Pier Giorgio Frassati is presented as a model for more than a million young people
“I urge you with all the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharist Table as often as possible. Feed on this Bread of the Angels from which you will draw the strength to fight inner struggles.” – Pier Giorgio Frassati
Pope Francis has a dream for the World Youth Day (WYD) in Krakow: help reveal the love of Christ to more than one million boys and girls.
As a good educator knows that the best way to teach deeper messages is by real-life examples, so the Pope has chosen as a witness and lesson to this World Youth Day a boy, student, with whom young people, especially young men, can identify: Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Frassati (1901-1925) was a young native of Turin, passionate about mountain climbing and skiing, and an engineering student. He visited the poor in their homes, eventually contracted a fulminating polio, which led to death within a week.
In the Message for the World Youth Day , delivered through the OAPA, Pope Francis addressed the boys who are going to Krakow, explaining: “Pier Giorgio was a young man who had understood what it means to have a merciful heart, sensitive to the people in need”.
“He gave the poor much more than material things;he gave himself, used his time, his words, his listening skills. Always, he served the poor with great discretion, but without ostentation ,” added Francis.
“Think that one day before his death, being seriously ill, he gave instructions [to his sister] of how to help friends in need,” Francis said. “At his funeral, relatives and friends were stunned by the presence of so many poor, unknown to them, who had been visited and helped by the young Pier Giorgio. ”
The relics of Pier Giorgio Frassati, which normally rest in the Cathedral of Turin, have been brought to Krakow, to the Church of the Holy Trinity of the Dominicans (Stolarska 12) so that young people can show reverence to them and pray to Blessed Pier Giorgio.
In this video, made by Aleteia.org you can discover the most beautiful photos of Pier Giorgio, beatified by John Paul II, who called him “the man of the beatitudes.”
More to read: Heroic Saints Who Died Young
