Saint Joseph Cafasso
Prêtre à Turin (+ 1860)
Ce fut un saint prêtre,
professeur de théologie morale à Turin et directeur spirituel réputé. Il forma
le clergé piémontais, en particulier saint Jean Bosco, à l’école de saint
Alphonse de Liguori et de saint François de Sales.
Le 30 juin 2010, dans le
sillage de l'Année sacerdotale, Benoît XVI a consacré sa catéchèse à la figure
du saint italien Giuseppe Cafasso, à 150 ans de sa mort. Après des études de
philosophie et de théologie et, quatre mois après son ordination sacerdotale en
1833, Joseph entra à l'internat ecclésiastique de Saint-François-d'Assise de
Turin pour se perfectionner en pastorale. Sa vie de prêtre, a dit le Pape, fut
celle d'un "vrai pasteur animé d'une riche vie intérieure et d'un grand
zèle pastoral, fidèle à la prière, engagé dans les prédications, la catéchèse,
attentif à la célébration de l'eucharistie et au ministère de la confession,
conformément au modèle incarné par saint Charles Borromée et saint François de
Sales et promu par le Concile de Trente".
"Saint Joseph
Cafasso entreprit de réaliser ce modèle dans la formation des jeunes prêtres
pour que ceux-ci, à leur tour, deviennent des formateurs d'autres prêtres,
religieux et laïcs, en suivant une chaîne aussi particulière qu'efficace".
Le saint qui consacrait de nombreuses heures à la confession, "avait un
amour total pour le Seigneur, une foi bien enracinée et soutenue par une prière
profonde, prolongée et vivante, ainsi qu'une charité sincère avec tous. Il
connaissait la théologie morale, mais tout aussi bien les situations et le cœur
des gens dont il avait pris la charge, comme le bon pasteur". Rappelant
ensuite que saint Jean Bosco le prit comme directeur spirituel de 1835 à 1860,
Benoît XVI précisa que Giuseppe Cafasso ne cessa jamais d'en être "un
disciple à son image et à sa ressemblance", et celui-ci à son tour ne
manqua pas d'imiter son maître... "dans les vertus humaines et
sacerdotales, en le définissant comme un modèle de vie sacerdotale. Mais il
suivit ses attitudes personnelles et sa vocation propre. Voilà un enseignement
fondamental pour tous ceux qui se consacrent à la formation et à l'éducation
des jeunes générations".
Le ministère de saint
Joseph Cafasso fut aussi caractérisé par "une grande attention aux plus
faibles, en particulier aux prisonniers qui...vivaient dans des lieux inhumains
et déshumanisants". Si, au début, le saint faisait de "grandes
prédications auxquelles assistait souvent toute la population carcérale, le
temps passant, il privilégia la catéchèse plus directe, menée à terme au cours
de rencontres et colloques plus personnels. Respectueux des modes de vivre de
chacun, il évoquait la vie chrétienne en parlant de la confiance en Dieu, de
l'adhésion à sa volonté, de l'utilité de la prière et des sacrements dont...la
confession et la rencontre avec Dieu qui se fait miséricorde infinie". Il
mourut en 1860. En 1948, le Pape Pie XII le proclama patron des prisons
italiennes et en 1953, il le proposa comme "modèle pour les prêtres
engagés dans la confession et la direction spirituelle". (source: VIS
20100630-500)
À Turin, en 1860, saint
Joseph Cafasso, prêtre, qui se consacra à accroître la piété et la science du
clergé piémontais et à réconcilier avec Dieu les malheureux emprisonnés et même
les condamnés à mort.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1374/Saint-Joseph-Cafasso.html
BENOÎT XVI
AUDIENCE GÉNÉRALE
Place Saint-Pierre
Mercredi 30 juin 2010
Saint Giuseppe Cafasso
Chers frères et sœurs,
Nous avons depuis peu
conclu l’Année sacerdotale: un temps de grâce, qui a apporté et qui portera des
fruits précieux à l’Eglise; une opportunité pour rappeler dans la prière tous
ceux qui ont répondu à cette vocation particulière. Le saint curé d’Ars, ainsi
que d’autres figures de saints prêtres, véritables lumières dans l’histoire de
l’Eglise, nous ont accompagnés sur ce chemin, comme modèles et intercesseurs.
Aujourd’hui, comme je l’ai annoncé mercredi dernier, je voudrais en rappeler
une autre, qui se distingue du groupe des « saints sociaux » dans la ville de
Turin du XIXe siècle: il s’agit de saint Giuseppe Cafasso.
Il me semble approprié de
rappeler son souvenir, car il y a précisément une semaine était célébré le 150e
anniversaire de sa mort, survenue dans le chef-lieu piémontais le 23 juin 1860,
à l’âge de 49 ans. En outre, il me plaît de rappeler que le Pape Pie XI, le 1er
novembre 1924, approuvant les miracles pour la canonisation de saint Jean Marie
Vianney, et publiant le décret d’autorisation pour la béatification de Giuseppe
Cafasso, rapprocha ces deux figures de prêtres à travers les paroles suivantes:
«C’est avec une disposition particulière et bénéfique de la Bonté Divine que
nous avons assisté à cette apparition, sur l’horizon de l’Eglise catholique, de
nouveaux astres, le curé d’Ars, et le vénérable serviteur de Dieu, Giuseppe
Cafasso. Ce sont précisément ces deux figures belles, chères et
providentiellement opportunes, qui devaient se présenter à nous aujourd’hui; la
figure du curé d’Ars, petite et humble, pauvre et simple, mais non moins
glorieuse, et l’autre, belle, grande, complexe et riche figure de prêtre,
maître et formateur de prêtres, le vénérable Giuseppe Cafasso ». Il s’agit de
circonstances qui nous offrent une occasion de connaître le message, vivant et
actuel, qui ressort de la vie de ce saint. Il ne fut pas curé comme le curé
d’Ars, mais il fut surtout formateur de curés et de prêtres diocésains, et même
de prêtres saints, parmi lesquels saint Jean Bosco. Il ne fonda pas, comme les
autres saints prêtres du XIXe siècle piémontais, des instituts religieux, car
sa « fondation » fut l’« école de vie et de sainteté sacerdotale » qu’il
réalisa, à travers l’exemple et l’enseignement, dans l’«internat ecclésiastique
de saint François d’Assise» à Turin.
Giuseppe Cafasso naît à
Castelnuovo d’Asti, le même village que saint Jean Bosco, le 15 janvier 1811.
C’est le troisième de quatre enfants. La dernière, sa sœur Marianne, sera la
mère du bienheureux Giuseppe Allamano, fondateur des branches masculines et
féminines des missionnaires de la Consolata. Il naît dans le Piémont du XIXe
siècle, caractérisé par de graves problèmes sociaux, mais également par de
nombreux saints qui s’engageaient à y porter remède. Ils étaient liés entre eux
par un amour total pour le Christ et par une profonde charité envers les plus
pauvres: la grâce du Seigneur sait diffuser et multiplier les semences de
sainteté! Giuseppe Cafasso accomplit ses études secondaires et deux ans de
philosophie au Collège de Chieri, et, en 1830, il passa au séminaire de
théologie où, en 1833, il fut ordonné prêtre. Quatre mois plus tard, il fit son
entrée dans le lieu qui restera pour lui l’« étape » unique et fondamentale de
sa vie sacerdotale: l’«internat ecclésiastique Saint François d’Assise» à
Turin. Entré pour se perfectionner dans le domaine de la pastorale, il y mit à
profit ses dons de directeur spirituel et son grand esprit de charité.
L’internat, en effet, n’était pas seulement une école de théologie morale, où
les jeunes prêtres, provenant surtout de la campagne, apprenaient à confesser
et à prêcher, mais il s’agissait également d’une véritable école de vie
sacerdotale, où les prêtres se formaient à la spiritualité de saint Ignace de
Loyola et à la théologie morale et pastorale du grand évêque saint Alphonse
Marie de’ Liguori. Le type de prêtres que Giuseppe Cafasso rencontra à
l’internat et que lui-même contribua à renforcer — surtout comme recteur — était
celui du véritable pasteur avec une riche vie intérieure et un profond zèle
dans le soin pastoral: fidèle à la prière, engagé dans la prédication, dans la
catéchèse, dévoué à la célébration de l’Eucharistie et au ministère de la
Confession, selon le modèle incarné par saint Charles Borromée, par saint
François de Sales et promu par le Concile de Trente. Une heureuse expression de
saint Jean Bosco résume le sens du travail éducatif dans cette communauté: «A
l’internat, on apprenait à être prêtres».
Saint Giuseppe Cafasso
tenta de réaliser ce modèle dans la formation des jeunes prêtres, afin que, à
leur tour, ils deviennent des formateurs d'autres prêtres, religieux et laïcs,
selon une chaîne spéciale et efficace. De sa chaire de théologie morale, il
éduquait à être de bons confesseurs et directeurs spirituels, préoccupés par le
vrai bien spirituel de la personne, animés par un grand équilibre pour faire
sentir la miséricorde de Dieu et, dans le même temps, un sens aigu et vif du
péché. Les vertus principales de Giuseppe Cafasso comme professeur étaient au
nombre de trois, comme le rappelle saint Jean Bosco: le calme, la sagesse et la
prudence. Selon lui la vérification de l'enseignement transmis se faisait par
le ministère de la confession, à laquelle il consacrait lui-même de nombreuses
heures pas jour; accouraient à lui des évêques, des prêtres, des religieux, des
laïcs éminents et des gens simples: il savait offrir à tous le temps
nécessaire. Il fut, par la suite, le sage conseiller spirituel d'un grand nombre
d'entre eux, qui devinrent des saints et fondateurs d'instituts religieux. Son
enseignement n’était jamais abstrait, uniquement basé sur les livres que l’on
utilisait à cette époque, mais il naissait de l’expérience vivante de la
miséricorde de Dieu et de la profonde connaissance de l’âme humaine acquise au
cours des longues heures passées au confessionnal et consacrées à la direction
spirituelle: il proposait en effet une véritable école de vie sacerdotale.
Son secret était simple:
être un homme de Dieu; faire, dans les petites actions quotidiennes, « ce qui
peut conduire à la plus grande gloire de Dieu et au bénéfice des âmes ». Il
aimait de manière totale le Seigneur, il était animé par une foi bien
enracinée, soutenu par une prière profonde et prolongée, il vivait une sincère
charité à l'égard de tous. Il connaissait la théologie morale, mais il
connaissait tout autant les situations et le cœur des gens, dont il prenait en
charge le bien, comme le bon pasteur. Ceux qui avaient la grâce d'être proches de
lui en étaient transformés en autant de bons pasteurs et en confesseurs de
grande valeur. Il indiquait avec clarté à tous les prêtres la sainteté à
atteindre précisément dans le ministère pastoral. Le bienheureux père Clemente
Marchisio, fondateur des Filles de Saint-Joseph, affirmait: « J'entrai à
l’internat en étant un grand gamin et une tête en l'air, sans savoir ce que
voulait dire être prêtre, et j'en ressortit tout à fait différent, pleinement
conscient de la dignité du prêtre ». Combien de prêtres forma-t-il au
Pensionnat et suivit-il ensuite spirituellement! Parmi ces derniers — comme je
l'ai déjà dit — ressort saint Jean Bosco, dont il fut le directeur spirituel
pendant 25 ans, de 1835 à 1860: d'abord comme enfant de chœur, puis comme
prêtre et enfin comme fondateur. Tous les choix fondamentaux de la vie de saint
Jean Bosco eurent comme conseiller et guide saint Giuseppe Cafasso, mais de
manière bien précise: Giuseppe Cafasso ne tenta jamais de former en don Bosco
un disciple «à son image et ressemblance» et don Bosco ne copia pas Giuseppe
Cafasso: il l'imita assurément dans les vertus humaines et sacerdotales — le
définissant un «modèle de vie sacerdotale» —, mais en suivant ses propres
inclinations personnelles et sa vocation particulière; un signe de la sagesse
du maître spirituel et de l'intelligence du disciple: le premier ne s'imposa
pas au second, mais le respecta dans sa personnalité et il l'aida à lire quelle
était la volonté de Dieu pour lui. Chers amis, c'est là un enseignement
précieux pour tous ceux qui sont engagés dans la formation et l'éducation des
jeunes générations et c'est aussi un fort rappel de l'importance d'avoir un
guide spirituel dans sa propre vie, qui aide à comprendre ce que Dieu attend de
nous. Avec simplicité et profondeur, notre saint affirmait: «Toute la sainteté,
la perfection et le profit d'une personne consiste à faire parfaitement la
volonté de Dieu (…). Nous serions heureux si nous parvenions à verser ainsi
notre cœur dans celui de Dieu, unir à ce point nos désirs, notre volonté à la
sienne au point de former un seul cœur et une seule volonté: vouloir ce que
Dieu veut, le vouloir de la manière, dans les délais, dans les circonstances
qu'Il veut et vouloir tout cela pour aucune autre raison que parce que Dieu le
veut».
Mais un autre élément
caractérise le ministère de notre saint: l’attention pour les derniers, en
particulier les détenus, qui à Turin au XIXe siècle vivaient dans des lieux
inhumains et déshumanisants. Même dans ce service délicat, exercé pendant plus
de vingt ans, il fut toujours un bon pasteur, compréhensif et plein de
compassion: des qualités perçues par les détenus, qui finissaient par être
conquis par cet amour sincère, dont l’origine était Dieu lui-même. La simple
présence de Giuseppe Cafasso faisait du bien: il rassérénait, il touchait les
cœurs endurcis par les événements de la vie et surtout il illuminait et
ébranlait les consciences indifférentes. Pendant les premiers temps de son
ministère parmi les détenus, il avait souvent recours aux grandes prédications
qui arrivaient à toucher presque toute la population des prisons. Au fil du
temps, il privilégia la catéchèse individuelle, faite pendant les entretiens et
lors des rencontres personnelles: respectueux de la situation de chacun, il
affrontait les grands thèmes de la vie chrétienne, en parlant de la confiance
en Dieu, de l’adhésion à sa volonté, de l’utilité de la prière et des
sacrements, dont le point d’arrivée est la confession, la rencontre avec Dieu
qui s’est fait pour nous miséricorde infinie. Les condamnés à mort furent
l’objet de soins humains et spirituels très particuliers. Il accompagna au
supplice, après les avoir confessés et leur avoir administré l’Eucharistie, 57
condamnés à mort. Il les accompagnait avec un profond amour jusqu’au dernier
souffle de leur existence terrestre.
Il mourut le 23 juin
1860, après une vie entièrement offerte au Seigneur et consumée pour son
prochain. Mon prédécesseur, le vénérable serviteur de Dieu le Pape Pie XII, le
proclama patron des prisons italiennes le 9 avril 1948 et, avec l’exhortation
apostolique Menti nostrae du 23 septembre 1950, il le proposa comme modèle aux
prêtres engagés dans la confession et dans la direction spirituelle.
Chers frères et sœurs,
que saint Giuseppe Cafasso soit un rappel pour tous à intensifier le chemin
vers la perfection de la vie chrétienne, la sainteté; il doit, en particulier,
rappeler aux prêtres l’importance de consacrer du temps au sacrement de la
réconciliation et à la direction spirituelle, et rappeler à tous l’attention
que nous devons avoir envers ceux qui en ont le plus besoin. Que nous aide
l’intercession de la Bienheureuse Vierge Marie, dont saint Giuseppe Cafasso
était un grand dévot et qu’il appelait « notre chère Mère, notre réconfort,
notre espérance ».
* * *
Je suis heureux
d’accueillir les pèlerins francophones, particulièrement ceux qui sont venus
accompagner les nouveaux Archevêques métropolitains à qui j’ai eu la joie de
remettre le pallium. Je salue cordialement Monseigneur Albert Le Gatt,
Archevêque de Saint-Boniface, Monseigneur Samuel Kleda, Archevêque de Douala,
Monseigneur Joseph Atanga, Archevêque de Bertoua, Monseigneur André-Joseph
Léonard, Archevêque de Malines-Bruxelles, Monseigneur Désiré Tsarahazana
Archevêque de Toamasina et Monseigneur Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon, Archevêque de
Hanoï. Je vous donne avec affection, ainsi qu’à tous les prêtres et aux fidèles
de vos archidiocèses la Bénédiction Apostolique, en gage de paix et de joie
dans le Seigneur!
© Copyright 2010 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Saint Joseph Cafasso
Béatifié en 1925
Canonisé en 1947
Il naît à Castelnuovo
d’Asti en 1811
Joseph Cafasso naît
à Castelnuovo d’Asti en 1811. Fils de petits propriétaires terriens, il est le
troisième de quatre enfants, dont le dernier, Marianne, sera la maman du
bienheureux don Joseph Allamano. Très petit il jouissait déjà de l'estime de sa
famille et de tout le village comme un petit saint. Il achève ses études de
théologie au séminaire de Chieri et il est ordonné prêtre en 1833 .
Au Convitto
Ecclesiastico...il y restera toute sa vie
Quatre mois après, il
s'établit au Convitto Ecclesiastico pour parfaire sa formation sacerdotale et
pastorale. Il y restera toute sa vie, en en devenant le recteur. Au Convitto on
respire la spiritualité de saint Ignace et les orientations théologiques et
pastorales de saint Alphonse Marie de Liguori. L’enseignement y est
particulièrement bien soigné et on vise à former de bons confesseurs et
d'habiles prédicateurs. Joseph étudie et approfondit la spiritualité de saint
François de Sales, qu'il transmettra ensuite à un étudiant: Jean Bosco. Don
Cafasso, son directeur spirituel de 1841 à 1860, a contribué à former et
orienter la personnalité et la spiritualité de don Bosco.
Accompagnement spirituel
des prisonniers et des condamnés à mort
Dans son enseignement, il
valorise le devoir quotidien en vue de la sainteté. Comme en témoigna le
fondateur des Salésiens: “La vertu extraordinaire de Cafasso fut celle de
pratiquer constamment et avec une merveilleuse fidélité les vertus ordinaires”.
Toujours attentifs aux nécessités des derniers, il visitait et soutenait aussi
économiquement les plus pauvres, en leur apportant la consolation dérivant de
son ministère sacerdotal. Son apostolat consistait aussi dans l'accompagnement
spirituel des prisonniers et des condamnés à mort, au point d'être défini comme
le prêtre des prisonniers.
Directeur spirituel... et
il soutint aussi matériellement don Bosco
Prudent et réservé,
maître spirituel, il fut le directeur spirituel de prêtres, laïcs, politiciens,
fondateurs. Pie XI le définit comme la perle du clergé italien. Don Cafasso
soutint aussi matériellement don Bosco et la Congrégation salésienne depuis ses
origines. Après une brève maladie, il mourut à l'âge d'à peine 49 ans le 23
juin de 1860. Pie XII le reconnut comme un « modèle de vie sacerdotale, père des
pauvres, consolateur des malades, soulagement des prisonniers, salut des
condamnés à mort ». Le même Pape, dans l'encyclique Menti Nostrae du 23
septembre 1950 le proposa comme modèle de prêtre.
Il fut béatifié en 1925 et
canonisé par Pie XII en 1947
SOURCE : http://www.sdb.org/fr/Saintete_Salesienne/Nos_Saints/Giuseppe_Cafasso
Saint Joseph Cafasso
Prêtre à Turin
(1811-1860)
Giuseppe Cafasso naît le
15 janvier 1811 à Castelnuovo d’Asti, qui maintenant s'appelle Castelnuovo Don
Bosco, dans la province d’Asti, au Piémont. Fils de petits propriétaires
terriens, il est le troisième de quatre enfants, dont la dernière, Marianne,
sera la maman du Bx Bx
Giuseppe Allamano.
Depuis tout petit, il
était considéré comme un petit saint, dans sa famille et dans le village. Il
fit ses études de théologie au Séminaire de Chieri et fut ordonné prêtre en
1833. Quatre mois plus tard, il s’installe au Collège Ecclésiastique pour
perfectionner sa formation sacerdotale et pastorale. Il y restera toute sa vie
; entre-temps, il en devint le Recteur. Au Collège, on respirait la spiritualité
de Saint Ignace et on suivait les directives théologiques et pastorales de Saint
Alphonse Marie de Liguori.
L’enseignement y est
donné avec grand soin et vise à former de bons confesseurs et d’habiles
prédicateurs. Giuseppe étudie et approfondit la spiritualité de Saint François
de Sales, qu’il transmettra par la suite, de façon particulière, à l’un de ses
étudiants : Giovanni Bosco. Don Cafasso, son directeur spirituel de 1841 à
1860, a contribué à former et à orienter la personnalité et la spiritualité de
Giovanni. Typique de son enseignement était l’insistance sur le devoir
quotidien dans son rapport à la sainteté.
Le fondateur des
Salésiens en a lui-même témoigné en ces termes : « La vertu extraordinaire de
don Cafasso fut de pratiquer en permanence et avec une fidélité merveilleuse
les vertus ordinaires. » Toujours attentif aux besoins des plus faibles, il
visitait et aidait, même économiquement, les plus pauvres, leur apportant en
même temps la consolation émanant de son ministère sacerdotal.
Son apostolat consistait
aussi dans l’accompagnement spirituel des prisonniers et des condamnés à mort,
qu'il assiste jusqu'à leur dernière heure. Il est surnommé « l'aumônier des
gibets » et est actuellement le saint protecteur des aumôniers de prison. Il donne
l'absolution aux condamnés à mort, et comme ceux-ci sont exécutés tout de suite
après, Giuseppe parle d'eux comme des saints pendus.
Prudent et réservé,
maître spirituel, il fut le directeur spirituel de prêtres, de laïcs, de
personnalités politiques, de fondateurs. Don Cafasso soutint Don Bosco et la
Congrégation salésienne, y compris matériellement, depuis le début.
Après une courte maladie,
il meurt d’une pneumonie, à l’âge de 49 ans à peine, le 23 juin 1860. C'est Don
Bosco qui prononça l'homélie pour la messe de funérailles.
Giuseppe Cafasso fut
béatifié en 1925, par le pape Pie XI (Ambrogio Damiano Ratti, 1922-1939) qui le
défini « la perle du clergé italien », et canonisé le 22 juin 1947, par Pie XII
(Eugenio Pacelli, 1939-1958). Ce dernier le présenta comme « un modèle de vie
sacerdotale, père des pauvres, consolateur des malades, soutien des
prisonniers, salut des condamnés à mort ». Le même Pape, dans son encyclique
Menti Nostrae du 23 septembre 1950, l’a proposé comme modèle aux prêtres.
SOURCE : http://levangileauquotidien.org/main.php?language=FR&module=saintfeast&id=4835&fd=0
.jpg)
JOSEPH CAFASSO
Prêtre salésien,
directeur spirituel de don Bosco
(1811 – 1860)
Fête le 23 juin
Joseph Cafasso naquit
à Castelnuovo d’Asti en 1811 dans le Piémont, alors annexé à la France. Il
était le troisième des quatre enfants de Giovanni Cafasso et d'Orsola Beltramo,
propriétaires terriens. Sa plus jeune sœur, Marianna, fut la maman du
bienheureux don Joseph Allamano qui fut l'élève de saint Jean Bosco.
Souffrant d'une
malformation de la colonne vertébrale, Joseph Cafasso était de petite taille,
et resta estropié toute sa vie. Encore enfant, il était considéré comme un
petit saint, dans sa famille et dans le village. Ressentant de très bonne heure
l'appel à la vie sacerdotale il fit ses études de théologie au Séminaire
de Chieri, dans la province de Turin, et fut ordonné prêtre en 1833. Quatre
mois plus tard, il s’installa au Collège Ecclésiastique pour perfectionner sa
formation sacerdotale et pastorale. Il y restera toute sa vie; il en devint
même le Recteur. Dans son Collège, on respirait la spiritualité de Saint Ignace
et on suivait les directives théologiques et pastorales de Saint Alphonse Marie
de Liguori. L’enseignement y était donné avec grand soin et visait à former de
bons confesseurs et d’habiles prédicateurs. Il insistait particulièrement sur
le devoir quotidien dans son rapport à la sainteté.
Joseph étudia et
approfondit la spiritualité de Saint François de Sales, qu’il transmettra par
la suite, et de façon particulière, à l’un de ses étudiants: Jean Bosco. Don
Cafasso, directeur spirituel de 1841 à 1860, a contribué à former et à orienter
la personnalité et la spiritualité de Don Bosco.
Parallèlement, Don
Cafasso eut à exercer les fonctions de professeur de théologie morale à Turin dès 1836. C'est là qu'il eut comme élève le jeune Don Bosco qui n'avait que 12 ans. Nommé curé de la
paroisse de Saint-François en 1848, Joseph Cafasso devient un confesseur renommé, très attaché
à la vénération du Saint Sacrement. Disciple de Saint François de Sales, il encourageait vivement
ses ouailles, et aidait aussi les prêtres dans leur ministère. Maître
spirituel prudent et réservé, don Cafasso fut le directeur spirituel de
nombreux prêtres, de laïcs, de personnalités politiques, de fondateurs. Il
convient de dire ici que Don Cafasso soutint Don Bosco et la Congrégation
salésienne, y compris matériellement, depuis le début.
