Don Bosco’s First Dream

“When I was about nine years old, I had a dream that left a profound impression on me for the rest of my life. I dreamed that I was near my home, in a very large playing field where a crowd of children were having fun. Some were laughing, others were playing and a not few were cursing. I was so shocked at their language that I jumped into their midst, swinging wildly and shouting at them to stop.

At that moment a Man appeared, nobly attired, with a manly and imposing bearing. He was clad with a white flowing robe, and His face radiated such light that I could not look directly at Him. He called me by name and told me to place myself as leader of those boys, adding these words:

“You will have to win these friends of yours not with blows but with gentleness and kindness. So begin right now to show them the beauty of virtue and the ugliness of sin."

Confused and afraid, I replied that I was only a boy and unable to talk to these youngsters about religion. All that moment the fighting, shouting and cursing stopped and the crowd of boys gathered around the Man who was talking. Almost unconsciously, I asked:

“But how can you order me to do something that looks so impossible?”

“What seems so impossible you must achieve by being obedient and by acquiring knowledge.”

“But where? How?”

“I will give you a Teacher under whose guidance you will learn and without whose help all knowledge becomes foolishness.”

“But who are you?”

“I am the Son of her whom your mother has taught you to greet three times a day.”

“My mother told me not to talk to people I don’t know, unless she gives me permission. So please, tell me your name.”

“Ask My Mother.”

Mary, His Teacher

At that moment I saw beside Him a Lady of majestic appearance, wearing a beautiful mantle, glowing as if bedecked with stars. She saw my confusion, so she beckoned me to her. Taking my hand with great kindness, she said:

“Look!”

I did so. All the children had vanished. In their place I saw many animals: there were goats, dogs, cats, bears and a variety of others.

“This is your field; this is where you must work,” the Lady told me. “Make yourself humble, steadfast and strong. And what you will see happen to these animals you will have to do for my children.”

I looked again; the wild animals had turned into as many lambs — gentle, gambolling lambs — bleating a welcome for that Man and Lady.

At this point of my dream, I started to cry, and I begged the Lady to explain what it all meant, because I was utterly confused. She then placed her hand on my head and said:

“In due time everything will be clear to you.”

After she had spoken these words, some noise awakened me; everything had vanished. I was completely bewildered. Somehow my heart still ached and my cheeks still stung because of all the fighting. Moreover, my conversation with that Man and Lady so disturbed my mind that I was unable to sleep any longer that night.

In the morning I could hardly wait to tell my dream.

Reactions of His Family

When my brothers heard it, they burst out laughing. I then told my mother and grandmother. Each one who heard it gave it a different interpretation.

My brother Joseph said:

“You’re to become a shepherd and take care of goats, sheep and livestock.”

My mother’s comment was:

“Who knows? Maybe you will become a priest.”

Dryly, Anthony muttered:

“You might become the leader of a gang of robbers.”

But my very religious, illiterate grandmother had the last word:

“You must not pay attention to dreams.”

I felt the same way about it, yet I could never get that dream out of my head. What I saw about a certain new apostolic mightiness I knew brought up the matter and my relatives gave its importance to it."

Pope Pius IX

But in 1858, when I went to Rome to confer with the Pope about the Salesian congregation, Pius IX asked me to tell him everything that might have even the slightest bearing on the supernatural. Then, for the first time, I told him the dream that I had had when I was nine. The Pope ordered me to write it in detail for the encouragement of the members of the Congregation, for whose sake I had gone to Rome.

This dream came back to John Bosco over and over again for a period of eighteen years; but with each repetition there were always many new additions. With each new vision, he was able to envision more clearly not only the establishment of his Oratory and the spread of his work, but also the obstacles that were to arise, the stratagems of his enemies and the way to overcome them.

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Source

The Forty Dreams of John Bosco, from John Bosco’s Biographical Memoirs.