At La Spezia, a New Picture of Salesian Holiness

At La Spezia, a New Picture of Salesian Holiness

(ANS – La Spezia, Italy – March 7, 2023) – The Salesian Family of La Spezia on the coast of Liguria offered to the whole community two formative days centered on the Eucharist and Salesian holiness. On Saturday, February 25, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, postulator general for the causes of saints for the Salesian Family, was invited for a meeting on the theme: “The Eucharist and Mary Help of Christians.”

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration on Sunday the 26th, Fr. Cameroni presented and blessed a canvas depicting several Salesian saints, in particular those linked to Liguria: St. Dominic Savio, St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello, Blesseds Michael Rua and Philip Rinaldi, who consolidated the growth of the Salesian presence in Liguria; Blessed August Czartoryski, who was ordained a priest in San Remo and ended his short life in Alassio; Blessed Laura Vicuña, Blessed Cefirino Namuncurá, the Venerable Stephen Ferrando, a native of Rossiglione, missionary and founder in Northeast India, who died in Genoa-Quarto, and the Servant of God Vera Grita, Salesian Cooperator, who lived in Savona. These are young people, religious, and a teacher belonging to the ranks of the “small and poor souls” whom St. John Paul II recalled in his apostolic letter Divini amoris scientia.

The joyful union of these figures confirms the strength and effectiveness of working together, inspired by the Gospel and the method of the Good Shepherd in the style of Don Bosco.

In the background of the painting, the courtyard of the Oratory at Valdocco and the church of La Spezia can be glimpsed, as holiness is an objective within reach of each of us and can be achieved only by creating positive relationships. The artist who painted the painting, Luca Pontassuglia, recalled, quoting Paul Klee, that “art reveals what is invisible to the eyes, but makes visible what is not always so.” This depiction is intended to inspire in those who contemplate it a path of spiritual growth within their own community.