Saint of the Day: Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati

Dominican Tertiary (1901-1925)

His life

+ Pier Giorgio was born in Turin. His father was an Italian senator and ambassador.

+ As a young man, he studied industrial and mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic in Turin.

+ In 1919, Pier Giorgio joined a branch of Catholic Action noted for its anti-Fascist views. He became active in political movements, but he was also a member of a number of religious institutions, including a sodality of university students dedicated to nightly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

+ Pier Giorgio’s religious views led him to begin to work for a reform of the Italian state based on principles. He became a Dominican Tertiary in 1922 and was also a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

+ Known as an easy-going and extroverted young man who loved cigars and mountain climbing., his deep spirituality and religious convictions were not always obvious to those who kew him.

+ Pier Giorgio contracted a virulent form of poliomyelitis through his contact with the sickand poor and he died in 1925. Called the “Man of the Beatitudes” at the time of his beatification, he was declared “blessed” in 1990.

For prayer and reflection

“What wealth it is to be in good health, as we are! But we have the duty of putting our health at the service of those who do not have it. To act otherwise would be to betray that gift of God.”—Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Prayer

O God, who in your Saints have given an example and brought us protection in our weakness to help us tread the path of salvation, mercifully grant that we, who honor the heavenly birthday of blessed Pier Giorgio, may, through his example, make our way to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For One Saint)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.