Joseph Cafasso exerça
aussi de nombreux autres ministères, particulièrement auprès des prisonniers
qu'il visitait et des condamnés qu'il assistait jusqu'à leur dernière heure. Il
fut surnommé l'aumônier des gibets et est devenu le saint protecteur
des aumôniers de prison. Il donnait l'absolution aux condamnés à mort, et comme
ceux-ci étaient exécutés tout de suite après, Joseph parlait d'eux comme
des saints pendus. Il travailla toute sa vie à l'amélioration de la
condition pénitentiaire.
Le 23 juin 1860, Joseph Cafasso mourut d'une pneumonie à Turin. Il n'avait
que 49 ans. C'est Don Bosco qui prononça l'homélie pour la messe de
funérailles. Béatifié en 1925 par Pie XI qui le définissait comme la perle du clergé
italien, don Cafasso fut canonisé le 22 juin 1947 par Pie XII. C'est à l'occasion de cette
canonisation, que Pie XII dit de Joseph Cafasso, que ""la
mission dont l'avait chargé la Providence, fut d'instruire le clergé, de le
confirmer dans l'intégrité de la doctrine évangélique, et de l'inciter à la
perfection propre à son état." Pie XII le présenta comme "un
modèle de vie sacerdotale, père des pauvres, consolateur des malades, soutien
des prisonniers, salut des condamnés à mort." Le même Pape, dans son
encyclique Menti Nostrae du 23 septembre 1950, l’a proposé comme
modèle aux prêtres. En 1968, l'église San Giuseppe Cafasso dans
le quartier de Tuscolano de Rome lui fut dédiée.
Comment parler de la
spiritualité de Don Cafasso? En laissant s'exprimer saint Jean Bosco, le
fondateur des Salésiens: "La vertu extraordinaire de Don Cafasso fut
de pratiquer en permanence et avec une fidélité merveilleuse les vertus
ordinaires." Toujours attentif aux besoins des plus faibles, il
visitait et aidait même économiquement les plus pauvres, leur apportant en même
temps la consolation émanant de son ministère sacerdotal. Son apostolat
consistait aussi dans l’accompagnement spirituel des prisonniers et des
condamnés à mort, au point qu’on l’a défini comme le prêtre des prisonniers.
Paulette Leblanc
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/leblanc_joseph_cafasso.htm
St Joseph, canonisé en
1947, n’est pas au calendrier Romain, mais dans le supplément du Missel Romain
de 1962. Naissance : 1811. Mort : 23.06.1860 à Turin. C’est Don Bosco
qui prononça l’homélie pour la Messe de funérailles. Canonisation :
22.06.1947 à Rome par Pie XII.
Joseph Cafasso naquit à
Castelnuovo d’Asti en 1811. Fils de petits propriétaires terriens, il était le
troisième de quatre enfants, dont la dernière, Marianne, sera la maman du
bienheureux don Joseph Allamano. Depuis tout petit, il était considéré comme un
petit saint, dans sa famille et dans le village. Il fit ses études de théologie
au Séminaire de Chieri et fut ordonné prêtre en 1833. Quatre mois plus tard, il
s’installe au Collège Ecclésiastique pour perfectionner sa formation
sacerdotale et pastorale. Il y restera toute sa vie ; entre-temps, il en
devint le Recteur. Au Collège, on respirait la spiritualité de Saint Ignace et
on suivait les directives théologiques et pastorales de Saint Alphonse Marie de
Liguori.
L’enseignement y est
donné avec grand soin et vise à former de bons confesseurs et d’habiles
prédicateurs. Joseph étudie et approfondit la spiritualité de Saint François de
Sales, qu’il transmettra par la suite, de façon particulière, à l’un de ses
étudiants : Jean Bosco. Don Cafasso, son directeur spirituel de 1841 à
1860, a contribué à former et à orienter la personnalité et la spiritualité de
Don Bosco. Typique de son enseignement était l’insistance sur le devoir
quotidien dans son rapport à la sainteté.
Le fondateur des
Salésiens en a lui-même témoigné en ces termes : « La vertu
extraordinaire de don Cafasso fut de pratiquer en permanence et avec une
fidélité merveilleuse les vertus ordinaires. » Toujours attentif aux
besoins des plus faibles, il visitait et aidait même économiquement les plus
pauvres, leur apportant en même temps la consolation émanant de son ministère
sacerdotal. Son apostolat consistait aussi dans l’accompagnement spirituel des
prisonniers et des condamnés à mort, au point qu’on l’a défini comme le prêtre
des prisonniers.
Prudent et réservé,
maître spirituel, il fut le directeur spirituel de prêtres, de laïcs, de
personnalités politiques, de fondateurs. Pie XI l’a défini la perle du clergé
italien. Don Cafasso soutint Don Bosco et la Congrégation salésienne, y compris
matériellement, depuis le début. Après une courte maladie, il mourut à l’âge de
49 ans à peine, le 23 juin 1860. Il fut béatifié en 1925 et canonisé par Pie
XII en 1947. Ce dernier le présenta comme « un modèle de vie sacerdotale,
père des pauvres, consolateur des malades, soutien des prisonniers, salut des
condamnés à mort ». Le même Pape, dans son exhortation apostolique Menti
Nostræ du 23 septembre 1950, l’a proposé comme modèle aux prêtres. Source
Textes
de la Messe, supplément du Missel Pro aliquibus locis
Textes de la messe ‘Pro
aliquibus Locis’ que tout prêtre peut prendre en ce jour selon le code des
rubriques de 1962 [*].
die 27 iunii
SANCTI IOSEPHI CAFASSO
Conf.
Ant. ad Introitum. Dan.
12, 3
Qui docti fúerint
fulgébunt sicut splendor firmaménti : et qui justítiam erúdiunt multos
sicut stellæ in perpétuas æternitátes
Ps. 118, 1
Beáti immaculáti in
via : qui ámbulant in lege Dómini.
V/. Glória Patri.
Oratio.
Deus, qui, ad plúrimos
pro salúte animárum perferéndos labóres, sanctum Ioséphum Confessórem tuum
mirábili caritáte et invícta patiéntia decorásti : concéde
propítius ; ut, eius exémplis instrúcti et intercessiónibus adiúti, ætérnæ
vitæ prǽmia consequamur. Per Dominum nostrum.
Léctio libri Sapiéntiæ.
Eccli. 7, 31-40
In tota ánima tua time
Dóminum, et sacerdótes illíus sanctífica. In omni virtúte tua dílige eum qui te
fecit, et minístros eius ne derelínquas. Honóra Deum ex tota ánima tua, et
honorífica sacerdótes, et propúrga te cum bráchiis. Da illis partem, sicut
mandátum est tibi, primitiárum et purgatiónis, et de negligéntia tua purga te
cum paucis. Datum brachiórum tuórum, et sacrifícium sanctificatiónis ófferes
Dómino, et inítia sanctórum. Et páuperi pórrige manum tuam, ut perficiátur
propitiátio et benedíctio tua. Grátia dati in conspéctu omnis vivéntis, et
mórtuo non prohíbeas grátiam. Non desis plorántibus in consolatióne, et cum
lugéntibus ámbula. Non te pígeat visitáre infírmum : ex his enim in
dilectióne firmáberis. In ómnibus opéribus tuis memoráre novíssima tua, et in
ætérnum non peccábis.
Graduale. Ps. 23,
3-4
Quis ascéndet in montem
Dómini, aut quis stabit in loco sancto eius ?
V/. Innocens mánibus
et mundo corde qui non accépit in vano ánimam suam, nec iurávit in dolo próximo
suo.
Allelúia, allelúia. V/. Ps.
109, 4. Iurávit Dóminus, et non poenitébit eum : Tu es sacérdos in
ætérnum, secúndum órdinem Melchísedech. Allelúia
In missis votivis post
Septuagesimam, ommissis Allelúia et versu sequenti, dicitur
Tractus. 91, 13-14
Iustus ut palma
florébit : sicut cedrus Líbani multiplicábitur.
V/. Plantátus in
domo Dómini : in átriis domus Dei nostri.
V/. Ps. 111, 2 et 3. Potens
in terra erit semen eius : generátio rectórum benedicétur.
V/. Glória et
divítiæ in domo eius : et iustítia eius manet in sǽculum sǽculi.
Tempore paschali
omittitur graduale, et eius loco dicitur :
Allelúia, allelúia. V/. Eccli.
45, 9. Amávit eum Dóminus, et ornávit eum : stolam glóriæ índuit eum.
Allelúia.
Allelúia. V/. Osee
14, 6. Iustus germinábit sicut lílium : et florébit in ætérnum ante
Dóminum. Allelúia.
+ Sequéntia sancti
Evangélii secundum Matthǽum.
Matth. 25, 31-40
In illo témpore :
Dixit Iesus discípulis suis : Cum vénerit Fílius hóminis in maiestáte sua,
et omnes Angeli cum eo, tunc sedébit super sedem maiestátis suæ : et
congregabúntur ante eum omnes gentes, et separábit eos ab ínvicem, sicut pastor
ségregat oves ab hædis : et státuet oves quidem a dextris suis, hædos
autem a sinístris. Tunc dicet Rex his, qui a dextris eius erunt : Veníte,
benedícti Patris mei, possidéte parátum vobis regnum a constitutióne mundi.
Esurívi enim, et dedístis mihi manducáre ; sitívi, et dedístis mihi
bíbere ; hospes eram, et collegístis me ; nudus, et cooperuístis
me ; infírmus, et visitástis me ; in cárcere eram, et venístis ad me.
Tunc respondébunt ei iusti, dicéntes : Dómine, quando te vídimus
esuriéntem, et pávimus te ; sitiéntem, et dedimus tibi potum ? quando
autem te vídimus hóspitem, et collégimus te ? aut nudum, et cooperúimus
te ? aut quando te vídimus infírmum, aut in cárcere, et vénimus ad
te ? Et respóndens Rex, dicet illis : Amen, dico vobis : quámdiu
fecístis uni ex his frátribus meis mínimis, mihi fecístis.
Ant. ad
Offertorium. Ps. 20, 3-4
Desidérium ánimæ eius
tribuísti ei, Dómine, et voluntáte labiórum eius non fraudásti eum :
posuísti in cápite eius corónam de lápide pretióso
Secreta
Oblátum tibi munus,
quǽsumus, Dómine, in odórem suavitátis ascéndat : et, intercedénte beáto
Iosépho Confessóre tuo, nos corpóre et mente puríficet. Per Dominum.
Ant. ad
Communionem. Ioann. 12, 26.
Qui mihi mínistrat, me
sequátur : et ubi sum ego, illic et miníster meus erit.
Postcommunio
Divinitátis tuæ, Dómine,
sempitérna fruitióne satiémur : quam beátus Ioséphus Conféssor tuus in
sacro altáris mystério prægustábat. Per Dominum nostrum.
le 27 juin
SAINT JOSEPH CAFASSO
Confesseur
Introït
Les sages brilleront
comme la splendeur du firmament : ceux qui ont enseigné la justice brilleront
comme les étoiles dans l’éternité sans fin.
Heureux ceux qui sont
immaculés dans la voie : qui marchent dans la loi du Seigneur.
Collecte
Dieu, vous avez orné
saint Joseph, votre Confesseur, d’une admirable charité et d’une patience
invincible afin d’accomplir de nombreux travaux pour le salut des âmes :
accordez-nous favorablement, qu’instruits par ses exemples et aidés de ses
prières, nous parvenions aux récompenses de la vie éternelle
Lecture du livre de la
Sagesse. [1]
Crains le Seigneur de toute ton âme, et vénère ses prêtres. Aime de toutes tes
forces Celui qui t’a créé, et n’abandonne pas ses ministres. Honore Dieu de
toute ton âme, et révère les prêtres, et acquitte-toi des offrandes d’épaules.
Donne-leur, comme il t’a été ordonné, leur part des prémices et des hosties
d’expiation, et purifie-toi de tes négligences par de petites offrandes. Offre
au Seigneur les épaules des victimes, et le sacrifice de sanctification, et les
prémices des choses saintes. Étends aussi ta main vers le pauvre, afin de
rendre parfaite ta propitiation et ta bénédiction. Le présent est agréable à
tous ceux qui vivent, et ne prive pas les morts de ta libéralité. Ne manque pas
de consoler ceux qui pleurent, et marche auprès des affligés. Ne sois point
paresseux à visiter les malades ; car c’est ainsi que tu obtiendras des
affections fidèles. Dans toutes tes œuvres souviens-toi de ta fin, et tu ne
pécheras jamais.
Graduel
Qui pourra gravir la
montagne du Seigneur, qui se tiendra debout en ce lieu sacré ?
V/. Celui qui a les mains
innocentes et le cœur pur, qui n’a pas livré son âme à la vanité, ni fait à son
prochain un serment trompeur.
Allelúia, allelúia. V/.
Le Seigneur a juré, et il ne s’en repentira pas : Vous êtes prêtre à
jamais selon l’ordre de Melchisédech. Alléluia.
Aux messes votives après
la Septuagésime, on omet l’Alléluia et son verset et on dit
Trait
Le juste fleurira comme
le palmier et il se multipliera comme le cèdre du Liban
V/. Planté dans la maison
du Seigneur, dans les parvis de la maison de notre Dieu.
V/. Sa race sera
puissante sur la terre : la postérité des justes sera bénie.
V/. La gloire et les
richesses sont dans sa maison, et sa justice demeure dans tous les siècles.
Pendant le temps pascal,
on omet le graduel et à sa place on dit :
Allelúia, allelúia. V/.
Le Seigneur l’a aimé et l’a orné. Il l’a revêtu d’une robe de gloire.
Allelúia. V/. Le juste
germera comme le lis, et il fleurira éternellement en présence du Seigneur.
Alléluia.
Suite du Saint Évangile
selon saint Mathieu.
©AEL 1964 [2]
En ce temps-là, Jésus dit
à ses disciples : « Lorsque le Fils de l’homme viendra dans sa
gloire, et tous les anges avec lui, alors il siégera sur son trône de gloire.
Toutes les nations se rassembleront devant lui ; il séparera les hommes
les uns des autres, comme le berger sépare les brebis des boucs, et il placera
les brebis à sa droite et les boucs à sa gauche. Alors le Roi dira à ceux qui
seront à sa droite : « Venez, les bénis de mon Père, recevez en
héritage le royaume préparé pour vous depuis la création du monde. Car j’ai eu
faim, et vous m’avez donné à manger ; j’ai eu soif, et vous m’avez donné à
boire ; j’étais étranger, et vous m’avez accueilli ; j’étais nu, et
vous m’avez vêtu ; j’étais malade, et vous m’avez visité ; j’étais en
prison, et vous êtes venus à moi ! » Alors les justes lui
répondront : « Seigneur, quand est-ce que nous t’avons vu avoir faim,
et que nous t’avons donné à manger ; ou avoir soif, et que nous t’avons
donné à boire ? quand est-ce que nous t’avons vu étranger, et que nous
t’avons accueilli ? ou nu, et que nous t’avons vêtu ? quand est-ce
que nous t’avons vu malade ou en prison, et que nous sommes venus à
toi ? » Et le Roi leur répondra : « En vérité, je vous le
dis, tout ce que vous avez fait à l’un de ces plus petits, qui sont mes frères,
c’est à moi que vous l’avez fait ».Offertoire
Vous lui avez accordé,
Seigneur, le désir de son cœur, et vous ne l’avez point frustré de la demande
de ses lèvres : vous avez mis sur sa tête une couronne de pierres
précieuses
Secrète
Que ce don qui vous est
offert, Seigneur, monte en odeur de suavité : et, par l’intercession du
bienheureux Joseph, votre Confesseur, qu’il purifie notre corps et notre
esprit.
Communion
Si quelqu’un me sert,
qu’il me suive : et là où je suis, là sera aussi mon serviteur.
Postcommunion
Faites que nous soyons
rassasiés, Seigneur, de la jouissance éternelle de votre divinité dont le
bienheureux Joseph, votre Confesseur, avait un avant goût dans le mystère sacré
de l’autel.
[1] Passage biblique non traduit dans le lectionnaire
français de 1964.
[2] Cf. Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum : Art.
6. Dans les Messes selon le Missel du B. Jean XXIII célébrées avec le
peuple, les lectures peuvent aussi être proclamées en langue
vernaculaire, utilisant des éditions reconnues par le Siège apostolique.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/27-06-St-Joseph-Cafasso-confesseur
San Giuseppe Cafasso, Palermo
Also
known as
Joseph Cafasso
Priest of the Gallows
23 January on
some calendars
Profile
Born with a deformed
spine, and into a wealthy peasant family; he was short in stature and crippled
throughout his life. Ordained in 1833. Professor of moral theology at
the ecclesiastical college at Turin in 1836.
Superior of the college from 1846 to 1860.
Retreat house director. Pastor of Saint Francis Church in 1848.
Renowned confessor.
Promoted devotion to the Blessed
Sacrament. Friend of and advisor to Saint John
Bosco, having first met him when Joseph was 12 years old; Saint John wrote a
biography of Saint Joseph.
Uncle of Blessed Joseph
Allamano. Founded religious fellowships.
Worked to reform prisons and prisoners,
and to improve prison conditions
in Turin.
Ministered to condemned prisoners,
winning converts.
Once escorted 60 newly converted condemned to
the gallows. Since many of the prisoners were
hanged immediately after confessing and receiving absolution,
Joseph referred to them as “hanged saints”.
Born
15 January 1811 at
Castelnuovo d’Asti, Italy
23 June 1860 at Turin, Italy of
pneumonia, a stomach hemorrhage, and complications of his congenital medical problems
his will bequeathed
everything to aid the ministry of Saint Joseph
Benedict Cottolengo
Saint John
Bosco preached the
funeral Mass homily
27 February 1921 by Pope Benedict
XV (decree of heroic
virtues)
Additional
Information
First
Panegyric by Saint John
Bosco
Second
Panegyric by Saint John
Bosco
Pope
Benedict XVI, General Audience, 30 June 2010
Saint
Joseph Cafasso, by An Unknown Salesian
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
The
Holiness of the Church in the 19th Century
—
Prayer
of Preparation for Death, by Saint Joseph
Cafasso
Visits
to the Blessed Sacrament, by Saint Joseph
Cafasso
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian
Catholic Truth Society
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
nettsteder
i norsk
Readings
A single word from him –
a look, a smile, his very presence – sufficed to dispel melancholy, drive away
temptation and produce holy resolution in the soul. –Saint John
Bosco, writing about Saint Joseph
We are born to love, we
live to love, and we will die to love still more. – Saint Joseph
Cafasso
Who is this man who in
the world is called an ecclesiastic, a priest? Who is this personage whom some
bless and others curse? Who is he whom the whole world talks about and
criticizes, and who is the subject of discussion by all pens and all tongues?
What is the significance of that name which resounds in every corner of the
world? What is a priest? In order to define clearly what he is, I shall avail
myself of the distinctions that Saint Bernard made concerning ecclesiastics and
shall consider him in his nature, in his person, in his habits. Quid in natura,
quis in persona, qualis in moribus! In his nature he is a man like others. In
his person, his dignity is above that of all other men in the world. In his
conduct and habits, he should be a man totally different from all others as he is
by his dignity and office. These are the three points which I propose for your
consideration. – Saint Joseph
Cafasso
MLA
Citation
“Saint Giuseppe
Cafasso“. CatholicSaints.Info. 9 January 2022. Web. 22 June 2022.
<http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph-cafasso/>
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph-cafasso/
Tomba di S. Giuseppe Cafasso all'interno del Santuario della Consolata, Torino
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Saint Joseph Cafasso
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
We have just come to the
end of the Year for Priests: a time of grace that has yielded and will yield
precious fruits for the Church; an opportunity to remember in prayer all those
who have responded to this particular calling. The Curé d'Ars and other holy
priests have accompanied us on this journey as models and intercessors, true
beacons in the history of the Church. Today, as I announced last Wednesday, I
would like to recall another of them, who stands out from the group of
"social saints" of Turin in the 19th century: it is St Joseph Cafasso.
It seems appropriate to
remember him because exactly a week ago was the 150th anniversary of his death
in the Piedmontese capital on 23 June 1860, when he was 49 years old. In
addition, I would like to recall that on 1 November 1924, in approving the miracles
for the canonization of St John Mary Vianney and publishing the Decree
authorizing the beatification of Cafasso, Pius XI juxtaposed these two priestly
figures with the following words: "Not without a special and beneficial
disposition of Divine Goodness have we witnessed new stars rising on the
horizon of the Catholic Church: the parish priest of Ars and the Venerable
Servant of God, Joseph Cafasso. These two beautiful, beloved, providently
timely figures must be presented today; one, the parish priest of Ars, as small
and humble, poor and simple as he was glorious; and the other, a beautiful,
great, complex and rich figure of a priest, the educator and formation teacher
of priests, Venerable Joseph Cafasso". These circumstances give us the opportunity
to know the living and timely message that emerges from the life of this Saint.
He was not a parish priest like the Curé d'Ars but was above all a formation
teacher of parish and diocesan priests, indeed of holy priests such as St John
Bosco. He did not found religious institutes like the other Piedmontese priests
of the 19th century because his "foundation" was the "school of
priestly life and holiness", which he achieved with his example and
teaching in the "Convitto Ecclesiastico di S. Francesco d'Assisi"
[College-Residence for Clerics of St Francis of Assisi], in Turin.
Joseph Cafasso was born
in Castelnuovo d'Asti, the same village in which St John Bosco was born, on 15
January 1811. He was the third of four children. The last, his sister Marianna,
was to be the mother of Bl. Joseph Allamano, Founder of the Consolata
Missionary Fathers and the Consolata Missionary Sisters. He was born in
19th-century Piedmont, marked by serious social problems but also by many
Saints who strove to find remedies for them. These Saints were bound to each
other by total love of Christ and by their profound charity for the poorest
people. The grace of the Lord can spread and multiply the seeds of holiness!
Cafasso completed his secondary school studies and the two years of philosophy
at the College of Chieri and, in 1839, went on to the theological seminary
where he was ordained a priest in 1833. Four months later he entered what for
him was to be the fundamental and only "stage" in his priestly life:
the "Convitto Ecclesiastico di S. Francesco d'Assisi" in Turin.
Having entered it to perfect himself in pastoral ministry, it was here that he
brought to fruition his gifts as a spiritual director and his great spirit of
charity. The "Convitto" was in fact not only a school of moral
theology where young priests, who came mainly from the countryside, learned how
to become confessors and how to preach but was also a true and proper school of
priestly life, where priests were formed in the spirituality of St Ignatius of
Loyola and in the moral and pastoral theology of the great holy Bishop St
Alphonsus Mary de' Liguori. The type of priest that Cafasso met at the
"Convitto" and that he himself helped to strengthen especially as
Rector was that of the true pastor with a rich inner life and profound zeal in
pastoral care, faithful to prayer, committed to preaching and to catechesis,
dedicated to the celebration of the Eucharist and to the ministry of
Confession, after the model embodied by St Charles Borromeo and St Francis de
Sales and promoted by the Council of Trent. A felicitous saying of St John
Bosco sums up the meaning of educational work in that community: "at the
"Convitto' men learn to be priests".
St Joseph Cafasso sought
to bring this model into being in the formation of the young priests so that,
in turn, they might become the formation teachers of other priests, religious
and lay people, forming a special and effective chain. From his chair of moral
theology he taught them to be good confessors and spiritual directors, concerned
for the true spiritual good of people, motivated equally by a desire to make
God's mercy felt and, by an acute and lively sense of sin. Cafasso the teacher
had three main virtues, as St John Bosco recalled: calmness, wisdom and
prudence. For him the test of the lessons taught was the ministry of
Confession, to which he himself devoted many hours of the day. Bishops,
priests, religious, eminent laymen and women and simple people sought him. He
was able to give them all the time they needed. He was also a wise spiritual
counsellor to many who became Saints and founders of religious institutes. His
teaching was never abstract, nor based exclusively on the books that were used
in that period. Rather, it was born from the living experience of God's mercy and
the profound knowledge of the human soul that he acquired in the long hours he
spent in the confessional and in spiritual direction: his was a real school of
priestly life.
His secret was simple: to
be a man of God; to do in small daily actions "what can result in the
greater glory of God and the advantage of souls". He loved the Lord
without reserve, he was enlivened by a firmly-rooted faith, supported by
profound and prolonged prayer and exercised in sincere charity to all. He was
versed in moral theology but was likewise familiar with the situation and
hearts of people, of whose good he took charge as the good pastor that he was.
