Born
1886 m.
Died
1905 m.
Feast day: May 11
Zefirin Namuncura was an Araucanian Indian, son of the last chief of the Indians of the plains of Argentina.
After Zefirin's father has consulted with the elders of the tribe, the old Indian announces to his son Zefirin that they will go on a long journey: "I will take you to Buenos Aires, to a white school. You are very clever. You are the last hope of our people. If you become a soldier or a politician, you will be able to defend the rights of the Araucanians. Otherwise, our race will disappear forever."
The father took the eleven-year-old son to the capital and sent him to a military school. However, it didn't take long for Zefirin to be completely intimidated by the iron discipline and crude jokes of his classmates. He asked his father to pick him up from school. On the advice of the President of the Republic, M. Namunkura took his son to the Pius IX College of the Salesians, where Bishop G. Cagliero was visiting in those days. Zephyrin felt quite good here. The boy immediately showed a strong will, and at once his desire for complete and unbridled freedom was evident. For several months, the newcomer refused to stand in line with others. At school, Zefirin quickly learned to read and write beautifully. A huge "qualitative leap" took place in September 1898, when the boy received his first Communion. With the sincerity characteristic of his tribe, the twelve-year-old Araucanian saw this event as the total commitment of his life.
The most beautiful moments of Zefirin's life were those when Fr. G. Milanesio, who informed him of family and tribe news. During these meetings, the desire to become not a politician or a military man, but a priest like G. Milanesio was born in Zeffirino's heart. He would protect his people from the whites and the alcohol that continued to kill his tribe, as well as from the barbaric habits of holding revenge as sacred and killing the enemy as a matter of honor.
But just in the years when the young man's body was becoming more and more mature and strong, he was not overtaken by what undermined the health of many other South American Indians. Healthy and remarkably resilient in their environment, the Indians proved powerless against the common diseases brought by the whites: runny nose and bronchitis quickly turned into the indigenous-killing tuberculosis. After living in Buenos Aires for four years, the already tall and broad-shouldered young man began to cough, and this cough did not respond to any treatment. After learning this, Bishop Monsignor G. Cagliero ordered Zefirin to return to the fresh climate of Viedma, where he himself was staying, and from there ordered him to accompany the patient to his tribe, located in a high mountain clone. The fifteen year old was able to hug his old father and brothers again. For thirty days he breathed the fresh air of the Andes, tore the meat of wild animals roasted on a fire with his teeth, and slept wrapped in a warm llama fur in an Indian tent. Zephyrin felt better, but the cough still did not go away: the lungs were already damaged, and the night cold worsened the young man's health even more.
in 1904 Monsignor G. Cagliero was appointed archbishop and invited to Rome to see the Pope. Zephyrin, whose health was even worse, but who accepted this test with great love for the Lord, asked the monsignor to take him with him. The priest knew that medicine in Europe at that time was more advanced than in Argentina. But he also knew that there was no cure for tuberculosis after all. G. Cagliero consulted with old M. Namunkura. With the consent of the boy's father, the monsignor granted Zefirin's request.
In the hot August of 1904, they disembarked from the ship in Genoa. When they went to Turin, they were received fatherly by Fr. M. Rua, successor of Rev. J. Bosco. When winter came, Zephyrinus tried to continue his studies at the Salesian school of Villa Sora, located in a quiet village surrounded by olive trees and vineyards on the outskirts of Rome. One of his classmates remembers: "He was always serious, almost sad. But his eyes were smiling. In the church, everyone saw Zephyrin concentrated in prayer like an angel."
The treatment did not give good results. In the spring of 1905, the fever weakened him more and more day after day, until finally it completely drained the last strength of the young man. He whispered, "Pray for me, that I may be healed, that I may become a priest...if the Lord wills it." In April, Zephyrinus was taken to a hospital in Rome on Tiber Island. He wished for the last time to receive the Eucharistic Jesus, to whom he was unreservedly faithful all his life. Zefirin's life ended on May 11, 1905.
Zefirin was declared blessed on November 25, 2007 - this is another fruit of the great tree of Salesian holiness, another young man who managed to find the way to heaven under the guidance of Fr. J. Bosco and his spiritual sons, spread all over the wide world.