St. Dominic Savio, the Peacemaker
Dominic was a cheerful boy from Italy who loved Jesus with all his heart. He liked to play, to learn, and to help his friends. He showed everyone that kids can be saints too!
St. Dominic Savio
The Peacemaker
Stories of a Brave, Happy Heart
Meet Dominic Savio!
Dominic was a cheerful boy from Italy who loved Jesus with all his heart. He liked to play, to learn, and to help his friends. He showed everyone that kids can be saints too!
The name Dominic means “belonging to the Lord”!
Come Along on a Journey!
Let's follow Dominic from his little village to the big city of Turin.
Story 1
Early to Church
Murialdo, Italy, 1847
Long ago, in a little village called Murialdo, in the green hills of Italy, lived a boy named Dominic. Every morning he hurried to church, even before the doors were open! Then he knelt on the step and prayed, even in the snow.
When he was just five, Dominic learned to help the priest at Mass. The big prayer book was almost as big as he was! He carried it carefully, step by step, and the old priest smiled.
At home, Dominic never forgot to thank God before eating. Papa was a blacksmith and Mama was a seamstress, and their little home was full of love and prayer.
Let us pray
Thank You, God, for my family and for my food!
Story 2
Best Friends
Castelnuovo d'Asti, Italy, 1849
In Dominic's time, children waited until they were eleven or twelve to make their First Holy Communion. But Dominic loved Jesus so much that the priest said yes when he was only seven!
On that happy Easter day, Dominic wrote down some promises. His favorite was this one: “My best friends will be Jesus and Mary!” He kept that promise all his life.
Let us pray
Jesus and Mary, please be my best friends too!
Story 3
Never Alone
The road to Castelnuovo, 1852
When Dominic was ten, he went to school in the town of Castelnuovo. It was a long walk over the hills, there and back twice a day! He walked in sunshine, rain, and snow.
One hot day, a farmer called out, “Don't you get lonely, walking all by yourself?” Dominic smiled. “I'm never alone! My guardian angel walks with me.”
God gives every one of us a guardian angel, too! Your angel loves you and stays close beside you, wherever you go.
Let us pray
Angel of God, my guardian dear, thank you for always being near!
Story 4
The Cloth and the Tailor
I Becchi, near Castelnuovo, 1854
One autumn day, when Dominic was twelve, Papa took him to meet a famous priest named Don Bosco. In the big city of Turin, Don Bosco had a home and a school for boys who needed one, and everyone loved him!
“Will you take me to Turin?” asked Dominic. Don Bosco smiled. “I think there's good cloth here!” “Then I'll be the cloth,” said Dominic, “and you be the tailor. Make me into something beautiful for Jesus!”
This place is real!
I Becchi, the farm where Dominic met Don Bosco
To see if Dominic liked to learn, Don Bosco gave him a page from a book to study. In just a few minutes, Dominic knew it all by heart! Soon he was off to Turin.
Let us pray
Jesus, make me into something beautiful for You!
Story 5
Saints Are Happy!
The Oratory, Turin, 1855
Don Bosco's home, the Oratory, was full of boys, hundreds of them! They prayed, studied, and learned useful jobs. And at playtime they ran and laughed and played games, and Don Bosco played too!
One day, Dominic saw a new boy standing all alone. “Come and play with us!” he said. “Here, we become saints by being very happy!”
Dominic and his friends started a club of helpers. They looked out for boys who were new, shy, or sad, and helped them feel right at home.
A real photo!
The real Don Bosco with some of his boys
Let us pray
Jesus, fill my heart with Your joy, so I can share it!
Story 6
The Peacemaker
Turin, Italy, about 1855
One day, two schoolmates had a big quarrel. They said unkind things about each other's families, and they got angrier and angrier. They even decided to settle it with a stone fight!
Dominic begged them, “Please don't fight!” But they wouldn't listen. So he went along with them to a field outside the city, with his little cross tucked in his pocket.
The boys picked up their stones. Then Dominic ran right between them and held up his little cross. “Look at Jesus,” he said. “He forgave everyone. If you want to throw a stone, throw the first one at me!”
Thud! Thud! Down went the stones. The boys felt sorry, so they shook hands and became friends again. Dominic didn't need to fight to be brave. He was brave with love!
Let us pray
Jesus, make me a peacemaker, with kind words and a brave, loving heart.
