(ANS - Rome) - A group of 30 journalists accredited to the Vatican Press Office and the Italian Foreign Press will be spending next weekend (Dec. 16-18) on a "Press Tour" in Turin, focusing on the central places where St. John Bosco worked. The group is organized by Fr. Giuseppe Costa, Secretary of the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, and co-spokesperson for the Congregation.

Professionally, it represents agencies such as Aleteia, SIR, AciStampa, AsiaNews; radio and TV stations such as Radio Cope (Spain), RAI, Radio Corallo, TeleDehon, Tv2000, Telenova, EWTN (USA); newspapers and magazines such as Famiglia Cristiana, Avvenire, Il Fatto Quotidiano, La Sicilia, Niedziela (Poland); and others such as New York’s La Voce. Salesian Communication is represented by the Director of the Salesian iNfo Agency - ANS, Fr. Harris Pakkam, and IME-Communication, Fr. Pierluigi Lanotte.

The journalists will depart by train from Rome to Turin-Valdocco where they will meet for a press conference Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, Don Bosco's 10th Successor, who has just returned from a series of international trips and meetings. They shall also visit the recently renovated and enriched Casa Don Bosco House Museum. On Saturday they will go to Colle Don Bosco Hill with an initial stop at the Church of Castelnuovo to see the Baptismal Font where Don Bosco became a Christian and then visit the Temple dedicated to him and the Missionary Museum. The tour ends on Sunday with a Mass at the Turin Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, mother and protector of Don Bosco, and those who look to his spiritual leadership.

Many the faces of the next saint: migrant, nurse, pharmacist, but above all Salesian "coadjutor"

(Rome, Oct. 6, 2022) - At 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9, on the parvis of the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father Francis shall preside at the Eucharistic Celebration during which Blessed Artemide Zatti, professed layman of the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco (Oct. 12, 1880, Boretto, Italy - March 15, 1951, Viedma, Argentina), and Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, bishop of Piacenza and founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles and the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, (July 8, 1839, Fino Mornasco, Italy - June 1, 1905, Piacenza, Italy), shall be canonized.

The canonization of Salesian Artemide Zatti - the first non-martyr Salesian to be proclaimed a saint - is a source of profound joy and gratitude for the entire Congregation and Salesian Family, as well as for the Church in Argentina, the land to which the future saint emigrated at the age of 17.

Different, yet equally relevant, the two figures of holiness united in the same celebration by Pope Francis. The founder of the Scalabrinians dedicated his mission to those who had to leave their homeland in search of work. The Salesian Zatti, a migrant himself, dedicated his life to caring for the sick, in whom he found ways to serve Jesus Himself.

Zatti's biographical profile and history of holiness are varied and very rich: originally from Boretto, in the Province of Reggio Emilia, he found himself emigrating with his entire family. He worked in the fields and as a tiler, before devoting himself body and soul to the mission that engaged his entire life: the care of the sick at the missionary hospital that the Salesians animated in Viedma, in Argentine Patagonia.

He worked in that hospital for about 50 years (1902-1951) as a nurse, pharmacist, and administrator, never losing touch with his primary vocation, that of Salesian coadjutor - consecrated with the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Esteemed by all the sick and by the healthcare workers themselves, who gradually gave him greater and greater freedom of action, "the holy nurse," the "relative of all the poor," as he was called already during his lifetime, saw and served Jesus Himself in the sick.

He died on March 15, 1951, from a tumor he self-diagnosed and fully accepted.

He was declared Venerable on 7 July 1997 and beatified by St. John Paul II in St. Peter's Square on April 14, 2002.

The unexplained healing that paved the way for Artemide Zatti's canonization occurred in the Philippines in August 2016 and concerned a man who had suffered an ischemic stroke - accompanied by further complications - whose brother, a Salesian coadjutor, started a prayer chain invoking the family member's healing through the intercession of Blessed Artemide Zatti.

It is worth remembering that the Holy Father Francis also has a great devotion to Artemis Zatti because, when he was a Jesuit Provincial in Argentina, through his intercession, he obtained numerous vocations of lay brothers for the Society of Jesus. It was Pope Francis himself who testified to this in a letter he wrote to an Argentine Salesian in 1986, and which Fr. Juan Edmundo Vecchi, Don Bosco's 7th Successor at the head of the Salesian Congregation, enclosed in the Letter published in view of Artemide Zatti's beatification.

Because of the canonization of Artemide Zatti, the Salesian Congregation has scheduled other important events in the immediately preceding and following days.

