(ANS - Rome) - The following short notes on Salesian saints of the month were prepared by Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family.

May 6: St. Dominic Savio
Da mihi animas, cetera tolle. This is the maxim that impressed Dominic Savio when he entered the office of Don Bosco. It evoked from him the famous comment: "I see that here you do business, not in money, but in souls. I understand, and I hope that my soul will be part of this business." He saw clearly that Don Bosco was offering not only education and accommodation, but above all an opportunity for spiritual growth. His desire for holiness and his wish to become a priest found practical expression in the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception which he founded with some friends of the Oratory, including Michael Rua and John Massaglia. It was from this Sodality that many of the first generation of Salesians came.

May 13: Saint Maria Domenica Mazzarello, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians
Like Don Bosco, Mary lived and radiated an intense educational and apostolic charity, convinced that this was the basis of community life, the principle of educational work, the source of mercy, the condition for personal equilibrium and happiness, and the practice of specific virtues such as friendship, good manners, and self-sacrifice. This charity was characterized by the spiritual maternity she showed in the formation of the sisters, her numerous journeys and the offering of her life, realized in the practice of a charity that is patient, kind and universal. God also gave her the particular grace of the discernment of spirits to help her in her mission.

May 16: St. Luigi Orione , founder of the Little Work of Divine Providence
When Luigi was growing up as a boy in the oratory at Valdocco, Don Bosco noticed his good qualities. He counted him among his favourites, assuring him that "We will always be friends." In Turin, the young Luigi was also familiar with the nearby works of Charity of Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo. He was a living incarnation of the charism of charity for the poor, seeing in them the face of Jesus and serving them in holy joy. The testimony of spiritual and charitable work of St. Luigi Orione has its source in the love of God who accompanies every person, especially the poor and disinherited, with his foreseeing love. The fire of love, nourished by an intense spiritual life, resulted in a broad span of apostolic activity ranging from the missions to ecumenism, in fulfilment of his motto - to restore all things in Christ.

May 18: Saint Leonard Murialdo, founder of the Congregation of St. Joseph
The spiritual experience of this saint from Turin, a friend and collaborator of Don Bosco, had its roots in a serious crisis of youth, a difficult and painful period of separation from God at the age of fourteen. Leonard never forgot it and it marked his whole life and his mission. The crisis, and its solution, also influenced his educational practice which was based on kindness, understanding and patience. Returning to God after his youthful dissipation, Leonard Murialdo experienced the merciful love of the Father in such a strong and welcoming way that it became the soul of his apostolic and social action, especially for young people and workers.

May 29: Father Joseph Kowalski, martyr
His apostolate at the Salesian parish of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Dębniki (Krakow) ended on 23 May 1941, when the Nazis arrested him along with eleven of his confreres. He became prisoner no.17,350 at Auschwitz. In 1942 he was sentenced to hard labour because he refused to trample upon a rosary. He was then tortured by guards of the Nazi death camp and drowned in the sewer. His countrymen began to venerate his memory- They were convinced that his sacrifice had attracted many vocations. On the occasion of his beatification with 107 other Polish martyrs, Pope St. John Paul II, who had known Fr Joseph personally, said: "If we rejoice today for the beatification of 108 martyrs, clergy and laity, we do so primarily because we have the testimony of the victory of Christ, the gift that gives hope ... "

The month of May reaches its high point on the Feast of Mary Help of Christians, which has great importance in the Salesian tradition. ANS will pay special attention to this feast.

Further information and resources on the Salesian saints are available in the section on Salesian holiness in sdb.org.

Published 05/05/2014