{"id":5035,"date":"2023-01-24T09:35:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T09:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exciting-knuth.178-32-140-152.plesk.page\/uncategorized\/lettera-rettor-maggiore-artemide-zatti\/"},"modified":"2024-02-02T14:53:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T14:53:41","slug":"letter-rector-major-artemides-zatti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/communications-from-the-rector-major\/letter-rector-major-artemides-zatti\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter Rector Major. Artemides ZATTI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span><i class=\"fas fa-arrow-right\"><\/i><\/span><strong>\u00abI BELIEVED, I PROMISED, I RECOVERED!\u00bb<\/strong><br>Artemides Zatti: Gospel of vocation and a Church that cares <\/h2>\n\n\n\n\t<style>\n\tbody {font-size: 18px;}\n\t<\/style>\n<\/head>\n<body><br>&ldquo;The mosaic of our saints and blesseds, though rich enough in the\ncategories represented &ndash;  Founder, Co-founder, Rector Majors,\nmissionaries, martyrs, priests and young people, still lacked the\nfigure of a coadjutor brother. Now, even this gap is being filled.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a>\n<br><br>The\nabove is how Juan Edmundo Vecchi, eighth Successor of Don Bosco,\nbegan his letter for the occasion of the Beatification of Artemides\nZatti.<br><br>If\nthe &ldquo;mosaic of our saints&rdquo; was missing a tile, today this\nmosaic has a very special glow to it because, in a few weeks, we will\nexperience a great gift from the Lord: to see one of Don Bosco&rsquo;s\nsons, a Salesian coadjutor brother, Italian emigrant to Argentina and\nnurse, canonised by Pope Francis on 9 October 2022.<br><br>This\nmean that Artemides Zatti will be the <i><b>first\nSalesian saint not a martyr to be canonised<\/b><\/i>.\nUndoubtedly, the canonisation of the first Salesian saint and\nSalesian coadjutor brother offers and will continue to offer a note\nof completeness to the range of models of Salesian spirituality which\nthe Church officially declares as such.<br><br>Let\nme quote the beautiful personal testimony, filled with spiritual\ndepth and faith, given by Artemides Zatti in 1915 in Viedma, at the\ninauguration of a funerary monument placed over the tomb of Father\nEvasio Garrone (1861&ndash;1911), a well-deserving Salesian\nmissionary and considered by Artemides to be his distinguished\nbenefactor:<br><br>\nIf\nI am now well, in good health and in a position to do some good to my\nsick neighbour, I owe it to Father Garrone, a doctor. Seeing my\nhealth deteriorate day by day, since I was suffering from\ntuberculosis and frequently spitting blood, he told me point blank\nthat if I did not want to finish up like many others I should make a\npromise to Mary Help of Christians to always remain at his side,\nhelping him in the care of the sick, and that if I trusted in Mary,\nshe would cure me.<\/blockquote>\n<b>I BELIEVED<\/b>,\nbecause I knew by reputation that Mary Help of Christians helped him\nin  visible ways. <b>I\n<\/b><b>PROMISED,<\/b>\nbecause it was always my desire to help my neighbour in some way.\nAnd, since God listened to his servant, <b>I\nRECOVERED<\/b><b>.\n<\/b>[Signed]\nArtemides Zatti&rdquo;<\/blockquote>\n<br><br>We\nsee that the generous and confident soundness of Artemides Zatti&rsquo;s\nSalesian life was based on three verbs. To appreciate the gift of\nholiness of this great Salesian Brother, we would like to meditate on\nthese three verbs and their extraordinarily good fruits, so that they\nmay deeply touch the desires, dreams and commitments of our\nCongregation and of each of us, and foster a renewed and fruitful\nfidelity to Don Bosco&rsquo;s charism in us all.<br><br><b>A\nprofile of Artemides Zatti<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote2anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote2sym\"><sup>2<\/sup><\/a><\/b><br><br>Artemides\nZatti was born in Boretto (Reggio Emilia) on 12 December 1880 to\nAlbina Vecchi and Luigi Zatti. This peasant family raised him to a\nlife that was poor and hard-working, enlightened by a simple,\nstraightforward and robust faith which guided and nourished his life.<br><br>At\nthe age of nine, Artemides began work as a labourer with a nearby\nwell-to-do family in order to contribute to the family economy.<br><br>The\nZattis emigrated to Argentina in 1879 and settled in Bahia Blanca.\nArtemides was seventeen when he arrived there, and he soon learned to\ncope with the hardships and responsibilities of work while still\nwithin the bosom of the family. He found work in a brick factory, and\nat the same time he nurtured and grew in a profound relationship with\nGod under the guidance of a Salesian, Fr Carlo Cavalli, his parish\npriest and spiritual director. Artemides found Fr Carlo to be a\nsincere friend, a wise confessor and a genuine and skilled spiritual\ndirector who formed him to a daily rhythm of prayer and weekly\nreception of the sacraments. He established a spiritual rapport with\nFr Cavalli and one of collaboration.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote3anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote3sym\"><sup>3<\/sup><\/a>\nHe had the opportunity to read Don Bosco&rsquo;s life in the parish\npriest&rsquo;s library and was fascinated by it. <i>This\nwas the real beginning of his Salesian vocation.<\/i><br><br>In\n1900, by now a twenty-year-old, at Fr Cavalli&rsquo;s invitation\nArtemides asked to enter the Salesian aspirantate at Bernal, near\nBuenos Aires.<br><br>But\nin 1902, when it was time to enter the novitiate, Artemides\ncontracted tuberculosis. Fr Vecchi, in his letter, tells us: &ldquo;Because\nof his reliability, the superiors entrusted him with the task of\nassisting a young priest suffering from tuberculosis. Zatti carried\nout the work with generosity, but soon afterwards caught the same\ndisease himself.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote4anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote4sym\"><sup>4<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Seriously\nill, he returned to Bahia Blanca and Fr Cavalli sent him to Viedma,\nentrusting him to the care of Salesian Fr Evasio Garrone, who was a\ncompetent physician thanks to his long experience, and director of\nthe San Jos&eacute; hospital founded by Bishop Cagliero.<br><br>I\nfind it very significant to recall that Artemides met Ceferino\nNamuncur&aacute; &ndash; today Blessed &ndash; in Viedma. He had come\nfrom Buenos Aires and had also been affected by tuberculosis. Despite\ntheir difference in age, the two had a warm relationship until\nCeferino left for Italy in 1904 with Bishop John Cagliero.<br><br>After\ntwo years of care in Viedma, though with unsatisfactory results, Fr\nGarrone sent Artemides to ask to be cured through the intercession of\nthe Blessed Virgin by making a vow to dedicate his life to caring for\nthe sick. Having made the vow with keen faith, Artemides was cured,\nand in 1906 he began the novitiate.<br><br>Due\nto the risks associated with his prior health circumstances,\nArtemides had to renounce his resolve to become a priest and he\nprofessed as a coadjutor brother among the Salesians of Don Bosco on\n11 January 1908. This meant a huge growth in faith for Artemides.\nIndeed, he did not abandon his idea of being a Salesian priest and he\ncontinued to think about a priestly vocation in the Salesian\nCongregation, especially when it seemed his health had improved.\nTherefore &ldquo;it is touching to note his unswerving attachment to\nhis vocation, even when it seemed that sickness had removed any\npossibility of achieving it. He wrote, for example, to his relatives\non 7 August 1902: &lsquo;I want you to know that it was not only my\nwish, but also that of my Superiors, that I should receive the\ncassock; but there is an article of the Holy Rule that says that no\none can receive it who has even the slightest problem about his\nhealth. And so it means that God\nhas\nnot yet found me worthy to wear the cassock, and so I trust in your\nprayers that I may soon get well and see my desire fulfilled.&rsquo;&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote5anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote5sym\"><sup>5<\/sup><\/a><br><br>But\nin the end, given the circumstances of his illness and also his age\n(23-24) the Superiors had to suggest to Zatti that he make his\nprofession as a Salesian brother. It was certain that &ldquo;it was\nthe total donation of himself to God in Salesian life to which\nArtemides aspired in the first place.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote6anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote6sym\"><sup>6<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Even\non this decisive point for his life, Zatti was growing in maturity.\nAgain, we read in Fr Vecchi&rsquo;s letter: &ldquo;Priest? Brother?\nHe himself once said to a confrere: &lsquo;you can serve God as a\npriest or as a brother: before God one is as good as the other\nprovided you live it as a vocation and with love.&rsquo;&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote7anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote7sym\"><sup>7<\/sup><\/a><br><br>On\n11 February 1911 he professed perpetual vows and the same year,\nfollowing Fr Garrone&rsquo;s death, he took his place, first as the\none responsible for the pharmacy attached to the San Jos&eacute;\nhospital in Viedma and then &ndash; from 1915 &ndash; as the one in\ncharge of the hospital itself. Hospital and pharmacy would become\nArtemide&rsquo;s field of work.<br><br>So,\nwith enormous energy, sacrifice and professionalism, Zatti was the\nsoul of the hospital from 1915, for 25 years. But in 1941 it had to\nbe demolished: the Salesian superiors had decided to use the land\noccupied till then by the health facility for the construction of the\nbishop&rsquo;s residence. Artemides suffered intensely at the thought\nof the demolition, but in a spirit of obedience he accepted the\ndecision and moved the patients to the premises of the Sant&rsquo;Isidro\nAgricultural School where he established a new set of arrangements\nfor the care and assistance of the sick and poor.<br><br>After\nfurther years of intense service, and by then relieved of the\nresponsibilities of health administration, following a fall during\nsome repair work in 1950 clinical examinations revealed a tumour on\nthe liver for which treatment was in vain. He accepted it and\nknowingly followed the development of the illness. In fact, he\nprepared his own death certificate for the doctor! His suffering was\nconstant, but he spent his last months in expectation of the final\nmoment he had prepared for when he would meet the Lord. He himself\nsaid: &ldquo;Fifty years ago I came here to die and now the moment\nhas arrived, so what more could I wish for? I have spent all my life\npreparing for this moment&hellip;&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote8anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote8sym\"><sup>8<\/sup><\/a><br><br>His\ndeath occurred on 15 March 1951 and the spread of the news mobilised\nthe population of the whole of Viedma to pay a tribute of gratitude\nto this Salesian who had dedicated his entire life to the sick,\nespecially the poorest of them. &ldquo;The whole of Viedma did honour\nto the <i>&ldquo;kinsman\nof the poor&rdquo;<\/i>,\nas he had been known for some time;\nthe\none who had always been ready to welcome those with particular\nmaladies and people who came from the distant countryside; the one\nwho had been able to enter the poorest of houses at any hour of the\nday or night without causing raised eyebrows; the one who, though he\nwas always &lsquo;in the red&rsquo;, had maintained a unique\nrelationship with the city banks, which were always open to\nfriendship and generous collaboration with those engaged in the\nmedical care of the citizens.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote9anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote9sym\"><sup>9<\/sup><\/a><br><br>People\ncame from everywhere for the funeral, confirming the reputation for\nholiness that surrounded Artemides Zatti and that prompted the\nopening of the Diocesan Process in Viedma (22 March 1980). Zatti was\ndeclared Venerable on 7 July 1997 and St John Paul II proclaimed him\nBlessed on 14 April 2002.