Saints Are the Best Witnesses
of Don Bosco
in the World and in History
(ANS – Rome – February 7) –
Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, postulator general for the Causes of Saints of the
Salesian Family, explains his peculiar mission thus: “A cause of beatification is not an arid
procedure, but a pilgrimage of faith in research, meditation, and imitation of
the virtuous heroism of the saints.”
Fr. Cameroni recently published a dossier on the current state of
Salesian sanctity, up to December 2017. It contains very interesting data on
the witness of many men and women who followed Don Bosco on the path of holiness.
It also presents an invitation for the whole Salesian Family to advance the
causes that are in progress.
To date, the Salesian Family boasts 9 saints, 118 blesseds, 16
venerables, and 26 servants of God. Five causes are now being followed actively.
In this ample harvest of sanctity, it is possible to identify many
various dimensions of holiness: youthful (Dominic Savio, Laura Vicuña, Ceferino
Namuncurá), missionary (Maria Troncatti, Stephen Ferrando, Francis Convertini,
Constantine Vendrame, Orestes Marengo, et al.), altruistic (Andrew Beltrami,
August Czartoryski, Louis Variara, Eusebia Palomino, Alexandrina Maria da Costa,
et al.), vocational (Stephen Sandor and the new blessed Titus Zeman), episcopal
(Louis Versiglia, Louis Olivares, August Hlond, Octavio Ortiz Arrieta), and
others, including Salesian soldiers and Salesian men and women of science.
Faced with the grace of many similar witnesses
present in the Salesian Family, Fr. Cameroni invited all members of the various
Salesian groups to do their part. “One thing that makes us think is that the
last canonization of the Salesian Family promoted by our own postulation office
is that of St. Dominic Savio (June 12, 1954), more than 63 years ago! The
canonization of the martyrs St. Louis Versiglia and St. Callistus Caravario
received dispensation from the miracle granted by Pope John Paul II.
Responsible for the cause is not only the postulator, or some individual
devotees. The ecclesial communities in the various components involved
(dioceses, parishes, congregations, associations, groups, etc.) also need to express
interest, enthusiasm, and participation.”
In order to cultivate and appropriately enhance this patrimony of
holiness, the postulator announced the 2nd Seminar for the promotion of the
causes of beatification and canonization in the Salesian Family, to be held
April 10-14, 2018, in Rome.
The complete report on the sanctity of the Salesian
Family is available, in various languages, on the
sdb.org site.
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