6 How the Church Has Changed the World he grew up and became a parish priest in Turin, he saw plenty that was wild and fierce roaming the streets. They were the homeless boys of that big city, black with soot from the factories. Those boys were growing up to be worse than beasts. John Bosco’s heart went out to them. What would you do if you wanted to bring God to rough boys on the streets? Whatever you’d do, it would help if you had the physique for it. John Bosco had that strength. He grew up doing hard physical work on his mother’s plot of land in the country, which she and he and his brother had to tend themselves after the father died—plowing, planting, reaping, caring for the cows and horses and pigs, and keeping the vineyard. But John also had a hobby that did not require shovels and pitchforks. He would set up a small stage in front of his friends and repeat what the priest had said on Sunday. So has many an altar boy done. But John added things that the priest couldn’t have done without earning him a visit to the bishop. John walked on his hands and did cartwheels. He did magic tricks, picking coins out of people’s ears. He did as a boy the things he would later do for the boys. He was already an athlete for God. Let me have the boy When he became a priest, John Bosco did not forget that he had been a boy. He could be found
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