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In 1907, the Sacred Congregation of Rites set the seal on Don Bosco's Sanctity by declaring that his Cause of Beatification could be introduced. Accordingly by a Decree of his Holiness the late Pope Pius X, dated July 24, 1907, the Servant of God, Don Giovanni Bosco, the Apostle of Youth, was declared Venerable.

From that day the fame of his sanctity took on a wonderful augmentation. There was universal rejoicing over the exaltation of one so beloved and venerated, not only in the Societies he had founded but where ever his name was known.

"The welcome news of the introduction of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of our holy Founder," records the Salesian Bulletin, "passed round the globe as a message of joy. At Turin the initiative was taken by the "Circle" of Past-pupils, the Don Bosco Club, who organized, September 29, on a large scale, a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Venerable, at Val Salice, on the outskirts of the city. The spacious courtyard of the Missionary Seminary presented a magnificent picture, the porticoes lending themselves to a wealth of artistic decoration; the central arches in front of the tomb were handsomely draped, the terrace above bearing thirty banners representing