A silver jubilee tribute to the pioneers of the Salesian Province of Bombay in four parts: the beginnings, the leaders, the vineyard and blessings for the road ahead.

"The vision, the plans, the anxieties, the toil, the supplication, the expectation, the sacrifices, the sorrows, the joys - all experiences integral to any foundational enterprise, can never be adequately enshrined within the pages of a history book. Faith and devotion as motivating forces that have kept men at their post in creative fidelity day after dreary day, through the 70 years of labour in this western part of India and 25 years of the Bombay Salesian Province, are, once again, incalculable and elude documentation. Many who laid the foundations have expired. Few are still alive. It is to them - our pioneers, our leaders, our benefactors, our aged, our departed - to them that we dedicate this work - a symbol of our sincere LOVE, ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE."   (From the introduction) 

Pages: 206+viii,  ISBN 01-87060-09-3

Tracing the history of Ahmednagar through the reign of the Yadavas, Brahmanis, Mughals, Marathas and the British Salesian Contribution to the Ahmednagar Mission recounts the pioneering personas who proclaimed the Good News, giving due and justified recognition to the heroic Jesuits. It places within this historical context the breezy and systematic continuation of the pastoral work by the Salesians of Don Bosco, focusing on their journeying with the young, the Don Bosco way. A veritable labour of love, Fr. Bansode’s book is an attempt to highlight a ‘son of the soil’ perspective of the passionate love story between the people of Ahmednagar and Christ, through many hearts aflame with unconditional loving- kindness.

The book Don Bosco in Mangalore is the fruit of a research undertaken during the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco to assess the impact of Don Bosco’s charism on the Church and the world. Part of this research was presented in Turin in October 2015 and was published for an international audience. The book documents the Don Bosco Institutions and organizations, up and running, in the diocese of Mangalore even before the arrival of the Salesians, placing them in the socio-ecclesial framework of the Mangalorean Catholic Community.

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