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August 21, 2019I've joked with some friends that they should not die in August if they ever want to be on the Calendar of Saints. This month is packed wall to wall full of feast days! The three we are celebrating yesterday, today and tomorrow each have some special significance for Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.
Pope Saint Pius X - August 21
I've written before about how the decree of Pope Saint Pius X impacted Pier Giorgio's Eucharistic life. It bears repeating:
"Pier Giorgio was 10 when he made his First Holy Communion on June 19, 1911. He would have had to wait until he turned 12; however, Pope Pius X issued a decree (Quam Singulari) in the summer of 1910 that allowed children to receive the sacrament at "the age of reason" - about seven years old. As a result, Pier Giorgio's sister Luciana also made her First Holy Communion that same day alongside her brother. She was two months short of her eighth birthday.
The papal decree did more than lower the age of First Communion. It also urged parents to enable their children to "frequently approach the Holy Table, even daily if possible." This opportunity presented itself to Pier Giorgio at age 12 when he found himself at the school operated by the Jesuit Fathers. There he was encouraged, and obtained permission from his mother, to begin the daily practice of receiving Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament."
Not only Pier Giorgio but each of us owes a debt of gratitude today to this saintly pope for encouraging the daily reception of the Eucharist and allowing us to begin experiencing this priceless gift as early as age 7.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux - August 20
If you have ever gotten behind a car with a few bumper stickers, you know how easy it can be to identify what is important to the driver. For example, when I see an oval sticker with "0.0", I know that person has run as many marathons as I have. :)
Similarly, if you ever had a chance to see what Pier Giorgio had pinned to his study door, you would get an idea of what sort of things were important to him. No surprise to see the status of his exams as he was so looking forward to finishing his degree requirements. But who would expect to find a handwritten copy of " the Prayer of St. Bernard" among a 24-year-old's special papers?
The prayer is actually a section of prose found in Canto 33 of Dante Alighieri's "Paradiso." I won't pretend to be a Dante expert but this is a pretty well-known work in which the character of St. Bernard makes this great supplication to the Virgin Mother. It is because of Pier Giorgio's great love for Our Lady that he was particularly fond of this passage. According to his sister Luciana, he owned a beautiful copy of "The Divine Comedy."
The Queenship of Mary, August 22The passage that he always recited from memory and with enthusiasm was St. Bernard’s prayer to the Mother of God: “Virgin Mother, daughter of Thy Son.” - Luciana Frassati
Another saintly Pope Pius is to thank for tomorrow's feast day. Venerable Pius XII inaugurated this feast in 1954 - nearly 30 years after the death of Pier Giorgio. So, technically, Pier Giorgio never celebrated this day. But, there's no question how much he loved Our Lady and how much he thought of her. "We owe everything to her," he told a friend.
In the biographies of Blessed Frassati, it is often noted that the two poles of his spirituality were the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother. From his standpoint, no honor could be too great for Her."He loved Mary so much that he took delight even in the slightest and simplest things, as long as they brought honor to Mary." - Father Cesario Borla
There are so many examples of his Marian devotion that I will have to save them for a future blogpost. But I feel certain he will be celebrating this feast in heaven as we do on earth.
More great feasts fill out the August calendar. What a great treasure we have in the Communion of Saints! May they inspire us on our paths to holiness.
Saint Bernard, Saint Pius X, Mary, Our Queen, and, of course, Blessed Frassati..pray for us!Verso l'alto! ///cmw