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Domenic Savio was born at Riva di Chieri, near Turin, Italy, on April 2, 1842 and died there on March 9, 1857. He was the second of 11 children born to Domenico Savio and his wife, Bridget Gaiato. The father worked on a rented farm and the mother was a part-time dressmaker while the father was also a spare-time blacksmith. The young saint showed an early love for prayer. At the age of 5 he became an altar boy at Murialdo, where his family had moved, and on winter mornings was often found kneeling in the snow or rain waiting for the priest to open the church. Custom, at that time, was for First Holy Communion to be received at the age of 11 or 12, but Dominic was allowed to receive his at the age of 7. On this occasion he made four resolutions: " I will sanctify Sundays and Holy Days; my friends will be Jesus and Mary; I will go to confession as often as my confessor allows; death, but never sin. " He was averse to quarreling, but only after overcoming a temper. Desiring to be a priest, he walked several miles to school each day to prepare himself. On October 2, 1854, he was introduced to St. John Bosco, then a priest working for poor boys, and in Dominic Don Bosco recognized the makings of a saint, and at Dominic's request agreed to guide him along the road to sanctity. Dominic went to Turin to live at the Oratory established by Don Bosco where he not only sheltered homeless boys but taught them to be true christians. When the cholera plague struck Turin, Dominic was one of 40 boys recruited by Don Bosco to do infirmary work in the city, even though Dominic was not very strong. On two occasions, through inspiration, he lead Don Bosco to people who were dying and were in need of a priest. Dominic attended private schools near the Oratory where the boys of Don Bosco were given free instruction. In 1854 he made the Novena of the Immaculate Conception with great fervor and told Don Bosco that he was consumed by an overpowering urge to become a saint, and from this time onward his progress in holiness so amazed Don Bosco that he began taking note of the boy's conduct for a future biography. Dominic organized the Sodality of the Immaculate Conception in the Oratory and from its original 18 members, 17 were to form the nucleus of the Salesion Society, destined to become the third largest male religious order in the church. During this period many visions were granted to Dominic. Never too healthy, he was sent home in the summer of 1856 to regain his health and returned to the Oratory only to have his health fail again. By February he was so poorly that Don Bosco deemed it prudent to send him home for a second time. He told his unbelieving parents that he had come home to die, and over their protests received the last sacraments. On March 9th, while sitting up in bed and reciting psalms with his father, he said: " Oh, what a beautiful sight I see ", and died peacefully. A month after his death he appeared to his father and told him that he was already in heaven. In December 1876 he appeared to Don Bosco, leading a host of youths. He foretold the deaths of some of the boys; the future of the Salesion Society, which Don Bosco had just founded; the death of Pius IX; and other events. Pius IX had Don Bosco commit this apparition to writing. Almost immediately after Dominic's death, his grave became the center of pilgrimages, and extraordinary graces were obtained through his intercession. On October 27, 1914, his body was laid beside St. John Bosco's in the Salesian basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians. He was beatified May 5, 1949 and canonized June 12, 1954. He was a model and patron for teenagers, called by Pope Pius XII: " A timely model for the youth of Catholic Action throughout the world. " 
Technical Details: Scott Catalogue - 219 - 222 Date Issued - 21 March 1957 Face Value - 4 l, 6 l, 25 l, 60 l Perforations - 13 Printer - The Italian State Printing Office |
| (From Vatican Notes Volume IX, Number 2, September - October 1960, Page 11-12) |
