What history will never be able to tell, what it cannot possibly give to understand is his inner life, his continuous sacrifice – peaceful, gentle, invincible and heroic; his solicitude and his deep-seated love for us, his sons; the trust, esteem and veneration that he inspired in us; his great authority; the model of perfection that we beheld in him! Oh! History will hardly be capable of describing the gentle sweetness with which his word, his look, a single gesture of his was able to fill and console our hearts. Only those who saw him can know, only those who lived at his side.

Can. Giacinto Ballesio, spiritual son of St. John Bosco