The Catholic Church in Taiwan is
preparing to welcome the relics of St. John Bosco to Taipei on April 7.
The trip to Taiwan is part of the worldwide pilgrimage in preparation
for the 200th anniversary of his birth.
The urn containing the relics
will be exhibited to the public from 8 to 10 April at St. John Bosco
Parish, in the capital.
For the occasion, the Catholics have organized
prayer vigils and masses to recall to the charism of Don Bosco and his
work among young people.
In recent days, the Catholic Weekly, a weekly magazine
of the Archdiocese of Chinese Taipei, published two special articles to
communicate the story of the saint and the work of the Salesians in
Asia.
Before he died, Don Bosco had foretold his confreres future
mission to the Asian country, which began in 1905 with the arrival of
the first group of Salesians in Beijing and the opening of missions in
Shanghai and Hong Kong.
To date, the missionaries of Don Bosco are
active in Taiwan, Macao and Hong Kong, where the relics were exposed 26
to 27 March.
The journey of the relics of Don Bosco through 130countries
began Jan. 31, 2009, on the 150th anniversary of the founding of the
Salesian Congregation and will end in 2015 on the 200th anniversary of
the saint’s birth.