The Rector of the Salesian work, Fr Sergio Huerta, welcomed everyone and invited to the memory that, as he said, "leads us to gratitude and commitment to young people, today as in the past."

After showing a video that illustrated the history and the present of the Salesian work, Fr Fernando García, the "St. James the Greater" Provincial (SSM), took the floor to recall his own origins in this Salesian house, having been a student at the school and a boy of this same oratory. He emotionally recalled his time at the center, especially the weekends, "made of Masses, cinema and sports" and stressed the popular style of the work, which he called "a Valdocco of Madrid". The Provincial encouraged to continue to cultivate the encounter with Jesus, to look back with gratitude, but also to look resolutely toward the future. He recalled that celebrating a centennial is a time to give thanks and "to heal the wounds, to live with gratitude for the future."

A group of young people then performed some songs, which gave way to the intervention of the Rector Major, who expressed his joy to be in this Salesian work, with this grassroots character, open to the neighborhood, and acknowledged that in these years a very beautiful path has been made. The 10th Successor of Don Bosco declared that "it is worthwhile to go forward, to continue to be another Valdocco." Referring to the years of work in favor of young people in this Salesian house, he noted that "here in this house, it continues to become a reality showing that the world can be better, that there are possible oases for young people, in which they are prepared for life."

Once the ceremony was over, the Rector Major went around the courtyard, surrounded by children and young people with balloons, to inaugurate a photographic exhibition on the history of the work. Afterwards, in the church, now a parish church, dedicated to St. Francis de Sales, Fr Á.F. Artime presided over the Eucharist, surrounded by hundreds of members of the Salesian Family.

Under the second-largest dome in Madrid, Don Bosco's Successor spoke of the miracles that happen every day, "those miracles that change a person's life." He then stated that "in these one hundred years of life, in this Salesian house, there will have been a cascade of miracles."

The Salesian work in the Tetuán neighborhood of Madrid began in 1922 on land donated by Doña Milagros Hurtado, and began with an activity typical of the Sons of Don Bosco: the festive oratory. Shortly thereafter, schools for the working-class began, promoted by Fr Antonio Torm, the first Rector and founder of the Salesian house.

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