Those who had the grace to be close to him were transformed into as many good
pastors and sound confessors. He would point out clearly to all priests the
holiness to achieve in their own pastoral ministry. Bl. Fr Clement Marchisio,
Founder of the Daughters of St Joseph, declared: "You entered the
"Convitto' as a very mischievous, thoughtless youth, with no idea of what
it meant to be a priest; and you came out entirely different, fully aware of
the dignity of the priest". How many priests were trained by him at the
"Convitto", and then accompanied by him spiritually! Among them as I
have said emerges St John Bosco who had him as his spiritual director for a
good 25 years, from 1835 to 1860: first as a seminarian, then as a priest and
lastly as a Founder. In all the fundamental decisions of his life St John Bosco
had St Joseph Cafasso to advise him, but in a very specific way: Cafasso never
sought to form Don Bosco as a disciple "in his own image and
likeness", and Don Bosco did not copy Cafasso; he imitated Cafasso's human
and priestly virtues, certainly and described him as "a model of priestly
life" but according to his own personal disposition and his own specific
vocation; a sign of the wisdom of the spiritual teacher and of the intelligence
of the disciple: the former did not impose himself on the latter but respected
his personality and helped him to interpret God's will for him. Dear friends,
this is a valuable lesson for all who are involved in the formation and
education of the young generations and also a strong reminder of how important
it is to have a spiritual guide in one's life, who helps one to understand what
God expects of each of us. Our Saint declared with simplicity and depth:
"All a person's holiness, perfection and profit lies in doing God's will
perfectly.... Happy are we if we succeed in pouring out our heart into God's,
in uniting our desires and our will to his to the point that one heart and one
will are formed: wanting what God wants, wanting in the way, in the time and in
the circumstances that he desires and willing it all for no other reason than
that God wills it".
However, another element
characterizes the ministry of our Saint: attention to the least and in
particular to prisoners who in 19th-century Turin lived in inhumane and
dehumanizing conditions. In this sensitive service too, which he carried out
for more than 20 years, he was always a good, understanding and compassionate
pastor: qualities perceived by the prisoners who ended up by being won over by
his sincere love, whose origin lay in God himself. Cafasso's simple presence
did good: it reassured, it moved hearts hardened by the events of life and
above all it enlightened and jolted indifferent consciences. In his early
prison ministry he often had recourse to great sermons that managed to involve
almost the entire population of the prison. As time passed, he gave priority to
plain catechesis in conversation and in personal meetings. Respectful of each
individual's affairs, he addressed the important topics of Christian life,
speaking of trust in God, of adherence to his will, of the usefulness of prayer
and of the sacraments whose goal is Confession, the encounter with God who
makes himself infinite mercy for us. Those condemned to death were the object
of very special human and spiritual care. He accompanied to the scaffold 57 of
the men sentenced to death, having heard their confession and having
administered the Eucharist to them. He accompanied them with deep love until
the last breath of their earthly existence.
Joseph Cafasso died on 23
June 1860, after a life offered entirely to the Lord and spent for his
neighbour. My Predecessor, the Venerable Servant of God Pope Pius XII,
proclaimed him Patron of Italian prisons on 9 April 1948, and, with his
Apostolic Exhortation Menti Nostrae, on 23 September 1950 held him up as a
model to priests engaged in Confession and in spiritual direction.
Dear brothers and
sisters, may St Joseph Cafasso's example serve as a reminder to all to hasten
towards the perfection of Christian life, towards holiness. In particular, may
this Saint remind priests of the importance of devoting time to the sacrament
of Reconciliation and to spiritual direction, and to all the concern we should
have for the most deprived. May we find help in the intercession of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, to whom St Joseph Cafasso was very devoted and whom he called
"Our beloved Mother, our consolation, our hope".
To Special Groups
Yesterday, on the
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, I conferred the Pallium upon thirty-eight
Archbishops from throughout the world. I would now like to greet the
English-speaking Archbishops present at today’s Audience, together with their
family members and the pilgrimage groups which accompanied them to the Tombs of
the Apostles:
Archbishop Alex Thomas Kaliyanil
of Bulawayo (Zimbabwe),
Archbishop Gerard Tlali
Lerotholi of Maseru (Lesotho),
Archbishop Socrates
Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan (Philippines),
Archbishop Bernard Longley
of Birmingham (England),
Archbishop Jerome Edward
Listecki of Milwaukee (USA),
Archbishop Stephen Brislin
of Cape Town (South Africa),
Archbishop Dennis Schnurr
of Cincinnati (USA),
Archbishop Francis Kallarakal
of Verapoly (India),
Archbishop Hyginus Kim
Hee-joong of Kwangju (Korea),
Archbishop Thomas Wenski
of Miami (USA),
Archbishop Peter Smith of
Southwark (England),
and Archbishop Matthias
Kobena Nketsiah of Cape Coast (Ghana).
Dear Brothers, I ask the
Lord to strengthen all of you in your witness to the apostolic faith and in
generous service to the flocks entrusted to your care.
I also greet the many
other English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present at today’s Audience,
especially the groups from England, Scotland, Ireland, Ghana, Palestine, the
Philippines, South Korea, Canada and the United States of America. I thank the
Schola Cantorum of Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast, for their praise of God in
song. Upon all of you I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
© Copyright 2010 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Joseph Cafasso (RM)
Born at Castelnuova d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy, in 1811; died 1860; beatified in
1925; canonized in 1947; feast day formerly January 23.
"We are born to love, we live to love, and we will die to love still
more."
--Joseph Cafasso
Saint Joseph was born into a wealthy peasant family and educated in the
seminary of Chieri. The life of Joseph Cafasso, who was ordained a priest in
1833, was written by Saint John Bosco, to whom Joseph served as teacher,
adviser, and spiritual director for over twenty years. Three years later after
his ordination, Cafasso was appointed professor of moral theology at the
ecclesiastical college Saint Francis in Turin, which housed 60 young priests
from different dioceses and of diverse political orientations. Ten years later
he was appointed superior of the college, and he remained in that position
until his death. He also directed a retreat house at Lanzo, but his special
apostolate was to prisoners and convicts, especially those preparing for
execution. Like Saint Robert Bellarmine, Father Cafasso was undersized and
called "the little one," but he made his mark both as a spiritual
director and a preacher. He led a very penitential life and was renowned for
his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and as a confessor.
From 1827, he directed John Bosco into an apostolate for boys, helped him to
settle in Turin, introduced him to wealthy patrons, and came to be regarded as
the second founder of the Salesians. In 1860, when he was ill with pneumonia,
he made a will bequeathing his goods to Saint Joseph Cottolengo and John Bosco.
His funeral, at which Bosco preached, was attended by huge crowds (Attwater,
Benedictines, Farmer).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0623.shtml
Saint Joseph Cafasso
Joseph was born in 1811
at Castelnuovo of pious parents. The sanctity and apostolic zeal in which he
later excelled manifested themselves in him when he was still a child. The
usual games of boyhood held no attraction for him. He preferred to occupy
himself with God, counting it as a special pleasure if he could attend the holy
sacrifice of the Mass and engage in other pious exercises.
At the age of six he was
already called a saint. As a youth in the public schools and later as a student
in Cheri seminary, he continued to be an object of respect because of the
innocence of his life, his gravity, humility, observance of rules, and his
fervor at prayer. He was frequently referred to as another Aloysius Gonzaga.
Not long after his
ordination to the priesthood, Aloysius Guala, an exemplary priest, established
a seminary in connection with the church of St Francis of Assisi at Turin,
where young priests were instructed in their sacred calling, and especially
fitted to defeat the various errors of Jansenism. Joseph was appointed a
teacher at this institution and succeeded the founder after his death.
As head of the seminary,
Joseph quickly completed the arduous task which Father Guala had begun but had
not been able to finish. Saint Joseph Cafasso completely rooted out the
pernicious doctrines of Jansenism and those of other reformers, reviving the
teachings of St Francis de Sales and of St Alphonse Liguori, which clearly
point out the way to Christian perfection. Joseph continued this mission as
long as he was a priest with such constancy and fidelity that the task seemed
to have been assigned to him by our heavenly Father Himself.
In his tireless zeal for
the diving glory and the salvation of souls, Joseph combined example with
words. He did all he could to promote devotion to our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament, toward whom he manifested great love, and never ceased urging the
faithful to approach the great banquet daily. Our Blessed Lady had been the
object of his devotion ever since his boyhood days, and he now sought to
inspire others to love her with filial devotion.
His solicitude extended
also to the ministers of the altar, whom he encouraged in zeal and effort to
gain souls for Christ. He was a member of the Third Order of St Francis, and
used to recommend this institution as the ideal society, especially for priests
who are cut off from worldly associations.
There was no spiritual or
temporal need in which Saint Joseph Cafasso did not interest himself, no kind
of calamity for which he did not offer a corresponding means of alleviation, no
good work which he did not encourage or support. His heart went out to the
orphans, the poor, the sick, and those detained in prison. He shirked no
hardship, not even danger to life, in the accomplishment of his undertakings.
By his counsel and help he persuaded his dearest pupil, Don Bosco, to found the
society of St Francis de Sales, or the Salesians, whose work for Church and souls
has been outstanding.
But the interest Blessed
Joseph manifested in the various problems of suffering humanity was outdone by
that which he evinced toward unfortunates who were condemned to death. His
sacrifices for them were unlimited. He used every means at his disposal to find
an easy approach to their hearts, and the great power of his love overcame
their obstinacy. When at last he had restored them to the grace and friendship
of God, he accompanied them to their execution, which he regarded not so much
as temporal death as the entrance into eternal life.
After doing such great
things for God and meriting the veneration of all who knew him, Joseph humbly
begged God to erase his memory altogether after death. Worn with hardships, but
enriched with merits at the early age of only forty-nine years, Saint Joseph
Cafasso died the precious death of the just on June 23, 1860, fortified with
the sacraments of the Church.
Because of his virtue and
the miracles performed through his intercession, Pope Pius XI in the Holy Year
of 1925, added his name to the list of the blessed, and in 1947 Pope Pius XII
declared Saint Joseph Cafasso to be a saint.
From: The Franciscan
Book of Saints, Marion A. Habig, OFM
SOURCE : http://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/saint-joseph-cafasso.html
Saint Joseph Cafasso
Seminary director
Joseph Cafasso was
born in Castelnuovo d'Asti in 1811. Son of small land owners, he was the third
of four children, of whom the last, Marianna, would be the mother of Blessed Fr
Joseph Allamano. From when he was very young the family and the entire village
regarded him as a young saint. He completed his theological studies at the
seminary in Chieri and in 1833 was ordained priest. Four months later he went
to the Convitto Ecclesiastico, a residential pastoral institute for putting the
finishing touches to his priestly and pastoral formation. He would remain
involved there for the rest of his life, eventually becoming its Rector.
Spiritual director
At the Convitto the
spirituality of Saint Ignatius reigned supreme as well as the theological and
pastoral orientations of Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori. Teaching was given much
attention and was aimed at forming good confessors and capable preachers.
Joseph studied and gained a deeper understanding of the spirituality of St
Francis de Sales, which he then passed on to one student in particular: John
Bosco. Cafasso, his spiritual director from 1841 to 1860, contributed to
forming and guiding Don Bosco's spirituality.
Typical of his teaching
was his appreciation of daily duty as a way to holiness. As the Founder of the
Salesian also testified: "the extraordinary virtue of Cafasso was his
marvellously faithful and consistent practice of ordinary virtues".
Apostolate to the poor
Always attentive the
needs of the poorest, he visited and also financially supported those who were
poorest, bringing them the consolation that came from his priestly ministry.
His apostolate also consisted in spiritual accompaniment of prisoners and those
condemned to death, to the point where he was defined as the prisoners' priest.
Prudent and reserved, a spiritual master, he was spiritual director of priests,
lay people, politicians, founders.
Pearl of the Italian
clergy
Pio XI called him the
pearl of the Italian clergy. Fr Cafasso also supported Don Bosco and the
Salesian Congregation in material ways from its very beginnings. After a short
illness he died at just 49 years of age on 23 June 1860. He was beatified in
1925 and canonised by Pius XII in 1947, who recognised him as a "model of
priestly life, father of the poor, consoler of the sick, support for prisoners,
saviour of the condemned". The same Pope, in his encyclical Menti Nostrae
of 23 September 1950 proposed him as a model for priests.
SOURCE : http://www.salesians.org.uk/dbuk/saints6.html
Saint Joseph Cafasso:
patron for prisoners and spiritual directors
By Paul Zalonski
on June 30, 2010 1:00 PM
The Pope's weekly general
audience address today was dedicated to Saint Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860), a
member of the "St Francis of Assisi Institute," a priest (ordained in
1833) who died 150 years ago. He is most known as Saint John Bosco's spiritual
father (director) from 1835 to 1860. Cafasso died in 1860; Pius XII canonized
in him 1947. In 1948, Pope Pius XII named him the patron of Italian prisons
and, in 1950, proposed him "as a model for priests involved in Confession
and spiritual direction." His uncle is Blessed Joseph Allamano. Saint
Joseph Cafasso's feast day is June 23.
I never heard of Saint
Joseph Cafasso until today, partly because I am not well attuned to the life of
Saint John Bosco of which he seems to be most connected. According to the
Benedict, Joseph Cafasso's ministry helped to form "the true pastor with a
rich interior life and a profound zeal for pastoral care: faithful in prayer,
committed to preaching and catechesis, dedicated to the Sacraments of the Eucharist
and Confession, in keeping with the model incarnated by St. Charles Borromeo
and St. Francis of Sales, and promoted by the Council of Trent. St. Joseph
Cafasso sought to establish this model in the formation of young priests so
that, in their turn, they too could become formators to other priests,
religious and lay people, thus creating a unique and effective chain." AND
how could anyone NOT take Saint Joseph Cafasso as a paradigm for Christian
life?
A theme that I am picking
up these days from some of the Pope's addresses is the constant need to stay in
the "state of grace." You might say, "no Kidding, Paul!
Really?" Mock if you want, but there is an increasing distancing from God,
especially staying close to God by means of staying in a state of grace through
the sacrament of confession. We know that the pure of heart are the ones who
inherit the kingdom of God. One of the things we know of Saint John Vianney is
that he devoted himself to confessional. Cafasso, the Pope said, "loved
the Lord totally, he was animated by a well-rooted faith and supported by
profound and prolonged prayer, he showed sincere charity to everyone. He knew
moral theology but was equally well aware of the condition of people's hearts
for which, like the good shepherd, he took responsibility."
Benedict XVI explained
that that Saint John Bosco never copied his master. Not an insignificant point:
we need to take under consideration those who guide us but we also need to
assert our independence from a "master teacher" in order for grace to
flourish. Otherwise we merely parrot the other in an unthinking manner. The
Pope said, "He imitated him in the human and priestly virtues - defining
him as a 'model of priestly life' - but maintained his own attitudes and his
own specific vocation. ... This is a precious lesson for those involved in the
formation and education of the young generations."
What may be interesting
for us to know is that Saint Joseph Cafasso was renown for his "concern
for the lowest, especially for prisoners ... who lived in inhuman and
dehumanizing conditions." Characteristic of Cafasso's work with prisoners
is remembered today as he "often delivered great sermons that came to
involve almost the entire prison population, with the passage of time he came
to favor individual catechesis, made up of conversations and personal meetings.
While respecting the individual situation of each individual, he tackled the
great themes of Christian life, speaking of trust in God, adherence to His
will, the utility of prayer and the Sacraments, the culmination of which is
Confession, the meeting with God Who, for us, becomes infinite mercy."
SOURCE : http://communio.stblogs.org/2010/06/saint-joseph-cafasso-patron-fo.html
First
Panegyric on Saint Joseph Cafasso by Saint John Bosco
My dear boys and
venerable friends,
I do not know whether
sentiments of mourning or rejoicing should predominate in our hearts this
morning as we meditate on the life and precious death of Don Joseph Cafasso.
Certainly, if in the death of Fr. Joseph Cafasso we consider the loss of a
benefactor of poor humanity, we have grave reasons to grieve and mourn as
people struck by a great misfortune; for his death was a loss for the good, a
misfortune for the poor, a disaster for the clergy and a public calamity for
religious.
But if we consider our
loss in the light of faith, we have good reason for changing our grief and
lamentation into consolation and rejoicing. For if we have lost a great
benefactor on earth, we have the firm confidence that we have acquired a friend
in Heaven who will use his influence with God to protect us.
And indeed if we cast a
glance over the life of Don Joseph Cafasso and consider the innocence of his
life, his zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, if we consider
his great virtues – his faith, hope, charity, humility and penance – we shall
have to conclude that by the practice of these virtues in an eminent degree he
has acquired a great reward, and that in dying he has merely abandoned this
mortal life full of miseries, and has gone to the possession of a happy
eternity.
Besides, according to
Saint Paul, the virtues of a man while he is on earth are imperfect, and are
not worthy to be compared with the heavenly virtues; therefore, if the virtues
of Don Cafasso were great even when he was on earth, how much greater will they
be now that we believe him to be in Heaven! If while on earth he did good and
conferred benefits as one man, in Heaven he will have the power of ten, a
hundred or even of a thousand to help us in our needs. Those who have been able
to enjoy the charity of Don Cafasso when he was on earth were fortunate, but
more fortunate are those who recognize him as their protector with God in
Heaven.
In order that you may be
convinced of the truth of what I say, I ask your kind attention while I relate
to you the principal actions of the life of this marvelous man. I say the
principal actions, because the greater part of his good deeds are still
unknown, but with time and diligence they will be collected and will provide
precious material for history. In the meantime, I shall limit myself to what I
have seen or heard. And even of these things, I shall have to pass over a great
deal – partly because the time at my disposal is too short to relate them, but
principally because the relation of many things that I have witnessed would
arouse in me such emotion as would prevent me from speaking. However, even
limiting myself to a short discourse, and relating only those things which are
known to all who were acquainted with him, I believe that they will be
sufficient to convince you that Don Joseph Cafasso lived a saintly life and
died a holy death.
These are the thoughts
that occur to my mind as I think on this dear and compassionate friend, and
these thoughts will form the subject matter of my discourse. And while we
recall the virtuous actions and precious death of Don Joseph, we will say that
he has taught us the way to live well, and that he is a model for all who wish
to have a happy death.
Don Cafasso as a Boy
It happens to many boys,
whether through having the misfortune of falling under the influence of bad
companions or through neglect of their parents, or because they neglect to
profit by the good education they receive, that they lose the inestimable
treasure of the innocence of childhood before knowing its value, and that they
become slaves of the devil without even tasting the sweetness of being children
of God. Such was not the case with Don Joseph Cafasso. From his very infancy
his docility, obedience, recollection and love for study and pious exercises
made him the object of complacency both for his parents and his teachers.
The characteristic virtue
of his boyhood was his spirit of recollection and retirement, joined to an
almost irresistible inclination to do good to his neighbors. He regarded the
day as most happy for him when he was able to give some good advice, to promote
some good or to prevent some evil. At the age of ten he became a little apostle
in his native district. It was a common thing to see him coming out of his
parents’ house and going to seek his companions, relatives and friends. He
invited them all, old and young, to his parents’ house. When they arrived there
he made them kneel down and say a short prayer; he then got up on a chair, as
his pulpit, and preached to them, or rather repeated the sermons that he had
heard in church, and related edifying examples. He was of small stature and of
weak constitution, but he had a pleasing voice and an angelic countenance, so
that all who listened to his words and discourses, so much above his age, went
away filled with wonder, repeating the words that were spoken about the infant
John the Baptist: “What a one, think ye, shall this child be?” (Luke 1:66).
You, good people of
Castelnuovo, when you listened in astonishment to the boy Cafasso and asked
what will this boy be, did not know then, but I am here in a position to tell
you. That boy will be a model of virtue at school, he will be a mirror of
devotion, he will guide many wayward on the path of virtue, confirm many
virtuous and make them advance still higher; he will be a father to the poor,
the delight of his parents; he will in a short time arrive at such a degree of
virtue that he will know no road but that which leads to the church or the
school; he will, at fifteen years old, after spending his youth in study and
the pursuit of virtue, resolve to give himself wholly to God in the
ecclesiastical state, in order to labor solely for the glory of God; he will
one day become the teacher of young priests and will provide the Church with
many worthy ministers and gain many souls for Heaven.
Life of Don Cafasso as a
Clerical Student
The short time at my
disposal obliges me to pass over many facts and come at once to that happy day
for me when I first met him. It was in the year 1827 at Murialdo, which is a
suburb of Castelnuovo d’Asti; the Feast of the Maternity of Our Lady, which is the
principal feast for the people of that place, was being celebrated. Some were
busy in their houses, others were engaged in decorating the church, while
others were going around seeing the sights or were taking part in games or
other pastimes.
I saw one person far away
from all the spectacles; he was a cleric, small in stature, with shining eyes,
affable appearance and angelic countenance. He was leaning against the door of
the church. I became enraptured with his appearance, and although I was only completing
my twelfth year, being moved by the desire to speak to him, I went over to him
and said, “Reverend Sir, would you like to see some of the sights of our feast?
It would give me great pleasure to act as guide anywhere you wish to go.” He
made a gracious sign to me to come nearer and began to question me about my
age, my studies; he asked me whether I had yet received my First Communion, how
often I went to confession, where I went for catechism, etc. I was enchanted
with the edifying manner in which he spoke; I replied willingly to all his
questions, and then, by way of thanking him for his affability, I repeated my
offer to accompany him and show him the sights and the novelties.
“My dear friend,” he
replied, “the sights to be seen by the priest are the functions of the Church;
the more devoutly they are celebrated, the more pleasing they become to us. Our
novelties are the practices of religion which are always new, and therefore to
be frequented assiduously. I am merely waiting here for the church to be opened
that I may be able to enter.”
I was inclined to
continue the conversation, and I added, “What you say is true, but there is a
time for everything – a time to go to church and a time to amuse oneself.”
He began to laugh and
ended the conversation with these memorable words which might be said to be the
program of the actions of his whole life: “He who embraces the clerical state
sells himself to the Lord, and must henceforth set his heart on nothing in the
world except what can redound to the greater glory of God and the advantage of
souls.”
Amazed at his reply, I
inquired about the name of the clerical student whose words and conduct
manifested the spirit of the Lord, and I learned that he was Joseph Cafasso, a
student in the first year’s theology whom I had often heard spoken of as a
model of virtue.
If time permitted me to
give a detailed account of the luminous virtues that he displayed during his
years as a student, both when he lived at home in his native district and in
the seminary at Chieri, what a number of interesting and edifying facts I could
tell! I shall merely summarize his life as a student by saying that the gifts
which adorned his life as a cleric were charity toward his companions,
submission to his superiors, patience in supporting the defects of others,
caution never to offend anyone, affability in listening to, advising and
helping his companions, indifference about what was set before him at the
table, resignation in the trials that he encountered in his station of life,
alacrity in teaching catechism to boys, edifying conduct everywhere, diligence
in his studies and in the performance of his religious exercises. These virtues
which he practiced in an heroic degree gave rise to the saying that became
common among his companions and friends, that the cleric Cafasso had never been
under the influence of original sin. There is a long series of edifying deeds
performed by him as a cleric to illustrate this point, but I am compelled to
pass them over in order to have time to say something about his life as a
priest.
The Public Life of Don
Cafasso as a Priest
But who are you, I ask
myself, who attempt to give an account of the marvelous deeds of this hero? Do
you not know that his most beautiful actions are known only to God? Do you not know
that the most gifted writer would have to compose many big volumes in order to
speak in a worthy manner of the things that are known to the world? I know all
that, and I assure you that I find myself in the position of a small boy who
enters a garden to gather a few flowers and who finds every corner of the
garden so filled with the most beautiful blooms of varied kinds that he remains
confused and does not know what to do. In my attempt to speak of the priestly
virtues of Don Cafasso, I am, like that boy, at a loss to know how I am to
begin, what I am to say first, and what to say after that. I shall therefore
confine myself to selecting and weaving into a garland the virtues which shone
forth in a particular manner in his public life as a priest and his private
mortified life. I shall begin with his public life.
His zeal and eloquence in
explaining the word of God caused him to be invited from all directions to give
triduums, novenas, retreats and missions to the people of various districts.
Full of courage, he did all in his power for all in order to gain all for Jesus
Christ. But after some years, being no longer able to perform such heavy and
continuous labors, he had to confine himself to preaching to the clergy, who
appeared to be the portion of human society entrusted to him in a special way
by Divine Providence. And, in this department, who can relate all the good that
he did by the retreats that he preached, by his public and private conferences,
by supplying books and money to priests in poor circumstances in order that
they might be able to complete their studies and exercise their sacred ministry
in a worthy manner?
To his public life
belongs also the apostolate that he exercised among poor boys. These he
instructed in the truths of religion; he provided the most needy with clothes,
in order that they might be decently clad for attendance at Mass. He also
secured employment for some with God-fearing masters; for others he paid the
expenses of their apprenticeship. For others still, he supplied bread until
they were able to gain their livelihood by their own labor. He had begun to put
into practice this ardent spirit of charity when he was a boy. He continued it
when he was a cleric, and it shone forth in him with redoubled zeal when he was
a priest. The first catechist of our present oratory was Don Cafasso; he was a
constant promoter and benefactor of the work while he lived, and is its patron
after his death.
His Apostolate in the
Prisons
To the public life of Don
Cafasso belong also the entire days that he spent in the prisons – preaching,
comforting, instructing the unfortunates detained there, and hearing their
confessions. With regard to his work in the prisons it is difficult to say
whether his courage or his charity is the more worthy of praise, but we may
solve the difficulty by saying that his ardent charity inspired him with heroic
courage. Out of the many such acts of his of which I was witness I select the
following which is characteristic of him.
