Abstract

The Salesian gathering puts forward to the fellow-brethren, who are in the initial formation phase, a proposal for a special formation way. Having completed the novitiate as well as 2-year theological studies they proceed to the 2-year educational-priestly practical training to complete some salesian work task. It is traditionally called “Assistance”. After completion of that time they return to seminary in order to continue studies. Such untypical formation iter is often misunderstood even by clergymen or monastic people and the Salesians are unjustly accused of making initial formation unnecessarily too long. Sometimes the Salesians themselves look at the Assistance more as the time of very hard work than initial formation phase. The author of this work, reaching out for these phenomena, takes up an effort to show what the Assistance indeed is. He tries to explain how it came to establishing the assistance in 1901, so after Father Bosko’s death. He also tries to point to the role in this respect of Father Bosko as well as his successors. He closes his considerations with a few pedagogical remarks on the contemporary challenges related to the Salesian Assistance that both the formed and the forming have to
face.