THE APOSTLE OF YOUTH
earthly ambition and sought to toil from the first hour of the day in this new vineyard of the Lord, so with ever-widening zeal did Don Bosco respond to the calls from all Italy for colleges and complete Oratories. The three houses of Turin overflowed to meet the demands, and from 1863 on, the Institute became permanently established in Mirabello, Monferrato, Alassio, Mogliano, Randazzo in Sicily, Varese, Val Salice and at Trent in the Tyrol.
But Our Lady, Help of Christians, was preparing afar off in the valley of Mornese a great surprise for Don Bosco—the realization of a dream of long years—of a noble aspiration which his mother's great heart had shared and fostered with profound interest. This was to establish institutions similar to those of the Oratory for poor little girls whom Margaret had seen with sorrow roaming the streets without a shelter. Mary Mazzarello, an Alpine girl, had grown up in the valley a model of angelic innocence, of virtuous labor and charitable zeal, and her beautiful influence was paramount over many of the young girls of the village. She was sixteen years of age when Don Pestorino, the pious Curé determined to form of those elect souls a Congregation dedicated to Mary Immaculate. The rules were easy: prayer and good works were enjoined, but the members were left unconstrained as to their ordinary duties of life. Mary, in her fervor wishing to do more, assembled the little girls of the
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