page_title: Dominic Savio
section_title: The Life of Dominic Savio
hierarchical_section_title: Dominic Savio / The Life of Dominic Savio
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Pope Pius X.
context_page_description: Dominic Savio was an Italian adolescent student of Saint John Bosco. He was studying to be a priest when he became ill and died at the age of 14, possibly from pleurisy. He is the only person of his age group who was declared a saint not on the basis of his having been a martyr, but on the basis of having lived what was seen as a holy life. He was noted for his piety and devotion to the Catholic faith, and was eventually canonized.
  Bosco regarded Savio very highly, and wrote a biography of his young student, The Life of Dominic Savio. This volume, along with other accounts of him, were critical factors in his cause for sainthood. Despite the fact that many people considered him to have died at too young an age – fourteen – to be considered for sainthood, he was considered eligible for such singular honour on the basis of his having displayed "heroic virtue" in his everyday life. Savio was canonised a saint on 12 June 1954, by Pope Pius XII, making him the youngest non-martyr to be canonised in the Catholic Church until the canonisations of Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the pious visionaries of Fatima, in 2017.
context_section_description: Soon after the death of Dominic, John Bosco wrote his biography, The Life of Dominic Savio, which contributed to his canonisation. The original Italian edition was considered so well written during the time of Don Bosco that, along with his History of Italy and Ecclesiastical History, it was used in many public schools as part of the course materials on the Italian language. Among the other writings of John Bosco are the Biography of Fr. Joseph Cafasso, The Life of Francis Besucco and The Life of Michael Magone.
caption: Pope Pius X set in motion the canonisation process for Dominic Savio.
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