Pier Giorgio Frassati
1901-1925 20th century Feast day: July 4
Faith as an upward drive: friendship, mountains and charity pursued with the same ardor.
Who was Pier Giorgio Frassati?
A Turin student, son of an agnostic senator who founded the daily La Stampa, he divided his days between the mountains, his friends, political engagement, and the poor he visited in secret. Carried off at twenty-four by fulminant polio, most likely caught among his sick, he was mourned by a crowd of poor people his family did not know. He was canonized in 2025.
In their own words
To live without a faith, without a patrimony to defend, without sustaining the truth in a continual struggle, is not living but getting by.
Toward the heights.
The day of my death will be the most beautiful day of my life.