In the month of his feast, a remarkable 110-year-old silent film of the funeral of Blessed Michael Rua, first successor of Don Bosco, has been restored by the Italian National Museum of Cinema the National Corporate Cinema Archive. The partnership has been entrusted with the Salesians' photographic archive, and the footage of the events of 6-9 April 1910 is one of the first fruits of their work.

The film takes the viewer from Don Rua's rooms, where he lies in state, to the crowds gathering in the courtyard to pay their last respects, and using well-chosen vantage points around the city, follows the impressive and moving funeral cortege through the streets of Valdocco and back to the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians.

Leading the procession, we see his successor as Rector Major, Fr Filippo Rinaldi in his vestments, next to Fr Giovani Battista Lemoyne, Secretary of the Superior Chapter, Salesian Councillors Fr Barberis, Fr Albera, Fr Cerruti, Fr Piscetta, Fr Francesia, and many other early Salesians.

The crowds attending included many of the boys the Salesians supported, and their past pupils, with people of all ages and walks of life, including Princess Letizia of Savoy, who is seen getting into her carriage with attendants as she leaves Valdocco.

The quality of the filming in this remarkable document made in the earliest decades of moving pictures, together with the enormous outpouring of respect we see, is a testament to the high esteem in which Don Rua and the Salesians were held.

We celebrate the feast of Blessed Michael Rua on 29 October.

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