AGC439_Artime_Zatti


AGC439_Artime_Zatti

1 Pages 1-10

▲back to top

1.1 Page 1

▲back to top
"I BELIEVED, I PROMISED, I RECOVERED!"
Artemides Zatti: Gospel of Vocation
and a Church that Cares
Letter of the Rector Major a few days
from the canonisation of Artemides Zatti
Turin, 11 September 2022 - prot. 2022/0329
"The mosaic of our saints and blesseds, though rich enough
in the categories represented- Founder, Co-founder, Rector Ma-
jors, missionaries, martyrs, priests and young people, still lacked
the figure of a coadjutor brother. Now, even this gap is being
filled. "1
The above is how Juan Edmundo Vecchi, eighth Successor of
Don Bosco, began his letter for the occasion of the Beatification
of Artemides Zatti.
Ifthe "mosaic of our saints" was missing a tile, today this mo-
saic has a very special glow to it because, in a few weeks, we will
experience a great gift from the Lord: to see one of Don Bosco's
sons, a Salesian coadjutor brother, Italian emigrant to Argentina
and nurse, canonised by Pope Francis on 9 October 2022.
This mean that Artemides Zatti will be the first Salesian
saint not a martyr to be canonised. Undoubtedly, the canon-
isation of the first Salesian saint and Salesian coadjutor brother
offers and will continue to offer a note of completeness to the
range of models of Salesian spirituality which the Church offi-
cially declares as such.
Let me quote the beautiful personal testimony, filled with
spiritual depth and faith, given by Artemides Zatti in 1915 in
1 J.E. Vecchi, Beatification ofBro. Artemides Zatti: A sensational precedent,
in AGC 376 (2001), 3.

1.2 Page 2

▲back to top
44 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Vied.ma, at the inauguration of a funerary monument placed
over the tomb of Father Evasio Garrone (1861- 1911), a well-de-
serving Salesian missionary and considered by Artemides t o be
his distinguished benefactor:
" If I am now well, in good health and in a position to do some good to
my sick neighbour, I owe it to Father Garrone, a doctor. Seeing my
health deteriorate day by day, since I was suffering from tuberculosis
and frequently spitting blood, he told me point blank that if I did not
want to finish up like many others I should make a promise to Mary
Help of Christians to always remain at his side, helping him in the
care of the sick, and that if I trusted in Mary, she would cure me.
I BELIEVED, because I knew by reputation that Mary Help of Chris-
tians helped him in visible ways. I PROMISED, because it was always
my desire to help my neighbour in some way. And, since God listened
to his servant, I RECOVERED. [Signed] Artemides Zatti." "
We see that the generous and confident soundness of
Artemides Zatti's Salesian life was based on three verbs . To ap-
preciate the gift of holiness of this great Salesian Brother, we
would like to meditate on these three verbs and their extraordi-
narily good fruits, so that they may deeply touch the desires,
dreams and commitments of our Congregation and of each of us,
and foster a r enewed and fruitful fidelity to Don Bosco's char ism
in us all.
a . Profile of Artemides Zatti
Artemides Zatti2 was born in Boretto (Reggio Emilia) on 12
December 1880 to Albina Vecchi and Luigi Zatti. This peasant
family raised him to a life t hat was poor and h ard-wor king, en-
lightened by a simple, straightforward and robust faith which
guided and nourished his life.
2 I have decided to draw up a brief and concise profile. Those who would
like to know more about the life of Artemides Zatti can find several biogra-
phies on the forthcoming saint and also read the biographical profile in Fr Vec-
chi's letter to which I referred earlier.

1.3 Page 3

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 45
At the age of nine, Artemides began work as a labourer with
a nearby well-to-do family in order to contribute to the family
economy.
The Zattis emigrated to Argentina in 1879 and settled in
Bahia Blanca. Artemides was seventeen when he arrived there,
and he soon learned to cope with the hardships and responsibil-
ities of work while still within the bosom of the family. He found
work in a brick factory, and at the same time he nurtured and
grew in a profound relationship with God under the guidance of
a Salesian, Fr Carlo Cavalli, his parish priest and spiritual di-
rector. Artemides found Fr Carlo to be a sincere friend, a wise
confessor and a genuine and skilled spiritual director who
formed him to a daily rhythm of prayer and weekly reception of
the sacraments. He established a spiritual rapport with Fr Cav-
alli and one of collaboration.3 He had the opportunity to read
Don Bosco's life in the parish priest's library and was fascinated
by it. This was the real beginning of his Salesian vocation.
In 1900, by now a twenty-year-old, at Fr Cavalli's invitation
Artemides asked to enter the Salesian aspirantate at Bernal,
near Buenos Aires.
But in 1902, when it was time to enter the novitiate,
Artemides contracted tuberculosis. Fr Vecchi, in his letter, tells
us : "Because of his reliability, the superiors entrusted him with
the task of assisting a young priest suffering from tuberculosis.
Zatti carried out the work with generosity, but soon afterwards
caught the same disease himself. "4
Seriously ill, he returned to Bahia Blanca and Fr Cavalli sent
him to Viedma, entrusting him to the care of Salesian Fr Evasio
Garrone, who was a competent physician thanks to his long
experience, and director of the San Jose hospital founded by
Bishop Cagliero.
I find it very significant to recall that Artemides met Ceferi-
no Namuncura - today Blessed - in Viedma. He had come from
3 Cf. Positio, p.35
'Cf. J.E. VECCHI, op. cit., p. 15 and cf. Positio, p. 47.

1.4 Page 4

▲back to top
46 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Buenos Aires and had also been affected by tuberculosis. Despite
their difference in age, the two had a warm relationship until
Ceferino left for Italy in 1904 with Bishop John Cagliero.
After two years of care in Viedma, though with unsatisfacto-
ry results, Fr Garrone sent Artemides to ask to be cured
through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin by malting a vow
to dedicate his life to caring for the sick. Having made the vow
with keen faith, Artemides was cured, and in 1906 he began the
novitiate.
Due to the risks associated with his prior health circum-
stances, Artemides had to renounce his resolve to become a
priest and he professed as a coadjutor brother among the Sale-
sians of Don Bosco on 11 January 1908. This meant a huge
growth in faith for Artemides. Indeed, he did not abandon his
idea of being a Salesian priest and he continued to think about
a priestly vocation in the Salesian Congregation, especially when
it seemed his health had improved. Therefore "it is touching to
note his unswerving attachment to his vocation, even when it
seemed that sickness had removed any possibility of achieving
it. He wrote, for example, to his relatives on 7 August 1902: 'I
want you to know that it was not only my wish, but also that of
my Superiors, that I should receive the cassock; but there is an
article of the Holy Rule that says that no one can receive it who
has even the slightest problem about his health. And so it means
that God has not yet found me worthy to wear the cassock, and
so I trust in your prayers that I may soon get well and see my
desire fulfilled. "'5
But in the end, given the circumstances of his illness and al-
so his age (23-24) the Superiors had to suggest to Zatti that he
make his profession as a Salesian brother. It was certain that "it
was the total donation of himself to God in Salesian life to which
Artemides aspired in the first place."6
• J.E. VECCHI, op. cit., p. 17 and Positio, p. 79.
6 J.E. VECCHI, op. cit., p. 18.

