THE APOSTLE OF YOUTH
and virtue. His priests and brothers should be trained to the perfection of the spirit of their great titular patron and Doctor of the Church, and their souls daily fed on his sublime and sweetly practical doctrines. Philothea, the Treatise on the Love of God, the Conferences and Controversies, the Spirit of St. Francis of Sales, the heavenly Sermons and Letters—with what love and devotion and masterly skill did Don Bosco study this treasured library of the Church! And how penetrating and replete with divine unction were his words as he discoursed to his beloved disciples in his own beautiful style of St. Francis' luminous teachings on prayer, abandonment to the will of God, and the perfect practice of the religious virtues, all comprised in celestial love!
No harsh note from Salesian lyre is heard!
His spell is all of sweetness; yet the strong,
Clear message rings like ancient prophet's word;
Anon, to his full gaze as mysteries throng
Its breathings are the loved Disciple's own;
And now it rises like the ecstatic song
Of some grand seraph veiled before the Throne!
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