St. Dominic Savio

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Dominic. St. Dominic was born in an northern Italian village named Riva on April 2, 1842. St. Dominic’s father worked as a blacksmith and his mother worked as a seamstress. St. Dominic had a total of nine brothers and sisters. St. Dominic’s family was extremely poor however, they were very hard workers. St. Dominic’s family very were devout and pious Catholics.

At the age of 2, St. Dominic's family returned to the Italian village of Castlenuovo d'Asti, this village was extremely important to his family since it was their native village. The village was also located near the birthplace of St. John Bosco. St. John Bosco was canonized as a Saint by the Church and he also had a major influence on the life of St. Dominic.

When St. Dominic was a small child, St. Dominic had a huge love for the Lord and His Church. St. Dominic was very devout in practicing his Catholic faith. St. Dominic would say grace before every single meal and he would refuse to eat with those people who did not. St. Dominic always encouraged other people to pray and he always spread Jesus’ love with others.

St. Dominic made sure that he attended Church regularly especially with his mother and St. Dominic would spend a lot of time kneeling before the Tabernacle in prayer. St. Dominic would also pray when he was outside the Church building. To St. Dominic it did not matter what kind of ground he knelt on, he would still kneel down and pray even if the ground was covered in mud, rocks, snow, water or sand.

St. Dominic was an extremely exceptional student who studied very hard and performed well in school. St. Dominic became an altar server at a young age, and the ability he had to serve Christ the way he did was extremely important and dear to him. St. Dominic would attend daily Mass and he would also go to confession regularly.

St. Dominic was able to receive his first communion at the age of seven. This was actually not the practice in the Italian Churches during that time. Children during that time received their first holy communion at the age of twelve. St. Dominic's priest was very impressed with St. Dominic’s devotion and responsibility towards the faith, his love for the Lord and his piety that the priest made an exception that one time for St. Dominic. St. Dominic said that the day of his First Communion was the happiest day of his life.

During the exact same day as his First Communion. St. Dominic decided to write four promises in a book.

The promises he wrote included:

I will go to Confession often, and as frequently to Holy Communion as my confessor allows.

I wish to sanctify the Sundays and festivals in a special manner.

My friends shall be Jesus and Mary.

Death rather than sin.

St. Dominic was a very intelligent child and he would always take care and protect other people. On one specific occasion two boys had decided to stuff the school stove with some snow and some other things. The two boys who had done this trouble were very well known as troublemakers and were likely to face a lot of trouble if they were caught for the trouble they had done. Therefore, they decided to blame St. Dominic for the trouble they had caused. However, St. Dominic did not deny the false accusation and he was in a lot of trouble before the class.

Eventually, the teacher learned the truth. The teacher eventually asked St. Dominic why he did not defend himself and reject the false accusations that he been accused of. St. Dominic mentioned that he did not defend himself because he was imitating Jesus who remained silent when he was unjustly accused.

St. Dominic's teacher spoke so highly of him and he also brought St. Dominic to the attention of St. John Bosco, who was renowned for looking after hundreds of boys, many of the boys that St. John Bosco looked after were orphaned and poor. During the month of October 1854, St. Dominic was personally introduced to St. John Bosco and his father was also present.

During the meeting, St. John Bosco wanted to test St. Dominic's understanding of the Catholic faith. Therefore he decided to give St. Dominic a copy of The Catholic Readings, which was inside a pamphlet that dealt with apologetics. St. John Bosco expected for St. Dominic to provide a report the next day. However, after just ten minutes St. Dominic was able to recite the text and he also provided a full explanation of its

significance. This event changed the way that St. John Bosco viewed St. Dominic.

St. Dominic ever since a very young age expressed a huge interest in becoming a priest and he asked to go to Turin to attend the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales. St. John Bosco agreed to take him.

When they were at the Oratory, St. Dominic studied under St. John Bosco’s guidance and preaching. St. Dominic worked very hard and he would always ask questions when he did not understand something.