<br><br><b>God&rsquo;s\npedagogy in his saints<\/b><br><br>To\nbetter understand the figure of Artemides Zatti we have the valuable\nguidance of a richly significant theological principle which comes\nfrom the pen of Hans Urs von Balthasar:<br><br>\nOnly\nthe picture [of Jesus] the Spirit keeps before the Church has been\nable, down the centuries, to change sinful men into saints. Any\npresentation of Jesus which claims to mediate knowledge of him must\nbe subjected to the same criterion: its power to change lives.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote10anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote10sym\"><sup>10<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Balthasar,\nin these words, points out the evidence that has always accompanied\nthe history of the Church: the action of the Spirit manifests itself\nas a transforming power in human life, testifying to the perennial\nrelevance and vitality of the Gospel. In this way, the good news of\nJesus continues to live and spread according to the rule of the\nIncarnation and, especially in the flesh and lives of the saints\nbecause of their profound consent to the Spirit, Easter bursts forth\nin the historical present of the ever new <i>here<\/i>\nand <i>now<\/i>\nwhere wonders that confirm the faith of the Church grow.<br><br>The\nsaints, then, are the achievement of the Spirit. In the simplicity of\ntheir transfigured lives they offer precise features of the Son that\nare given by the Father to this world of toil, in the relevance of a\ntime and proximity of places in need of salvation and hope.<br><br>If\nGod guides his Church through the obedient life of his most docile\nand daring children, reflections of the Gospel must first of all\nshine through each of their stories that transform <i><b>a\nday-to-day biography into a hagiography.<\/b><\/i>\nAnd then, it is we who must recognise the seeds of Easter that are\ncapable of triggering renewed ecclesial journeys among the people of\nGod.<br><br>Artemides\nZatti confirms this rule of holiness: hagiography is the light of the\nSpirit emanating from the simplicity of his biography, so convincing\nbecause it is lived in the fullness of humanity, and so surprising as\nto make visible &ldquo;a <i>new<\/i>\nheaven and a new earth&rdquo; (<i>Rev<\/i>\n21:1). Thus, the seeds of Easter, the gift of the life of this\nSalesian coadjutor brother to the world, transformed places of\nsuffering &ndash; the San Jos&eacute; and Sant&rsquo;Isidro hospitals\n&ndash; into extraordinarily radiant seedbeds of Christian hope. &ldquo;His\nwas an active presence in society, completely animated by the charity\nof Christ which drove him on!&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote11anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote11sym\"><sup>11<\/sup><\/a><br><br>It\nis then possible to meditate on the gift that the Spirit gives to the\nworld, the Church, the Salesian Family with Zatti&#8217;s holiness, pausing\nfirst on the brilliance of his biography, his life story &ndash; a\nfully embodied Gospel of vocation, trust and dedication &ndash; to\nthen go on to consider the paschal power of his apostolate, building\nup in his hospitals the Church that cares for people, is close to\nthem, saving them, sharing in the redemption and nourishing the faith\nof the people of God.<br><br>If\nwe want a concise expression of the secret that inspired and guided\nArtemides Zatti&rsquo;s life, the steps he took, his work,\ncommitments, joy, tears&#8230;, then Fr Vecchi&#8217;s words sum it up nicely:\n&ldquo;<i>following\nJesus, with Don Bosco and in Don Bosco&rsquo;s manner, always and\neverywhere&rdquo;.<\/i><a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote12anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote12sym\"><sup>12<\/sup><\/a><br><br><b>1.\nA MAN OF THE GOSPEL<\/b><br><br><b>1.1\nThe Gospel of vocation: &ldquo;I believed&rdquo;<\/b><br><br>The\nstory of Artemides Zatti strikes one for its vocational\ndistinctiveness above all. A luminous vocation because it is purified\nby a mysterious pedagogy of God that unfolds in his life through\ndifferent and demanding mediations and situations. Christian life is\nthe shared inspiration of Artemide&rsquo;s family, who interpreted\neverything in the light of the mystery of God; It would be Argentina,\ntheir second homeland reached through emigration, that would\ndemonstrate the Zatti family&rsquo;s rootedness in an uncommon faith.\nCardinal Cagliero\nwrote:<br><br>\nOur\ncompatriots, even those who belong to the most religious populations\nof Italy, seem to change their nature when they arrive here.\nImmoderate love of work, the religious indifference prevailing in\nthese countries, very frequent bad example&#8230; brings about an\nincredible transformation in the spirit and heart of our good\npeasants and artisans. In exchange for the handful of <i>scudi<\/i>\nthey earn, lose their faith, morality and religion.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote13anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote13sym\"><sup>13<\/sup><\/a><br><br>The\nZatti family would not succumb to the influence of their environment.\nOn the contrary, they stood out for their fervent, forthright,\ncourageous religious practice, free of human respect; and Artemides\nwould continue to nurture an intense relationship with God within the\nfamily, substantiated by prayer, hard work, uprightness, so,<br><br>\neverything\nleads us to believe&#8230; that the religious formation that the Servant\nof God received as a child and in his early youth&#8230; must have been\nprivileged and in such a way as to explain the spiritual attitudes\nthat he maintained throughout his life.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote14anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote14sym\"><sup>14<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Artemides&rsquo;\nexperience reflects the luminous discretion of the &ldquo;high\nstandard of ordinary Christian living&rdquo; (<i>Novo\nMillennio Ineunte<\/i>,\n31) the fruit of an exclusive rootedness in God, of a faith lived as\ncourageous and radiant obedience because it was free, joyful and\nfruitful.<br><br>When\nSalesian Fr Cavalli, Artemide&rsquo;s parish priest and guide on the\nways chosen by the Spirit, needed to support him in his choice of\nlife&rsquo;s ultimate direction, his discernment would be simple and\nclear: he would see that the call to give himself totally to God as a\npriest resonated in the heart of this young man in an integral and\npure way, untainted by self-seeking and self-interest, but ignited by\nthe desire to serve the Gospel of the Kingdom.<br><br>And\nbecause of Artemides&rsquo; characteristic readiness to give of\nhimself, God did not limit himself to calling him, but was able to\npour into him the incontrovertible sign of his presence: the cross\nhis Son bore. Thus, at the very heart of the vocational discernment\nof this young man eager to become a priest, the seal of God&rsquo;s\npredilection becomes recognisable: Artemides, accepted in Bernal as\nan aspirant, is asked to carry out a risky service, the care of a\npriest suffering from tuberculosis &ndash; as mentioned earlier. This\nunstinting service led Artemides subsequently to contract the disease\nthat would demand the sacrifice of his vocational dream: Zatti would\nbe a Salesian, but not a priest.<br><br>Here\nwe recognise the power of the Gospel unconditionally accepted in the\nlives of the saints; a power that provokes a pure vocational response\nbecause it is guarded by a heart not only detached from evil &ndash;\nan essential condition for listening to the voice of God &ndash; but\nalso capable of freedom with respect to good, an essential condition\nof a rock-solid faith in the Absolute that is God.<br><br>Walking\nin the luminous darkness of faith, Artemides sacrificed the desire to\nserve the Church in the ministerial form of the priesthood, while\nembracing its essence, according to Christ &ldquo;who through the\neternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God&rdquo; (<i>He<\/i><i>b<\/i>\n9:14).<br><br>The\ncharacteristics of the gospel of vocation are thus recognised,\nindelibly, in the fullness of self-sacrifice that sealed the\nbeginning of Zatti&rsquo;s Salesian life well before crowning its\nfullness.<br><br>And\nfidelity to the lay form of Salesian life, embraced out of pure love\nfor God, would be full and convinced, far from any regret, and would\nunfold in a convincing and contented existence.<br><br>This\nis the gospel of vocation, the good news of God&rsquo;s call\nindividually reserved for each of his children, a call of which God\nalone knows the purpose, the reasons, the destination, the concrete\nunfolding. A call that becomes perceptible only in the pure\ncorrespondence of love which, in turn, wants &ldquo;to rid itself of\nits most dangerous enemy, its own freedom of choice. Hence, every\ntrue love has the inner form of a vow: it binds itself to the beloved\n&ndash; and does so out of motives and in the spirit of love.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote15anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote15sym\"><sup>15<\/sup><\/a><br><br><i>The\ngospel of vocation<\/i>,\nin Zatti&rsquo;s holiness, is the gospel of pure faith: the good news\nof the healthy breath of the heart that savours freedom in obedience\nto God&rsquo;s plan, guardian of the mystery of every life called to\nbe a fruitful branch of the true Vine, entrusted to the wisdom of the\n&ldquo;Vine-grower&rdquo; (<i>Jn<\/i>\n15:1).<br><br>Read\nwith the &ldquo;categories&rdquo; of our time, Artemides Zatti&rsquo;s\nholiness provokes &ldquo;vocational fear&rdquo;, fear that clutches\nthe heart in mistrust before the mystery of God. The gospel of\nvocation announced by the life of this Salesian coadjutor brother\nsaint shows that only by corresponding to God&rsquo;s dream is it\npossible, at any age and in any situation, to overcome the paralysis\nof the ego, with the poverty of its gaze and its measures, and the\nnarrowness of its uncertainty and its fear.<br><br>When\nFr Garrone &ndash; a Salesian of outstanding virtue in his own right,\nin addition to the great medical competence he had gained through his\ngenerous service to the sick &ndash; encouraged the\ntuberculosis-stricken Artemides to ask for the grace of being cured\nthrough the intercession of the Virgin and with a vow to dedicate\nhimself to the sick for the rest of his life, Zatti&rsquo;s faith\ngave proof of itself: simple, selfless, unreserved and encapsulated\nin the phrase: &ldquo;I believed!&rdquo;<br><br>&ldquo;I\nbelieved&rdquo;. That is, when a word or two is enough to speak one&rsquo;s\nfaith, because faith is pure; and only this faith is vocationally\ngenerous because of the lightness of its purity that &ldquo;gives\nwings to the heart and not chains to the feet&rdquo;.<br><br>Artemides\nZatti&rsquo;s holiness reaches out to our own vocational journeys, as\ntired and dreary as they sometimes are, with the disruptive force of\nan &ldquo;I believed&rdquo; that never failed: faith&rsquo;s present\nmoment that continues throughout life and makes it credible. His was\na faith of <i>continuous\nunion with God<\/i>.\nIn the collection of testimonies, Archbishop M. P&eacute;rez said:\n&ldquo;The impression I received was that of a man united with the\nLord. Prayer was like the breath of his soul, all his behaviour\nshowed that he lived God&rsquo;s first commandment to the full: he\nloved him with all his heart, with all his mind and with all his\nsoul.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote16anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote16sym\"><sup>16<\/sup><\/a><br><br>We\nare called to see the value of Zatti&rsquo;s testimony for renewing\nthe ardour of our vocation ministry and to offer young people the\nexample of a life that the solidity of faith makes complete, simple,\ncourageous by the power of the Spirit and the docility of the one who\nis called.