1.5 Page 5

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 47
Even on this decisive point for his life, Zatti was growing in
maturity. Again, we read in Fr Vecchi's letter: "Priest? Brother?
He himself once said to a confrere: 'you can serve God as a priest
or as a brother: before God one is as good as the other provided
you live it as a vocation and with love."'1
On 11 February 1911 he professed perpetual vows and the
same year, following Fr Garrone's death, he took his place, first
as the one responsible for the pharmacy attached to the San
Jose hospital in Viedma and then - from 1915 - as the one in
charge of the hospital itself. Hospital and pharmacy would
become Artemide's field of work.
So, with enormou s energy, sacrifice and professionalism , Zat-
t i was the soul of the hospital from 1915, for 25 years. But in
1941 it h ad to be demolished: the Salesian superiors had decided
to use the land occupied till t hen by the health facility for th e
construction of the bishop's residence. Artemides suffered in-
tensely at the thought of the demolition, but in a spirit of obedi-
ence he accepted the decision and moved the patients to the
premises of the Sant'Isidro Agricultural School where he estab-
lished a new set of arrangements for the care and assistance of
the sick and poor.
After further years of inten se service, and by then relieved
of the responsibilities of h ealth admin istration, following a fall
during some repair work in 1950 clinical examinations revealed
a tumour on the liver for which treatment was in vain. He ac-
cepted it and knowingly followed the development of the illness.
In fact, h e prepared his own death certificate for the doctor! His
suffering was constant, but he spent his last months in expecta-
tion of the final moment h e had prepared for when he would
meet the Lord. He himself said: "Fifty years ago I came here to
die and now the moment has arrived, so what more could I wish
for? I have spent all my life preparing for this moment..."8
7 J.E. VECCHI, op. cit., p. 20 and Summarium, p. 310, no. 1224.
8 Positio, p. 198.

1.6 Page 6

▲back to top
48 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
His death occurred on 15 March 1951 and the spread of the
news mobilised the population of the whole of Viedma to pay a
tribute of gratitude to this Salesian who had dedicated his entire
life to the sick, especially the poorest of them. "The whole of
Viedma did honour to the "kinsman ofthe poor", as he had been
known for some time; the one who had always been ready towel-
come those with par ticular maladies and people who came from
the distant countryside; the one who had been able to enter the
poorest of houses at any hour of the day or night without causing
raised eyebrows; the one who, though he was always 'in the red' ,
had maintained a unique relationship with the city banks, which
were always open to friendship and generous collaboration with
those engaged in the medical care of the citizens."9
People came from everywhere for the funeral, confirming the
reputation for holiness t hat surrounded Artemides Zatti and
that prompted the opening of the Diocesan Process in Viedma
(22 March 1980). Zatti was declared Venerable on 7 July 1997
and St John Paul II proclaimed him Blessed on 14 April 2002.
b. God's pedagogy in his saints
To better understand the figure of Artemides Zatti we have
the valuable guidance of a richly significant theological principle
which comes from the pen of Hans Urs von Balthasar:
" Only the picture [of Jesus] the Spirit keeps before the Church has
been able, down the centuries, to change sinful men into saints. Any
presentation ofJ esu s which claims to mediate knowledge of him must
be subjected to the same criterion: its power to ch an ge lives. "'0
Balthasar, in these words, points out the evidence that has
always accompanied the history of the Church: the action of the
Spirit manifest s itself as a transforming power in human life,
O J .E. V ECCHI, op. cit ., p. 25.
10 H .U. VON BALTHASAR, Does J esus Know Us? Do We Know Him?, Ignatius
Press, San Francisco 1983, 93-94.

1.7 Page 7

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 49
testifying to the perennial relevance and vitality of the Gospel.
In this way, the good news of Jesus continues to live and spread
according to the rule of the Incarnation and, especially in the
flesh and lives of the saints because of their profound consent to
the Spirit, Easter bursts forth in the historical present of the ev-
er new here and now where wonders that confirm the faith of
the Church grow.
The saints, then, are the achievement of the Spirit. In the
simplicity of their transfigured lives they offer precise features
of the Son that are given by the Father to this world of toil, in
the relevance of a time and proximity of places in need of salva-
tion and hope.
If God guides his Church through the obedient life of his
most docile and daring children, reflections of the Gospel must
first of all shine through each of their stories that transform a
day-to-day biography into a hagiography. And then, it is we who
must recognise the seeds of Easter that are capable of triggering
renewed ecclesial journeys among the people of God.
Artemides Zatti confirms this rule of holiness: hagiography
is the light of the Spirit emanating from the simplicity of his bi-
ography, so convincing because it is lived in the fullness of hu-
manity, and so surprising as to maim visible "a new heaven and
a new earth" (Rev 21:1). Thus, the seeds of Easter, the gift of
the life of this Salesian coadjutor brother to the world, trans-
formed places of suffering- the San Jose and Sant'Isidro hospi-
tals - into extraordinarily radiant seedbeds of Christian hope.
"His was an active presence in society, completely animated by
the charity of Christ which drove him on!"11
It is then possible to meditate on the gift that the Spirit gives
to the world, the Church, the Salesian Family with Zatti's holi-
ness, pausing first on the brilliance of his biography, his life sto-
ry - a fully embodied Gospel of vocation, trust and dedication -
to then go on to consider the paschal power of his apostolate,
II J.E. VECCHI, op. cit., p. 26.

1.8 Page 8

▲back to top
50 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
building up in his hospitals the Church that cares for people, is
close to them, saving them, sharing in the redemption and nour-
ishing the faith of the people of God.
If we want a concise expression of the secret that inspired
and guided Artemides Zatti's life, the steps he took, his work,
commitments, joy, tears ..., then Fr Vecchi's words sum it up
nicely: "following Jesus, with Don Bosco and in Don Bosco's
manner, always and everywhere."12
1. A MAN OF THE GOSPEL
1.1. The Gospel of vocation: "I believed"
The story of Artemides Zatti strikes one for its vocational
distinctiveness above all. A luminous vocation because it is pu-
rified by a mysterious pedagogy of God that unfolds in his life
through different and demanding mediations and situations.
Christian life is the shared inspiration of Artemide's family, who
interpreted everything in the light of the mystery of God; It
would be Argentina, their second homeland reached through
emigration, that would demonstrate the Zatti family's rooted-
ness in an uncommon faith. Cardinal Cagliero wrote:
"Our compatriots, even those who belong to the most religious popu-
lations of Italy, seem to change their nature when they arrive here.
Immoderate love of work, the religious indifference prevailing in these
countries, ver y frequent bad example... brings about an incredible
transformation in th e spirit and heart of our good peasants and arti-
sans. In exchange for the handful of scudi they earn, lose their faith,
morality and religion. "13
The Zatti family would not succumb to the influence of their
environment. On the contrary, they stood out for their fervent,
forthright, courageous religious practice, free of human respect;
12 J.E. VEccm, op. cit., p. 27.
13 Positio, 31.

1.9 Page 9

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 51
and Artemides would continue to nurture an intense relation-
ship with God within the family, substantiated by prayer, hard
work, uprightness, so, "everything leads us to believe... that the
religious formation that the Servant of God received as a child
and in his early youth... must have been privileged and in such
a way as to explain the spiritual attitudes that he maintained
throughout his life. "14
Artemides' experience reflects the luminous discretion of the
"high standard of ordinary Christian living" (Novo Millennia
Ineunte, 3 1) the fruit of an exclusive rootedness in God, of a
faith lived as courageous and radiant obedience because it was
free, joyful and fruitful.
When Salesian Fr Cavalli, Artemide's parish priest and guide
on the ways chosen by the Spirit, needed to support him in his
choice of life's ultimate direction, his discernment would be sim-
ple and clear: he would see that the call to give himself totally to
God as a priest resonated in the heart of this young man in an
integral and pure way, untainted by self-seeking and self-interest,
but ignited by t h e desire to serve the Gospel of the Kingdom.
And because of Artemides' characteristic readiness to give of
himself, God did not limit himself to calling him, but was able
to pour into him the incontrovertible sign of his presence: the
cross his Son bore. Thus, at the very heart of the vocational dis-
cernment of this young man eager to become a priest, the seal
of God's predilection becomes recognisable: Artemides, accepted
in Bernal as an aspirant, is asked to carry out a risky service,
the care of a priest suffering from tuberculosis - as mentioned
earlier. This unstinting service led Artemides subsequently to
contract the disease that would demand the sacrifice of his vo-
cational dream: Zatti would be a Salesian, but not a priest.
Here we recognise the power of the Gospel unconditionally
accepted in the lives of the saints; a power that provokes a pure
vocational response because it is guarded by a heart not only de-
•• Positio, 21.

