Comunicati Stampa

(Rome, 20 May 2020) - The feast day of Mary Help of Christians occurs next Sunday, 24 May. Normally the feast day in Turin has always been marked by many celebrations and an evening procession among the city's most heartfelt and participatory. But this year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the party will be "special" and it will become even more important to be able to participate while staying "at a distance". Here is the live broadcast/streaming schedule:

(Rome, 22 April 2020) - Herewith the official Communiqué  whereby the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, announces that Pope Francis, in relation to the request presented by the Group of Catholic Jurists, authorizes the opening of the Cause of Beatification of Mons. Giuseppe Cognata, S.D.B., Bishop of Bova and Founder of the Salesian Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

The Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, rejoices in announcing, in the exultation of Easter and on the Feast of the Divine Mercy, that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has itself announced in a letter dated 15 April 2020 to the Salesian Postulator General (Prot. VAR. 8579/20), Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, and signed by Bishop Marcello Bartolucci, Secretary of the aforesaid Congregation, that:

I am happy to inform you that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its Letter No. Prot. 911/1935-AS265-74579 on 17 February of this current year has communicated to this Dicastery that the Holy Father upon careful and thoughtful examination, has given his august consent to the requests of religious and laity who have petitioned for the opening of the Cause of Beatification of Bishop Giuseppe Cognata, S.D.B., Bishop of Bova’”.

It remains our duty to thank the Holy Father most sincerely for his conviction and commitment to a choice, as thoughtful as it is transparent in the specific nature of the form followed, which reintegrates the values of truth and justice in their fullness.

These thanks must be extended first of all to the Group of Catholic Jurists for the essential and decisive role they played, and to all those who at different times and in different ways have made possible this extraordinary event so long awaited by the whole Salesian Family, in particular by the Salesian Oblates of the Sacred Heart, and by the whole ecclesial community.

 

Biographical note regarding Bishop Giuseppe Cognata (1885-1972), S.D.B.

Childhood and youth

Born at Agrigento on 14 October 1885 of Vitale and Rosa Montana, he showed a great wealth of human gifts and talents since childhood.

As a twelve-year-old he entered the 'San Basilio' Salesian college in Randazzo (Catania), Don Bosco's first work in Sicily, ready to accept the call to religious and apostolic life among the Salesians; a vocation strongly opposed by his father and grandfather, with its trials and long and painful struggles, but crowned with joyful success.

Salesian: priest teacher apostle

On 5 May 1908, cleric Giuseppe Cognata made his perpetual profession at San Gregorio di Catania, into the hands of the then Rector Major, (and today Blessed) Fr Michael Rua, and the following year, on 29 August 1909, he received his priestly ordination in Acireale.

He had graduated brilliantly in both Literature and Philosophy and then went to young people not only as a teacher and assistant, but also as a zealous priest, carrying out his mission at Bronte in Sicily, at Este in Veneto, and at Le Marche in Macerata.

Rector

The First World War saw Fr Cognata, the soldier, in Palermo, Trapani, Padua. And it was in Trapani that he laid the first foundations of the Salesian Work which he was called to direct a few years later. He was Rector of a number of works, but even more the director of souls. From Trapani he was called to lead the college at Randazzo (Catania), then the college at Gualdo Tadino in Umbria and finally he became Rector of "Sacro Cuore" (Sacred Heart) in Rome.

Bishop and Founder

In the Consistory on 16 March 1933, Pius XI appointed Fr Giuseppe Cognata as Bishop of Bova, a particularly poor and disadvantaged diocese of Calabria. He received his episcopal ordination the following 23 April in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome, from the Salesian Cardinal (today Venerable) Augusto Hlond, Metropolitan Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań, co-consecrators being the Salesian Bishop of Sutri and Nepi, Luigi Maria Olivares, also Venerable, and Bishop Romolo Genuardi, auxiliary bishop of Palermo.

Along steep paths and mule tracks, Bishop Cognata – who had chosen the Pauline expression “Caritas Christi urget nos as his episcopal motto – sought to visit and comfort not only all the small villages of the diocese, but also groups of poor families scattered here and there in the most remote and inaccessible places.

He gave life to a pious society of generous young women willing to work with courage and joy in the smallest, lost, and most abandoned centres. Thus the Congregation of the Salesian Oblates of the Sacred Heart was born on 8 December 1933.

In silence and solitude

In 1939, an infernal storm raged against the Founder and his Institution. On 20 December 1939, the Congregation of the Holy Office, on the basis of false accusations, unjustly condemned Bishop Cognata to dismissal from his episcopal dignity. He then went far away, living for long years in silence and solitude, separated from his spiritual daughters. He was welcomed into the Salesian houses in Trent and Rovereto until 1952 and then at Castello di Godego (Treviso) until 1972, carrying out an assiduous and appreciated ministry as confessor and spiritual guide.

Per Crucem ad lucem

The Cross is hope, the certainty of resurrection and life. In Easter 1962, Bishop Giuseppe Cognata was reintegrated into the Episcopate by Pope John XXIII. Thus, by the will of Pope Paul VI, he participated in the second, third and fourth sessions of the Second Vatican Council. On 6 August 1963, he was appointed titular bishop of Farsalo. On 29 January 1972, he had the joy of seeing his Institute recognised by the Holy See with the “Decretum Laudis” or “Decree of Praise”. He died on 22 July 1972 in Pellaro (Reggio Calabria), the initial headquarters of the missionary activity of the Salesian Oblates.

