A Spaniard from Asturias, son of fisherpeople and ready for a future as a doctor, Ángel Fernández Artime opted for the Salesian vocation after attending high school run by the Sons of Don Bosco. A Salesian since 1978, and a priest since 1987, he has held positions of responsibility since he was a young Salesian, as Rector of Works and a member of the Council of the Province of Spain-León (SLE). Already a 39-year-old Provincial, he led the SLE Province from 2000 to 2006, and then the Province of Southern Argentina, based in Buenos Aires, from 2010 to 2014.
In December 2013 he was appointed Superior of the Mary Help of Christians Province, Spain, a position that he never actually took up because on 25 March 2014, even before being installed as Provincial, he was elected by General Chapter 27, at the first ballot, as Rector Major of the Salesian Congregation.
Confirmed in this position by the 28th General Chapter, he was appointed cardinal by Pope Francis at the end of the Angelus on 9 July 2023, and created a cardinal in the ordinary public consistory in the following 30 September.
With reference to the Strenna, the current Rector Major has always considered it a constitutive element of the Salesian tradition – “a beautiful spiritual experience”, “a beautiful spiritual legacy”, he described it as early as 2014 – and a sign “of unity and communion” for the entire Salesian Family.
And this was the sense in which he proposed and shared it, aware that it “can help pastoral planning for branches and groups, (...) but its purpose is not this, it is not to become a pastoral program for the year, but rather to be a creative message of unity and communion for our entire Salesian Family, in a common goal.”
In their formulations, the strennas of the 10th Successor of Don Bosco have now made the short, concise message something stable, but one that is full of meaningful ideas, almost a condensation of keywords around which to developed proposals and paths. In addition, the bipartite structure is almost always repeated, with two sentences that complement each other and in which very often one of them is a biblical or Salesian reference.
As for the contents, it is significant to note that, since the Strenna is intended to be addressed to the entire Salesian Family, the Rector Major has often been able to count on the Major Superiors and World Leaders of the different groups of the Salesian Family in his choice of messages, in the context of the annual appointment that is the Salesian Family Consultative Council.
And the themes have ranged from the most ecclesial – as shown by the strennas on family and holiness, proposed after Poe Francis’ Apostolic Exhortations Amoris Laetitia and Gaudete et Exsultate, to the most strictly Salesian ones.
In this second group, then, two other types can also be identified: strennas linked to the significant anniversaries recorded during his term of office – such as the Bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco (2015) and his Dream at Nine Years of Age (2024), or the fourth centenary of the death of Saint Francis de Sales (2022); and those linked to charismatic aspects, such as Salesian accompaniment or the “politics of the Our Father”.
Finally, attention to the world social scene has not been overlooked: the strenna about hope, which came after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, is a shining testimony.
Here, therefore, listed below, are the 10 strennas of Fr Ángel Fernández Artime’s term of office:
2015: “Like Don Bosco, with the young, for the young”;
2016: “With Jesus, let us adventure in the Spirit together!”;
2017: “We are family! Every home, a school of Life and Love”;
2018: “‘Sir, give me this water’ (Jn 4:15). Let us cultivate the art of listening and of accompaniment”;
2019: “‘So that my joy may be in you’ (Jn 15:11). Holiness for you too”;
2020: “‘Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’ (Mt 6:10). Good Christians and upright citizens”;
2021: “Moved by hope: ‘See, I am making all things new’ (Rev 21: 5)”;
2022: "Do all through love, nothing through constraint” (St Francis de Sales);
2023: “‘As the yeast in today’s human family’. The lay dimension in the Family of Don Bosco
2024: ‘The dream that makes you dream’. A heart that transforms ‘wolves’ into ‘lambs’”.
