Nativity of the Bl. Virgin Mary

We are at the eve of the Feast of the Nativity of Our Bl. Mother, one of the most ancient of Marian feasts. Traditionally the Catholic Church celebrates the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8, nine months after the celebration of her Immaculate Conception on December 8, as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne. This feast is one of the three “nativities” in the Roman liturgical calendar: the Nativity of Jesus, the Son of God (Christmas); the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (24 June) and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 September). Details of Blessed Virgin Mary’s infancy and early life are not directly recorded in the Bible, but other documents and traditions describing the circumstances of her birth are cited by some of the earliest Christian writers from the first centuries of the Church.

Sacred Scriptures do not give an account of Mary’s birth. However, the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim being infertile pray for the blessing of a child. They receive the promise of a child who will advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. Such a story, like many biblical counterparts, stresses the special presence and intervention of God in Mary’s life from the beginning.

Saint Augustine connects Mary’s birth with Jesus’ saving work. He describes the birth of Blessed Virgin Mary as an event of cosmic and historic significance, and an appropriate prelude to the birth of Jesus Christ. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth: “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.” The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as the dawn of our salvation, and asks for an increase of peace.

The primary event in Mary’s life always remains the Annunciation. The Church looks on her as the Mother of God, but even more so as the disciple who can best offer us an example and model of Christian life. In her faith, in her obedience to her Son, in the way she made herself a neighbour toward her cousin Elizabeth and to the couple at Cana on their wedding day, Mary is the woman to imitate especially in the trust shown during the darkest moments in the life of Jesus, her Son. Here and in many other instances she explains why the people of God know they can find their refuge and comfort, help and protection in her. Let us continue to place our trust in her and pray for her constant guidance and assistance in our life and ministry. Like Don Bosco we shall entrust ourselves into her hands with filial love and faith. Wish you all a beautiful celebration of the birthday of our beloved Blessed Mother!

Canonization of Blessed Artemides Zatti on Sunday, 9 October 2022

The whole Salesian world is rejoicing at the announcement of the glad tidings that the Holy Father will canonise Br. Artemides Zatti SDB to sainthood. On the occasion of the ordinary public consistory held in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday 27 August 2022, the Holy Father Pope Francis announced that the Rite of Canonisation of Bl. Artemides Zatti will be celebrated on Sunday, 9 October 2022. On 9 April 2022 the Holy Father Pope Francis received in audience His Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints. During the Audience, the Supreme Pontiff authorized him to promulgate the Decree concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Artemides Zatti, Professed Layman of the Salesian Society of St John Bosco; born on 12 October 1880 in Boretto (Italy) and died on 15 March 1951 in Viedma (Argentina). This act of the Holy Father opened the way for the canonization of Blessed Artemide Zatti. 

The miracle promulgated for the canonization is the August 2016 healing in the Philippines of a man suffering from an ischemic stroke with serious complications. Fr. Cameroni SDB, the Postulator General of the Salesian Congregation said that Br. Zatti is a new saint “close to the suffering, and not only because he spent his life for them, but because he lived the experience of illness himself, maturing an uncommon sensitivity toward the sick and never losing hope and joy.”                                                                                                                                          

The Rector Major says, “This charming figure of Artemides Zatti is an invitation to propose the charm of consecrated life to young people, the radical nature of following the obedient, poor and chaste Christ, the primacy of God and the Spirit, fraternal life in community, spending oneself totally for the mission. The vocation of the Salesian brother is part of the special character that Don Bosco wanted to give the Salesian Congregation. It is certainly not an easy vocation to discern and accept; it blossoms more easily where apostolic lay vocations are promoted among young people and where they are offered a joyful and enthusiastic witness of religious consecration like that of Artemides Zatti.”

On 11th October 2022, the Rector Major will preside over the thanksgiving Eucharist for the gift of holiness of Br. Artemides Zatti at Valdocco, Turin.  The whole Congregation and the Salesian Family are invited by the Rector Major to celebrate a thanksgiving Eucharist on the same day in communion with the celebration at Valdocco.  I request all our communities to have a Eucharist of thanksgiving on 11th October 2022 at a convenient time with the collaboration of all the Salesian Family members.  Let us keep this thanksgiving day in the best fitting way.