Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901 - 1925) was born on April 6, 1901, into a wealthy family- his mother was the painter Adelaide Ametis and his father was an agnostic, the founder of the liberal newspaper "La Stampa". His father later became Italian ambassador to Germany. Blessed Frassati was an excellent athlete, average student, and a pious youth. He was tutored at home by his sister, Luciana, and he later studied minerology after graduating high school. He worked with Catholic groups like Apostleship of Prayer and the Company of the Most Blessed Sacrament. These groups ministered to the poor and promoted Eucharistic adoration along with Marian devotion and chastity. He also worked with political groups opposed to Facisim that took care of the poor like Young Catholic Workers Congress.
In 1922 he became a Dominican tertiary and took the name Girolamo. Blessed Frassati spent his fortune on the poor and cared for the sick. And in his work, he contracted polio that would kill him on July 4, 1925. His body was found incorruptible in 1981.
On May 20, 1990, Pope John Paul II beatified him.
Here is the prayer for canonization:
"O merciful God, Who through the perils of the world deigned to preserve by Thy grace Thy servant Pier Giorgio Frassati pure of heart and ardent of charity, listen, we ask Thee, to our prayers, and, if it is in Thy designs that he be glorified by the Church, show us Thy will, granting us the graces we ask of Thee through his intercession, by the merits of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
(Imprimatur: Maurillo, Archbishop of Turin, 1932)
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