Today (31st Jan) the Church celebrates the life and ministry of John Bosco.

Born in 1815 to a peasant family, John Bosco spent most of his life in the area of Turin in Italy. He had a particular call to help young men and pioneered new educational methods, for example, in rejecting corporal punishment.

His work with homeless youths received the admiration even of anticlerical politicians and his promotion of vocational training, including evening classes and industrial schools, became a pattern for others to follow.

To extend the work, he founded in 1859 a religious community, the Pious Society of St Francis de Sales, usually known as the Salesians. It grew rapidly and was well-established in several countries by the time of his death on this day in 1888.