Father Javier SDB one of my great teachers and also a great example of a Salesian priest will be adding to the blog from time to time and writing some reflections on St. John Bosco. Here is the first, enjoy!
“Grigio” Don Bosco’s Dog
Looking at Benedict XVI’s coat of arms I was wondering how a bear made its way into one of its quadrants.The story goes that St. Benedict domesticated the ferocious animal that was terrorizing the people of a village. A similar episode is found in the life of St. Francis of Assisi concerning a wolf. The fish listened to a St. Anthony of Padua’s sermon when the people of a locality refused to listen to him. It would seem that the peace and spiritual harmony dominating the existence of these great saints has an effect on creation in general and animals in particular.
In Don Bosco’s life we have his own testimony of the protection offered him by a dog, “Grigio” which accompanied him and attacked men who came to harm him. We read in his Memoirs: “On a wet, foggy night at the end of November 1854 I was coming from the city… I noticed two men following me… they matched their pace to mine…they suddenly jumped me from behind, threw a cloak into my face…and were trying to stuff a rag in my mouth. At that moment “Grigio” appeared growling like a bear. ‘Call off your dog’, they cried. ‘I’ll call him off when you agree to let passers-by alone”. Needless to say “Grigio” won the day.
There are so many testimonies of Don Bosco’s sanctity while he was alive. It is interesting to know that his fame includes his extraordinary influence on animals.
I love the Grigio stories! There are even some stories of Salesian Sisters who were protected by him many years later!
I have heard one of my Theology professors at grad school refer to St. Francis of Assisi as a “type” of “Eschatalogical Man” because of his intimate communion with creation.
Taking on the idea of a New Heaven and New Earth, my prof thinks that all creation will, in some sense, be transubstantiated and divinized, such that God will in a very real way be all in all. St. Francis and St. John Bosco, because their intimate communio with the Trinity were able to have a deeper communio with all of creation than most of us can normally experience.
Much of this speculative, however it adds additional beauty and awe to events which are already inspirational and “cool.”