The Stained Glass Artwork of Saint John Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio @ The Mary Help of Christians Church, Philippines

More than a decade ago, I was kneeling in front of the altar of the Basilica di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in the Don Bosco Valdocco district of Turin, mesmerized by the huge painting made by Tommáso Lorenzone where one could see at the center the Virgin holding a scepter with her right hand while carrying the Child Jesus on her left and surrounded by Apostles, Evangelists and angels. This has become the most familiar image to all Bosconians in the world, a painting that was created based on Don Bosco's detailed instructions. Today, inside the church named after her in the northern part of the Negros Island in the Philippines, separated by 11,000 kilometers of land and sea from Turin, I am again mesmerized, not by a painting but by another art form, and not of the Virgin but of her saint, Don Bosco.

At the wall of the eastern transept of the Mary Help of Christians Church inside the Canetown Subdivision of Victorias City, is a huge stained glass window that presents Saint John Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio in a familiar garb with a familiar background.

Saint John Bosco is wearing a barong tagalog, a Filipino shirt worn during formal occasions, in light gray and pants in tones of brown. Wearing a crucifix around his neck, Don Bosco is holding Saint Dominic Savio, his student who died at the age of 14 and was later canonized a saint. With both hands clasped together, Dominic Savio is also wearing a barong with blue and white geometric designs in front and light blue pants. 

Their background shows the northern Negros landscapes: mountains that can be seen when looking towards the east, and blue skies as well as a bright red-orange glow of a sunrise when God bestows upon the island a gift of anther day.

Both saints are standing on the fertile Negrense soil surrounded by sugarcane plantations depicted by a rich growth of green sugarcane leaves with rows of canes symbolizing the main produce of the island and the working sugar factory of Victorias Milling Company (VMC) with four of its six chimneys blowing out smoke. At the lowest part of the artwork is a small part of the railroad tracks supported by sturdy railroad ties made of wood. VMC used to have a railroad network of about 400 kilometers that meandered around haciendas and sugarcane plantations in northern Negros where its locomotive trains hauled sugarcane to the mill.

The halos of the two saints are drawn around their faces by lead rods formed in a circle, while the wrinkles on the forehead of Don Bosco, symbolizing his wisdom, are formed across his forehead. Impressive! Creating such beautiful stained glass windows require artistry, creativity and skill. I was told that a Mr. Boy Verdeflor made some of the stained glass artworks inside the Church.

The Don Bosco Technical Institute was established in 1952 inside the compound of the Victorias Milling Company after the Salesian Order in Hong Kong accepted the offer of VMC founder, Don Miguel Jose Ossorio, to open a school in VMC; that was 72 years ago. The Salesians of Don Bosco itself, founded by the Saint himself in December 1859, has 14,486 bishops, priests and novices in 133 countries around the world today. That was 164 years ago, and they continue to mold the minds and the character of the young with the teachings of the Saint.

The Salesians of Don Bosco are "open to the cultural values of the countries in which they work and try to understand them and welcome their values, to embody the message of the gospel." Seeing Don Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio in Filipino barong makes me believe that the saints are one with us Negrenses and Filipinos.

Stained glass windows require daylight to reveal its beauty. I would want to visit the Mary Help of Christians Church again one sunny morning.😊

#Donbosco #SaintJohnBosco #SaintDominicSavio #DominicSavio #Bosconian #MaryHelpofChristians #Catholic #Saints

Saint John Bosco's Mary, The Help of Christians

I hopped on a bus guided by a map and the will to find the ‘home’ of all Bosconians in the world. This wasn’t just a pilgrimage; this was a homecoming, too. Traveling around this city whose transport system I barely knew and whose language I barely spoke, except for asking directions and ordering pizza margherita, didn’t bring me fear or worry. I always felt safe like ‘someone’ was always watching over me and I always knew that human kindness would be there whenever and wherever I needed it.

After hopping off the bus, I recalibrated my directions and walked for 800 meters to the west until I found the piazza named after her. And when I looked up at the basilica right behind the open space, I was welcomed by a sight I would never forget. I froze for a moment, gazing up and mesmerized by the apparition, oblivious to the noisy traffic of cars and buses on the busy Corso Regina Margherita. The lady whose golden statue stands on top of a dome is identified by the words etched in also in gold across the basilica’s chest: MARIA AUXILIUM CHRISTIANORUM ORA PRO NOBIS.  Even in Latin, the words felt close to this Bosconian’s heart, the English translation of which always ended our prayers when I was still studying at Don Bosco in Victorias: “MARY, HELP OF CHRISTIANS, PRAY FOR US.”

This is the Basilica di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Turin in northern Italy, the church that the Virgin Mary herself asked Saint John Bosco to build in her honor.  The church was built in 1863 and was completed five years later, and on June 9, 1868, it was consecrated.  Also known in English as the ‘Basilica of Mary, Help of Christians’, this holy place was the request of the Virgin Mary herself from Saint John Bosco when she appeared in his dream. And this site where the basilica now stands was not just a random place picked by her; this was the spot where three martyrs from Turin, namely, Octavius, Adventor and Solutor, sacrificed their lives for the faith. The statues of these martyrs, who are the patron saints of Turin, also stand on the roof on a level below the Virgin.

