Today is the Feast of Saint Dominic Savio (1842-1857), the young Italian who was a student of Saint John Bosco in 19th century Turin. Dominic was studying to be a priest when he became ill and died at the age of 14, possibly from pleurisy. As it happens, Saint Dominic Savio is the patron of Bishop Earl Boyea who, as a boy, chose Saint Dominic as his Confirmation saint. Here is Bishop Boyea's reflections upon his Confirmation and his patron saint. Bishop Boyea writes:
"My confirmation took place on March 31, 1963, at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Waterford, Michigan. Bishop John Donovan, an auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, celebrated the sacrament for our class according to the old ritual. I would have been in sixth grade just about ready to celebrate my 13th birthday at the time."
"An important part of our preparation for Confirmation was the reading of various lives of the saints. One of the most recently named saints was Dominic Savio, a young Italian who died at the age of 14 in 1857. This lad was greatly loved by St. John Bosco who mentored the boy for his last two years."
"Dominic was canonized a saint in 1954, at the time the youngest non-martyr to be canonized. There are two things I remember about Dominic Savio which may have been the reason he became my patron saint for Confirmation. He is reported to have said that he would not commit even the smallest sin. As a sixth grader, I could seek to emulate that attitude. However, I can assure you that I never lived up to such a standard, in spite of the many graces God provided."
"I also remember that he made a practice of trying to make each Confession and Communion as if it would be his last. Both of those sacraments remained very important to me and the former freed me many, many times when I failed to live up to the high bar set by Dominic Savio."
"I later learned that Dominic had nine siblings. When I was 12, mom and dad were working on their seventh on the way to ten children. As I reflect back now on that day so many years ago, many adult saints have crowded my vision and given me direction, but that boy has remained as a challenge that one’s youthful dreams, hopes, and desires are never lost."
Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us!