THE APOSTLE OF YOUTH
dotal jubilee—the first fruit of gifts from the whole world to the august pontiff. On that day Leo XIII gave a long and most paternal audience to Don Bosco and Don Rua, and with a full heart thanked them and the Salesians in the name of Rome and the universal Church.
Don Bosco visited Spain in 1886. On his arrival, April 8th, he remained a month in Barcelona, where a Salesian Institute, under the rectorship of Don John Branda, was in a high degree of prosperity. With this house a double prophecy of the saintly founder is connected. In December, 1880, six years previous, the founder had intrusted to Don Branda, then in Turin, a mission in Utrera, Spain. "In due time," he said, "you will receive a letter from a wealthy lady in Barcelona, asking you to establish a Salesian Institute, an institute intended for a great destiny."
Don Branda had left Turin in January, 1881, accompanied by Don Cagliero and five other Salesian Fathers. It was in September, 1882, that the predicted letter came to Don Branda from a lady, Dona Serra, who offered him one hundred thousand francs on condition that the Fathers should devote their labors to the poor and desolate children of Barcelona. In 1883 a house was procured and a chapel built. March 1, 1884, saw the inauguration of the new Institute; and from that day its progress was assured, its possibilities for good steadily increasing and the Fathers, with their large clientele of Co-operators and youthful
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