Like a mirror image of the hundreds of thousands of young people who are pouring into Rome for the events of their Jubilee, a coffin containing the relics of another young man -- Pier Giorgio Frassati -- also arrived to Rome this weekend.
The young Italian who died 100 years ago this year will be canonized -- along with the first millennial saint -- on September 7. But his relics have come to Rome as a special gift for the Jubilee of Youth.
The coffin is resting in one of Rome's favorite churches entrusted to the Dominicans, the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and will stay there until August 4.
It's the perfect place for Frassati, as he was a Third Order Dominican, and also in the church rests the relics of St. Catherine of Siena, a Third Order Dominican like him, and to whom he was particularly devoted.
2 lessons for today
At a Mass on July 26, the cardinal vicar of Rome, Baldo Reina, welcomed the relics and reflected on what the soon-to-be canonized saint says to young people today.
First off, suggested the cardinal, the saint of 100 years ago teaches what true socializing is about. We are enslaved by "social" media, Cardinal Reina said, but it doesn't give a true form of socializing. That, he said, is found in love for the poor. Social media is "a minefield where we risk wasting a lot of energy," the cardinal warned. "Pier Giorgio tells us that if we want to socialize, we must do so with the poor."
Related to this idea is the plague of loneliness, in a world where all the "connections" of new media only leave young people feeling more alone.
“We are tempted to think that we are united because we are hyperconnected,” he said, "but we are alone, with a loneliness that kills. Pier Giorgio teaches us the power of prayer to ensure that loneliness does not become isolation."
Members of both the spiritual and physical family of Pier Giorgio were in attendance. For the spiritual family, the Dominicans, receiving the relics is like welcoming home a family member.
Father Fabrizio Cambi, prior of the convent of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, spoke of Pier Giorgio as "a brother who has returned home."
If you don't know Pier Giorgio's story, read a short biography here.
And be inspired by some of his own words here.
