Father Michael Rua had been Don Bosco's principal associate for more than thirty years, and the mark left by this first successor on Don Bosco's many-faceted work continued into the first half of the twentieth century. His administrative abilities combined with his extraordinary activity, and particular kind of sanctity made him the man of Providence who was not only able to save the Salesian Society and its two branches from collapse but also ensure their progress in spite of inevitable setbacks.

For a better understanding of these matters we must go back to the training of Father Rua before speaking of his stewardship from 1888 until 1910.

 

Youth

While still very young Michael Rua had been somewhat amazed by a rather strange priest who aroused either admiration or scorn as he passed through the streets of Turin surrounded by his band of young vagabonds. Some men he respected, like the priest whose Mass he served, told him that Don Bosco was "suffering from a well-nigh incurable illness." It is said that remarks like that made Michael cry; he was then only eight or nine years old.

As he grew older a little mystery had come up between him and Don Bosco which aroused his curiosity. On one occasion, as he was on his way to school, he met the priest. Don Bosco gave all the boys a holy picture, but he did not give one to him. Instead, he held one hand open and pretended to cut it in two with the other, saying: "Take it, Michael, take it!" Only years later did Don Bosco explain that it had meant that he, Don Bosco, and Michael would share everything.

Michael was born on June 9, 1837 in the Valdocco district of Turin, not far from where the future Oratory was to arise. The Rua family was not wealthy even though the father was am inspector in an ammunition factory. John Baptist Rua had five children by a previous marriage and then another four after he remarried. Michael was the last child.

The entire family was not sturdy, so much so that when Michael was born there were only four other children living. Although he himself was not strong, he outlived all the others. He was a refined and quiet lad, always neatly dressed.

At the age of eight he lost his father but, as one of his biographers asserts, he soon found John Bosco who would be a father to him throughout his life. He himself declared at the process of Don Bosco's beatification: "I came to know this Servant of God in September, 1845 when I was eight years old. At the invitation of a friend, l began to visit the Oratory by the Refuge."

From then on, if it had been possible, he would not have missed any of the activities at the Oratory, but his mother had doubts. Perhaps she was afraid of allowing her youngest child to associate with such dubious boys? Father Ceria suggests that much. In any case, he took a great interest in whatever happened at Valdocco.

When his eldest brother, Louis, told him all about the illness that threatened Don Bosco's life in 1846, he was deeply moved. Later, he would recall the triumphal arches erected in Valdocco in 1847 to welcome Archbishop Fransoni.

That year he was admitted to the Sodality of St. Aloysius and hence could observe Don Bosco in close quarters every month. In 1848 he became a pupil of the De La Salle Brothers and remained with them for two years. His mother wanted him to learn his father's trade. This did not separate him from Don Bosco who was one of the school chaplains. He then met him in the streets and soon he was able to attend the Oratory more frequently.

In 1850, at the end of the school year, Michael thought of getting a job in a factory to earn a living and help his mother, but Don Bosco had kept an eye on him and asked him if he would like "to study Latin." The boy understood at once what he meant and said he was ready to study to become a priest.

Secondary Schooling

In August, 1850, he began to study Latin without much zest-a failure which seems to have embarrassed his biographers. However, as soon as he realized he was disappointing his "friend" he hastened to make amends and to persevere. In time, he became in time a pupil of Professors Merla, Bonzanmo, and Picco from whom he received the highest praise for his spirit of application and excellent results.

Due to the high esteem in which he was held, Michael Rua was put in charge of the group of students on their way to and from classes in the city. In performing this task he ran into some difficulty concerning young Cagliero, who was a good but very mischievous fellow.

In the meantime, Michael continued to live at home, but he went to see Don Bosco as often as possible, and sometimes he would eat the evening meal with him. As time passed, he began to realize the extraordinary and growing significance of this priest.

Just watching Don Bosco's every activity, however trivial, impressed the boy more than reading, or meditating on any book of piety. As he observed him go about his daily routine, in and out of school with that mixture of seriousness and kindness that was so much part of his nature, he came to realize that love was the source of all things in this life. Don Bosco became his model in everything he did, so much so that he advised Francesia, who had just arrived, to make Don Bosco the father of his soul.

In the fall of 1852, Michael Rua became a border at the Oratory and on the 3rd of October in that year, at the age of fifteen, he took the cassock in the chapel at Becchi. After finishing high school in 1853, he entered the seminary of Turin to study philosophy.

Meanwhile, Don Bosco had been developing his plan for a congregation. On the occasion of the so-called "conferences'- he would gather his most trusted boys and gradually prepare them for this idea. On January 26, 1853, just before the feast of St. Francis de Sales, Rua, Cagliero, and two other Oratory boys were invited to "a test in the exercise of practical charity towards their neighbors" and were henceforth called Salesians.

