IL GRIGIO

St. John Bosco, born 1815 and died 1888, was an extraordinary Saint of modern times. His life was full of miraculous occurrences, as he possessed the gift of visions, prophecy, healing, and reading of hearts. He founded a religious order dedicated to reforming wayward and orphaned boys, who, through poverty or abandonment ended up in the streets and lived by stealing, mugging, or harassing people. He set up a home and a school for them, known as the Oratory, and boys were sent there from all over Italy.

Although hailed by the Church as a living Wonder Worker, Don Bosco was fiercely hated by the Freemasons and the Waldensians who were unceasingly waging war against and trying to suppress the Roman Catholic Church in Italy. Ruffians would roughhouse him, and atheistic government officials regularly summoned him for harassing interrogations about his work.

One of the strangest episodes in the life of St. John Bosco was the appearance of "Il Grigio", a huge, grey hound that would appear suddenly, out of nowhere, to protect him at any given moment of danger. The dog would also accompany him until the threat was past, and then disappear just as mysteriously. This dog did not have the appearance of an ethereal apparition, but was a solid, flesh and blood animal (at least for the length of time he was needed).

The dog never ate or drank anything, was savage as a wolf against an enemy, but gently as a lamb with Don Bosco and the boys of the Oratory. It was the boys who named the creature "Il Grigio", which means "the Grey One", in Italian.

The first time the dog appeared, Don Bosco was once passing through a rough and seedy area near Valdocco, late at night. As soon as the Saint passed the last of the buildings in the town, the huge grey dog appeared. Don Bosco was startled at first, but found the creature to be friendly, and accepted its company as he headed back toward the Oratory. When he reached the door, the dog turned around and trotted off into the darkness in the direction they had come from.

Every night afterward, when Don Bosco was out late, he always found the dog waiting for him whenever he had to pass through a bad or lonely part of town, or in the country between villages.

One night, Don Bosco noticed two suspicious-looking men who were following him. He tried avoiding them by crossing the road, but they crossed too. He decided to turn back, but at that moment they pounced him, stuffing a handkerchief in his mouth and a blanket over his head. The Saint struggled fiercely to free himself, his cries for help muffled by the rag in his mouth.

Grigio suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a horrific howl and jumped on the man who was holding the blanket. His teeth sank into the man's arm and the strength and rage of the animal forced him to let go. Then Grigio attacked the second man, throwing him to the ground. The first man tried to escape, but Grigio caught up to him in a single leap and knocked him down into the mud. Both men prone on the ground, Grigio stood over them, growling menacingly.

"Call off your dog!" the men begged Don Bosco.

"I will call him off if you will let me go about my business." the Saint replied.

"Anything you like, just call him off!" they pleaded.

"Come, Grigio," said Don Bosco, and the dog immediately obeyed, freeing the men who wasted no time in fleeing.

On another occasion, while Don Bosco was heading home late at night, a man hidden behind a tree fired a gun at him at such close range that if either of the two bullets had not missed, the Saint would have been fatally wounded. Throwing down the pistol, the man rushed to tackled him when Grigio suddenly appeared, seized the man, dragged him off of Don Bosco, and flung him to the ground. The would-be assassin fled in terror, and Grigio accompanied the Saint to his doorstep before vanishing.

One night an entire gang of ruffians was waiting for Don Bosco at a deserted area where the Saint would be passing through. Hearing footsteps, Don Bosco spun around to see a man rushing at him with an uplifted night stick. The Saint was a fast runner, but the man overtook him. With a great punch, Don Bosco sent the man sprawling. Hearing the downed man's cries of pain, the rest of the gang sprang out of their hiding places in the surrounding bushes, each of them with a blunt weapon of their own to beat Don Bosco with.

The terrible howl of Grigio split the night air, and the enormous dog bounded into the midst of the ambush. The animal circled around Don Bosco, snarling and baring his ferocious teeth, until one by one the men backed away and disappeared.

On one occasion, when Don Bosco prepared to leave the Oratory to run an errand, Grigio appeared inside the schoolhouse and lay down across the door to the Saint's room, preventing him from leaving. When Don Bosco tried to move the dog so he could pass to go out, the animal growled at him and showed his displeasure at this by baring his teeth.

"Don't go out John," his mother said to him, "If you won't listen to me, listen to that dog ; he has more sense than you have."

Don Bosco gave up trying to leave. Fifteen minutes later, a neighbor came to warn him not to leave the Oratory, as two men were planning to ambush him.

The final time Don Bosco saw his faithful companion was when one night he was going from Murialdo to Moncucco. Along the route were farms and vineyards patrolled by savage dogs.

"I wish I had Grigio here with me," the Saint said to himself. Immediately, the dog was at his side, happy to see him, his tail wagging while he nuzzled his master. As they passed one farm, two furious dogs rushed at them out of the darkness, but Grigio single-handedly sent them both fleeing. When Don Bosco reached his destination, his friends were astonished to see the magnificent animal they had heard so much about. When they sat down for dinner, Grigio lay on the floor beside his master. But when Don Bosco went to give him some food, the animal was gone.

The Saint never saw his beloved Grigio again. Nor did Don Bosco have any further need of Grigio's protection. His enemies never bothered him again. But the Saint deeply missed the companionship of the Hound from Heaven.