Story 7
A Baby Sister
Mondonio, Italy, 1856
One day, Dominic felt in his heart that his mama needed him, and Don Bosco let him hurry home. Mama was going to have a new baby, and she was feeling very unwell.
Dominic gave Mama a big hug and put a little green ribbon of Mother Mary around her neck. Soon a healthy baby girl was born: his new little sister!
This place is real!
Thank-you bows for new babies in St. Dominic's chapel, Turin
Let us pray
Dear God, please bless all mamas and their brand-new babies.
Peace Stepping Stones
Stones are for stepping, not for throwing!
When friends get cross, you can be a peacemaker too. If someone might get hurt, run and get a grown-up! Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9)
Pray with Dominic
Little prayers for brave, happy hearts
His First Communion promise
Jesus and Mary, you will be my best friends. Amen.
A prayer to your guardian angel
Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
A little prayer for little ones
When friends are cross and voices rise, help me be gentle, kind, and wise. Like Dominic, so brave and true, I'll make peace, Jesus, just like You! Amen.
I Can Be a Peacemaker!
Color in a dove each time you do it!
I can say sorry when I'm wrong.
I can forgive a friend.
I can use kind words, even when I'm cross.
I can play with someone new.
I can pray to my guardian angel.
Dominic's Special Day
May 6
A real picture!
The real Dominic Savio
Every year on May 6, we celebrate St. Dominic Savio. He went home to Heaven when he was 14, and in 1954 he was named a saint, one of the youngest saints ever!
Make peace with a handshake
Play a happy game
Sing a song for Jesus
Pray for mamas and babies
Color Dominic!
Be a peacemaker!
You can do it too!
Dominic wasn't big or strong, but he was brave with love. With a happy heart and kind words, you can bring peace too: at home, at school, and on the playground!
Dear God, thank You for St. Dominic Savio. Help me to be happy, holy, and a peacemaker. Amen.
For Grown-Ups
Where these stories come from. They are retold simply and gently for young children, keeping close to St. John Bosco's own account of his young friend.
Early to Church. Domenico Savio was born on 2 April 1842 at Riva presso Chieri, near Turin, and grew up in Murialdo. His father Carlo was a blacksmith and his mother Brigida a seamstress. St. John Bosco's Life of Dominic Savio (1859), the main source for this book, tells how he served Mass at five, knelt at the church door when he came before it was opened, and would not eat until grace had been said.
Best Friends. He made his First Communion on Easter Sunday, 8 April 1849, aged seven, at Castelnuovo d'Asti (now Castelnuovo Don Bosco), when children usually waited until about twelve. One of the resolutions he wrote that day: “My friends will be Jesus and Mary.”
Never Alone. From 1852 he walked to school in Castelnuovo, about 4 km (2½ miles) each way, twice a day. Asked by a man whether he was afraid to walk alone, he said he was not alone: his guardian angel was with him.
The Cloth and the Tailor. He met Don Bosco at I Becchi on 2 October 1854. Don Bosco said there seemed to be good material here; Dominic answered, “I am the cloth; you be the tailor,” and asked him to make “a beautiful garment for the Lord.” After learning a page by heart, he entered the Oratory at Valdocco, Turin, on 29 October 1854.
Saints Are Happy!. He told a newcomer, Camillo Gavio, “Here we make holiness consist in being very cheerful.” In June 1856 he and his friends founded the Company of the Immaculate Conception to help Don Bosco and look after new or struggling boys.
The Peacemaker. Don Bosco records that two schoolmates, after insults about their families, agreed to a stone fight. Dominic could not talk them out of it, so he went with them. As they took aim, he stepped between them holding up a small crucifix and told them to throw their first stone at him. Ashamed, they made peace. The story is simplified here.
A Baby Sister. In 1856 he asked to go home, sure that his mother needed him. He put a green scapular around her neck, and she safely gave birth to his sister Maria Caterina. His scapular (the abitino) is still given to expectant mothers, and the bows in his chapel in Turin's Basilica of Mary Help of Christians give thanks for babies.
Dominic died at home in Mondonio on 9 March 1857, aged 14; his last words were remembered as “What beautiful things I see!” Pope Pius XII canonized him on 12 June 1954. His feast is kept on 6 May (9 March in some calendars). He is a patron of altar servers, choirboys, expectant mothers, and the falsely accused.
St. Dominic Savio, pray for us!
The end
You finished St. Dominic Savio, the Peacemaker. Keep it to read again: download the book to print or read offline.