, where he began his ministry to the poor and neglected boys who came to the city in search of work.
John Bosco’s Work and Legacy
John Bosco, inspired by the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, developed a method of education based on love rather than punishment, which he called the Salesian Preventive System. He provided boys with schooling, religious instruction, and recreation, and he built schools, workshops, and churches for them. He also founded the Society of St. Francis de Sales (also known as the Salesians of Don Bosco) in 1859, a religious congregation of priests and brothers who followed his example and mission. In 1872, he co-founded the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (also known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco), a religious congregation of nuns who cared for and educated poor girls. He also started the Association of Salesian Cooperators, a movement of lay people who supported his work. He also wrote books, pamphlets, and the Salesian Bulletin, a monthly magazine that is still published today. He was a popular and eloquent preacher, and he had a reputation for performing miracles and having prophetic dreams. He also had many enemies and faced many challenges, such as attempts to assassinate him, to discredit him, and to send him to a mental asylum.
John Bosco’s Cause of Death
John Bosco died on January 31, 1888, in Turin, Italy. He was 72 years old. He had suffered from various illnesses in the years leading up to his death, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, and heart problems. According to We Are Saintly, his cause of death was pneumonia, which eventually killed him. He had been bedridden for several weeks, and he received the last rites on January 25. He died surrounded by his Salesian sons and daughters, and his last words were “Tell my boys that I wait for them all in Paradise.” His funeral was attended by thousands of people, and his body was buried in the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians in Turin, where it is still venerated today.
John Bosco’s Canonization and Feast Day
John Bosco was beatified by Pope Pius XI on June 2, 1929, and canonized by the same pope on April 1, 1934. He is one of the most popular and beloved saints of the Catholic Church, and he is celebrated as a model of holiness, charity, and education. His feast day is January 31, the day of his death. He is the patron saint of editors, publishers, youth, apprentices, and magicians, as well as of Piura, Peru, and Brasília, Brazil. He is also invoked against nightmares, as he often had them as a child and as an adult. He is honored by millions of people around the world, especially by the Salesian family, which consists of more than 400,000 members in over 130 countries. His motto was “Give me souls, take away the rest.” He is also known for his devotion to the Virgin Mary under the title Mary Help of Christians, to whom he attributed his success and protection. He once said, “Without Mary we can do nothing, with Mary we can do everything.”