Michael Rua remained Don Bosco's main associate at the Oratory. It was to him alone that Don Bosco entrusted the boys; he assisted with the weekly catechism classes; he took charge of the library, and, when necessary, even of Don Bosco's own office. Apparently, no one seemed surprised, for Rua's piety was well-known, (he was the only one who meditated daily), so were his sense of duty and his attachment to Don Bosco, all of which well qualified him for this task. He was a friend of Dominic Savio and became the first president of the Company of Mary Immaculate.

On the 25th of March, 1855, he pronounced his religious vows. Between 1855 and 1860 he completed his theological studies and like Don Bosco before him, showed a marked preference for moral (as compared to speculative) theology and for the sacred writings, while back at the Oratory, and not only at Valdocco, he continued to help his master with increasing efficiency.

In 1856 he was put in charge of the oratory at Porta Nuova and in the following year of that at Vanchiglia. He also assisted Don Bosco with his writings and when the History of Italy was reprinted it was Rua who revised the text and brought it up to date. In 1858 he accompanied Don Bosco on a visit to Rome after which the idea of the congregation began to take shape. When, in December, 1856, Don Bosco invited a number of boys to enroll in the Society of St. Francis de Sales, Rua was obviously among them. He was unanimously elected to the post of Spiritual Director of the Salesian Congregation on December 18 of that year, while the title of prefect was given by Don Bosco to Father Alasonatti. Michael Rua was only a sub deacon at the time.

During Michael Rua's spiritual retreat in preparation for priestly ordination, Don Bosco, in a talk to remember, ended with these words: "Trust in God, and if I can ever do anything for you, I shall always be at your service."

His ordination took place on the 29th of July in 1860, at Caselle, and there was a special celebration on the following Sunday.

A priest now, Rua found himself overwhelmed like his master, by a multitude of tasks. Already spiritual director, he was now also put in charge of education, and it is said that he managed to discharge both functions well. In addition, he was director of the oratory at Vanchiglia.

In 1863 Don Bosco found a way of training him for even greater responsibilities by making him rector of the Salesian school at Mirabello. Rua was then twenty-six years old. He did well as rector, so much so that he entertained a feeling of pride, which he was at pains to admit. In the Oratory chronicle Father Ruffino recorded this high praise: "Father Rua in Mirabello acts just like Don Bosco in Turin. He is always surrounded by the boys, who are attracted by his kindliness and by the interesting things he keeps telling them. At the beginning of the school year he advised the teachers not to be too strict as yet.

It seemed, however, that Turin could not do without him. He was recalled in 1865 to take the place of the ailing Father Alasonatti. The new responsibility was a heavy one, involving general discipline, material care of the house plus seven hundred boys. Additional responsibilities were the construction of the church of Mary Help of Christians, business management of the Catholic

Readings, and helping Don Bosco with his enormous correspondence. No wonder then that in 1868 his delicate health gave way under the load of work. Although the doctor gave up hope, Don Bosco sent back the holy oils for the anointing. "Look," he said, "you wouldn't be able to die now even if you threw yourself out of the window." And, truly, he recovered and carried on.

Rua was always at Don Bosco's side, a man of integrity, ready for any task. In Don Bosco's absence, the affairs of the Oratory were entrusted to him, sometimes for months on end. It is obvious that Don Bosco was gradually preparing him to be his successor one day. In 1869, for example, he put him in charge of the formation of Salesian candidates, though without the title of novice master, which he preferred not to use just then.

In his capacity as prefect general of the Society, it was Rua who, in 1872, assigned the personnel to the various houses. A little later, the founder sent him out regularly to visit the houses, entrusted him with the task of studying the requests for new foundations, and transferred to him the direction of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, after John Cagliero had left for South America.

We find Rua opening a house in Paris in 1878, in Marseilles in 1880, where he also presided at the annual Salesian retreat; in Sicily as canonical visitor in 1885, etc. He was in Rome with Don Bosco in 1881, in Paris in 1883, and in the same year in Frohsdorf in Austria, at the bedside of Count de Chambord, and in Barcelona in 1886.

When, at the Pope's suggestion, Don Bosco began to select a vicar with the right to succeed him, whom else could he choose but his alter ego, the man who had been at his side through all these years? This decision was announced at the meeting of the superior chapter on September 24, 1885. Father Rua then resigned his office of prefect which he had held for twenty years, and nobody doubted that he was the one to take their father's place when the time came. Don Bosco gradually withdrew to such an extent that he sometimes deferred to the opinion of his vicar general. After having lived with Don Bosco for almost thirty-six years, the founder's death shook him to the very core.

