https://thepathlesstaken7.blogspot.com/2025/07/for-pier-giorgio-frassati-his-sisters.html La Stampa Laura Hidalgo patron saint of parents patron saint of people with difficult parents Pier Giorgio Frassati Pier Giorgio's sister Luciana polio saint who died of polio Turin July 03, 2025 FOR PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI, HIS SISTER'S WEDDING WAS A WHITE MARTYRDOM Pier Giorgio was very close to his younger sister, Luciana and wanted her happiness, but on her wedding day he was desolate, isolated and in torment. After her lavish wedding party, Pier Giorgio waved goodbye to her on the train platform and promptly burst into tears. Luciana was moving away, she had married a high-ranking Polish diplomat and as his wife, she was going to hop from country to country. Pier Giorgio had given her and her new husband a gift of an antique, ivory crucifix, but his parents had disparaged this offering, and in its place they gave Luciana an ornate silver tea set and put Pier Giorgio's name on it. His parents, Alfredo and Adelaide were quite ashamed of their Catholicity, and most especially of their fanatical only son. With Luciana so far away, Pier Giorgio was going to be without his closest confident and ally. Brother and sister had grown up in a wealthy, high-status family that was more like a war-zone than a haven, and they had a very close bond. Luciana was the only one that Pier Giorgio told his deepest secret, that he was in love with an orphan girl named Laura Hidalgo. Laura was clever, she was taking a degree in mathematics, but she was from a lower status than the Frassatis, and Pier Giorgio feared that his mother would never approve. Both his parents, but particularly his mama were hyper-competitive. His mother was a celebrated painter, and the king of Italy had bought her art. His papa, Alfredo was the founder and editor in chief of La Stampa a best-selling national newspaper in Italy. He was also boorish and bullying, and wanted his family to follow strict deadlines, he demanded they eat dinner the minute he arrived home and even a tiny delay in getting to the table meant he gave nasty verbal reprimands. Alfredo often reduced his wife to tears and she used run from the dinner table to sob alone. The Frassati family were revered in Turin and rolling in lire. But in the run-up to Luciana's wedding, Alfredo and Adelaide's marriage was teetering on the brink; they were in prolonged injury time. They were watching their only daughter get married while theirs was falling apart. To keep up appearances, they kept things together until Luciana had tied the knot, but then Alfredo made it known he wanted a legal separation from Adelaide, something which at the time was considered scandalous. Adelaide was mortified and seemed to be on the edge of having a mental collapse because she would be humiliated as the woman who was such a bad wife that her husband had left her. At this exact time, Pier Giorgio was madly in love with Laura, who was pious and lovely, as prayerful as he was, and understanding of his thirst for sanctity. He feared, however, that the gap in their social standing would prove too much for his mother's nerves, make her ill, and leave him with the choice of rejecting Laura so that his mother could recover her mental balance. Adelaide was snobbish, but more so exceedingly competitive and she would have seen her son's marriage to Laura as a loss. She had a most brittle personality and didn't take "losing" well, she did have a bad habit of rubbing her husband's nose in the ways in which her background was superior. Pier Giorgio found his sister's wedding tough because he had not been able to pursue the love of his life, and when he saw Luciana make her wedding vows, he felt sorrow that he would never be able to make the same promises to Laura. Pier Giorgio had tremendous heartache, a white martyrdom, as white as Luciana's wedding dress. He put his mama first, denied himself Laura, died to self and instead of asking her hand in holy matrimony, he threw himself into his charitable works of coming to the aid of the poor, the outcasts, the addicted and the disabled, which he kept mostly secret from his mama and papa who found his antics embarrassing. Six full months after Luciana got wed, Pier Giorgio contracted polio from working in a slum, and for five days he was in agony before he breathed his last on July 4th, 1925. He was only 24. This July 4th we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Pier Giorgio's birthday into Heaven.
They story of the second miracle is a good one! My only concern would be for his zeal for Savonarola. I believe the website said he was greatly inspired by his writings which I was reading were not heretical... It was last September, the 14th, we were in Turin with friends and we walked past his tomb after visiting the shroud and I said to him, I don't know anything about you except you were athletic. A great role model for my son who loves all things sports.
https://catholicreview.org/the-stor...that-will-make-pier-giorgio-frassati-a-saint/ This is a good retelling of the miracle.
I have been thinking a lot about St Pier the last day or two. He came from a very Wealthy and powerful family and fell deeply in love with a fellow student from a poor background whom he wished to marry. But he knew his parents would never approve. Their marriage was on the rocks and the danger was if the young saint pushed his case he might have driven his parents relationship over the edge. So he gave up his true love for the sake of his parents. It just seems to me such a perfect sacrifice, especially from one so young. We naturally all seek our own happiness but it would be especially so in a case like this when his whole future was in the balance. It was in a real way the perfect sacrifice of true love. Perhaps it was this sacrifice that decided God to bring him on home to heaven. It made me wonder what I am doing , if anything that is unselfish.
There is something supernatural about such unselfishness. It is maybe the best argument that could be given about the reality of the existence of God. We can argue to the mind but such true charity argues to the heart which is much more powerful. All those poor people turning up at the young mans funeral. It could not have been about money. It must have been they considered his a true friend. I remember one time reading that if you meet a poor person begging for money it is much, much more important to spend time talking to them and showing you care than simply the money alone. Pier ,must have spent most of his life with them. So strange his parents had no idea what he was doing. It would make the most wonderful film. I must check if there is one.
There is a film in Italian called, 'To the top', (of the mountains) I am not sure if I can find it with English.
At the start of the film there is a lovely scene. Pier and two of his friends are praying at Adoration. One of them noticed that a candle over Pier's head has broken and is dripping hot wax on his head. They try with great difficulty to get the saints attention. But he was so deep in prayer he never even noticed the hot wax hitting him. Sometimes the little things like this raises the curtain on the supernatural and miraculous. I just love stories like this , they are heavenly.
On the Totus Tuus Fb page today: "When St. Pier Giorgio Frassati died at just 24 in 1925 from polio, no one could have imagined his body would remain untouched by decay nearly 100 years later. Born in Turin in 1901, Pier Giorgio was the son of a prominent newspaper editor, but he chose a life of deep faith and charity. He secretly helped the poor, visited the sick, and lived a joyful life centered on the Eucharist, friendship, and mountain climbing—earning the nickname “the Man of the Beatitudes.” In 1981, during his beatification process, his coffin was opened—and his body was found incorrupt: limbs flexible, skin fresh, moist, and rosy, as if he had only recently passed. His remains were then placed in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, where they rest today. In 2025, for the first time ever, his incorrupt body was brought to Rome during the Jubilee of Youth. Thousands of young pilgrims lined up at the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva to venerate him and ask for his intercession. St. Pier Giorgio reminds us that holiness is joyful and youthful. His motto says it all: “Verso l’alto!” — To the heights! Have you ever venerated his relics? Share below! St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us!"
I think the moment that touched me most about St Pier was the immense crowd of people who turned up all of a sudden at his funeral. They say that this was people who he did good for when he was alive. Most of them were the poor. Everything was hidden. Suddenly God switched the light on and all the good was revealed.