<br><br><b>1.2 The Gospel of trust: &ldquo;I promised&rdquo;<\/b><br><br><i>The\ngospel of vocation<\/i>\nwhich Zatti is testimony to, enlivens the second verb of fundamental\nimportance: promise. \n<br><br>We\noften experience the weakness of human promises today; we fear their\nunreliability, their inability to be definitive: hence the vocational\n&lsquo;winters&rsquo; that are affecting the family,  Congregations\nin many parts of the world, the Church &ndash; and that make it\nurgent to proclaim the Gospel of God&rsquo;s call and the believer&rsquo;s\nresponse.<br><br>Reflecting\non the essence of vocation, which is the result of genuine belief,\nVon Balthasar writes: &ldquo;There is no progress in love without at\nleast a modicum of this <i>attitude\nof self-surrender<\/i>&hellip;\n[Love]\nwants\nto abandon itself, to surrender itself, to entrust itself, to commit\nitself to love. As a pledge of love, it wants to lay its freedom once\nand for all at the feet of love. As soon as love is truly awakened,\nthe moment of time <i>is\ntransformed for it into a form of eternity<\/i>&#8230;\ntimed love, interrupted love is never true love.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote17anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote17sym\"><sup>17<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Even\nat a young age and precisely at a moment of great trial, Artemides\nZatti felt the call to the fullness of self-commitment through a\nradical and irrevocable promise. When he was much older, testifying\nto the gratitude he felt towards Fr Evasio Garrone, his benefactor,\nand recalling the beginnings of his own journey of consecration,\nZatti was able to be succinct and to the point in presenting what was\nat the heart of his youthful compliance with the Lord&rsquo;s call:\n&ldquo;I believed, I promised.&rdquo;<br><br>Zatti&rsquo;s\n&ldquo;<i>I\n<\/i><i>promised<\/i>&rdquo;\nfollowed his &ldquo;<i>I\nbelieved<\/i>&rdquo;\nbut it also shaped its radical nature and human and Christian\nquality. Artemides believed because he promised and not only promised\nbecause he believed: in him we see realised the rule of faith which,\nif it cannot count on the readiness to promise, to surrender oneself,\ndescends into spiritual interest, mere social service and religious\ncontract.<br><br>Zatti\ndid not wait for guarantees before risking his life. He did not ask\nfor the right to &ldquo;a hundredfold here below&rdquo; as the prior\ncondition before casting his nets; rather did he &ldquo;readily offer\nto assist a priest suffering from consumption and contracted the\ndisease: he never uttered a word of complaint, accepted the illness\nas a gift from God and bore its consequences with fortitude and\nserenity.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote18anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote18sym\"><sup>18<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Thus\nArtemides&rsquo; generosity was something he paid for even before his\nreligious profession, and it was a high price: a debilitating\nillness, a shattered vocational dream, acute suffering, and &ndash;\nabove all &ndash; total uncertainty. But at the crossroads of faith\nand promise, the gospel of vocation brought about the wonders of\nholiness in this life, right from his youth.<br><br>Zatti&rsquo;s\npromise was pure, disinterested, like his faith, and it meant that\nthe integrity of his abandonment to God&rsquo;s plan and the\ngenerosity of his self-giving and self-commitment shone forth,\nshowing his genuine theological depth: Artemides made his own the\nlife of the obedient Son who allows himself to be totally dictated to\nand destined by the Father&rsquo;s love for the salvation of the\nworld.<br><br>Zatti&rsquo;s\nvocational alphabet was as profound as it was simple and clear: &ldquo;I\nbelieved, I promised&rdquo;. Zatti believed and promised as radically\nas the Gospel because he had already practised the Lord&rsquo;s\nPassion as the rule for his faith and dedication, as he never tired\nof saying in his letters to family members: &ldquo;Our joys are our\ncrosses, our comfort is in suffering, our life is our tears, but with\nthe ever dear and inseparable companion by our side, the hope of\nreaching beautiful paradise when our pilgrimage on earth is\ncompleted.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote19anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote19sym\"><sup>19<\/sup><\/a><br><br>The\ncross is the rule of faith, and teaches how Christian belief is not a\nmere knowing something but entrusting oneself to Someone by promising\nHim not something, but oneself. Formed by the cross, even before\nundertaking the journey of religious life, Artemides did not <i>promise\n<\/i>but\n<i>promised\nhimself<\/i>,\ndid not <i>make\na vow<\/i>,\nbut <i>vowed\nhimself<\/i>,\nand thus reflected the features of the Son who &ldquo;came into the\nworld&hellip; he said: &lsquo;Sacrifices and offerings you have not\ndesired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt-offerings and\nsin-offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said: &ldquo;See,\nGod, I have come to do your will, O God&rdquo; (in the scroll of the\nbook it is written of me)&rsquo;&rdquo; (<i>He<\/i><i>b<\/i>\n10: 5-7).<br><br>And,\nstill in the school of the Lord Jesus, Zatti learned that the radical\nnature of promising oneself is matched by the growing boldness of\nfaith. Those who give themselves completely to God can abandon\nthemselves to the certainty of receiving everything from Him, and\nArtemides never tired of reminding us of this in his letters: &ldquo;I\nrecommend that you should not be afraid or ashamed to ask for graces.\nAsk, and you shall obtain; and the more you ask, the more you shall\nobtain; for the one who asks much, receives much; the who asks\nlittle, receives little; and the one who asks nothing, receives\nnothing. [&#8230;] I will not stand here listing the graces that you must\nask for; you know them well. I only place one before your eyes: that\nwe may all love and serve God in this world and then enjoy Him in the\nnext.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote20anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote20sym\"><sup>20<\/sup><\/a><br><br><b>1.3\nThe Gospel of dedication: &ldquo;I recovered&rdquo;<\/b><br><br>&ldquo;<i>I\nrecovered&rdquo;<\/i>\nis the verb with which Zatti sealed the event that introduced him to\nSalesian life.<br><br>What\ndoes\n<i>&ldquo;I\nrecovered&rdquo; <\/i>mean?\nCertainly,\nthe tuberculosis that had undermined his health was overcome by Zatti\nand in a way that surprised the doctors:\n&ldquo;In\nthe Viedma Process, the court asked whether the recovery was\nmiraculous. As far as we know, it was not instantaneous but,\naccording to the doctors&#8230; who knew Zatti well until his death, it\nwas extraordinary due to the scarcity and ineffectiveness of the\ncures of the time, the continuity of his recovery and the more than\nnormal physical robustness that the Servant of God always enjoyed,\ndespite his life of hardship. Our Lady&rsquo;s intervention seems\nundeniable, whether it was a miracle or an extraordinary grace.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote21anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote21sym\"><sup>21<\/sup><\/a><br><br>The\nfinger of God, however, acted in its own unmistakable style: God did\nnot eradicate the illness by restoring Artemides&rsquo; life to its\npre-disease condition, nor did he unravel the mystery typical of\nevery divine design and human existence. Thus, as we know, &ldquo;while\nnoting the improvements in the Servant of God&rsquo;s health, the\nSuperiors were not fully persuaded about his future chances.\nTuberculosis, in those days, never gave certainty of recovery and\ndefinitive cure; the <i>curriculum<\/i>\nof studies that the Servant of God would have to tackle at his age\n(23-24), was still long and certainly not suitable for someone who\nhad had tuberculosis; on the other hand, he had already begun to work\nin the Pharmacy, in an occupation suitable for a layman, and\neverything leads one to believe he did so with success and mutual\nsatisfaction; perhaps Fr Garrone was exerting some pressure to keep\nhim with him in his work. Given all these circumstances, the\nSuperiors, then, had to put it to the Servant of God &ndash; who\ncertainly, from all that appears in his writings, had decided to\nleave the world and consecrate himself to God &ndash; to become a\nSalesian religious, but as a coadjutor (brother): the solution seemed\nthe most prudent in view of his still uncertain health: material work\nrequired less effort than a long period of strict studies.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote22anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote22sym\"><sup>22<\/sup><\/a><br><br>God&rsquo;s\nmystery deepened with his cure, and Artemide&rsquo;s faith was asked\nfor a purification that was perhaps more severe than the one imposed\nby his loss of health: to sacrifice the direction his\nvocation\nwas to take.\nThus\nArtemides was led to deepen the path of purification that God\nrequired of him: deliverance from illness was not a regaining of the\nstrength which allows an enterprising young man to &ldquo;take hold\nof life again&rdquo;. In its own way his recovery became the desert\nof a new poverty, so that Zatti&rsquo;s life would be a free space\nfor God in the radical call to a new abandonment.<br><br>God\ncured Artemides of tuberculosis in order to renew in him the miracle\nof salvation from self-attachment, of detachment even from his own\ngood plans: &ldquo;It is to be assumed that abandoning the aspiration\nto the priesthood was a great spiritual suffering for the Servant of\nGod, such was the impetus and spirit of sacrifice with which he had\nundertaken the journey towards this goal. However, it is marvellous\nand indicative of extraordinary spiritual strength that there was\nnever a word of complaint or even a word of regret or nostalgia&hellip;\nfor this reversal in the perspective of his life.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote23anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote23sym\"><sup>23<\/sup><\/a><br><br>&ldquo;I\nrecovered&rdquo;, then, is the voice of coherence in Zatti&rsquo;s\nvocational alphabet. When God calls and his creature responds, the\nSpirit does not merely repair human precariousness but fulfils God&rsquo;s\ndream &ldquo;See, I am making all things new&rdquo; (<i>Rev<\/i>\n21:5). Thus, while sickness inclines the human heart to withdraw into\nitself, Zatti&rsquo;s believing and promising, nourished by love for\nthe Lord Jesus and the Cross, produced true health: greater\nself-forgetfulness and unconditional submission to God, which led him\nto be the humble apostle of the poorest, the sick and, among them, to\nbecome the apostle of the strangest cases; in short, apostle of the\nabandoned and discarded of this world.<br><br>The\nArtemides reborn to greater poverty had surrendered himself even\nfurther, in full and active trust, to the Father&rsquo;s plan: &ldquo;<i>Ex\nauditu<\/i>\nI can say that [in the life of the Servant of God] there was a\ngeneral desire for God to be glorified. As I knew him, I can assure\nyou that he lived for the glory of God.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote24anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote24sym\"><sup>24<\/sup><\/a><br><br>The\nsubordination of everything to the glory of God and the sacrifice of\none&rsquo;s own views &ndash; including one&rsquo;s plans for the\ngood &ndash; in order to comply with God&rsquo;s wisdom, which alone\nrealises the fullness of Love, would be essential not only to the\nspiritual experience of this extraordinary Salesian but also to the\n<i>pedagogy\nof pain<\/i>\nthat he would practice due to the specific nature of his mission.<br><br>In\nZatti&rsquo;s &ldquo;I recovered&rdquo; not only a grace but a school\nwas fulfilled, and both were moulded by the finger of God for the\ngood of his brothers and sisters: free from illness, Artemides would\nserve the sick for a lifetime, after passing through the <i>true\nrecovery<\/i>\nthat would make him a <i>true\ndoctor<\/i>\nfor the creatures he would bend over.<br><br>&ldquo;He\noften made the sign of the Cross and had the sick make it; he loved\nto teach it to children. Faith and medicine formed a symbiosis in\nhim; without faith he did not cure, nor did he cure without medicine.\nNor did he see any dichotomy between the soul and the body; the human\nbeing was one, and he cured this human being: body and soul.