Saints come from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, from every age group, from every time period. They offer us concrete examples of how to live as followers of Christ. They are people who have been changed by their encounter with Jesus and can convey this transforming experience to others. St. John Paul II wanted the Church to have modern role models, authentic witnesses for the new evangelization. He felt we needed saints and blesseds who are relevant to our times, people who can show us how to live our faith in the present. Pope John Paul II always emphasized the Second Vatican Council’s universal call to holiness. In fact, in his work Agenda for the Third Millennium, St. John Paul II underlined the fact that the Church is holy and all her members are called to be holy. He makes clear that the degree of personal holiness of each member is not based on his or her position either in society or in the Church, but rather on the degree of charity which that person practices (cf. 1 Corinthians 13).
Pier Giorgio: A Saint for World Youth Day
At World Youth Day 2016, which is being held in Krakow, Poland from July 26-31, the relics of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925) will be brought to Poland from Turin, Italy. Blessed Pier Giorgio was a joyful, energetic student who died of polio at just 24 years of age. He had a special love and dedication for the poor, a love which was rooted in his love for Christ. At his beatification on May 20, 1990, Pope John Paul II described him as the “Man of the Eight Beatitudes,” since he spent his life exemplifying many of these virtues. Blessed John Paul II had visited his original tomb in 1989. He stated concerning his visit:
I wanted to pay homage to a young man who was able to witness to Christ with singular effectiveness in this century of ours. When I was a young man, I, too, felt the beneficial influence of his example and, as a student, I was impressed by the force of his testimony.
Blessed Pier Giorgio was born with all the qualities and possessions that the modern world values most. He was handsome, wealthy, and athletic. He had education, was popular, and had a magnetic personality. He came from a prominent and highly influential family in Turin, Italy. His father, Alfredo Frassati, an agnostic, was the founder and director of La Stampa, a liberal newspaper published in Turin. He was also influential in Italian politics, holding first the position of Italian Senator and later the post of Ambassador to Germany. His mother, Adelaide Ametis, was a talented painter and socialite. Like many, Pier Giorgio enjoyed hiking, skiing, and mountain climbing. People were drawn to him because of his natural joyful nature. Yet he was not interested in wealth, in having an influential position, in power or social status. His love and primary interest was in serving Christ in the poor of his city.
Blessed Pier Giorgio’s Life
Blessed Pier Giorgio was born at the turn of the twentieth century on April 6, 1901. He was baptized the same day because of breathing problems, with the formal ceremony being completed on September 5 at the family’s country home. His sister, Luciana, one of his closest friends, was born a year later. She would later write a biography on his life entitled A Man of the Beatitudes. Pier Giorgio was often misunderstood by his parents. His mother, a high-strung, negative and very strict parent, thought he was too pious. His father, on the other hand, was disappointed with his academic performance and apparent lack of ambition. They both disapproved of his passionate devotion to his faith. These misunderstandings were difficult and painful for him and would last until the day he died. It was only after he was gone that they would truly come to know and appreciate their son.
Pier Giorgio’s spiritual life was characterized by a rich prayer life and a deep love for the Sacraments. He prayed daily, offering a Rosary each night on his knees by his bedside, with his father often finding him asleep in this very position. When he was 12, he received permission to receive daily Communion, a practice that was rare at the time, and he often spent entire nights in Eucharistic adoration. At a young age he joined the Marian Sodality and the Apostleship of Prayer, and later he became a lay Dominican. He would organize mountain excursions with his friends. He saw them not only as opportunities for rest and adventure, but as occasions to reflect on God’s presence in nature. He would lead his friends in praying the Rosary, reading Scripture, and in attending Mass.
At the age of 17 he joined the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, dedicating much of his free time to serving those in need. He actively looked for the marginalized and isolated in the places where they lived. In doing so, he came into contact with all forms of human suffering. He encountered orphans, the unemployed, those suffering a loss, the sick, the homeless, and soldiers returning home from World War I. His work with the poor was inspired by Saint Paul’s words on love in 1 Corinthians 13:
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
In this passage, St. Paul has personified love, describing what it does or does not do. Although the English is translated using adjectives, the Greek text uses 15 verbs. Love is active. For St. Paul, love is not a word, a sentiment or a feeling, rather it is a person, it is Christ who now lives in the Christian believer (Galatians 2:20). It is this love which allows us to behave with kindness and compassion towards each other. Love in action, humbly serving those most in need is the message which inspired Pier Giorgio. He once remarked, “Jesus comes to me every morning in Holy Communion and I reciprocate in the only way I can by visiting the poor.”
Although his family was wealthy, Pier Giorgio was in no way attached to his wealth. What he had he would offer to those in need. He would often give his bus fare to charity and instead run home from school or his spiritual work to be on time for dinner. During diplomatic receptions in Germany, he would gather the leftovers to distribute to the needy, and even take flowers to put on the coffins of the poor. A journalist in Germany who noticed him at the Italian Embassy wrote, “One night in Berlin, with the temperature at twelve degrees below zero, he gave his overcoat to a poor old man shivering in the cold. His father, the Ambassador scolded him, and he replied simply and matter-of-factly, ‘But you see, Papa, it was cold.’” He saw Christ in the poor. He once remarked that “around the sick, the poor, the unfortunate, I see a particular light, a light that we do not have.” He gave them not only money, but his time and his heart. Pope Francis spoke of Blessed Pier Giorgio’s example in his message for the 2016 World Youth Day. He stated:
Pier Giorgio was a young man who understood what it means to have a merciful heart that responds to those most in need. He gave them far more than material goods. He gave himself by giving his time, his words and his capacity to listen. He served the poor very quietly and unassumingly.
Pope Francis explained that Pier Giorgio did exactly what the Gospel tells us to do, to keep his almsgiving a secret (Matthew 6:3-4).
Pier Giorgio’s Suffering and Death
Pier Giorgio came to be known as a political activist, defending the Catholic faith in a society that was indifferent, at times even hostile to the Catholic Church. Although he had considered the priesthood, he came to understand that his vocation was as a lay Catholic, where he could better serve the poor and needy. He always had a special concern for the sick. He would even disregard his own health to care for poor who were ill. Doctors believed that it was from one of them that he contracted poliomyelitis in late June of 1925. Since his grandmother was dying at that very time in the same house, his parents did not realize his intense suffering and paralysis until it was too late. He did not complain, but instead he used his strength to pray for his dying grandmother. His mother even complained that Pier Giorgio could have chosen a better time to be sick. After six days of terrible pain and suffering, Blessed Pier Giorgio died on July 4, 1925 at 24 years of age.
His last thought was for the poor and sick. With a semi-paralyzed hand, he wrote a note giving instructions on how to help his friends in need of assistance. At his funeral, his family was stunned to see thousands of people lining the streets, people they had never met before. The poor, the sick, and the lonely had come to pay tribute to this humble and generous man who had lovingly cared for them.
Blessed Pier Giorgio could have made very different choices in life with everything he had been given and the many opportunities that were open to him. Instead, he chose to work among the poor in secret, looking upon them as his friends, seeing in them the image of Christ. He was a mystic, meditating on Divine Love and this love inspired his work. He is offered this World Youth Day as a modern example to the young, to everyone, as a person whose heart and life was filled with mercy, and whose prayers can guide us all along our paths in life.
