There is a continuous line that unites Pier Giorgio's entire existence: it is his dedication to the poor. From the time he was very young he burst into tears for the poor, chased away by his father, who «maybe he was sent by Jesus», and he takes off his shoes and socks to furtively give to the mother of the half-naked child who knocked on the door, up to the note written on his deathbed, his action in favor of those in need is constant.
When asked how he can tolerate the smells and dirt, he replies: «Never forget that even if the house is sordid you are getting closer to Christ!». So Pier Giorgio does not love i poveri: love every poor. And the St. Vincent's Conferences – which he has been a member of with conviction since he was seventeen and invites his friends to join – are not for him the fulfillment of a duty of a good Catholic, but the instrument to provide guarantees of continuity to charitable works.
It is not a humanitarian and philanthropic impulse: if it were so it would not have the continuity and intensity that Pier Giorgio pours forth. It does not come from a romantic idea of poverty: if it were so it would not be able to resist the stench of the dirty and narrow houses where he assiduously climbs.
«I would abolish certain conferences of St. Vincent. When there are men who, although full of Christian zeal, prefer to give up when faced with difficulties, it is better that the conference does not exist. Not because people act in bad faith, but because it is not suited to the times.". This is his opinion. His style is instead to never back down, as soon as he sees that he can do something for someone, no matter what the cost.
He carries within himself the warning of the Gospel: "Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about your body, what you will put on... But seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Lk 12,22.31:XNUMX).
«I am poor like all the poor», he says to a friend. And it is true: he has chosen not to keep anything for himself. His chronic lack of money is proverbial, his detachment from family assets is declared. But it is the attitude with which he enters people's homes, when he introduces himself as «a brother of San Vincenzo», that reveals the true meaning of the phrase: the respect, the delicacy, the patience in listening to the complaints of the poor people, the solicitude and simplicity with which he responds to their needs, even those not expressed, demonstrate a charity that does not descend from above, but grows side by side.
Life is a gift: life is to be given. There is nothing to keep for oneself, because nothing belongs to us.
When Pier Giorgio died, C. came to me and cried a lot, saying that her strongest arm had been lost, and she spoke and continued to cry for all the good that son had done for her. She told how thanks to him she had been able to stay on maternity leave much longer, how he had taken care of having her transported, and how he was godfather to her baby and had her dress made for her baptism; how, when her husband, who was used to getting drunk, came out of prison, Pier Giorgio Frassati went to wait for him and took him to work in a factory where they didn't require a criminal record. This is what Pier Giorgio was for the poor.
Italy Fog by L. Frassati, My brother Pier Giorgio. Charity
His favorite destination was the Cottolengo. He passed through the wards with watchful and confident charity, consoling the poor and willingly stopping to talk to them, as if they were truly brothers, as he called them, and bringing money, sweets and clothes, and not forgetting, beyond any human repulsion and any fear of possible contagion, to kiss them like the dearest friend.
Mario Ghemlera from L. Frassati, My brother Pier Giorgio. Charity
No: action cannot be limited to the first, sweet, immediate, merciful, Samaritan intervention of the conferences of St. Vincent: massive, collective interventions are needed: a different social architecture is needed that gives society - and the state that expresses it - a different face and a different structure.
Pier Giorgio who, as a Vincentian brother, visits the families of the poor and Pier Giorgio who militates in the "left-wing" ranks of the PPI are the same Pier Giorgio: the one action necessarily integrates with the other: together, they form the social fabric, so to speak, of Christian intervention in a sick society.
Giorgio La Pira from L. Frassati, Pier Giorgio's social and political commitment