Page:Don-bosco-pine.djvu/231



It was under the saintly Superior-General Don Rua that the first Salesian band of missionaries was organized for the United States. The late Archbishop Riordan had appealed to Don Rua for priests to minister to the needs of the constantly growing numbers of Italians in his archdiocese of San Francisco, California; and on March 11, 1897, the Society of St. Francis of Sales was introduced into the city of the Golden Gate by the Rev. R. M. Piperni and his associates, who received charge of the Church of SS. Peter and Paul. The next year an Irish Salesian, the Rev. B. C. Redahan, was sent to assist them in their increasing field of labor. The Archbishop soon realized that another church was necessary in the southern portion of San Francisco; accordingly the Church of Corpus Christi was erected and intrusted to the Sons of Don Bosco, the Rev. Father Cassini being its first rector. In 1902 His Grace, deeply appreciative of the good wrought by the Salesian Fathers, petitioned the Superior-General for another band. Accordingly, Don Rua placed the Reverend Fathers Bergeretti and Pavan at the disposal of the Archbishop, who gave them charge of St. Joseph's Church in the Portuguese