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote25anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote25sym\"><sup>25<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Only\nbecause he was led by the hand of God to experience healing as dying\nto self could Zatti be close to the sick with the medicine of\nIncarnate and Crucified Love, dispensing comfort, light and hope.<br><br><b>2.\n<\/b><b>AN\nEASTER WITNESS<\/b><br><br>If\n&ndash; because of the way he was reached by God&rsquo;s call  &ndash;\nthe <i>Gospel\nof vocation<\/i>\nshines out in an original and very relevant way in Zatti&rsquo;s\nlife, his apostolic sowing is fulfilled as the skill of caring in the\nlight of Easter.<br><br>Being\nconsistent with Easter is the rule of fidelity of every Christian\napostolate: the practice of this rule reaches splendour in the\nsaints, bringing the life of God into the labours of human beings, \nhistory, the world, thus building up the Church.<br><br>Zatti\npractised the fatigue of human suffering with paschal passion and\nthus built up the Church as a true field hospital (as Pope Francis\ncontinues to say today), precisely by transforming two hospitals\nbuilt &ldquo;at the end of the world&rdquo; into living cells of the\nChurch.<br><br>The\nhospitals, first of all the San Jos&eacute; and then the Sant&rsquo;Isidro,\nwere a valuable and unique health resource for the care of the poor\nin Viedma and the Rio Negro region in particular at the turn of the\ncentury (19th, heading into the 20th): Zatti&rsquo;s heroism made\nthem places that radiated God&rsquo;s love and where health care\nbecame an experience of salvation.<br><br>Zatti\nconsigned his life to the parable of the Good Samaritan. The\nSamaritan is Christ, God who is close to us (in his Beloved Son) and\nwho knows of no indifference or contempt but offers himself, in\nadvance, to healing even the least of his sons and daughters through\nthe closeness of love, so that the evils of history will not condemn\nany of these little ones to perish outside Jerusalem.<br><br>Here\nis God&rsquo;s miracle: in that pocket handkerchief piece of\nPatagonian territory where Zatti&rsquo;s life flowed, a page of the\nGospel came to life. The Good Samaritan found a face, hands and\npassion, above all for the little ones, the poor, sinners, the least.\nThus a hospital became the Father&rsquo;s Inn,  became a sign of a\nChurch that sought to be rich in gifts of humanity and Grace, through\nself-giving, service and living the commandment of love of God and\nneighbour.<br><br>There\nare numerous witnesses who allow us to contemplate the experience of\nthe Church accessible in that field hospital brought to life by\nZatti&rsquo;s heart on fire: by letting them speak, the charm of\nArtemides concerned with curing those who entrusted themselves to him\nemerges once again, both with the remedies of his medical skill, his\npresence, sympathy, prayer for all and with all, and with the\neveryday expression of faith of this humble Salesian. All this\ncertainly proved more effective than many medicines.<br><br><b>2.1.\nEaster care and service (<\/b><i><b>diakonia<\/b><\/i><b>)\nof wounded lives<\/b><br><br>Where\nthere is holiness the Church spreads, and where the Church is built\nup there is holiness. Those who met Zatti, those who were welcomed\ninto his hospital, experienced fraternity and experienced the Church\nin this fraternity.<br><br>In\nthe radical style of the Gospel, Zatti lived the certainty that\nservice, the characteristic feature of his vocation &ndash; <i>diakonia<\/i>\n&ndash; makes the face of the Church credible, recognisable, lovable.\nThe door that is service attracts the human heart, especially when it\nis tried by life and suffering, and opens to the experience of\nmeeting Jesus the true Good Samaritan, and Zatti did his best to live\nas a Good Samaritan.\n&ldquo;The\nhospital and the houses of the poor, which he visited night and day\nusing a bicycle now considered a historical relic in the city of\nViedma, were the front line of his mission.  He lived the total\ndonation of himself to God and the dedication of all his strength to\nthe good of his neighbour.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote26anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote26sym\"><sup>26<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Zatti\nwas a witness of service, and just as Jesus gave himself up to the\nend, Zatti carried out, to the point of heroism, in the footsteps of\nhis Lord, a fully Christian gift of self and <i>diakonia<\/i>.\nIt is worth emphasising, in the unanimous words of witnesses, the\nextraordinary characteristics of Zatti&rsquo;s evangelical <i>diakonia<\/i>:\nthe universality of his dedication, the totality of his self-giving,\nthe generosity born of God being at his side, in obedience to Him,\naccomplished in Him and for Him.<br><br>That\nZatti&rsquo;s service knew of no favouritism, made no preference of\nindividuals was visible to all who knew him: &ldquo;I know that he\nvisited the prison to look after the sick. He was helpful and\nfriendly with unbelievers and enemies of the Church. I remember a\ndoctor commenting on the title of Father Entraigas&rsquo; book &lsquo;The\nKinsman of All the Poor&rsquo; saying that it should be corrected to\n&lsquo;Kinsman of everyone&rsquo; because of the fairness with which\nhe [Zatti] did not distinguish between all those who sought him\nout.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote27anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote27sym\"><sup>27<\/sup><\/a><br><br>If\nthere was a preference for someone in Zatti&rsquo;s service and\nself-giving, it was the preference taught by the Good Shepherd,\nsensitive above all to the fate of the most injured and lost sheep:\n&ldquo;It was one of [Zatti&rsquo;s] predilections that he gave\nhimself totally to God in these humble, defenceless people or those\nwith infirmities that were so repulsive that when someone wanted to\nsend them to a hospice because they had been in the San Jos&eacute;\nHospital for many years, he replied that these true <i>lightning\nrods<\/i>\nof the Hospital should not be abandoned.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote28anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote28sym\"><sup>28<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Zatti,\nthen, served with his whole self, consuming himself in generosity\nwithout measure in the most disparate forms of feverish activity\naimed only at meeting the demands of all: &ldquo;Since his kindness\nand good will in serving others was known to all, everyone turned to\nhim for the most disparate things&#8230; Rectors of houses in the\nProvince wrote to him for medical advice, sent confreres to him for\nassistance, and entrusted service people who had become incapacitated\nto his hospital. The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians were no\ndifferent from the Salesians in asking for favours. Italian migrants\nasked for help; those who had been well cared for at the Hospital had\npeople write to Italy, asked for files, as if it were an expression\nof gratitude, and sent relatives and friends to be cared for because\nof the respect they had for his care. Civil authorities often had\nincapacitated people to care for and resorted to Zatti. Seeing he was\non good terms with the authorities, prisoners and others recommended\nthat he ask for clemency for them or get their problems solved.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote29anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote29sym\"><sup>29<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Zatti&rsquo;s\nservice was continuous and selfless and precisely because of this,\nunrestrained by touchiness, ingratitude, lack of correspondence or\nnagging demands: &ldquo;Concern for his neighbour in the servant of\nGod was extraordinary in his daily work; from morning to night he\nlived for his beloved sick. These circumstances increased at night,\nwhen no matter what time they called him, he would rush  to them&#8230; I\nknow that he often had to suffer the excessive demands of some\npatients, their inordinate needs, whims as in the case&#8230; of patients\nwith mental illness. The Servant of God never lost his patience. I\nremember seeing him on more than one occasion go out in bad weather,\ncold and rain on his bicycle (not the latest model) to care for the\nsick among the population, riding along quite impassable roads.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote30anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote30sym\"><sup>30<\/sup><\/a><br><br>What\ndeeply marked Zatti&rsquo;s <i>diakonia<\/i>,\nhis service to all, was his being in the company of the Lord. No one\nmissed how competent this generous nurse was, but equally evident was\nhis being on a mission with Jesus:\n&ldquo;One\nvery concrete personal item: I was a novice and then a newly-ordained\npriest, and I came to Viedma because of some pustules especially on\nmy neck and face and the Servant of God always welcomed me with a\nsmile, cured me by cauterising me with a hot tip,\nhumming\nthe <i>Magnificat<\/i>\nwhile he worked and then encouraging me to offer these sufferings up\nfor holy perseverance in my vocation.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote31anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote31sym\"><sup>31<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Again,\nobedience to God and his plan shone out in Zatti as the soul of\nhumble and trusting service meant to inspire feelings of abandonment\nto God in the poor and the sick. Everything found inspiration in God,\nand Zatti carried out everything in accordance with God&rsquo;s\ncommand, so that the service of this great Salesian was a continuous\nand fascinating practice of the precept of love:\nhe\n&ldquo;loved\nGod above all things. For him all things of this earth were passing\nand secondary. For me, Zatti was constant, unwavering in his love for\nGod and in his piety. Not only in acts of piety but in all service to\nhis neighbour he always kept the name of God on his lips. He urged\nall those close to him to live prayerfully. Zatti was always an\nexample, his piety was above the ordinary.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote32anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote32sym\"><sup>32<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Zatti&rsquo;s\nservice, however, as is always the case with saints, was a <i>diakonia<\/i>,\na service performed certainly in obedience to God, but above all in\nthe name of God, lending God his face, his heart, his hands in the\ncertainty &ndash; a source of great boldness &ndash; of being but a\nsmall instrument of his great Power and Providence. Thus Zatti worked\nwith extraordinary generosity but with total abandon because he knew\nthat it was his Lord who acted in him: &ldquo;He always hoped and\ntrusted in God. The serenity with which he overcame difficulties was\na demonstration of his hope in God. He always said: &lsquo;God will\nprovide&rsquo;, but he said it with full confidence and hope.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote33anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote33sym\"><sup>33<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Zatti,\nbeliever and true man, was &ldquo;moved by love for his neighbour,\nbecause he saw the suffering Christ in every sick person. Such was\nthe kindness he showed the sick that he did not deny them anything&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote34anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote34sym\"><sup>34<\/sup><\/a>;\n&ldquo;For the Servant of God, love was manifested in the charity\nwith which he assisted the &lsquo;other Christs&rsquo;. With his\nGospel notion that whatever his disciples would do for their\nneighbour they would be doing to Christ himself, the Servant of God\nhabitually behaved charitable towards all, even when dealing with the\nunbelieving or indifferent.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote35anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote35sym\"><sup>35<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Either\nby outwardly living a Church of service capable of reaching out to\nits poor, or by serving those who knocked at the doors of his\nhospital &ndash; first at San Jos&eacute; and then at Sant&rsquo;Isidro\n&ndash; so that they might encounter God&rsquo;s love there, Zatti\ngave his whole self to God, becoming a servant of the Lord, an\nauthentic missionary of the Church in the name of the Lord Jesus.