austraLasia #1983
In the interests of fairness.... and in a spirit of
rejoicing over the Beatification of Ceferino Namancurá
(and just to say that there will be a pause for austraLasia this week -
the coordinator is on retreat!)
ROME: 11th November 2007 -- I was interested, even
intrigued, by the image of the old 'Gran Cacique' plucking a name out
of the air, the zephyr breezes – we are in Patagonia after all; and the
boy runs and rides like the wind... How poetic! The facts are much more
prosaic.
Ceferino - the Spanish form of the Italian Zeffirino
from the Latin original - was the name given at his baptism, probably
at the suggestion of the Salesian missionary Fr Milanesio, at Christmas
(actually 24 December) 1888 when he was just two years old. The name is
that of the saint on whose feast he was born on 26 August 1886 - Pope
Zephyrinus, the immediate predecessor of Pope St Callistus, and
believed to be the first Pope buried in the catacombs of St Callistus
on the Appian Way. Since 1930 these have been in the care of the
Salesians by the way...
But apart from this, in fact there is an even better
story - not a myth - in the making. As a student and aspirant of the
Salesians under the care of Bishop Cagliero, in 1903 Ceferino spent
some time at the College of St Francis of Sales in Viedma and there met
a fellow aspirant Artemides Zatti (now Blessed) who was also suffering
from tuberculosis.
In 1904, in an attempt to obtain better treatment
for his poor health, he was taken by Bishop Cagliero to Italy where in
August he met the successor of Don Bosco (a saint), Don Rua ( now
Blessed), as well as the successor of Pope Zephyrinus, Pius X (another
saint), and after spending some months as a student at Frascati-Villa
Sora, he eventually died in Rome in the odour of sanctity on 11 May
1905. Now he is to be beatified on Sunday 11 November 2007. The ways of
Providence are indeed remarkable. (BG)
++++++++++++++
In reference to the Zatti incident, I came across the following on
the Official site for the Beatification. Loosely translated...
Artemide Zatti was involved with looking after the
young Mapuche (in Viedma when Ceferino was 17). He spoke during the
early stages of the Cause for Ceferino’s Canonisation and described how
each morning, following the instructions of Fr Garrone, he shared with
him a piece of steak, a glass of wine and a slice of bread. In the
afternoon, the second part of the prescription was a walk in the fresh
air, collecting fresh eggs from the farm and enjoying an egg cocktail.
Zatti, who was about 22 years old at the time, also suffered from TB.
He remembers Ceferino saying 'Our superiors are wonderful people. We
love them as if they were our parents. Let's pray the rosary for them.'
When I put the Spanish into the 'Google' translator
the phrase I have given as 'Our superiors are wonderful people' came
out as 'What good are our superiors?' - you have to use such
instruments with care! (Fr Bernard Grogan).
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