20th century
Feast: July 4
His wealthy family thought he was blowing his allowance on fun — he was secretly giving it all to the poor. He contracted polio from a sick family he was caring for and died at twenty-four.
Pier Giorgio Frassati was the son of the founder of La Stampa, one of Italy's most important newspapers. He grew up wealthy, educated, and surrounded by political influence. He was also physically striking — tall, athletic, a passionate mountaineer who organized hiking trips with his friends under the name 'The Shady Characters.' He smoked a pipe, told terrible jokes, and was the kind of person who made every room better by walking into it. What his family didn't fully understand was that Pier Giorgio was giving away most of his money. He visited the sick in Turin's poorest neighborhoods, carried coal to freezing families, paid rent for people facing eviction, and did all of it quietly. He joined the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Catholic student movement Azione Cattolica, and he spoke openly against Mussolini's fascism at a time when that was dangerous. In the summer of 1925, he contracted poliomyelitis — almost certainly from one of the sick families he was visiting. His family didn't realize how ill he was until it was too late; they had been preoccupied with his grandmother's death. He died on July 4, 1925, at twenty-four. After his death, his family was stunned by the hundreds of poor people who showed up at the funeral — people they had never heard of, all saying Pier Giorgio had helped them.