The dreams of Saint John Bosco

The dreams of Saint John Bosco are “true visions,” Blessed Don Rua, his first successor, said, “for the things that were symbolically foretold to him in this way have always been fulfilled and are still being fulfilled to the letter.”

The dream of May 24, 1876, revealed the future of the Church: the exile of the Pope leaving Rome, followed by a crowd of disoriented people. One fine day, the Pope comes back to Rome and it is a triumphal return.

The prophecy is clear: it does not foretell an earthly journey, but a spiritual drift of the head of the Church led into a diabolical disorientation by a world that almost two centuries of anticlerical governance has made heathen. The life of Don Bosco, under the direction of Our Lady Help of Christians, shows us that it would suffice to found institutions and to lead souls to Confession and Communion by the mediation of the Blessed Virgin in order to change this heathen world into a flourishing Christendom, the antechamber of Heaven. Yet this will only come at the moment chosen by Mary and under Her direct leadership.

Let us reread the account of this dream and meditate on it during the time of the present conclave, praying that Our Lady Help of Christians may obtain by Her mediation that this conclave put into motion the second part of this dream – the triumphal return of the Pope to the Holy City.

“MYSTERIOUS EVENTS” 
(May 24 - June 24, 1873)

It was during a dark night; people could no longer see enough to make their way home, when a splendid light appeared in the sky that lit the travellers’ steps as if it were midday. A crowd of men, women, children, and old people, monks, nuns and priests led the Sovereign Pontiff● could be seen leaving the Vatican and forming a procession. But then a violent storm obscured the light, and it seemed as though a combat between light and darkness were taking place. However, they arrived at a square littered with dead and the wounded bodies;● some of them were calling for help, whilst the ranks of the procession were thinning out considerably.● After having walked the distance corresponding to two hundred sunrises, they all noticed that they were no longer in Rome. Minds were filled with trepidation and everyone gathered around the Pope to safeguard his person and to assist him. At that moment, two angels could be seen presenting the Pope with a standard and saying to him: “Receive the banner from Him Who fights and scatters the most powerful armies of the earth. Your enemies have disappeared and your sons are imploring you with sighs and tears to return!”

On the standard was written: “Queen conceived without sin” and on the other side could be read: “Help of Christians”.

The Pontiff took the standard with joy, but seeing the small number of those who had remained around him, he became very sad. The two angels added: “Go quickly to comfort your sons. Write to your brothers scattered throughout the world that a reform of morals is necessary. It can only be achieved by distributing to the peoples the bread of the divine Word. Catechise the children; preach detachment from earthly things! The time has come when the common people will be evangelised by common people. Priests will be taken from among those who wield the pickaxe, the spade and the hammer so that the words of David may be fulfilled: “I have raised the poor from the dust to make them sit on the throne of the princes of his people.”●

Having heard this, the Pope set off and the ranks of the procession began to swell. When he entered the Holy City he began to weep over the desolation of the inhabitants, many of whom were no more. Having re-entered Saint Peter’s, he intoned the “Te Deum”, to which a choir of angels responded, singing “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.”

When the singing had ended, the darkness completely ceased and a brilliant sun began to shine. It could be seen that the population of towns, villages and the countryside had been much diminished. The earth seemed to bear the traces of a hurricane and of a downpour of rain or hail, and people were going about saying to one another: “Yes truly, there is a God in Israel”.

From the moment that everyone realised that they were no longer in Rome until the singing of the “Te Deum”, the sun rose two hundred times. Therefore, the entire time elapsed in the realisation of all these events corresponds to four hundred days.

The person [Don Bosco] who communicated this news is the same one who predicted the events in France one year before they were fulfilled to the letter. For many towns, the predictions could be read as they happened day after day, as though they had been reported by the newspaper after the events had taken place. According to the same person, France, Spain, Austria and a power from Germany will be chosen by Providence to prevent social collapse and to restore peace to the Church which had been beleaguered for so long.●