# The Venerable Don Bosco, the Apostle of Youth/Chapter XVIII

CHAPTER XVIII
THE SALESIAN APOSTOLATE IN PATAGONIA
From that ever-memorable day in 1854, when Don Bosco stood by the bedside of the youthful Cagliero, dying of cholera, and beheld the realistic vision of the boy's future mission among "a savage people of tall stature and fierce aspect, of copper-colored skin, with thick black hair tied by a string at the forehead," his apostolic heart had gone often to the wilds of Patagonia, and their savage races had been an attraction for his zeal and prayers. And when Archbishop Aneyro proposed that the Salesians should attempt to evangelize the tribes, Don Bosco eagerly assented. In 1879 Don Costamagna with several other Salesians and Sisters became pioneers in this new field of apostolic labor, full of hardships and dangers. In 1880 Don Bosco wrote to his Co-operators (the third Salesian Order): "Patagonia is the most glorious field offered by Providence for your charitable works, where until now teachers of the Gospel could not penetrate; but the time of mercy has arrived…… The first trial, although painful and dangerous, has succeeded; five hundred natives received baptism." He complains feelingly of a lack of money to assist this distant ​mission. Later, in 1881, announcing the departure of twelve priests and brothers and eight Sisters, he continues: "Agriculture is especially developed in our Patagonian institutions; we have erected churches, opened schools, built residences for priests and teachers, and hospitals for wandering Indians on both banks of the Black river. These savages are docile, easily taught arts and trades, and, above all, agriculture, which is still unknown among these wandering tribes." General Roca, president of the Argentine Republic, held Don Bosco and the Salesians in the highest esteem, and favored and supported them with the respect and generosity that their self-denying services to the State merited.
In 1883 the court of Rome created two ecclesiastical provinces in Patagonia: the north and center of the country formed an apostolic pro-vicariate and Don Cagliero was appointed pro-Vicar Apostolic; the south, with Tierra del Fuego and the neighboring islands became an apostolic prefecture with Don Fagnano as Prefect Apostolic.
The present Archbishop of Buenos Ayres in a pastoral letter on the centenary feast of Don Bosco (1915) says of the first Salesian missionaries in Patagonia: "By their intrepid zeal and conspicuous ability they reaped an immense harvest of souls and laid the foundations of a flourishing Christian civilization…… In our own province," he continues, "the two Salesian Institutes ​educate in their seventy-five houses some 25,000 boys and girls, and this is all carried on in the method of enterprising charity which their founder initiated for his followers. The consoling results of this work, the numerous ecclesiastical vocations, the clubs and social work among the 'past-pupils' of both sexes which extend into all classes of society, plainly demonstrate that the work of Don Bosco is providential in its mission, and a new manifestation of the power and goodness of Mary, Help of Christians, in the salvation of the world."
Happily for my readers I can again quote from the thrilling lecture of His Eminence Cardinal Cagliero in Rome, some interesting details on the South American Mission:
"The first Salesian missionaries reached Buenos Ayres on December 14, 1875. They had been called there by the Archbishop, who was desirous of a Religious Congregation that might take special care of the Italian emigrants, already so numerous in the young Republic. They numbered only ten and were led by me. I was not to remain there, but was only to establish them in their new mission and then to return to Italy. On the quay two hundred Italians and the prominent citizens awaited us and gave us a wonderful welcome.
"Encouraged and invited by the Archbishop I began at once to visit the places where the new establishments were to rise, and I saw what an abundant harvest the Lord prepared for us.
​"Just as we set foot on Argentine territory the government prepared a scientific expedition into unexplored Patagonia, We asked to form part of it but a refusal was given us, because, it was said, it was too early yet, and that later on, when the ways should be open to penetration of civilization among these barbarous and violent tribes, we should be able to commence our work. In fact, only in 1879 did the first four missionaries set out for Patagonia. But their attempt was fruitless, because the vessel on which they traveled was wrecked in the waters of Rio Negro, the great river that is the principal means of communication with Patagonia and is ordinarily navigated by the largest warships. With difficulty the missionaries saved their lives.
"In the following year the Argentine government, suffering exceedingly from the continual incursions of the savage tribes of Patagonia into the civilized regions, prepared against them an armed expedition of 2,000 men under the minister of war himself, who was afterwards to become President of the Republic. The Salesians asked to accompany the expedition, proposing to attempt by means of the Cross that conquest which the Argentine troops were preparing to make with the sword. They were given place in the official headquarters, and lived as the soldiers on the long march up to the lines of the unexplored and terrifying region.
"The first contact of the white soldiers with the ​advance guard of the Patagonian tribes was full of menace. An odd arrow flew and an odd gun responded. General Roca, despairing of being able to approach the savages so as to open negotiations, was preparing for a great violent action when the missionaries insistently asked him for permission to make a fresh pacific overture with them. By the aid of gestures—for no one had an idea of the Patagonian tongue—they succeeded in making them understand they had peaceful intentions. Afterwards, having succeeded in exchanging signs rather than words, they persuaded these wild people that their idea of opposing by force the penetration of the Argentines was vain, since, though they had lances and arrows, the whites had rifles that killed before the whites entered into action. And thus the chief heads, Sayuhueque and Yancuche, surrendered and recognized the Argentine authority, accepting the conditions imposed upon them. The cacico Namuncura retired with 400 lances to an angle of a distant territory. The conditions of the Argentine government were very benevolent: foods were guaranteed for three years, until the tribes should have learned agriculture, then tracts of ground to cultivate and make profitable."
And thus His Eminence proceeded detailing missionary successes "by blood and by perspiration", as Don Bosco had foretold so long before. Now it was a sick call of 1,500 miles on horseback, again catechising, baptizing, ​exploring, until today the first ten missionaries have grown into 1,400, and Don Bosco's Institutes cover Chili, Brazil, Paraguay, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, the Argentine and Patagonia.
Monsignor Fagnano, the first Missionary Companion of Cardinal Cagliero, recently summoned from his earthly labors (September 18, 1916) to his reward exceeding great, christianized and civilized Southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, of which region he was appointed Prefect Apostolic in 1885. "An athlete of body and soul," he was styled. His apostolic zeal knew no bounds; he forsook all the amenities of life, intellectual and social, all the honors that the Republics would have lavished upon him, to give himself to the savage tribes of those cold and inhospitable wilds, whom he converted in thousands. This abject race he so loved that a few years ago he renounced the Episcopal dignity that he might continue to exhaust himself in their service. As a hero of Christian Charity he will ever be remembered; and his name will be recorded even in the civil history of America for the discovery of a lake which the Argentine government in deference to him has named Lake Fagnano.