<br><br><b>2.2\n<\/b><b>Easter\nfraternity and communion (<\/b><i><b>koinonia<\/b><\/i><b>)\nin shared life<\/b><br><br>Zatti&rsquo;s\nholiness brings us to the heart of the Church not only because of the\nuniqueness of his <i>diakonia<\/i>,\nbut also because of the quality of communion that flourished through\nhis giving of himself to others. What communion was for Zatti is\nattested as much by the testimonies of those who witnessed its\naction, as by the way in which he went through the most trying\nmoments that marked his life.<br><br>A\nparticularly painful event for him occurred when his superiors opted\nfor the demolition of the San Jos&eacute; Hospital to which Artemis\nhad dedicated all his energy; Viedma lacked the premises for the\nepiscopacy, and in order to build a suitable bishop&rsquo;s\nresidence, it was decided to demolish the old hospital, with the\nburden of transferring all health services to the premises of the\nAgricultural School of Sant&rsquo;Isidro, the site of another\nSalesian work in Viedma.<br><br>For\nZatti, the demolition was not a simple building operation, it was a\nraw and crucifying trial: not only did the rubble of an old hospital\nlie before his eyes, but the doubt that his life might have collapsed\nwith those walls,\nand that his renunciations and privations, misunderstandings and\nvigils, headaches and sweat, dedication to others and self-sacrifice\nhad also ended there. Zatti was not spared this chalice, but remained\nupright with Christian fortitude and gentleness: &ldquo;at the time\nof the demolition of the San Jos&eacute; hospital, he had first\nproposed that the bishop&rsquo;s palace be built elsewhere and the\nland be exchanged; then, given the inexorability of the demolition,\nwhich&#8230; he felt enormously because of his extreme human sensitivity,\nhe did not rebel or protest; on the contrary, he calmed those who\ntried to make him rebel.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote36anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote36sym\"><sup>36<\/sup><\/a><br><br>As\nis always the case in the lives of saints, the trial was both a dark\ncrucible and a luminous demonstration: with his serenity of spirit\nand alacrity in setting up the new health services building, Zatti\nshowed what the foundation of his dedication was: the real hospital\nhe had built could not be reduced to rubble because it was an\ninvention of charity, the charity that &ldquo;never ends&rdquo; (1\nCor 13:8),\nand\nthat expresses the miracle of communion, a reflection of the eternal\nlife of God. Zatti&rsquo;s true hospital was not an earthly building\ndedicated to San Jos&eacute; or San&rsquo;Isidro; in those rooms, his\nprofessionalism welcomed everyone, through the door of service, so\nthat they might experience the true and full tenderness of God.<br><br>Zatti\ndid not preach the catechism of communion, but by his holiness he\nembodied it; and his\nhospital\nwas not an imposing building, but an evident, daily miracle of\nservice and communion. There &ldquo;The Servant of God directed the\nstaff, which was made up of various people who lived in the hospital,\nlike a superior of a religious community&#8230; The staff loved him,\nrevered him and followed his rules to the letter. Nobody ever lacked\nwhat was necessary: moral, spiritual or technical for the fulfilment\nof their duties, and this because of the personal concern of the\nServant of God.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote37anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote37sym\"><sup>37<\/sup><\/a><br><br>That\nit was Zatti&rsquo;s spiritual stature that made him the architect of\ncommunion is everyone&rsquo;s belief: &ldquo;During the years I was\nat school in the College of St Francis de Sales, the Hospital was a\ndependency of the College and one knew everything that went on here\nas well as there. I never heard of any quarrels or misunderstandings\nbetween Zatti&rsquo;s co-workers that could have any relevance and be\nthe cause of gossip in the village or in the school.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote38anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote38sym\"><sup>38<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Christian\ncommunion, when it is brought about, does not go unnoticed for its\nbeauty that surprises a world laid low by rancour and division; it is\nonly the saints, however, who know the price of communion at its\nfullest, how it is quite foreign to on-the-spot reaction, artificial\nsympathy or ease without sacrifice. The saints know how much\ncommunion costs because they know what its source is: the Lord&#8217;s\nwounded side, which performs the work of reconciliation among and\nwith human beings.<br><br>Zatti\nknew that only the Blood of the Lord creates communion, and he chose\nthe path of faithful and daily participation in the sacrifice of the\nSon with a smile on his face, fortitude in his soul, peace in his\nheart, his hands pierced by work and fatigue. Making the commitment\nrequired by his sacrifice almost imperceptible, Zatti &ldquo;was a\nman who radiated peace, [a man] of action, dynamic, who showed no\nnervousness, was cheerful. It was common for him to joke&#8230; to cheer\nup a sick person&#8230; He was a man who did not waver in his religious\npractices&hellip; a sign of his effort to improve himself.\nPersonally, what I noticed most about him was his charity and\nhumility.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote39anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote39sym\"><sup>39<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Zatti&rsquo;s\nhumility built up the Church and made the communion of which he\nhimself was the creator a Christian communion; those who do not die\nto themselves every day day, carry with them the heaviness of\nselfishness that wounds communion. Only humility heals relationships\nand overcomes the lure of power, control, seduction, prevarication.\nWithout many words or speeches, Zatti knew that only with humility\ncan one be the builder of <i>koinonia<\/i>\nwhich is the result of and condition for effective and unobtrusive\n<i>diakonia<\/i>\nthat does not create dependence but restores dignity; only humility\nserves in a generative way, fostering a communion that nurtures bonds\nand promotes autonomy. Humility is God&rsquo;s virtue because it is\nthe secret of every father, the hope of every son, the spirit of\nevery true life.<br><br>Zatti\nwas able to be a servant and creator of communion because of the\nhumility that made him a simple child of God, alive with the life of\nthe Spirit, and father of all: &ldquo;I believe that in Zatti&rsquo;s\nrelationship with his co-workers there were never any problems\nbecause he was like a father to everyone. I remember that everyone\nmissed him a lot when he was away in Rome for the Canonisation of Don\nBosco&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote40anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote40sym\"><sup>40<\/sup><\/a>;\n&ldquo;Zatti&rsquo;s relationship with the hospital was like that of\na father. I know of no misunderstandings or difficulties: if there\nwere any, I believe they were not on his part. From the nurses with\nwhom I dealt&#8230;, I heard nothing but praise and no complaints.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote41anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote41sym\"><sup>41<\/sup><\/a><br><br><b>2.3\n<\/b><b>Easter\ncloseness and the <\/b><i><b>martyria<\/b><\/i><b>\nof life without end<\/b><br><br>Our\nconfrere Artemide Zatti truly testified by his life (<i>martyria<\/i>)\nthat the Lord is risen. &ldquo;I am the light of the world&rdquo; (<i>Jn<\/i>\n8:12) the Lord said of himself. The Gospel is Light that seeks to\npenetrate people&rsquo;s lives, and Light for the world is the\nChurch, God&rsquo;s living sacrament. Zatti&rsquo;s holiness,\nnourished by the Jesus&rsquo;s Passover, is also light, and the poor\nand sick of Viedma in particular experienced this. Zatti welcomed\nthem through the door of service, kept them within the walls of\ncommunion, but so as to offer them, through his testimony of life,\nthe light of the Gospel, the splendour of Easter that illuminates the\nChurch.<br><br>Believers\nand non-believers alike were thunderstruck by Zatti&rsquo;s words and\ngestures; his testimony was shadowless, extraordinarily Salesian,\nreached everyone and proclaimed  two decisive features of the God of\nJesus through two words: Providence and Paradise.<br><br>There\nis no Church where there is no explicit proclamation of the name of\nGod, a proclamation paid for with the martyrdom of life, in the sign\nof blood or charity; where Zatti&rsquo;s service and communion went,\nthe proclamation of the name of God, of these two names that are so\nChristian and so Salesian, resounded: Providence and Paradise.<br><br>Zatti\nproclaimed with his life that everything in God is love, but\nconcrete, attentive, boundless and detailed love for each creature:\nGod&rsquo;s love is Providence. God&rsquo;s Providence, however, is\nnot timeless but eternal, and then comes the second name: Paradise;\nParadise is the proper name for God&rsquo;s desire in history to\nprovide for his creatures in order to have them with him forever, for\neternity.<br><br>Zatti\nwas a teacher of this Christian alphabet: &ldquo;It was his constant\ndesire that the Lord be known and loved. He testified to this by the\njoy he expressed when a new patient, who knew nothing of God, became\na devout Christian. His first concern was to look after them in a\ncaring manner and inspire confidence in divine Providence.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote42anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote42sym\"><sup>42<\/sup><\/a><br><br>His\nsense of Providence was not the obligatory response to precarious\nconditions, a sort of last resort offered to shipwrecked people so\nthey didn&rsquo;t founder in difficult times. Witnessing to\nProvidence for Zatti meant teaching them to talk to God, call him by\nname with Christian trust, because &ldquo;he was very much convinced\nof the Gospel principles and one that was firmly engraved on his\nheart and mind was &lsquo;strive first for the kingdom of God and his\nrighteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well&rsquo;\n(<i>Mt<\/i>\n6:33). He had learnt in Don Bosco&rsquo;s school &ndash; having read\nmuch about his life &ndash; never to mistrust God&rsquo;s help,\nespecially when he is honoured, as he wishes, in each of our\nneighbours.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote43anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote43sym\"><sup>43<\/sup><\/a><br><br>But\na Providence without Paradise would not allow the proclamation of\nGod&rsquo;s name to withstand the impact of history with its burden\nof fatigue, suffering and death. Inside and beyond the hospital,\nZatti inspired a Church that was always visited by pain and death,\nand this demanded a fullness of faith and witness, demanded that he\nproclaim the name of God&rsquo;s only wish for humankind: Paradise.\nWhen he bore witness to Paradise, Zatti showed his certainty\n&ldquo;regarding eternal life and its acquisition by grace and good\nworks; this he manifested especially in the face of death&#8230; I\npersonally heard him rejoice at being able to give religious\nassistance to the sick and exclaim&#8230; &lsquo;Today we have sent two\nor three to heaven&rsquo;&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote44anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote44sym\"><sup>44<\/sup><\/a><br><br>With\nthese two names of God, Zatti evangelised life and death, joy and\npain, health and illness as true Christian witness, as a martyr in\nthe daily martyrdom of charity. Zatti&rsquo;s proclamation and\n<i>martyria<\/i>\ndid not divulge a Gospel of circumstance or opportunity but spread\nSalt, Light, Yeast, lent face, heart and hands to a Gospel that asks\nfor life and pervades it throughout, dissolves conundrums and\nconquers anguish with the warmth of Truth:\n&ldquo;From the time I knew him, he always gave more importance to\nreligious practices than to his work, although he did this with\nperseverance. He often quoted the Scriptures, especially the Gospels,\nto console the sick or encourage virtue&#8230; It was very difficult for\nhim not to put a spiritual thought into his conversations. Once,\nwhile talking to him, I mentioned the discovery of some new medicines\nsuch as penicillin and sulphonamides; the Servant of God listened to\nme and, when I finished speaking, he said: &lsquo;It is true, it is\ntrue, but people will still continue to die&rsquo;.