His remains lie at rest in the General House of the Oblate Sisters in Tivoli. 

(Rome, March 11, 2020) - The 28th General Chapter of the Salesian Congregation has renewed the mandate of Rector Major to the standing RM, namely Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, for 2020-2026. The election was decided at the first round of voting.

Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, 59, was born on 21 August 1960 in Gozón-Luanco, Asturias, Spain; he made his first profession on 3 September 1978, his perpetual vows on 17 June 1984 in Santiago de Compostela, and was ordained priest on 4 July 1987 in León.

Originally from León Province, he has been Youth Ministry Delegate, Rector of the school at Ourense, member of the Council and Vice Provincial and, from 2000 to 2006, Provincial of León.

He has a Doctorate in Pastoral Theology and a Licence in Philosophy and Pedagogy.

He was a member of the technical commission that prepared the General Chapter 26. In 2009, he was appointed Provincial of South Argentina, and thanks to this position he also got to know and collaborate personally with the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, card. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, today Pope Francis.

On 23 December 2013, he was appointed Provincial of the new province of Mary Help of Christians in Spain, an office he couldn’t take on, since the 27th General Chapter had elected him as tenth Successor of Don Bosco. It was 25 March 2014.

 

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Phone: (+39) 011 399 01 57

(Turin, March 1, 2020) - Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Turin, in the homily he addressed to Chapter members on Saturday 29 February, said: "In the community, simple words are needed, together with concrete life experiences and, above all, a lot of friendship and mutual listening: this manages to arrive directly to people's hearts, more than anything else." Friendship and mutual listening are part of the air one breathes in these first days of capitular commitment.

"There is a concentrated, intense atmosphere, a constructive will, a lot of understanding for the travel and some necessary discomfort, but the feedback from this first half is absolutely positive. The discussion on the Rector Major's report and his responses was perfect and exemplary," said Fr Saimi Ezhanikatt, Chapter Secretary and deus ex machina of the whole organization.

On Monday, 24 February, the language translation test trials and a test on the votes were carried out. 222 voters contributed to fine-tuning the system.

This was followed by the appointment of the Secretaries, proposed by the Regulator and voted by the assembly. Fr Enrico Gaetan, Fr Luca Barone and Fr Daniele Merlini were elected.

It was then the turn of the Moderators. The following were elected: Fr Manuel Cayo, Provincial of Peru (PER), Fr Jose Kuruvachira, Provincial of India-Dimapur (IND) and Fr Manuel Jimenez Castro, Visitor of Africa Congo Congo (ACC).

The capitulars then immersed themselves in the individual reading of the Regulations and then divided into the four commissions on the subject and the one on the juridical subjects.

Next day, 25 February, Fr Andrea Bozzolo, SDB, professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Turin Section of the Faculty of Theology of the Salesian Pontifical University, presented the Working Tool of the 28th General Chapter (GC28) to the capitulars gathered in the Teatro Grande of Valdocco. With this beautiful image: "The fire and the canoe". 

The fire of the Spirit of God marks and illuminates the course that the Chapter canoe must follow. Embarked on it, the Salesians must stay the course together with the young people who row vigorously, all facing the same goal that is the objective of the Chapter, made up of three groups: the priority of the mission for young people, with all the challenges it implies, the profile of the Salesian, and the co-responsibility with the laity.

The Chapter - it has been remembered - is not a "parliament", but knowing how to recognize God in the voice of one's brothers.

Hence the successive stages that will lead to choices, through the triple sieve: recognize-interpret-choose.

There is a tangible good and positive focus and everyone's commitment is clearly visible.

An organization that is functioning with admirable efficiency. The teamwork is highly coordinated: from behind the scenes, where the operators of the digital network that supports all forms of communication are stationed full-time, as are the translators, hospitality workers and liturgical moments; but what matters most is the collaborative attitude of the Chapter members.

The basic media coverage is also excellent, aiming to create communion between the participants of the GC28 in Turin-Valdocco and each local "Valdocco" in the outskirts of the Congregation. In this case, digital media have the ability to put the center on the same level as the communities and works of the periphery.

"The commissions and subcommittees were created in very little time and immediately went to work," continued Fr Saimi.

The commissions are formed by language areas and subdivided in turn into subcommittees to foster the maximum possible dialogue. The only slightly different commission is the one that deals with legal issues, some of which are urgent and not easy to resolve.

Naturally, there is much anticipation for the week of March 16-21, the election week, which can mean a lot to understand the orientation of the Congregation.

In all there is that will "lit" by Pope Francis and that the Archbishop summarizes thus: "The Church cannot be satisfied with waiting for the young to return, but must seek them and meet them where they are, opening the doors, going out into the open sea, challenging the cultural and environmental storm, mass media and digital ... in short, the new world where young people swim like fish in water."

The frequent moments of prayer in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, "place of the heart" of Don Bosco and of all the Salesians, are sipped at the source of that spirituality that originated here.

Photos on ANSFlickr

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