D

:'''Damas Salesianas''':[ES] ''Salesian Women'' A member group of the Salesian Family; association of professional women (nursing, health care mostly, but not only). Could be left simply in its original Spanish form, but may be translated as Salesian Women :'''da mihi animas cetera tolle''':[LA] ''Give me souls, take away the rest'' Often left in its Latin form. DB's motto. Sometimes ''cetera'' is spelled with another variant: ''coetera''. There is an argument that ''cetera'' is the more original and better form to use :'''dare''':''debit'' (accounting) :'''dati di fatto''':''circumstances'' :'''DBN''':''Don Bosco Network'' :'''decreto''':''decree'' A decree carries with it a legal binding. The term is frequently found in ecclesial and Congregational contexts as well as in civil society. Decrees can be either of a public and 'group' nature, or may concern/be addressed to individuals under certain conditions :'''Decretum Approbationis Instituti''':[LA] ''Decree of Approval of the Institute'' :'''Decretum Approbationis Constitutionum''':[LA] Decree of Approval of the Constitutions :'''Decretum Laudi''':[L] ''Decree of Commendation'' Pontifical decree whereby a diocesan congregation is considered to have reached a point of development where it is granted to become a Congregation of Pontifical Right with all the consequences thereof :'''decuria''':''obs.'' ''roll book'' :'''Delegato Centrale per i Cooperatori''':''Central Delegate for Cooperators'' Salesian appointed at world level to look after the Salesian Cooperators :'''Delegato Cooperatori''':''Delegate for Cooperators'' A Salesian priest in the community who has responsibility for the Cooperators :'''Delegato Exallievi''':''Delegate for the Past Pupils (Alumni)'' Salesian (not necessarily a priest) responsible for Past Pupils in a community :'''delegazione''':''delegation'' As well as its usual meaning has special meaning of a juridical circumscription which is under a province or a vice province. Its leader is the Delegate not the Provincial :'''deliberazioni capitolari''':''Chapter deliberations'' These days it is clear enough that we distinguish deliberations of a Chapter from working guidelines. It was not always so. In the early Chapters of the Congregation, e.g. Chapters 1 and II, the number of deliberations were as many as 300-400. The 9th GC had the task of making some sense of and putting some order into this tendency, separating general deliberations which gave completeness to the Constitutions from those of a generally exhortative and optional nature :'''destinatario''':''ones for whom we work/to whom we are sent'' Difficult to translate as one word in English. Could also be as simple as ''our charges'' :'''devozione''':''devotion'' Note its history in Salesian terms - a favoured term of Francis de Sales with particular meaning, probably close to what today we would call apostolic charity :'''devozione a Maria Ausiliatrice''':''devotion to Mary Help of Christians'' A term with several variants: devotion to the Madonna, devotion to the Help of Christians, perhaps even the more general term Marian devotion from a Salesian perspective :'''diacono, Diaconus, D.''':''deacon'' The ecclesial meaning of the term can be sought elsewhere. Salesian documentation usually employs the term along with ''presbitero'' (priest) and ''chierico'' (cleric) to distinguish the nature or character of a kind of member (''socio''), e.g. in the Yearbook :'''dialogo interreligioso''':''inter-religious dialogue'' The term appears sometimes in English without the hyphen. It has become a technical post-Vatican II term (the word dialogue appeared in a magisterial document for the first time in 1964) for dialogue between Catholics/Christians and other major faith traditions :'''dimensione laicale''':''lay dimension'' The term appears to originate from GC21 in its discussion of the Salesian Brother. Cfcomments on ''Coadjutor'' elsewhere in this glossary. Synonyms are terms such as ''lay mentality'', ''lay vocation'' :'''di Sales, Francesco''':''Francis de Sales'' The term is originally French (François de Sales). Italian has Italianised the entire name. English does not alter the orthography for the surname, but Anglicises the Christian name :'''dicasteri della missione (salesiana)''':''Departments of the (Salesian) mission'' The term is a neologism arising out of GC26, deliberation 117, which decided to increase collaboration between three departments in particular: Youth Ministry, Social Communications, Missions. The Rector Major himself undertook to oversee this collaboration, and he also gave these 'departments of the mission' the task of working together for ''Progetto Europa'', Project Europe :'''dicastero''':''Department'' There is a distinction between a ''dicastero'' and a ''settore'' (sector), the latter being the wider term, currently, in Salesian jargon. Other matters below a department would be called areas. We do not use the Vatican English gloss, ''dicastery'' :'''dimensione sociale della carità''':''the social dimension of charity'' A term that gained prominence during GC23 :'''dimissione''':''dismissal'' A process by which a member is separated from the Congregation either according to law or by a decree of the Superior General. There are three kinds of dismissal according to Canon Law: ''ipso facto'' (automatic) Canon 694, ''obligatory'' Canon 695, ''according to the judgement of the Superior'' Canon 696 :'''dimissorie''':''dimissorials, dimissorial letters'' Letter from Bishop or Major Superior to ordaining Bishop of candidate for ordination, giving the go-ahead for the ordination :'''dinamismo''':''energy'' Note context however. It would rarely be translated as 'dynamism' :'''direttore''':''Rector, Director (US)'' The superior of the Salesian canonical community :'''direttore degli studi''':''Prefect of Studies'' :'''direttore spirituale''':''spiritual director'' In addition to the obvious meaning of the term, the capitalised version is applied to the priest who works with the DAMAS (cf. Asociación Damas Salesianas) :'''direttorio''':''directory'' This has a juridical meaning for Religious communities - directories are usually items such as Province Directory or Formation Directory, part of the common or particular law of the Congregation :'''direttorio generale''':''general