He had gone to the prison
in order to prepare the prisoners for the celebration of a feast in honor of
Our Lady, and had spent a whole week instructing them and exhorting them This
he did in a large room in which there were forty-five of the most noted
criminals. Almost all had promised to go to confession on the vigil of the
feast. But when the day came, none of them could make up his mind to go to
confession. He renewed his invitation, recapitulated what he had said during
the week, and reminded them of the promise that they had made. But whether it
was through human respect, or the temptation of the devil, or some other vain
pretext, none of them would consent to go to confession. What was Don Cafasso
to do?
His ingenious charity and
courage found a way out of the difficulty. With a smile on his face he went
over to the man who appeared to be the biggest and strongest and most robust
among the prisoners, and without saying a word, he caught hold of his luxurious
long beard. The man, thinking that Don Cafasso had acted through jest, said to
him as courteously as could be expected from such people, “Take anything else
from me you like but leave me my beard!”
“I will not let you go
until you go to confession,” replied Don Cafasso. “But I don’t want to go to
confession,” said the prisoner. “You may say what you like, but you will not
escape from me; I will not let you go until you have made your confession,”
said Cafasso. “I am not prepared,” said the prisoner. “I will prepare you,”
said Cafasso.
Certainly, if the
prisoner had wished, he could have freed himself from Don Cafasso’s hands with
the slightest effort; but whether it was respect for the holy man’s person, or
rather the fruit of the grace of God, the fact is that the man surrendered and
allowed himself to be led to a corner of the room. Don Cafasso sat down on a
bundle of straw and prepared his friend for confession. But lo! In a short time
there was commotion; the strong man was so moved by Don Cafasso’s exhortation
that his sighs and tears almost prevented him from telling his sins.
Then appeared the great
marvel; he who had been most vehement in his refusal to make his confession
went to his companions after it was finished and told them that he had never
been so happy in his life. He became so eloquent in exhorting them that he
succeeded in persuading them all to go to confession.
I select this example out
of thousands of its kind because whether we consider it as a miracle of grace
on the part of God, or a miracle of charity on the part of Don Cafasso, we are
forced to recognize in it the intervention of the hand of God.
On that day Don Cafasso
continued hearing confessions in the prison until the night was far advanced.
In the meantime, the doors of the prison were locked and barred, and it
appeared that Don Cafasso would have to sleep with the prisoners. But at a
certain hour the prison guards, armed with pistols and swords, entered and
began to make their accustomed visit. On seeing the stranger they all began to
shout at the same time, “Who goes there?” and without waiting for a reply they
surrounded Don Cafasso saying, “What are you doing here? Who are you? And where
do you want to go?” As Don Cafasso was trying to reply they shouted, “Stop him
and make him tell who he is!” Finally, he told them who he was. They asked him
why he had not left in time, and told him that now they could not allow him to
go out without acquainting the governor of the prison. He reminded them quietly
that it was their fault not to have searched the prison before locking the
doors. Finally they agreed to let him out, and even sent a guard to protect him
on the way home.
With regard to the rest
of the public life of Don Cafasso, let those many priests and laymen come
forward and relate it! Let those people, rich and poor, who are debtors to him
– some for their learning, some for the means of acquiring it, some for their
employment, some for the peace that they enjoy in their families, some for the
trades that they exercise, some for the bread that they eat – come forward and
acknowledge their debt to him!
I know of many who,
either on account of the poverty of their condition or of grave disasters that
happened to their families, could not have risen from their poverty were it not
for the charity of Don Cafasso. Some of these are now parish priests, others
assistants, others schoolmasters; others still are notaries, lawyers, doctors,
pharmacists, attorneys; others still are agents for companies, owners of shops,
traders and merchants. And while upon the death of Don Cafasso they lament the
loss of a tender father, they give testimony to the truth and say, “Don Cafasso
was our benefactor; he helped us to clothe ourselves, he helped us to pass our
exams, he advised us, he recommended us, he helped us spiritually and
corporally; to him we owe our honor, our learning, our employment, the bread
that we eat.”
Let those many sick
people come forward and tell how they have been comforted by him! Let those
dying whom he assisted, that long series of penitents of every age and
condition who found in him on every day and at every hour a pious, learned and
prudent director of conscience, come and tell all they owe to him!
Finally, let those
unfortunate men who had been condemned come forward and bear witness to his
heroic charity! Having abandoned the practice of religion they had given
themselves up to despair, but being assisted – and I might say, conquered – by
the irresistible charity of Don Cafasso, they died a most consoling death,
leaving us the moral certainty of their salvation.
Oh! If Heaven would only
come and relate for us the public life of Don Cafasso, there would, I believe,
be thousands upon thousands of souls who would proclaim in a loud voice, “If we
are saved, if we are enjoying the glory of Heaven, we owe it to the charity and
zeal and labor of Don Cafasso. He delivered us from dangers; he guided us on
the path of virtue; he rescued us from the brink of Hell, and brought us safely
to Heaven.”
The Private Life of Don
Cafasso
Let us now pass on from
his public life to speak briefly of his private life. By his private life I
mean particularly the exercise of the virtues practiced in his familiar private
occupations, which for the most part appeared very little in the eyes of the
world, but which perhaps are the most meritorious before God. And here, what a
long series of edifying deeds, of luminous virtues, presents itself for our
consideration! What mortifications, penances, abstinences, prayers, fasts were
done within the walls of his room! Every moment that was free from the
occupations of his sacred ministry was given to prolonged audiences which might
be said to have been interminable. He was always ready to receive, console,
advise and confess in his own room. Sometimes he was weary to exhaustion so
that he could scarcely make the sound of his voice heard; and, not
infrequently, he had to deal with rough people, slow of understanding, whom
nothing would satisfy. Nevertheless, he was always serene in countenance,
affable in speech, and never allowed a word or an act to appear that showed the
slightest sign of impatience.
Oh! If the walls of that
privileged room could speak, to what virtues, to what acts of charity, of
patience, of suffering, it would render glorious testimony! Always affable and
beneficent, he never allowed anyone to depart without consoling him with
spiritual or temporal comforts, or at least without having suggested to him
some maxims useful to his soul. The multitude of those who sought to speak to
him constrained him to be expeditious in dealing with their business.
Therefore, without losing any time in compliments or ceremonies, he came to the
point immediately; with astonishing facility, he grasped what the person wished
to say at the first indication given, and gave a prompt, frank and complete
reply.
He did all this with such
humility, respect and promptness, that an eminent personage could find no words
to describe this singular prerogative of Don Cafasso except these: “He had no
time for what was merely human; all was for charity.”
He understood and was
constantly preaching that every moment of time is a great treasure, and
therefore he took advantage of every moment and every occasion to do good. When
going out, or descending the stairs, when going or returning from visiting the
sick or those in prison, he was almost always accompanied by someone with whom
he discussed the affairs of the sacred ministry, or spoke words of comfort to
someone who could find no other occasion to speak with him.
After meals he took part
in the recreation of his students, but that was a time when he gave them his
marvelous lessons. They drank in like milk his advice on how to live in
society, on how to treat the world without becoming slaves of the world, on how
to become true priests furnished with the necessary virtues to make them
ministers of God capable of giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what
is God’s.
But the most marvelous
thing in the private life of Don Cafasso was his exactness in the observance of
the rules of the ecclesiastical Institute of Saint Francis. As superior of the
institute, he might have dispensed himself from many things both on account of
his weak health and the importance and multitude of occupations which were
crushing him. But he had fixed in his mind the maxim that the most efficacious
means a superior has of commanding is his own personal example by preceding
those under him in the fulfillment of their respective duties. Accordingly, in
even the smallest things, such as being present punctually for the conferences,
for meditation, for meals, he was like a machine that the sound of the bell
brought instantaneously to the fulfillment of the duty for the time.
I remember that on a
certain day I brought him a glass of water. He had it in his hand when the bell
for the Rosary rang. He drank no more but put it down and was going immediately
to that practice of piety. “Drink it,” I said to him, “and you will have time
afterward to go to prayer.” “Do you wish me,” he said, “to prefer a glass of water
to a prayer so precious as the Rosary which we say in honor of Our Blessed
Lady?”
Mortified Life of Don
Cafasso
To his private life
belongs that secret and continuous mortification of himself. In this we see the
great art used by him to make himself a saint. We know and have proof that he
used the hair shirt, that he put objects in his bed to make it uncomfortable,
that he practiced rigorous corporal penances. But leaving these things aside, I
shall speak here only of what 1 and all who have known him have seen. However
tired he might be, he never supported himself either with his elbow or in any
other manner to rest himself; he never rested one leg on the other; at table,
he never complained of anything or said that anything did not please him;
everything was to his taste. From his earliest youth he had devoted certain
days to particular acts of mortification. Every Saturday was a day of strict
fast in honor of our Blessed Lady. But why speak of a fast on Saturday when the
whole week, the whole month, and the whole year long were for him one
continuous, rigorous and terrible fast? He began by diminishing the number of
his meals and restricted himself to one meal in the day, which consisted of
soup and a small quantity of bread or potatoes. Some of his friends, on seeing
this prolonged austerity, respectfully reproached him and said that he was
injuring his health by it. They tried to persuade him to be more moderate, if
not out of love for himself, at least for the good of others. He merely laughed
and said that he enjoyed excellent health on the diet he had adopted. When they
referred to the exhaustion of his strength which was diminishing every day, he
immediately replied, “O Heaven, what strength and health you will give to those
who enter there!” If he was benumbed by cold, or suffocated with heat, or
covered with sweat, he never sought any comfort, nor was he ever heard to utter
a word of lament or complaint.
At all times of the year
he spent many hours hearing the confessions of the faithful, and it was not
uncommon for him to enter the confessional at seven in the morning and remain
there until twelve o’clock. After remaining there for so long, even in the very
cold weather, when he came out to go to the sacristy the people could see that
he trembled all over and was compelled to lean for support on the benches to
prevent himself from falling; often when halfway down the church, he had to
rest either by kneeling or sitting down. The people were very much moved by
such a sight, and several of them wanted to buy at their own expense a heated
footstool in order to lessen a little the effect of the cold. The sacristan
decided to buy one, but fearing that Don Cafasso would not allow him if told
beforehand, he bought the footstool without telling him and put it in the
confessional before Don Cafasso arrived there. As soon as he saw the luxury, as
he called it, he kicked it with his foot into a corner of the confessional, and
afterward told the sacristan not to put it there again, saying that these
things are useless and that they give people the idea that a priest, who, he
said, does not need such things, is too careful about himself. Various reasons
were given him why he should use it, but neither in this nor in any other
circumstance was it possible to persuade him to moderate the severity of his
penances, which certainly contributed to consume a life so precious.
He kept aloof from all
kinds of amusements. During the thirty-two years that I knew him, I never saw
him take part in a game of cards, tarot, chess, billiards or other pastime. (He
sometimes played games with the prisoners, in order to gain their confidence.)
When sometimes invited to take part in some game, he would reply that he had
something else to occupy him, and that when he no longer had any urgent
business he would go and amuse himself. And when he was asked when that would
be, he would reply, “When we are in Heaven.” Besides the constant mortification
of the senses of his body that he practiced, he was the foe of all habits, even
the most indifferent. “We should habituate ourselves to do good and nothing
else,” he would say. “The body is insatiable; the more we give it the more it
demands.”
He therefore never
allowed himself to form the habit of using tobacco, or taking sweetmeats or
drink of any kind other than water, except that ordered by a doctor. During the
course of his studies in college or in the seminary, he took neither coffee,
nor fruit, nor anything between meals.
After his first ten years
as professor at the post-graduate institute (he was there as professor for
twenty-four years), he became prefect of the conferences, and though his work
was very heavy, his collation consisted of a few pieces of dry bread. One day
someone suggested to him that for a person of his frail constitution with such
exhausting labors more nourishing food was needed. He replied good-humoredly
that the time would come when he would have to make some concession to his
body, but that as long as he could do without it he did not wish to take
anything more.
After some years,
however, he was compelled by obedience to moderate a little his rigorous manner
of living. But in spite of his weak constitution and his delicate health, he
would never allow himself to become accustomed to any particular kind of food,
and he went on diminishing the amount until, as I have already said, he limited
himself to one meal a day, which consisted of soup and a little something else
at hand. Although subject to many infirmities, he would not prolong for a
moment his ordinary time of repose, which was barely five hours each night.
During the cold weather
of winter, even at times when he suffered from sick stomach, headaches,
toothache, to a degree that he was scarcely able to stand on his feet, he was
to be found kneeling in prayer before four o’clock in the morning, meditating,
or engaged in some occupation.
This strenuous, laborious
life of penance, prayer, charity, labor and self-denial he continued to live up
to his death which struck him at the moment when we had the greatest need of him,
at a moment unexpected by us, but calmly awaited by him, for his whole life had
been a constant preparation for death.
The time available for
this discourse has passed all too quickly, and I am compelled to pass over
very, very many things that I would wish to relate. However, I hope that you
will bear with me for a little longer and listen patiently while I tell about
the last hours on earth of Don Joseph Cafasso.
His Saintly Death
Let us draw a veil over
the events I which certainly contributed to deprive us of a person so dear to
us, so useful and so precious. Let it suffice to say that a life so pure, so
holy, so closely resembling the life of Our Savior, was to be requited with
ingratitude by a world that did not know him, by that world for the benefit of
which he had expended his substance, his health and his life. In these painful
circumstances we adore the decrees of Divine Providence.
It is a truth of Faith
that at the point of death a man gathers the fruit of what he has sown in the
course of his life. “What things a man shall sow, these also shall he reap.”
(Galatians 6:8).
Now as Don Cafasso had
lived a life filled with good and holy works, good and holy should be his
death. It was a familiar saying of his, often repeated, especially in his moral
conferences: “Fortunate is that priest who spends his life for the good of
souls; most fortunate is he who dies laboring for the glory of God. He will
certainly receive a great reward from that Supreme Master for Whom he labors.”
Now we shall use these words
of his and say, “Fortunate are you, Don Joseph Cafasso, who have spent your
entire life in promoting the glory of God and laboring for the salvation of
souls; most fortunate are you who have terminated your life in the midst of the
labors of the sacred ministry.”
It is believed, and there
are strong reasons for this belief, that he received a special revelation from
God of the day and the hour of his death; during his last days, he gave
indications that this was so to those who had the good fortune of being able to
speak to him He was accustomed to settle his affairs every day as if he were on
the eve of his death. And before going to bed each evening, he arranged the
things in his house as if that night were to be the last of his life. But he
spent the three days which preceded his last illness almost completely shut up
in his room He regulated everything that regarded the good functioning of the
college; he gave suitable directions to the servants; he replied to some
letters; he put all his writings in order; he put every little bit of paper in
its proper place; he wrote down some things to be added to his will; then he
made the exercise for a good death that he was accustomed to make without fail
at the end of each month.
In the meantime, the
morning of Monday, the 11th of June arrived, and Don Cafasso, having arranged
all his affairs and made ready for the journey to eternity, was walking in his
room waiting for the voice of the Lord to tell him to come. But he suddenly
recollected that he had still a little strength left which could be used for
the good of souls. Joyful in mind, but not without a painful effort, he made
his way from his room to the confessional, and there spent several hours
hearing confessions of the faithful whom he guided with singular learning,
prudence and piety on the road to Heaven. It was noticed, however, that his
method of hearing confessions was not the same as usual. He recommended all to
detach their hearts from earthly things, to love God their Creator with all
their strength, to pray Him to take them away soon from the dangers of this
life and bring them to Heaven. “O Paradise, Paradise,” said he to one penitent,
“why are you not sought after and desired by all? Why do you delay? Why, oh
why?” But man is only man; the eagerness to gain souls for God continued in
that great soul, but his strength failed. He was constrained to abandon that
confessional where for the space of twenty-five years he had been the faithful
dispenser of heavenly favors to so many souls; he had to abandon that
confessional never again to return to it.
With slow steps he betook
himself to his room. But before placing himself on the bed, he knelt down and
recited those memorable words which he had written down: “The sorrow that I
experience, O Lord, for not having loved Thee, the desire that I feel to love
Thee ever more, render this life burdensome and grievous to me beyond measure,
and force me to pray Thee to come quickly and shorten my days on earth and to
remit to me Purgatory in the next life so that I may be able to go soon to
enjoy Thee in Heaven.” He was able to say no more, and in order not to fall
exhausted on the ground, he placed himself on the bed about eleven in the
morning.
His disease was an
affection of the lungs with hemorrhage of the stomach. The doctors tried every
means of their art but in vain. Each day it seemed to them that the patient was
improving, but in reality, as he said himself, he was getting nearer to the
moment of departure for Heaven. From the first day of his illness he said
frankly that he was not going to get well and that he wished to leave this
world and go to Heaven.
To those who asked him if
he felt better, if he had rested well, he replied always, “As God wills.” He
asked for the prayers of all. He told me one day to ask the boys of our house
to pray for him. “We have done so,” I replied, “and we shall continue to pray
for you, but I have told the boys that you would come some feast day to give
them Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.” “Be at ease,” he replied. “Go on
praying, and tell the boys that I will bless them from Heaven.”
When asked if he had
anything to get written, any remembrance to give, any commissions to leave, he
looked at me smiling and said, “It would be a nice thing to have waited until
now to settle my affairs. Everything has been settled for this world. One thing
remains for me to settle with God; it is that in His great mercy He will bring
me to Heaven soon.”
A remarkable thing was
noticed by all: he received everyone who came to visit him with his accustomed
goodness, but after a few minutes gave a sign that they should leave. The
reason was he did not wish anyone to remain talking to him longer than was
strictly necessary. I watched him closely as I was going out of his room, and
saw him join his hands, kiss the crucifix repeatedly, and then, turning his
eyes toward Heaven, speak uninterruptedly as if in familiar conversation. From
that I became convinced that he desired to be alone in order to be able to
converse more freely with God. However, having remained alone with him one day,
I remarked to him that it would be better for him to have someone constantly
near his bed to give him whatever he required and to speak some words of
comfort to him. “No,” he replied immediately. Then raising his eyes to Heaven
he said with emphasis, “Do you not know that every word spoken to man is a word
robbed from God?”
Even when his illness was
threatening his life, in his very death agony, he loved to be alone. He gave no
sign of pleasure even when ejaculatory prayers were suggested, as if such
prayers interrupted the ordinary conversation that he certainly had with God.
However, he asked all to pray for him and to recommend him to the protection of
the Blessed Virgin and Saint Joseph. A person of high authority who was on
intimate terms with him during his life and visited him several times in the
course of his illness, having observed carefully what he said and did, at the
conclusion of one of these visits exclaimed, “Don Cafasso has no need of our
suggestions; he is in direct communication with God. He engages in familiar conversation
with the Mother of the Savior, with his angel guardian and with Saint Joseph.”
There are many things
that I would like to relate about his admirable patience in bearing with his
illness, about the words spoken to his friends, the blessings given to many and
especially to his dear young priests of the college, about the edifying manner
in which he received the Last Sacraments, but these things would cause me such
emotion that I would not be able to speak.
I will merely say that,
comparing his last illness with that of Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Francis
de Sales, Saint Philip Neri and other great saints, it appears to me that his
death was equally precious in the eyes of God. And how could it have been
otherwise? If his life was holy, should not his death have been likewise holy?
He had great devotion to
our Blessed Lady, and was a constant promoter of devotion to that heavenly
Mother. For every Saturday and, we might say, for every moment, he had some
pious practice or said some ejaculatory prayers in her honor. Saturday was a
day completely devoted to her; he observed a rigorous fast, everything she
demanded for that day was promptly conceded, and on many occasions he expressed
the desire to die on a Saturday. Frequently during his life he said, and has
left it in writing, “What a beautiful death to die for the love of Mary! To die
on a day dedicated to Mary! To die at a moment most glorious for Mary! To go to
Heaven in the company of Mary! To have the happiness of being near Mary for all
eternity!”
O fortunate soul, your
desires have been satisfied! You are at the thirteenth day of your illness, a
Saturday, a day of Mary; you have received a few hours ago the most sacred Body
of Jesus. Now Jesus calls you and wishes to give you that Heaven that you have
so much desired, for which you have labored all your life. Mary, your Mother,
to whom you were so devoted in life, now assists you and accepts you. She
herself will conduct you to Heaven. Behold! Don Cafasso smiles, he breathes his
last breath. His soul flies upward in the company of Jesus and Mary to enjoy a
happy eternity.
With good reason we hope
that after a death so precious in the eyes of God the soul of Don Cafasso did
not even touch the pains of Purgatory, but flew straight to Heaven. Therefore,
instead of praying for him, I would suggest to you that you should rather have
recourse to his heavenly intercession. But since the All-holy and All-pure God
finds stains in the angels themselves, we, in fulfillment of a duty of
gratitude and friendship, offer to God our prayers, our Communions, our alms,
our works of charity in suffrage for the soul of our lamented benefactor. But
if these works are not needed to liberate him from the pains of Purgatory, they
will serve to help some suffering souls for whose relief he labored so much in
life and whom he recommended so often to the prayers of the faithful.
Listen still, dear
brethren, for a moment! Among the last words of Don Cafasso are the following
which are truly worthy of eternal remembrance: “When I shall have departed to
the grave,” said he, “I pray the Lord to make my memory perish on the earth so
that no one will think of me except those few faithful ones who will, as I
hope, come to pray for my soul. I accept in penance for my sins all that will be
said against me in the world after my death.”
Dear Don Cafasso, that
prayer of yours will not be heard; you wished to humiliate yourself so that
your glory might go with you to the grave, but God wishes otherwise. God wishes
that you be exalted and that you be crowned with glory in Heaven. Your memory
is the memory of the just, which shall last for eternity: “In memoria aeterna
erit Justus.”
Your memory will last
among the priests, because you were their model in sanctity during life and
their master in the science of the Lord; your memory will last among the poor,
who will lament your death as that of a tender father; it will last among those
in doubt to whom you have given holy and salutary advice; it will last among
the afflicted to whom in so many ways you have brought consolation. It will
last among those in their death agony whom you have comforted, among the
unfortunates in prison whom you have visited, among those condemned to death
whom you have sent to Heaven. It will last among your friends, and your friends
are all those who have known you; it will last among all those who honor the
great benefactors of humanity such as you were during the whole course of your
life. In fine, your memory will last among us, because the charity which you
had for us on earth is an assurance for us that you are our protector with God,
now that you are glorious in Heaven. Live then for eternity with God, O great
and faithful soul! The time of suffering for you is past; there will be for you
no more pain, no more affliction, no more sickness, no more persecution, nor
will there be death anymore. God is your reward. You are in Him, you are with
Him, and near Him you will enjoy every good thing in Heaven. Mary, your
heavenly Mother, whom you have so loved and caused others to love on earth, now
wishes you to be near her in order to give you the recompense due to the filial
affection which you had toward her.
But from the midst of
your glory, deign to cast a look of pity on us whom by your departure from the
world you have left orphans. Intercede for us and grant that by living
according to the directions you have given, and following the luminous examples
of virtue that you have left, we also may one day attain to the possession of
that glory which will be enjoyed with Jesus and Mary and all the saints of
Heaven for all eternity.
– delivered by
Saint John
Bosco as a funeral oration on 10
July 1860 on
the life of Saint Joseph
Cafasso; text taken from a booklet printed at Chieri, Piedmont, 1933
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/first-panegyric-on-saint-joseph-cafasso-by-saint-john-bosco/
Monumento a San Giuseppe Cafasso, al Rondò della forca, Torino
Monumento
a San Giuseppe Cafasso, al Rondò della forca, Torino
Second
Panegyric on Saint Joseph Cafasso by Saint John Bosco
“He wrought that which
was good, and right, and truth, before the Lord, his God, in all the service of
the ministry of the house of the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 31:20,21)
There is one person alone
who, if he were here among us at this moment, would be our joy and delight, but
he is no more. In this church he exercised his ministry; in it, he knelt and
prayed; in it are the altars on which a short time ago he offered the
Eucharistic Sacrifice. You have here still – look over and see it – the
confessional in which he purified, consoled and comforted our souls; you have
also that chair of truth from which, with holy zeal, he explained the word of
God, but he himself is no longer here. That gloomy reminder of the departed,
that stately bier, and, much more, your sorrowful appearance, tell me that our
friend is no longer among the living.
Ah! Don Cafasso, Don
Cafasso, where are you? Why have you left us? Come at least even for a moment
and comfort us.
I hear a voice which
appears to me to come from Heaven saying, “Grieve not, for I am still among
you.” Yes, my brethren, Don Cafasso is still with us. It is true that his soul
is enjoying its happy repose with God, but he lives, speaks, converses with us.
He lives with us in the holy actions that he performed in the course of his
life; he lives among us through the numerous spiritual sons who, having drunk
in from him the milk of prudence and wisdom and piety, are scattered over
various countries where they teach, preach, propagate his doctrine, his
counsels, his moral precepts. He converses with us by the holy rules of a good
life which he gave us viva voce and left to us in writing. He lives, and I hope
that from his place in Heaven he will look benignly upon us his friends who are
gathered here in veneration of him.