St. Dominic later renewed his First Communion promises that he had written in the book at the age of seven, which he wrote during the same day as his First Communion. After St. Dominic had spent a total of six months at the Oratory, St. Dominic delivered a very powerful and beautiful speech on the path to sainthood. In St. Dominic’s speech, he made three outstanding points; it is God's will that we all become saints, it is easy to become a saint, and there are great rewards in heaven for saints.

St. Dominic wanted to be a saint so bad, that it made him fear that he was too young to be one. Therefore, St. Dominic started to do acts of voluntary mortification and other voluntary penances, with the hope that the acts he had been performing would help him grow closer to Jesus and help him to be less concerned with his own needs.

St. Dominic made his bed uncomfortable and he would wear very thin clothes in winter. However, when St. John Bosco witnessed these practices, he corrected St. Dominic. St. John Bosco explained to St. Dominic that as a child, he should devote himself to his studies, prayers and be a cheerful young boy. St. John Bosco discouraged St. Dominic from doing any more physical penances. Soon after St. Dominic had stopped, St. Dominic’s happy demeanor quickly returned.

A couple of weeks later St. Dominic was taken to the doctor because he started to lose his appetite and not feel so well. The doctor recommended that St. Dominic be sent home to his family in order to recover.

However, St. Dominic wanted to stay at the oratory, but St. John Bosco agreed with the doctor and insisted that he go home. Everybody expected for St. Dominic to recover, except for St. Dominic, St. Dominic had a feeling he was dying.

Before St. Dominic left, St. Dominic made the Exercise of a Happy Death and he made the prediction that is was going to be his final devotion.

After St. Dominic had been home for four days his health started to get worse. The doctor later ordered him to bed to rest. The doctor then performed bloodletting, which was still widely performed at that time. During the next four days, St. Dominic bled ten times before the doctor was satisfied that he would recover.

However, St. Dominic was sure of his impending death. St. Dominic told his parents to bring in the parish priest so that St. Dominic could make his final confession. They listened to him and St. Dominic was able to make his final confession and he was also given the Anointing of the Sick.

St. Dominic asked his father to read him the prayers for the Exercise of a Happy Death. St. Dominic had fallen asleep after his father had read the prayers, and he later awoke and said to his father; "Goodbye, Dad, goodbye ... Oh what wonderful things I see!" St. Dominic fell asleep and died within the next few minutes. St. Dominic died on March 9, 1857 and St. Dominic was almost 14 years old.

St. Dominic's life touched St. John Bosco so powerfully and beautifully that he wrote a biography called, "The Life of Dominic Savio." The biography quickly became a very popular book and it was eventually read in schools across Italy. As people started to learn about the amazing life that St. Dominic lived, they called for his canonization.

St. Dominic Savio was announced venerable during the year 1933 by Pope Pius XI, and he was later beatified during the year 1950, then he was canonized during the year 1954 by Pope Pius XII.

St. Dominic is the patron saint of children, choirboys, the falsely accused, and juvenile delinquents. St. Dominic’s feast day is celebrated on May 6. Many schools and institutions dedicated to boys are dedicated to him.

Prayer to St. Dominic

St. Dominic intercede that we may be able to serve others even if they have done wrong to us. St. Dominic pray that we may be able to find the strength and courage we need to turn to Christ during extremely difficult and tough situations that we may encounter during our everyday lives. St. Dominic help us strengthen our devotion to Christ each and everyday and help us to strive to be like you.

We ask this through Christ Our Lord and Mary Our Mother in Heaven.

Amen

St. Dominic pray for us

St. Joseph pray for us

May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.

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Works Cited

Information (read from, not taken):

Catholic Online. "St. Dominic. ”St. Dominic Savio - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online. Accessed 6, May 2021.

Images:

Saint Dominic Savio. May 6, 2021. st. dominic savio - Google Search.