Years of Preparation

Peter Ricaldone was born on July 27, 1870 at Mirabello where, seven years earlier, Father Rua had taken over the direction of a Salesian school. His father was a man of character and common sense, a well-to-do farmer, who became mayor of his town. Young Peter's liveliness sometimes caused his mother concern, and there was not an elm tree about the house that he had not climbed to the very top!

He was sent at first to the Salesian College at Alassio and then to Borgo San Martino, and it was there one day that Peter managed to speak to Don Bosco in private before he saw him again a second time in Turin. He seems to have hesitated, for we find him at the diocesan seminary at Casale until he began to study theology. At that stage, he returned to the Salesians and entered the novitiate at Valsalice in 1889, where he took perpetual vows on August 23, 1890.

We find him a month later in Spain as a teacher at Utrera and student of theology at Seville. In 1892, Don Pedro as he was called, started to work in the oratory there. He was ordained a priest on May 27, 1893, and only a year later he became rector of the house, which he hastened to develop by the addition of a technical school.

In 1901, at the age of thirty-one, he was made provincial of Seville, and in this capacity he developed that fervor and spirit of organization which were typical for his zeal. The number of Salesians in his province increased from eighty-six to one hundred and eighty-four which enabled him to open many new houses. In 1903 he turned his attention to the press, a field he would never abandon. In that year he also launched a collection of books, destined to disseminate new agricultural techniques; it was called Biblioteca Agraria Solariana and met with great success, winning the first prize at the Turin Exhibition in 1928. By then the edition had run into one hundred and forty volumes with a total number of nearly a million copies. He was also interested in music and was one of the first to put into effect the liturgical music reforms of Pius X.

In 1898 Father Rua sent him as his personal delegate to visit the houses in South America a journey that took more than a year and ended in Tierra del Fuego. Soon after his return Father Albera called him to Turin to take charge of the technical schools as a consulter on the superior chapter, an office which he carried out with great initiative from 1911 to 1927. He adapted the programs of the technical schools to the new demands and, either alone or with the help of specialists, wrote manuals of theory and practice. He attended to the training of the Salesian personnel, making sure that the Coadjutors were well taught. In order to promote the development of the schools and to make their aims better known, he organized "instructive professional" exhibitions every year. Stimulated by this dynamic consulter, the Salesians took part with increasing success at first in regional exhibitions and later in international ones. At the International Book Fair in Leipzig in 1914 for example, exhibits concerning book-binding and lithography were placed on almost forty-two book stands. The results was the award of an Honorary Diploma.

Journeys helped to complete Father Ricaldone's knowledge of the Salesian world. Sent by Father Albera, he visited North and Central America between 1911-1912. In 1919 we find him in the eastern Mediterranean, in Egypt and Palestine. Other personal missions sent him to several places in Europe.

Elected prefect general at the chapter in 1922, he became Father Rinaldi's right-hand man, and remained with him throughout his rectorship. Regarding this period, Father Ceria points out that "his natural spirit of initiative was not satisfied merely with carrying out orders but sought new ways." In agreement with the rector major it was in the missionary projects that Father Ricaldone found the best outlet for his talents. Father Rinaldi was the initiator, Father Ricaldone the one who did the job. He was responsible, for instance, for the missionary exhibition in Valdocco in 1926. Chosen as Visitor Extraordinary to the Far East during 1926-1927, he met the Salesians in India, Japan, Thailand, Burma, and China. This journey was memorable for the courage it took to face the dangers that came his way. Upon his return the prefect general launched a missionary crusade of vast proportions, aimed mainly at securing funds for the training of future missionaries in specialized centers.

In 1932 he was unanimously chosen to succeed Father Rinaldi. Now the Congregation was headed by a practical man of affairs with an adequate knowledge of the principal regions of the world which he had visited.

His Work as Superior General, 1932-1951

The new rectorship stretched over a period of nineteen years lasting almost as long as Father Rua's. As in Father Albera's time there was a frightful war (1939-1945) which put the international solidarity of the Congregation to a test. Nevertheless the numerous enterprises and successes of Father Ricaldone's period of office command attention.

During his early years there was the canonization of Don Bosco. Pius XI, a great admirer of the apostle of Turin, wished to give the event a special note by making it coincide with the feast of Easter on the 1st of April, 1934, which ended the Jubilee Year of the Redemption. A crowd of about 100,00 people from all over the world gathered in Rome to acclaim the new saint and the young, of course, were the most enthusiastic among them. During the following days, unusual honors were paid Saint John Bosco by the Pope, the Italian government, and the Roman people. Turin acclaimed him on the 18th of April in a procession during which about one hundred and twenty prelates accompanied his relics through the streets of the city.

Celebrations were held in very many places. In London no church was found big enough to accommodate the devotees of St. John Bosco; in Jerusalem the church of the Patriarch had to be used; a triduum in Don Bosco's honor was celebrated in forty parishes of Vienna, and in sixty-four of Milan. During this period numerous biographies of the saint were written, and the statistics show a great increase of vocations. It Is easy to deduce that Father Ricaldone played no small part in the preparation and organization of this great event.

