Ceferino’s holiness is the expression and result of Salesian youth spirituality, which consists of cheerfulness, friendship with Jesus and Mary, fulfillment of duty, and the gift of self to others. Ceferino is convincing proof of the fidelity with which the early Salesians sent by Don Bosco to Argentina were able to repeat what he had done in the oratory at Valdocco: form young saints.

Ceferino’s life is a parable of barely 19 years, but one that teaches us many things. He was born in Chimpay (Argentina) on August 26, 1886. He was baptized two years later by Salesian missionary Fr. Milanesio, who had mediated an agreement between the Mapuche (the indigenous population located between Chile and Argentina) and the Argentine army, making it possible for Ceferino’s father to retain the title of “Great Cacique” (leader) for himself, as well as the Chimpay territory for his people. Ceferino was eleven years of age when his father enrolled him in the government school in Buenos Aires: he wanted to make his son the future defender of his people. But Ceferino felt unhappy there, and his father brought him to the Pius IX Salesian boarding school or college. This was the beginning of the adventure of grace that transformed him into a heroic witness of Christian life. He immediately showed how interested he was in his studies, came to love the practices of piety, loved his catechism, and was liked by everybody, schoolmates and superiors alike. Two things launched him to greater heights: reading the life of Dominic Savio, whose keen emulator he became, and his First Communion at which he made an agreement to be absolutely faithful to his great friend Jesus. From then on, this young man, who had found it hard to “keep in line” and “obey at the sound of the bell,” became a model.

He chose Dominic Savio as his example in life, making his own the “simple recipe” for holiness that Don Bosco, the “father and teacher of the young”, had given Dominic one day: “Be always cheerful; do your duties of study and piety well; help your companions.” “He smiled with his eyes,” his friends used to say of Ceferino. He was the heart and soul of recreation, which he took part in enthusiastically and creatively, at times even impetuously. He knew how to do conjuring tricks, which gave him the nickname “magician.” He organized various competitions and instructed his schoolmates on the best way to prepare bows and arrows, and then trained them in target practice. He was the umpire during recreation: his words were accepted by playmates who were in disagreement. Ceferino’s piety was characteristic of Salesian settings, strongly rooted in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which was considered to be the “pillar” of the Preventive System. Ceferino gladly took on the role of sacristan. He made an impression with the studied way in which he made the Sign of the Cross as if he was meditating on every word; he corrected his schoolmates by his example, teaching them how to make the Sign of the Cross slowly and devoutly.

In 1903, when he was sixteen and a half years old, Bishop Cagliero accepted him among the aspirants in Viedma, the headquarters of the Apostolic Vicariate, so he could begin his study of Latin. One day – Ceferino was already a Salesian aspirant in Viedma – Francesco De Salvo, seeing him arrive like lightning on horseback, shouted out: “Ceferino, what would you like to do most?” The answer he expected was about horse riding, something the Araucani were masters of. But pulling up on the horse, he answered, “To be a priest,” and continued racing ahead.

It was during those years of inner growth that he fell ill with tuberculosis. They got him to return to his native climate but that was not enough. Bishop Cagliero then thought he might find better treatment in Italy. His time there did not pass unobserved: newspapers spoke of him with admiration as the Prince of the Pampas. Fr. Rua seated him at the table with the Superior Council. Pius X received him in private audience, listening to him with interest and giving him his ad principes medal. In the Salesian college at Villa Sora in Frascati, Ceferino, who was still having some difficulties with Italian, was second in the class after a few months. His school report showed his success in Latin: it was an important requisite for anyone wanting to be a priest. On March 28, 1905, however, he had to be admitted to the Fatebenefratelli Hospital on the Isola Tiberina, where he died on May 11 that year, leaving a reputation for kindness, diligence, purity, and inimitable cheerfulness. Salesian Fr. Iorio gave an impressive testimony of this. Three days before Ceferino died, Fr. Iorio had gone to see him at the hospital. By now close to death, young Ceferino told him, “Father, I will soon be gone, but I’d like you to look after this poor lad in the bed next to mine. Come and visit him often … He is suffering so much! He hardly sleeps at night and is coughing a lot …”

Ceferino was the mature result of Salesian youth spirituality. His remains lie at rest in the Shrine at Fortín Mercedes in Argentina and are the goal of uninterrupted pilgrimages, as he has a great reputation for holiness among the Argentine people. Ceferino embodies the suffering, anguish, and aspirations of his people, the Mapuche, the very people who had encountered the Gospel during his teenage years and were open to the gift of faith under the wise guidance of Salesian educators. There is one expression that sums up his program of life: “I would like to study to be useful to my people.” In fact, Ceferino wanted to study, become a priest, and return to his people to contribute to their cultural and spiritual growth, as he had seen the first Salesian missionaries do. A saint is never like a meteorite flashing suddenly across the skies of humanity, but rather the result of the lengthy and silent gestation of a family and a people who express their best qualities in a son like him.

Blessed Ceferino is an invitation to believe in the young, including those just evangelized, to discover the fruitfulness of the Gospel that destroys nothing that is truly human. But also to believe in the methodological contribution of education in this wonderful work of shaping the human person who comes to reproduce in him or herself the image of Christ.

PRAYER

We thank you, God our Father,
because in Blessed Ceferino
you gave the young and all the faithful
a luminous example of holiness.
Docile to your call,
he cooperated faithfully in building up your Church, fulfilling his everyday tasks
in patience and love,
and constantly perfecting himself
in the practice of virtue.
Grant that we too
may collaborate in the coming of your kingdom
and gain for us the grace that, through his intercession, we ask of you.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Pierluigi Cameroni. Like Stars in the Heavens. PDF ed., 2022, pp. 111-112.