‘To The Top – Pier Georgio Frassati:’ An EWTN Original Production Premieres June 28

By Michelle Laque Johnson

Pier Georgio Frassati was only 24 when he died, but even as a young man his deep love of Christ led him to question everything about the world around him. For example, the many hours he spent in a home for people with disabilities caused him to wonder why people need good health – an uncommon question. His conclusion? “It is an injustice to be in perfect health and not put it at the service of other people in need; to have strength and not use it for the love of your neighbor.”

This is just one of the many things we learn about Blessed Pier Georgio Frassati in a fascinating new film which bears his name and the phrase “To the Top,” which refers to the mountains this budding saint loved to climb with his fellow students and his constant striving to reach the summit of eternal life. The 90-minute program premieres at 10 p.m. ET, Wednesday, June 28, and re-airs at 3:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, June 29, and 8 p.m. ET, Saturday, July 1. The premiere is preceded by a special EWTN Live with Writer/Director Daniela Guerrieri and her co-producer husband Fabio Carini from CRISTIANA FILMS (“Mother Cabrini”), as well as Christine Wohar, author of Finding Frassati.

Viewers of “To The Top – Pier Georgio Frassati” are in for a unique experience. For two-thirds of this EWTN Original program, they will enjoy a movie which takes place in the spectacular Italian Alps. Pier Georgio’s companions spent many hours in various mountains praying the rosary and listening to their young leader’s ideas about life and politics and enjoying God’s creation. Here we see the enormous influence Pier Georgio had on his fellow university students. He had a great sense of humor, which led him to found “The Society of the Shady Characters,” in which students spent time discussing life and politics while mountain climbing or during evenings or other outings with friends. He showed them that believing in Christ and having a good time were not mutually exclusive.

As the young people make the difficult climb to the top of a mountain, we begin to learn more about the many acts of kindness that were part of Pier Georgio’s everyday life. To his wealthy and influential father’s chagrin, he would show up at important events in subzero temperatures without a coat or even shoes because he had either given them to a poor fellow student (one of the mountain climbers), or to a poor man on the street. We see how he gently encourages a young woman who was reading a book that did not lead her to Christ to spend her time more profitably, and when she picks up the wallet he’s lost, we learn that he pawned his own belongings to get the medicine needed by a poor family.

However, his friends tell a new recruit to their Society that they were most impressed by Pier Georgio’s behavior after they were detained by the Royal Guards of Italy’s then Freemason government after a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Catholic Youth. They had attended Mass with the Pope and then joined other youth in carrying Catholic flags to the city center. However, someone provoked one of the youth, who struck back, and pandemonium ensued. Many of the youth, including Pier Georgio and his companions, were then corralled into a courtyard by the Royal Guards and treated abominably. Pier Georgio could have gotten out quickly thanks to his wealthy father’s connections. Instead, he insisted on remaining until all of his friends had been released.

Interestingly, the final third of the program is a documentary, which is every bit as enjoyable as the movie. Here we learn more about the young man’s influential family, his unstable home life, his relationship with his sister, and see the full flowering of his life of virtue, which made him beloved by young and old. These numerous and varied acts of virtue account for the great crowd that packed his funeral, which was attended by the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the able bodied and people with disabilities. All of this caused Pope John Paul II to dub him, “The Man of the Eight Beatitudes.”

Where did the young man get the knowledge and strength he needed to be a leader in a culture where people who made the Sign of the Cross were called morons and where they were often told they had to choose between being a good Italian or a good Catholic? Pier Georgio told everyone who would listen that he found his strength in the Eucharist – and that’s a lot more than a pious comment.

In order to become a daily Communicant, this young man asked the family gardener to wake him in the middle of night with a string so as not to awaken his family. He would then slip out of the house, and make the climb to the Santuario di Oropa, a large monastery dedicated to Our Lady of Europe, to whom Pier Georgio had a great devotion. Everyone on the mountain knew Pier Georgio was there because he spent the journey up the mountain praying the rosary and singing aloud. Once he reached the monastery, he would either attend Mass or simply receive Communion, which was allowed at the time. He would then speak with the priests and the Daughters of Mary before returning home where he would be ready for breakfast at 8 a.m. where no one was the wiser. And that’s just one of many stories about his devotion to the Eucharist.

His Friends had one word to describe both Pier Georgio’s presence at the university and his faith and that word is “irrepressible”!

Find out more when EWTN premieres “To The Top: Pier Georgio Frassati” at 10 p.m. ET, Wednesday, June 28. And don’t forget to tune into “EWTN Live” at 8 p.m. ET that same night for a lively discussion about the saintly yet very human life of Blessed Pier Georgio Frassati.