SW News: A month and a half after Salesian pharmacist Artemides Zatti was canonized in the Vatican, the bishops of Argentina have designated the new saint as the patron of nurses in the South American country.

The Argentine Episcopal Conference affirmed in its most recent plenary assembly, held from November 7 to 11, to declare St Zatti as the new patron of nurses. The proposal comes from an Episcopal Commission for Health Pastoral Care, considering that the virtues and the life of the holy "nurse" can inspire those who practice the profession.

Bishop Luis Urbanc, the bishop presiding over the Commission, explained to AICA that the idea for such a patronage arose once Pope Francis made official Zatti's canonization.

The bishop explained that it occurred to him that St Zatti should be the country's patron saint of nurses and after discussion, it was presented to the executive committee of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEA). Later, it was put to the ballot and the bishops voted in favor of the proposal.

Among the virtues mentioned by the bishop is Zatti's availability, who after going through his illness vowed to devote the rest of his life to the care of the sick.

He went on to say that, in addition to his availability and training, St Zatti had been educated, had degrees, and had been trained to perform the service; he was not an improviser. He promoted the spirit of service, recalling how when he needed a place to sleep, he looked for a room with a window facing the street so that anyone in need could call him.

He emphasized the "integrity" with which he cared for the sick, which stemmed "from his faith, humanity, technical capacities, moral disposition, to do things as well as possible."

Zatti was an Italian Roman Catholic Salesian of Don Bosco and a noted pharmacist who emigrated to Argentina in 1897. He became a Salesian in 1911 and became well known for his fervent faith and dedication to the sick. The saint died on March 15, 1951, in Viedma, of liver cancer and his ashes were interred in a Salesian chapel there itself.

Zatti was beatified in Saint Peter's Square on April 14, 2002, and Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to issue a decree concerning a second miracle attributed to him on April 9, 2022. He was raised to the altars on October 9.