The Holy Death of Dominic Savio

It was one evening in January of the year 1857. An icy wind sweeps the snowy streets of Turin, shakes the windows of the chapel, but none of the young men is careful with this fury. They listen attentively to the father, who tells them about the preparation for death: "Oh, she may still be far away, far away, our sister Death, but she will surely come one day; she will stretch out her hand on your shoulder and say, "Come, now is the time!" No one knows the day or the moment; it's all about being ready. But what I do know is that there is one of us who will leave first; let us recite for him an Our Father. »
The children kneel, recite the prayer and leave the chapel in silence. They all confessed during the day, as they did for the last time before the Judgment.
No, Don Bosco does not seek to panic them, to terrify them with imaginary descriptions. Death is the heavenly messenger that leads us to the house of the Father. Let his children therefore ignore fear and terror; may their joy not be disturbed! On the contrary, the last hour, the minute when the sand finishes falling into the hourglass, the supreme moment is no longer formidable and horrible, since we have been preparing for it for a long time.
That evening, Dominique Savio, who was not fifteen, said to his comrades:
"Don Bosco could well have named me.
— How so?
He should have said, "Let us recite an Our Father for Dominic Savio, who will die the first of us all."
"What do you know?"
"I know that, but I'm not afraid. I will be happy to go to heaven.
The child's eyes shine with a brilliance that is not of this earth.
He fell ill a few weeks later, with an evil whose origin and nature doctors could not detect. His forces are declining, as if devoured by an indefinable inner fire. His face becomes thin and pale; his voice weakens and veils; only his enlarged eyes light up with an even brighter light. The doctors advised Don Bosco to send him to rest at home; the good air of his village may do him good.
Dominique sadly lowers his head, when Don Bosco reaches out to him at the moment of departure: "I am very sad to leave you," he said in an extinct voice. I would only have bothered you a few more days... and then, it was over... But may God's will be done! »
Up to the door of the oratory he shakes don Bosco's hand in his own, then he fucks her for the last time. A car awaits him, put at his disposal by a noble benefactor. On the step of the door, he said to his comrades who crowded around him: Goodbye! Farewell to all of you! We will meet again in heaven. A last melancholic look at the dear oratory, on the small tower of Saint-François-de-Sales; he goes up, the car leaves.
Eight days later, on March 9, God reminded him of his virgin soul. To his father, who looks at him: " Farewell, caro papa, farewell ! Dominique sighs. Then his eyes light up as if he already saw the splendor of paradise: " Oh! what a beautiful thing I never see ! How beautiful what I see! »
"This makes one less angel on earth and one more angel in heaven," Don Bosco said to his grieving children upon learning of their comrade's death.
On March 5, 1950, Pope Pius XII inscribed the pious disciple of Don Bosco among the Blessed. Dominique Savio will be canonized four years later, on June 12, during the Marian year.

(Don Bosco, the Apostle of Youth, G. Hünermann)

La sainte mort de Dominique Savio