The Catholic Church will soon recognize two incredible young people in the communion of saints. On Sunday, September 7, 2025, Pope Leo XIV canonizes two Italian laymen, Pier Giorgio Frassati (who lived to young adulthood in the early twentieth century) and Carlo Acutis (who lived to adolescence in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century).
Many of those who accompany youth and young adults are very familiar with Acutis and some are somewhat familiar with Frassati since he has been a patron for several World Youth Days over the past decades. However, most of the Church is just now learning about Pier Giorgio as an incredible model of Christian holiness. It is an honor to share more of his story.
Pier Giorgio was born and raised in Turin, the northern Italian city that is also the home of St. John Bosco, another patron for young people. Frassati’s religious faith developed throughout his childhood and youth. As a young adult, he got involved with lay communities like Catholic Action, the Apostleship of Prayer, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and the Young Christian Worker movement, and also became a professed member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic.
Model of Deep Faith and Abundant Charity
In our age, when we are overwhelmed by so much, Pier Giorgio can serve as a model for achieving holy balance. He was able to spend time on joyful outings with friends, while also attending to his religious commitments, his family obligations, and most especially his charitable service to poor and marginalized individuals within his local community (which he often carried out secretly). His gentle nature and generous kindness to society’s most vulnerable members were complemented by a fierce advocacy against the rise of individualism and fascism in Italy during his lifetime.
Pier Giorgio was a strong athlete and skilled mountaineer. On mountain treks, he would spend time contemplating the mysteries of God and the beauty of creation. As such, his motto was “to the heights!” (“verso l’alto!”) He would spend hours at Mass and in the quiet of Eucharistic adoration, but just as long in the company of the less fortunate. This is one of the axioms he often shared with others: “Jesus comes to me every morning in Communion, and I return the visit by going to serve the poor.”
Yet service was just one aspect of his faith in action. He also marched and worked for justice. Taking a cue from Pope Leo XIII’s landmark encyclical Rerum Novarum, he would frequently say: “Charity is not enough; we need social reform.” As such, he would advocate for religious liberty, human dignity, and workers’ rights in his late teens and early twenties.
This faithful engagement with and on behalf of people on the margins, however, ultimately cost him his life. He contracted polio from one of the people he was supporting, which over the course of a few days quickly incapacitated him. Pier Giorgio died on July 4, 1925, at the age of 24. Since he did much of his charitable work in secret, Frassati’s wealthy family was surprised that, in addition to the rich elites of northern Italy, his funeral procession was attended by thousands of homeless, sick, and impoverished people lining the streets of Turin.
Pier Giorgio seemed to live an “ordinary life” to many: an average student, a devoted churchgoer, a loyal member of his family, a healthy sportsman, and a good and happy friend. Yet the way in which he lived that life was truly “extraordinary.”
Extraordinary Model for Lay Catholics
Over the centuries, his life attracted attention and inspired many. In 1938, Belgian Cardinal Joseph Cardijn, founder of Young Christian Workers (who developed the “see, judge, act” Christian methodology), sent a petition to Pope Pius XI for the beatification of Frassati as a model for all lay Catholics. Before he became pope, St. John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla) learned about Frassati from the Krakow Dominicans. He proclaimed that the extraordinary way he lived his ordinary life made him “the man of the Beatitudes,” and as pope, he would beatify him in May 1990. Both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis looked to him on several occasions for inspiration in their writings and speeches, especially for youth and young adults.
I encountered Pier Giorgio about twenty years ago when serving as a diocesan director for ministry with young adults in Joliet, Illinois. My boss at the time, now Archbishop Emeritus J. Peter Sartain, shared his own story of being inspired by Pier Giorgio through the years. Together, we prayerfully developed a ministerial framework for young adults based on Frassati’s life, with the goal of forming and transforming young people to be just like Pier Giorgio.
Imitating his balance of engagement with the faith, our ministry featured Eucharistic adoration, sports, prayer, liturgy, formation in moral and Catholic social teaching, collaboration with family ministries, care for God’s creation, and joyous opportunities for building friendship. As a result, Archbishop Sartain and I witnessed many young adults, under the influence of Pier Giorgio, reach “to the heights” in their faith lives.
Over the past dozen years working at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Frassati still remains close to my heart and my work. It has been a joy to share his story nationwide and to provide opportunities for youth and young adults to encounter him, especially at World Youth Days. I remain close to Pier Giorgio’s niece and canonization advocate, Wanda Gawronska, whose own life journey is an inspiration for lay people as well. Wanda keeps me grounded in my personal devotion, encouraging me to stay close to Pier Giorgio, especially in the most difficult moments.
Now we come to the present. Pier Giorgio still shows us how the Eucharist can provide fuel to transform our ordinary existence into extraordinary lives overflowing with abundant charity. Just as Christ comes to us in the Holy Eucharist, let us – like Pier Giorgio – use that encounter and return the visit by serving the marginalized, advocating for justice, deepening our understanding of the faith, discovering Christian joy with family and friends, and seeing God’s face in one another.
For over a dozen years, Paul Jarzembowski has served on the staff of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Washington, DC, as the lead staff for laity and young adults. In this role, he is also the USA national coordinator for World Youth Day. Paul is an international presenter, teacher, and bestselling author. One of his most recent books is Hope for the Holidays.
