The Salesian communities of Bethlehem, Ratisbonne, Nazareth and Beit Jemal have celebrated their founding father, St. John Bosco, one of the most sympathetic figures of the Catholic Church, who stands behind hundreds of religious institutions dedicated to youth throughout the world.

The Salesian Fathers of Bethlehem celebrated the 100th anniversary of their scout group during a beautiful Mass presided over by Mgr Shomali, General Vicar of the Latin Patriarchate, and in the presence of Fr. Bernard Poggi, rector of the Latin Patriarchal Seminary of Beit Jala. It was animated by both scouts and students. Mgr Shomali also presided over the Mass of the Salesian community in Ratisbonne. In Nazareth, the Salesians celebrated their Patron Saint with a Mass recorded in the premises of Radio Maryam; it was followed by a celebration with the Salesian Sisters, FMA (Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice) and their collaborators. A solemn Mass open to all was then celebrated on February 6, presided over by Fr. Rafic Nahra, Latin Patriarchal Vicar for Israel.

Mgr Boulos Marcuzzo, General Vicar Emeritus of the Latin Patriarchate, also visited the beautiful Salesian monastery of Beit Jemal, which houses today the elderly members of the clergy, but which also was, until the Six-Day War in 1967, a powerful and renowned agricultural high school.

Founded by Fr. Belloni in 1878, this school for underprivileged children and Palestinian orphans was taken over by the Salesians and some priests in 1892, who trained the farmers of the Holy Land for almost a hundred years.

One of the Salesian brothers, called "Muallem" (master) Simaan SRUGI (1877-1943), a very pious and humble "coadjutor" of the community and a nurse, was deeply appreciated by both students and teachers, but also by the inhabitants of the area. Jews, Christians and Muslims all came to be treated and to listen to his advice.  His "recipes" but also his thoughts, his prayers or the local stories that he preserved in writing constitute an almost unique popular cultural heritage for Palestine and for this time. Because of the exemplary nature of his life and the heroic nature of his virtues, St. John Paul II granted him the title of "Venerable" in 1993, opening the way to possible beatification.

For the Salesians, this region is also the place of the martyrdom of their Superior, Fr. Mario Rosin, who was killed in an ambush in 1938 while returning from the sanctuary of Deir Rafat, after having given the sacrament of reconciliation to the Sisters of St. Dorothy. His stoned body was not found until the next day. A few days later, one of the likely perpetrators of the stoning came to Br. Simaan Srugi, the only nurse in the area, for treatment after a skirmish with British soldiers. The Salesian sister, a nurse's aide, thought she recognized him and discreetly warned Br. Simaan; he then said to her: "I only know the Gospel, which commands us to help, care for and love all our brothers, even our enemies."

It is therefore as much to pay homage to the figure of Don Bosco as to pay homage to all his successors, in Beit Jemal as in the whole world, that the Monastic Family of Bethlehem of the Assumption of the Virgin and of Saint Bruno came to stand by the Salesian Fathers, during the celebration prepared by Fr. Gianmaria Gianazza, SDB.

Since 1987, a new convent adjacent to the Salesian monastery houses the Nuns of Bethlehem, while the monastery of Our Lady of Maranatha, the male branch of the Order, is built on the nearby hill called Tell Gamaliel.

During the homily, Mgr Marcuzzo recalled the "gift" of this year addressed by the Rector Major of the Salesians to his confreres, with the famous quotation of St. Francis de Sales: "Do everything by love, nothing by force". This phrase had so struck Don Bosco, then a seminarian, that he chose to call all those who would later join his new community "Salesians". Combining this injunction with the Augustinian conception of a love that can only be exercised in truth and freedom, Mgr Marcuzzo highlighted the meaning of Christian education, the famous "preventive method", provided by the Salesians. He also reminded us that the Pope, in the synodal process initiated in October 2021 for the good of the universal Church, invited everyone to "commit themselves to communion and mission, to participate and to express themselves, out of love, in truth and in freedom."