The Happy Saint's Day

Enjoy yourself as much as you like

- if only you keep from sin. - Saint John Bosco

We love Saint John Bosco!

1. He is one of The Professor's name saints.
2. He gave us the image of Our Lady Help of Christians which is celebrated on Sunshine's birthday.
3. He was such a cool saint!

He wanted his boys to be saints--- happy saints though, not dower saints. Modern Saints: Book One by Ann Ball has some fabulous photos of him. EWTN also has a lengthy essay online written by a Salesian priest.

What I love most about St. John Bosco was that he didn't just want his boys to hear that they were loved---he wanted them to know they were loved. His three-fold method of education was religion, reason and kindness. (My new homeschooling mantra).

To celebrate this feast day, we a have a little family tradition of making Bachelor Buttons. I started this a long time ago and The Professor has never let me off the hook. I chose this recipe simply because you roll the dough into balls and then roll them in sugar before putting them on the pan to bake. I told the children they were like the juggling balls Don Bosco used to entertain people with. In exchange for the entertainment, he would ask them to go to Mass or say a rosary. I am sure there are many cookie recipes that would also require this step, but the Bachelor Buttons are the ones requested. (Maybe because they sound so masculine?) The recipe I linked to is not the one I use, but the closest one I could find online.

I think, in exchange for the fun of making cookies I am going to ask the children to say the Divine Mercy Chaplet. I have been inspired by Dawn and Alice (in so many ways) so instead of just plain old snack time we are going to have our first family tea. Maybe I should call it a dress rehearsal for our Candlemas tea. I'll post pictures later if my batteries don't die first!