caption death_date death_place birth_place feast_day venerated_in birth_date major_shrine image article_title name
a prayer card depicting st. dominic savio . 9 march 1857 mondonio -lrb- today castelnuovo don bosco -rrb- , piedmont , italy , a '' frazione '' of castelnuovo d’asti san presso chieri , piedmont , italy giovanni , a '' frazione '' of riva 6 may -lrb- formerly 9 march -rrb- roman catholic church & episcopal church 2 april 1842 the -lrb- his tomb -rrb- basilica of mary help of christians in turin z domingo savio.jpg dominic savio
 saint dominic savio
dominic savio

dominic savio -lrb- ; april 2 , 1842 -- march 9 , 1857 -rrb- 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 .
his teacher , john bosco , had very high regard for savio , 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 .
he is the only saint of his age group , which includes maria goretti -lrb- age 11 -rrb- and ponticus of lyons -lrb- age 15 -rrb- , who was declared to be 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 .
savio was canonised a saint on june 12 , 1954 , by pope pius xii , making him the youngest non-martyr to be canonised in the catholic church .