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote45anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote45sym\"><sup>45<\/sup><\/a><br><br>The\ntruth of the Gospel in its entirety enlightened Zatti&rsquo;s\nhospital, as it had enlightened the Oratory in Don Bosco&rsquo;s\ntime: that is why in the hospital at Viedma, as within the walls at\nValdocco, death was not feared, nor were expedients multiplied to\nsoften the scandal of death or hide its evidence, deceptions that are\ndangerous to the human heart. Zatti faced death with the testimony of\nthe Gospel of life: life with its feet on the ground, and therefore\nindustrious and practical, but with its heart in heaven, and\ntherefore confident and serene: &ldquo;the only motive of his life\nwas the expectation of a heavenly reward. He never acted to gain\nmoney or reputation, but did everything in the hope of future\nhappiness.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote46anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote46sym\"><sup>46<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Albeit\nin all simplicity, his commitment to live the Gospel with his heart\nrooted in the ultimate prize was to bring the God of Providence and\nParadise into every human wound and death, so that Life and\nResurrection might flourish there. This made Zatti&rsquo;s testimony\nblessed and he invoked its presence when the precious and rare\nmedicines of hope and consolation were indispensable. The whole town\nof Viedma knew this, as witnesses have confirmed with astonishing\nunanimity: they all called on Zatti, and he would rush to hearten and\nconsole, giving this Christian medicine that he drew upon for his own\nlife in the Grace of God, from the Spirit himself, the Consoler.\nThus\nit became &ldquo;extraordinary in the Servant of God that he was able\nto instil hope in the sick, a fact that contributed almost\nmiraculously to healing by uplifting the soul of the suffering\nindividual.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote47anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote47sym\"><sup>47<\/sup><\/a>\nZatti\nbears witness, including to the martyrdom of charity, that the Lord\nis God of heaven and earth. Zatti bears witness to this with the\npassion of the saints which knows no measure: &ldquo;I remember one\npatient telling Zatti that he was always preparing him for heaven but\nthat he needed to prepare him a little for earth. Another fact shows\nthe atmosphere of the hospital: a nurse once insisted on preparing a\npatient who was not so sick for death and who is actually still\nalive.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote48anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote48sym\"><sup>48<\/sup><\/a><br><br><b>2.4\n<\/b><b>Easter\njoy and the liturgy of life redeemed<\/b><br><br>With\nhis extraordinary fidelity to the central occasions of Christian\nlife, Artemides Zatti was nourished by the Bread of the Word, the\nBread of Forgiveness, the Bread of Heaven, and his life was\ntransfigured, ever more intensely, for the benefit of a mission rich\nin fruits that grew. Thus, the life of Grace, intensely lived by this\nson of Don Bosco, reached out to all those who met him, without\ndistinction: the sick and co-workers, confreres and authorities, the\npoor and benefactors, in Zatti they touched the life of the Lord\nthrough the power of the sacramental mystery that is shared among\npeople in the communion of the people of God. And so the whole\nChurch, in the sacraments, by the power of the Holy Spirit,\ncelebrates the Paschal Mystery and ensures nourishment for people\nthrough the sacraments for the journey and for remedies that heal\nhumanity wounded by evil and death.<br><br>This\nis the Church: It flourishes and grows where service and fellowship\nproclaim the name of God, bear witness to the Word of Jesus, are\nnourished by His Body, healed by His Forgiveness. Zatti did not\nsimply do all this, but was all this. Because of his correspondence\nto Grace which made his life holy, we recognise not only the Lord&rsquo;s\ngestures and words in him, but experience his very life: Zatti was a\n&ldquo;living tabernacle&rdquo;, and his radiant testimony aroused\nquestions, intentions, conversion, even in those who were far from\nclose participation in the mystery of the Lord.<br><br>Zatti&rsquo;s\ndedication, revealing more than human roots, becomes a universally\nconvincing proof of the supernatural power of the sacraments; his, in\nfact, was &ldquo;a supernatural and extraordinary love of\nneighbour&#8230; He was willing to make any sacrifice and that is why the\ndifficult seemed easy for him. I think the difficult circumstances of\nhis charitable work were the shortage of personnel, the demand for\nhis assistance at all times, not being affected by bad weather,\nserving all kinds of people. I remember a relative of mine who was\nill coming to visit on a day when the weather was very bad, and when\nsomeone asked him, &lsquo;Are you going out in this weather, Bro.\nZatti?&rsquo; he replied: &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t have any other kind of\nweather!&rsquo;&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote49anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote49sym\"><sup>49<\/sup><\/a><br><br>It\nis a rule of the Christian liturgy to be able to give good proof of\nitself in the life of the believer through order, harmony, effective\nand supernatural energy. Zatti was a Christian, a consecrated\nSalesian layman of Don Bosco. He was a living stone of the Church, a\nwitness to Easter, because the commandment of Love became visible in\nhis works, and that made people recognise God in their neighbour and\ntheir neighbour in God. But through his life Zatti also taught that\nthe strength needed to practise that commandment is supernatural and\ncan only come from God, from his sacraments and from prayer and union\nwith Him.\n&ldquo;Zatti\npractised charity in difficult circumstances due to a lack of\nfinancial resources. Also because his activity went beyond the\nordinary, due to the amount of hours he dedicated to his commitments\nwithout omitting his religious obligations. Knowing him as we did, we\nwondered how he could sustain such great effort without the rest that\nis usually considered necessary.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote50anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote50sym\"><sup>50<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Two\nepisodes are worthy of recall as an example of the liturgy of life\nwhich made Zatti was first a disciple and then an apostle of the\nCrucified and Risen Lord; firstly, the demolition of the old San Jos&eacute;\nhospital, with the need to transfer the sick to Sant&rsquo;Isidro: &ldquo;I\nhave no information that Zatti was notified of an eviction date, and\nhe certainly had not received anything from his provincial, otherwise\nI would have known&#8230; The emotional state into which Zatti fell when\nthe sick had to be removed in case the rubble fell on them, could\nhave been psychologically fatal. He wept bitterly, but after praying\nbefore the Blessed Sacrament, he set to work with calm energy&rdquo;;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote51anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote51sym\"><sup>51<\/sup><\/a>\nand\nthen there\nwas\nhis service to the dying: &ldquo;A young man was about to die, and\nZatti was conversing with him after giving him communion; at a\ncertain point the young man began shouting &lsquo;Zatti, I&#8217;m going to\ndie!&rsquo; and at the same moment got out of bed; looking him in the\neyes, Zatti smiled and said: &lsquo;How wonderful, you are going to\nheaven!&rsquo; and the young man fell back with a smile that copied\nZatti&rsquo;s, and which remained etched on his face.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote52anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote52sym\"><sup>52<\/sup><\/a><br><br>This\nis what happens when the Eucharist becomes life and the Paschal\nMystery becomes daily practice: human greatness is transformed, by\nthe power of the Spirit, and every action of a believer is performed\nin Christ, for Christ and with Christ, making life a liturgy and\ntransfusing the holy gifts of the liturgy into life.<br><br>Our\ndear Artemides Zatti, indebted in everything to the Mysteries of the\nLord, knew that everything could only be achieved thanks to Him;\nhence his humility: &ldquo;I remember that, as my brother Salvador\nwas very ill with typhoid fever, the Servant of God went to treat him\nseveral times a day. On one occasion, meeting up with him on his way\nto Salvador&rsquo;s house, I was distressed and said to him: &lsquo;Bro.\nZatti, please save my brother!&rsquo; He turned and looked me in the\neyes, and said sternly: &lsquo;Don&#8217;t be blasphemous, only God\nsaves!&rsquo;&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote53anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote53sym\"><sup>53<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Artemides\nZatti&rsquo;s was a life of self-gift, communion, and witness to the\nrisen Lord. A life full of graces that led him to a fully Christian\ndeath: &ldquo;Asked if his pain was constant, strong or otherwise,\nwithout answering directly he said to me: &lsquo;It is a means of\npurification and I am happy because I realise that I am completing\nthe Passion of Christ, something I have inculcated so much in the\nsick.&rsquo;&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote54anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote54sym\"><sup>54<\/sup><\/a><br><br>And\nZatti&rsquo;s offering as the seal of his liturgy was complete,\nunobtrusive, serene and joyful. It deserves to be summed up in a\nlittle story in which, behind the veil of sympathy, Zatti gave those\nwho were looking after him the meaning of his life, which God was\nable to squeeze out to the full because it was mature and complete. A\nfew months before his death, smiling about his illness &ndash; liver\ncancer that turned his face yellow &ndash; Zatti told a nurse that he\n(Zatti) would soon be coloured, too, with make-up! His, however,\nwould be like it is in lemons, the colour of maturity which means the\nfruit is ready to be completely squeezed: &ldquo;You wear make-up? So\ndo I! Within six months I will demonstrate it. The lemon is of no use\nif it is not yellow.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote55anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote55sym\"><sup>55<\/sup><\/a><br><br><b>3.\n INVITATION TO A SPECIAL COMMITMENT<\/b><br><br>This\nwas the title of the last part of Fr Vecchi&rsquo;s letter to which I\nhave referred several times, and which I would like to keep and share\nnow. In the previous pages I have attempted to outline the\nextraordinary figure of our Salesian coadjutor brother Artemides\nZatti in a simple but incisive manner. His life&rsquo;s journey,\nimbued and filled with God, is more than evident. As is his holiness.\nFaced with this great figure, we see the need and importance in our\nCongregation of a special commitment to promote this beautiful\nvocation today. I make Fr Vecchi&rsquo;s words my own in asking of\nevery province, every community, and every brother in the coming\nyears, as of now, &ldquo;<i>a\nrenewed, extraordinary and specific commitment for the vocation of\nthe Salesian Brother <\/i>within\nour\nvocational\npastoral work: in praying for this, in suggesting and proclaiming it,\nin welcoming it and following it up, in living it personally and\ntogether in the community.