These life-changing story was taken from the wonderful book Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco, a compilation of stories from his memoirs, and retold in the new profoundly Catholic pro-life book, God Moments III: True Love Leads to Life. Please share the story with others, either by retelling it, or by sharing the link to the story in the book. The free PDF of the book in English is can be downloaded here: God Moments III
For 60 years, St. John Bosco had many vision-like dreams that foretold the extraordinary mission God had for him, and also guided him as it came to fruition. Fr. Bosco shared the dreams with his boys. Sometimes the youths faced tremendous challenges, and in other dreams the state of their souls were revealed. The remarkable dreams/visions continue to provide us in the modern era with important lessons and insights as we grow in sanctity and fulfill our purposes in life.
One particular dream had two parts, the Snake and the Rosary, and the Anvil and the Hammer. In it, St. John Bosco “received yet another proof of the devil’s unceasing, devastating attacks against souls and of the need to repel him constantly and free his victims.” 1
The Snake and the Rosary
In the first part of the dream, Fr. Bosco and his boys were at his brother’s house in Italy. As the boys played, a stranger came up to him and asked the priest to accompany him. They arrived at a meadow alongside the playground, where the stranger pointed to a huge and ugly snake that was coiled in the grass. The snake was over 20 feet long.
Fr. Bosco was afraid and wanted to flee, but the stranger restrained him and said, “Get closer and take a good look.” He balked of course, but the stranger told him not to be afraid. He told Fr. Bosco to stay where he was and went to get a rope.The strange man asked Fr. Bosco to take one end of the rope and grip it tightly in both of his hands. The stranger held the other end, and together they dangled it over the snake. Fr. Bosco replied, “You must be crazy; the snake will leap up and tear us to pieces.”
The stranger assured him all would be well, and again Fr. Bosco attempted to flee. However, the stranger assured him that there was nothing to fear because the snake would not harm him. His argument was so convincing, that Fr. Bosco remained and agreed to do as he said.
The stranger then went to the other side of the “monster.” They stretched the rope and snapped it across the back of the snake. It immediately sprang up and struck at the rope, but in doing so ensnared itself as if in a noose.
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The stranger yelled to Fr. Bosco to hold on and not let go, then ran to a pear tree nearby and tied his end of the rope to it. Next he went to Fr. Bosco and tied his end of the rope to the iron grating of a window in a house.Fr. Bosco watched as the snake struggled with rage to free itself. Instead, it tore itself to pieces and scattered its flesh all over the area. Eventually it slashed itself against the rope until it was just a skeleton.
Then the most incredible thing happened. The stranger untied the rope and coiled it up, and as he placed it in a box, told Fr. Bosco to watch carefully. He closed the box, and by that time, the boys from the Oratory had gathered around him. They all watched as the stranger opened the box. The rope was shaped into the words Ave Maria, or “Hail Mary.”
Fr. Bosco asked the stranger how that happened. He explained that the snake is a symbol of the devil, and the rope represents the Rosary, a succession of Hail Marys with which we can strike, conquer, and destroy all of hell’s demons.
Fr. Bosco concluded that first part of the dream by telling his boys that he would leave the second part of the dream for the next night. That dream, named The Anvil and the Hammer, is described in the next story.
The Anvil and the Hammer 2
The many significant dreams St. John Bosco had throughout his lifetime began when he was a child and continued for 60 years. God spoke to him and through him then, and is speaking to us now through those dreams. Some of them are parables, others are prophetic, and others are instructional. They involved nations, the Salesian congregation, missions, the Oratory, and the Oratory boys.
St. John Bosco usually had a guide and interpreter in the dreams. Sometimes he was able to see the state of the Oratory boys’ consciences, which he considered to be an extraordinary grace that was granted for the benefit of their eternal salvation.
He shared his dreams with the children, and residents eagerly anticipated news of a new one. The dreams contained clear and exact revelations, and the Oratory boys witnessed many of the events come to pass.
Fr. Bosco was said to have narrated his dreams humbly, always with the spiritual benefit of his listeners his primary concern. The sharing of the dreams led to a greater horror for sin, better and more frequent Confessions, and more frequent Communion. He referred to the dreams as “The
Devil’s Bankruptcy.” 3
In the second part of the dream involving the snake and the Rosary, Fr. Bosco turned around as he was talking to the stranger about the symbolism of the snake and the rope. After the snake had torn itself to pieces, the flesh of the snake was scattered on the ground, and Fr. Bosco saw boys picking up pieces of snake meat and eating them. As soon as they swallowed some of the snake, they crumpled to the ground, their bodies swelled, and then they turned as hard as stone.
To Fr. Bosco’s horror, more and more boys kept eating the meat!
Fr. Bosco shouted at them and tried to physically restrain them from eating the meat, but he was unable to stop them. Each time a boy fell to the ground, another precious boy took his place. Fr. Bosco called to some clerics to come help him stop the boys from eating the snake meat, but some of them began to eat it too! They fell to the ground like the others.
Fr. Bosco recalled that he was nearly out of his mind at seeing so many of his boys lying in that terrible state. He asked the stranger why the boys ate the meat when they knew it would kill them.
“Because ‘the sensual man does not perceive the things that are of God.’ That’s why!” was his reply. 4
Fr. Bosco asked if there were some way to save the boys.
“Yes,” he was told. “There is a way to save them. Anvil and hammer.”
Anvil and hammer, to put the boys back in shape. The stranger explained that the anvil and hammer are symbols for Holy Communion and Confession. He was clear: “These are the remedies you must use.”
So Fr. Bosco “went to work” and found that the prescribed treatment was very effective. Although most of the boys who ate the snake meat were restored to life and recovered, there were a few that did not.
Why? Because they made bad Confessions.
At the end of the story, a historian explained that the boys’ disobedience, collapsing, swelling up, and the hardening of their bodies signified pride, obstinacy, and love of sin.
Furthermore, “The prayers and sacrifices of the just must first ask that God’s grace warm hardened hearts and soften them, so that the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist may exercise their divine efficacy... thus, the hammer’s blows and the anvil’s support bring about the cure of an ulcer-ridden but now docile heart. As the sparks fly, the heart is reconditioned.” 5
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Sources:
1. From The Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco, compiled and edited by Fr. J.
Bacchiarello, S.D.B., Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco (Rockford, IL: Tan Books
and Publishers, 1996), p. 108.
2. Ibid, p. xii.
3. Ibid, p. 112.
4. Ibid, pp. 112–113.
5. Ibid.
Images, with the exception of the one directly above, were taken at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church, Sterling Heights, Michigan, U.S.A., in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
God is at work in you and through you!
THANK YOU.