During ordinary days, the Basilica’s main door remained closed and I had to enter through the right side where, on its wall, was a copy of the Shroud of Turin.  But I was most interested in the most beautiful feature of the Basilica, a huge painting that is familiar to all Bosconians: the image of ‘Mary, Help of Christians’. The magnificent work of art that dominates the altar was painted by an Italian artist, Tommáso Lorenzone, as commissioned by Don Bosco himself. This image is everywhere in Salesian schools. It is seen on the school walls, on chapels, and even on estampitas.

The image of the Virgin, standing in glory and majesty and surrounded by angels paying homage to their queen while holding a scepter that represents power on her right hand and on her left, the Child Jesus with open arms as if offering love and mercy to whoever needs it, was painted based on Don Bosco’s detailed instructions.

The painting also includes the Evangelists and Apostles venerating the Virgin and the Child Jesus as they take their place as pillars in the spreading of Christ’s teachings. At the bottom of the painting is the Basilica (which I thought was the Vatican when I was a student) in the area of Valdocco in Turin and the Superga Hill in the background. It would have been helpful had our Bosconian priests explained this image to us when I was still a student. But it didn’t matter now as seeing it up close while I sat on a pew and whispering a prayer of thanksgiving, I realized this painting is more than just a work of art. It is a message of motherly love and grace for all God’s children.

Lorenzone took three years to finish the work and later admitted that when he painted the Virgin’s face, the most important part of the painting, he felt as if someone was guiding his brush, creating the beautiful expression on Mary’s face that must have touched everyone who has seen it over the years. The painting was granted a canonical coronation by Pope Leo XIII on May 17, 1903, conferring on it the title of “Mary, Help of Christians.”

During the day, Our Lady is seen standing on top of her Basilica welcoming everyone into her care and grace. At night, when the Basilica is bathed in light (read blog here), she stands quietly in the dark and looks after the city and everyone else who asks for her help and intercession by calling upon her, “Mary, help of Christians, pray for us.”

#maryhelpofchristians #donbosco #donboscovaldocco #bosconian #VirginMary #turin #Italy #saintjohnbosco 

Don Bosco's Mary, Help of Christians

I was rummaging through some old stuff when I stumbled upon this extra colored print of the painting of Mary, Help of Christians that stands right at the altar of the Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice in Don Bosco Valdocco in Turin, Italy.

I had another copy of this print but after a few years inside a picture frame, it faded. I was glad I found this extra print. These prints I bought from the bookstore next to the Basilica in Turin.

So I brought it to the local shop that laminated photographs and had it encased in a sealed, sturdy, plastic lamination to prevent it from losing its grandiose colors. After all, the painter who created this masterpiece over three years had wanted everyone to see Don Bosco's dream in a resplendent presentation and in a spectacle of colors.

This was the description of the painting according to the Don Bosco website:

"The Virgin standing out in a sea of light and majesty, surrounded by a horde of angels paying homage as if to their queen. With her right hand, she holds the sceptre, the symbol of her power, and with the left, the child with its arms open wide, offering its grace and mercy to those appealing to the majesty of his mother.

Around and below them are the Apostles and the Evangelists in a state of sweet ecstasy, almost exclaiming: ‘Regina Apostolorum, ora pro nobis’, they contemplate the Holy Virgin in amazement. At the bottom of the picture, there is the city of Turin with the sanctuary of Valdocco in close up and with Superga in the background. The picture’s greatest value is the religious ideal that makes a pious impression on whoever admire it."

This painting, as commissioned by Saint John Bosco himself from the Italian painter Lorenzone as he saw in his dream, now sits at the main altar of the Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice, which was consecrated in 1868, and is the Mother Church of the Salesian Family from which every year missionaries leave for the farthest ends of the world.

This painting was granted a canonical coronation by Pope Leo XIII on May 17, 1903, that officially conferred on it the title of 'Mary, Help of Christians'.

Having been educated in Salesian schools since I was 6, I was very familiar with this picture. The image was everywhere at school and on estampitas given to us. This vision of Mary holding Jesus and a scepter, and standing on a white cloud and surrounded by angels, Apostles and Evangelists, and looking down on a big church, which I thought was St. Peter's Basilica when I was young, fascinated me. I only learned that the 'big church' was the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians when I read about the painting.

And when I had the chance to travel to Italy years ago, I made sure I visited our Salesian Mother Church in the Don Bosco Valdocco area in Turin, Italy (read blog here). I thought, since I was already in the country, why not travel north to Turin for a couple of days? 

And on that morning when I sat in front of the altar of the Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice (Basilica of Mary Help of Christians) in the Don Bosco Valdocco area of Turin, praying in silence and in awe, I could not believe where I was and the surreal vision that was before me.

From my memory of this painting during my schools days at Don Bosco in Victorias, to my pilgrimage to the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, and then back home, bringing with me this colored print of the painting, I traced the path of countless Salesian missionaries who traveled from this Church and into the hearts of young boys, bringing faith, education and virtues of a Bosconian.

Mabuhay to all Bosconians all over the world!

#donbosco #bosconian #maryhelpofChristians #VirginMary #donboscovaldocco #turin #italy