Michele Rua

Michele Rua was born in Turin on 9 June 1837 in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Turin. Rua was the last of nine children to Giovanni Battista and Giovanna Maria Rua. His father - the supervisor of a weapons warehouse - died on 2 August 1845. He lived with his widowed mother in their apartment in the warehouse which she was able to keep and where she would begin work.[4][3] His father was widowed with five children prior to his marriage to Rua's mother.[1]

Rua attended a school that the Brothers of the Christian Schools managed. It was not long following this that he met Giovanni Bosco who was working to improve the lives of the children of the neighborhood and who had just built his "oratorio" (oratory) of Francis de Sales in Valdocco. Rua was among the first with whom Bosco had shared his idea of founding a religious congregation and he joined the "oratorio" on 22 September 1852 to finish his education.[4][1] One morning in 1847 Bosco was handing medals to passing children and extended his open left hand to Rua and made the gesture with his other hand of cutting the left in half and offering it to Rua. Bosco said to "take it!" but Rua said: "But take what?" No response was given until sometime later when Bosco told Rua that their lives were intertwined into doing the work of God.[3] Bosco also sent him to Saint Giuseppe Cafasso for spiritual guidance.[1]

In 1850 Bosco asked Rua what he planned to do in 1851 to which Rua said he would aid his mother in working to provide for his siblings but Bosco asked if he felt like continuing his ecclesial studies. Rua responded that it depended on his mother's word to which Bosco asked him to ask her. Rua's mother approved him continuing his studies and he informed Bosco he would continue his studies.[3] In 1851 his brother Luigi died and his other brother Giovanni Battista died. He told Bosco that "next it's me" though Bosco assured him that he would live for another five decades.[4]

Blessed Michele Rua (left) with Saint Giovanni Bosco during a visit to Barcelona in 1885.

Bosco granted him and another named Roccheti the cassock on 3 October 1853.[3] Rua made his first profession on 25 March 1855 in the new Societá di San Francesco de Sales (Society of St. Francis de Sales) which Bosco was then forming; Rua was among its first members. For over the next three decades he was Bosco's closest collaborator in the development of the congregation. The death of Don Bosco's mother in 1856 prompted Rua to bring his own mother to live at the oratory where she remained for the next two decades. In 1858 he accompanied Bosco to Rome to seek official authorization for the congregation. He served as the first spiritual director for the congregation from 1859 even before his ordination to the priesthood which was celebrated on 29 July 1860; Monsignor Giovanni Balma ordained him.[4] In 1859 he had been ordained a subdeacon and then raised to the diaconate on 24 March 1860.[2]

From 20 October 1863 he began to serve as the rector at Mirabello where the congregation's first house outside Turin was located. He returned to Turin in 1865 to serve as the Valdocco vice-rector and later as the manager for the "Letture Cattoliche" (Catholic Readings). But he also returned to Turin to aid an ill Bosco but fell ill himself with peritonitis in 1868 deemed incurable. But Bosco said he would live and he was out of danger within the week.[3] He made his final profession on 15 November 1865. Rua was also involved in the formation of new candidates and was the first director for the Salesian Sisters which had been founded in 1872.[5][4]

Rua was a constant companion of Bosco on his trips and became the vicar for the congregation in 1865. On 24 September 1885 he was designated as Bosco's successor after the saint made the explicit request to Pope Leo XIII himself though would not succeed him until Bosco died.[2] He was designated as Rector Major in 1888 after Bosco's death and met with Leo XIII after in a private audience. Leo XIII advised Rua to hold off on the order's expansion until he could consolidate the foundation that Bosco had worked to build. Rua was nicknamed as "The Living Rule" due to his austereness and his strict adherence to the rule; he was also known for his tender approach and thoughtfulness to people. He made frequent visits to Salesian houses in Europe and in the Middle East and made constant referrals to the example of the late Bosco. Rua travelled to France and the Netherlands in 1890. He visited England for the first time in 1893 and visited both Algeria and Portugal in 1899. In 1900 he visited Tunisia and in 1904 visited Belgium as well as Switzerland and Poland; he later visited Malta in 1906. He visited Jerusalem and Palestine in 1908 and also to Austria.[1] Pope Pius X asked him in 1908 to oversee the construction of a church dedicated to Santa Maria Liberatore.[2]

Rua died at the age of 73 on 6 April 1910 at 9:30am after having been ill since the fall in 1909; his remains are housed in Turin in the Basilica di Nostra Signora Aiuto dei Cristiani.[3][4] His tenure saw the Salesian Society grow from 773 to 4000 Salesians, from 57 to 345 communities, from 6 to 34 Provinces in 33 countries around the world.[4][1][2]