Rector Major, 1888-1910

After Don Bosco's death, several well-meaning persons including Leo XIII, harbored doubts about the future of his Congregation, to the point of expecting it to disperse in the near future.

Disturbing rumors circulated in Rome: there was talk of merging it with a similar society which was older and more established, a project which was in fact abandoned only because of the kind intervention of a great friend of the Salesians, Bishop Manacorda of Fossano.

Father Rua was then nominated rector major for a period of twelve years. He did not waste time. In his first official letter to the Salesians, dated March 19, 1888, he based his program on the person and the great work of the founder: "We should consider ourselves truly fortunate to be the sons of such a father. Hence we must try our very best to preserve and further the work he began, and faithfully follow the methods he taught and practiced. In our manner of speaking and working we must try to live up to his example which the Lord in His goodness has provided."

He announced that this would be his own program and that every Salesian should study it and make it his goal. In the twenty-one years he was to remain at the head of the Salesian Society he certainly tried to fulfill it. Moreover, he felt that by the nature of his mission he should be like Don Bosco, even in his manner. Besides, just before dying, the founder had whispered to him: "Make yourself loved."

Certainly Father Rua differed very much from his model in physique and temperament. As Father Auffray notes, the contrast between them was striking: With the smile, face, and manner of one expressed fatherly kindliness, there was a gentle seriousness about the other, an air of spirituality and a touch of austerity.

Among the boys on the playgrounds the former was merry, expansive, cordial, the latter, equally cordial, was more reserved and less demonstrative. However all witnesses agree that Father Rua softened considerably and, as rector major, "he became more like a father than a superior." Some who remembered him as the former arbiter of discipline were amazed at the change.

Activities

When he became rector major, Father Rua's activities increased considerably. As soon as he was installed in his new office, he had to pay debts at Turin, in France, and in Rome. Although he did not have Don Bosco's genius for raising money, he soon learned how to extract himself from such predicaments. He wrote a great deal, and on principle never left a letter unanswered. His "circular letters" and "edifying letters" addressed to all the Salesians amounted to a thick volume when published by his successor. He spoke with precision and warmth about everything concerning the life of the Society be directed.

Though we may now imagine Farther Rua as a reserved man, who preferred to sit behind his desk, he became in fact a great traveler, and the account of his long journeys as superior provided the main material for Father Ceria's writings. One of his biographers estimates that Father Rua must have covered at least six thousand miles - a great deal when one considers the means of transportation available in his time. Obviously, he did not move about just for the sake of traveling.

He had two distinct objectives: to keep the spirit of Don Bosco alive everywhere by personal contact with his religious and with the Cooperators, and to deal with the affairs of the Congregation.

Usually he would set off in spring on a journey that took several months mainly because of the relatively long time he stayed at each of the Salesian houses. We shall leave aside his frequent visits throughout Italy and mention only his first journey abroad which took place between February and May, 1890.

Arriving in France, - he stayed nine days at Nice, where he asked the Salesians not to forget the oratory; then on to Navarre, also visiting the Salesian Cooperators at Toulon and Cannes, and the Salesians and Sisters at Saint-Cyr. When he arrived in Marseilles on February 28, he was besieged by visitors. After spending some time with the novices at Sainte-Marguerite, he also stopped to visit benefactors at Aubagne and Roquefort.

From France he went on to Spain where he was nearly mobbed at Barcelona. Passing through Madrid, he arrived at Utrera where, we are told, the pupils even took objects from him to keep as souvenirs. He returned to Italy for Holy Week, and soon after left for Lyons and Paris. From there he went on to visit the Salesians in London's Battesea district. He then returned to France by way of Lille, where he took part in the boys' retreat and visited the Sisters at Guines.

Then he crossed over to Belgium to prepare the new foundation at Liege and to visit the main cities. Returning to France, he stopped at Menilmontant in Paris, made a brief trip to Paray-le-Monial and to Cluny, from where he returned to the Oratory in Turin at the end of May.

Father Rua gave an account of this trip in a circular letter to the Salesians. His major consolation, he said, was the veneration for Don Bosco he had seen wherever he went and the satisfactory condition of the houses he had visited. This, however, did not keep him from pointing out some faults, such as the neglect of Gregorian chant, laxity in theological studies, unnecessary train journeys for pupils, etc.

In time he was to undertake many more extensive journeys. In 1894 we find him in Switzerland, then at Strasbourg surrounded by a great many friends, then at Liege, after passing through Metz and going as far as Rotterdam.

The following year saw the realization of a more ambitious project: embarking at Marseilles, he went to Alexandria in Egypt, then entered Palestine by way of Haifa. After visiting the Salesian foundations there, he went to pray at the Holy Places.

