Catholic faithful will on January 29 congregate at Nairobi’s
iconic Don Bosco Catholic Church in Upperhill, Nairobi after a
procession from Nyayo National Stadium to witness the enthronement of
the relics of St John Bosco, popularly known as Don Bosco.
It
has been a long-standing tradition in Christianity to honour objects
related to individuals who had lived exemplary lives. Early Christians
held in veneration the remains of martyrs who had shed their blood for
their faith.
The mortal remains of
saints and objects related to them are referred to as “relics”.
The
habit of honouring the relics of holy men and women continues to this
day among many Christians, particularly in the Catholic tradition.
The
veneration of saints goes back to the first century of the Christian
era. It has two major aims: first, it begins with an admiration of how
the individual has exceptionally responded to the grace of God. It draws
the faithful to a sense of the sacred.
Therefore, in honouring the holy
person the Christians challenge themselves to imitate the exemplary
life of the saint.
Secondly, they also believe that this saint is
capable of interceding for them in mediating the grace of God.
PUBLIC VENERATION
In
recent memory, the Catholic Church in Kenya has had the public
veneration of relics of some saints.
Many Kenyans might recall the
beatification of Sister Irene Stefani Nyaatha that was held in Nyeri in
2015.
Around this celebration, her remains and the things that she had
used were also placed in the church at a place of honour.
A few years
ago, the relics of St John Bosco were on a tour around the country, so
also was the walking stick of St Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Spanish
mystic.
The premises of the Shrine
where the event will take place also house the headquarters of the
Salesians of Don Bosco in East Africa.
The
Salesian priests and brothers, belong to a religious order that was
founded by St John Bosco in Italy in the 19th century. They are a group
of men and women, numbering almost 30,000 — spread across 135 countries —
engaged in ministry to young people.
In Kenya, they run academic and
technical schools, youth centres, welfare activities, and rehabilitation
facilities for children in need in over 20 centres. Their presence
right inside the refugee camp at Kakuma, Turkana County, is noteworthy.
LITTLE HAMLET
Don
Bosco himself was born in a poor background in a little hamlet near
Turin, Northern Italy, in 1815.
Incidentally, he hails from the same
village as Blessed Joseph Allamano the founder of the Consolata
Missionaries, the stalwarts of Catholic evangelisation in Kenya.
After
much struggle, Don Bosco reached his vision of becoming a priest in the
Catholic church in 1841. Those days, Turin was one of the fast-growing
industrial cities in Europe. Drawn by the lure of the city, multitude of
young people were pouring into Turin. Like what happens in African
cities of today, the youngsters had no jobs, no food, no place to sleep.
They ended up in prisons for petty crimes.
The
young priest Don Bosco used to visit prisons and noticed that they were
full of young people. He wanted to do a preventive educational work and
started gathering the boys in the streets for prayer and
instruction.
Later he established shelter homes that also offered
trade-skills in order to empower them have better opportunity in the
industrial city.
Even as Karl Marx
was composing his Communist Manifesto and Charles Dickens was writing
his novels Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, about boys victimised by
Industrial Revolution, Don Bosco signed contracts with employers on
behalf of his boys.
Long after the death of their founder on January 31,
1888, the Salesians of Don Bosco continue his mission for young people
across the globe.
SPIRITUAL EXERCISE
Marking
the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco, between 2009 and 2015, the
Salesians of Don Bosco carried out a spiritual exercise.
They made three
replicas of the statue of St John Bosco in repose encasing some bones
from his right arm.
These statues were taken in pilgrimage across the
globe to over 100 countries.
One of them even visited Kenya towards the
end of 2011.
Now, however, one of these three statues will find a
permanent home at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Upperhill,
Nairobi.
It is this statue that the Catholic faithful will on January 29
take in procession from Nyayo National Stadium to the Upperhill Church
to be enshrined there.
Large crowds, including bishops and church
dignitaries, are expected to attend this devotional event and there
could be traffic disruptions.
It is
hoped the event will motivate Christians to emulate the example of Don
Bosco in reaching out to the underprivileged youth of Kenya.