Saint Dominic Savio

Personal Details 

• Feast Day : 9 March Non-martyr saint 

• Born : A.D.1842 

• Died : A.D.1857 

• Canonized : A.D.1954 Patron saint of juvenile 

Saint Dominic Savio was born in a village in Italy in 1842. He came from a typical peasant family. He had great love for God since boyhood and was determined to become a priest. 

When Saint Dominic Savio was at the age of twelve, Saint John Bosco was recruiting youngsters at Turin. Dominic Savio enrolled and became the beloved student of Saint John Bosco. On that day, after Father Bosco had talked face-to-face with him, he knew that Savio was the chosen one by God and he would lead a holy life. Savio joined the Oratory of Saint Francis de Sales founded by Father Bosco and assisted in the founding of the Sodality of Mary Immaculate. 

Savio was a person with earnestness. He diligently performed every job in his daily life. He would not be negligent of his trivial duties. He always said, “I must try my best to do my job, no matter they are big or small. When praying, pray piously, when playing, play wholeheartedly and joyfully.” When Father Bosco set up the Salesian Order, he did not have a chance to join because he passed away two years earlier. 

The health of Dominic Savio was steadily deteriorating at the beginning of 1857. He was sent home from the Oratory to recover from his ill health in Febraury 1857. His illness was diagnosed as inflammation. It was not cured after continued treatment. Dominic was sure that his death was approaching. He asked his parents to send for the parish priest and asked to be given the Anointing of the Sick (last sacraments) in preparation for death and died peacefully. 

Dominic Savio was beatified in 1950 in the Catholic Church and was canonized four years later in 1954. At the age of fifteen, he is the youngest non-martyr to be canonized in the Catholic Church. He is the patron saint of juveniles.

Little Quiz 

• Which great saint did Saint Dominic Savio meet during his boyhood? What happened to him afterwards? 

• Which good virtue of Saint Dominic Savio do you want to model after? Why?