THE VENERABLE DON BOSCO
and he was forced to descend from the pulpit. The parting between the venerable founder and his beloved Don Cagliero was most touching; the last words of his father and benefactor were treasured by the son as words falling from the lips of Christ Himself. As Don Bosco pressed his hands in farewell he left in them as a parting gift a small box, saying: "You need not open it in a hurry." Don Cagliero, you will think, must have performed a heroic act of mortification daily when I tell you that the precious box remained closed for several years. Not until that day in 1884 when the mail brought to him the Holy Father's Bull promoting him to the episcopate, did he open it by a sudden inspiration. As he pressed the spring, a thrill of wonder and thanksgiving ran through his frame, and he dropped upon his knees, for there disclosed was a beautiful pectoral cross, and in Don Bosco's hand the words: "For our first Bishop."
The vessel in which the missioners embarked, the Savoy, was filled with emigrants—Italian, French and Spanish. Don Cagliero instructed them in the three languages; the priests celebrated Mass, at which the captain and most of the
passengers assisted. They disembarked at Rio Janeiro on December 7th. The Brazilian Archbishop, whose need of priests was a source of affliction to him, detained them for three hours with every manifestation of kindness and attention. "Ah!" said he sadly, "if your superior could send
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