March 27--Bl. Francesco Faà di Bruno, Priest and Founder

Faà di Bruno’s Formula

“Science and faith do not mix.” Wrong! We have many giants of science and mathematics who were faithful members of the Catholic Church, including Galileo, Pasteur, Mendel, Copernicus, Pascal, Bacon, and ​​Lemaître, who developed the Big Bang Theory. We can also include today’s saint, Bl. Francesco Faà di Bruno, among them as a mathematician for whom Faà di Bruno’s Formula is named. Born in northern Italy in 1825 to parents of nobility, he had a wide-ranging career as an army officer, a professor of mathematics and recipient of a Doctor of Science degree from the Universities of Paris and Turin, a friend of St. John Bosco, social reformer, and overseer of the construction of a church in Turin, Italy. However, that was not enough for him! He discerned a vocation to the priesthood and was finally ordained at age 51. He founded the Minim Sisters of St. Zita in 1881 to provide aid to maids and domestic servants, later unmarried mothers, and then, prostitutes.

Pope St. John Paul II said of him in his beatification homily: “He used to say: ‘Giving oneself to God is equivalent to giving oneself to a superior activity, which drags us along like the swollen and tumultuous waters of a raging torrent. . .’. From the love for God came that love for ‘neighbor’, which pushed Francesco Faà di Bruno onto the path of the poor, the humble, the defenseless, making him a giant of faith and charity. Thus was born a whole series of works and welfare activities which are not easy to list. Even in the scientific field he was able to bear his coherent testimony as a believer, in a period in which dedication to science seemed incompatible with a serious commitment to faith.” Science and faith DO mix! Bl. Francesco, pray for us!

June 23--St. Joseph Cafasso, Priest

Enrico Reffo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

One of the corporal works of mercy is “visit the imprisoned.” Many of us don’t get that chance very often, if at all. Today’s saint not only had that chance, he made it one of his primary ministries. St. Joseph Cafasso lived from 1811-1860 in Turin, Italy. Ordained in 1833 he became a popular lecturer in moral theology, helping people to avoid scrupulosity and the error of believing venial sins are as bad as mortal sins. He was popular as a confessor. He also became a friend and advisor to St. John Bosco.

But it was through his work with prisoners condemned to death that showed his effectiveness in converting sinners. He accompanied sixty condemned men to their executions, considering these men as “hanged saints”. He was called “Priest of the Gallows” for his ministry. One story tells of how he led forty-five hardened criminals to confession by confronting the biggest and strongest by grabbing his beard. If the prisoner had wished he could have easily overcome the small and frail priest disabled by curvature of the spine. Instead, he allowed himself to be led by the saint, by the beard, to a corner where Fr. Cafasso prepared him for and heard his confession. The huge man was so overcome that, “He told [his fellow prisoners] he had never been so happy in his life. And his experience persuaded them all to go to confession.”

We may not be priests and we may not be in prison ministry, but we can pray for those who are. The United States has the sixth highest incarceration rate in the world with 531 per 100,000 people in jail or prison. More than likely we may know of someone who has been or is currently incarcerated. We can pray for them as well!

March 9--St. Dominic Savio, Holy Man

St. Dominic Savio

To call St. Dominic Savio a holy man is a bit of a stretch.  He was only 14, or about the age of a freshman in high school, when he died from a lung problem in 1857.  Fourteen and yet he was a saint of God, living a holy life among boys his own age.  He started following St. John Bosco at the age of twelve.  He was known as a peacemaker and he impressed St. John Bosco with his desire to become a priest.  He even founded a group called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which was dedicated to prayer and work.  He did not accomplish great feats, but he knew how to pray and love.

Can a junior high or high school student be a saint?  Why not?  We are all called to holiness at every age of our lives.  Children and youths have a natural turn to idealism.  They are looking for something and someone to which they can dedicate themselves.  That something is love and that someone is Jesus!  Adults need to foster the innate desires of holiness and restrain the concupiscence of pre-teens and teens.  They need role models of goodness, holiness, kindness, self-discipline, firmness of purpose, loyalty, friendship, generosity, forgiveness, and love to help them to grow to become the saints that God has called them to be.  We also need to let them be role models to adults, as St. Dominic Savio is.

January 31—St. John Bosco, Priest

Fr. Flanagan dedicated his life to helping orphaned boys to become good men:  “There are no bad boys. There is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, bad thinking.”  He may have taken his inspiration from St. John Bosco, an Italian priest who died in 1888.  St. John Bosco also went around Turin and gathered boys after their days in the factories to his night schools to teach and train them in the basics of the faith.  He faced many obstacles, including opposition from the community and even an attempt to commit him to a mental institution.  Nonetheless, he persevered and was able to open a home for the boys, technical schools, workshops, and even a church to supply for their needs.

St. John Bosco founded an Oratory, or a place of prayer, and a religious order, the Salesian Society, named after St. Francis de Sales.  The purpose of the Oratory was to teach the boys about God.  He would use many techniques to gain their attention:  games, juggling, tricks or walks to various places around town.  On Sundays he would say Mass, teach them about the Gospel, give them breakfast, and play games.  On Sunday afternoons he would lead them in prayer, teach them a lesson from the Catechism, and pray the Rosary.  The Salesians would continue his methods and spread the faith throughout the world.  There are more than 20,000 Salesians in over 2700 houses.  It is the third largest missionary order.  The Salesians’ mission is “the Christian perfection of its associates obtained by the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity towards the young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood.”

Fr. Flanagan once said:  “A boy or girl given the proper guidance and direction – kept busy and constructively occupied during their leisure or free time – will prove my statement that there is no such thing as a bad boy or girl.”  St. John Bosco would have been proud.