Fr. Pedro Narambuena, Vice-postulator of Zatti's cause for canonization, described the canonization rite: "The central celebration will be in Rome this Sunday, Oct. 9. It is a Eucharist where, after the Gospel reading, comes the papal decree with the nomination of the new saints. In this case, in addition to Br. Zatti, Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, founder of the Scalabrinian missionaries, will also be proclaimed a saint. Then the relics are presented. The day before, the Salesians will meet in the Paul VI Hall, where we shall experience a Eucharist of thanksgiving presided over by the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, and then the Pope will receive us in audience. Pope Francis wanted to have this nice gesture with us, to receive us in an extraordinary audience, I think because of that personal connection he had with the figure of Artemide Zatti, even before he became a bishop."
Then spoke Fr. Carlos Bosio, Rector of the Salesian work in Colonia Vignaud, north of Córdoba, the man whose unexplained recovery enabled Br. Zatti's beatification in 2002. At age 25, when he was a Theology student during a camp in Tornquints, he began to experience abdominal pain. He was operated on in Bahía Blanca, but the operation developed gas gangrene. For this reason, he was transferred to the "Muñiz" hospital in Buenos Aires. The infection reached the bloodstream producing widespread septicemia. "For those years, this picture was deadly. That is why the medical reports state that my recovery had no clinical explanation."
He added, "After verifying that the Salesian family and confreres had prayed to Zatti, that miracle allowed his beatification, on April 14, 2002. This experience of being on the brink of death all my life helped me to relativize many things that are sometimes given much importance. This experience helped me to focus life on permanent giving, as Zatti did."
Br. Sobrero affirmed, "The person is the manifestation of the human being, in philosophical terms. The specific persona of Artemis Zatti manifested itself in Viedma and Carmen de Patagones as a good person. Zatti's goodness was manifested from the moment he got up until the moment he went to bed, in all the activities he carried out as a Salesian, as an administrator of San José Hospital, as a nurse from house to house, as an animator of Catholic youth, as an animator of the liturgy in the parish of Viedma (...) The simplicity of a good person is what the Church proposes today for the whole world to experience," he underscored.
Bishop Laxague concluded, "In the region of Viedma and in Carmen de Patagones we are living a moment in which the 'living Zatti' is resurfacing. There are many signs of his presence in so many people who were healed by him, many testimonies of people who tell how their father or mother was healed by Zatti. In Viedma, we have a hospital, a neighborhood, a street, a school named after Zatti. Hence, this celebration of canonization is an opportunity to find out who Zatti was and what message he leaves us today. We hope that Zatti will wake us all up, reminding us that the best thing that can happen to a person is to be a saint. To be a saint is to do good. That is the path he took, and that is the path we are all going down."
