PATRON OF MODERN NURSES

Feb 2 Pope Francis in an audience said:  “Even when we rely fully on the intercession of a saint, or even more so that of the Virgin Mary, our trust only has value in relation to Christ. As if the path toward this saint or toward Our Lady does not end there, no. Not there, but in relationship with Christ. He is the bond, Christ is the bond that unites us to him and to each other, and which has a specific name: this bond that unites us all, between ourselves and us with Christ, it is the ‘communion of saints’.

The medical profession has a new saint, who can't come soon enough to intercede for all in health care, especially nurses, who lay their lives on the line daily. 

BLESSED ARTEMIDES ZATTI, who the Holy Father approved for canonization, was an immigrant nurse who died from liver cancer in 1951.

He  was born in Boretto, in the province of Reggio Emilia, in 1880, to Louis Zatti and Albina Vecchi, a farming family. Since he was a small child he was accustomed to work and sacrifice. Already by the time he was nine, he was earning money as a hired hand. In 1897 the Zatti family, forced by poverty, emigrated to Argentina to establish life at Bahia Blanca.

 Here Artemides began to attend the parish run by the Salesians of Don Bosco, becaming a helper to the parish priest, Fr Carlo Cavalli, with whom he often shared work and prayer. He felt a desire to become a Salesian, and was accepted as an aspirant by the Bishop and, by the time he was twenty, went to the Community at Bernal.

He assisted a young priest who was ill with tuberculosis, who then died in 1902. The day when Artemides was to receive his clerical habit, he too contracted the disease. When he got back to the community, Fr Cavalli sent him to the mission hospital in Viedma. Fr Evarisio Garrone, with wide experience, was in charge of the hospital.  Artemides, along with him, asked and obtained from Mary Help of Christians the grace of recovery, promising to dedicate his entire life to looking after the sick.

In 1903 he became a manager of a chemist  in the hospital of San José, attending frequent Mass. His routine also included morning meditation as well as a bike ride to the sick. He would entertain the ill with a game of bocce and from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm would visit hospital patients.

He would read spiritual texts in the night following work. His work schedule spanned from 4:30 am until 11:00 pm. He also gained a diploma in nursing. One doctor said: "I believe in God since I know Mr. Zatti".

 In 1908 he made his perpetual profession. He was completely dedicated to the sick. People sought him out and admired him. For the personnel at the hospital he was not only an excellent director, but an excellent Christian. 

He was always available for anyone who called for help.

He obtained Argentine citizenship in 1914 in La Plata and on 23 May 1915 he began the Christin publication "Flores del Campo",  which was issued weekly.

 He had a hospital constructed in 1913 and was disappointed when it was torn down in 1941 and rebuilt into something else.

The blessed fell off a ladder on 19 July 1950 as he climbed to the roof to fix a water tank. He recovered in the hospital where he was not long after diagnosed with liver cancer.

 He remained in the hospital from January 1951 until his death on 15 March 1951 in Videma.  His remains were housed in a Salesian chapel in Viedma.