PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF MIRACLE LEADING TO
BEATIFICATION
It is not very often that we have the chance to
know first hand of a miraclulous intervention brought about through the
intercession of a saint. Here is one such in view of yesterday's
beatification of Bl. Artemides Zatti:
"Fr. Carlos Bosio, provincial of Rosario in
Argentina, gave the goodnight at evening prayer. He gave a personal
testimony on Sig. Artimedes Zatti.
When Fr. Bosio was in his first
year of theology, the students traveled to Bahia Blanca and Fortin Mercedes for
an outing at the beginning of March. It was there that he got sick and was
diagnosed as having appendicitis. The doctor operated on him, and three
days later he had developed gangrene in the affected area. The doctor
performed a new operation, and he was in intensive care for two days.
After 15 days he was transferred to a better hospital for more critical
care. The gangrene was still present, and his fever and infection
persisted. The infection began spreading from the appendix area to the
lungs. The fever would not go down.
Another diagnosis was done, and the doctors discovered that he had septicemia;
the infection had spread to the blood. His immune system quickly
deteriorated. After another operation, the doctor determined that his
immune system had deteriorated to the extent that death was inevitable. On
April 5th the doctors told his parents that there was no hope. Then on
April 18th, after having gone through the night in a coma, he awoke in the
morning, asked for a little something to eat, and to the amazement of the
doctors involved, the fever had diminished. From then on his cure was
rapid and total.
The cure was attributed to Br.
Artimedes Zatti. As Fr. Bosio explains, when he had become ill, the
director of the theology community and the assistant of the theology students
had begun a novena to Bro. Zatti for a cure. The person leading the cause
for Zatti’s beatification presented this case as a miracle on Zatti’s
behalf. The case was presented to Rome, and on March 9, 2000 five
professors voted affirmatively that the explanation of the cure was beyond
natural means. On October 27, 2000 a group of theologians at the Vatican also
voted in favor of the miraculous intervention. Finally the Holy Father
gave his approval.
Fr. Bosio concluded his goodnight
by thanking his family members, and the Salesians who began the novena to Zatti
for his cure. He shared with us that
whenever any difficulty or
pressing situation causes him to lose his inner peace, he recalls the days spent
in the hospital, and that seems to be enough to put things in order. He
also mentioned that the real miracle is the one of our daily lives; to be able
to touch the hearts of others in charity, to be available to the needs of our
confreres, especially the ones who need our help the most. He noted that
Zatti was a man who believed in living life to the fullest by loving those whom
he met each day in a simple yet very profound and caring way. He ended by
asking us to pray to Zatti that the Lord will bless our congregation with many
more brothers in the years to come