1.10 Page 10

▲back to top
52 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
tached from evil - an essential condition for listening to the voice
of God - but also capable of freedom with respect to good, an es-
sential condition of a rock-solid faith in the Absolute that is God.
Walking in the luminous darkness of faith, Artemides sacri-
ficed the desire to serve the Church in the ministerial form of
the priesthood, while embracing its essence, according to Christ
"who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish
to God." 15
The characteristics of the gospel of vocation are thus recog-
nised, indelibly, in the fullness of self-sacrifice that sealed the be-
ginning of Zatti's Salesian life well before crowning its fullness.
And fidelity to the lay form of Salesian life, embraced out of
pure love for God, would be full and convinced, far from any re-
gret, and would unfold in a convincing and contented existence.
This is the gospel of vocation, the good news of God's call in-
dividually reserved for each of his children, a call of which God
alone knows the purpose, the reasons, the destination, the con-
crete unfolding. A call that becomes perceptible only in the pure
correspondence of love which, in turn, wants "to rid itself of its
most dangerous enemy, its own freedom of choice. Hence, every
true love has the inner form of a vow: it binds itself to the
beloved - and does so out of motives and in the spirit of love. "16
The gospel of vocation, in Zatti's holiness, is the gospel of
pure faith: the good news of the healthy breath of the heart t hat
savours freedom in obedience to God's plan, guardian of the
mystery of every life called to be a fruitful branch of the true
Vine, entrusted to the wisdom of t he "Vine-grower" (Jn 15:1).
Read with the "categories" of our t ime, Artemides Zatti's ho-
liness provokes "vocational fear", fear that clutches the heart in
mistrust before t he mystery of God. The gospel of vocation an-
nounced by the life of this Salesian coadjutor brother saint
shows that only by corresponding to God's dream is it possible,
15 Heb 9:14
16 H.U. VON B ALTHASAR, The Christian State of Life, Ignatiu s Press, San
F rancisco 1977, 39.

2 Pages 11-20

▲back to top

2.1 Page 11

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 53
at any age and in any situation, to overcome the paralysis of the
ego, with the poverty of its gaze and its measures, and the nar-
rowness of its uncertainty and its fear.
When Fr Garrone - a Salesian of outstanding virtue in his
own right, in addition to the great medical competence he had
gained through his generous service to the sick - encouraged the
tuberculosis-stricken Artemides to ask for the grace of being
cured through the intercession of the Virgin and with a vow to
dedicate himself to the sick for the rest of his life, Zatti's faith
gave proof of itself: simple, selfless, unreserved and encapsulat-
ed in the phrase: "I believed! "
"I believed". That is, when a word or two is enough to speak
one's faith, because faith is pure; and only this faith is vocation-
ally generous because of the lightness of its purity that "gives
wings to the heart and not chains to the feet. "
Artemides Zatti's holiness reaches out to our own vocational
journeys, as tired and dreary as they sometimes are, with the
disruptive force of an "I believed" that n ever failed: faith's pre-
sent moment that continues throughout life and makes it credi-
ble. His was a faith of continuous union with God. In the collec-
t ion of testimonies, Archbishop M. Perez said: "The impression
I received was that of a man united with the Lord. Prayer was
like the breath of his soul, all his behaviour showed that he lived
God's first commandment to the full: he loved him with all his
heart, with all his mind and with all his soul."17
We are called to see the value of Zatti's testimony for r enew-
ing the ardour of our vocation ministry and to offer young peo-
ple the example of a life that the solidity of faith makes com-
plete, simple, courageou s by the power of the Spir it and the
docility of the one who is called.
1.2. The Gospel of trust: "I promised"
The gospel of vocation which Zatti is testimony t o, enlivens
th e second verb of fundamental importance: promise.
17 Summarium, p. 43, no. 160.

2.2 Page 12

▲back to top
54 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
We often experience the weakness of human promises today;
we fear their unreliability, their inability to be definitive: hence the
vocational 'winters' that are affecting the family, Congregations in
many parts of the world, the Chur ch - and that make it urgent
to proclaim the Gospel of God's call and the believer's response.
Reflecting on the essence of vocation, which is the result of
genuine belief, Von Balthasar writes: "There is no progress in
love without at least a modicum of this attitude of self-surren-
der.. . [Love] wants to abandon itself, to surrender itself, to en-
trust itself, to commit itself to love. As a pledge of love, it wants
to lay its freedom once and for all at the feet of love. As soon as
love is truly awakened, the moment of time is transformed for it
into a form of eternity... timed love, interrupted love is never
true love. "18
Even at a young age and pr ecisely at a moment of great trial,
Artemides Zatti felt the call to the fullness of self-commitment
through a radical and irrevocable promise. When he was much
older, testifying to the gratitude he felt towards Fr Evasio Gar-
rone, his benefactor, and recalling the beginnings of his own
journey of consecration, Zatti was able to be succinct and to the
point in presenting what was at the heart of his youthful com-
pliance with the Lord's call: "I believed, I promised."
Zatti's "I promised " followed his " J believed" but it also
shaped its radical nature and human and Christian quality.
Artemides believed because he promised and not only promised
b ecause he believed: in him we see realised the rule of faith
which, if it cannot count on the r eadiness to promise, to surren -
der oneself, descends into spirit ual interest , mere social service
and religious contract.
Zatti did not wait for guarantees before risking his life. He
did not ask for the r ight to "a hundredfold here below" as t he
prior condition before casting his nets; rather did he "readily of-
fer to assist a priest suffering from consumption and contracted
the disease: he never uttered a word of complaint, accepted t he
18 H .U. VON B ALTHASAR, The State of Christian Life, 34.

2.3 Page 13

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 55
illness as a gift from God and bore its consequences with forti-
tude and serenity."19
Thus Artemides' generosity was something he paid for even
before his religious profession, and it was a high price: a debili-
tating illness, a shattered vocational dream, acute suffering, and
- above all - total uncertainty. But at the crossroads of faith and
promise, the gospel of vocation brought about the wonders of
holiness in this life, right from his youth .
Zatti's promise was pure, disinterested, like his faith, and it
meant that the integrity of his abandonment to God's plan and
the generosity of his self-giving and self-commitment shone
forth, showing his genuine theological depth: Artemides made
his own the life of the obedient Son who allows himself to be
totally dictated to and destined by the Father's love for the sal-
vation of the world.
Zatti's vocational alphabet was as profound as it was simple
and clear:
"I believed, I promised". Zatti believed and promised as radically as
the Gospel because he had ah-eady practised the Lord's Passion as the
rule for his faith and dedication, as he never tired of saying in his let -
ters to family members : " Our joys are our crosses, our comfort is in
suffering, our life is our tears, but with the ever dear and inseparable
companion by our side, the hope of reaching beautiful paradise when
our pilgrimage on earth is completed. '120
The cross is the rule of faith, and teaches how Christian be-
lief is not a mere knowing something but entrusting oneself to
Someone by promising H im not something, but oneself. Formed
by the cross, even before undertalcing the journey of religious
life, Artemides did not promise but promised himself, did not
make a vow, but vowed himself, and thus reflected the features
of the Son who "came into t he world... he said: 'Sacrifices and
offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for
me; in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings you have taken no plea-
19 Positio, 206 (Spiritual profile of the Servant of God).
20 Positio super scriptis 12.

