Saint in the Spotlight

When I was growing up I used to think all saints were old, had bad health, prayed all the time, and lived hundreds of years ago. Then I discovered….

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

by Carlee Peters

Pier Giorgio (pronounced: Pea-Air George-E-O) was born April 6, 1901, in Turin, Italy. He enjoyed sports, especially mountain climbing in the Italian mountains that surrounded his home town.

Pier Giorgio loved to laugh and joke around which earned him the name of "Holy Terror" from his friends. But Pier Giorgio and his friends weren’t always joking: they also shared their love for the Lord and their everyday struggles to follow him. Often Pier Giorgio organized hikes into the mountains with his friends, inviting a priest to come with the group. When they reached the top, the priest would celebrate Mass for them.

Like a lot of people I know, Pier Giorgio struggled with school. In fact he was even held back from going into second grade. He had to push himself to study and eventually he made it into a university.

What made him different? It was as if Pier Giorgio had an inner glow that could be seen by others. Did you ever meet someone like that? This glow came from his deep faith. This faith, first taught to him by his grandmother Linda Copello Ametis was reinforced and deepened at the Jesuit grammar school he attended. (He was sent there to make up two years in one.)

His father Alfredo was the founder of a newspaper "La Stampa" and was very busy. He never spoke out against religion, but he questioned whether or not God really existed. Pier Giorgio’s mother Adelaide, a painter, was not a deeply religious Catholic either. It was through the life and example of his grandmother that Pier Giorgio and his younger sister Luciana learned to appreciate their faith and prayer.

There was something else different about Pier Giorgio. He loved poor people and he did something about it. Many times Pier Giorgio walked home because he had given his train fare to a poor person. On one occasion he arrived home without his coat when the temperature was 12 degrees below zero. His father scolded him. All Pier Giorgio could say was, "You see, Papa, he was cold."

Pier Giorgio liked to say, "Christ comes to visit me in the Holy Eucharist; I repay the visit by going to find him in the poor." This love for the poor started when he was a kid and lasted until he died. As he was dying he asked for a paper and pen and wrote out a message asking that all he owned be given to the poor.

How many people do you know say the rosary? And say it every day? No matter how tired Pier Giorgio was, he always said the rosary before he fell asleep at night. Often he prayed the rosary on his train trips. Many people were surprised to see a handsome young man in his twenties praying the rosary. He even invited them to pray with him!

Pier Giorgio worked closely with the poor. It was believed that because of his many visits to the poor he caught poliomyelitis (polio). He forgot about his own health to take care of his grandmother when she was dying. By the time the doctors discovered how weak Pier Giorgio himself was, it was too late to help him. After six days of painful suffering, he died on July 4, 1925, at the age of 24. When the news got out that Pier Giorgio had died, thousands of people came to the funeral, many of whom were the poor people Pier Giorgio had helped.

His parents expected the elite and political figures as well as his friends to attend the funeral. To their amazement, however, the streets of the city were lined with thousands of mourners as the funeral procession passed by. His parents were unaware of all the people Pier Giorgio had helped through his kindness and good example.

In 1990, Pope John Paul II declared that Pier Giorgio Frassati should be called Blessed. That means that Pier lived a holy life that others should imitate. Also some people received miracles when they asked Pier Giorgio to intercede to God for a special need they had. The Pope said:

"By his example he proclaims that a life lived in Christ’s Spirit, the Spirit of the Beatitudes, is ‘blessed’ and that only the person who becomes a ‘man or woman of the Beatitudes’ can succeed in communicating love and peace to others. Pier Giorgio repeats that it is really worth giving up everything to serve the Lord. Pier Giorgio testifies that holiness is possible for everyone, and that only the revolution of charity can enkindle the hope of a better future in the hearts of people." (John Paul II, Rome, May 20, 1990)

Pier Giorgio is an example I can follow. He worked hard yet had fun while following the Lord! I pray that I may become like him by gaining his inner glow of faith.

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