Pietro Braido, promoter of cultural institutions of «Salesianity», profound scholar of don Bosco
Francesco Motto
With the archival documents and eyewitness accounts at his disposal, the author reconstructs Professor Braido’s significant promotional activities in favor of some of the institutions promoting «Salesian spirit» such as «Centro Studi Don Bosco» (CSDB), «Centro Studi Storici Missioni Salesiane» (CSSMS) and «L’Istituto Storico Salesiano» (ISS). To all these the author has added a series of critical editions of Salesian Sources, essays and studies of Salesian history, spanning half a century and culminating in the work, Don Bosco prete dei giovani nel secolo delle libertà, which in itself can be considered a little encyclopedia, as in it all the major issues, key players, and open problems related to the person of Don Bosco find their updated entry, thanks also to a mature reflection on the part of the author, the completeness of the collected data, accurate use of the documentation and an enviable critical update of an immense bibliography.
Keywords
Salesian history, Centro Studi Don Bosco, Centro Studi Storici Missioni Salesiane, Istituto Storico Salesiano.