Frassati expert: New saint can help our lives become ‘a masterpiece’
On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 6, several Catholic churches around Rome — including St. Peter’s Basilica — hosted prayer vigils to prepare for the Canonization Mass of Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis the next day.
One of them took place at the prestigious Pontifical Gregorian University. Among the hundreds present at the event honoring Frassati were the Italian layman’s 98-year-old niece, Wanda Gawronska, and Father Juan Gutierrez, the Los Angeles priest who received the second confirmed miracle attributed to Frassati’s intercession needed for sainthood.
During the vigil, Father Paolo Asolan, an expert on Frassati and author of a spiritual biography titled “Io, ma non più io” (“I, but no longer I”), addressed the gathering. Here are his remarks, published with his permission.
Dear friends, I wondered what I could say to you this evening, on the eve of tomorrow’s celebration, on this occasion where we share our friendship with Pier Giorgio.