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Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died at the age of 24 in 1925, is beloved by many Catholic young people today for his enthusiastic witness to holiness that reaches “to the heights.” / Credit: Public domain
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2025 / 17:09 pm (CNA).
The Vatican has recognized two miracles attributed to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati’s intercession that make possible his canonization on Sept. 7. The most recent miracle involved the healing of an American seminarian.
Frassati, die in 1925 op 24-jarige leeftijd overleed, is vandaag de dag geliefd bij veel katholieke jongeren vanwege zijn enthousiaste getuigenis van heiligheid die reikt "tot de hoogten".
The young man from the northern Italian city of Turin was an avid mountaineer and Third Order Dominican known for his charitable outreach.
Pope Leo XIV will canonize Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati together with Blessed Carlo Acutis on Sept. 7 as the first new saints declared in his pontificate.
Het wonder
Pope Francis recognized the miraculous healing in a decree on Nov. 25, 2024, of a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles who was ordained a priest in June 2023.
Father Juan Gutierrez, 38, then a seminarian at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, tore his Achilles tendon while playing basketball with other seminarians in 2017.
Concerned about the long and painful recovery and expenses, Gutierrez headed for the seminary chapel the day after getting an MRI “with a heavy heart.”
As he prayed, Gutierrez felt inspired to make a novena to Frassati. A few days into the novena, Gutierrez went into the chapel to pray when nobody was there. As he prayed, he recalled feeling an unusual sensation around his injured foot.
“I was praying, and I started to feel a sensation of heat around the area of my injury. And I honestly thought that maybe something was catching on fire, underneath the pews,” Gutierrez recalled at a press conference on Dec. 16, 2024, at St. John the Baptist Parish in Los Angeles County, where he now serves as an associate pastor.
The seminarian remembered from his experiences with the charismatic renewal movement that heat can be associated with healing from God. He found himself gazing at the tabernacle, weeping.
“That event touched me deeply,” Gutierrez said.
He was not only touched spiritually, but he was also healed physically. Incredibly, he was able to walk normally again and no longer needed a brace.
Monsignor Robert Sarno, a former official of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints who served as the archiepiscopal delegate in the diocesan process in Los Angeles that examined the healing, told CNA that when Gutierrez went to the orthopedic surgeon a week later, “the orthopedic surgeon, after seeing the MRI and conducting physical investigations, said to him, ‘You must have someone in heaven who likes you.’”
Gutierrez was able to immediately resume playing the sports that he loved without any difficulties. The healing was verified by a diocesan inquiry and the examination of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints’ medical board, theologians, and the cardinals and bishops.
Sarno merkte op dat het passend is dat een basketballende jongeman de genezing ontving, aangezien Frassati bekend stond om zijn liefde voor sport en buitenactiviteiten.
‘To the heights’ of holiness
Geboren op Stille Zaterdag, 6 april 1901, was Frassati de zoon van de oprichter en directeur van de Italiaanse krant La Stampa.
At the age of 17, he joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and dedicated much of his spare time to taking care of the poor, the homeless, and the sick as well as demobilized servicemen returning from World War I.
Frassati was ook betrokken bij het Apostolaat van het Gebed en de Katholieke Actie. Hij kreeg toestemming om dagelijks de communie te ontvangen.
Op een foto van wat zijn laatste klim zou zijn, schreef Frassati de zin: "Verso L'Alto", wat "naar de hoogten" betekent. Deze zin is een motto geworden voor katholieken die door Frassati geïnspireerd zijn om te streven naar de top van het eeuwige leven met Christus.
Frassati stierf aan polio op 4 juli 1925. Zijn artsen speculeerden later dat de jongeman polio had opgelopen terwijl hij de zieken diende.
Pope John Paul II, who beatified Frassati in 1990, called him a “man of the Eight Beatitudes,” describing him as “entirely immersed in the mystery of God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor.”
For Gutierrez, his healing is a reminder “that prayer works.”
“The saints can help us to pray for our needs and that there is somebody listening to our prayers,” he said. “God is always listening to our prayers.”
A version of this story was originally published on Nov. 24, 2024, and was updated on June 13, 2025.