Two Columns

On May 30, 1862, Don Bosco spoke to his boys and young clerics he was training about a dream he had dreamt. He said, "Try to picture yourselves with me on a seashore, or better still, on a outlying cliff with no other land in sight. The vast expanse of water is covered with a formidable array of ships in battle formation, prows fitted with sharp spear-like beaks capable of breaking through any defense. All are headed toward one stately flagship, mightier than them all. As they try to close in, they try to ram it, set it on fire, and destroy it as much as possible. This stately vessel is shielded by a flotilla escort. Winds and waves are with the enemy. In the midst of this endless sea, two solid columns a short distance apart, soar high into the sky: one is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin with a rosary at whose feet a large inscription reads: Help of Christians; the other, far loftier and sturdier supports a (Communion) Host of proportionate size and bears beneath it the inscription Salvation of Believers." The saint continued explaining that the assault turned to the advantage of the aggressors, but the Pope, in white, on the bow of the great ship, summoned his commanders for a conference, but a furious storm broke out and they had to return to their ships. Standing at the helm the Pope strained every muscle to steer his ship between the two columns from whose summits hung many anchors and strong hooks linked to chains. At this point Don Bosco asked one of the priests present for his views. He replied that he thought that the flagship symbolized the Church headed by the Pope, with the ships representing mankind and the sea as an image of the world. The ships defending the flagship he equated with the laity and the attackers with those trying to destroy the Church, while the two columns represented devotion to Mary and the Eucharist.