Blessed Artemides Zatti, religious

Blessed Artemides Zatti, religious

November 14 will be the obligatory memorial in the U.S. of the first Salesian brother to be “raised to the honors of the altar” as a “blessed.”

By Bishop Enrico dal Covolo, SDB, and Father Giorgio Mocci, SDB*

Artemides Zatti was born at Boretto in the province of Reggio Emilia, Italy, on October 12, 1880. His parents, Louis and Albina Vecchi Zatti, were farmers. [One of Bro. Zatti’s nephews, Fr. Juan Edmundo Vecchi, was rector major in 1996-2002.] From his earliest years Artemides was accustomed to work and sacrifice. At age nine he was already working as a day laborer.

Driven by poverty, in 1897 the Zatti family emigrated to Argentina and settled in Bahia Blanca. There Artemides began to attend Mass at the Salesian parish and to assist the pastor, Fr. Charles Cavalli, with whom he soon shared both work and prayer.

He felt the desire to become a Salesian and was accepted as an aspirant by Bishop John Cagliero, SDB, vicar apostolic. Already 20 years old, he entered the house at Bernal. He began to study diligently in order to make up for the years he’d lost. Providence entrusted to him the task of caring for a young priest who was suffering from tuberculosis; he died in 1902.

The day on which Artemides was to be vested with the cassock, he too contracted TB. He returned home, and Fr. Cavalli sent him to the missionary hospital at Viedma. Fr. Evasio Garrone, SDB, bolstered by experience he’d picked up in the army, ran the hospital. The two of them, Fr. Garrone and Artemides, asked for and obtained from Mary Help of Christians the grace of a cure. The young man promised that he would dedicate his life to caring for the sick.

He was healed and kept his promise. First he began to work in the pharmacy attached to the hospital, where he learned Fr. Garrone’s logic: only those who could, paid. When the priest died in 1911, the full responsibility became Zatti’s.

In 1908 Bro. Artemides made his perpetual profession. He dedicated himself completely to his patients. People sought him out and esteemed him. For the hospital’s professional personnel he was not only the best of administrators, but he was above all an exemplary Christian.

This is how someone described his day: “Up at 4:30. Meditation and Mass. Visit all the wards. Then he took his bicycle to visit the sick around the city. After lunch, he played an enthusiastic game of bocce with convalescing patients. From 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., more visits to the sick both in and out of the hospital. Until 8:00 p.m. he worked in the pharmacy. Then another tour of the wards. Until 11:00 he studied medicine, and finally, some spiritual reading. Then some rest, but always available to anyone who might call.”

Bro. Zatti in his pharmacy (www.sdb.org)

He attained certification as a pharmacist. In 1913 he led the construction of a new hospital that was subsequently demolished, to his displeasure. Not discouraged, he built another. Like Don Bosco, he made Divine Providence the first, sure line of the budget for the works entrusted to him. Mary Help of Christians never abandoned him. When Don Bosco dreamt of his Salesian coadjutor brothers, he certainly wanted them to become saints like Artemides.

In 1950 he fell from a ladder and was forced to rest. Several months later, symptoms of cancer showed up. He passed away on March 15, 1951. His body reposes in the Salesian chapel at Viedma.

Bro. Artemides Zatti was declared Venerable on July 7, 1997, and beatified by St. John Paul II on April 14, 2002. [His memorial is observed in the Salesian Family on November 13 except in the U.S., where it is superseded by the memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, mother of immigrants, friend of New York City’s Salesians, and first U.S. citizen to be canonized.]

*Santi nella Famiglia Salesiana, 2d ed. (Turin: LDC, 2009), pp. 46-47. Translated by Fr. Mike Mendl.