On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 8, at 10 a.m. (UTC+2), in the "Paul VI Hall" at the Vatican, the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, will preside at a solemn Mass; following this, several testimonies on the figure of the future saint shall be offered. At noon, there will be a special audience by Pope Francis for all Salesians and members of the Salesian Family who have convened because of Zatti's canonization.

In the afternoon, the many pilgrims present in Rome will be able to embark upon a guided pilgrimage to Don Bosco's places in Rome, with itineraries for different language groups.

On Monday, Oct. 10, at 11:00 a.m. (UTC+2) at the Argentine National Church in Rome, Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, will preside over a Mass of thanksgiving for Zatti's canonization for the Argentine faithful gathered in Rome.

While on Oct. 11, at the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin-Valdocco - the birthplace of Don Bosco's Oratory and the Salesian Congregation - Rector Major presides at a Eucharist of thanksgiving for the gift of sainthood of Artemide Zatti, together with many Salesian coadjutors who have come especially from all over the world.

For further information and to coordinate any interview requests, contact Fr Maciej Makula, SDB: +39 349 983 3841 or +48 692 477 615 (also via WhatsApp).

The family event for religious and lay people inspired by Don Bosco reaches its 40th edition

(Rome, January 12, 2022) – The 40th edition of the Spirituality Days of the Salesian Family (SFSD) opens tomorrow, January 13, 2022. This edition will be held in mixed mode - in presence in Turin-Valdocco, and with digital connections - from 13 to 16 January 2022. As usual, the SFSD will focus on the message that the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco has given to the 32 groups of the Salesian Family as inspiration for the new year - the so-called "Strenna of the Rector Major" - a message that for this 2022 is inspired by St Francis de Sales, on the 400th anniversary of his death, and which is summed up in the motto: "Do all through love, nothing through constraint".

The purpose of the GSFS is to revive Salesian Spirituality in its fundamental dimensions, suggested by the Strenna of the Rector Major, and in a spirit of communion with the 32 Groups of the Salesian Family.

This 2022 edition of the Days will be experienced on two levels:

- Worldwide with international live broadcasts from 13:00 to 15:00 (UTC + 1) from the Teatro Grande of Valdocco; the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, will always participate in these central moments, flanked by other world leaders of the various groups of the Salesian Family.

- and Regional with a specific program, and different times and methods, drawn up by the various regional teams.

A limited number of 190 representatives of the different groups of the Salesian Family, always in compliance with the anti-contagion regulations in force, will then also have the opportunity to participate in the activities that will be carried out at the local level: Eucharist, daily Rosary, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, visits to the Don Bosco House Museum ...

The program of worldwide activities – that will all be broadcast live by ANS on its Facebook page, in five languages ​​(Italian, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese) –  includes:

Thursday 13 begins with the opening session, which foresees the presentation of the Days by Fr Joan Lluís Playà, Central Delegate of the Rector Major for the Secretariat for the Salesian Family, the solemn conclusion of the year dedicated to Fr Paolo Albera, the Successor of Don Bosco, and the presentation of the Strenna by the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime;

On Friday 14 the epitome of the activities shall be reached with the round table on the spirituality of Saint Francis de Sales by various experts in the field: three Salesians (Fr Michele Molinar, Fr Eunan McDonnell, Fr Giuseppe Roggia), a well-known journalist, Vania de Luca, and Sister Maria Grazia Franceschini, of the Order of the Visitation of Saint Mary, an order founded by Saint Francis de Sales, will address topics such as: Salesian spirituality, the spiritual affinity between Saint Francis de Sales and Don Bosco, the "grace of 'unity' in the ecstasy of life and action, religious life according to the holy bishop, and the relevance of his spirituality for the laity today as a path of holiness accessible to all. The day will be completed by the intervention of Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, on Salesian holiness.

On Saturday 15 the sharing of the group work carried out in the first two days at the regional level will be broadcast and commented, and two significant experiences of Salesian spirituality in action will be presented, one from youth and one from laity. For the participants on site in Valdocco, Saturday will also be the day of the inauguration of the exhibition for the 400th anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales at the Casa Don Bosco House Museum in Turin.

Eventually, on Sunday 16, the celebration of the Eucharist from the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, presided over by the Rector Major, and the final farewell stand out.

Finally, the special space that will be dedicated to the laity of the Salesian Family, called to offer the thoughts of the "Salesian goodnight", deserves to be emphasized.

Further information and updates will be available on the websites www.infoans.org/en and www.famigliasalesiana.org/en  

The Salesian Family is an ecclesial reality spread throughout the world bringing together 32 officially recognised religious institutions and movements inspired by the charism and apostolic mission of the Founder St john Bosco. It operates in all five continents and employs 200,000 committed religious and lay people.

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