by Angelo Bonaguro - Pier Giorgio Frassati was a spiritual model for many Christians in the socialist bloc: his "clandestine" charity toward the poor mirrored the plight of believers under the regime. Thus, in Czechoslovakia, he inspired youth groups, and in Poland, his memory spread through his sister Luciana and the devotion of Karol Wojtyła.
Pier Giorgio Frassati, born in Turin on April 6, 1901, came from an upper-middle-class family: his father, Alfredo, was a well-known journalist, founder and editor of the newspaper La Stampa , as well as a senator of the Kingdom of Italy; his mother, Adelaide Ametis, was an accomplished painter. Despite his wealthy background, Pier Giorgio chose to live a simple life and dedicate himself entirely to his faith and service to others. The pillars of his spirituality were his love for the Eucharist, which he received daily, and his devotion to the Virgin Mary, whom he honored by reciting the rosary in the street or on mountain trails.
Frassati devoted much of his free time to charitable activities, especially through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which helped the poor, the sick, and orphans. His death on July 4, 1925, at just 24 years old, was caused by polio, which he likely contracted while caring for the sick in Turin's slums.
He was a young man with a multifaceted personality, also active in politics, culture, and sports. He had a strong passion for mountaineering, closely linked to his spiritual life, according to his motto, "Upward": an ideal that drove him to scale the peaks and symbolized his unstoppable spiritual ascent toward God, demonstrating how faith can be lived in joy, friendship, and the fullness of daily life.
A significant aspect of his life is the discreet and "secret" nature of his apostolate: despite his intense commitment, his family was not fully aware of their son's charitable work, as Pope Francis recalled in his message to the 2016 World Youth Day: "Piergiorgio was a young man who understood what it means to have a merciful heart, sensitive to those most in need. He gave them much more than material things; he gave of himself, he gave of his time, his words, his ability to listen. (...) At his funeral, his family and friends were astonished by the presence of so many poor people, unknown to them, who had been cared for and helped by the young man."
Frassati and the East
This "clandestine" nature of his service, which reflected a deliberate choice of humility, is an element that brought him closer to the context in which Christians in socialist countries found themselves operating: under a regime in which the faith was persecuted and its practice was considered an act of subversion, Frassati's example demonstrated that the pursuit of holiness could not only survive but grow in the shadows, far from public recognition and even in the absence of a regular sacramental life or public parish structures, as often happened in the so-called "clandestine" Church.
In an article published in 1986 in Studie (a periodical of Czechoslovak emigrants) and also picked up by Slovak samizdat , historian and diplomat Václav Vaško recalled that in the early 40s, in Slovakia under Nazi protectorate, when young people from Father Andrej Hlinka's People's Party (a group with clerico-fascist and nationalist leanings) visited Italy to learn about the fascist youth movement, they were, contrary to expectations, deeply disturbed by the experience, recognizing the incompatibility between fascism and Christian ideals. This reaction led to the creation of a religious circle named after Frassati and led by Father Ján Hutyra, who later fell victim to communist totalitarianism. "The members cultivated personal growth, sought to deepen their religious and philosophical formation, so as to be able to confront ideologies with evangelical apostolate," Vaško wrote, "and to work both within their own circles and in existing student organizations."
Young people who a few years later would become leaders of the clandestine apostolate took part in the same Frassati circle, such as Vladimír Jukl and Silvester Krčméry: «Many of us – wrote Krčméry – were struck by the story of the young Christian Pier Giorgio Frassati, and literally absorbed his lifestyle. His active commitment and love for the Church and for people touched us deeply. We wanted to be like him: faithful in study, joyful in community life and capable of responding to the challenges of our time (…. ). His story was also a balm for the painful wounds of many of us [he refers to the period of the Nazi protectorate in Slovakia – ed]. (…) The silent fear we carried inside was tamed by hope, by youth, and by the Good News. In the Frassati circle, we sought and discovered ourselves; the courage of that young man allowed us to judge our weakness, we desired his same strength and to be able to commit ourselves like him. (…) What we were looking for, however, was not something superficial, we wanted something more.
It was that "upward movement" that, starting in the 70s, especially in Slovakia, took concrete form among young believers, who found hiking and mountaineering among the few activities that allowed a certain freedom of movement and encounters in isolated places. It's plausible that, guided by adults who had learned their trade in communist prisons, young Slovaks found in Frassati a model for their activities, combining physical practice with spiritual growth.