In 1899 he was again in southern France and then in Spain, accompanied by the Provincial, Father Rinaldi. After a tour of Portugal, he embarked at Algeria for North Africa to visit the house in Oran. A year later, we find him in Tunisia, and in 1904 he visited Austria and Poland. Finland, in fulfillment of a vow, made at a difficult moment, he went once again to the Holy Land, two years before his death.

Father Rua's numerous journeys certainly contributed to preserving the unity of the Salesian Congregation after Don Bosco's death. On the other hand, judging from the manifestations of sympathy and esteem that was showered on the saint's successor, who was proclaimed a "new Don Bosco," it is evident that the tree of the Salesian Congregation was still very sturdy.

In effect the unprecedented development of the Congregation between 1888 and 1910 can be attributed to Father Rua's efforts during his term of office. He worked with almost feverish activity to increase the number of foundations, which brought him a certain amount of criticism. His reply was that the confreres must get involved in finding new vocations, and he did not hesitate, when he thought it opportune, to reprimand those provinces "that did not produce even one single novice." At any rate, he had grounds for satisfaction, and when writing a year before his death, he had this to say: "Far from disappearing, as some had prophesied, the Salesian Society continues its productive apostolate all over the world, ever extending its Providential work, and gaining greater favor and esteem every day.

Trials

On the other hand, Father Rua was tortured by cases of conscience and other trials. The question of hearing confessions worried him between 1899 and 1901. Up to then, the Salesian superiors and rectors had remained faithful to Don Bosco's custom of giving their religious and pupils full liberty regarding confession. Father Rua continued hearing confessions at the Oratory and elsewhere, because he was convinced that this tradition was a fundamental part of the Salesian method. It was therefore a sad blow when a decree of July 5, 1899, forbade the rectors of the houses in Rome to hear the pupils' confessions. According to the Holy Office, this article was to safeguard the liberty of the penitent and to prevent possible suspicions concerning the directorship of the superiors.

Fearing, with some justification, that this was the thin end of the wedge, Father Rua sought to temporize. Then, a second decree of April 24, 1901, explicitly forbade all Salesian superiors to hear confessions of anyone within their community.

Torn between two loyalties, Father Rua appealed, only to be called to Rome where he had to submit to a personal reprimand by the Holy Office, followed by the command to leave Rome immediately. He submitted without hesitation but suffered great anguish. Another Roman decision during 1906 obliged him to give up one more part of Don Bosco's heritage. This time it involved the total separation of the two congregations founded by the saint, but we shall come to this later.

Among the unhappy events of his stewardship, we must include the closing of the houses in Ecuador in 1896 and the ones in France in 1902, and the earthquake in Messina which took the lives of nine Salesians and thirty-nine pupils. Finally, and especially from early 1909, Father Rua suffered painful physical disorders such as phlebitis and conjunctivitis. Nevertheless, he retained his amazing energy until his death on the 6th of April, 1910.

Spirituality of Father Rua

Father Rua found his own spiritual path in the contemplation of Don Bosco and his work which inspired him with a love for the Rule, asceticism, and devotion to Christ and His Holy Mother. He retained a special respect for the Rule which he considered part of Don Bosco's great heritage and which he endeavored to observe with extraordinary faithfulness. His adherence to all regulations was proverbial. Don Bosco himself had once joked about Father Rua's exactitude, saying that he would be afraid to go to confession to him. Not for nothing was Father Rua called "the living Rule."

As rector major, he continued to advocate fidelity to customs, traditions, and the constitutions left by the founder. However, it is well to point out that this did not prevent his introducing some important innovations such as the three-year tirocinium recommended by the general chapter in 1901, and the reform of the general chapter itself in 1904.

His respect for the Rule, which he tried to inculcate in others, derived its strength from his faith that it came directly from God. "Is not the Rule," he asked one day, "the book of life, the essence of the Gospel, the hope of our salvation, the measure of our perfection, the key to heaven?" Father Rua was an ascetic. His physiognomy, his manner, his lean appearance reminded one of the Cure of Ars. Following the example of his master, he mortified himself habitually with work and incessant activity. It was said of him that he had vowed never to waste a minute of his time. A little joke circulated to the effect that Father Rua, upon arrival in heaven, would first rush to greet Don Bosco and then ask him for some work!

Finally, his devotion to Christ and His Mother was great indeed. He consecrated the Salesian Congregation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on December 28, 1900. On that occasion he sent an instruction on "Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus" to all houses. Like Don Bosco, he did not separate Christ from His Mother. He assisted with great joy at the crowning of the Madonna at Valdocco in 1903. Two years later he accepted the commission from Pius X to build the church of Santa Maria Liberatrice in the Testaccio quarter of Rome.