directory'' :'''Direttorio Generale per la Catechesi''':''General Catechetical Directory'' Approved by Pope Paul VI April 11th 1971 and prepared by the Congregation for the Clergy. A second edition, updated, was approved by Pope John Paul II in 1997 :'''direttorio ispettoriale''':''provincial directory'' Not to be confused with the annual listing of confreres and houses (year book) the directory is a collection of norms applying basic Salesian law :'''direzione''':''administration'' In reference to, say, the Administration offices of a school, Salesian House and so forth. Cf. also ''direzione generale'' :'''Direzione Generale (Opere Don Bosco)''':''General Administration Works of Don Bosco'' The official title for the General House (Generalate) in Rome, often shortened to ''Direzione Generale'' :'''direzione spirituale''':''spiritual direction'' :'''diritto canonico''':''Canon Law'' It is worth noting that the revised Code (a term often used as a shorthand for the Code of Canon Law) was promulgated in 1983 and the revised Salesian Constitutions in 1984. The SDB Constitutions were regarded by the Church as a good example of how to draw benefit from the new Code's 'space' for developing the autonomous nature of a particular charism :'''diritto pontificio'':''(of) pontifical right'' A canonical term. An ''Institute of/by pontifical right'' is the complete term. Such an Institute is recognised by the Holy See as having a charism of universal value to the Church. In juridical terms it means the Institute does not depend on the Bishop or Episcopal Conference but on the Holy See :'''diritto proprio della Società''':''the Society's own (or proper) law'' The Congregation's own law is also known as the Rule of Life which comprises documentation indicated in C.191: General regulations, deliberations of General Chapters, General and Provincial Directories (including for example the Ratio), other decisions made by competent authorities :'''diritti umani (promozione di, protezione di...)''':''human rights'' The term is especially meaningful as one of the contexts of evangelisation today, and a challenge to faith. Other similar challenges are: ecology, the earth as God's gift, solidarity and poverty, work, the movement of peoples, the new world order - economic order, family and life. The term has become even more important in the light of the 2008 Strenna which leads us to consider associated terms like human rights promotion and human rights protection :'''disagio''':''hardship'' :'''discepolo di Cristo''':''disciple of Christ'' With a number of variants (disciple of Jesus, of the Lord, authentic disciple of the Good Shepherd), this term was common enough in the language of Fr Viganò (e.g. writing to confreres in 1979 about religious discipline) :'''discernimento (vocazionale)''':''vocational discernment'' The term ''vocational discernment'' is used in two contexts - in the general context of spiritual discernment for any young person discerning his or her way of life, and in the particular context of admission to religious Life or the early stages of that life towards final profession or towards priesthood :'''disciplina religiosa''':''religious discipline'' A term that needs to be tied to the word disciple. Our sense of religious discipline is to be disciples of the Lord and of Don Bosco :'''discoli, dissipati, e buoni''':''the unruly, the frivolous and the good'' A general categorisation of young people left us by DB. 'Juvenile delinquent' is possibly the best term for 'giovani discoli' :'''disordini ''':''abuses'' :'''dispensa''':''dispensation'' Dispensation is a canonical term. It is an act by which authority, under certain conditions, exonerates a person from the obligation of observing a norm or precept. E.g. dispensation of a person from private vows. There is dispensation from priestly celibacy, from vows (temporary or perpetual) from diaconate :'''dispensario''':''clinic'' This is often a 'false friend' trap, rendered too often as 'dispensary' :'''Divina Provvidenza''':''Divine Providence'' :'''docile''':''well-behaved, obedient...'' Beware, 'false friend', ''docile'' :'''dolcezza''':''kindness'' Avoid the tendency to gloss this term as ''sweetness''. It could be that, but the latter term is too saccharine in contemporary society. Usually it refers to an attitude of kindness, goodness, pleasantness or, in religious terms, Christian charity :'''Don''':''Fr, Father'' Don Bosco preferred 'don' as a personal reference ('sac.' or sacerdote is what he used in correspondence to sign off). The choice of ''don'' over ''padre'' is linked to the distinction in Italy between diocesan clergy who use ''don'' and religious priests who use ''padre''. Italian often writes the term in lower case as ''don Bosco'' :'''Don Bosco''':''Don Bosco'' Simply and always known as Don Bosco (cf. Don above), the universal Church applies other titles: Father and teacher of youth, Founder of the Society of St Francis De Sales and, with St Mary Domenica Mazzarello, the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the Salesian Cooperators :'''Don Bosco Educatore''':''Don Bosco, Educator'' Title of a critical work by Fr Peter Braido on primary Salesian texts :'''Don Bosco International''':''Don Bosco International'' The public face of the Salesian Congregation to the EU :'''Don Bosco Network DBN''':''Don Bosco Network DBN'' Not translated into Italian. Umbrella organization of European Salesian NGO's with EU recognition :'''dottore''':''Doctor'' (but cf. comment below) Medically a ''dottore'' is a doctor. But in Salesian (and in Scriptural!) terminology we may meet it in an educational context. On a professional level there is a wide difference between the use of ''dottore'' in Italian and ''Doctor'' in English. In English a Doctor is one who has attained the Ph.D. In Italian anyone who has earned his ''laurea'' (college degree) is ''dottore''. Heads of office departments may be called ''dottore''. It is also a mark of respect for addressing individuals who may not be doctors, medically nor academically :'''dovere''':''duty'' Often in the plural in both languages (doveri, duties) the term is frequent in Don Bosco's usage. The title of ''Il Giovane Provveduto'' continued on to say ''per la practica dei suoi doveri''. This was a very practical manual of piety, then