Pier Giorgio Frassati

Over spring break I read Luciana Frassati's account of her brother, Pier Giorgio's life. I had taken a liking to Pier Giorgio from seeing his picture hiking and smoking a pipe in the mountains. I thought, this guy knows what's good. After reading his book though, I found there was much more there than I thought. What an incredible generosity filled Pier Giorgio's heart! He loved the poor with an unquenchable fire. He sought social justice in an Italy in destructive turmoil. He persevered in faith under severe social pressures from his family and through their own self-destruction. What I thought to find in Pier Giorgio's life was a rugged manliness who found God in nature and appreciated the pleasures of life. A regular Chestertonian. What I found was a serene youth who loved mystic encounters in front of the Blessed Sacrament late at night, a man scandalized by the poverty that surrounded his family's sumptuous lifestyle. I will ask his intercession for me as I am convicted about my own lack of generosity and love for the other, that God would change my heart to love the poor and deny myself as Pier Giorgio did. And I recommend the book: