Saint John Bosco Medal Necklace - The Priest and His Mysterious Dog Grigio

About Saint John Bosco and Grigio

In 1854, a large grey dog began appearing beside John Bosco on his night walks through the dangerous streets of Turin. Bosco was a young priest running an oratory for street boys and abandoned youth in one of the roughest neighborhoods in northern Italy. The threats against his life were real and documented - on at least two occasions attackers attempted to kill him. Both times the dog appeared from nowhere, placed itself between Bosco and the danger, and then vanished once the threat had passed.

Bosco called the dog Grigio - Italian for grey. His mother witnessed Grigio on multiple occasions. The dog appeared intermittently for thirty years, which is biologically impossible for a single animal. When asked what he believed Grigio was, Bosco said he thought God had sent him. Some accounts record him saying he believed it was his guardian angel.

He was canonized in 1934. He is the patron saint of youth, students, and editors. His Oratory in Turin at its peak housed 800 boys who had nowhere else to go. He spent his entire priestly life - from his ordination in 1841 until his death in 1888 - building schools, workshops, and shelters for young people society had discarded.

Grigio was with him for most of it.

Saint John Bosco's feast day is January 31. He died that morning in 1888 at age 72, after telling the boys around his bed: "Tell your friends I'll be waiting for them in heaven." Grigio had not been seen for years by then. He was not needed anymore.

The Saint John Bosco Medal

This medal depicts John Bosco in his clerical dress, haloed, with Grigio lying at his feet in a protective posture. The dog occupies the lower half of the medal, alert and facing outward. The natural gold or silver of the metal forms the illustration itself - black ink is applied to the pendant surface and the metal shows through as the image. A shatterproof liquid glass coating seals the surface.

There is no other John Bosco medal on the market that depicts Grigio. If you know the story, you will recognize immediately why he belongs here.

Personalization and Engraving

The optional engraving on the reverse is rendered in Tangerine cursive. Two lines, up to 20 characters each. Popular engravings include a name, a date, or one of Bosco's most quoted lines. "Do your best" fits on a single line. For a gift to a student or young person, most people engrave their name and the year.