2.4 Page 14

▲back to top
56 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
sure. Then I said: "See, God, I have come to do your will, 0 God"
(in the scroll of the book it is written of me)"' (Heb 10: 5-7).
And, still in the school of the Lord Jesus, Zatti learned that
the radical nature of promising oneself is matched by the grow-
ing boldness of faith. Those who give themselves completely to
God can abandon themselves to the certainty of receiving every-
thing from Him, and Artemides never tired of reminding us of
this in his letters: "I recommend that you should not be afraid
or ashamed to ask for graces. Ask, and you shall obtain; and the
more you ask, the more you shall obtain; for the one who asks
much, receives much; the who asks little, receives little; and the
one who asks nothing, receives nothing.[...] I will not stand here
listing the graces that you must ask for; you know them well.
I only place one before your eyes: that we may all love and serve
God in this world and then enjoy Him in the next."21
1.3. The Gospel of dedication: "I recovered"
"I recavered" is the verb with which Zatti sealed the event
that introduced him to Salesian life.
What does "I recovered" mean? Certainly, the tuberculosis
that had undermined his health was overcome by Zatti and in a
way that surprised the doctors:
"In the Viedma Process, the cour t asked whether the recovery was
miraculous. As far as we lmow, it was not instantaneous but, according
to th e doctors... who lmew Zatti well until his death, it was extraordi-
nary due to the scarcity and ineffectiveness of the cures of the time,
th e continuity of his recovery and the more t han normal physical ro-
bustness that the Servant of God always enjoyed, despite his life of
hardship. Our Lady's intervention seems undeniable, wheth er it was
a miracle or an extraordinary grace."22
The finger of God, however, acted in its own unmistakable
style: God did not eradicate the illness by r estoring Artemides' life
21 Letter to his father, Viedma 15 June 1908.
22 Positio, 75-76.

2.5 Page 15

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 57
to its pre-disease condition, nor did he unravel the mystery typical
of every divine design and human existence. Thus, as we know,
"while noting the improvements in the Servant of God's health, the Su-
periors were not fully persuaded about his future chances. Tuberculosis,
in t hose days, never gave certainty of recovery and definitive cure; the
curriculum of studies that the Servant of God would have to tackle at
his age (23-24), was still long and certainly not suitable for someone who
had had tuberculosis; on the other hand, he had already begun to work
in the Pharmacy, in an occupation suitable for a layman, and everything
leads one to believe he did so with success and mutual satisfaction; per-
haps Fr Garrone was exerting some pressme to keep him with him in
his work. Given all these circumstances, the Superiors, then, had to put
it to the Servant of God - who certainly, from all that appears in his writ-
ings, had decided to leave the world and consecrate himself to God - to
become a Salesian religious, but as a coadjutor (brother): the solution
seemed the most prudent in view of his still uncertain health: material
work required less effort than a long period of strict studies."23
God's mystery deepened with his cure, and Artemide's faith
was asked for a purification that was perhaps more severe than
the one imposed by his loss of health: to sacrifice the direction his
vocation was to take. Thus Artemides was led to deepen the path
of purification that God required of him: deliverance from illness
was not a regaining of the strength which allows an enterprising
young man to "take hold of life again". In its own way his recovery
became the desert of a new poverty, so that Zatti's life would be a
free space for God in the radical call to a new abandonment.
God cured Artemides of tuberculosis in order to renew in
him the miracle of salvation from self-attachment, of detach-
ment even from his own good plans:
"It is to be assumed t hat abandoning t he aspiration to the priesthood was
a great spiritual suffering for the Servant of God, such was the impetus
and spirit of sacrifice with which he had undertaken the journey towards
this goal. Howeve1~it is marvellous and indicative of extraordinary spir-
itual str ength that there was never a word of complaint or even a word
ofregret or nostalgia... for this reversal in the perspective of his life."24
23 Positio, 80.
2• Positio, 81.

2.6 Page 16

▲back to top
58 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
"I recovered", then, is the voice of coherence in Zatti's voca-
tional alphabet. When God calls and his creature responds, the
Spirit does not merely repair human precariousness but fulfils
God's dream "See, I am making all things new" (Rev 21:5).
Thus, while sickness inclines the human h eart to withdraw into
itself, Zatti's believing and promising, nourished by love for the
Lord Jesus and the Cross, produced true health: greater self-for-
getfulness and unconditional submission to God, which led him
to be the humble apostle of the poorest, the sick and, among
them, to become the apostle of the strangest cases; in short,
apostle of the abandoned and discarded of this world.
The Artemides reborn t o greater poverty had surrendered
himself even further, in full and active trust, to the Father's
plan: "Ex aud itu I can say that [in the life of the Servant of God]
there was a general desire for God to be glorified. As I knew
him, I can assure you that he lived for the glory of God. "25
The subordination of everything to the glory of God and the
sacrifice of one's own views - including one's plans for the good -
in order to comply with God's wisdom, which alone r ealises the full-
ness ofLove, would be essential not only to the spiritual experience
of this extraordinary Salesian but also to the pedagogy ofpain
that h e would practice due to the specific nature of his mission.
In Zatti's "I r ecovered" not only a grace but a school was
fulfilled, and both were moulded by t he finger of God for the
good of his brothers and sisters: free from illness, Artemides
would serve the sick for a lifetime, after passing through the
true recovery that would make him a true doctor for the crea-
tures he would bend over.
"He often made the sign of t he Cross and had the sick make it; he
loved to teach it to children. Faith and medicine formed a symbiosis in
him; without faith he did not cure, nor did he cure without medicine.
Nor did h e see any dichotomy between the soul and the body; the hu-
man being was one, and he cured this human being: body and soul."26
25 Summarium 15.
26 Summarium 80.

2.7 Page 17

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 59
Only because he was led by the hand of God to experience
healing as dying to self could Zatti be close to the sick with the
medicine of Incarnate and Crucified Love, dispensing comfort,
light and hope.
2. AN EASTER WITNESS
If - because of the way he was reached by God's call - the
Gospel of vocation shines out in an original and very relevant
way in Zatti's life, his apostolic sowing is fulfilled as the skill of
caring in the light of Easter.
Being consistent with Easter is the rule of fidelity of every
Christian apostolate: the practice of this rule reaches splendour
in the saints, bringing the life of God into the labours of human
beings, history, the world, thus building up the Church.
Zatti practised the fatigue of human suffering with paschal
passion and thus built up the Church as a true field hospital (as
Pope Francis continues to say today), precisely by transforming
two hospitals built "at the end of the world" into living cells of
the Church.
The hospitals, first ofall the San Jose and then the Sant'Isidro,
were a valuable and unique health resource for the care of the
poor in Viedma and the Rio Negro region in particular at the
turn of the century (19th , heading into the 20th): Zatti's heroism
made them places that radiated God's love and where health care
became an experience of salvation.
Zatti consigned his life to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
The Samaritan is Christ, God who is close to us (in his Beloved
Son) and who knows of no indifference or contempt but offers
himself, in advance, to healing even the least of his sons and
daughters through the closeness of love, so that the evils of his-
tory will not condemn any of these little ones to perish outside
Jerusalem.
Here is God's miracle: in that pocket handkerchief piece of
Patagonian territory where Zatti's life flowed, a page of the

2.8 Page 18

▲back to top
60 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Gospel came to life. The Good Samaritan found a face, hands
and passion, above all for the little ones, the poor, sinners, the
least. Thus a hospital became the Father's Inn, became a sign
of a Church that sought to be rich in gifts of humanity and
Grace, through self-giving, service and living the commandment
of love of God and neighbour.
There are numerous witnesses who allow us to contemplate
the experience of the Church accessible in that field hospital
brought to life by Zatti's heart on fire: by letting them speak,
the charm of Artemides concerned with curing those who en-
trusted themselves to him emerges once again, both with the
remedies of his medical skill, his presence, sympathy, prayer for
all and with all, and with the everyday expression of faith of this
humble Salesian. All this certainly proved more effective than
many medicines.
2.1. Easter care and service (diakonia) of wounded lives
Where there is holiness the Church spreads, and where the
Church is built up there is holiness. Those who met Zatti, those
who were welcomed into his hospital, experienced fraternity and
experienced the Church in this fraternity.
In the radical style of the Gospel, Zatti lived the certainty
that service, the characteristic feature of his vocation - diakonia
- makes the face of the Church credible, recognisable, lovable.
The door that is service attracts the human heart, especially
when it is tried by life and suffering, and opens to the experience
of meeting Jesus the true Good Samaritan, and Zatti did his best
to live as a Good Samaritan. "The hospital and the houses of the
poor, which he visited night and day using a bicycle now consid-
ered a historical relic in the city of Viedrna, were the front line
of his mission. He lived the total donation of himself to God and
the dedication of all his strength to the good of his neighbour. "27
Zatti was a witness of service, and just as Jesu s gave himself
27 J .E. VECCHI, op. cit. p . 21.

