“We must sacrifice everything for everything; our ambitions, indeed our entire selves, for the cause of the Faith.”

Pier Giorgio was born in Turin, an important business and cultural center in Northern Italy, into a wealthy family who owned a newspaper called La Stampa. He was an average student but known amongst his peers for his devotion and piety. His friends described him as an explosion of joy and he represented the finest in Christian youth; pure, happy, and enthusiastic about everything that is good and beautiful.

His parents weren’t religious and misunderstood his interest in Catholicism. Despite his family’s wealth and power, his father was austere and never gave his children too much spending money. He lived simply and gave away food, money or anything that anyone asked of him. He even became accustomed to giving his train fare to the poor and running back home or riding in 3rd class.

He prayed the rosary daily and requested to attend Jesuit school, which his parents allowed. He received communion daily which was a rare permission at the time.

People were drawn to him and he had many good friends whom he shared his faith with and relished in laughter and good humor.

He was strongly anti-fascist and did nothing to hide his political views. While participating in a Church-organized demonstration in Rome, he withstood police violence and rallied the other young people by grabbing the banner which the police had knocked out of someone else’s hands. He used the sign’s pole to ward off the police blows. When the demonstrators were arrested, he refused special treatment that he might have received because of his father’s stature. Afterwards, a group of fascists broke into his family’s home to attack him and his father, but he beat them off single-handedly, chasing them down the street.

He contracted Polio and deteriorated quickly. He never drew attention to his anguish and his last concern was for the poor. On the eve of his death, with a paralyzed hand, he scribbled a message to a friend, reminding him not to forget the assistance needed for Converso, a poor man he had been helping.

He died in 1925 at the age of 24. His family expected the elite to come offer condolences but were surprised when the streets of the city were lined with thousands of mourners. The poor petitioned the Archbishop to begin the cause for canonization.

He was beatified in 1990 and Pope Saint John Paul II named him one of the primary patrons for World Youth Day.

“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’”.

For God’s Glory.