It had always been the desire of the Archbishop of Calcutta, Dr. Ferdinand Perier to have a technical school in Calcutta or its vicinity. The Salesians too, after taking up the work of the C.O.P. and the Cathedral through the great kindness of Mgr. Perier, were keen on starting some such work. Fr. P. De Wachter SJ, parish priest of Howrah, by 1928, had gathered in the course of several years a sum which together with the interest amounted to Rs. 95,000. His plan was to shift the school attached to the church of Howrah, meant for poor Anglo-Indians, to some place in the neighbourhood.
Then the idea came up that the Salesians could perhaps take up this work and begin a technical school for the poor Anglo-Indian boys. Fr. De Wachter, who was very devoted to Don Bosco, was willing to hand over the amount to the Salesians, who would see to the acquiring of a property not too far from Howrah and to the setting up of a technical school there. The Archbishop was in agreement. This was in 1927. In the meantime Fr. Bonardi had set his eyes on two places at the periphery of Calcutta, one behind Howrah Station and the other at Liluah. The first one was discarded while the second was a property belonging to a certain Mr. Guha and it was located between Ghoosery and Liluah.
Referring to the suitability of the site which at that time was nothing but a large pond surrounded by wild bushes, Mgr. Perier had stated simply, "This is the place and here we shall have the first parish dedicated to Don Bosco." Thus slowly was coming to fruition the 1886 dream of Don Bosco at Barcelona!
In November 1927, when Fr. Peter Ricaldone passed through Calcutta on his way back to Europe, he saw the place and gave his approval. Everything seemed to be settled. But in the meantime the Jesuits of Bengal had a visit from their Provincial who normally resided in Belgium. He did not approve of the idea of handing over the amount collected by Fr. De Wachter to the Salesians. It was, he said, money collected by a Jesuit for a work in the mission entrusted to them and so it should not be given to another congregation.
Mgr. Perier then suggested some alternatives to Mgr. Mathias who finally proposed a compromise. The money should be lent to the Salesians as an interest-free loan for thirty years and they would see to the acquisition of the necessary land and the building up of the school. After obtaining the favourable opinion of his council, Mgr. Perier accepted the proposal. Thus on 22 March 1928 Mgr. Mathias signed the contract for acquiring the property at Ghoosery, which measured about 20 bighas (approx. 7 acres), for nearly Rs. 80,000.
Don Bosco School, Liluah, envisions an institution which trains the boys to become useful citizens of their motherland, who are physically strong, morally upright, socially conscious and mentally alert, who can write and converse fluently in good English; and which forms in the boys habits of piety, virtue, discipline and self-efficiency and prepares them to excel in the ICSE and ISC Board Examinations. It envisions the Catholic boys to become dutiful sons of the Catholic Church and inculcate in them virtue & knowledge.
kilometers from Turin, Italy. His father, Francis Bosco, was a hard Jworking peasant who died when John was only two years old. The grief-stricken words of his mother, telling him that he was now fatherless remained deeply impressed in the child's mind and perhaps, helped to instil in his mind, an intense pity for the orphans and the homeless which became the dominant note of his life.
