Standing before the casket containing the incorrupt body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena in Rome, Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney told a packed basilica of young jubilee pilgrims that holy relics are “not just a quirky Catholic thing — they are a quirky God thing.”
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The Australian Dominican archbishop delivered the homily at the closing Mass of the weeklong public veneration of Frassati’s body during the Jubilee of Youth, a celebration that drew 1 million Catholic young people to the Eternal City.
“It’s a quirky thing, that Catholics so honor their dead and the remains of the dead,” Fisher said. “I was asked once by a radio host, ‘What’s this thing with Catholics and bones?’ I explained that the relics of saints are sacramentals: Sites where God imparts graces of healing and strength through the intercession of the faithful ones whose relics they are.”
“Through ‘this Catholic thing with bones,’” he added, “we honor the person who was and look forward to the person who will be again — but now purified, restored, glorified.”
“In reverencing the remains of our loved ones and especially the saints, we proclaim our faith in the holy Catholic Church and the communion of saints, but also in the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting!”
The Mass in the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva on Aug. 4 had standing room only, as young pilgrims crowded in for a chance to pray before the incorrupt body of Frassati, a 20th-century Italian layman whose body was found intact 60 years after his death, which is considered a miracle.
“When Pier Giorgio’s mortal remains were transferred from Pollone cemetery to Turin Cathedral, they were found to be incorrupt after 60 years,” Fisher explained. “In miraculously preserving his body for so long, God was saying something powerful about the purity of this incorruptible man, about the significance of life in the flesh, and about the promise of resurrection to us all.”
Following the Mass, Dominican friars carried Frassati’s casket in a solemn procession down the basilica’s central aisle. Outside, pilgrims lined the steps, waving as the vehicle carrying Frassati’s body departed for the eight-hour drive back to Turin, where his tomb is located in the city’s cathedral.
Evangeline Jenan, 16, from Arizona, was one of the few who were able to reach out and touch the casket after it was processed outside of the basilica.
“Being able to touch his casket is just an absolutely powerful experience,” she told CNA.
“His love for God is just so inspiring and amazing to me. And I want to be like him.”
Fisher recalled how Frassati’s body was brought to Sydney for World Youth Day in 2008. “To offer Mass again beside his casket is a real privilege,” he said, welcoming Frassati’s niece, Wanda Gawronska, who has played a vital role in sharing her uncle’s story with the world.
The liturgy coincided with the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, and Fisher reminded the youth that sainthood comes in many forms.
“Male and female, tall and short, young and old, clerical and lay, alive or dead at the moment: Sainthood is not one-size-fits-all,” he said.
Frassati, who died at age 24 in 1925, has long inspired young Catholics with his deep piety, charity for the poor, and love of the outdoors. He famously said: “To live without faith is not living, but merely existing.”
Fisher described Frassati as someone who showed that “faith is fun.”
“Mountain climbing or skiing, study or socializing — all could be apostolate,” he said.
Young pilgrims in attendance said the encounter with Frassati’s relics and Fisher’s message left a deep impression.
Rebecca Calabrese, 27, from Sydney, traveled with 64 young Australians for the jubilee. “It really inspires a lot of young people who are searching for their vocation and looking for a deeper relationship with Christ,” she said, “to see someone so ordinary but also extraordinary… who lived out his faith with such zeal and joy and passion in the normal, everyday aspects of life.”
For Dylan Staub, 21, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the jubilee was a life-changing experience. “I’ve never even been out of the country before,” he said. “It’s just so many people, so many people filled with grace and on fire with their faith.”
He added that the jubilee really makes one reflect on how “you’re here for a purpose, and you were created and chosen by God and loved by God.”
In his final exhortation, Fisher urged the youth to ask Frassati’s intercession for courage and clarity in their vocations.
“Ask Pier Giorgio to intercede for wisdom about your calling, for courage to embrace it, and for the holy joy of flourishing in that vocation in the years ahead,” he said.
This article was originally published by CNA.
