Why Pier Giorgio has not been Canonized

Today marks 30 years since that exciting day on the piazza of St. Peter's Basilica when Pier Giorgio Frassati was declared "Blessed" by Pope John Paul II.  It was especially joyful because his sister Luciana was there to witness it, along with all of her children.

For those of us eager to say, "Saint Frassati," those 30 years feel more like 300.  And, with increasing frequency, I am asked to explain why it is "taking so long" for Pier Giorgio to be canonized.  It seems like such a no-brainer that "something must be holding it up."

If you also feel that way, you are right!  There is "something" holding it up.  Quite simply, the Church must approve one miracle attributable to Blessed Frassati's intercession that happened after May 20, 1990.

Six years ago, I met two remarkable young adults who each experienced what they would consider a miracle: Emily, who at age 21 while attending Northern Illinois University was diagnosed with tongue cancer; and Kevin, who at age 21 while attending East Stroudsburg University suffered a traumatic brain injury. 

A steady stream of reports continued. There was a high school teenager in Nashville cured from a rare form of bone cancer; a veteran in Ohio spared from an amputation; a mother in Indiana prevented from bleeding to death.  

In Virginia, a man about to undergo what the surgeon considered an "unavoidable" six-hour cardiac ablation left the hospital without having the intervention. Hours before, his pastor had  administered the Sacrament of the Sick and implored the intercession of Blessed Frassati.

In Louisiana, a young man was considered brain dead after a boating accident and was not supposed to live through the night.  Following a night of prayer asking the intercession of Blessed Frassati, the family was told by the doctor, "I do not know how, I do not have any answers except that there is a God and this is a miracle."

I could share many more big and small examples of prayers answered through the intercession of Blessed Frassati that have been reported to FrassatiUSA.  Each case is passed along for review and what happens next is ususally beyond my level of involvement.  In my opinion - which isn't worth much in these matters - more than one miracle of what I call "the canonization kind" has already occurred. Unfortunately, things in Rome rarely happen at warp speed and the waiting game is frustrating on this side of the pond.

On the other hand, some could say that 30 years is really not long at all.  For example, later this month, on May 30, 2020, it will be 100 years since the beatification of Anna Maria Taigi who died in 1837.  Her incorrupt body rests in the basilica of San Crisogono in Trastevere, a popular neighborhood in Rome.  Many, many days I would stop by her side altar on my way to or from the Associazione Pier Giorgio Frassati office.  Her story is pretty amazing. She even had an incredible mystical spiritual gift. But she has already been waiting 70 years more than Pier Giorgio for sainthood...not to mention the 1,327 people who were beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II alone!

In the end, it will be God's perfect timing that determines when Blessed Pier Giorgio will be canonized.  So as we continue to pray for any obstacles slowing down the process to be removed, the important thing is to live in such a way that we can spend eternity with him in Heaven.

"O merciful God,
Who through the perils of the world
deigned to preserve by Your grace
Your servant Pier Giorgio Frassati
pure of heart and ardent of charity,
listen, we ask You, to our prayers and,
if it is in Your designs that he be glorified by the Church,
show us Your will,
granting us the graces we ask of You,
through his intercession,
by the merits of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen."

Verso l'alto!  ///cmw