San Jose, Costa Rica – In this old black and white photograph, the date of which is not precisely specified, we can see the facade of the Church of Mary Help of Christians in the city of San Jose, Costa Rica. In the image, published on the Flickr profile of the Salesian Bulletin of Central America, some worshippers can be seen just outside the church. Moreover, as it was taken from the outside, it also gives an overview of how the neighbourhood looked at the time.

Tokyo, Japan – In this old photograph we see a scene from everyday life at the Salesian Vocational School in Tokyo, where a teacher follows the learning of a pupil sitting at the linotype, a machine for composing lines of text in lead for subsequent printing. In 1935, the first printing and sewing courses were also established at this technical school. The Salesians arrived in Japan in 1926, settling in the facilities left by the missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions: Miyazaki, Oita and Nakatsu. They immediately began pastoral work and set up schools and vocational training centres.

Porto, Portugal – 1953 – In 1953, the then Rector Major, Fr Renato Ziggiotti, visited the Province of Portugal and, during his stop in the city of Porto, blessed a new printing press in the printing works at Orphans College. The moment is immortalised in this black and white shot, published by Portugal’s Salesian Bulletin.