Saturday, March 10, Second Week of Lent
Extreme right, Don Bosco's biography of the young Domenico.
ST. DOMENICO [Dominic] SAVIO (Italy, 1842-1857), Confessor, Patron of Choirboys
One of the youngest saints who was not a martyr, the sickly boy with pleurisy became a student of John
Bosco at his Oratory in Turin when he was 12, after a childhood already remarkable for his intense prayer
life, having learned to serve Mass at age 5. He often became lost to the world in prayer and afterwards
would describe visions, including one about a papal reconversion of England to Catholicism [antedating
Anglicanorum coetibus by 150 years!]. Don Bosco tempered the boy's zeal by teaching him 'the heroism
of the ordinary and the sanctity of common sense'. As his disease worsened and the end appeared near,
he was sent home to his family. His dying words were: "Oh, what wonderful things I see!" He died a month
short of his 15th birthday. Shortly after his death, Don Bosco wrote The Life of Dominic Savio, a book
so well-written that along with Don Bosco's History of Italy, it was used in many public schools as part
of course materials on the Italian language, and provided the basis for Domenico's eventual canonization.
Pius X promoted his cause. He was proclaimed Venerable in 1933 under Pius XI, and he was beatified and
canonized under Pius XII in 1950 and 1954, respectively.
Readings for today's Mass:
usccb.org/bible/readings/031012.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father met with
- 13 US bishops from Iowa and Kansas on ad-limina visit
- Frère Alois, Prior of Taizé
- His Grace Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Anglican Communion, and his delegation.
Before the meetings, the Holy Father was presented the new edition of the
Annuario Pontificio updated
with 2011 data and statistics about the Catholic Church in its 2,966 ecclesiastical areas around the globe.
Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and his deputy for General Affairs, Mons. Giovanni Angelo Becciu,
made the presentation.
In the afternoon, the Holy Father was to preside at Vespers, joined by Mons. Williams, at the Roman church
of San Gregorio Magno in Celio (on the Caelian hill).
One year ago today...
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, formally presented Volume 2 of Joseph Ratzinger/
Benedict XVI's JESUS OF NAZARETH. The book release had been preceded by two weeks of worldwide commentary on pre-
pblication excerpts of the book, notably the part in which the Holy Father reiterates Catholic teaching since
the Catechism published after the 16th-century Council of Trent that Jews should not be blamed for the execution
of Jesus - a teaching reiterated in the 1992
Catechism of the Catholic Church but otherwise widely
unknown even to most Catholics. In less than a year, the book has sold 2.5 million copies in 12 languages.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/03/2012 04:25]