You have been moved by
two considerations to come to this church today: to be present at the
celebration of a religious function, and to listen to an account of the
virtuous actions of a distinguished benefactor. On me has been imposed the duty
of delivering an appropriate oration. The first part, namely the exercises of
piety, the decorations, the sacred chants and other religious rites have all
been prepared in splendid fashion. As to the part that has fallen to my lot, I
confess that I find myself in great difficulty, and I do not know how I shall
be able to accomplish my task. For having considered one by one the beautiful
virtues that adorned our dear departed friend, I find that each of them would
demand a long discourse. The facts of his life are, however, so luminous and so
complete in their kind that to attempt to adorn them by a long drawn-out
discourse would result rather in obscuring than in embellishing them. In my
perplexity the words of Sacred Scripture come to my aid: “He wrought that which
was good, and right, and truth, before his God,” for Don Cafasso was a priest
who wrought what was good and right and truth in every field of the ministry of
the Lord.
With this quotation from
Holy Writ I begin my discourse, relying on the truth that the logic of facts is
more persuasive than the most sublime and labored eloquence. I leave aside
those rhetorical embellishments commonly used in funeral orations, and shall
confine myself to a simple exposition of the actions thanks to which Don
Cafasso, in the exercise of Christian charity, has accomplished all the good
that can be done by a minister of Jesus Christ in the course of his mortal
life. But before commencing I think it well to make two preliminary remarks:
firstly, I shall confine myself to what I have seen with my own eyes, or what
has been related to me by trustworthy persons who have lived with him. In this
way all that I shall relate will have the testimony of ocular witnesses and
will be worthy of belief. Secondly, if I sometimes use expressions reserved for
those who have been recognized by the Church as saints, I do not intend to
anticipate the judgment of the Church; I intend merely to state the facts of
his life, leaving to our Holy Mother the Church, when the time is opportune, to
issue that infallible judgment to which we all most willingly submit.
But you, Don Cafasso,
have said, and have left in writing, that it was your wish that no one should
speak of you when you were dead and in your grave. You wished that your works
should remain hidden in order to flee from human glory and the applause of men.
Permit us today to do violence to that wish of yours; permit us to make known
to the public your virtuous actions, not in order to gain for you the praise of
man, for you abhor all worldly praise, but to honor God for whose glory you
have expended all your solicitude, all your substance, your whole mortal life.
Principles Underlying the
Life of Don Cafasso
The fulfillment of every
law, the totality of Christian virtues, according to Saint Paul, consists in
charity. A man raises himself toward God in proportion as he perfects himself
in this heavenly virtue, and when this virtue is accompanied by its external
fulfillment in a person, that person becomes a perfect Christian, a model of
sanctity: “Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10)
This was the virtue that
characterized the whole life of Don Cafasso. Every word, every thought, every
deed from his tenderest youth to the last moment of his life was a continuous
and uninterrupted exercise of charity; it permeated all his duties toward God,
toward men and toward himself.
Let us go now in thought
to Castelnuovo and observe him in that place of his birth privileged to witness
his early life. When only a boy between the tender ages of eight and ten, he is
already a model for the other pupils by the marvelous exactness with which he
fulfills his duties at school. With what joy and eagerness he goes to church,
takes part in all the functions and frequents the sacraments! From this time
his apostolate begins. On Sundays when at church, he listens carefully to the
word of God so as to be able to repeat it to his companions and friends on his
return. He labors at teaching catechism, but his labors are mingled with
ejaculatory prayers, acts of patience and the continual offering of his heart
to God.
Even at that tender age,
he found means to do good to those around him; to give good advice, to
reconcile son with father and employer with servant were frequent triumphs of
the boy Cafasso. But what was most surprising in this holy youth was the
ingenious ways he found to give alms. He renounced all pleasure and amusement;
he frequently deprived himself of things most attractive to boys, and even gave
of his necessities. He used to put carefully into a basket pieces of bread,
fruit, a few coins to be distributed to those in need, who already formed the
delight of his young heart because he had already learned to see in them the
person of the Savior.
Instead of diminishing
with the passing of childhood, these wonderful adolescent virtues went on
increasing with the years. At the age of twelve, when he went to Chieri to
continue his studies, his companions gave him the name of the new Saint
Aloysius. The Lord, seeing this tender plant adorned with the rarest virtues,
took him out of the world and planted him in the garden of the Church in order
to make of him in due time the worthy minister he himself so ardently desired
to be. When young Cafasso put on the clerical garb, his parents and friends
were filled with joy and all said in their hearts, “This youth is truly worthy
of such a holy habit because he walks with righteousness and works with justice
in all his actions”: Operatus est bonum et rectum.
When he became a cleric
he resolved to become a saint, and so he determined to continue to live a life
of holiness as he had hitherto lived. He was accustomed to say that a young man
who had embraced the ecclesiastical state should be filled with two great
ideas: that he had given himself up to the Lord, thus depriving the world of
all further claim on him; and that he had received the clerical habit from the
hands of Jesus Christ Himself, who on a corresponding occasion had said to His
apostles, “You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14). “Woe to you if you
allow that light to become extinguished, thus leaving yourself in obscurity and
forcing others to walk in darkness!” Such expressions of his were, we might
say, the plan that regulated his whole life. Both at home in his native
district and in the seminary, his superiors and companions were filled with admiration
for him. His promptness and diligence in study, the facility with which he
grasped difficulties, his obedience to his superiors, his affability and
patience toward equals and inferiors, his frequenting of the sacraments and
assiduity in the practices of piety appeared as a mystery to all who knew him.
They were unable to explain how a clerical student so young could have arrived
at such a high degree of virtue. They sometimes gave expression to their
amazement by saying that the cleric Cafasso had never been affected by original
sin.
I have thought it well to
give you this glimpse of his early life in order that you may not be surprised
at the account of the deeds of which I am now going to speak. For if the life
he had led up to then was – in his acts, his speech, his conversation, his
dealings with others – a life such as befits one called to the service of the
Lord, we must say that his life as a priest was that of a saint: “He wrought
that which was good, and right, and truth before the Lord his God in all the
service of the ministry of the house of the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 31:20,21).
Many of those who had
long and intimate acquaintance with Don Cafasso were kind enough to give me
both verbal and written accounts of his life, and all were agreed that his life
as a priest might rather be called the life of an angel than of a man. He
himself has left us in writing the resolutions made at the beginning of his
priestly career. He knelt down one day before a crucifix and said, “O Lord,
Thou art my inheritance. ‘The Lord is the portion of my inheritance.’ (Psalm
15:5). This is the choice which I have made voluntarily on the memorable day of
my ordination. Yes, O my God, Thou art my inheritance, my delight, the life of
my heart forever: ‘Thou art the God of my heart and the God that is my portion
for ever.’ (Psalm 72:26). But not only, O my God, do I wish to be all Thine; I
wish to become a saint, and as I do not know whether my life will be long or
short, I protest to Thee that I wish to make myself a saint soon. Let the
people of the world seek the vanity and pleasures and dignities of this earth;
I wish and desire and seek only to become a saint, and I shall be the happiest
of men if I make myself a saint soon – a great saint.” This he said, and he
kept his word.
With reference to his
negative sanctity, which consisted in the absence of all sin and in the
avoiding of every voluntary defect, we have the most splendid testimonies. I
have read these testimonies, and in addition, have questioned his parents, friends
and school companions and other people who had long acquaintance with him. I
have asked them whether they ever noticed anything in the life of Don Cafasso
that merited reproof, or even that required to be corrected as a defect. All
agreed in asserting that, in the forty-nine years of his life, they had never
noticed an act, a gesture, a look, a word or even a jest that was unworthy of a
virtuous boy, a model cleric and a holy priest. On the other hand, speaking of
positive sanctity, which consists in the practice of virtue, all used the most
laudatory expressions. Some called him a new Saint Alphonsus on account of the
innocence and purity of his conduct; others spoke of him as a Saint Vincent de
Paul on account of the great charity that he showed toward all classes of
sufferers. There were some who did not hesitate to call him a Saint Charles
Borromeo on account of the rigidness of his life and the austerities that he
practiced; but while they were amazed at the rigid tenor of his life, they
called him a new Saint Alphonsus on account of his gentleness, condescension
and goodness.
I regret that the time at
my disposal for this discourse does not permit me to corroborate these
statements by quoting the facts which rise up before me in a long series. I shall
confine myself to two classes of the most important ones. The first comprises
his manifold activities at the ecclesiastical college attached to the church of
Saint Francis of Assisi, an institution which for forty years had been a
fruitful source of grace and blessings for the diocese of Turin and, one might
say, for the whole of Piedmont.
The Ecclesiastical
College of Saint Francis
The scope of this college
is to train young priests in the practical duties of the sacred ministry,
particularly in the administration of the Sacrament of Penance and in the
preaching of the word of God. The five years’ study of elementary theology,
even when carried out with diligence and regularity, is hardly sufficient to
form a learned, pious and prudent minister of the sanctuary. It is necessary
for the young priest to see the practical consequences of abstract principles
and hear them expounded, to have certain rules for guidance and certain
instructions from an experienced professor in order to form efficient ministers
of the sanctuary.
Don Guala, a learned
theologian and great benefactor of the clergy, was such a professor. In the
year 1817, with the consent of the ecclesiastical authorities, he opened a
college for young priests where they could find such instruction. The provision
of endowment was a major practical difficulty. The parents of the young priests
had, for the most part, exhausted their resources in paying for the education
of their sons and had now no funds at their disposal. The industrious charity
of Don Guala provided for this necessity, partly from a subsidy from the
governor, partly from his own resources, and partly from the subscriptions of
charitable friends. Only a small pension that was within the capacity of young
priests who wished to take advantage of the college remained to be paid.
Don Guala had discharged
the duties of this college as rector and professor for fifteen years with
abundant fruit, but the work grew until it was beyond the capacity of one man,
and he needed a helper. He needed a man of zeal and prudence and learning to
help in the exercise of the ministry in the church of Saint Francis, and, at
the same time, to assist in the work of perfecting the institution that he had
founded. Divine Providence guided him in the choice. Among his students he
noticed a young priest of modest aspect, retiring disposition and angelic
countenance. From some questions asked and replies received, Don Guala, who was
a profound judge of the character of ecclesiastics, saw in that young priest
the providential man. He recognized in him profound humility, sublime piety,
ability beyond the common, celestial innocence, and consummate prudence. This
priest was Don Joseph Cafasso. Don Guala interviewed him, and in a few words an
understanding was reached. Don Cafasso became assistant, and in Don Guala he
saw only a father of his soul and a faithful interpreter of the word of God. On
his part, Don Guala reposed his confidence in his spiritual son and found in
him a true disciple and a priest formed after the heart of God. With the aid of
such a reliable guide, Don Cafasso perfected himself in the various branches of
the sacred sciences and became master of them all, exceeding by far the
expectations of his patron. He became a vigilant confessor, a zealous and accomplished
preacher, and a prudent master of the moral conferences.
At the time that Don
Cafasso commenced to give the moral conferences, the question whether in a case
of doubt a person was justified in following a probable opinion, or was bound
to take the more probable one, had been agitating the minds of the clergy for a
long time, and on this question there were two schools of thought.
Don Cafasso set himself
to study profoundly the teaching of both schools, and with his keen intellect
and fine judgment, he succeeded in finding a just means of reconciling the
teaching of the two schools. He knew that by leaving to all a certain liberty
of opinion, and counseling all to practice toward others that charity in the
use of the opinion which each one would desire to be used if the case were his
own, both the good of souls could be provided for and the glory of God
promoted. If there still remained some small difference, that difference should
be weighed in the balance of charity and prudence; in this way full liberty
would be left to the sacred ministers to provide for the needs of souls.
Besides this spirit of
conciliation, there was to be noted in Don Cafasso a ready, precise and clear
style of answering, so that by his explanation every difficulty was removed.
The satisfaction given by his clear solution of difficulties attracted large
numbers to his conferences. The longer they were, the better the young priests
were satisfied, and they were even sorry when they were over.
His deep study of moral,
ascetical and mystical theology, together with his ready discernment of
spirits, enabled him to judge readily the ability, piety, learning, character
and capability of the young priests under his charge. He was therefore able to
say with confidence, “Such a one will make a good parish priest, such a one a
good assistant, and such another is more fitted to be a rector of some
institution or a chaplain to some convent.” Thus by each one devoting himself
to the apostolic labors suited to his capacity as Don Cafasso advised, those
who followed his advice were successful in their careers, and those who sought
his guidance and advice were filled with confidence in his judgment.
It is to be noted also
that the conferences of Don Cafasso were not mere abstract studies or the result
of book knowledge only, but were based on practical experience. He taught the
method of hearing the confessions of the faithful fruitfully, and he himself
spent several hours daily in the confessional and made careful observation of
the results of the advice which he himself gave. He did all this with such
skill, or rather with such piety, learning and prudence, that one would be at a
loss to say which was the greater – the advantage obtained by those who
listened to his conferences, or the consolation of those who had the good
fortune of having his spiritual direction. From this profound learning, great
experience and, we must add, a special gift from God, he had acquired a
marvelous facility and quickness in hearing confessions. A few words, and sometimes
just a sigh from the penitent, were sufficient to let him see the state of his
soul. He did not speak much in the confessional, but what he said was clear,
exact, theologically correct, and adapted to the needs of the penitent, so that
a long discourse would not have produced a better effect.
What we have said about
the administration of the Sacrament of Penance – that his teaching was based
upon his experience – may be applied also to his preaching. He gave rules to
the young priests for effective preaching, but he himself first tested the
precepts which he gave to others. Oh! If that pulpit could speak, what things
it would tell us about the preaching of Don Cafasso – about the clarity of his
explanations, the emotions that he aroused in the hearts of his listeners, the
abundant fruit that he reaped from them! His zeal and his eagerness to gain
souls for God would have carried him to all parts of the world to preach to the
faithful, to give triduums and conduct retreats, and he was constantly receiving
requests to preach. But he was constrained after a time to reserve most of his
preaching for the clergy, who were the portion entrusted to him in a special
way by Divine Providence.
The beautiful manner in
which he preached caused those present to listen with rapt attention; it was
enough to spread the rumor that Don Cafasso was to preach to arouse enthusiasm
in the people to go to listen to him. In the pulpit his words no longer
appeared to be those of a man but rather of a seraph sent by God to manifest the
divine will to His ministers.
How many things I should
like to tell you about his marvelous solutions of problems in moral theology
given by him in his public and private conferences – about the precious and
saintly counsels he gave to young priests, assistants, parish priests and even
bishops and other dignitaries of the Church who sought his advice in difficult
cases! How many things I should like to tell you about the good he did to young
men supported by him during their studies! For some of these he supplied their
outfits, while for others he provided funds to enable them to pay their
pensions as clerical students, and he received them afterward free of charge
into the college for priests. All these are now laboring in various parts of
the vineyard of the Lord and are reaping abundant fruit and increasing the
glory of their benefactor. And what shall I say about the help he gave to
priests in need, and to parish priests who, were it not for his assistance,
would have to suspend works useful for the glory of God and the good of souls?
All these works have been accomplished and still exist for the glory of our
holy religion, which encouraged and inspired such noble and sublime sentiments
in the heart of him who understood it so thoroughly and who practiced it so
faithfully. Were that not so, how many things to which I merely refer in
passing would have to be omitted, for time obliges me to pass on to that form
of apostolate which is perhaps the most glorious in the life of Don Cafasso; I
refer to his apostolate among prisoners and especially among those condemned to
death.
Don Cafasso’s Apostolate
in the Prisons
Those gloomy places
peopled with unfortunate men and women are places most in need of the priestly
ministry, but the difficulty of obtaining access to them, the squalor of the
surroundings, and the horror which everything connected with them inspired,
rendered the exercise of the sacred ministry difficult in them. There was added
the further difficulty that besides courage, there was required prudence, piety
and knowledge adapted to that class of people. The result was that many
priests, who otherwise were excellent men, were unable to succeed in this
difficult ministry because they were lacking in one or other of these
qualities. Notwithstanding all this, a small number of priests at that time
devoted their ministry to these wretched people.
Outstanding and singular
among these was Don Cafasso. Nothing deterred him: neither the armed guards nor
the iron doors nor the heavy iron gates locked and barred; nor was he deterred
by the darkness and squalor of the place, or by the vermin that infested it.
Neither did he show any sign of aversion in finding himself among the numerous
criminals, each of whom had struck terror into numbers of travelers and even
into the armed forces.
Don Cafasso enters among
them. But what language he hears! Here it is cursing; over there, there is
quarreling; down below they belch forth terrible blasphemies against God,
against the Blessed Virgin and the saints. The courageous priest experiences
unspeakable suffering in his heart in such surroundings, but he does not lose
heart. He raises his eyes to Heaven, offers himself as a sacrifice to God, and
puts himself under the protection of Mary most holy, the assured refuge of sinners.
As soon as he began to
deal with and to speak to this new kind of audience, he noticed that they had
become savage and brutalized, but that their condition was due rather to want
of religious instruction than to real malice. He spoke to them of religion and
he was listened to; he offered to return, and his offer was accepted with
pleasure. He continued his instructions. He invited other priests to assist
him, especially the young priests under his care, and in a short time he
succeeded in gaining the hearts of those outcasts of society. Regular sermons
were given, the confessions of the prisoners were heard, and soon those prisons
which, by the curses, blasphemies and other brutal vices, seemed to be dungeons
in Hell itself, were changed into habitations of men who, having learned to be
Christians, began to love and serve God their Creator and to sing sacred hymns
to the adorable name of Jesus.
O marvelous force of our
holy Catholic religion! O admirable Don Cafasso! And what cannot a zealous
minister of Jesus Christ accomplish when strengthened by the grace of God!
Before leaving this
subject of the prisons, I think it well to say a word on another part of the
priestly ministry of Don Cafasso equally sublime, in which his heroic charity
shone forth. I refer to his apostolate among those unfortunate men who, after a
life of misdeeds, were about to end their days on the gallows.
Don Cafasso was once
called to Candia Canavese to attend three men condemned to death, one of whom
died impenitent. When he returned to the college, he went to the church of
Saint Francis and, kneeling before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, he made the
following prayer: “Merciful Jesus, if it be Thy will to call me to assist these
unfortunate men, most willingly I offer myself for this work, and I ask Thee
for the grace that all those whom I shall accompany to the gallows will be
converted.” At the gallows in Turin the saint assisted sixty-eight men. He
succeeded in converting all of them, and, before their deaths, asked them to
deliver messages in Heaven as a little service to which he had a right, and he
even invoked their intercession.
Whether it was the result
of his holiness or that he had received special gifts from God, Don Cafasso was
certainly most successful in gaining these unfortunate men for Heaven. As soon
as the rumor was out that the sentence of death was about to be passed on any
of the prisoners, he broke the news gently to him and began to prepare him for
confession and the other comforts of the Church, with the result that when the
fatal message of his condemnation arrived, the condemned man received it with
indifference, being equally resigned to live or to die.
When the sentence was
pronounced, Don Cafasso visited them constantly; he spent the last night with
them as far as possible, encouraging them. In the morning he said Mass for
them, prepared them for their last Holy Communion, made his thanksgiving along
with them, and then entertained them. He laughed and grieved with them, and he
would willingly have died along with them if that would redound to the good of
their souls.
Whenever possible, Don
Cafasso spent the night before the execution prostrate on the ground in
adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, and he scourged himself to blood in
order to secure their eternal salvation.
With the exception of the
prisoner whom he assisted on the scaffold at Candia Canavese, whom he had no
opportunity to prepare for death, no condemned man was found to resist the
charming presence, the consoling words and the charity of Don Cafasso. He
himself had the sweet consolation in his own heart – and he related this to his
friends for the greater glory of God – that not one of those condemned to death
whom he assisted in the last moments died without leaving well-founded hope of
his eternal salvation.
Another rare gift of Don
Cafasso was the power to inspire great confidence in those whose cases appeared
to be desperate. He had the gift of changing desperation into lively hope and
inflamed love of God, and it happened sometimes that condemned prisoners who in
desperation wanted to kill themselves, having listened to the exhortation of
this holy priest, experienced such a change of heart that they were filled with
joy and desired only to give themselves into the hands of their executioners in
order to make an offering to God in penance for their sins.
On the occasion of the
execution of condemned criminals, it was a common thing for the people of Turin
to see a cart issuing from one of the prisons bearing the condemned man to the
place of execution. The traditional slow tolling of the city bells announced
that the execution was imminent. A crucifix was placed in front of the
condemned man, and in the corner of the cart an emaciated image of death. The
charitable members of the Confraternity of Mercy, with their faces veiled,
marched beside the cart. The executioners and guards in great numbers added
terror to the gloomy cortege. But amidst the gloom and terror there was comfort
for the man about to die. Seated beside him was a priest who wiped away his
tears, encouraged him, and consoled him with the hope of an eternal reward. It
was Don Cafasso who, with crucifix in hand, kept repeating, “This is a Friend
who will not terrify you, who will not abandon you. Hope in Him and Heaven is
yours!” (This crucifix is still preserved in the Little House of Divine
Providence founded by Saint Joseph Cottolengo.)
It happened once that the
obstinacy of a well-known malefactor caused Don Cafasso great anxiety and alarm
But it was conquered by the goodness and charity shown to him. The unfortunate
man was moved, and after a moment’s reflection said, “Don Cafasso, do you think
that with so many crimes on my head I can still save my soul?” Cafasso replied,
“I believe it is certain, for who is it that will be able to take you out of my
hands? Even if you were in the vestibule of Hell, and if there remained outside
but one hair of your head, that would be sufficient for me to drag you from the
claws of the devil and transport you to Heaven.” “Oh! If that is so,” replied
the condemned man, “I will die willingly, and let this life of mine be
sacrificed to God in penance for my sins.” The man met his death with these
sentiments. Thus the spirit of faith and hope that Don Cafasso instilled into
the hearts of these men was such that most of them mounted the scaffold with
joy and welcomed death with a smile on their faces. This made one of the
executioners exclaim, “With Don Cafasso present, death is no longer death, but
a joy, a comfort and a pleasure!”
Don Cafasso was not
satisfied with merely converting these men; he endeavored to make them saints.
He not only promised them Heaven, but he promised them that, like the good
thief who accepted his death willingly, they would not have to pass through
Purgatory if they did likewise. By accepting capital punishment with
resignation, as he exhorted them to do, they were performing the heaviest
penance that could be imposed on anyone in the world in dying a violent and
ignominious death, and therefore were in a state more than any other to go
directly to Heaven without passing through Purgatory. As already mentioned, he
demanded of them, as a gratuity due to him for his services, that they would
deliver messages for him when they went to Heaven.
The Christian courage
that Don Cafasso was able to instill into the hearts of the most hardened
sinners was not confined to those in prison. Whether just or sinners, all who
spoke with him felt arising and increasing in their hearts the love of God and
the desire of Heaven. I know of Catholics who could not hear mention of death
without trembling, but after having the good fortune of speaking with Don
Cafasso about the subject, they immediately felt a calmness and tranquility
arise in their hearts which caused them to exclaim, “I no longer fear death; I
even desire that it come soon, provided that I have Don Cafasso somewhere near
at that moment.” Another added that he was content to die whenever it might
come since he had been able to have Don Cafasso pray for his happy death.
And how could it be
otherwise? The heart of Don Cafasso was like a furnace filled with the fire of
divine love, lively faith, firm hope and ardent charity. Accordingly, a single
word, a look, a smile, a gesture, his very presence, sufficed to dispel
melancholy, drive away temptations, and produce holy resolution in the soul.
The presence of the saint
not only inspired courage and confidence in spiritual matters, but even in
temporal. A certain priest related that he was often so exhausted as to be
hardly able to breathe, but that if he happened to meet Don Cafasso he
immediately felt courage reviving in his heart and strength in his body, so
that after the interview he was able to resume vigorously his ordinary
occupations, which were often very heavy.
Wonderful Things in the
Life of Don Cafasso
I have related for you
many things about the heroic charity of Don Cafasso, but I have not touched on
the most marvelous. It seemed that Don Cafasso was always engaged in preaching
to the people; however, he was continually occupied with his theological
conferences to his students, training them to preach and hear confessions, and
in addition, he gave retreats to the clergy. It seemed that his whole life was
devoted to teaching catechism to poor boys, visiting those in prison,
instructing them, hearing their confessions; however, in the meantime he
appeared to be always in his room giving audiences, or praying or hearing
confessions. From a glance at the great amount of writing that he left, a
person would conclude that his whole life was spent at the writing desk;
notwithstanding all this, we see him giving advice to people of every
condition: bishops, priests, founders of charitable works, poor students, rich
and poor who were in difficulties, and at the same time attending to and
carrying out his most minute domestic duties.
Don Cafasso gave himself
indefatigably to the study of Sacred Scripture, Church history, the writings of
the Fathers, moral, dogmatic, ascetical and mystical theology, and to
preaching; he prepared the cases for the examinations for parish priests, and
for the examinations for faculties to hear confessions; in the meantime, if you
should come to the church you would see him kneeling in prayer before the altar
of Our Lady, or prostrate in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, or in the
confessional with a long row of penitents waiting for their turn to lay before
him their troubles of conscience and receive his directions for leading a holy
life. But even all that did not exhaust his activities.