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote56anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote56sym\"><sup>56<\/sup><\/a>\nThere is no shortage of valuable publications on the figure of the\nSalesian coadjutor brother;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote57anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote57sym\"><sup>57<\/sup><\/a>\nPerhaps what we need at this time is to make our commitment more\nconvincing. I have often said in my visits to the provinces and also\nin my letters that we must first of all be men of faith,\nmore than ever abandoned to the Lord today. Many other strategies and\nplans can help us, but they will not get us out of a profound\ndifficulty.\nOnly <i>trust\nin the Lord and recourse to him <\/i>will.\nThe following testimony of a brother confrere has, in my opinion, a\nparticular force to it: &ldquo;Today too resounds the call &lsquo;Come\nand follow me&rsquo;. And I find it always a source of wonder that\neven today there are young men who seem to lack nothing they would\nneed for heading towards the priesthood, and instead they choose to\nbecome consecrated laymen in the SaIesian Congregation. And so in our\npastoral work for vocations we must have faith in this vocation which\nis complete in itself, and pass on to others esteem for it as by\nosmosis, without any forced comparisons or distortions in respect of\nthe clerical figure. We must be convinced that there are young men\nwho do not identify with the priestly model, but are attracted by\nthat of the consecrated layman. What are the reasons for this choice?\nAll reasons are insufficient: fundamentally it is a mystery of Grace\nand freedom.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote58anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote58sym\"><sup>58<\/sup><\/a><br><br>At\nthis point, I would like to invite you to take a closer look at\nforthcoming publications on both Saint Artemides Zatti and the\nvocation of the Salesian coadjutor brother in our Congregation in the\nvarious regions, and in the proposals of both the Youth Ministry and\nFormation Sectors that will undoubtedly reach us from now on as a\nhelp to the intercession that the new Salesian saint will provide for\neveryone and, undoubtedly in a very special way for his Salesian\ncoadjutor brothers in the world, those who are already here and those\nto come by the Grace of God.<br><br><b>The\npower and beauty of an invitation<\/b><br><br>I\nbelieve we should not end our discussion of the life of Artemides\nZatti without evoking, once again, a letter from 1986 from Cardinal\nJorge Mario Bergoglio, today Pope Francis, written to a Salesian,\ntestifying to a grace received through Zatti&rsquo;s intercession.<br><br>The\nstory is well known: when he was Provincial of the Jesuits in\nArgentina, Father Bergoglio entrusted to Zatti the request to the\nLord for holy vocations to the lay consecrated life for the Society\nof Jesus, and his Province had the grace, within a decade, of\ntwenty-three new religious brother vocations.<br><br>The\nepisode is relevant not only for the main characters in that story &ndash;\nthe Master of the Harvest, a Salesian coadjutor brother saint, the\ncurrent Successor of Peter &ndash; but for its content: the\nvocational power of Zatti&rsquo;s testimony.<br><br>It\nis astonishing that the first Salesian to be canonised, and not\nbecause of blood martyrdom, should be a brother, and a brother who,\nin radical obedience to God, renounced the very form of vocation by\nwhich he had been fascinated, that of the priesthood, to be with Don\nBosco, and then carried out a sacrificial service in the world of\nsickness and suffering.<br><br>However,\nthe strong beauty of this testimony cannot escape us; in him shine\nthe fundamental loves that must enkindle the Salesian&rsquo;s heart:\nlove for God and his will, love for our neighbour in whose suffering\nlimbs we see the Face of Jesus Crucified, love for the Mother of the\nLord, Mediatrix of all grace, love for Don Bosco who promises bread,\nwork and Paradise to every Salesian.<br><br>These\nloves shine forth in the luminous grandeur of Artemides&rsquo;\nreligious life, embraced joyfully and radically and with generous\nresourcefulness.<br><br>Our\nconfrere Artemides Zatti shows us how sensitive the world is to the\nwitness of religious life, provided that this witness is true,\ncredible, authentic: the triumph of his funeral, his reputation for\nholiness, the veneration of his tomb are clear signs of how much\neveryone recognised the finger of God in action in this generous and\nfaithful Salesian: &ldquo;In proportion to the inhabitants of Viedma,\nthe number of people who flocked to the funeral was impressive. From\neverywhere came humble people with small bouquets of flowers. In\naddition to the authorities, there were many other people. In the\ndays [following the death] people were convinced that a saint had\ndied; some went to the grave hoping for miracles: they prayed,\nbrought flowers.&rdquo;<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" name=\"sdfootnote59anc\" href=\"#sdfootnote59sym\"><sup>59<\/sup><\/a><br><br>Artemides\nZatti&#8217;s life woke up a city, and today it touches the whole world\nbecause it spoke of God: he brought the perfume of God&rsquo;s\nvirginal and fruitful love among the poor and the sick, with an\nexemplary practice of chastity; he gave everyone the richness of\nfaith, paying for it with a beloved poverty to the point of giving up\nhis own room to a sick person or bringing a deceased person there to\nremove them from the sight of other patients in a final gesture of\ntenderness and pity; he taught true freedom, obeying the will of the\nsuperiors at the cost of bitter tears, recognising them as mediators\nof God&rsquo;s plan.<br><br>An\nexemplary religious, by this testimony he teaches everyone that the\nhealth to be guarded above every other good is that of the soul, our\nsoul that is so precious because it comes from God and aspires to\nhim, often unconsciously, in the desire to find eternal Love in his\narms.<br><br>May\nZatti&#8217;s loves kindle our loves; may his witness to the Absolute that\nis God, the greatness of the soul and our true homeland inspire our\ngestures and our pastoral passion for a new apostolic fidelity and\nrenewed vocational fruitfulness. May we never lack, as Artemides\nZatti always sought, the maternal protection of Mary Help of\nChristians, and may the devotion to our Mother in every Salesian\nhouse in the world, and in every corner where the Family of Don Bosco\nis found, be a sure road that helps us to live a holiness like that\nof our confrere.<br><br>I\nconclude these words by proposing a prayer to the Father through the\nintercession of the new Salesian coadjutor brother saint, Saint\nArtemides Zatti.<br><br>\n<i><b>Prayer\nof intercession<\/b><\/i><br>\n<i><b>to\nask for vocations of lay Salesians <\/b><\/i>\n<br><br>\nO\nGod, who in St Artemides Zatti<br>\nhave\ngiven us a model Salesian coadjutor brother<br>\nwho,\ndocile to your call<br>\nand\nwith the compassion of the Good Samaritan<br>\nmade\nhimself a neighbour to every human being,  \n<br>\nhelp\nus to recognise the gift of this vocation<br>\nwhich\ntestifies the beauty of consecrated life to the world.<br>\nGive\nus the courage to propose to young people<br>\nthis\nform of evangelical life<br>\nat\nthe service of the little ones and the poor,<br>\nand\nmake those whom you call to this path<br>\nrespond\ngenerously to your invitation.<br>\nWe\nask this through the intercession of Saint Artemides Zatti<br>\nand\nthrough the mediation of Christ our Lord.<br>\nAmen.<br><br>With\ntrue affection and united in the Lord with mutual prayer, \n<br>I\nam yours sincerely,<br><br>&Aacute;ngel\nFern&aacute;ndez Artime, sdb<br><i>Rector\nMajor<\/i><br><br><br>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote1\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\">1<\/a>\n\tJ.E. Vecchi, <i>Beatification\n\tof Bro. Artemides Zatti: A sensational precedent,<\/i>\n\tin AGC 376 (2001), 3.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote2\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote2sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote2anc\">2<\/a>\n\tI have decided to draw up a brief and\n\tconcise profile. Those who would like to know more about the life of\n\tArtemides Zatti can find several biographies on the forthcoming\n\tsaint and also read the biographical profile in Fr Vecchi&#8217;s letter\n\tto which I referred earlier.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote3\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote3sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote3anc\">3<\/a>\n\tCf. <i>Positio,\n\t<\/i>p.35<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote4\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote4sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote4anc\">4<\/a>\n\tCf. J.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi,\n\t<i>op. cit., <\/i>p.\n\t15 and cf. <i>Positio<\/i>,\n\tp. 47.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote5\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote5sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote5anc\">5<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi,\n\t<i>op. cit., <\/i>p.\n\t17 and <i>Positio<\/i>,\n\tp. 79.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote6\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote6sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote6anc\">6<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi, <i>op.\n\tcit., <\/i>p. 18.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote7\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote7sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote7anc\">7<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi,\n\t<i>op. cit., <\/i>p.\n\t20 and <i>Summarium<\/i>,\n\tp. 310, no. 1224.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote8\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote8sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote8anc\">8<\/a>\n\t<i>Positio<\/i>, p. 198<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote9\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote9sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote9anc\">9<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi, <i>op.\n\tcit., <\/i>p. 25.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote10\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote10sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote10anc\">10<\/a>\n\t<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">H.U.\n\tvon Balthasar,<i>\n\tDoes Jesus Know Us?<\/i><i> Do We Know\n\tHim?<\/i>, Ignatius Press, San Francisco\n\t1983, 93-94.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote11\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote11sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote11anc\">11<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi, <i>op.\n\tcit., <\/i>p. 26.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote12\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote12sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote12anc\">12<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi, <i>op.\n\tcit., <\/i>p. 27.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote13\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote13sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote13anc\">13<\/a>\n\t<i>Positio, <\/i>31<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote14\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote14sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote14anc\">14<\/a>\n\t<i>Positio, <\/i>21<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote15\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote15sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote15anc\">15<\/a>\n\t<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">H.U.\n\tvon Balthasar, <i>The\n\tChristian State of Life<\/i>, Ignatius\n\tPress, San Francisco 1977, 39.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote16\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote16sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote16anc\">16<\/a>\n\t<i>Summarium, <\/i>p.\n\t43, n. 160.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote17\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote17sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote17anc\">17<\/a>\n\t<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">H.U.