To the heights!

July 4, 2024

I consider Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati my friend.

I was introduced to him my first year at FSU when my faith began to mature. We all hope to have good friends, especially during our college years. Pier Giorgio was the first in my “friend group” who was a saint.

It was easy to be his friend. He loved adventure and so do I. He loved to laugh so hard, he’d have to gasp for air– that happens to me, too! He had a deep experience of the Eucharist that gave him the desire to attend daily Mass. Yep! Same with me.

He had a love for the poor and those who didn’t matter to the society. In fact, Pier Giorgio died because he contracted polio from someone he was giving medication to in Turin. This was the radical witness of love for God and love for neighbor that stirred my heart and gave me courage to follow Jesus wholeheartedly.

I engaged my faith in the beginning with Habitat for Humanity, working with foster kids, and visiting the elderly. He helped me inspire and connect faith with service. He once wrote, “Jesus comes to me every morning in Communion, and I return the visit by going to serve the poor.”

Humanly, he was funny, athletic, and had a deep love for family and friends– regardless of how dysfunctional they were! Spiritually, he encountered Jesus early in life and wanted to live out his faith in deed and truth (Cf 1 Jn:3:18). Faith was what motivated him to evangelize his friends by inviting them to attend Mass first before going hiking in the mountains!

The saints are not boring. They possess a depth that leaves you wanting to get closer to God and a joy to be fully alive as a human being.

This is one of many reasons why Pier Giorgio Frassati is the patron of our college outreaches. We want our students to see that the Lord can work deeply in the young who give Him permission to do so with His grace.

Let Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati become your friend this year as the Church raises him to become a saint in the Holy Year 2025.