If you go to the
Consolata church, you will find him taking part in the exercises of devotion;
if you visit any church in which the Forty Hours adoration is in progress, you
will see him prostrate in adoration, pouring out his sweet affection to his
beloved Jesus. And while he fulfills perfectly all these duties, each of which
seems to be sufficient to constitute the lifework of an ordinary man, behold
him like an angel of peace going about doing good, bringing concord to this
family and relieving the distress of that other.
Up there in that
miserable attic there is some sick person languishing and groaning; Don Cafasso
mounts the rickety stairs, panting as he goes, and brings him consolation. In
the palace of that rich man there is some sick person in pain; Don Cafasso goes
to hear his confession and comfort him. Then there are people in their death
agony; Don Cafasso is by their bedsides, recommending their souls to God. Is
one of his penitents in the hospital? He does not abandon him, but visits him
with marvelous punctuality. Are there some obstinate sinners who refuse the
sacraments on their death beds? Don Cafasso speaks to them, and at his word
every heart is conquered, all obstinacy bends before him, and all wild passion
is appeased, so that each one thinks of settling the affairs of his soul. In
short, you will see Don Cafasso continually occupied in doing good: to the rich
man who asks for him, to the poor man to whom he gives aid, to the ignorant
whom he instructs, to the afflicted whom he consoles, to the sick whom he
visits, to the dying whom he comforts and whose soul he accompanies to the gate
of Heaven.
But, my brethren, am I
speaking of one man or of several ministers of Jesus Christ? I speak, dear
listeners, of one man alone, of a man who has the spirit of the Lord. I speak
of that hero who, by his marvelous zeal, showed how much the charity of a
priest aided by divine grace can accomplish. Such a priest may in a certain
sense be omnipotent, according to the expression of Saint Paul: “I can do all
things in him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)
Don Cafasso’s Secrets for
Doing Much Good
Although the marvelous
number of actions of different kinds which Don Cafasso performed almost
simultaneously are attributed to a prodigy of charity, they may in a certain
way be also attributed to an art, or better still, to certain secrets proper to
Don Cafasso. Such secrets show to what a degree of sanctity he had attained in
the performance of his duties toward himself. He was not able to keep these
secrets so concealed that they did not come to the notice of those who admired
his holy actions and saw them reflected in his rare virtues, although he
desired to so conceal them.
The first secret was his
constant tranquility. The saying of Saint Teresa – “Let nothing disturb you” –
was familiar to him. Accordingly, he discharged energetically all his duties –
even those prolonged and difficult and sometimes impeded by vexatious
interference – and at the same time always preserved a smiling appearance, was
always courteous, and always showed that sweetness characteristic of holy
souls. This marvelous tranquility enabled him to deal calmly with many things
of various kinds without disturbance of his intellectual faculties.
The second secret was his
long practical experience of affairs of various kinds, joined with great
confidence in God. He frequently repeated the words of the royal prophet David:
“Day to day uttereth speech and night to night showeth knowledge” (Psalms
18:3), by which he meant that he made the experience of each day serve as guide
for the next. This maxim, along with his prudence, experience and long study of
the human heart, rendered the most abstruse subjects familiar to him. Doubts
and difficulties disappeared before him, and the most complicated questions
were solved by him with ease. When a question was proposed, he understood it as
soon as it was mentioned; he then raised his heart to God for an instant and
gave a solution with such promptness and accuracy as could not be equaled by an
expert who had given the same question long consideration.
The third secret of his for
accomplishing many things was his punctuality and his constant occupation of
time. In the space of over thirty years that I have known him, I do not
remember him ever spending a moment that could be called idle. As soon as one
occupation was finished he immediately undertook another. How many times he was
seen spending five and even six hours in the confessional and then going to his
room where he immediately began his accustomed audiences! How often he arrived
for his conferences after finishing a sermon or hearing confessions in one of
the prisons! When invited to rest for a moment, his invariable reply was that
the conference would serve as a rest. Accordingly, with cheerful countenance he
went to perform this or that new duty as soon as the previous one was
completed. He never took part in any amusement to recreate his spirit, and
never joked or uttered an idle word; the only recreation for him was a change
of occupation when he was oppressed by fatigue. When, for example, he was
exhausted from preaching, he knelt down and prayed; when he was tired from
writing, he went and visited the sick, or heard confessions in the prisons or
elsewhere.
The fourth secret was his
temperance, or rather his rigid austerity. From the time of his youth he was so
sparing in what he ate and drank that he was able after his meal to undertake
any scientific or literary occupation. Later on, he gave up taking the small
collation in the morning, and then he omitted the midday meal, thus limiting
his nourishment to a sole repast. When people said to him that he was ruining
his health and hastening his death, his brief reply, worthy to be remembered,
was, “Without great sobriety it is impossible for us to become saints.” He paid
no attention to remonstrances, but only increased his austerity, limited his
nourishment to one meal a day, and even limited the amount of food for that one
meal until it consisted of a little bread and soup with the addition of a
little of some other food. He frequently deprived himself of the addition, so
that he passed whole days on a little bread and soup alone. In this way, every
day, every week, every month and entire years became for him a rigid, terrible
fast. Thus the whole day, with the exception of the few moments required to
swallow this frugal repast, was available for work, and it was spent in the
service of the Lord and for the good of souls.
Finally, Don Cafasso
gained time for useful work by curtailing his repose. The only rest that he
allowed his delicate body during the day was three quarters of an hour after
his one meal. This he spent shut up in his room in praying, meditating or some
special exercise of piety. At night, he was the last to retire to rest, and in
the morning, he was the first to rise. The duration of his repose at night never
exceeded five hours, and often it was only four, and sometimes three. He was
accustomed to say that a churchman should awaken only once in the night. We may
conclude from this remark that when he awoke, no matter what the time might be,
he immediately arose from his bed to pray, meditate or to occupy himself with
some other business.
Sometimes he was told to
have regard for his health and rest a few hours longer, but he always replied,
“Our rest will be in Heaven. O Heaven, Heaven, whoever thinks on you will not
suffer from weariness!” At other times he would say, “Man is truly unhappy in
this world; the only thing capable of consoling him would be if he were able to
live without eating and without sleeping in order to labor solely for Heaven.”
By means of these five
secrets Don Cafasso found a way to accomplish many varied tasks in a short time
and thus carry his love for God and his neighbor to the most sublime degree of
perfection: “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:10)
I have but merely
referred to these and other things, for in order to give you a complete account
of them it would be necessary for me to relate a whole series of facts, and
this cannot be done within the limits of a discourse like this. But here I
would like to put a question to you all, and would be very pleased to have your
reply: In reading the lives of the saints whose virtuous actions form the
annals of the Church, have you ever found in them a collection of good deeds so
different and varied, but united in a single person and performed by one person
alone? I do not know what your reply will be, but for my part, I have to say
that I have found many who shone in a heroic way, some in this virtue and
others in that, but I believe that it is a thing altogether rare to find one
who unites in his own person such wisdom, such practice of good deeds, such
prudence, fortitude, temperance, such zeal for the things that tend to promote
the glory of God and the salvation of souls as we find in the person of Don
Cafasso. In him was fulfilled literally what the Holy Spirit has revealed in
Sacred Scripture: He finished his life in a short time, but he accomplished as
much work as if he had reached old age. “For venerable old age is not that of
long time nor counted by the number of years … A spotless life is venerable old
age . . . Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled a longtime.”
(Wisdom 4:8-13)
The time at my disposal
for dealing with the saintly life of Don Cafasso is now exhausted. I know,
however, that you are most anxious to hear some particulars about his precious
and holy death, and I shall endeavor to satisfy that desire.
His Precious Death
Don Cafasso was only
approaching his fiftieth year, the time of life when a man has already gained
experience and is in a position to deal with the affairs of the world. Although
he was of delicate constitution and lived a very active life, he was still
energetic for that age, for he enjoyed sufficiently good health and was free
from serious infirmities. He was hardly ever sick. However, during the last
months of his life he appeared to be worn out by his labors and exhausted by
his penances and fasts; nevertheless, he did not cease from his apostolic
labors of various kinds. But quite suddenly, he changed his manner of speaking
and thinking and acting. He had a priest called to his room and he arranged
with him that he should give the Spiritual Exercises at the sanctuary of Saint
Ignatius, saying that he himself was no longer able to go there. When asked for
the reason, he replied, “You will know the reason later on.” He ceased from
occupations outside the house; he entrusted the sick, whom he was accustomed to
visit with so much charity, to other priests, and asked them to take care of
them. He himself remained almost continually in his room putting everything in
order as if he were about to set out for eternity.
In the meantime, certain
events occurred which we will pass over in silence, but which helped to deprive
us of a life so useful and so precious.
He was assailed by many
troubles at the same time: his strength became exhausted; his stomach became
disordered; he got a disgust for the world and a longing for Heaven, and this
longing accompanied him everywhere and was the object of all his thoughts.
It was Saturday the 9th
of June, 1860. Don Cafasso, although already ill, went to the confessional.
With more than usual fervor he spent four and a half hours hearing confessions.
Then about half past eleven o’clock on that memorable morning, contrary to his
custom he appeared disturbed, or I should rather say, with a countenance
indicating that something extraordinary was about to happen to him. He left the
confessional – not without effort – and went and knelt before the high altar.
There he read the following prayer composed by him, a copy of which he kept in
his manual of devotions:
“O my sweet Jesus, in
addition to the many graces which Thou hast conferred on me in the course of my
life, I ask Thee for this further one: when my soul shall have departed from
this world, not only that it be not condemned to Hell, but that it shall not be
compelled to remain away from Thee for even a moment in Purgatory. It is true
that I am a debtor to Divine Justice, but I hope to be able to pay all my debts
from the infinite merits of Thy Passion and Death. O Heaven, holy city of my
God, my dear native land! Oh, how I sigh for thee! O happy day when I shall
reach thee! O Heaven, my dear Heaven, come quickly and satisfy the desires of a
wretched heart that sighs for thee!
“My God, I accept whatever
kind of death it may please Thee to send me, with all the terrors, all the
pains, all the sufferings that shall justly accompany it. Finally, I pray Thee
to accept the destruction of my body as the last act of homage that I can offer
to Thy Supreme Divine Majesty, in satisfaction for the offences committed in
the course of my life.
“O Mary, I ask thee for
one more grace: Obtain from thy Divine Son that I may die, but that I may die
with thee, and that I may fly to Heaven along with thee. O merciful Mother,
grant that when my soul is liberated from this wretched body I may go
immediately to find thee in Heaven, there to commence that life which will be
my occupation for all eternity.
“Requiem aeternam dona
mihi, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat mihi. Requiescam in pace.”
Having pronounced these
words, which sounded like the burial rites for the dead, Don Cafasso remained
as if rapt up to Heaven. He knelt motionless for a good while and then went to
his room. He remained shut up there on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with the
exception of the time he spent in the confessional. On Monday, not without
effort, he went for the last time to the confessional, but after a few hours he
was constrained to return to his room, never to leave it again. Before laying
himself on the bed, he knelt down and recited the following prayer worthy of a
seraph in Heaven:
“The sorrow that I
experience, O Lord, for not having loved Thee, the desire that I feel to love
Thee ever more, render everything else wearisome to me, and this life a burden.
I therefore pray Thee to shorten my wretched days on earth and to remit to me
my Purgatory in the next life, so that I may be able to go soon to enjoy Thee
in Heaven.”
Having finished this
prayer, in order not to fall exhausted on the ground, he placed himself on the
bed.
His ailment was an
affection of the lungs with hemorrhage of the stomach. The doctors did all that
art and affection could suggest, and they had hopes of curing him. He himself,
however, from the first days of his illness, expressed his belief that death
was near; he said several times that he would never recover. One of his
servants wanted to go to the sanctuary of Saint Ignatius to prepare the place
for the Spiritual Exercises that were going to commence there. Don Cafasso called
him to his bed and said to him, “Do not leave yet for a while to go to the
sanctuary until you have seen me depart for Heaven.”
The servant who waited at
table asked him on the first day of his illness whether he should lay his place
at table as usual. “There is no need,” he replied immediately, “my place is
already prepared in Heaven.” For these and several other reasons, we may
confidently assert that Don Cafasso had received a clear revelation of the
time, the day, the hour and other particulars of his death. Here I will just
refer in passing to his tranquility, patience, resignation and lively faith for
which he was remarkable during life but which reached heroism in this last
illness. The bitter medicines were drunk, and painful operations of different
kinds were submitted to, not only with resignation but with pleasure. He was
firmly convinced that the pains of this illness would be his Purgatory and that
as soon as the soul separated from the body it would fly straight to Heaven.
When asked whether he had
any message to leave, anything to write, any order to give, he replied
laughing, “I have always preached that every Christian should before retiring
leave his affairs settled as if it were the last night of his life. Wouldn’t it
be a nice thing, then, if I myself had not done so, and had waited until now to
settle my affairs? Everything has been settled; everything has been arranged.
One thing alone remains still to be dealt with; it is that which regards Heaven
– yes, Heaven that I shall soon possess.”
Here I must pass over
many things said and done in the course of his last illness, such as his desire
to remain alone in order to be free to converse with God; the fervent
ejaculatory prayers which went up from him continually to God, the Blessed Virgin
and other saints; the holy dispositions with which he received the Last
Sacraments, Extreme Unction, the papal blessing; the blessings given by him to
his friends and especially the dear students of the college. These things were
so touching that all who were present wept, and we should all have to weep
again, if they were related one by one with their accompanying circumstances. I
shall pass them over then and come to the thirteenth day of his illness,
Saturday the 23rd of June, the last day of the mortal life of Don Cafasso.
He had received the young
priests of the college in his room and had given them some mementos such as a
dying father would leave to his beloved sons. Early on the morning of that day
he asked that Mass be celebrated in the oratory adjoining his bedroom, and at
the Mass he received Holy Communion, which was for him the Viaticum that was to
accompany him to a happy eternity. Having received Viaticum he asked to be
alone in order to converse with his Divine Lord and His Blessed Mother. And
while you, Don Cafasso, are engaged in conversation with God, and while the
prayers for the dying and the “Depart, Christian Soul” are being read, we will
meditate for a moment on your death.
Look, dear brethren, at
that man in his agony and tell me if his death is not the death of the just, a
death truly precious in the sight of God: “With him that feareth the Lord, it
shall go well in the latter end: and in the day of his death he shall be
blessed.” (Ecclesiasticus 1:13) Don Cafasso is at the last moments of his life;
he has nothing further to wish for in this world. He desired to spend all his
substance for the greater glory of God, and this he has done, for during the
whole course of his life he never spent a cent to satisfy a taste or to provide
amusement for himself. Whatever of his substance was not given away in charity
during his life, he left for religious purposes after his death, so that he
could say to the Lord, “I have given everything for Thy love, and I have
followed Thee in sufferings and tribulations.” “Behold we have left all things
and have followed Thee.” (Matthew 19:27)
He desired to employ his
voice, his strength and his whole life to gain souls for God. This desire was
entirely fulfilled, for as we have seen, in the space of life equal to his we
could not expect a mortal man to accomplish more than he did. He could
therefore say with Saint Paul, “I have fought a good fight: I have finished my
course.” (2 Timothy 4:7)
He desired to die soon in
order to leave a wicked world in which evil parades in triumph. He finished his
life at the early age of forty-nine, when, according to human calculations, he
had still many years to live. But in the course of a short life he had
accumulated for himself much treasure in Heaven: “Being made perfect in a short
space, he fulfilled a long time.” (Wisdom 4:13)
He desired and every day
asked the Lord for the favor of receiving the comforts of our holy religion,
and this favor was abundantly granted. He went to confession many times during
the course of his last illness, and many times received his Divine Lord in Holy
Communion. He received Extreme Unction and the papal blessing with plenary
indulgence, which he wished for so ardently.
He desired to suffer in
the course of his illness and thus put in his Purgatory in this life. God heard
his wish. For the thirteen days of his painful illness he suffered very much
from a hemorrhage of the stomach, and it was only with difficulty that he was
able to speak. All the time he retained the use of his reason and of all his
senses up to his last breath, so that he was able to offer his sufferings to
the Lord and merit a bright crown in Heaven: “For the rest there is laid up for
me a crown of justice which the Lord the just Judge will render to me.” (2
Timothy 4:8).
He prayed and many times
besought the great Mother of God that he might die on a day dedicated by the
Church to her, and his death occurred on a Saturday, a day consecrated by the
Church to Mary, ft was also within the octave of Mary Consolatrix, and on the
vigil of Saint John, who is the principal patron of pious works of mercy for
those condemned to death, to whose benefit he had devoted so much care.
Finally, he desired
ardently to breathe forth his soul in the arms of Mary. Many, many times he
repeated during life, “O Mary, dear Mother Mary, how beautiful it would be to
die with thee and to be assisted by thee; I hope and I ask as the greatest of
your favors that you come to assist me at the last moments of my life. Oh then
when I shall see thee I shall throw myself into thy arms!”
But behold! Who is it
that Don Cafasso sees? Greatly moved, he opens his eyes and appears to wish to
speak; he raises his hands, and his whole body appears to be lifted up in the
air. Is it not Mary who has appeared to him? Yes, Mary has come to comfort him,
Mary assists him and calls him Don Cafasso expires and his soul is carried by
Mary to Heaven.
Go then, O noble,
generous, magnanimous soul, fly to take your place among the blessed in Heaven.
Your prayers have been heard; Mary herself deigns to bring you with her in
order that you may be near to her to thank her and bless her for all eternity.
Go then, O worthy minister of the living God. Jesus Christ is already speaking
for you to His Eternal Father and saying to Him, “I wish, O Father, that My
faithful minister may be here near Me.” “I shall go and prepare a place for you
. . . that where I am, you also shall be.” (John 14:3). Behold! Jesus Himself
comes toward you, opens His divine lips, and with loving smile says to you (Oh
listen to the consoling words), “Courage, you have been My servant, My faithful
minister; enter into the glory of thy Lord to live and enjoy forever the
happiness of Heaven.” “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” (Matthew 25:23)
Let us, my dear brethren,
adore the decrees of God who has taken away from us such a tender father of our
souls, and, in the midst of our tears and sighs, let us thank divine bounty
which has raised our friend to such glory in Heaven.
But before we leave this
place, you, Don Cafasso, can console us in our loss. Deign to cast a look on
your friends here assembled as a sign of grateful remembrance of you. And since
we can no longer have you as our guide upon earth, we pray you to keep us firm
in the Faith, which today is meeting with such terrible opposition. Pray that
we may put your holy counsels into practice; that we may follow your example,
detach our hearts from the things of this earth, and live in charity toward our
neighbor and in love toward God.
But grant, O grant us
this grace which we ask with our whole hearts: that before we die we may
receive worthily the comforts of our holy religion, that we may be assisted and
protected and defended by Mary during the last moments of our lives, and that
we may be accompanied and guided by Mary to Heaven to enjoy and bless God with
you for all eternity.
– panegyric delivered by
Saint John Bosco on 30 August 1860 during a solemn commemoration of the death
of Saint Joseph Cafasso attended by over 300 priests at the church of Saint
Francis of Assisi where Saint Joseph had ministered during his life
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/second-panegyric-on-saint-joseph-cafasso-by-saint-john-bosco/
San Giuseppe
Cafasso Sacerdote
Castelnuovo Don Bosco,
Asti, 15 gennaio 1811 - Torino, 23 giugno 1860
Nasce a Castelnuovo
d'Asti nel 1811, frequenta le scuole pubbliche al suo paese e poi entra nel
Seminario di Chieri (Torino). E' di salute malferma, ma sacerdote già a 22
anni, e con un solido ascendente sui compagni. Viene accolto dal teologo Luigi
Guala nel convitto ecclesiastico da lui aperto a Torino. Questi lo spinge a
compiere opera di catechesi verso i giovani muratori e i carcerati, poi lo vuole
a fianco nella cattedra di teologia morale. In 24 anni di insegnamento Giuseppe
forma generazioni di sacerdoti, dedicandosi anche ad un'intensa opera pastorale
verso tutti bisognosi: condivide le ore estreme con i condannati a morte ed
opera tra i carcerati, cui non fa mancare buone parole e sigari, includendo nel
suo servizio anche l'aiuto alle famiglie e il soccorso ai dimessi. Succeduto al
Guala, ne perfeziona l'opera, rifiutando sempre ogni titolo onorifico. Grande
amico di don Giovanni Bosco (che lo definirà «modello di vita sacerdotale»), lo
aiuta materialmente e moralmente nella sua missione. Papa Pio XII lo ccanonizzò
il 22 giugno 1947.
Patronato: Clero
italiano, Confessori, Direttori spirituali, Carcerati, Condannati a morte
Etimologia: Giuseppe
= aggiunto (in famiglia), dall'ebraico
Martirologio
Romano: A Torino, san Giuseppe Cafasso, sacerdote, che si dedicò alla
formazione spirituale e culturale dei futuri sacerdoti e a riconciliare a Dio i
poveri carcerati e i condannati a morte.
Giuseppe Cafasso nasce a Castelnuovo d’Asti, lo stesso paese di san Giovanni Bosco, il 15 gennaio 1811. È il terzo di quattro figli. L’ultima, la sorella Marianna, sarà la mamma del beato Giuseppe Allamano, fondatore dei Missionari e delle Missionarie della Consolata.
Nasce nella Piemonte ottocentesca caratterizzata da gravi problemi sociali, ma anche da tanti Santi che si impegnavano a porvi rimedio. Essi erano legati tra loro da un amore totale a Cristo e da una profonda carità verso i più poveri: la grazia del Signore sa diffondere e moltiplicare i semi di santità! Cafasso compì gli studi secondari e il biennio di filosofia nel Collegio di Chieri e, nel 1830, passò al Seminario teologico, dove, nel 1833, venne ordinato sacerdote.
Quattro mesi più tardi fece il suo ingresso nel luogo che per lui resterà la fondamentale ed unica “tappa” della sua vita sacerdotale: il “Convitto Ecclesiastico di S. Francesco d’Assisi” a Torino. Entrato per perfezionarsi nella pastorale, qui egli mise a frutto le sue doti di direttore spirituale e il suo grande spirito di carità.. Una felice espressione di san Giovanni Bosco, sintetizza il senso del lavoro educativo in quella Comunità: “al Convitto si imparava ad essere preti”.
San Giuseppe Cafasso cercò di realizzare questo modello nella formazione dei giovani sacerdoti, affinché, a loro volta, diventassero formatori di altri preti, religiosi e laici, secondo una speciale ed efficace catena. Dalla sua cattedra di teologia morale educava ad essere buoni confessori e direttori spirituali, preoccupati del vero bene spirituale della persona, animati da grande equilibrio nel far sentire la misericordia di Dio e, allo stesso tempo, un acuto e vivo senso del peccato.
Il suo segreto era semplice: essere un uomo di Dio; fare, nelle piccole azioni quotidiane, “quello che può tornare a maggior gloria di Dio e a vantaggio delle anime”.
Amava in modo totale il Signore, era animato da una fede ben radicata, sostenuto da una profonda e prolungata preghiera, viveva una sincera carità verso tutti. Conosceva la teologia morale, ma conosceva altrettanto le situazioni e il cuore della gente, del cui bene si faceva carico, come il buon pastore. Quanti avevano la grazia di stargli vicino ne erano trasformati in altrettanti buoni pastori e in validi confessori. Indicava con chiarezza a tutti i sacerdoti la santità da raggiungere proprio nel ministero pastorale.
Ma un altro elemento caratterizza il ministero del nostro Santo: l’attenzione agli ultimi, in particolare ai carcerati, che nella Torino ottocentesca vivevano in luoghi disumani e disumanizzanti. Anche in questo delicato servizio, svolto per più di vent’anni, egli fu sempre il buon pastore, comprensivo e compassionevole: qualità percepita dai detenuti, che finivano per essere conquistati da quell’amore sincero, la cui origine era Dio stesso.
Con il passare del tempo, privilegiò la catechesi spicciola, fatta nei colloqui e negli incontri personali: rispettoso delle vicende di ciascuno, affrontava i grandi temi della vita cristiana, parlando della confidenza in Dio, dell’adesione alla Sua volontà, dell’utilità della preghiera e dei sacramenti, il cui punto di arrivo è la Confessione, l’incontro con Dio fattosi per noi misericordia infinita. I condannati a morte furono oggetto di specialissime cure umane e spirituali. Egli accompagnò al patibolo, dopo averli confessati ed aver amministrato loro l’Eucaristia, 57 condannati a morte. Li accompagnava con profondo amore fino all’ultimo respiro della loro esistenza terrena.
Morì il 23 giugno 1860, dopo una vita offerta interamente al Signore e
consumata per il prossimo.
