"The Life of Dominic Savio" has often been called Don Bosco's best work. The original Italian was considered so well written in the author's own day that, along with his History of Italy and Ecclesiastical History, it was used in many public schools "to train youngsters in a pure and neat Italian style," as one school official expressed it. Its style is indeed "pure and neat," restrained, down to earth in its grasp of a difficult theme, unadorned by the flowery rhetoric and syrupy sentiment that spoiled many a good biography of those years.
However, the success of the booklet is to be found first in the striking personality of the subject and secondly in the author's keep penetration of his boyhood holiness. Being the lad's confessor, Don Bosco was able to probe the boy's soul to its depths; as an experienced educator he could analyze the inner workings of his mind and heart. Besides this, there was such a bond of sympathy linking both author and subject in a common holiness that the reader is forced to admit, "This is the life of a saint written by a saint!"
Published by Salesiana Publishers - New Rochelle, New York