\n\tvon Balthasar, <i>The\n\tChristian State of Life<\/i>, 38-39.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote18\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote18sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote18anc\">18<\/a>\n\t<i>Positio, <\/i>206\n\t(Spiritual profile of the Servant of God).<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote19\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote19sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote19anc\">19<\/a>\n\t<i>Positio super scriptis <\/i>12<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote20\"><br>\n\t<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote20sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote20anc\">20<\/a>\n\t<i>Letter\n\tto his father<\/i>,\n\tViedma 15 June 1908<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote21\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote21sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote21anc\">21<\/a>\n\t<i>Positio, <\/i>75-76<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote22\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote22sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote22anc\">22<\/a>\n\t<i>Positio, <\/i>80<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote23\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote23sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote23anc\">23<\/a>\n\t<i>Positio, <\/i>81<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote24\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote24sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote24anc\">24<\/a>\n\t<i>Summarium<\/i>\n\t15<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote25\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote25sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote25anc\">25<\/a>\n\t<i>Summarium<\/i>\n\t80<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote26\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote26sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote26anc\">26<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi, <i>op.\n\tcit., <\/i>p. 21.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote27\"><br>\n\t<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote27sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote27anc\">27<\/a>\n\tTestimony\n\tof Carlo Tassara, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t126-127<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote28\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote28sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote28anc\">28<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Archbishop Carlos Mariano\n\tPer&eacute;z, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t52<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote29\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote29sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote29anc\">29<\/a>\n\tLuigi Fiora, <i>Biografia<\/i>,\n\t<i>Positio<\/i>\n\t132<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote30\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote30sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote30anc\">30<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Archbishop Carlos Mariano\n\tPer&eacute;z, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t43-47<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote31\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote31sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote31anc\">31<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Archbishop Carlos Mariano\n\tPer&eacute;z, <i>Summ.<\/i>\n\t43<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote32\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote32sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote32anc\">32<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Juan Oscar Garc&iacute;a,\n\t<i>Summ<\/i>. 113<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote33\"><br>\n\t<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote33sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote33anc\">33<\/a>\n\tTestimony\n\tof Ferdinando Enrique Molinari, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t151<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote34\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote34sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote34anc\">34<\/a>\n\tWitness Morero Noelia de Tofoni, Summ 259<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote35\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote35sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote35anc\">35<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Fr Luigi De Roia, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t271<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote36\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote36sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote36anc\">36<\/a>\n\tTestimony of\n\tEnrico Mario Kossman, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t10<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote37\"><br>\n\t<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote37sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote37anc\">37<\/a>\n\tTestimony\n\tof\n\tFr Antonio F. Fern&aacute;ndez Prieto, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t61<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote38\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote38sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote38anc\">38<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Fr\n\tMario Brizzola, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t75<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote39\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote39sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote39anc\">39<\/a>\n\tTestimony of\n\tJuan Oscar Garc&iacute;a, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t113<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote40\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote40sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote40anc\">40<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Giuseppe Nicola Costanzo, <i>Summ<\/i>. 103<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote41\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote41sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote41anc\">41<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Teresa Amalia Giraudini, <i>Summ<\/i>. 117<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote42\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote42sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote42anc\">42<\/a>\n\tTestimony of  Manuel Linares, <i>Summ.<\/i>\n\t92<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote43\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote43sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote43anc\">43<\/a>\n\tTestimony of \n\tArchbishop Carlos Mariano Per&eacute;z,\n\t<i>Summ<\/i>. 36<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote44\"><br>\n\t<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote44sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote44anc\">44<\/a>\n\tTestimony\n\tof \n\tEnrico Mario Kossman, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t14<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote45\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote45sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote45anc\">45<\/a>\n\tTestimony of  Fr\n\tMario Brizzola, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t79-80<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote46\"><br>\n\t<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote46sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote46anc\">46<\/a>\n\tTestimony\n\tof \n\tFr Mario Brizzola, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t80<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote47\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote47sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote47anc\">47<\/a>\n\tTestimony of \n\tJuan Cadorna Guidi, <i>Summ. <\/i>218<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote48\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote48sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote48anc\">48<\/a>\n\tTestimony of \n\tDr. Pasquale Attilio Guidi, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t100<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote49\"><br>\n\t<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote49sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote49anc\">49<\/a>\n\tTestimony\n\tof \n\tJuan Oscar Garc&iacute;a, <i>Summ.\n\t<\/i>114.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote50\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote50sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote50anc\">50<\/a>\n\tTestimony of  Luigi De Palma, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t135<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote51\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote51sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote51anc\">51<\/a>\n\tTestimony of  Fr\n\tFeliciano L&oacute;pez, <i>Summ.<\/i>\n\t178<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote52\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote52sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote52anc\">52<\/a>\n\tTestimony of  Fr\n\tFeliciano L&oacute;pez, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t174<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote53\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote53sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote53anc\">53<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Pedro\n\tEchay, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t211-212<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote54\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote54sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote54anc\">54<\/a>\n\tTestimony of  Francesco Erasmo Geronazzo, <i>Summ<\/i>. 274<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote55\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote55sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote55anc\">55<\/a>\n\tTestimony of  Fr\n\tFeliciano L&oacute;pez, <i>Summ<\/i>.\n\t193<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote56\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote56sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote56anc\">56<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi, <i>op.\n\tcit., <\/i>p. 47.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote57\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote57sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote57anc\">57<\/a>\n\tThe ones offered by Fr Vecchi are\n\tavailable in <i>AGC<\/i>\n\t373 (2000) and in <i>The vocation of the\n\tSalesian Brother in Salesian pastoral work for vocations, <\/i>in\n\t<i>The Salesian Brother<\/i><i>.\n\tHistory, Identity, Vocational Apostolate and Formation<\/i>,\n\tEditrice SDB, Rome 1989, 133-161.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote58\"><br><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote58sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote58anc\">58<\/a>\n\tJ.E. <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">Vecchi,\n\t<i>op. cit., <\/i>pp.\n\t49-50.<br>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote59\"><br>\n\t<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" name=\"sdfootnote59sym\" href=\"#sdfootnote59anc\">59<\/a>\n\tTestimony of Teresa Amalia Giraudini, <i>Summ.\n\t<\/i>115-116<br>\n<\/div>\n<\/body>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00abI BELIEVED, I PROMISED, I RECOVERED!\u00bbArtemides Zatti: Gospel of vocation and a Church that cares&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[1967,2628,1955,2615],"class_list":["post-5035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communications-from-the-rector-major","tag-saints","tag-salesian-charism","tag-salesians","tag-witnesses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donbosco.press\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}