Saint Who?
Saints Who Achieved Sanctity Young
Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá
Layman († 1905) Feast: August 26
Ceferino’s father was a chief of the native Araucanians of Argentina, and he decided that Ceferino, his eighth child, should become a bridge between his people and the government. Toward that end, he had Ceferino baptized as an infant and sent him to be educated at a military school at the age of eleven.
However, Ceferino was the only Indian in the school, and he was often bullied. A priest decided to have him transferred to a Salesian mission school, where he received his First Holy Communion and was confirmed. Ceferino enjoyed sports and made many friends. But he also loved Jesus Christ and did not retaliate when his classmates made cruel jokes about his native heritage. His teachers sometimes thought he was daydreaming when he was instead gazing at our Lord in the nearby tabernacle.
At the age of seventeen, Ceferino announced that he wanted to become a priest, but soon afterward, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. His bishop brought him along on a trip to Rome, hoping that a change in climate would improve Ceferino’s health. It didn’t, but Ceferino remained gentle and smiling, despite the pain of his illness, until his peaceful death in Rome. Since Ceferino had always desired to bring the Gospel to his people, his body was then returned to Argentina.
Lord Jesus, give us the grace to pray
for those who persecute us.