The rector major had other Salesian beatification and canonization processes to see to: the slow and difficult cause of Dominic Savio was at length brought to a successful conclusion. His beatification took place on the 5th of March, 1950. During the last months of his time at the helm, Maria Mazzarello was proclaimed a saint on the 24th of June, 1951. The benevolence of Popes Pius XI and Pius XII greatly helped Father Ricaldone to accomplish these delicate tasks. Unlike his predecessors, he who had traveled so much as extraordinary visitor made few journeys as rector major.

He left this task to his Prefect General, Father Berruti. Trigeminus neuralgia and heart trouble made long journeys difficult, and during the war they were impossible anyway. Although he remained in Turin, his directives traveled everywhere, especially in Italy. Two points of great importance must be emphasized: the Christian education of the young and the religious and professional training of the Salesians.

Religious Teaching and Salesian Formation

Enthusiastic about spreading catechism and religious instruction, Father Ricaldone was anxious to provide a remedy for the religious ignorance often found in Catholic environments, but he also wanted to fulfill a clearly Salesian commitment. In tune with the catechetical reawakening following the Decree Provido Sane of 1935, Father Ricaldone initiated a "catechetical Campaign." During the war in 1941, he began to commemorate the centenary of Don Bosco's catechism lesson to young Garelli, though other matters had already led to it. Between 1938 and 1940 the imposing building called the Salesian Institute of Graphic Arts had been built at Colle Don Bosco, close to the saint's birthplace; it became the headquarters of a Christian Doctrine Bookshop.

Father Ricaldone founded a Salesian Catechetical Center to be at the service of the Congregation and of the diocese. He put himself at the head of two groups of specialists, twenty-four priests altogether, charged with organizing the publication of books, pictures, leaflets, and other means of publicity. Thus he succeeded in publishing eighty volumes of the collection called Lux with a world-wide circulation of eight million copies, while five million leaflets were distributed in houses and on streets. Within ten years the Center organized one hundred catechetical Institutes. Just before his death Father Ricaldone was able to admire the first colored film strips made by the Salesians at Colle Don Bosco.

In the field of religious and professional training of the Salesians, he was persistent and sometimes imperious, but there was a reason for this. The spirit that animated him and which he wanted to impart was contained in the title of his well-known and lengthy circular letter of 1936: "Fidelity to Saint John Bosco." It said: "I tell you if I were to change one point of what Don Bosco did or said, I would ruin everything . . . Let us jealously guard the spirit and tradition of Don Bosco."

The problems of method and organization assumed great importance, especially in the training of young Salesians. Lengthy circulars went out from Turin, filled with directives and norms for all the various stages of this formation: junior seminaries, novitiates, seminary courses in philosophy and theology, the tirocinium, more advanced courses for Coadjutors. These directives shaped the general chapter of 1938. Thanks to Father Ricaldone, the schools at Cumiana, Rebaudengo and Colle Don Bosco became advanced training centers for Coadjutors.

In 1940 he was also instrumental in gaining the recognition of the faculty of theology at the Crocetta in Turin as the Pontifical Salesian Athenaeum, with the review Salesianum as its special organ. His interest in ecclesiastical culture made him launch an edition of the Fathers of the Church called Corona Patrum Salesiana. A further point was the regular functioning of the houses and provinces. His letter of 1939, dealing with the canonical visits, is a perfect illustration of Father Ricaldone's concern, containing as it does a series of norms with special emphasis on liturgical matters and with an extraordinary amount of detail. Everything, including library and archives, was discussed in his precise and technical letters. The abundance of Father Ricaldone's written works is extraordinary for a rector major. His successor observed that it really chained him to his desk. The collection called Formazione Salesiana written by Father Ricaldone composed fourteen volumes and dealt with spirituality and Salesian methods of education.

Just before his death he wrote the final lines of one of his best works, Don Bosco Educatore.

Father Ricaldone also had his share of tribulations. On June 1, 1940, he expressed his personal sorrow and consternation at the destruction caused by the war: "With heavy hearts and great distress we look upon the ruin of hundreds of houses, the destruction of many works that had been achieved at the cost of immense sacrifice, the dispersion, and even the death of so very many confreres who were caught up in this appalling disaster." On November 20, 1942, when the ravages of war were increasing and even the Oratory in Turin was damaged, Father Ricaldone vowed to build a "temple" in honor of Don Bosco on the Becchi Hill as soon as possible. Apart from the war, the Salesians were affected by religious persecution, first in Spain, then in Eastern Europe, and finally in China. In his last letter in 1951, he stated that one thousand nine hundred Salesians were either deported, in exile, or in prison.

Yet there were also causes for joy. Despite these trials, the Salesian Congregation continued to progress. The 1947 general chapter confirmed a general renewal. In 1950 the Salesians were already close to the 15,000 mark and more than 1,000 houses were in operation. When Father Ricaldone died in 1951, after nineteen years of stewardship, there were many who thought that the Congregation had lost a great superior to whom it owed a large debt of gratitude. The first four successors of Don Bosco have been characterized as follows: Father Rua, the Rule; Father Albera, the pious; Father Rinaldi, the father, Father Ricaldone, the worker. Father Ricaldone possessed extraordinary energy, intelligence, and that sense of organization that characterizes men of action. Someone had said of him: "He governed with a firm hand and calm mind." Inclined to be intransigent, it is said that in private he was cordial and knew how to listen. He was a priest who was conscious of his responsibilities, a fervent Salesian who knew how to show the kind of magnanimity which his successor, Father Ziggiotti, liked to stress.