THE BLESSED

PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI was born April 6, 1901 in Turin from Biellese parents. His father, Alfredo, was the founder and editor of the daily paper "La Stampa", senator in 1913 and ambassador to Berlin in 1921-1922. His mother, Adelaide, was a devoted and renowned painter.
With his sister Luciana, younger by one year, he attended Liceo-Ginnasio Massimo d'Azeglio and obtained his maturità classica at the Jesuit Fathers' Istituto Sociale. In 1918 he enrolled in the Regio Politecnico di Torino, where he majored in Mechanical Industrial Engineering, specializing in mining with the aim of dedicating his work to "Christ among miners".
Very early on, he developed a deep spiritual life: Jesus in the Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin - whom he particularly honored in the alpine sanctuary of Oropa - are the two poles of his devotion.
He enrolled and actively participated in many associations (Fuci, Gioventù Cattolica, Club Alpino Italiano, Giovane Montagna), but he devote most of his energies to Conferenza di San Vincenzo, where he helped the needy, the sick, the unfortunate, throwing his whole being into this work. In 1922 he joined the Dominican Third Order, taking the name of Friar Gerolamo in honor of Savonarola.
Two months before his graduation, at just 24 years of age, his exuberance and strength was overcome in five days by poliomyelitis. He died on July 4, 1925. His funerals were attended by throngs of people. His tomb in Pollone immediately became a shrine for pilgrims to visit. His body now rests in the Turin Cathedral.
On May 20, 1990, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Blessed the young man he had called "a tremendous mountaineer" in 1980 and pointed as a model to sportsmen all over in world in 1984.

In July 1923, Pier Giorgio wrote a friend. "Sunday was one of those magnificent days and from the glacier my mind went to faraway friends: I wished they had all been here to enjoy that wonderful view with me."
Today, by inspiring the excellent initiative of the Club Alpino Italiano, Pier Giorgio still offers his strong hand to all young people to hold the rope for all who want to "live and not just survive."
He points THE TRAIL where they can, like him, make "every climb on the mountains an itinerary that accompanies the ascetic and spiritual path, a school of prayer and adoration, a commitment to discipline and elevation, combining with this ... admiration for the harmony of the Creation, admiration for God Himself." (John Paul II, Cogne, August 1994)