2.9 Page 19

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 61
up to the end, Zatti carried out, to the point of heroism, in the
footsteps of his Lord, a fully Christian gift of self and diakonia.
It is worth emphasising, in the unanimous words of witnesses,
the extraordinary characteristics of Zatti's evangelical diakonia:
the universality of his dedication, the totality of his self-giving,
the generosity born of God being at his side, in obedience to
Him, accomplished in Him and for Him.
That Zatti's service knew of no favouritism, made no prefer-
ence of individuals was visible to all who knew him:
"I know that he visited the prison to look after the sick. He was h elpful
and friendly with unbelievers and enemies of th e Church. I remember
a doctor commenting on the title of Father Entraigas' book 'The Kins-
man of All the Poor' saying that it should b e corrected to 'Kinsman of
everyone' because of th e fairness with which be [Zatti] did not distin-
guish between all those who sought him out. "28
If there was a preference for someone in Zatti's service and
self-giving, it was the preference taught by the Good Shepherd,
sensitive above all to the fate of the most injured and lost sheep:
"It was one of [Zatti's] predilections that he gave himself totally
to God in these humble, defenceless people or those with infir-
mities that were so repuJsive that when someone wanted to send
th em to a hospice becau se they had been in the San Jose Hospi-
tal for many years, he replied that these true lightning rods of
the Hospital shouJd not be abandoned."29
Zatti, then, served with his whole self, consuming himself in
generosity without measure in the most disparate forms of
feverish activity aimed only at meeting the demands of all:
"Since his kindness and good will in serving others was known to all,
everyone turned to him for the most disparate things... Rectors of hous-
es in the Province wrote to him for medical advice, sent confreres to
him for assistance, and entrusted service people who had become inca-
pacitated to his hospital. The Dau ghters of Mary H elp of Christians
were no different from the Salesians in asking for favours. Italian mi-
2• Testimony of Carlo Tassara, Summ . 126-127.
"" Testimony of Archbishop Carlo Mariano Perez, Summ. 52.

2.10 Page 20

▲back to top
62 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
grants asked for help; those who had been well cared for at the Hospital
had people write to Italy, asked for files, as if it were an expression of
gratitude, and sent relatives and friends to be cared for because of the
respect they had for his care. Civil authorities often had incapacitated
people to care for and resorted to Zatti. Seeing he was on good terms
with the authorities, prisoners and others recommended that he ask
for clemency for them or get their problems solved."'°
Zatti's service was continuous and selfless and precisely be-
cause of this, unrestrained by touchiness, ingratitude, lack of cor-
respondence or nagging demands: "Concern for his neighbour in
the servant of God was extraordinary in his daily work; from
morning to night he lived for his beloved sick. These circum-
stances increased at night, when no matter what time they called
him, he would rush to them... I know that he often had to suffer
the excessive demands of some patients, their inordinate needs,
whims as in the case... of patients with mental illness. The Ser-
vant of God never lost his patience. I remember seeing him on
more than one occasion go out in bad weather, cold and rain on
his bicycle (not the latest model) to care for the sick among the
population, riding along quite impassable roads. "31
What deeply marked Zatti's diakonia, his service to all, was
his being in the company of the Lord. No one missed how com-
petent this generous nurse was, but equally evident was his
being on a mission with Jesus:
"One very concrete personal item: I was a novice and then a newly-or-
dained priest , and I came to Viedma because of some pustules espe-
cially on my neck and face and the Servant of God always welcomed
me with a smile, cured me by cauterising me with a hot tip, humming
the Magnificat while he worked and then encouraging me to offer
these sufferings up for holy perseverance in my vocation. "32
Again, obedience to God and his plan shone out in Zatti as
the soul of humble and trusting service meant to inspire feelings
30 Luigi Fiora, B iografia, Positio 132.
31 Testimony of Archbishop Carlo Mariano Perez, Summ. 43-47.
32 Testimony of Archbishop Carlo Mariano Perez, Summ. 43.

3 Pages 21-30

▲back to top

3.1 Page 21

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 63
of abandonment to God in the poor and the sick. Everything
found inspiration in God, and Zatti carried out everything in
accordance with God's command, so that the service of this
great Salesian was a continuous and fascinating practice of the
precept of love:
he "loved God above all things. For him all things of this earth were
passing and secondary. For me, Zatti was constant, unwavering in his
love for God and in his piety. Not only in acts of piety but in all service
to his neighbour he always kept the name of God on his lips. He urged
all those close to him to live prayerfully. Zatti was always an example,
his piety was above the ordinary."33
Zatti's service, however, as is always the case with saints,
was a diakonia, a service performed certainly in obedience to
God, but above all in the name of God, lending God his face, his
heart, his hands in the certainty - a source of great boldness -
of being but a small instrument of his great Power and Provi-
dence. Thus Zatti worked with extraordinary generosity but
with total abandon because he knew that it was his Lord who
acted in him: "He always hoped and trusted in God. The seren-
ity with which he overcame difficulties was a demonstration of
his hope in God. He always said: 'God will provide', but he said
it with full confidence and hope. "34
Zatti, believer and true man, was "moved by love for his
neighbour, because he saw the suffering Christ in every sick per-
son. Such was the kindness he showed the sick that he did not
deny them anything";35 "For the Servant of God, love was mani-
fested in the charity with which he assisted the 'other Christs'.
With his Gospel notion that whatever his disciples would do for
their neighbour they would be doing to Christ himself, the Ser-
vant of God habitually behaved charitable towards all, even when
dealing with the unbelieving or indifferent."36
33 Testimony of Garcia Oscar Giovanni, Summ. 113.
3' Testimony of Ferdinando Enrique Molinari, Summ. 151.
36 Testimony of Noelia de Tofoni Morero, Summ 259.
36 Testimony of Fr De Roia Luigi, Summ. 271.

3.2 Page 22

▲back to top
64 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Either by outwardly living a Church of service capable of
reaching out to its poor, or by serving those who knocked at the
doors of his hospital - first at San Jose and then at Sant'lsidro
- so t hat they might encounter God's love there, Zatti gave his
whole self t o God, becoming a servant of the Lord, an authentic
missionary of the Church in the name of the Lord J esus.
2.2. Easter fratern ity a n d communion (koinonia) in shared
life
Zatti's holiness brings us to the heart of the Chw·ch not only
because of the uniqueness of his diakonia, but also because of
the quality of communion that flourished thr ough his giving of
himself to others. What communion was for Zatti is attested as
much by the testimonies of those who witnessed its action , as
by the way in which he went through the most trying moments
that marked his life.
A particularly painful event for him occurred when his supe-
riors opted fo r the demolition of the San Jose Hospital to which
Artemis had dedicated all his energy; Viedma lacked the premis-
es for the episcopacy, and in order to build a suitable bishop 's
residence, it was decided to demolish the old hospit al, with the
burden of transferring all health services to the premises of the
Agricultural School of Sant'Isidro, the site of another Salesian
work in Viedma .
For Zatti, the demolit ion was not a simple building opera-
tion, it was a r aw and crucifying trial: not only did the rubble of
an old hospital lie before his eyes, l;mt t he doubt that his life
might have collapsed with those walls, and that his renuncia-
tions and privations, misunderstandings and vigils, headaches
and sweat, dedication to other s and self-sacrifice had also ended
there. Zatti was not spared this chalice, but remain ed uprigh t
with Christian fort itude and gentlen ess: "at th e time of the de-
molition of the San Jose hospital, he h ad first proposed that the
bishop's palace be built elsewh ere and the land be exchanged;
th en , given the inexorability of the demolition, which... he felt