Fonte: www.causesanti.va
«Quando varcai per la prima volta la soglia del carcere, mi sentivo disorientato. Vagavo nei corridoi senza sole, incerto sul da farsi; attraverso gli spioncini delle pesanti porte mi affacciavo alle celle scrutando chi vi abitava: visi spettrali, con i segni profondi della sofferenza, della fame, della paura. Poi, dopo pochi giorni dal mio primo ingresso nel carcere, mi si disse che avrei dovuto, l’indomani, assistere un condannato a morte. Il “mio” primo condannato a morte!». Inizia così il racconto della prima volta che padre Ruggero Cipolla (1911-2006), francescano e per cinquant’anni cappellano delle carceri giudiziarie di Torino, scriveva nel 1960. La toccante testimonianza prosegue: «Sentii nell’anima uno schianto, crebbe la mia incertezza. E mi aggrappai disperatamente al confortatore per eccellenza dei condannati a morte: san Giuseppe Cafasso, il prete della forca».
Oggi Benedetto XVI del santo dei carcerati afferma: «Conosceva la teologia morale, ma conosceva altrettanto le situazioni e il cuore della gente, del cui bene si faceva carico, come il buon pastore. Quanti avevano la grazia di stargli vicino ne erano trasformati in altrettanti buoni pastori e in validi confessori. Indicava con chiarezza a tutti i sacerdoti la santità da raggiungere proprio nel ministero pastorale». Sono parole che il Santo Padre ha pronunciato durante la Catechesi dell' Udienza generale del 30 giugno 2010, a pochi giorni dalla chiusura dell’Anno sacerdotale (11 giugno 2010), un tempo di grazia, che ha portato e porterà frutti preziosi alla Chiesa, e che ha visto, per volontà di Benedetto XVI, il Santo Curato d’Ars proposto come principale modello dei ministri di Dio.
Proprio quest’anno ricorrono duecento anni dalla nascita di questo Homo Dei e da poco si è chiuso il 150° del suo dies natalis. Della sua morte egli, con profonda umiltà, affermava: «Disceso che sarò nel sepolcro, desidero e prego il Signore a fare perire sulla terra, la mia memoria, sicché mai più alcuno abbia a pensare di me, fuori di quelle preghiere che attendo dalla carità dei fedeli. E accetto in penitenza dei miei peccati tutto quello che dopo la mia morte si dirà nel mondo contro di me». Era nel mondo, ma non fu del mondo. La sua memoria, nonostante la sua aspirazione fosse quella di sparire dai ricordi, rimane viva non per volontà di qualcuno, visto che non ha fondato alcuna congregazione o istituto religioso, ma per la forza di ciò che è stato ed ha rappresentato.
Nacque a Castelnuovo d’Asti, oggi Castelnuovo Don Bosco, il 15 gennaio 1811 e morì a Torino il 23 giugno 1860. Era il terzo di tre figli: la sorella Marianna divenne la madre del beato Giuseppe Allamano (1851-1926), rettore del Convitto e del Santuario della Consolata, nonché fondatore dell’Istituto Missioni della Consolata.
Giovanni Bosco (1815–1888), di soli quattro anni più giovane e suo compaesano, una volta invitò il giovane don Cafasso a vedere i giochi della fiera di Castelnuovo ed ebbe di tutta risposta: «Colui che abbraccia lo stato ecclesiastico si vende al Signore: e di quanto c’è nel mondo, nulla deve più stargli a cuore». Fu sempre gracile e minuto, «era quasi tutto nella voce», diceva don Bosco, eppure fu un gigante nello spirito.
Riceve l’ordinazione sacerdotale il 21 settembre 1833 nella chiesa dell’Arcivescovado di Torino e l’anno dopo avviene l’incontro con don Luigi Guala (1775–1848), dalla spiritualità ignaziana, insigne moralista e teologo, il quale ricevette una salda preparazione all’apostolato dal venerabile Pio Brunone Lanteri (1759-1830) di cui fu collaboratore e con il quale fondò il Convitto Ecclesiastio di San Franceso d’Assisi, volto alla formazione del clero torinese, dove don Cafasso entrò nel 1834.
Nella terra subalpina prendono vita i moti risorgimentali e la Chiesa, duramente perseguitata sotto Napoleone, ora si appresta, dopo il Regno del cattolico Re Carlo Alberto (1798–1849), salito al trono nel 1831 (molto attento alla riforma del clero, avendo stabilito un fecondo accordo con Papa Gregorio XVI) a ricevere feroci attacchi dal governo liberale e massonico.
Dal punto di vista spirituale nel Regno di Sardegna è influente l’ École française, quella del teologo e Cardinale Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629), uno dei protagonisti dell’età della controriforma che, ispirandosi a san Filippo Neri (1515-1595), fondò a Parigi l'Oratorio di Gesù e Maria Immacolata. Bérulle, come Jean-Jacques Olier (1608–1657), Charles de Condren (1588-1641), Giovanni Eudes (1601– 1680), Francesco di Sales (1567- 1622) e Vincenzo de’ Paoli (1581–1660), ha vissuto e lottato per restituire splendore e grandezza allo stato sacerdotale, il «primo ordine del regno», che prima del Concilio di Trento era in larghi strati caduto nella rilassatezza. La formazione sacerdotale avvenne così, per don Cafasso, con gli insegnamenti dei maestri del Grand Siècle, e alle figure ricordate si affiancarono sant’Alfonso Maria de’ Liguori, maestro di morale, e san Carlo Borromeo, maestro di zelo. Cafasso fu anche erede di Nicola Diessbach (1732 – 1798), nativo di Berna, convertito dal calvinismo e fondatore dell’«Amicizia cristiana», opera che ebbe una felice continuazione proprio nel venerabile Pio Brunone Lanteri.
Padre spirituale, direttore di anime, consigliere di vita ascetica ed ecclesiastica, formatore di sacerdoti, a loro volta formatori di altri preti, religiosi e laici, in una sorprendente ed efficace catena, Cafasso fu rettore per 24 anni del Convitto ecclesiastico, che nel 1870 mutò sede e da via San Francesco si trasferì al santuario della Consolata, dove oggi riposano le sue spoglie.
Le sue lezioni erano attraenti perché costruite sulle verità di Fede e sul sapiente bagaglio di conoscenze, ma anche palpitanti di documentazione raccolta dal vivo nel confessionale, al capezzale dei morenti, nelle missioni predicate al clero e al popolo, e nelle carceri, luogo a lui molto caro. Uomo di sintesi e non di pedanti trattazioni, combatté il rigorismo di matrice giansenista. Voleva fare di ogni sacerdote un uomo di Dio splendente di castità, di scienza, di pietà, di prudenza, di carità; assiduo alla preghiera, alle funzioni religiose, al confessionale, devoto di Maria Santissima e attingente forza dal Santo Sacrificio. Primo dovere del prete, diceva, era quello di essere santo per santificare e che «grande vergogna che un sacerdote si lasci anche solo eguagliare in virtù da un laico! Che onta per noi!».
Fu confessore della serva di Dio Giulia Falletti di Barolo (1786-1864) e fra i sacerdoti da lui formati ricordiamo: san Giovanni Bosco, fondatore dei Salesiani e delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice; Giovanni Cocchi (1813–1895), fondatore di uno dei primi oratori di Torino e del Collegio degli Artigianelli; beato Francesco Faà di Bruno (1825-1888), fondatore dell'Opera di Santa Zita e della congregazione delle Suore Minime di Nostra Signora del Suffragio; Gaspare Saccarelli (1817- 1864), fondatore dell’Istituto della Sacra Famiglia; Pietro Merla (1815 -1855), fondatore del Ritiro di San Pietro in Vincoli; Francesco Bono (1834–1914), fondatore dell’Istituto del Santo Natale; beato Clemente Marchisio (1833-1903), fondatore dell’Istituto delle Figlie di San Giuseppe; Lorenzo Prinotti (1834-1899), fondatore dell’Istituto dei sordomuti poveri; Adolfo Barberis (1884–1967), fondatore delle Suore del Famulato Cristiano.
Operò soprattutto per la conversione dei peccatori, dei grandi peccatori. Aveva l’ambizione di portare i condannati a morte subito in Paradiso, senza passare per il Purgatorio e per il recupero dei carcerati, è proprio il caso di dirlo, fece più lui di mille legislazioni.
Era assiduo delle prigioni Senatorie, tanto da rimanervi fino a tarda notte, a volte tutta la notte. Portava sigari e tabacco da fiutare, al posto della calce che i carcerati raschiavano dai muri; ma soprattutto portava alla conversione ladri e assassini efferati. Erano lenti e tormentati pentimenti, altre volte, invece, si trattava di conversioni immediate, che avvenivano anche a pochi istanti prima dell’impiccagione. Il «prete della forca» usava immensa misericordia, possedendo un’intuizione prodigiosa dei cuori, e trattava i suoi «santi impiccati» come «galantuomini», tanto che il colpevole sentiva così forte l’amore paterno da piegarsi e desiderare di morire per arrivare presto in Paradiso con Gesù, come il buon Ladrone, crocefisso sul Calvario.
Intanto le aspirazioni patriottiche si ponevano in contrasto con le intenzioni giacobine e anticristiane. Clero e fedeli venivano spinti a prendere posizioni estreme e Cafasso adottò una linea precisa: intransigente sulla dottrina e sui principi, schierato con la Chiesa e con il Papa, ma ugualmente comprensivo con le anime e saggio moderatore nell’ordine pratico. Al clero piemontese raccomandò di non invischiarsi nelle questioni politiche, perciò non si trovarono più sacerdoti in Parlamento, approvanti le leggi regaliste o pronti a professare l’errore dai pulpiti.
Dotato nella docenza di calma, accortezza e prudenza, fu, soprattutto, il
grande nemico del peccato, come ha ancora ricordato Benedetto XVI: «Dalla sua
cattedra di teologia morale educava ad essere buoni confessori e direttori
spirituali, preoccupati del vero bene spirituale della persona, animati da
grande equilibrio nel far sentire la misericordia di Dio e, allo stesso tempo,
un acuto e vivo senso del peccato».
Autore: Cristina Siccardi
Note: Per
approfondire: Cristina Siccardi - Giuseppe Cafasso. Un santo del
Risorgimento - Paoline Editoriale Libri, 2011
Catechesi di Benedetto
XVI durante l'Udienza Generale del 30 giugno 2010
Cari fratelli e sorelle,
abbiamo da poco concluso l’Anno Sacerdotale: un tempo di grazia, che ha portato e porterà frutti preziosi alla Chiesa; un’opportunità per ricordare nella preghiera tutti coloro che hanno risposto a questa particolare vocazione. Ci hanno accompagnato in questo cammino, come modelli e intercessori, il Santo Curato d’Ars ed altre figure di santi sacerdoti, vere luci nella storia della Chiesa. Oggi, come ho annunciato mercoledì scorso, vorrei ricordarne un’altra, che spicca sul gruppo dei "Santi sociali" nella Torino dell’Ottocento: si tratta di san Giuseppe Cafasso.
Il suo ricordo appare doveroso perché proprio una settimana fa ricorreva il 150° anniversario della morte, avvenuta nel capoluogo piemontese il 23 giugno 1860, all’età di 49 anni. Inoltre, mi piace ricordare che il Papa Pio XI, il 1° novembre 1924, approvando i miracoli per la canonizzazione di san Giovanni Maria Vianney e pubblicando il decreto di autorizzazione per la beatificazione del Cafasso, accostò queste due figure di sacerdoti con le seguenti parole: "Non senza una speciale e benefica disposizione della Divina Bontà abbiamo assistito a questo sorgere sull’orizzonte della Chiesa cattolica di nuovi astri, il parroco d’Ars, ed il Venerabile Servo di Dio, Giuseppe Cafasso. Proprio queste due belle, care, provvidamente opportune figure ci si dovevano oggi presentare; piccola e umile, povera e semplice, ma altrettanto gloriosa la figura del parroco d’Ars, e l’altra bella, grande, complessa, ricca figura di sacerdote, maestro e formatore di sacerdoti, il Venerabile Giuseppe Cafasso". Si tratta di circostanze che ci offrono l’occasione per conoscere il messaggio, vivo e attuale, che emerge dalla vita di questo santo. Egli non fu parroco come il curato d’Ars, ma fu soprattutto formatore di parroci e preti diocesani, anzi di preti santi, tra i quali san Giovanni Bosco. Non fondò, come gli altri santi sacerdoti dell’Ottocento piemontese, istituti religiosi, perché la sua "fondazione" fu la "scuola di vita e di santità sacerdotale" che realizzò, con l’esempio e l’insegnamento, nel "Convitto Ecclesiastico di S. Francesco d’Assisi" a Torino.
Giuseppe Cafasso nasce a Castelnuovo d’Asti, lo stesso paese di san Giovanni Bosco, il 15 gennaio 1811. E’ il terzo di quattro figli. L’ultima, la sorella Marianna, sarà la mamma del beato Giuseppe Allamano, fondatore dei Missionari e delle Missionarie della Consolata. Nasce nella Piemonte ottocentesca caratterizzata da gravi problemi sociali, ma anche da tanti Santi che si impegnavano a porvi rimedio. Essi erano legati tra loro da un amore totale a Cristo e da una profonda carità verso i più poveri: la grazia del Signore sa diffondere e moltiplicare i semi di santità! Il Cafasso compì gli studi secondari e il biennio di filosofia nel Collegio di Chieri e, nel 1830, passò al Seminario teologico, dove, nel 1833, venne ordinato sacerdote. Quattro mesi più tardi fece il suo ingresso nel luogo che per lui resterà la fondamentale ed unica "tappa" della sua vita sacerdotale: il "Convitto Ecclesiastico di S. Francesco d’Assisi" a Torino. Entrato per perfezionarsi nella pastorale, qui egli mise a frutto le sue doti di direttore spirituale e il suo grande spirito di carità. Il Convitto, infatti, non era soltanto una scuola di teologia morale, dove i giovani preti, provenienti soprattutto dalla campagna, imparavano a confessare e a predicare, ma era anche una vera e propria scuola di vita sacerdotale, dove i presbiteri si formavano nella spiritualità di sant’Ignazio di Loyola e nella teologia morale e pastorale del grande Vescovo sant’Alfonso Maria de’ Liguori. Il tipo di prete che il Cafasso incontrò al Convitto e che egli stesso contribuì a rafforzare – soprattutto come Rettore - era quello del vero pastore con una ricca vita interiore e un profondo zelo nella cura pastorale: fedele alla preghiera, impegnato nella predicazione, nella catechesi, dedito alla celebrazione dell’Eucarestia e al ministero della Confessione, secondo il modello incarnato da san Carlo Borromeo, da san Francesco di Sales e promosso dal Concilio di Trento. Una felice espressione di san Giovanni Bosco, sintetizza il senso del lavoro educativo in quella Comunità: "al Convitto si imparava ad essere preti".
San Giuseppe Cafasso cercò di realizzare questo modello nella formazione dei giovani sacerdoti, affinché, a loro volta, diventassero formatori di altri preti, religiosi e laici, secondo una speciale ed efficace catena. Dalla sua cattedra di teologia morale educava ad essere buoni confessori e direttori spirituali, preoccupati del vero bene spirituale della persona, animati da grande equilibrio nel far sentire la misericordia di Dio e, allo stesso tempo, un acuto e vivo senso del peccato. Tre erano le virtù principali del Cafasso docente, come ricorda san Giovanni Bosco: calma, accortezza e prudenza. Per lui la verifica dell’insegnamento trasmesso era costituita dal ministero della confessione, alla quale egli stesso dedicava molte ore della giornata; a lui accorrevano vescovi, sacerdoti, religiosi, laici eminenti e gente semplice: a tutti sapeva offrire il tempo necessario. Di molti, poi, che divennero santi e fondatori di istituti religiosi, egli fu sapiente consigliere spirituale. Il suo insegnamento non era mai astratto, basato soltanto sui libri che si utilizzavano in quel tempo, ma nasceva dall’esperienza viva della misericordia di Dio e dalla profonda conoscenza dell’animo umano acquisita nel lungo tempo trascorso in confessionale e nella direzione spirituale: la sua era una vera scuola di vita sacerdotale.
Il suo segreto era semplice: essere un uomo di Dio; fare, nelle piccole azioni quotidiane, "quello che può tornare a maggior gloria di Dio e a vantaggio delle anime". Amava in modo totale il Signore, era animato da una fede ben radicata, sostenuto da una profonda e prolungata preghiera, viveva una sincera carità verso tutti. Conosceva la teologia morale, ma conosceva altrettanto le situazioni e il cuore della gente, del cui bene si faceva carico, come il buon pastore. Quanti avevano la grazia di stargli vicino ne erano trasformati in altrettanti buoni pastori e in validi confessori. Indicava con chiarezza a tutti i sacerdoti la santità da raggiungere proprio nel ministero pastorale. Il beato don Clemente Marchisio, fondatore delle Figlie di san Giuseppe, affermava: "Entrai in Convitto essendo un gran birichino e un capo sventato, senza sapere cosa volesse dire essere prete, e ne uscii affatto diverso, pienamente compreso della dignità del sacerdote". Quanti sacerdoti furono da lui formati nel Convitto e poi seguiti spiritualmente! Tra questi – come ho già detto - emerge san Giovanni Bosco, che lo ebbe come direttore spirituale per ben 25 anni, dal 1835 al 1860: prima come chierico, poi come prete e infine come fondatore. Tutte le scelte fondamentali della vita di san Giovanni Bosco ebbero come consigliere e guida san Giuseppe Cafasso, ma in un modo ben preciso: il Cafasso non cercò mai di formare in don Bosco un discepolo "a sua immagine e somiglianza" e don Bosco non copiò il Cafasso; lo imitò certo nelle virtù umane e sacerdotali - definendolo "modello di vita sacerdotale" -, ma secondo le proprie personali attitudini e la propria peculiare vocazione; un segno della saggezza del maestro spirituale e dell’intelligenza del discepolo: il primo non si impose sul secondo, ma lo rispettò nella sua personalità e lo aiutò a leggere quale fosse la volontà di Dio su di lui. Cari amici, è questo un insegnamento prezioso per tutti coloro che sono impegnati nella formazione ed educazione delle giovani generazioni ed è anche un forte richiamo di quanto sia importante avere una guida spirituale nella propria vita, che aiuti a capire ciò che Dio vuole da noi. Con semplicità e profondità, il nostro Santo affermava: "Tutta la santità, la perfezione e il profitto di una persona sta nel fare perfettamente la volontà di Dio (…). Felici noi se giungessimo a versare così il nostro cuore dentro quello di Dio, unire talmente i nostri desideri, la nostra volontà alla sua da formare ed un cuore ed una volontà sola: volere quello che Dio vuole, volerlo in quel modo, in quel tempo, in quelle circostanze che vuole Lui e volere tutto ciò non per altro se non perché così vuole Iddio".
Ma un altro elemento caratterizza il ministero del nostro Santo: l’attenzione agli ultimi, in particolare ai carcerati, che nella Torino ottocentesca vivevano in luoghi disumani e disumanizzanti. Anche in questo delicato servizio, svolto per più di vent’anni, egli fu sempre il buon pastore, comprensivo e compassionevole: qualità percepita dai detenuti, che finivano per essere conquistati da quell’amore sincero, la cui origine era Dio stesso. La semplice presenza del Cafasso faceva del bene: rasserenava, toccava i cuori induriti dalle vicende della vita e soprattutto illuminava e scuoteva le coscienze indifferenti. Nei primi tempi del suo ministero in mezzo ai carcerati, egli ricorreva spesso alle grandi predicazioni che arrivavano a coinvolgere quasi tutta la popolazione carceraria. Con il passare del tempo, privilegiò la catechesi spicciola, fatta nei colloqui e negli incontri personali: rispettoso delle vicende di ciascuno, affrontava i grandi temi della vita cristiana, parlando della confidenza in Dio, dell’adesione alla Sua volontà, dell’utilità della preghiera e dei sacramenti, il cui punto di arrivo è la Confessione, l’incontro con Dio fattosi per noi misericordia infinita. I condannati a morte furono oggetto di specialissime cure umane e spirituali. Egli accompagnò al patibolo, dopo averli confessati ed aver amministrato loro l’Eucaristia, 57 condannati a morte. Li accompagnava con profondo amore fino all’ultimo respiro della loro esistenza terrena.
Morì il 23 giugno 1860, dopo una vita offerta interamente al Signore e consumata per il prossimo. Il mio Predecessore, il venerabile servo di Dio Papa Pio XII, il 9 aprile 1948, lo proclamò patrono delle carceri italiane e, con l’Esortazione apostolica Menti nostrae, il 23 settembre 1950, lo propose come modello ai sacerdoti impegnati nella Confessione e nella direzione spirituale.
Cari fratelli e sorelle, san Giuseppe Cafasso sia un richiamo per tutti ad
intensificare il cammino verso la perfezione della vita cristiana, la santità;
in particolare, ricordi ai sacerdoti l’importanza di dedicare tempo al
Sacramento della Riconciliazione e alla direzione spirituale, e a tutti
l’attenzione che dobbiamo avere verso i più bisognosi. Ci aiuti l’intercessione
della Beata Vergine Maria, di cui san Giuseppe Cafasso era devotissimo e che
chiamava "la nostra cara Madre, la nostra consolazione, la nostra
speranza".
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/59000
GIUSEPPE Cafasso, santo
di Giuseppe Tuninetti - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 57 (2001)
Nacque a Castelnuovo
d'Asti (oggi Castelnuovo Don Bosco) il 15 genn. 1811, al tempo della
dominazione francese, da Giovanni e da Orsola Beltramo, coltivatori. Compiuti
gli studi secondari e frequentato il biennio di filosofia nel collegio civico
di Chieri, nel 1830 entrò nel locale seminario filosofico-teologico, aperto nel
1829 dal camaldolese C. Chiaveroti, arcivescovo di Torino, in alternativa a
quello della capitale e come salvaguardia dai fermenti sociali e politici che
nel 1821 avevano sfiorato anche la cattedra di teologia dell'Università.
Ordinato sacerdote il 21
sett. 1833 a Torino, il 28 genn. 1834 G. entrò per il perfezionamento pastorale
nel convitto ecclesiastico di S. Francesco in Torino e vi rimase per il resto
della vita, con responsabilità sempre maggiori: dal 1837 fu ripetitore (ossia
vice) del rettore L. Guala, che nel 1844, per ragioni di salute, gli affidò
l'intero insegnamento; dal 1849 fino alla morte fu rettore del convitto e
direttore della conferenza di morale.
Al convitto di S.
Francesco, sotto la direzione del teologo L. Guala (che lo aveva fondato su
ispirazione di P.B. Lanteri), era affidata una delle quattro conferenze (ossia
un corso triennale) di teologia morale ricostituite per il clero cittadino nel
1814 dal sovrano sabaudo. Le aveva istituite l'autorità civile nel corso del
XVIII secolo; gli arcivescovi vi intervenivano soltanto per promuovere e
regolamentare la partecipazione del clero che vi disponeva anche di un
convitto, appunto presso la chiesa di S. Francesco (riconosciuto da Carlo
Felice il 25 ott. 1822 e approvato dall'arcivescovo Chiaveroti il 4 giugno 1823
con la nomina del rettore), nel quale conduceva vita comunitaria. Il contesto
culturale-spirituale in cui operava il convitto di S. Francesco era quello
delle "amicizie" (cristiana, sacerdotale e cattolica) e del loro
apostolato laicale a sfondo legittimistico e impregnato di spiritualità
ignaziana.
L'importanza storica di
G. nella pastorale, anche oltre i confini di Torino e del Piemonte (si pensi a
don Giovanni Bosco e ai suoi salesiani), va soprattutto attribuita al fatto che
egli formò direttamente e indirettamente, sia dalla cattedra, sia nella pratica
intensa del confessionale e del pulpito, generazioni di preti-pastori.
Ai giovani sacerdoti suoi
allievi G. diceva che per riuscire un buon predicatore bisognava avere innanzi
tutto retta intenzione, santità di vita e preghiera, accompagnate evidentemente
da una solida preparazione dottrinale e tecnica. Il meglio di se stesso e della
sua ricchezza spirituale e saggezza pastorale lo offriva al clero in cura
d'anime negli esercizi spirituali, che predicava secondo il classico schema
ignaziano diffuso con qualche adattamento in varie case di esercizi del
Piemonte, in particolare presso il santuario di S. Ignazio a Lanzo Torinese. I
novissimi e l'imitazione di Cristo erano i due centri d'interesse su cui
ruotavano le meditazioni; ma era soprattutto nelle istruzioni che G. illustrava
il suo modello di sacerdote, delineato, in conformità alle decisioni del
concilio tridentino, nell'esercizio di un ministero che si basava soprattutto
sulla predicazione e sul sacramento della confessione. C'era in lui una
profonda convinzione della dignità del prete in quanto essenzialmente
"uomo di Dio", per il quale contava innanzi tutto il servizio di Dio
e il bene delle anime: di qui, forse, quella certa distanza dalla politica che
al tempo del suo rettorato e proprio negli anni cruciali del Risorgimento
caratterizzò il convitto. Pur insegnando ai giovani preti il lealismo verso lo
Stato, G. non fu certo un patriota, ma neppure un intransigente alla maniera
dell'arcivescovo L. Fransoni, cui pure fu sempre devoto. Ciononostante, il 6
giugno 1860 - quasi alla vigilia della morte - subì con sua grande sofferenza
la perquisizione dell'alloggio a opera della polizia, che pensava di trovarvi
documenti compromettenti sui rapporti con l'esiliato arcivescovo Fransoni; e
invece proprio al magistero di G. va forse fatta risalire l'estraneità della
stragrande maggioranza del clero piemontese all'intransigentismo dell'ultimo
trentennio dell'Ottocento. Ma il prete cui egli pensava era ancora, nonostante
le prime avvisaglie di cambiamento, un prete che operava in situazione di
cristianità, non certo di secolarizzazione o di missione.
