There is a phrase pronounced by the American writer Susan Sontag that has always made me think a lot: "to be serious - Sontag maintained - means to be there, to feel the weight of things". And meditating on the life of Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901-1925), one of the most luminous figures of youthful sainthood of the twentieth century, we can recognize the truth of Sontag's words; sainthood is indeed a question of seriousness. There is a big difference, however, between seriousness and earnestness. It is the life of Pier Giorgio, who for his whole life was a serious smiling boy, that gives us clear proof of this because he continues to be universally an extraordinary example of how faith should be lived: with passion, joy and social commitment.
The canonization, scheduled for August 3, 2025 at the end of the Jubilee of Youth, offers the opportunity to reflect on his life and on holiness as an ideal accessible to all. Pier Giorgio's holiness, in fact, did not manifest itself through extraordinary gestures or mystical phenomena, but in the simplicity of daily life: finding God in the faces of his brothers and sisters became, in turn, an opportunity to Encounter with the Lord, trying to serve with the Word in his heart and a smile on his lips. The son of a wealthy family in Turin, he chose to live his faith in a radical way, dedicating himself to studies in mining engineering, participating in political and cultural life, and above all putting Christian charity into practice.
Frassati was first and foremost a young man who loved being able to give himself daily, through prayer and Eucharistic adoration, an intimate and personal relationship with the Lord who, far from being a refuge from the world, helped him to understand the full meaning of the Gospel story of the multiplication of the loaves (Cf. Mt 14:13-21). Because what Pier Giorgio did in his life was primarily to share his hunger and thirst for God that he had, fully understanding Jesus' invitation to the disciples, "You give them something to eat" (Mt 14,16:XNUMX). Holiness, in fact, far from being a series of things to do, is an invitation to recognize that we need intimacy with God and to share with others the hunger and thirst for Love that dwells in your hearts.
Sharing the need for God helps us to grasp the Love of God already in action in history as in our history: remaining attached to Hope liberates Love because it makes us discover that seriousness has to do with maturing the awareness that creative action is in the hands of God. It is intimacy with the love of God that has always pushed Pier Giorgio to commit himself to becoming a docile collaborator of His will, a sounding board for His Love. In his young life Pier Giorgio lived a prayer that became a commitment, because he understood that the key to love is knowing how to take charge. Here then is Pier Giorgio showing us the possibility of a mysticism of action reminding us how our life as believers cannot fail to hold together Eucharist and charity: loving is a heroic act that needs a strength that comes from Above to reject the temptation to live a disembodied and isolated faith (Cf. C. Carretto, Il Dio che viene, Città Nuova, Rome 1974, pp.13-15). His deep and concrete faith - which led him to be an active member of various Catholic organizations, including Catholic Action, the FUCI and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, through which he carried out intense assistance to the poor and the sick - makes him a current model for us young people, often in search of a deeper meaning in life.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Pier Giorgio's holiness is the joy that characterized him. Despite personal and family difficulties, he faced life with contagious enthusiasm. He loved sports, especially mountaineering, which he considered a spiritual experience: the mountains were for him a place of encounter with God. His joy was not superficial, but rooted in faith, and represents an antidote to the culture of nihilism and despair that often characterizes the contemporary world.
Pope John Paul II, who beatified him in 1990, called him “the man of the eight beatitudes,” emphasizing how his life was a living testimony to the evangelical message because he embodied the beatitude of poverty of spirit, mercy and purity of heart, demonstrating that true happiness is found in the gift of oneself to others. At the opening of an ordinary Jubilee in which we are invited to rediscover ourselves as Pilgrims of Hope, then, it will be prophetic to be able to entrust ourselves to a young man who lived his pilgrimage in everyday life with his gaze turned towards eternity and his hands kneaded in service. Because Pier Giorgio was, throughout his life, a normal young man who was able to show how holiness is accessible to anyone who chooses to let themselves be enlightened by the Word of God.
In a world marked by crisis and uncertainty, the short but intense life of Pier Giorgio Frassati helps us remember that Holiness is a path that is traveled day by day and that its fruits, sown with serious self-denial, demonstrate that smiles illuminated by Hope make more noise than bombs because its echoes are for eternity.
Lorenzo Zardi
National Vice President of the Italian Catholic Action for the Youth Sector
Article published on SIR the November 30 2024