Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati

Pier Giorgio Frassati was a young man who joined to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul at age seventeen. He died at the age of twenty-four from acute poliomyelitis contracted while serving the poor.

Born in Turin on 6 April 1901 into an upper middle-class family, he received a strict upbringing from his parents, Alfredo Frassati and Adelaide Ametis. From a very young age, Pier Giorgio was very compassionate towards the poor and developed a extraordinary relationship with God. “Jesus visits me each day in Holy Communion, and I, for my part, visit Him in my very modest way by visiting those who are poor,” he said. In 1920, his father was was appointed Italian ambassador to Germany. Pier Giorgio wished to become a priest, but his mother, who had other ambitions for him, refused to accept this. From then on, he lived out his faith amid his family’s widespread indifference. He entered the Polytechnic School of Turin to become a mining engineer. He chose this school in order to have contact with those of the working class, and he joined the Federation of Italian Catholic University Students (FUCI).

In 1918, he joined the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, founded by Frédéric Ozanam. After a discussion with Karl Rahner, he gave up pursuing the priesthood: “I want to be able to help, by all possible means, the people of my country, and I will achieve this better by keeping my lay status than by being a priest because in our country, unlike in Germany, priests do not have contact with the people. A mining engineer, by setting a good example, can be more effective.” Pier Giorgio created the “Company of shady characters,” a group of friends who often went hiking up to the summits of the Alps and of the spiritual life. Pier Giorgio formulated the group’s thinking: “We cannot just get by; we have to live.” He urged his friends to live their faith with joy. He told one of them, “Charity alone can be a worthy lifetime goal, fulfillment. Charity, this is the end to which I aspire, with God’s grace.” He tried to fight against his defects: “I struggle to suppress all my past and all that is reprehensible in it, to raise myself towards a better life.” In 1925, at the age of twenty-four, he abandoned all activities except the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, in which he continued to participate.

On 29 June 1925, after one of his visits to those in need, he contracted polio. While his grandmother was dying, Pier Giorgio was very tired but did not yet know that he was suffering from the disease that, in a few days, would take his life. He did not complain. On 3 July, the diagnosis was finally made: advanced-stage polio. Friday was his day to make visits to those who are poor, so Pier Giorgio gave his sister a note, written with great effort, to pass on: he asked to be replaced in visiting the poor people whom he was supposed to visit. On 4 July 1925, he died, paralyzed by polio. It was only after his death that his family learned the extent of his charitable actions. Even his friends, outside the circle of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, were not aware of his significant activity in the service of people who are poor. At the time of his funeral, thousands of poor people in Turin were present in the procession to the church.

In 1983, at the time of the creation of World Youth Days, Pope John Paul II referred to Pier Giorgio Frassati as a model of holiness for youth.

On September 7, 2025, during Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Leo XIV canonised Pier Giorgio Frassati.
During his homily, the Pope said: “Pier Giorgio encountered the Lord through school and church groups, and he bore witness to Him through his joy of life and his Christian faith, through prayer, friendship, and love. So much so that when his friends saw Pier Giorgio walking the streets of Turin with carts full of aid for the poor, they called him ‘Frassati – Transport Company’! Even today, Pier Giorgio’s life is a light for lay spirituality. For him, faith was not a private piety: inspired by the power of the Gospel and his membership in church associations, he generously engaged in social life, contributed to political life, and devoted himself with zeal to the service of the poor.