Blessed Frassati through St. John Paul II's eyes: 'Faith and charity' were his 'driving forces'

(OSV News) -- An avid hiker and mountain enthusiast, St. John Paul II beatified his longtime hero, Pier Giorgio Frassati, on May 20, 1990 -- at a time when the pope himself was still full of vigor, slipping away from the Vatican for skiing trips.

Now, on Sept. 7, his successor Pope Leo XIV, also known for his love of sports, will canonize Blessed Frassati in a long-anticipated ceremony delayed by the transition between pontificates.

On the eve of his canonization, St. John Paul's homily for Frassati's beatification remains a profound testament to the virtues that defined Frassati’s short but luminous life.

For it was not Frassati's passion for the mountains that set him on the path to sainthood, but his unwavering love for others. Born into privilege, he poured his energy into acts of charity, advocacy for the marginalized and a faith-driven commitment to justice.

"Faith and charity," St. John Paul said in his beatification homily, were "the true driving forces of his existence" and "made him active and diligent in the milieu in which he lived, in his family and school, in the university and society."

The pope underlined that "they transformed him into a joyful, enthusiastic apostle of Christ, a passionate follower of his message and charity."

The secret of his apostolic zeal and holiness, said the pope who followed Blessed Frassati on the path to sainthood, is to be "sought in the ascetical and spiritual journey which he traveled; in prayer, in persevering adoration, even at night, of the Blessed Sacrament," in Scripture, and "in the peaceful acceptance of life's difficulties, in family life as well; in chastity lived as a cheerful, uncompromising discipline."

"His daily love of silence and life's 'ordinariness'" made him reach the threshold of heaven, St. John Paul emphasized.

"It is precisely in these factors that we are given to understand the deep well-spring of his spiritual vitality," the pope said. It is "through the Eucharist that Christ communicates his Spirit," and it is "through listening to the word that the readiness to welcome others grows, and it is also through prayerful abandonment to God's will that life's great decisions mature.

"And the young Frassati knew it, felt it, lived it. In his life, faith was fused with charity: firm in faith and active in charity, because without works, faith is dead," St. John Paul said.

The pope was inspired by Frassati as early as in 1977 -- a year later he never returned from the conclave -- when he was still the cardinal-archbishop of Krakow and visited an exhibition dedicated to Frassati. There he coined a phrase that has remained famous: "Here is the man of the eight beatitudes!" -- "intending to underline the fullness of life and evangelical testimony of the young man from Turin," said a committee for the canonization of the northern Italian saint on its website.

Early in his pontificate, in 1980, St. John Paul said during the meeting with young people of Turin on April 13 that Pier Giorgio is "a figure closest to our age," that with his life shows "what it really means, for a young layman, to give a concrete answer to the 'come and follow me.'"

He was a "modern young man, open to the problems of culture, of sport" but also of "social questions, of the true values ??of life," and at the same time "a man of profound faith, nourished by the evangelical message, very solid in his consistent character."

He was "passionate in serving his brothers and consumed in an ardour of charity that led him to approach, according to an order of absolute precedence, the poor and the sick," the pontiff underlined, speaking to young people in Turin.

Ten years later during Frassati's beatification, the pope said that at first glance, "Frassati's lifestyle, that of a modern young man who was full of life, does not present anything out of the ordinary," but this, the pope underlined, "is the originality of his virtue, which invites us to reflect upon it and impels us to imitate it."

"In him, faith and daily events are harmoniously fused, so that adherence to the Gospel is translated into loving care for the poor and the needy in a continual crescendo until the very last days of the sickness which led to his death."

The words "Verso l'alto," or "Toward the top," became a phrase associated with Blessed Frassati after he wrote it on a photograph taken of himself looking up during a mountain climb, less than a month before his death at 24. It became symbolic of his young life lived with the end goal of reaching eternity.

"His love for beauty and art, his passion for sports and mountains, his attention to society's problems did not inhibit his constant relationship with the Absolute. Entirely immersed in the mystery of God and totally dedicated to the constant service of his neighbor: thus we can sum up his earthly life!" St. John Paul said.

A message Blessed Frassati left for future generations, the pope said, is a testimony that "holiness is possible for everyone, and that only the revolution of charity can enkindle the hope of a better future in the hearts of people."