Hajja Salesjana July-September 2021

29 H AJJA S ALESJANA Like living stones built into a spiritual house St. Peter offers a rich metaphor for all who are baptized into Easter joy, a metaphor which resonates within the walls of Valdocco: “Come to Jesus, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s eyes chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house”…(1 Pt 2:4-5). This is precisely what Don Bosco did at the Oratory: build a spiritual house. From 1846 to 1861, the Oratory was an ongoing construction site, literally and spiritually. Both St. Peter’s baptism catechesis and our Salesian heritage Views from Valdocco Fr. Mike Pace, SDB, Vice-Director, Casa Don Bosco Museum, Turin Detail, stones of the dining room wall Museo Casa Don Bosco’s Easter Chapel A Salesian House Built of Living Stones Don Bosco’s Salesian mission is forever linked to Easter joy. The Valdocco Oratory began with the celebration of mass in the Pinardi Chapel on Easter Sunday, 12th April 1846, and in 1934, Don Bosco was proclaimed a saint on Easter Sunday. Today, this paschal motif is reflected in the new chapel in Museo Casa Don Bosco, with its minimalist design and rounded walls to evoke the empty tomb of Easter morning.