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April 22, 2020One of the most common mistakes associated with devotion to Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is to shorten his name to Pier - a name he would never have been called. His close friends and family members - those who knew and loved him best - and he himself did often shorten his name but to Giorgio. Remember, never Pier.
Having such an interesting combination name allowed him to celebrate more than one "name day" as they called it in Italy. And so while the feast of St. Peter was one of his favorites (a double cigar day), his primary name day would have been the feast of St. George on April 23rd.
Interestingly, most of what we know about St. George is pure legend. Incredible legends, actually! Some say that he survived being chopped to death in small pieces, buried deep in the earth, consumed by fire, stretched on a wheel of torture and that he even raised someone from the dead. Perhaps the most legendary tale is how he saved the princess from the dragon. Religious art abounds with this fierce depiction. True or not, I really like knowing that Pier Giorgio had such a powerful patron saint to inspire him and intercede for him.
Based on some true heroism, St. George earned the right to be celebrated as a great martyr in the universal church. His feast appears on both my Byzantine Catholic liturgical calendar as well as in my Roman missal. (Like the Church, I breathe with both lungs - my eastern rite Catholic friends will understand.) And so, aside from Pier Giorgio's feast day and birthday, I like to honor him in a special way on the feast of St. George.
Filtering through the few facts about this third century martyr, he and Pier Giorgio seem to have quite a bit in common. They were both from wealthy families. They were both skilled equestrians. They both died before the age of 30. They both gave what they had to the poor as much as possible. And they both zealously defended the Truth.
On top of that, they both have legendary reputations. I'm often amused to read some of the feats attributed to Blessed Giorgio. It perplexes me how the stories come about when there are so few sources in English and most of them are not full of such tall tales. But this sort of thing is a sign of devotion, I think. We can easily believe amazing things about someone who actually did a lot of amazing things!
In any case, it's more likely than not that neither St. George nor Blessed Pier Giorgio ever slayed an earthly dragon. But they surely slayed multitudes of the everyday demons that prowl around looking for souls to devour. And we can certainly use their intercession at times like these.
Saint George "Great Martyr" and Blessed Giorgio, pray for us!
Verso l'alto! ///cmw
p.s. Sending prayers to my little lightsaber-brandishing friend George S. on his feast day. Be strong and courageous!