Nel primo decennio di
sacerdozio G. si dedicò anche alla predicazione delle missioni popolari, che
conobbero una forte diffusione proprio nella prima metà dell'Ottocento.
Dominava anche qui il tema dei novissimi, presentati, secondo lo stile del
tempo, con taglio e intento morale, ossia con lo scopo di allontanare dal
peccato e di ottenere la conversione. Per farsi meglio capire, G. predicava in
piemontese, come documenta tra l'altro il testo delle prediche redatto in
italiano e ricco di piemontesismi.
Il massimo delle sue
energie, sia nell'insegnamento, sia soprattutto nella pratica, era però
assorbito dal sacramento della confessione cui dedicava ogni mattina almeno tre
ore. A lui accorrevano preti, come don Giovanni Bosco, e laici d'ogni ceto
sociale: nobili come Giulia di Colbert, marchesa di Barolo, e E. Ferrero della
Marmora, C. Solaro della Margarita, A. Ferrero della Marmora, ma anche gente
semplice. Tale zelo pastorale cercava di inculcare agli allievi nelle lezioni
di teologia morale, che non erano un'arida palestra di casistica, ma una scuola
di formazione di coscienze e di vite pastorali, in cui egli armonizzava le
esigenze dei principî morali con la comprensione dei penitenti, evitando gli
opposti scogli del rigorismo e del lassismo. Erano sottesi non solo due diversi
approcci alla morale, ma anche differenti linee pastorali, che concernevano tra
l'altro tutta la prassi sacramentaria. Almeno in linea di principio G. adottò
la teologia alfonsiana e il suo probabilismo moderato, da applicarsi soltanto
nel caso di legge positiva, ossia umana, perché il criterio orientativo
preminente doveva essere, sulla scia del Trattato della coscienza (1840)
di A. Rosmini Serbati, il bene spirituale della persona concreta, senza
trascurare le esigenti istanze della legge naturale e rivelata.
L'insegnamento di G.
restò soprattutto nelle annotazioni d'ispirazione alfonsiana al testo ufficiale
di teologia morale di A. Alasia, di tendenza probabiliorista, approvato nel
1788 dal sinodo diocesano torinese e da lui piegato nella direzione di un
moderato probabilismo e di una prassi sacramentaria e pastorale preoccupata del
bene possibile dei fedeli. Questo orientamento pastorale, trasmesso a molti
preti e non soltanto ai discepoli poi più prestigiosi come don Giovanni Bosco,
e che ha influito in profondità nella pastorale torinese e piemontese,
costituisce il suo grande merito storico. Per questo mancò il bersaglio V.
Gioberti, quando nel Gesuita moderno accusò il convitto d'essere
scuola di lassismo; ma sbagliarono anche i biografi di G. e gli studiosi del
convitto presentandolo come seguace di un probabilismo spinto e maestro di G.B.
Bertagna - che sarà direttore del convitto a fine Ottocento -, il quale con una
casistica eccessiva sembrò tradire lo spirito del suo insegnamento.
Negli anni del ministero
sacerdotale di G. la Torino della Restaurazione e del Risorgimento era una
città in profonda trasformazione demografica e sociale, meta di un'intensa
immigrazione dalle campagne causata dal bisogno di lavoro e dalla necessità di
sopravvivenza, con conseguenti gravi problemi sociali, che colpivano
soprattutto gli strati più poveri della popolazione e le persone più deboli,
come i giovani, i malati, i carcerati e i condannati a morte. Pur non
avvertendo probabilmente la portata del cambiamento, G. cercò di provvedervi
nell'ottica prevalente della pastorale e della carità cristiana, impegnandosi
in prima persona nel mondo dei carcerati e dei condannati a morte con un
ministero che lo rese popolare come "il prete della forca": così lo
avrebbe ricordato Torino con un monumento eretto nel 1960. Accompagnò al
patibolo sessantotto condannati (tra i quali il generale G. Ramorino,
giustiziato il 22 maggio 1849 perché ritenuto colpevole della disfatta di
Novara) che egli affettuosamente chiamava i miei "santi impiccati",
portandoli tutti al pentimento.
Al suo consiglio si
devono due opere di notevole rilievo sociale, fondate per alleviare i problemi
dell'immigrazione giovanile: gli oratori di don Giovanni Bosco, che germinarono
proprio al convitto di S. Francesco, e l'Opera degli spazzacamini, diretta da
don P. Ponte.
G. morì a Torino il 23
giugno 1860.
Tra i primi a testimoniare
circa la santità di G. fu don Giovanni Bosco in due elogi funebri, poi
pubblicati nelle Letture cattoliche, pronunciati a Valdocco e nella chiesa
di S. Francesco d'Assisi. Sollecitato da molti, il canonico G. Allamano, nipote
di G. e rettore del santuario e del convitto ecclesiastico della Consolata,
s'interessò per avviare il processo di beatificazione, la cui introduzione fu
firmata il 23 maggio 1906 dall'arcivescovo di Torino D. Riccardi, preceduta
dalla pubblicazione della prima biografia a opera di don G. Colombero nel 1895;
in tale occasione, precisamente il 19 maggio 1911, la salma venne trasferita
dal cimitero nella cripta del santuario della Consolata. Successivamente
Benedetto XV dichiarò l'eroicità delle virtù (27 febbr. 1921); riconosciuti i
due miracoli richiesti, Pio XI il 3 maggio 1925 lo proclamò beato mentre la
biografia del cardinale C. Salotti ne diffondeva la fama a livello nazionale;
le spoglie del beato furono collocate in un'urna di bronzo, dono personale di
Pio XI, e conservate nel santuario della Consolata, ove si trovano ancora oggi.
Il 22 giugno 1947 Pio XII proclamò G. santo e il 9 apr. 1948 lo dichiarò
patrono delle carceri italiane, per proporlo infine, nell'enciclica Menti
Nostrae del 23 sett. 1950, come modello in particolare ai sacerdoti
impegnati nelle confessioni e nella direzione spirituale.
In vita G. non pubblicò
scritti; in occasione del processo di canonizzazione si cominciarono a dare
alle stampe, a cura di G. Allamano, le Meditazioni per esercizi spirituali
al clero, Torino 1892 e le Istruzioni per esercizi spirituali al clero,
ibid. 1893. Al momento della beatificazione, i due volumi vennero ripubblicati
dai missionari della Consolata, come III e IV volume delle progettate Opere
complete del b. Giuseppe Cafasso; il II volume era nuovo e costituito
dalle Sacre missioni al popolo, Torino 1925; del V, dedicato alla Teologia
morale, a cura di P. Racca, il manoscritto inedito si trova nella Biblioteca
dei Missionari della Consolata in Torino. Nel centenario della morte di G. sono
stati ripubblicati i due volumi del 1892-93 con il titolo di Esercizi
spirituali al clero, Alba 1960.
Fonti e Bibl.: Torino,
Archivio del Santuario e convitto della Consolata: vi si conservano cinque
faldoni di manoscritti di G. e undici di trascrizioni effettuate dopo la sua
morte, più la copia dattiloscritta di una sua Raccolta di 290 casi di
morale e una decina di volumi contenenti gli appunti delle sue lezioni di
morale presi dagli allievi, ora in corso d'inventariazione; Ibid., Archivio arcivescovile:
custodisce i 13 voll. del processo di canonizzazione; Roma, Biblioteca del
Centro studi don Bosco dell'Ateneo salesiano: 1543 pagine autografe divise in
fascicoli relativi a temi di teologia morale e casistica.
Sulla causa di
canonizzazione sono stati pubblicati tra l'altro: Positio super
introductione causae, Romae 1906; Summarium super dubio, Romae 1906; Positio
super fama in genere, Romae 1909; Positio super virtutibus, Romae
1918; Nova positio super virtutibus, Romae 1919; Positio super miraculis,
Romae 1935.
Nell'abbondante
bibliografia su G. hanno validità scientifica soprattutto gli studi dell'ultimo
ventennio, capaci di innovare una ricerca inizialmente orientata spesso in
senso agiografico. Si ricordano qui: G. Bosco, Biografia del sac. G. C.,
esposta in due ragionamenti funebri, Torino 1860; Id., Rimembranza
storico-funebre dei giovani dell'oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales verso il
sacerdote C. G., loro insigne benefattore, Torino 1860; G. Colombero, Vita
del servo di Dio d. G. C. con cenni storici sul convitto ecclesiastico di
Torino, Torino 1895; E. Bracco, Il venerabile d. G. C., Torino 1911; A. M.
Anzini, L'angelo delle prigioni. Vita del venerabile don G. C., San
Benigno Canavese 1912; L. Nicolis di Robilant, Vita del venerabile G. C.
confondatore del convitto ecclesiastico di Torino, Torino 1912; L. Zanzi, Lo
spirito interiore del b. G. C. proposto ai sacerdoti e ai militanti nell'Azione
cattolica, Bassano del Grappa 1919; Id., La politica del prete. Spirito
del ven. G. C. gran maestro del clero moderno, Arezzo s.d.; S. A., Il
venerabile G. Cafasso. Nuova vita compilata sui processi di beatificazione,
Torino 1920; A. M. Anzini, Vita del b. G. C., Torino 1925; C.
Salotti, La perla del clero italiano. Il b. G. C., Torino 1925; L. Carnino, Il
b. G. Cafasso. Breve vita popolare, Torino 1933; A. Vaudagnotti, Brevi
cenni sulla vita, virtù e miracoli del beato G. C., Torino 1936; M.
Bargoni, Il beato G. C., Torino 1938; S. Testi, Il beato G. C., Alba
1938; A. Grazioli, La pratica dei confessori nello spirito del beato C.,
Asti 1944; J. Cottino, S. G. C., il piccolo prete torinese, Roma 1947; G.
Favini, S. G. C. Triduo e panegirico, Torino 1947; I. Felici, Don C.
santo, Pisa 1947; G. Usseglio, Il teologo Guala e il convitto
ecclesiastico di S. Francesco di Torino, in Salesianum, X (1948), pp.
453-502; F. Accornero, La dottrina spirituale di s. G. C., Torino 1958; U.
Adamoli, Il santo dei carcerati. Bozzetto drammaticoin un atto e due tempi,
Teramo 1960; D. Battaglieri, S. G. C. consolatore degli ammalati, Chieri
1960; G. Bitelli, Il prete della forca, Torino 1960; G. Bosco, S. G.
Cafasso. Memorie pubblicate nel 1860 da s. Giovanni Bosco, Torino 1960; A.M.
Cavagna, S. G. C., modello del clero, patrono dell'Unione apostolica del
clero, Roma 1960; A. Giaccaglia, S. G. C., Bari 1960; L. Nicolis di
Robilant, S. G. C., cofondatore del convitto ecclesiastico di Torino,
Torino 1960; U. Rocco, Il messaggio di s. G. C., in La Civiltà
cattolica, CXI (1960), 2, pp. 113-123; S. G. C. dalla Consolata alle
Missioni, numero unico di Missioni Consolata, 1960; S. G. C. maestro
e modello del clero, quaderno speciale di Pietà sacerdotale, V (1960),
3-4; Morale e pastorale alla luce di san G. C., Padova 1961; C.
Bona, Le "Amicizie". Società segrete e rinascita religiosa
(1770-1830), Roma 1962, ad indicem; L. Mugnai, S. G. C. prete
torinese, Siena 1972; P. Stella, Il prete piemontese dell'800 tra la
Rivoluzione francese e la rivoluzione industriale. Atti del Convegno… 1972,
Torino 1972; Arte, pietà e morte nella Confraternita della Misericordia di
Torino, Torino 1978; G. Martin, Les ramoneurs de la Vallée de Rhèmes,
Aosta 1981; I. Tubaldo, Il clero piemontese: sua estrazione sociale, sua
formazione culturale e sua attività pastorale. Alcuni apporti alla sua
individuazione, in Chiesa e società nella seconda metà del XIX secolo in
Piemonte, a cura di F. N. Appendino, Casale Monferrato 1982, pp. 175-232;
Id., Giuseppe Allamano. Il suo tempo. La sua vita. La sua opera, I-IV,
Torino 1982-86, ad indices; A. Paviolo, Gli spazzacamini della valle
dell'Orco, San Giorgio Canavese 1987, ad indicem; U. Levra, L'altro
volto di Torino risorgimentale (1814-1848), Torino 1988, ad indicem; G.
Nalbone, Carcere e società in Piemonte (1770-1857), Santena 1988; A.
Giraudo, Clero, seminario e società. Aspetti della Restaurazione religiosa
a Torino, Roma 1992; L. Casto, Gli esercizi spirituali al clero di s. G.,
in Adiutor gaudii vestri. Miscellanea in onore del card. G. Saldarini…,
in Archivio teologico torinese, I (1995), pp. 482-500; M. Rossino, Il
convitto ecclesiastico di S. Francesco d'Assisi. La sua fondazione, ibid.,
pp. 452-481; Id., Alle origini del convitto ecclesiastico della Consolata.
Le conferenze di teologia morale, in Cultura cattolica ed esperienze
pastorali a Torino, Quaderni del Centro studi C. Trabucco, n. 21,
Racconigi 1995, pp. 7-33; G. Tuninetti, Il prete e i preti nell'Ottocento
piemontese, in Riv. diocesana torinese, LXXIV (1997), pp. 565-573; L.
Casto, S. G. modello di vita sacerdotale, ibid., pp. 861-867; P.
Stella, Il clero e la sua cultura nell'Ottocento, in Storia
dell'Italia religiosa. L'età contemporanea, a cura di G. De Rosa, Roma-Bari
1997, pp. 87-113; Storia di Torino, VI, La città nel Risorgimento
(1798-1864), a cura di U. Levra, Torino 2000, ad indicem.
Bibliotheca sanctorum,
VI, coll. 1317-1321, s.v.; G. Tuninetti, Predicabili
nell'Otto-Novecento e Predicazione nell'Otto-Novecento, in Diz.
di omiletica, Torino-Bergamo 1998, pp. 1172-1177, 1239-1246; J. Schepens, Esercizi
e ritiri spirituali, ibid., pp. 491-496; A. Favale, Missioni popolari, ibid.,
pp. 961-972.
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-giuseppe-cafasso_(Dizionario-Biografico)
San Giuseppe Cafasso, Palermo
_14_07_2019.jpg)
Den hellige Josef Cafasso
(1811-1860)
Minnedag: 23.
januar
Skytshelgen for innsatte
i fengsler; for fengselssjelesørgere (1948)
Den hellige Josef Cafasso
ble født den 15. januar 1811 i Castelnuovo d'Asti i bispedømmet Asti i regionen
Piemonte i Nord-Italia. Det var den samme byen som den hellige Johannes Don Bosco (1815-88)
kom fra, og byen ble omdøpt til «Don Bosco» etter dennes helligkåring. Josef
kom fra en velstående bondefamilie og var det tredje av fire barn. På skolen
ble den pukkelryggede, bleke Josef mobbet av medelevene, men hans godhet endret
snart deres holdning og han ble deres selvsagte leder. Han fikk sin utdannelse
i Chieri ved Torino.
Som 15-åring bestemte han
seg for å bli prest, og han begynte på det nye seminaret som erkebiskopen av
Torino hadde startet i Chieri. Han var den beste studenten i sitt kull. I 1827
traff han den tre år yngre Don Bosco for første gang, og han skulle komme til å
få en stor innflytelse på ham. Han ble senere Don Boscos skriftefar, åndelige
veileder og mest betrodde venn. Da Josef ble ordinert til prest for
bispedømmene i Torino i 1833, krevde det dispensasjon fordi han var under
minimumsalderen.
Han slo seg ned under
svært moderate forhold i Piemontes hovedstad Torino for å ta videre teologiske
studier. Han fant ikke undervisningen på storbyens seminar eller på
universitetet særlig nyttig, men han fant et mer tiltalende miljø i Convitto
Ecclesiastico, det kirkelige kollegiet i Torino, instituttet som var tilknyttet
kirken St. Frans av Assisi. Etter tre år med videre studier der besto han i
1836 bispedømmets eksamen med høy utmerkelse. Han ble straks engasjert som
foreleser i moralteologi av rektor, teologen Luigi Guala, en stilling han hadde
til sin død.
I likhet med den hellige
kardinal Robert
Bellarmin var Josef svært kortvokst og med kuppelrygg, og han ble kalt
«Den lille». I et samfunn som så ned på mennesker med fysiske skavanker, var
hans fysikk et alvorlig handikap. Men han hadde en vakker og sonor stemme og en
sinnsro (don Bosco skulle omtale det som «uforstyrret ro») som imponerte dem
som hørte ham. Han gjorde seg bemerket både som predikant og åndelig veileder
og viste seg som den fødte lærer. Han sa til Don Bosco: «Jesus Kristus, den
uendelige visdom, brukte ord og uttrykk som var i bruk blant dem han talte til.
Gjør du det samme».
I sin lærergjerning var
Josef ikke fornøyd med å instruere uten å utdanne, han hadde ikke bare som mål
å «lære bort ting», men å opplyse og veilede sine elevers forståelse. Det ble
snart kjent at St. Frans' Institutt i Torino hadde en bemerkelsesverdig ny
foreleser. Hans evne til enkel og dagligdags forkynnelse ble brukt til å
oppmuntre håp og en ydmyk tillit til Gud, i kontrast til de bleke jansenistiske
læresetningene som da var vidt utbredt i Nord-Italia. Jansenistene lærte at den
minste feil var en alvorlig synd som kunne føre til evig fordømmelse. Don
Cafasso skrev senere: «Når vi hører skriftemål, ønsker Vårherre oss å være
kjærlige og medlidende, å være faderlige til alle som kommer til oss, uten
hensyn til hvem de er eller hva de har gjort. Hvis vi avviser noen, hvis en
sjel går tapt på grunn av vår feil, skal vi holdes til ansvar».
I 1848 døde Don Guala, og
Don Cafasso ble utnevnt til å etterfølge ham som rektor ved kirken St. Frans og
instituttet. Dette var ingen enkel oppgave, for han overtok veiledningen av
rundt 60 unge prester fra ulike bispedømmer, med variert utdannelse og
kulturell bakgrunn og med ulike politiske oppfatninger. 1848 var et turbulent
år i europeisk politikk, da ett land etter det andre opplevde revolusjon og
politisk uro. I Italia var det mer uro i vente inntil samlingen til slutt var
oppnådd i 1861.
Don Cafassos lærdom,
uforstyrrede tro og hans omsorg for enkeltpersoner brakte instituttet gjennom
en urolig periode hvor det hadde sine baktalere, både sekulære og klerikale.
Hans kjærlighet og omsorg for unge og uerfarne prester og hans insistering på
at deres verste fiende var en ånd av verdslighet, hadde en markert innflytelse
på presteskapet i Piemonte, og hans tjeneste nådde ut til mange andre – nonner
og legfolk fra alle livets avskygninger. Han hadde en bemerkelsesverdig
intuisjon i å behandle botferdige syndere, og mange kom til hans skriftestol.
Don Cafasso ble en viden kjent skriftefar. Mange tvilere som ville sette ham på
prøve, opplevde hos ham sin omvendelse.
Han var også kjent ved
retretthuset St. Ignatius i Lanzo i høydene nord for Torino. Da jesuittordenen
ble oppløst, kom retretthuset over på erkebispedømmet Torinos hender, og Don
Luigi Guala ble utnevnt til dets administrator. Etter hans død tok Don Cafasso
over hans forpliktelser i tillegg til kirken og instituttet St. Frans. Han
fortsatte sin forgjengers arbeid der med å preke for pilegrimer og holde
retretter for både prester og legfolk. Lokalitetene ble utvidet og pilegrimsruten
dit, påbegynt av Don Guala, ble fullført under hans administrasjon.
Av alt arbeidet Don
Cafasso gjorde, var det hans tjeneste for innsatte i fengslene som imponerte
offentligheten mest. I fengslene i Torino ble dømte menn stuet sammen i
barbariske og nedverdigende omstendigheter. Don Cafasso besøkte dem, brydde seg
om dem og hørte deres skriftemål. Henrettelser fant fortsatt sted i
offentlighet, og han fulgte over seksti menn, inkludert en notorisk banditt og
en revolusjonær general, til deres henrettelse. Alle angret sine synder og døde
i Kristi fred. Don Cafasso kalte dem sine «hengte helgener» og fikk selv
tilnavnet «galgepresten».
Johannes Bosco møtte
Josef Cafasso første gang på en søndag høsten 1827, da han fortsatt var en
livlig 12-åring og Don Cafasso allerede seminarist. «Jeg har sett ham! Jeg har
snakket med ham!» annonserte Johannes da han kom hjem. «Sett hvem?» spurte
moren. «Josef Cafasso. Og jeg sier deg, han er en helgen». 14 år senere feiret
Don Bosco sin første messe i kirken St. Frans i Torino. Deretter sluttet han
seg til instituttet og studerte under Don Cafassos veiledning, og han delte
mange av hans interesser.
Det var Don Cafasso som
introduserte Don Bosco for slummen og fengslene i Torino og hjalp ham til å
oppdage at han hadde et kall til å arbeide med gutter. Don Cafasso introduserte
ham også for velstående beskyttere og kom til å bli betraktet som
medgrunnlegger av Salesianernes kongregasjon. Men han ble aldri Salesianer, han
forble sekularprest hele livet, og kongregasjonen ble ikke grunnlagt før i
1854, seks år før Cafassos død.
En salesianer, Giovanni
Cagliero, skrev senere: «Vi elsker og ærer vår kjære far og grunnlegger Don
Bosco, men vi elsker ikke Don Cafasso noe mindre, for han var Don Boscos lærer,
rådgiver og veileder i åndelige ting og i hans foretagende i tyve år, og jeg
våger å si at Don Boscos godhet, prestasjoner og klokskap er Don Cafassos ære.
Det var gjennom ham at Don Bosco slo seg ned i Torino, gjennom ham at gutter
ble brakt sammen i det første salesianske oratoriet; lydigheten, kjærligheten
og visdommen som han lærte, har båret frukt i de tusener av ungdommer i Europa
og Asia og Afrika som i dag er velutdannet for livet i Guds Kirke og i det
menneskelige samfunnet».
En annen av hans elever
var den hellige Don Josef Cottolengo,
de uhelbredelig sykes helgen og 1800-tallets Mor Teresa, en annen var
arbeidernes apostel og leder, den hellige Don Leonard Murialdo.
Sammen med Don Cafasso og Don Bosco har disse æren for at troen kunne overleve
i den piemontesiske hovedstaden til tross for den tidlige industrialismens
umenneskelige miljø. Josef Cafassos søstersønn var den salige Josef Allamano (1851-1926).
Don Cafasso inspirerte
også markise Giulia Falletti di Barolo, som grunnla et dusin veldedige
institusjoner, Don Giovanni Cocchi, som viet sitt liv til å grunnlegge et
kollegium for håndverkere og annet veldedig arbeid i Torino, p. Domenico
Sartoris, som grunnla «Døtrene av St. Klara», den salige Klemens Marchisio,
som grunnla «Døtrene av St. Josef» og mange andre grunnleggere av veldige
institusjoner. Josef Cafasso var kjent for sin andakt til Alterets
allerhelligste Sakrament.
I 1860 var Josef Cafasso
ennå ikke 50 år, men han var syk med lungebetennelse og skjønte at døden nærmet
seg. Han skrev et testamente til fordel for grunnleggelsene til Josef
Cottolengo og Johannes Don Bosco. Han døde den 23. juni 1860 i Torino. I hans begravelse
deltok enorme menneskemengder, og prekenen ble holdt av Don Bosco. Han ble
bisatt i kirken S. Consolata i Torino.
Hans første biografi ble
skrevet av Don Bosco. Hans saligkåringsprosess ble innledet i 1895. Han ble
saligkåret den 3. mai 1925 av pave Pius XI (1922-39) og helligkåret den 22.
juni 1947 av pave Pius XII (1939-58). Hans minnedag var tidligere 23. januar,
men er nå dødsdagen 23. juni. Hans navn står i Martyrologium Romanum.
Kilder: Attwater
(dk), Attwater/John, Attwater/Cumming, Farmer, Butler (VI), Benedictines,
Bunson, Ball (2), Engelhart, Schauber/Schindler, Index99, KIR, CSO, Patron
Saints SQPN, Infocatho, Bautz, Heiligenlexikon, Abbaye Saint-Benoît,
viq/tlieu - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Opprettet: 1999-12-19 16:45 - Sist oppdatert: 2005-08-24 21:43
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/jcafasso
Voir aussi : http://www.catholicpamphlets.net/pamphlets/St.%20Joseph%20Cafasso.pdf
