(ANS – Rome) – The Salesian liturgical calendar contains two memorials in the month of June: Blessed Francis Kesy, layman, and his companions, martyrs, and St Joseph Cafsso. Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General of the Salesian Family, helps us to remember them.

12 June, Blessed Francis Keşy, layman, and his four companions, martyrs
Czesław Jóźwiak, Edward Kaźmierski, Franciszek Kęsy, Edward Klinik and Jarogniew Wojciechowski were five young men of the Salesian Oratory in Poznań, Poland, martyred together on 24 August 1942 and beatified together on 13 June 1999 in Warsaw. They were leaders in the oratory, fond of music, theatre and sport, involved in teaching religion and sharing an intense spiritual life. In September 1949 they were accused of belonging to an illegal organisation and arrested.  Edward Klinik was the first to be arrested. He wrote to his mother, “Do not worry about me because I am going into this battle of life with a strong faith. I know that She to whom I entrusted myself by becoming her Servant is keeping watch over me and will never abandon me.” The others were also arrested and for several months they shared humiliation and torture, sustained by a strong and determined faith, by an intense devotion to Mary and by their close friendship.

They were condemned without due trial and with no possibility of defending themselves, and the reasons given were in no way deserving of the death penalty. However, they gave a heroic example of faith and Christian life. They had learnt it at      the Salesian Oratory in Poznań and this was what enabled them to accept the will of God with serenity, even to the point of forgiving their executioners in the genuine spirit of the gospel.

These five martyrs are a model for many young people today in several parts of the world, who suffer on account of their Christian faith. For all young people, they are companions in life’s journey, showing by their lives the difficult but fascinating demands of youthful holiness.
 
23 June St Joseph Cafasso
This year the memorial of St Joseph Cafasso falls on a Sunday. He was “a pearl of the Italian clergy”, with an extraordinary capacity for acceptance, understanding and mercy. He was a model priest, teacher and formator of priests. Don Bosco had him as spiritual director for 25 years, from 1835 to 1860, first as a cleric, then as priest and eventually as founder. In all his fundamental decisions, Don Bosco had St Joseph Cafasso as counsellor and guide. Cafasso did not form Don Bosco as a disciple “in his own image and likeness”, and Don Bosco did not copy Don Cafasso. He spoke of him as “a model of priestly life”, and imitated his human and priestly virtues but with his own personal qualities and his own vocation. Here we have a sign of the wisdom of the spiritual master and the intelligence of the disciple. The master did not impose his ways on the disciple but respected his personality and helped him to discover God’s will in his regard.

Cafasso did not found a religious congregation. His foundation was the “school of life and priestly holiness” which he realized by teaching and example in the Pastoral Institute of St Francis of Assisi in Turin. His secret was simple. He was a man of God, doing always, in the little things of daily life, “whatever was for the greater glory of God and the good of souls.” He loved the Lord with a love that was total. He was motivated by a well-rooted faith, sustained by deep and prolonged prayer, and he lived a life of sincere charity towards all. He knew moral theology, but he also knew the situation and the heart of the people whose welfare he cared for, like the good shepherd. Those who had the grace of being close to him were transformed into other good shepherds and good confessors. He was able to show clearly to all priests the way to holiness appropriate to their pastoral ministry.

The memorial of St Joseph Cafasso is a reminder to all to intensify their journey to the perfection in Christian living which we call holiness. In particular it is a reminder to priests of the importance of giving time to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and spiritual direction.

Published 11/06/2013