The following true story is recounted by a friend of St. John Bosco, Fr. Dalmazzo. The story, however, takes place long before Fr. Dalmazzo was a priest. It is an account, told in Fr. Dalmazzo’s own words, of when he himself was a young boy and had first been with Don Bosco at the Oratory. At first, little Francis Dalmazzo did not want to be there - and just when he thought he would leave, God arranged very interesting circumstances that changed his mind…

"While I was at school, I read the monthly issues of the Catholic Readings written by Don Bosco. When I asked who he was, I was told that he was a holy priest who had founded a home for boys in Turin.

"I made up my mind to leave school and join his boys, and was recieved as a pupil of the Oratory. There I heard my companions speak of Don Bosco as a saint; how he had raised to life a boy from the Oratory; how he had multiplied Hosts and chestnuts; and how, when he had taken the boys on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of the Fields, the bells of the church, of their own accord, had rung out a welcome.

"I had been at the Oratory only a few days, but having been brought up on delicate fare, I could not adapt myself to the far-too-modest table [By this, Fr. Dalmazzo means that he was not used to the very plain meals Don Bosco’s boys ate there]. I wrote to my mother, asking her to come and take me away.

"On the morning of my departure, however, I wanted to go to confession to Don Bosco, and I went to the choir where I found him surrounded by a crowd of boys. While I was waiting, two boys, whose job it was to distribute the breakfast rolls, came into the choir.

"‘The boys can't have breakfast this morning,’ they whispered to Don Bosco. ‘There's no bread in the house.’

"‘Don't bother me now,’ he told them. ‘Go to Magra, the baker, and get what you need.’

"‘Magra won't give us any more bread. He hasn't delivered any since yesterday, and he says he won't bring more until he's paid up, and he keeps his word.’

"‘We'll think about it.’ said Don Bosco.

"Fr. Alasonatti was already at the Elevation when one of the two boys returned to Don Bosco's side.

"‘Mass is nearly over,’ he whispered. ‘What'll we give the boys for breakfast?’

"‘You again!’ said Don Bosco. ‘Let me finish confessions, then we'll see. Meanwhile, gather up all you can find in the breadbins and dining rooms.’

"The boy left, and I continued my confession. I had just finished when the boy came back for the third time.

"‘We've collected all we could find,’ he said ‘and that's only a few rolls, far less than what we need.’

"‘Put them in the basket,’ Don Bosco told him, ‘and I'll give them out myself.’

"When he had finished with the boy at his side, he went to the door behind the altar of Our Lady, where it was customary to hand out the rolls to the boys as they filed out of church. The basket of bread stood near the door.

"Recalling the wonderful things I had heard about Don Bosco, and bursting with curiosity, I hurried out before him to find a spot from where I could see everything. Instead, I found my mother waiting at the door. She had come to fetch me.

"‘Come Frankie,’ she said, but I made a sign for her to stand aside for a moment. ‘I want to see something first,’ I told her.

"As I took my roll from Don Bosco, I looked into the basket and counted about fifteen rolls. Then I took my place in a spot from where I could see everything: Behind him, that is, on the steps leading from the church.

"As the boys came out, he gave them a roll, and either said something to them or smiled at them. The distribution went on until every boy, to the number of about four hundred, had received his roll. The distribution over, I again looked into the basket, and to my astonishment saw inside the same number of rolls as there had been at the beginning - though no other bread had been brought up nor had the basket been changed.

"I went straight to my mother.

"‘Come now, come!’ she kept repeating.

"‘I'm not coming home,’ I told her, ‘I want to stay here. Forgive me for the trouble I caused in you in making you come all the way to Turin.’ I described to her what I had seen with my own eyes. ‘It is impossible for me,’ I said, ‘to leave a house so blessed by God and such a holy man as Don Bosco.’

"This was the only reason for my remaining at the Oratory then, and for being numbered later among his sons."