The spread of the cult of the young man from Turin during this period left little trace in samizdat , which is not surprising: his figure spread clandestinely and informally through word of mouth, stories told by friends and family, and the underground circulation of copies of the only biography then existing in Czechoslovakia, namely the translation of the text by his first biographer, Don Antonio Cojazzi, published in 1934 and reprinted for the last time in 1947.
The Dominican Order, which had been a discreet but important presence in the Czech and Slovak lands for centuries, also contributed to keeping his memory alive. It was suppressed along with the other Orders in the early 50s. Here too, Pier Giorgio, a member of the Third Dominican Order, represented an example of consecrated lay life that could be lived even in clandestine conditions.
More recently, Frassati's beatification by John Paul II on May 20, 1990, a few months after the collapse of totalitarian regimes in Central Europe, marked a significant moment in his cult; equally significant was the visit to Bratislava of the saint's relics, displayed during WYD 2016.
Sister Luciana and Don Karol
In Poland, Frassati's reception during the communist era was enriched by other elements, thanks also to the greater freedom of action that the Church was able to enjoy.
The saint's memory was preserved and transmitted through two distinct but related channels: a direct family connection and a spiritual path. The first is linked to Pier Giorgio's sister, Luciana. A writer and poet, in 1925 she married Polish diplomat Jan Gawroński, establishing a deep personal and cultural bond with Poland. She lived in Warsaw and Vienna, witnessing the tragic events that struck Europe and Poland during the 20th century. During the Second World War, she distinguished herself for her courage, acting as an emissary of the Polish government-in-exile in London: using her Italian passport, she carried out several missions in Nazi-occupied Poland, collaborating in the liberation of arrested university professors and helping to save lives. Thus, her figure, and, in turn, that of her brother, remained present among the ranks of the intelligentsia.
The second channel, which proved to be the most influential and far-reaching, was Karol Wojtyła's deep devotion to Frassati. This bond was formed when the future pope first heard about the young man from the Dominican friars in Wadowice.
Frassati, who combined a life of prayer, a sense of social responsibility, and a passion for the mountains, corresponded to the ideals Wojtyła later put into practice both as a simple priest and as Cardinal of Kraków. The informal environment of university chaplaincies became fertile ground for this spiritual transmission. Wojtyła, as a pastor of students and intellectuals, saw in Frassati a model of integrated faith that responded to the challenges of the time.
In March 1977, during the inauguration of an exhibition on Pier Giorgio promoted by the Dominicans, he stated that "he can be considered, even if he has not yet ascended to the altars, as a patron, the spiritual guide of academic youth, including that of the current generation," a model that offered a valid alternative to the materialist Marxist ideology that instead ostracized him: he had been an intellectual, a member of a wealthy family, a political activist, and a believer in lay life who had lived his faith openly and radically, not as a relic of the past or a private matter, but as a dynamic force capable of transforming the present. Therefore, even the main works about him, including the biography written by his sister Luciana, could only be published in Poland after the fall of the regime.
During his beatification, John Paul II presented Frassati not only as a model of virtue, but as a "man of the Beatitudes," "a living witness and courageous defender of hope on behalf of young Christians of the twentieth century." This speech confirmed the experience of young Poles who had kept their faith alive despite the hardships imposed by the regime, and confirmed that he was a figure to be emulated in a country searching for its new identity.
The beatification also provided the impetus for the creation of youth associations inspired by Frassati's spirituality, such as the "shady types" (Towarzystwo Ciemnych Typów) groups, which still today use the playful name of the "company" founded by Frassati in 1924 to stay in touch with friends, as it was the last year before graduation. These communities combine prayer, service to the poor, and a passion for the mountains, emulating the saint's model of life, and organize pilgrimages in Italy in the footsteps of Pier Giorgio. His sister Luciana recalled that "beneath the group's humorous statute lay higher goals," the aspiration for a deep friendship, founded on the bond of prayer and faith: "I would like us to swear a pact that knows no earthly boundaries or temporal limits: unity in prayer," Pier Giorgio explained to a friend.
Finally, the existence of associations such as the Frassatianum at the university chaplaincy in Lublin testifies that his figure continues to inspire the education of young Catholics because "living without faith, without a heritage to defend, without supporting a fight for the Truth is not living but just eking out a living."
Article published in La nuova Europa