(ANS – Rome) – Fellowship, sharing, learning, meditation and spirituality were the key elements of the pre-Easter recollection day organised specifically for the lay staff working at the Salesian Headquarters and the Congregation’s other central offices. Held on Wednesday, 1 April 2026, at the “Zeffirino Namuncurà” Community of the Salesian International Theologate in Rome-Bufalotta, the event brought together around forty people for a morning of reflection and renewal under the motto “Reborn in Christ, Called to Holiness”.
The participants were welcomed into the community chapel by the Rector of the Centre, Fr Gianni Rolandi, who greeted them and outlined the threefold nature of the centre’s work: as a house of formation for Salesian theology students at the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) in Rome; as a centre for welcoming and hosting groups; and as the headquarters of the Salesian General Postulation.
Subsequently, the General Postulator for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, introduced the theme of the day, weaving together in a clear and illuminating way the story of Don Bosco and the Paschal Mystery of Christ, and linking the life and work of the Saint of Youth with the current reality of the Congregation. From this perspective, every daily service carried out for the Salesian mission rediscovered its deepest meaning in the path of salvation opened by Jesus and fulfilled by Don Bosco and, in the years that followed, by dozens of other figures of holiness who emerged after him.
In this same light, the numerous symbolic connections and significant anniversaries were also reinterpreted: such as the 200th anniversary, in this year 2026, of little John Bosco’s First Communion; the fact that the Saint of Youth received his First Communion on Easter Day 1826 (26 March); that he established the Oratory with its permanent headquarters in Valdocco on Easter Sunday 1846 (12 April); and that he was canonised on Easter Sunday 1934 (1 April) – an anniversary, moreover, of the birth of Mamma Margaret, as well as the solemn closing of the Extraordinary Holy Year of Redemption.
The more reflective phase in the chapel was followed by a more dynamic period exploring the premises of the General Postulation in its renovated and modern surroundings: from the library with its publications on the Salesian saints, to the archive containing all the preserved process documents, passing through the offices and then on to the true ‘jewel’ of the Postulation: the Chapel of Relics. Guided by Fr Cameroni and his faithful collaborator in the Postulation, Fr Gabriel Cruz, the guests were thus able to experience first-hand the reality of a service that is as concrete as it is special, consisting both of papers, documents and procedures and, above all, of prayer and the supernatural.
After a brief break, the morning reached its spiritual high point with the Eucharist presided over by the Economer General, Fr Gabriel Stawowy, and concelebrated by the Councillor for the East Asia–Oceania Region, Fr William Matthews; the Rector and the Economer of the Salesian Headquarters, Fr Francesco Marcoccio and Fr Luis Otávio Botasso respectively; and the Treasurer of the Congregation, Fr Joseph Jose.
In his homily, the Economer General drew on the Gospel of the day, inviting everyone to reflect on their own frailties and betrayals, echoing the apostles’ question at the Last Supper: “Is it I?” Yet at the same time, he urged them to place their trust always in the mercy of Jesus, who is ever able to open paths of rebirth and conversion.
At the end of the day the surprise visit of the Rector Major, Fr Fabio Attard, the General Councillor for Formation, Fr Silvio Roggia, and the two African Regional Councillors, Fr Innocent Bizimana, SDB, and Fr Alphonse Owoudou, sealed a moment of joyful sharing among all, in the awareness that each one contributes in a different way to the same mission of Don Bosco and that, like him and his spiritual sons, they are committed to the single path towards the holiness of the Children of God.