3.3 Page 23

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 65
enormously because of his extreme human sensitivity, he did not
rebel or protest; on the contrary, he calmed those who tried to
make him rebel. "37
As is always the case in the lives of saints, the trial was both
a dark crucible and a luminous demonstration: with his serenity
of spirit and alacrity in setting up the new health services build-
ing, Zatti showed what th e foundation of his dedication was: the
real hospital he had built could not be reduced to rubble because
it was an invention of charity, the charity that "never ends" (1
Cor 13:8), and that expresses the miracle of communion, a re-
flection of the eternal life of God. Zatti's true hospital was not
an earthly building dedicated to San Jose or San'Isidro; in those
rooms, his professionalism welcomed everyone, through the
door of service, so that they might experience the true and full
tenderness of God.
Zatti did not preach the catechism of communion, but by his
holiness he embodied it; and his hospital was not an imposing
building, but an evident, daily miracle of service and commu-
nion. There "The Servant of God directed the staff, which was
made up of various people who lived in the hospital, like a supe-
rior of a religious community... The staff loved him, revered him
and followed his rules to the letter. Nobody ever lacked what
was necessary: moral, spiritual or technical for the fulfilment of
their duties, and this because of the personal concern of the Ser-
vant of God."38
That it was Zatti's spiritual stature that made him the ar-
chitect of communion is everyone's belief:
"During the years I was at school in the College of St Francis de Sales,
the Hospital was a dependency ofthe College and one knew everything
that went on here as well as there. I never heard of any quarrels or
misunderstandings between Zatti's co-workers that could have any
relevance and be the cause of gossip in the village or in the school. "39
37 Testimony of Enrico Mario Kossman, Summ. 10.
38 Testimony of Fr Antonio F Fernandez Prieto, Summ. 61
39 Testimony of Fr Mario Brizzola, Summ. 75

3.4 Page 24

▲back to top
66 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Christian communion, when it is brought about, does not go
unnoticed for its beauty that surprises a world laid low by ran-
cour and division; it is only the saints, however, who know the
price of communion at its fullest, how it is quite foreign to on-
the-spot reaction, artificial sympathy or ease without sacrifice.
The saints know how much communion costs because they
know what its source is: the Lord's wounded side, which per-
forms the work of reconciliation among and with human beings.
Zatti knew that only the Blood of the Lord creates commu-
nion, and he chose the path of faithful and daily participation
in the sacrifice of the Son with a smile on his face, fortitude
in his soul, peace in his heart, his hands pierced by work and fa-
tigue. Malting t he commitment required by his sacrifice almost
imperceptible, Zatti
"was a man who radiated peace, [a man] of action, dyn amic, who
showed no nervousness, was cheerful. It was common for him to joke...
to cheer up a sick person ... He was a man who did not waver in his re-
ligious practices.. . a sign of his effort to improve himself. Personally,
what I noticed most about him was his charity and humility."•0
Zatti's humility built up the Church and made the commu-
nion of which he himself was t he creator a Christian commu-
nion; those who do not die to themselves every day day, carry
with them the heaviness of selfishness that wounds communion.
Only humility heals relationships and overcomes the lure of
power, control, seduction, prevarication. Without many words or
speeches, Zatti knew that only with humility can one be t h e
builder of koinonia which is the result of and condition for ef-
fective and unobtrusive diakonia that does not create depen-
dence but restores dignity; only humility serves in a generative
way, fostering a communion that nurtures bonds and promotes
autonomy. Humility is God's virtue because it is the secret of
every father, the hope of every son, the spirit of every true life.
Zatti was able to be a servant and creator of communion be-
•0 Testimony of Oscar Giovanni,Garcia Summ. 113

3.5 Page 25

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 67
cause of the humility that made him a simple child of God, alive
with the life of the Spirit, and father of all:
"I believe that in Zatti's relationship with his co-workers there were
never any problems because he was like a father to everyone. I remem-
ber that everyone missed him a lot when he was away in Rome for the
Canonisation of Don Bosco";•1 "Zatti's relationship with the hospital
was like that of a father. I know of no misunderstandings or difficulties:
if there were any, I believe they were not on his part. From the nurses
with whom I dealt..., I heard nothing but praise and no complaints."•2
2.3. Easter closeness and the martyria of life without end
Our confrere Artemide Zatti truly testified by his life (mar-
tyria) that the Lord is risen. "I am the light of the world" (Jn
8:12) the Lord said of himself. The Gospel is Light that seeks to
penetrate people's lives, and Light for the world is the Church,
God's living sacrament. Zatti's holiness, nourished by the Je-
su s's Passover, is also light, and the poor and sick of Viedma in
particular experienced this. Zatti welcomed them through the
door of service, kept them within the walls of communion, but
so as to offer them, through his testimony of life, the light of the
Gospel, the splendour of Easter that illuminates the Church.
Believers and non-believers alike were thunderstruck by Zat-
ti'swords and gestures; his testimony was shadowless, extraor-
dinarily Salesian, reached everyone and proclaimed two decisive
features of the God of Jesus through two words: Providence and
Paradise.
There is no Church where there is no explicit proclamation
of the name of God, a proclamation paid for with the martyrdom
of life, in the sign of blood or charity; where Zatti's service and
communion went, the proclamation of the name of God, of these
two names that are so Christian and so Salesian, resounded:
Providence and Paradise.
Zatti proclaimed with his life that everything in God is love,
" Testimony of Giuseppe Nicola Costanzo, Summ. 103.
• 2 Testimony of Amalia Teresa Giraudini, Summ. 117.

3.6 Page 26

▲back to top
68 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
but concrete, attentive, boundless and detailed love for each
creature: God's love is Providence. God's Providence, howeve1~
is not timeless but eternal, and then comes the second name:
Paradise; Paradise is the proper name for God's desire in history
to provide for his creatures in order to have them with him
forever, for eternity.
Zatti was a t eacher of this Christian alphabet:
"It was his constant desire that the Lord be known and loved. He tes-
tified to this by the joy he expressed when a new patient, who knew
nothing of God, became a devout Christian. His first concern was to
look after them in a caring manner and inspire confidence in divine
P rovidence. " 43
His sense of Providence was not the obligatory response
to precarious conditions, a sort of last resort offered to
shipwrecked people so they didn't founder in difficult times.
Witnessing to Providence for Zatti meant teaching them to talk
to God, call him by name with Christian trust , because
" he was very much convinced of the Gospel principles and one that
was firmly engraved on his heart and mind was 'strive first for the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be giv-
en to you as well' (Mt 6:33). He had learnt in Don Bosco's school - hav-
ing read much about his life - never'to mistrust God's help, especially
when he is honoured, as he wishes, in each of our neighbours."44
But a Providence without Paradise would not allow the
proclamation of God's name to withstand the impact of history
with its burden of fatigue , suffering and death. Inside and be-
yond the hospital, Zatti inspired a Church that was always visit-
ed by pain and death, and this demanded a fullness of faith and
witness, demanded that h e proclaim the name of God's only
wish for humankind: Paradise. When he bore witness to Par-
adise, Zatti showed his certainty "regarding eternal life and its
acquisition by grace and good works ; this he manifested espe-
•3 Testimony of Manuel Linares, Summ. 92.
•• Testimony of Archbishop Carlo Mariano Perez, Summ. 36.

