Bob Lord - Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Published by Bob and Penny Lord atSmashwords

Copyright 2010 Bob and Penny Lord

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Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

The Man of the Beatitudes

The Battle is on for souls! Families arewaking up, taking notice of the worlds influences on theirchildrens lives and they are horrified! And rightly so! Theyvelost control. We get call after call commending us on ourtelevision programs on the Super Saints. And they are fromCatholics and non-Catholics, lay people like parents,grandparents, aunts and uncles; Religious, Nuns and Pastors thanking us for bringing heroes their young people can use as rolemodels. The cry is always the same! The false heroes they see onsecular television are not the kind of people they want their youngto emulate or grow up to become.

With God, there is no such thing ascoincidence, with the exception of possibly Holy coincidence, whenGod the Creator and Author of Life wishes to allow us to glimpseinto the plan He has laid out for all His children. We know thatGod calls us all to holiness, giving us an opportunity to becomeSaints. But then there are those He chooses to bring His message tothe world. He gives us insights, seemingly coincidental, as to whomHe chooses and how He will use these specially chosen ones. If welisten and pray, we will begin to comprehend how God makesmessengers of His chosen ones, whom He fills with a burning desireto love Him and with that love bring His message to the world. Wehave traveled far and wide, tracking the lives of the Saints, neverdisappointed, discovering the Lord teaching through these faithfulholy servants who loved Him so, He became their whole lives. Thisis the story of a young man from a family just like yours, in someways and not at all in others.

Our story begins,appropriately, or should I say divinely, as the bells in thechurch, across the street from the Frassati home, peel out newHope, the new Light cutting through the dark, sounding the EasterVigil of the One Who has Risen, in the cold city of Turin. Amidstthe hustle and bustle of city life, a cry would ring out, and oneday reach the four corners of the world. Little did AlfredoFrassati and his wife Adelaide Ametis expect, or recognize, for onemoment, the young man God sent to them on Holy Saturday, April6 th in the year1901, would become a powerful role model of the20 th century.Because he was a frail and sickly baby, they were afraid he wouldnot survive, so his parents had him hurriedly baptized at birth, bytheir friend Monsignor Rocati in the Church of La Crocetta, acrossfrom their home. Five months later, they would have a moreceremonious baptism for their new born baby on the3 rd anniversaryof their wedding, September 5 th in the parish church of Pollone, il CangioChurch, or as it was known, St. Fabian and SebastianChurch.

From the very beginning of Pier Giorgioslife, the signs were all there! When the Light cut through thedarkness, bringing Hope to the world, a little flicker of thatLight would come to Earth, for a little while, but to touch theworld for generations to come. Always ahead of us, planning ahead,God knew we would need a Pier Giorgio to be a sign, a beacon whichall, but especially the young could follow to cut through thedarkness that threatens humanity today! Although never sacrificinghis love and duty toward his family, this young man grew up tobecome a staunch defender of the poor, the sick and those lackingthe opportunity to earn a fair living. His way was not throughrevolution and chaos; he felt called to do all he could do to makelife a little easier for his fellow man. And it was important thenas it is now!

So that the world would know there isgoodness in the midst of apathy and self-interest, the Lord sent arose into the world, which would scale mountains and cross valleysand touch nations, to bloom, in a short period of time, into amagnificent bouquet, whose fragrance would cover the face of theearth. The Lord sent His Word and His Will thousands of miles tobring this young Blessed to tell you there is hope, that Jesuscares, that we can trust in Him! This story is about a young manwho was born at the turn of the 20th century to wealth andposition. The Lord would choose this young man to be acontradiction not only in the world of his time, but for all time,as he brought the Beatitudes to the whole world; his preaching -his life and death.

The Eucharistic Lord was his King, hissovereign Lord, whom he never ceased to adore. No matter what hedid or said, Pier Giorgio was strengthened by his daily prayer lifeand his daily reception of the Holy Eucharist. He spent long nightsinto dawn before the Blessed Sacrament adoring his Lord, listeningto his Lord, supplicating his Lord to have mercy on his friends the poor and helpless he adopted on his way, the poor, the sick andthe disadvantaged!

Most of what we share with you in this bookcame from the two books written by Pier Giorgios sister, Luciana,who was not only his sister, but his only childhood friend. Aschildren they were inseparable, his sister having been born only 17months after her one day famous brother. In the early years, theywere not allowed to have friends. They were alone in the big housein Turin, and the mothers family home in the mountains of Pollone.They were not allowed to talk to adults, so, they had each other.She loved him very much, but didnt understand him during hislifetime, or share his love for the Church and the poor. It wasonly after his death, in hearing testimony from all those who knewhim and loved him for all that he did, that she came to terms withthe Saint who had been living with her all those years.

His father, Alfredo Frassati was a veryimportant man. He was the editor-in-chief, and founder of LaStampa, Turins most important daily newspaper. It was a liberalnewspaper. He was also very actively successful in the politicalworld; he was rewarded by becoming the youngest Senator andAmbassador to Germany. The more successful he became, the more hethrew himself into his work, which kept him away from the family.He never understood his sons spirituality. What we dontunderstand, we criticize. He belittled his values and religiouspractices. One time when the father saw Pier Giorgio kneeling byhis bed at night, praying the Rosary, he went to the parish priestand asked what he had done to his son to make him do this. Thereply from the priest was, Would you rather he be reading cheapnovels? The father balked at this. Of course not! he said.However he still didnt understand.