Saints of Our Time · Week 4 · Grades 9–12
Guided Notes: St. Pier Giorgio Frassati
- Name
- Date
- Class
Follow along as your teacher presents. Fill in each section when its slide is on the screen.
An unlikely saint
Pier Giorgio Frassati was born on April 6, blank 1, in Turin, Italy, into wealth and influence. His father, Alfredo, owned La Stampa, one of the biggest newspapers in Italy, and later served as a senator and an ambassador. His mother, Adelaide, was a painter. Neither parent was very religious.
Pier Giorgio was. He went to Mass every day, prayed the Rosary, and in blank 2 became a lay Dominican. He was also an ordinary young man: not a top student, a pipe smoker, a prankster with a booming laugh. He climbed in the Alps and said the mountains made him feel close to God.
Charity and justice
At 17 he joined the Saint Vincent de Paul Society and began visiting the sick and poor in the worst parts of blank 3, bringing food, medicine and money. He often came home with no money, no coat or no shoes.
He did not stop at personal generosity. He studied mining engineering in order to work with miners, joined groups that fought for workers’ rights, and spoke out against fascism as it took over blank 4. He was arrested once in Rome during a protest with other Catholic students. He said: “Charity is not enough. We need social reform.”
He also wrote: “To live without faith, without a heritage to defend, without battling constantly for truth, is not to live but to ‘get along.’ We must never just ‘get along.’”
From Turin to the altar
Write what happened in each year.
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1901 | Write your answer |
| 1918 | Write your answer |
| 1922 | Write your answer |
| 1924 | Write your answer |
| 1925 | Write your answer |
| 1932 | Write your answer |
| 1990 | Write your answer |
| 2025 | Write your answer |
The funeral and the miracles
In the summer of 1925, Pier Giorgio contracted blank 5. His family was caring for his dying grandmother, and no one noticed how sick he was. He died on blank 6 4, less than a week later. On his last day he wrote a note asking a friend to bring medicine to a poor man. Thousands of poor people filled the streets at his funeral, and his family finally learned what he had done.
The Church later approved two miracles. The second came in 2017, when seminarian Juan Manuel Gutierrez tore a tendon in his leg playing basketball in blank 7. He prayed a novena to Pier Giorgio, and a few days later the tear was gone. Doctors could not explain it.
Apply it
A student volunteers at a food pantry and also asks why families in town keep going hungry. Which Frassati idea is this? Circle one.
- A Faith belongs in church and should stay out of public life
- B Charity is not enough, and society itself needs reform
- C Service counts most when it is done by the wealthy
- D Reform matters more than helping any single person
Why is that the right answer?
Apply it
Which choice best matches Pier Giorgio’s refusal to just “get along”? Circle one.
- A Leaving every group chat where people disagree with you
- B Arguing with strangers online until they give up
- C Keeping your beliefs private so nobody is offended
- D Speaking the truth with courage while staying a loyal friend
Why is that the right answer?
Take a side
Pier Giorgio hid his charity so well that his family learned of it only at his funeral. Today, service is often posted online. Should good works be kept hidden, or shared so that they inspire others?
My side: ☐ Keep it hidden ☐ Share it
- His hidden service was proven real because it never depended on an audience.
- A post about service can move others to serve, or raise money for people in need.
- Posting can turn the poor into content and the giver into the hero of the story.
- We know his story only because others told it after his death. Is that different from telling it yourself?
My strongest reason, with evidence from the slides:
The best argument for the other side, and my response:
Iron will
Read Pier Giorgio’s words below. Where do you most need an iron will right now, and what in your digital life bends it? “I beg you to pray for me a little, so that God may give me an iron will that does not bend and does not fail in His projects.”
Think: my idea before we talk
Sentence starters: “The place I give in most easily is ...”“Something on my phone that weakens my resolve is ...”“A friend could help me by ...”
Pair: something my partner said
Let us pray
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”
Matthew 5:6
Lord Jesus, you call us to the heights.
Give us a will that does not bend, and friends who lift us toward you.
Teach us to serve the poor quietly and to work for what is just.
St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us.
Amen.
My own prayer or intention:
Verso l’alto!
Pier Giorgio lived the Beatitudes as a student with friends, hobbies and a loud laugh. Holiness did not make his life smaller.
One thing I learned today:
One question I still have:
How could the example of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati shape the way I live, online and offline?
Challenge: This week, do one hidden act of charity and take one public stand for what is right, online or in person. Notice which one is harder for you.