St. John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, was a great priest and founder of the Salesians. He was the mentor of St. Dominic Savio. John Bosco was born in Becchi, Piedmont, Italy, and he began his studies for the priesthood at the age of sixteen. He was then ordained in 1841 at the age of twenty-six.

John Bosco was sent to the Valdocco suburb of Turin, where he attracted hundreds of young people to his chapel services and evening classes. He also reopened a boarding house for apprentices, and workshops for to teach useful trades.

In order to further the work that he had placed under the patronage of Our Lady Help of Christians and St. Francis de Sales, he laid the foundation for the Society of St. Francis de Sales, the Salesians.

This was followed by a similar congregation for women, the Daughters of Our Lady Help of Christians (the Daughters of Mary Auxiliatrix).

By the time of his death, the congregation had nearly a thousand priests and nine hundred sisters. His long labors were characterized by boundless patience and in the face of bitter opposition from the local Church and government officials.

Pope Pius XI declared: “In his life the supernatural almost became natural and the extraordinary, ordinary.” Pius XI canonized him in 1934.