Monday, May 6, 2019

Homily for Feast of St. Dominic Savio

Homily for the Feast of
St. Dominic Savio

May 6, 2019
Don Bosco Cristo Rey, Takoma Park, Md.

Altho Dominic's dies natalis is March 9, the Salesian Family celebrates his feast on May 6 since March 9 always falls during Lent.
One of the most traditional images of Dominic Savio.
There are no sketches of him from life.
Dominic is one of the young saints highlighted by Pope Francis in Christus vivit (n. 56).  The Holy Father cites Don Bosco’s guidance of him.  He was wise enuf to seek a sure guide and to obey that guide even when Don Bosco’s guidance ran counter to his own instincts, and even tho there were times when Don Bosco was completely mystified by the boy’s spiritual gifts.

The Holy Father also cites Dominic’s last words:  “Oh! I’ve never seen anything so lovely!”[1]  We don’t know what he saw, obviously, but we may guess it was heaven opening up before him as he made his passage from Mondonio to eternity.  The youngster prepared for that passage and its lovely vision all his life by keeping his eyes focused on his friends Jesus and Mary, on fulfilling his duties, on being of service to his companions in Don Bosco’s house.

We don’t have to be adolescents to learn from the precocious wisdom of this boy whom Pius XII called “a giant of sanctity.”


[1] “Oh! che bella cosa io vedo mai,” according to DB’s biography in Fonti salesiane (Rome: LAS, 2014), 1:1082.

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