2023-05-06 07:01:00
May 6, 2023 / 12:01 a.m.
Every May 6th the Catholic Church celebrates Saint Dominic Savio (Domenico Savio), the little disciple of Saint John Bosco in the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales.
Dominic, given his spiritual maturity, was a precocious saint; the only one who, without having suffered martyrdom, has reached the altars with only fourteen years.
“I want to be a saint!” he exclaimed every time he had a good opportunity to strive. This was his joyful way of addressing God, lovingly offering him every moment of his life.
This young Italian is the patron saint of children who are part of church choirs, and of all those who participate in the ministry of music. He is also one of pregnant women, by virtue of a commission received from the Virgin Mary and that he fulfilled with the patronage of his preceptor, Saint John Bosco.
The Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales and the Company of Mary
Dominic Savio was born in San Giovanni da Riva, Piedmont (Italy), in 1842. From a very young age he felt called to the priesthood and, as soon as he met Don Bosco, in October 1854, he asked him to enter the Oratory of San Francisco de Sales in Turin. .
There he organized the “Company of the Immaculate”, for which he wrote a “regulation” that San Juan Bosco would only slightly modify.
Together with his companions in the Company, he attended the sacraments, prayed the Rosary, helped with household chores, and took care of the most difficult children. He was one of those who always kept a happy spirit; a child like any other, who liked to play and study, but who had a unique interior disposition: he wanted to make things easy for Jesus, avoiding anything that could tarnish the friendship he had with Him.
Don Bosco
The first biographer of Saint Dominic Savio was Saint John Bosco himself. The founder of the Salesians wanted to keep in writing the instructive and love-filled life of little Dominic. It is even said that after having finished it, he reread it with some frequency. And every time he did, tears would end up rolling down his cheeks.
In that Vita (biography), entitled Life of the young Dominic Savio, student of the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales (1859), Don Bosco not only recounted those passages in Dominic’s life that revealed his maturity for the things of God, but also those moments in which those who played jokes with friends or made smiles.
The images that would remain forever in the memory of the priest were also captured, such as the several occasions in which he saw Domingo enraptured after receiving the Eucharist or kneeling in prayer in the chapel.
In the Life of Giovanetto Savio Domenico a singular episode is described. One day, Don Bosco found Dominic in the church choir:
«I go to see, and I find Domingo who spoke and then was silent, as if he gave rise to an answer; among other things I clearly understood these words: “Yes, my God, I have told you and I will repeat it again: I love you and I want to continue loving you until death. If you see that I am going to offend you, send me death; yes, rather die than sin.” When Don Bosco asked him what he was doing at those moments, Dominic replied: “It’s just that sometimes such distractions assail me that make me lose the thread of my prayer, and it seems to me that I see such beautiful things that the hours go by in an instant.” ”».
Intercessor of women in a state of good hope
During the investigation process carried out for his canonization, Domingo’s sister, Teresa, narrated that once the little saint appeared before Don Bosco and asked permission to go to his family’s house. Don Bosco asked her reason and the young man replied: “My mother is very delicate and the Virgin wants to heal her.”
Then, the priest asked him who had sent him such news, to which Domingo replied that no one, but that he knew for sure. Don Bosco, who already knew about the boy’s surprising gifts, granted him permission and gave him money for the trip.
On September 12, 1856, when the boy came to see his mother in Mondonio, he realized that she was pregnant, but that she was in severe pain. Immediately afterwards, Domingo hugged her tightly, kissed her and sat next to her to listen to her. Her mother asked her to go immediately with some neighbors. Domingo, of course, obeyed.
After a while the doctor arrived and after examining her he saw that the woman was recovered and looked healthy. While the doctor and some neighbors were preparing everything for her mother to give birth, a green ribbon was uncovered around the woman’s neck, attached to a folded silk and sewn like a scapular.
It was the present that Domingo had given him as a sign that the Virgin would be his company. Without major setbacks, that day his sister Catalina was born.
Later, Domingo would ask his mother to keep the scapular and to lend it to the women of the town whenever they needed it. So it was done; and many of them obtained particular graces for having put on the scapular of the Virgin.
“I would rather die than sin” (D. Savio)
Not many days passed until Dominic Savio began his return to the Salesian oratory. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be there for much longer. His health broke down to the point that the doctors were convinced that he would not survive. He apparently was developing pneumonia.
Savio had to say goodbye to Don Bosco and his companions and return to his home in Mondonio. Before he died, with his last breath, he managed to say: “What a beautiful thing I see!”
Saint Dominic Savio left for the Father’s House on March 9, 1857, at the age of fourteen.
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