Models of Faith for Our Time: Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati & Carlo Acutis
This weekend we celebrate the canonization of two new saints: Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. As you may recall the canonization process has three main steps. The first of these is an investigation into the person’s life to find out if they lived with heroic virtue and faith. This involves hearing testimony from the people who knew them and examining any of their writings. If the answer comes back in the affirmative, then they are declared venerable and move onto the second stage. The second stage requires the person to either have been martyred for the faith or for a miracle to be attributed to their intercession. Proving a miracle is not easy because it requires convincing a group of specialists which is made of both believers and non-believers that there is no natural explanation. Once this step is passed, they are declared blessed and advance to the final stage. The final stage is just like the previous stage in that it requires another proven miracle to be attributed to their intercession. Once this happens, the Pope sets a date and they are formally declared a saint.
I find it particularly fitting that these two saints are canonized together. Although they lived almost a hundred years apart, they are proof that holiness does not require living to a great age or crazy experiences, but simple faithfulness. Pier Giorgio died in 1925 at the age of 24 and Carlo died in 2006 at the age of 15. Although their lives were short, they learned to love well and sought to draw those around them, especially those their age, back to God. Each in their own way is an excellent model for young people to follow and receive inspiration for how they can live out their faith in the modern world.
Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in 1901 to a wealthy family in Italy. His father owned a newspaper company, and his mother was an artist. As a young child, Pier Giorgio loved the Lord and would go to Mass every day to receive the Eucharist. He prayed regularly and loved to talk with his friends about the spiritual life. When he was in college, he would even challenge some of them to games of pool with the stakes being that if he lost, they would get his bus money and if he won, then they would have to go to adoration with him. He was also known for compassion for the poor and those in need. It was a common practice for him to help the poor by giving away his bus fare and then running home for meals. He was an avid mountain climber and the most famous picture of him has him climbing a mountain with the words “Verso l’alto” written on it. Verso l’alto literally means “toward the top” and they succinctly describe his life. He always wanted to be a saint, to reach the greatest heights of holiness. He achieved this goal through ordinary means, taking advantage of opportunities that all of us have. On the outside his life has all the components of any other active and adventurous young man, but it was fueled and driven by his ongoing encounters with Jesus and the desire to love him well and those Jesus gave to him.
Carlo Acutis was born in 1991 and grew up in Milan, Italy. Although his parents were not practicing Catholics, Carlo had a natural curiosity about Christianity and learned about Jesus primarily through asking his Polish babysitter questions about the faith. His Mom attributes her own return to Catholicism to the example of his faith and constant questions as a young kid. At the age of 7, Carlo received his First Communion and the experience of receiving Jesus in the Eucharist moved him so much that he asked to go to mass every day. Growing up, he enjoyed many of the same things that any kid born in the 90s and 2000s liked, most notably playing Halo and Mario, games that I grew up playing as a kid. He loved computers and learned computer programming, which he used to create several websites, the most notable of which catalogues Eucharistic Miracles and Marian Apparitions. At the age of 15 he was diagnosed with Leukemia and would die just days later. Like Pier Giorgio, his life can be categorized by how ordinary it was. He found Jesus in everyday life and knew that holiness does not often require radical action. It was through simple acts of prayer, attending Mass, and serving others that Carlo ascended the heights of holiness and calls all of us to do the same.
Sts. Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati pray for us and all our young people at St. John.
God Bless,
Fr. Randy Koenigsknecht