3.7 Page 27

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 69
cially in the face of death... I personally heard him rejoice at be-
ing able to give religious assistance to the sick and exclaim...
'Today we have sent two or three to heaven"'45
With these two names of God, Zatti evangelised life and
death , joy and pain, health and illness as true Christian witness,
as a martyr in the daily martyrdom of charity. Zatti's proclama-
tion and martyria did not divulge a Gospel of circumstance or
opportunity but spread Salt, Light, Yeast, lent face, heart and
hands to a Gospel that asks for life and pervades it throughout,
dissolves conundrums and conquers anguish with the warmth of
Truth: "From the time I knew him, he always gave more impor-
tance to religious practices than to his work, although he did this
with perseverance. He often quoted the Scriptures, especially the
Gospels, to console the sick or encourage virtue... It was very dif-
ficult for him not to put a spiritual thought into his conversa-
tions. Once, while talking to him, I mentioned the discovery of
some new medicines such as penicillin and sulphonamides; the
Servant of God listened to me and, when I finished speaking, he
said: 'It is true, it is true, but people will still continue to die. "'46
The truth of the Gospel in its entirety enlightened Zatti's
hospital, as it had enlightened the Oratory in Don Bosco's time:
that is why in the hospital at Viedma, as within the walls at Val-
docco, death was not feared, nor were expedients multiplied to
soften the scandal of death or hide its evidence, deceptions that
are dangerous to the human heart. Zatti faced death with the
testimony of the Gospel of life: life with its feet on the ground,
and therefore industrious and practical, but with its heart in
heaven, and therefore confident and serene: "the only motive of
his life was the expectation of a heavenly reward. He never acted
to gain money or reputation, but did everything in the hope of
future happiness."47
46 Testimony of Enrico Mario Kossman, Summ. 14.
6
'
Testimony
of Fr
Mario
Brizzola,
Summ.
79-80.
' 7 Testimony of Fr Mario Brizzola, Summ. 80.

3.8 Page 28

▲back to top
70 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Albeit in all simplicity, his commitment to live the Gospel with
his heart rooted in the ultimate prize was to bring the God of
Providence and Paradise into every human wound and death , so
that Life and Resurrection might flourish there. This made Zat-
ti's testimony blessed and he invoked its presence when the pre-
cious and rare medicines of hope and consolation were indispen s-
able. The whole town of Viedma knew this, as witnesses have
confirmed with astonishing unanimity: they all called on Zatti,
and he would rush to hearten and console, giving this Christian
medicine that he drew upon for his own life in the Grace of God,
from the Spirit himself, the Consoler. Thus it became "extraor-
dinary in the Servant of God that he was able to instil hope in
the sick, a fact that contributed almost miraculously to healing
by uplifting the soul of the suffering individual."48 Zatti bears
witness, including to the martyrdom of charity, that the Lord
is God of heaven and earth. Zatti bears witness to this with the
passion of the saints which knows no measure: "I remember one
patient t elling Zatti that he was always preparing him for heaven
but that he needed to prepare him a little for earth.
Another fact shows the atmosphere of the hospital: a nurse
once insisted on preparing a patient who was not so sick for
death and who is actually still alive."49
2.4. Easter joy and the liturgy of life redeemed
With his extraordinary fidelity to the central occasions of
Christian life, Artemides Zatti was nourished by the Bread of
the Word, the Bread of Forgiveness, the Bread of Heaven, and
his life was transfigured, ever more intensely, for the benefit of
a mission rich in fruits that grew. Thus, the life of Grace, in-
tensely lived by this son of Don Bosco, reached out to all those
who met him, without distinction: the sick and co-workers, con-
freres and authorities, the poor and benefactors, in Zatti they
•e Testimony of Juan Cadorna Guidi, Summ. 218
•9 Testimony of Dr. Pasquale Attilio Guidi, Summ. 100.

3.9 Page 29

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 7 1
touched the life of the Lord through the power of the sacramen-
tal mystery that is shared among people in the communion of
the people of God. And so the whole Church, in the sacraments,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, celebrates the Paschal Mystery
and ensures nourishment for people through the sacraments for
the journey and for remedies that heal humanity wounded by
evil and death.
This is the Church: It flourishes and grows where service
and fellowship proclaim the name of God, bear witness to the
Word of Jesus, are nourished by His Body, healed by His For-
giveness. Zatti did not simply do all this, but was all this. Be-
cause of his correspondence to Grace which made his life holy,
we recognise not only the Lord's gestures and words in him, but
experience his very life: Zatti was a "living tabernacle", and his
radiant testimony aroused questions, intentions, conversion,
even in those who were far from close participation in the mys-
tery of the Lord.
Zatti's dedication, revealing more than human roots, be-
comes a universally convincing proof of the supernatural power
of the sacraments; his, in fact, was
"a supernatural and extraordinary love of neighbour... He was willing
to make any sacrifice and that is why the difficult seemed easy for him.
I think the difficult circumstances of his charitable work were the
shortage of per sonnel, the demand for his assistance at all times, not
being affected by bad weather, serving all kinds of people. I remember
a relative of mine who was ill coming to visit on a day when the weath-
er was very bad, and when someone asked him, 'Are you going out in
this weather, Bro. Zatti?' he replied: 'I don' t have any other kind of
weather! "'50
It is a rule of the Christian liturgy to be able to give good proof
of itself in the life of the believer through order, harmony, effec-
tive and supernatural energy. Zatti was a Christian, a consecrated
Salesian layman of Don Bosco. He was a living stone of the
Church, a witness to Easter, because the commandment of Love
50 Testimony of Oscar Giovanni Garcia, Summ. 114.

3.10 Page 30

▲back to top
72 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
became visible in his works, and that made people recognise God
in their neighbour and their neighbour in God. But through his
life Zatti also taught that the strength needed to practise that
commandment is supernatural and can only come from God,
from his sacraments and from prayer and union with Him.
"Zatti practised charity in difficult circumstances due to a lack of fi-
nancial resources. Also because his activity went beyond the ordinary,
due to the amount of hours he dedicated to his commitments without
omitting his religious obligations. Knowing him as we did, we won-
dered how he could sustain such great effort without the rest that is
usually considered necessary. "51
Two episodes are worthy of recall as an example of the litur-
gy of life which made Zatti was first a disciple and then an apos-
tle of the Crucified and Risen Lord; firstly, the demolition of the
old San Jose hospital, with the need to transfer the sick to
Sant'Isidro:
"I have no information that Zatti was notified of an eviction date, and
he certainly had not received anything from his provincial, otherwise
I would have known... The emotional state into which Zatti fell when
the sick had to be removed in case the rubble fell on them, could have
been psychologically fatal. He wept bitterly, but after praying before
the Blessed Sacrament, he set to work with calm energy";52
and then there was his service to the dying:
"A young man was about to die, and Zatti was conver sing with him af-
ter giving him communion; at a certain point the young man began
shouting 'Zatti, I'm going to die!' and at the same moment got out of
bed; looking him in the eyes, Zatti smiled and said: 'How wonderful,
you are going to heaven !' and the young man fell back with a smile
that copied Zatti's, and which remained etched on his face. "53
This is what happens when the Eucharist becomes life and
the Paschal Mystery becomes daily practice: human greatness is
transformed, by the power ofthe Spirit, and every action ofa be-
51 Testimony of Luigi De Palma, Summ. 135.
62 Testimony of Fr Feliciano Lopez, Summ. 178.
53 Testimony of Fr Feliciano Lopez, Summ. 174.

4 Pages 31-40

▲back to top

4.1 Page 31

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 73
liever is performed in Christ, for Christ and with Christ, making
life a liturgy and transfusing the holy gifts of the liturgy into life.
Our dear Artemides Zatti, indebted in everything to the Mys-
teries of the Lord, knew that everything could only be achieved
thanks to Him; hence his humility:
"I remember that, as my brother Salvador was very ill with typhoid
fever, the Servant of God went to treat him several times a day. On
one occasion , meeting up with him on his way to Salvador's house, I
was distressed and said to him: 'Bro. Zatti, please save my brother!'
He turned and looked me in the eyes, and said sternly: 'Don't be
blasphemous, only God saves!"'54
Artemides Zatti's was a life of self-gift, communion, and wit-
ness to the risen Lord. A life full of graces that led him to a fully
Christian death: ''Asked if his pain was constant, strong or oth-
erwise, without answering directly he said to me: 'It is a means
of purification and I am happy because I realise that I am com-
pleting the Passion of Christ, something I have inculcated so
much in the sick. '"65
And Zatti's offering as the seal of his liturgy was complete,
unobtrusive, serene and joyful. It deserves to be summed up in
a little story in which, behind the veil of sympathy, Zatti gave
those who were looking after him the meaning of his life, which
God was able to squeeze out to the full because it was mature
and complete. A few months before his death, smiling about his
illness - liver cancer that turned his face yellow - Zatti told a
nurse that he (Zatti) would soon be coloured, too, with make-
up! His, however, would be like it is in lemons, the colour of ma-
turity which means the fruit is ready to be completely squeezed:
"You wear make-up? So do I! Within six months I will demon-
strate it. The lemon is of no use if it is not yellow. "56
54 Testimony of Pietro Ecbay, Summ. 211-212.
66 Testimony of Francesco Erasmo Geronazzo, Summ. 274.
56 Testimony of Fr Feliciano Lopez, Summ. 193.

