FRASSATI, Pier Giorgio. — Servant of God, born in Turin on 6 Apr. 1901, died there on 4 July 1925. His formation was shaped not only by his family upbringing but also by his membership in Catholic organizations: the Marian Congregation among the Jesuits; the Third Order of St. Dominic; the F.U.C.I.; and the Conferences of St. Vincent de Paul, of which he was a most zealous confrere. A graduate student in industrial mining engineering, death glorified him within three days. A champion of social Christianity, he was active in the Partito Popolare until the advent of Fascism, which, like his father, subjected him to threats and persecution. His fame spread through the Testimonianze della vita (A. Cojazzi, P. G. F., Turin 1928), which by 1949 had reached one hundred thousand copies, in addition to translations into fifteen European languages and summaries in Japanese and Chinese.
In the spirit of St. Paul and St. Catherine of Siena, he lived out a Christianity understood as a visible and abiding relationship of conscience with God. By embodying the essential values of fraternal work, coherence and simplicity of life, and the rightful enjoyment of nature, he bore witness to his contemporaries the enduring relevance and continual adaptation of Christ’s doctrine to the needs of every age. At the initiative of Cardinal G. Gamba, Archbishop of Turin, the Curia opened and completed the informative process concerning this servant of God, forwarding the acts to Rome.