Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime's Annual Strenne

Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime’s Annual Strenne

(ANS – Rome – Dec. 27, 2023) – On the day of the official presentation of the final strenna in Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime’s term of office, now that he has been a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church for a few months, ANS concludes its retrospective look at the strenne of Don Bosco and his ten successors so far. Therefore, if 2024 will open under the banner of the “Dream that makes you dream,” let us retrace together the journey in the almost 10 years that the Salesian Family has been under the guidance of Don Bosco’s 10th successor.

A Spaniard from Asturias, son of fishermen and planning a future as a doctor, Angel Fernandez Artime opted for the Salesian vocation after attending a high school run by the sons of Don Bosco. A Salesian since 1978, and a priest since 1987, he has held positions of responsibility since he was a young Salesian, as director of works and a member of the provincial council of the Leon, Spain. Already a 39-year-old provincial, he led the Leon Province from 2000 to 2006, and then the province of Southern Argentina, based in Buenos Aires, from 2010 to 2014.

In December 2013 he was appointed superior of the Seville Province, a position he never took up because on March 25, 2014, even before being installed as provincial, he was elected Rector Major by General Chapter 27 on the first ballot.

Confirmed in this position by General Chapter 28, he was named cardinal by Pope Francis at the end of the Angelus on July 9, 2023, and created a cardinal in the consistory of September 30.

With reference to the strenna, the current Rector Major has always considered it a constitutive element of the Salesian tradition – “a beautiful spiritual experience,” “a beautiful spiritual legacy,” he described it as early as 2014 – and a sign “of unity and communion” for the entire Salesian Family.

And this was the sense in which he proposed and shared it, aware that it “can help pastoral planning for branches and groups, ... but its purpose is not this, it is not to become a pastoral program for the year, but rather to be a creative message of unity and communion for our entire Salesian Family, in a common goal.”

In their formulations, the strenne of Don Bosco’s 10th successor have now made the short, concise message something stable, but one that is full of meaningful ideas, almost a condensation of key words around which to developed proposals and paths. In addition, the bipartite structure is almost always repeated, with two sentences that complement each other, one of which very often is a biblical or Salesian reference.

As for the contents, it is significant to note that, since the strenna is intended to be addressed to the entire Salesian Family, the Rector Major has often been able to count on the major superiors and world leaders of the different groups of the Salesian Family in his choice of messages, in the context of the annual appointment that is the Salesian Family consultative council.

And the themes have ranged from the most ecclesial – as shown by the strenne on family and holiness, proposed after Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortations Amoris Laetitia and Gaudete et Exsultate, to the most strictly Salesian ones.

In this 2d group, then, 2 other types can also be identified: strenne linked to the significant anniversaries recorded during his term of office – such as the bicentennials of the birth of Don Bosco (2015) and his dream at 9 years of age (2024), or the 4th centennial of the death of St. Francis de Sales (2022); and those linked to charismatic aspects, such as Salesian accompaniment or the “politics of the Our Father.”

Finally, attention to the world social scene has not been overlooked: the strenna about hope, which came after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, is a shining testimony.

Here are the 10 strenne of Fr. Angel Fernandez’s term of office:

2015: “Like Don Bosco, with the young, for the young.”

2016: “With Jesus, let us adventure in the Spirit together!.”

2017: “We are family! Every home, a school of life and love.”

2018: “‘Sir, give me this water’ (Jn 4:15). Let us cultivate the art of listening and of accompaniment.”

2019: “‘So that my joy may be in you’ (Jn 15:11). Holiness for you too.”

2020: “‘Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6:10). Good Christians and upright citizens.”

2021: “Moved by hope: ‘See, I am making all things new’ (Rev 21:5).”

2022: “Do all through love, nothing through constraint” (St. Francis de Sales).

2023: “‘Like yeast in today’s human family’: The lay dimension in the Family of Don Bosco.

2024: ‘The dream that makes you dream’: A heart that transforms ‘wolves’ into ‘lambs.’”

Here is Fr. Fernandez's commentary on Strenna 2024.