Building a Life Plan For Holiness:   The Wisdom of Saints Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati

BUILD A HOLY LIFE PLAN

+ Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati's Plan:
   VERSO L'ALTO! TO THE HEIGHTS!
   1) ACTS OF CHARITY 2) TIME IN THE 
   BIBLE, 3) THE ROSARY, 4) ANGELIC 
   WARFARE CONFRATERNITY, AND 
   5) EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

1. THE PACT: 
   One Act of Charity Every Day
2. CLIMB THE MOUNTAIN: Lectio Divina
3. BUILDING A ROSARY DEVOTION
4. SEEKING PURITY OF HEART WITH SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS (Saint Pier Giorgio found great encouragement for holiness learning to pray in this way.)
5. BUILDING AN ADORATION HABIT

+ Saint Carlo Acutis' Plan:
   TO ALWAYS BE CLOSE TO JESUS!
   1) EVERY DAY CAN BE A PERSONAL 
   CONVERSION, 2) LIVE THE VIRTUES, 
   3) PSALM 51: THE MISERERE, 4) THE 
   HOLY MASS, AND  
   5) EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

1. Look for personal opportunities for conversion to holiness
2. A Virtue Driven Life
3. Let's Pray The Miserere Prayer: Psalm 51
4. Fall in love with the Holy Mass like Saint Carlo
5. Discover the Miracles of the Holy Eucharist with Saint Carlo!

Pursuing holiness can seem like an insurmountable task: a mountain to conquer which most of us might never achieve... But HOLINESS is for all of us. With Christ's help, nothing is impossible. Great saints start in "regular families" with "regular struggles" - sometimes, they're profoundly difficult struggles. They're not people different from us: they're people just like us but who have a "super-human" capacity to trust that God's life plan is worth attempting and that the Lord will fill in the gaps when we fail if only we surrender our lives to Him. Heaven isn't for someone else... Holiness if for all of us.

On September 7, 2025, Pope Leo XIV canonized two young men to pave the way for a whole new generation of Catholics who need to see how such a life plan can be built - and fulfilled. Saint Carlo Acutis (May 3, 1991 - October 12, 2006) and Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati (April 6, 1901 - July 4, 1921) were both mountain hikers. They both met Jesus on the road, in their lives, and in their pursuit of holiness. They were "regular" guys looking for a life worth having.

If you've never seen the excitement and beauty of a Canonization Mass, here is your opportunity! The joy and the love is simply contagious! Pope Leo's homily begins at 1:52:00:

Saint Carlo Acutis
Our Kids Can Raise Us To Holiness

Carlo Acutis was born on May 3, 1991, in London. His parents, Antonia Acutis and Andrea Salzano, were working there before he was born, and then moved home to Italy in September 1991. They were just a "regular" family: his dad worked In insurance and his mom ran a publishing business. Carlo loved video games, the internet, and hiking and climbing the mountains near his hometown of Milan. Even as a child, he was deeply curious about God, the sacraments, and ESPECIALLY the Eucharist. The website he built about Eucharistic Miracles IS STILL in place today! (See what made him pursue the opportunity to do this)

When asked how she raised a saint, Antonia often says that actually, Carlo raised their faith:

It is well-known that Antonia grew to embrace the Catholic faith as a direct result of Carlo’s desire to understand his own. Like her son, she was an only child. She was educated in a Catholic school, partly because it was nearby, partly because her parents wanted her to receive a Catholic education. Looking back, she knows it also was providential.

“There are no coincidences,” she asserts. “Nothing that happens to us is casual.” Despite her schooling, Antonia had only ever attended three Masses: her first Communion, her confirmation and her wedding.

“I was terribly ignorant,” she says, referring to the Catholic faith. “And then came Carlo, who was like a savior for me.” He was bright and always a step ahead — he started speaking at five months — and was not yet four when he began asking his mother questions about the Catholic faith. Many came as a result of conversations he’d had with his devout Polish nanny.

“He asked me about very serious matters I couldn’t answer, and this made me uncomfortable,” Antonia says. Just around the same time, her father died of a heart attack, a sudden and unexpected occurrence.

“I started to contemplate the future, about what happens after life,” she says.    At this point, Antonia reveals the depth and ease with which both she and her son took their faith — and supernatural experiences — in stride.   

“Before Carlo’s birth, I was really caught up in the culture of our time. I was a prisoner of everything that is relative and limited.” 

His feast day is now October 12. 

Are you a parent wondering about what it takes to raise a Saint? You might be surprised how our children can raise US! Check out the link below to find some activities, videos, and prayers to share with your children about Saint Carlo Acutis.

Saint Pier Giorgio
Developing A Life Plan For Holiness

Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin, Italy on April 6, 1901, the son of Alfredo, who ran a local newspaper, and Adelaide Ametis, an artist. He had a little sister, Luciana who was his constant friend. Alfredo was agnostic but his mother was a firm Catholic who taught Pier Giorgio his basic faith.

They were just a "regular" family, and Pier Giorgio wanted to be a mining engineer, because he felt that those men could use his help and work. He discovered a passion for Eucharistic Adoration and a desire to know God in the sacraments from an early age. His life touched TWO jubilees at the Vatican: the Jubilee of Peace in 1925 and the Jubilee of Hope a hundred years later!

His devotion to the faith of Young Adults in his day has left a heritage of hope in Catholic Action.

He loved traveling, skiing, and hiking and climbing the mountains near his hometown. His friends, however, remembered his laughter, his pranks, but most of all his beautiful and contagious faith:

"I would see Pier Giorgio in church every morning, going to Communion and praying, always kneeling in his pew, so absorbed, so concentrated on what he was doing that I was sure that he wouldn’t have been disturbed if a bee would have stung him. Every time I saw him going to the altar to receive Communion, the thought occurred to me that one day I would like to attain his purity of spirit, so that I could receive the Sacrament with the same enthusiasm and intensity. I noticed how he faithfully spent a long time making his thanksgiving after Holy Communion, praying with such fervor that I was amazed."

His feast day is now July 4.

Check out the link above to find some activities, videos, and prayers to share with your children about Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati.