Salesians of Don Bosco

Society of Saint Francis de Sales

Societas Sancti Francisci Salesii
Coat of arms
Abbreviation	SDB
Nickname	Salesians of Don Bosco
Formation	December 18, 1859; 165 years ago (December 18, 1859)
Founder	John Bosco
Founded at	Valdocco, Turin
Type	Clerical Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right
Headquarters	Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio Rome, Italy
Membership	14,614 (128 bishops, 14,056 priests and 430 novices) (2022)
Rector Major of the Salesians	Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB
Vicar of the Rector Major	Francesco Cereda, SDB
Website	sdb.org/en

The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (Latin: Societas Sancti Francisci Salesii), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youngsters during the Industrial Revolution. The congregation was named after Francis de Sales, a 17th-century bishop of Geneva.

The Salesians' charter describes the society's mission as "the Christian perfection of its associates obtained by the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity towards the young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood".^[1] Its associated women's institute is the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, while the lay movement is the Association of Salesian Cooperators.