Salesian Lay Brother (1880-1951)
His life
+ Artimede was born to a poor family in Boretto, Reggio Emilia, Italy, and he was forced to drop out of school at age nine to help provide for his family.
+ The family immigrated to Argentia in 1897 and Artimede worked in a tile factory and attended the local parish school, which was run by the Salesians of St. Don Bosco. Feeling drawn to the Salesians, he entered their seminary when he was twenty-years old.
+ Artimede contracted tuberculosis while caring for a Salesian priest who later died of the disease. Although he was sent to a local, there was little hope of his recovery. With his friend and unofficial doctor, Father Evarisio Garrone, Artimede prayed to the Blessed Virgin under her title “Our Lady, Help of Christians,” offering to dedicate his life to serving the sick, if he could be cured.
+ Artimede was cured and worked in the hospital where he himself had been a patient, and he learned hospital management from Father Garrone. He eventually became the administrator of the hospital, but continued to care for the patients. Today, that hospital is named in his honor.
+ After years of service to the care of the sick and those in need, Blessed Artimede Zatti died from cancer on March 15, 1951, in Bahia Blanca, Argentina. He was beatified in 2002.
For prayer and reflection
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”—Matthew 25:34-36
Spiritual bonus
On this day we also remember Saint Benedicta of Assisi. A member of the community of nuns established by Saint Francis and Saint Clare at San Damiano, she succeeded Saint Clare as abbess. Saint Benedicta died in 1260.
Prayer
O God, who have taught your Church to keep all the heavenly commandments by love of you as God and love of neighbor; grant that, practicing the works of charity after the example of blessed Artimede, we may be worthy to be numbered among the blessed in your Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For Those Who Practiced Works of Mercy)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.
And today we celebrate...