Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Photo courtesy of OSV News.
On April 26, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, announced that Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati will be canonized in 2025.
Born in Turin, Italy, in 1901, Frassati’s legacy of serving the poor and fighting for the rights of the underserved helped make him the patron of students, young Catholics, and the advocacy group Catholic Action. Nearly 100 years after his death at the age of 24, his impression is felt among high school and college students in Nashville.
“Young people are very into social causes and activism, there is a real intentionality towards the current problems of today and the issues in the world,” said Father Rhodes Bolster, chaplain for University Catholic. “He’s a great model of what that looks like as a Catholic.”
A Nashville native, Father Bolster has had a deep devotion to Blessed Frasssati since he was a student at Father Ryan High School. Frassati was an avid sportsman and mountain climber who loved fraternity. At a young age, Father Bolster saw how an average layperson who loved sports and his friends could achieve holiness.
“Learning about him, and not just his interest in social issues and things in Italy at the time, but just his friendships he had. He was one of the boys,” said Father Bolster. “As a 16-year-old, I saw that I can be a saint and live a beautiful life.
“I think it’s a really common tendency for young people growing up, thinking to be a saint is to be resigned to a boring mediocre life, and he just shatters that,” Father Bolster added.
Through the ministry of University Catholic, Father Bolster has shared Blessed Frassati’s story, moving dozens of students. Brennen O’Keeffe, a 2023 Belmont University graduate, was one of those students whose lives changed after learning about Frassati.
“He was just a great Catholic man,” said O’Keeffe. “He was very affirmed in his masculinity, and his service to others was very inspiring to me.”
O’Keeffe, now a seminarian in the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, said he didn’t even know who Blessed Frassati was until moving to Nashville. He learned about him in a book he skimmed through while he was in the Frassati House, University Catholic’s home base for Vanderbilt University and Belmont University students. From there, his interest grew into a devotion.
“He was an authentically Catholic man who loved the Church and loved Christ,” said O’Keeffe. “The most important thing he did was his time in prayer, his devotion to the Holy Eucharist, and the Blessed Mother. The foundation for all his work and ministries stem from his personal relationship with Christ.”
O’Keeffe was influenced by Frassati to start a men’s group at Belmont. There, they played music together, ate meals together, and most importantly, they prayed together. When he took on leadership positions with Belmont’s University Catholic chapter, he looked to Blessed Frassati for inspiration and intercession.
“My devotion to him really grew when I got involved in leadership roles,” said O’Keeffe. “I really respected the fact that he invited people into his life and that was his main way of evangelization and how effective it was. He just enjoyed life with people.
“I kind of based my leadership off his life,” he added. “When I became Belmont’s UCAT president, I consecrated my leadership to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. I asked for his constant intercession in my leadership, especially with the men on campus.”
Both O’Keeffe and Father Bolster said they were thrilled when they heard the news about Frassati’s canonization.
“I jumped for joy in my kitchen,” said O’Keeffe. “It was a big moment of joy. I know a lot of people saw it coming but we didn’t know when. It brought me a lot of joy and a lot of peace that soon we will be able to call him St. Pier Giorgio Frassati.”
“The Church canonizes saints at the right time,” added Father Bolster. “There are blesseds who have been blessed for centuries. The Church declaring Blessed Frassati a saint now is them saying, ‘This is someone to be imitated,’ and it’s important that he be imitated right now because there are people whose lives and situations are really going to resonate with him.”
Blessed Frassati was a defender of the poor and those less fortunate, living and working in unacceptable conditions such as miners. He loved his friends and his community but above all, he loved Christ and His Church. Frassati always stood up for the truth and his Christian morals, fighting against injustice and against the rise of fascism in Italy.
“Catholics can often be grouped within society especially on certain topics or issues. Frassati had courage and stood up for the truth,” said O’Keeffe. “And I think that’s really inspiring, especially today in society. We need Catholic men and women to stand up for the truth especially over big political or social issues. All that we do must stem from a deep prayer life and intimacy with Christ because if we don’t have that, nothing we do will be fruitful.”
