We’re Old Enough to Be Saints: Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
I was sitting in the middle of the church when it happened.
The priest came up to me, knelt next to the pew I was in, and asked “Are you familiar with Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati?”
To be honest, you could say I was “familiar” with him, but that was about it. I knew he was a young dude who climbed mountains and all young Catholics are supposed to love him. That was about it.
I told the priest as much and he replied by telling me that I reminded him of Frassati. He told me that he didn’t know why, but he felt like Frassati wanted me to get to know him more and gave me a bookmark he had received from Frassati’s niece.
He walked away and I returned to prayer. Before long, however, I looked down at my feet and realized I was wearing Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati socks I received as a gift last year. Soon after, the priest returned to show me a shocking discovery. He told me he took a random stole with him as he rushed out the door this morning and showed me on the back of it was embroidered Frassati’s famous phrase:
Verso L’Alto (To the Heights!)
Thus began my journey to get to know Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati more. Soon, after diving deeper in the details of his life, Frassati stopped being just “a young dude who climbed mountains” to me. Who I began to meet was a guy who was like me in more ways than one. I met a bright, joyful young man with boundless energy and a sense of humor. A guy who went to college, fell in love, and hung out with his friends. He was like me in so many ways – yet he was a saint.
I began to realize that I could be a saint.
If you’re a young adult Catholic, you’ve probably heard of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati before. People do a terrific job of introducing him to young people as a model of what holiness can look like in ordinary life. But, chances are, you were like me. Maybe you’ve been introduced to Pier (as I like to call him) but you haven’t had the chance to get to know him yet.
If you’ve heard a lot about this “Frassati guy” from afar but have yet to approach him, I invite you to get to know him better. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is more than just a cliche model of Catholic youth – he’s a crucial reminder of what our culture needs right now.
Pier Giorgio Frassati was born on April 6, 1901 in Turin, Italy to a newspaper executive and an aspiring artist. Although he was born into a wealthy family, life at home was far from perfect. His parents fought and argued constantly – many times on the brink of separating. It created a deep tension in the home that was described as an “ill-defined nightmare.”
Despite a rough homelife, Pier was a lively and enthusiastic kid. Growing up he loved racing, playing soccer, and bicycling. With his younger sister by his side, the two would wreak havoc playing noisily around the house. Due to his lively personality he quickly earned the nickname “Sonntagskind” which meant “life of the party”.
As he got older his adventurous spirit and joyful heart didn’t stop. Pier was an avid mountain climber and often took his friends on his exhibitions. He deeply loved his friends and even created a fake organization with them called “The Shady Characters Society”. His role in the organization was to play practical jokes on others – something Pier loved to do and got away with many times.
Pier went to college, but hated it deeply. His letters are filled with references of trying to study hard but being drawn away to spend time with his friends. The whole reason he went to college in the first place was to become certified to work in the mines, where we wanted to minister and evangelize the miners who worked there. Pier even fell in love. One of the girls in his friend group, Laura Hidalgo, was the subject of a deeply secret crush Pier carried with him until his death.
In the midst of all these ordinary things, things any other young adult would do, was also a deep love for God. Pier was known to pray the Rosary on train rides to the mountains or when walking through the streets. Pier never missed Sunday mass, even if it meant missing out on his much beloved mountain trips with friends. He was known to be in such deep prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament that, one time, he didn’t even notice burning wax was falling on his head from a nearby candle.
He also took his prayer to action. Pier loved the poor. In fact, whenever he died, the streets were packed during his funeral with all the homeless and poor he had aided in his lifetime. He would take a break from studying to deliver medicines to those in need or to give money to those who begged. One time he even took off his socks and shoes and gave them to a shoeless mother he encountered near his home.
Then, one day, shortly after contracting Polio, Pier died on July 4, 1925 at the age of 24. When countless poor and homeless people packed Pier’s funeral, his family was shocked. Despite everything he had done for those in need, Pier never made a show out of it. This revelation later brought his entire family to a deeper reversion to the Church.
Despite whatever was ordinary about Pier, there was also something extraordinary – an extraordinary love of God.
Pier knew how to enjoy the gifts of life, but he was never satisfied with stopping there. He had an insatiable desire to become a saint. He once wrote:
“To live without faith, without a heritage to defend, without battling constantly for truth, is not to live but to ‘get along’; we must never just ‘get along’.”
Pier Giorgio Frassati was not satisfied with mediocrity. He desired a life that was fully alive and, therefore, fully for God. But he recognized that in order to do so didn’t mean giving up on living. He saw that God had created so many beautiful things, so many beautiful people, and his greatest joy was to bring all these beautiful creations back to God.
What can Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati teach us about what our culture needs right now? He teaches us that we don’t have to give up our youth in order to glorify God. That we don’t have to give up living in order to become holy. That in the ordinary circumstances of our lives we can go out and consecrate the world to God.
Before the age of 25 Pier had already lived such a full life. Everything about his life spoke of a joyful adventure and living life to the fullest. Mountain hikes, practical jokes, late nights with friends, the experience of falling in love – for Pier these things didn’t stand in the way of God, they were pathways to glorifying Him. At the young age of 24, he had already lived a life that was canonizable.
We can live life fully alive right now as well. We can go out into our world and bring it back to God. It doesn’t have to look extraordinary, it just requires openness and trust.
We are old enough to be saints.
If this little get-to-know-you with Pier has inspired you to know him even more, then I encourage you to do so. Seek out books, videos, and texts about his life. In doing so myself I have found an older brother I can turn to and look to for encouragement. We need help along the way, we don’t have to strive for holiness alone.
Now, let’s be saints! Verso L’Alto!