4.2 Page 32

▲back to top
74 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
3. INVITATION TO A SPECIAL COMMITMENT
This was the title of the last part of Fr Vecchi's letter to
which I have referred several times, and which I would like to
keep and share now. In the previous pages I have attempted to
outline the extraordinary figure of our Salesian coadjutor broth-
er Artemides Zatti in a simple but incisive manner. His life's
journey, imbued and filled with God, is more than evident. As is
his holiness. Faced with this great figure, we see the need and
importance in our Congregation of a special commitment to pro-
mote this beautiful vocation today. I make Fr Vecchi's words my
own in asking of every province, every community, and every
brother in the coming years, as of now, "a renewed, extraordi-
nary and specific commitment for the vocation of the Salesian
Brother within our vocational pastoral work: in praying for this,
in suggesting and proclaiming it, in welcoming it and following
it up, in living it personally and together in the community."57
There is no shortage of valuable publications on the figure of
the Salesian coadjutor brother;58 Perhaps what we need at this
time is to make our commitment more convincing. I have often
said in my visits to the provinces and also in my letters that we
must first of all be men of faith, more than ever abandoned to
the Lord today. Many other strategies and plans can help us, but
they will not get us out of a profound difficulty. Only trust in the
Lord and recourse to him will. The following testimony of a
brother confrere has, in my opinion, a particular force to it:
"Today too resounds the call 'Come and follow me'. And I find it al-
ways a source of wonder that even today there are young men who
seem to lack nothing they would need for heading towards the priest-
hood, and instead they choose to become consecrated laymen in the
Salesian Congregation. And so in our pastoral work for vocations we
57 J.E . V ECCHI, op. cit., p . 47.
58 The ones offered by Fr Vecchi ar e available in AGC 373 (2000) and in
The vocation of the Salesian Brother in Salesian pastoral work for vocations,
in The S alesian Brothe1: History, Identity, Vocational Apostolate and Forma-
tion, Editrice SDB, Rome 1989, 133-161.

4.3 Page 33

▲back to top
THE RECTOR MAJOR 75
must have faith in this vocation which is complete in itself, and pass
on to others esteem for it as by osmosis, without any forced compar-
isons or distortions in respect of the clerical figure. We must be con-
vinced that there are young men who do not identify with the priestly
model, but are attracted by that of the consecrated layman. What are
the reasons for this choice? All reasons are insufficient: fundamentally
it is a mystery of Grace and freedom."59
At this point, I would like to invite you to take a closer look
at forthcoming publications on both Saint Artemides Zatti and
the vocation of the Salesian coadjutor brother in our Congrega-
tion in the various regions, and in the proposals ofboth the Youth
Ministry and Formation Sectors that will undoubtedly reach us
from now on as a help to the intercession that the new Salesian
saint will provide for everyone and, undoubtedly in a very special
way for his Salesian coadjutor brothers in the world, t hose who
are already here and those to come by the Grace of God.
The power and beauty of an invitation
I believe we should not end our discussion of the life of
Artemides Zatti without evoking, once again, a letter from 1986
from Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, today Pope Francis, writ-
ten to a Salesian, testifying to a grace r eceived through Zatti's
intercession.
The story is well known: when he was Provincial of the Je-
suits in Argentina, Father Bergoglio entrusted to Zatti the re-
quest to the Lord for holy vocations to the lay consecrated life
for the Society of Jesus, and his Province had the grace, within
a decade, of twenty-three new religious brother vocations.
The episode is relevant not only for the main characters in
that story - the Master of the Harvest, a Salesian coadjutor
brother saint, the current Successor of Peter - but for its con-
tent: the vocational power of Zatti's testimony.
It is astonishing that the first Salesian to be canonised, and
59 J.E. VECCHI, op. cit. pp. 49-50.

4.4 Page 34

▲back to top
76 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
not because of blood martyrdom, should be a brother, and a
brother who, in radical obedience to God, renounced the very
form of vocation by which he had been fascinated, that of the
priesthood, to be with Don Bosco, and then carried out a sacrifi-
cial service in the world of sickness and suffering.
However, the strong beauty of this testimony cannot escape
us; in him shine t~1e fundamental loves that must enkindle the
Salesian's heart: love for God and his will, love for our neigh-
bour in whose suffering limbs we see the Face of Jesus Crucified,
love for the Mother of the Lord, Mediatrix of all grace, love for
Don Bosco who promises bread, work and Paradise to every
Salesian.
These loves shine forth in the luminous grandeur of
Artemides' religious life, embraced joyfully and radically and
with generou s resourcefulness.
Our confrere Artemides Zatti shows us how sensitive the
world is to the witness of religious life, provided that this wit-
ness is true, credible, authentic: the triumph of his funeral, his
reputation for holiness, the veneration of his tomb are clear
signs of how much everyone recognised the finger of God in ac-
tion in this generous and faithful Salesian:
" In proportion to the inhabitants of Viedma, the number of people
who flocked to the funeral was impressive. From everywhere came
humble people with small bouquets of flowers. In addition to the au-
thorities, there were many other people. In t he days [following the
death] people were convinced that a saint had died; some went to the
grave hoping for miracles: they prayed, brought flowers. "60
Artemides Zatti's life woke up a city, and today it touches the
whole world because it spoke of God: he brought the perfume of
God's virginal and fruitful love among the poor and the sick,
with an exemplary practice of chastity; he gave everyone the
richness of faith, paying for it with a beloved poverty to the
point of giving up his own room to a sick person or bringing a
60 Testimony of Amalia Teresa Giraudini, Summ. 115-116.

4.5 Page 35

▲back to top
THE= RE=CTOR MAJOR 77
deceased person there to remove them from the sight of other
patients in a final gesture of tenderness and pity; he taught true
freedom, obeying the will of the superiors at the cost of bitter
tears, recognising them as mediators of God's plan.
An exemplary religious, by this testimony he teaches every-
one that the health to be guarded above every other good is that
of the soul, our soul that is so precious because it comes from
God and aspires to him, often unconsciously, in the desire to find
eternal Love in his arms.
May Zatti's loves kindle our loves; may his witness to the
Absolute that is God, the greatness of the soul and our true
homeland inspire our gestures and our pastoral passion for a
new apostolic fidelity and renewed vocational fruitfulness. May
we never lack, as Artemides Zatti always sought, the maternal
protection of Mary Help of Christians, and may the devotion to
our Mother in every Salesian house in the world, and in every
corner where th e Family of Don Bosco is found, be a sui-e road
that helps us to live a holiness like that of our confrere.
I conclude th ese words by proposing a prayer to the Father
through the intercession of t he new Salesian coadjutor brother
saint, Saint Artemides Zatti.

4.6 Page 36

▲back to top
78 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Prayer of intercession
to ask for vocations of lay Salesians
O God, who in St Artemides Zatti
have given us a model Salesian coadjutor brother
who, docile to your call
and with the compassion of the Good Samaritan
made himselfa neighbour to every human being,
help us to recognise the gift ofthis vocation
which testifies the beauty ofconsecrated life to the world.
Give us the courage to propose to young people
this form ofevangelical life
at the service ofthe little ones and the poor,
and make those whom you call to this path
respond generously to your invitation.
We ask this through the intercession ofSaint Artemides Zatti
and through the mediation of Christ our Lord.
Amen.
With true affection and united in the Lord with mutual prayer,
I am yours sincerely,
~~~~
Angel Fernandez Artime, sdb
Rector Major