(ANS – Rome) – At the beginning of the Holy Year 2025, it is significant to present the Dossier of the Salesian General Postulation as a strong invitation to renew the universal call to holiness in the sign of hope that does not disappoint, as Pope Francis urges: “to bring hope where it has been lost: where life is wounded, in betrayed expectations, in broken dreams, in failures that shatter the heart; in the fatigue of those who can no longer do it, in the bitter loneliness of those who feel defeated, in the suffering that digs into the soul; in the long and empty days of prisoners, in the narrow and cold rooms of the poor, in places desecrated by war and violence”.

The saints and all candidates for holiness are witnesses and pilgrims of hope who have accepted the Lord’s promise here and now, in this suffering and groaning land, and who invite us to move “without delay” towards God, rediscovering the greatest hope in him and then bring it without delay, as pilgrims of light in the darkness of the world.

We need to express deep gratitude and praise to God for the holiness already recognized in the Salesian Family of Don Bosco and for others in the process of recognition. The outcome of a Cause of Beatification and Canonisation is an event of extraordinary importance and ecclesial value. It is a matter of discerning the reputation of holiness of a baptized person who has lived the evangelical beatitudes to a heroic degree or who has given his or her life for Christ.

The Salesian Postulation involves 173 individuals among Saints (10), Blesseds (117), Venerables (20), Servants of God (26). There are 58 Causes directly followed by the Postulation (plus 5 extra).

The Dossier, the Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, Fr Pierluigi Cameroni says, after reporting the list and status of each Cause, presents the events of 2024, including the inauguration and blessing, on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at the Zeffirino Namuncurà community in Rome, by the then Rector Major, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, of the new premises of the Salesian General Postulation: library, archives, custody of relics, offices.

In addition, the following deserve to be remembered:

January 16, 2024: at the chapel of the Bocage Foundation in Chambéry, the canonical recognition and conservative treatment of the mortal remains of the venerable Camille Costa de Beauregard (1841-1910), a diocesan priest.

March 14, 2024: the authorization by Pope Francis to promulgate the Decree concerning the miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Camillo Costa de Beauregard, a diocesan Priest; born in Chambéry (France) on February 17, 1841 and died there on March 25, 1910. The miracle, which took place in 1910, concerns the child René Jacquemond, cured of “intense keratoconjunctivitis with grinding of the cornea, strong perichoratic injection, redness and injection of the conjunctiva, photophobia, and tearing of the right eye due to violent trauma from a plant-barbarian agent”.

March 15, 2024: in Lahore (Pakistan) closure of the diocesan Inquiry into the Cause of the Beatification and Canonisation of Akash Bashir (1994-2015), Layman, a past pupil of Don Bosco, was killed in hatred of the faith. It is the first Cause of Beatification in Pakistan.

April 28, 2024: in Cuautitlán (Mexico) closure of the diocesan Inquiry into the Cause of the Servant of God Antonieta Böhm (1907-2008), Daughter of Mary Help of Christians.

May 5, 2024: in Modica (Ragusa) closure of the diocesan Inquiry of the Servant of God Antonino Baglieri (1951-2007), Layman, Volunteer with Don Bosco.

May 31, 2024: delivery of the Positio super Vita, Virtutibus et Fama Sanctitatis of the Servant of God Oreste Marengo (1906-1998), Salesian missionary bishop in North East India.

November 25, 2024: authorization by Pope Francis to promulgate the Decree concerning

• the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Maria Troncatti, professed Sister of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, born in Córteno Golgi (Italy) on February 16, 1883, and died in Sucúa (Ecuador) on August 25, 1969. Miraculous healing of a man from “Open cranio-encephalic trauma with comminuted fracture of the skull case, loss of brain substance and exposure of brain tissue in the right fronto-parieto-temporal area, widespread axonal damage (DAI), severe coma evolved in a vegetative state of type 2”, which took place in 2015 in Ecuador.

November 28, 2024: delivery of the Positio super martyrio of the Servants of God Rodolfo Lunkenbein, Priest and professed member of the Society of St Francis de Sales, and Simão Bororo, Layman, killed in hatred of the faith on July 15, 1976.

December 3, 2024: The Theological Consultants answered in the affirmative regarding the Positio super martyrio of the Servants of God Jan Świerc and 8 Companions, Priests, and professed members of the Society of St Francis de Sales, killed in odium fidei in the Nazi death camps in the years 1941-1942.

December 18, 2024: authorization from Pope Francis to promulgate the Decree concerning: the martyrdom of the Servant of God Elia Comini, a Priest and professed member of the Society of St Francis de Sales; born on May 7, 1910, in Calvenzano di Vergato (Italy, Bologna) and killed, in hatred of the Faith, in Pioppe di Salvaro (Italy, Bologna) on October 1, 1944.

Finally, the commitment to disseminate the knowledge, imitation, and intercession of the members of the Salesian Family candidates for holiness is recalled, valuing and caring for different aspects: liturgical and celebratory, spiritual, pastoral, ecclesial, educational, cultural, historical, social, missionary…

At the bottom of the page you can download the Postulation Dossier – in Italian, English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese – updated to December 31, 2023. It is also possible to download the 2024 Salesian Family Holiness Poster designed and created by graphic designer Andrea Cugini.