An Eye On Eternity: The Life and Death of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

By Elaine Woodfield

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Who was Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati? He was born in Turin, Italy in 1901. Although his family was wealthy, he befriended the poor and defenseless, the sick and the marginalized. Pier Giorgio prayed the Rosary and attended Mass every day. From this daily contact with God he derived the strength to serve others. He studied mining engineering, and had countless friends both young and old. He excelled at mountain climbing, was active in many student groups, and stood against the Fascists. When he died unexpectedly at the age of 24 the poor people he served thronged the streets of Turin to pay their last respects to him.

Learn more about: The Life and Death of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati in An Eye on Eternity

Why read a biography of a saint? A saint is an ordinary person with an extraordinary love of God and neighbor, who now is happy to behold the Face of God in Heaven. We all need the inspiration of good example. Saints inspire us to live a more selfless life, relying on the merits of Christ Jesus in order to become more like Him. Saints likewise inspire us to go to greater lengths to love God and our neighbor. Just knowing about them helps us draw closer to Christ.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Elaine Woodfield
• Release date: Mar 6, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301504732

Book preview

Blessed

Pier Giorgio Frassati

An Eye on Eternity:

The Life and Death

of

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Written by

Elaine Woodfield

Copyright 2013 Elaine Woodfield

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Other Books by Elaine Woodfield

Book Sample Saint Kateri Tekakwitha

Book Sample Venerable Fr. Walter Ciszek

Book Sample Saint Anthony

Introduction

Why read a biography of a saint? A saint is an ordinary person with an extraordinary love of God and neighbor, who now is happy to behold the Face of God in Heaven. We all need the inspiration of good example. Saints inspire us to live a more selfless life, relying on the merits of Christ Jesus in order to become more like Him. Saints likewise inspire us to go to greater lengths to love God and our neighbor. Just knowing about them helps us draw closer to Christ.

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TOC

An Eye on Eternity:

The Life and Death

of

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

September 1921: Rome, Italy

A prayerful gathering of students was not supposed to be like this.

Italian Catholic youth groups from all over the country gathered in Rome for the National Congress to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of their organization. The gathering was supposed to be peaceful, but the fascist government opposed any gathering of people other than themselves. A particularly hateful target for them were the Italian Catholic youth. So when the young people gathered at the Coliseum for Sunday Mass, the government ordered police on horseback to stop the gathering. Undaunted, the young people walked to St. Peter’s Square in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, and Mass was celebrated there instead.

Afterward, the young people walked slowly in procession through the streets of Rome, many of them carrying the flags of their local youth organizations, and they were singing Catholic hymns and patriotic songs of Italy. The students looked with suspicion at the police following them. On orders from the Fascist government, which had a particular hatred for the Church, the police on horseback and on foot suddenly rushed the students, and began to break up the gathering by force. They beat the students with batons, and tried to destroy their flags, and all was mayhem.

Pier Giorgio Frassati held his flag even tighter. It was the tricolor flag of the Cesare Balbo Club for students in Turin, Pier Giorgio’s home town. Two police guards attempted to take the flag from him, but somehow he fought them off after they tore and damaged the flag. The police did not care whom they hurt. A priest was roughed up, his cassock torn and his face bleeding, and many of the students were beaten and injured. The police herded the young people into a courtyard used as a kind of holding pen, and they systematically processed them for arrest and jail. Pier Giorgio put his arm around the shoulder of a friend, who was injured and weeping, and tried to comfort him.

While