Don Bosco
1874 – 1888
Rector Major
Organisation of the Salesian Congregation
The Rector Major of the Salesian Congregation
Michele RUA
1888 – 1910
Paolo ALBERA
1910 – 1921
Filippo RINALDI
1922 – 1931
Pietro RICALDONE
1932 – 1951
Renato ZIGGIOTTI
1952 – 1965
Luigi RICCERI
1965 – 1977
Egidio VIGANÒ
1977 – 1995
Juan VECCHI
1995 – 2002
Pascual CHÁVEZ
2002 – 2014
Ángel ARTIME
2014 – 2024
Fabio ATTARD
2025 onwards
The Rector Major is the superior of the Salesian Congregation, founded by Don Bosco in 1859. He is the point of reference for all Salesians throughout the world, called to carry forward the educational and pastoral mission among the young, especially the most needy.
Who he is and how he is elected
The Rector Major is elected by the General Chapter, the assembly that brings together the representatives of all the Salesian provinces of the world. The Chapter takes place every six years and is the most important moment in the life of the Congregation: it takes stock of the mission, updates priorities and elects the new leader. The mandate of the Rector Major lasts six years and is renewable once only.
The Congregation regards him as the successor of Don Bosco and, for this reason, the Salesians also call him "father": it is not a formal title, but it expresses the kind of relationship that is meant to be built up within the Salesian Family.
What he does
The principal task of the Rector Major is to animate and guide the Congregation, holding together a very vast reality: today the Salesians are present in more than a hundred countries, with thousands of educational works, parishes, youth centres, schools and missions.
Concretely, the Rector Major has the responsibility to:
– guide the Congregation in fidelity to the charism of Don Bosco, adapting it to the contexts of today’s world;
– visit the Salesian provinces throughout the world, to know at close hand the life of the communities and of the young;
– preside over the General Council, the governing body that assists him in ordinary decisions;
– represent the Congregation in relations with the Holy See and with international institutions;
– send letters and communications periodically to all the Salesians, in order to offer spiritual and pastoral guidelines.
A style of governance
Don Bosco did not build a rigid institution, but a family. This spirit also influences the way in which the Rector Major exercises his role: more than an administrator, he is called to be an educator and a father, capable of listening, encouraging and motivating.
The Salesian Constitutions describe the Rector Major as the one who must keep alive the "loving-kindness" typical of Don Bosco’s method: that capacity for being close to people, for believing in the young, for building relationships of trust.
The Rector Major today
At present the Congregation is led by Father Fabio ATTARD, elected in 2025.
The figure of the Rector Major thus continues to embody, in the present time, Don Bosco’s simple and concrete style: close to the young, rooted in the Gospel, attentive to the signs of the world.
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