St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, canonized a saint by Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, Sept. 7, has made an impact extending to the Diocese of Columbus.
The young saint (1901-1925), who died at age 24, has inspired a new generation of young Catholics to follow Christ. Many apostolates have been created with his name, including in Columbus.
The Columbus Frassati Society was founded in 2013 by Dominican friars and young adult leaders at Columbus St. Patrick Church under the director of the then-pastor.
Today, more than 300 young adults are on the group’s e-mail list, with about 70 regularly participating in various events throughout the year.
“We try to model ourselves after Pier Giorgio Frassati,” member Sarah Spaulding said.
The group follows in the young saint’s footsteps, seeking to bring the whole person to Christ through Adoration, study, community, charitable activity and love of the outdoors, much like St. Pier Giorgio did.
St. Pier Giorgio Frassati was born to a prominent family in Turin, Italy. He lived a deep life of faith and joined the Dominican Third Order.
He spent much time outdoors and was an avid mountain climber, climbing Alpine peaks. He regularly organized trips to the mountains with time for prayer and conversations about faith.
The young saint also served the poor, distributing food and medicine to the needy in the poorest areas of Turin.
“He built community in his area and was very active in serving his community, and he loved to go hiking in the mountains and so forth. That love of the outdoors, I think, is something that makes us a little bit different from other groups,” Spaulding said of the Columbus Frassati Society. “We intentionally make a point of emphasizing that.”
The local society has expanded to serve young adults at St. Patrick and other area parishes. Young adults ages 21-35, single or married, are invited to join.
The group is producing vocations. In 2024, two couples who met through the Frassati Society, Matt and Marie Jasiewicz, and Aedan and Emily Maloney, married.
For Spaulding, being part of the group has been nothing short of a blessing.
“Having access to friends that share those same beliefs and values that I have, I think that’s been a tremendous encouragement for trying to live out my young adult years in a right way,” she said. “I’ve been able to learn a lot about our faith through people in our group, too.”
Spaulding has been part of the group since 2017. She was raised in Dayton and graduated from Ohio State University in 2014, residing in Columbus since then.
Growing up, Spaulding said, her Catholic faith consisted of attending Mass on Sunday and praying before meals. Being part of the Frassati Society exposed her to faithful Catholics who encouraged her to go deeper in faith.
She said the group was great for meeting people her age post-college. The society’s events typically draw various attendees each time.
Its most widely attended event is “Christ in the City,” a monthly Holy Hour on fourth Thursdays at 7 p.m. at St. Patrick. It includes Night Prayer (part of the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours), the sacrament of reconciliation and socialization afterward at a local restaurant.
With the support of the Dominican friars at St. Patrick, the group has hosted the event almost every month since it was started in 2013.
The Frassati Society organizes varied activities each month, many depending on the time of year.
Outdoor events include camping trips, hikes and kayaking every summer. The group also organizes cultural events – another interest of St. Pier Giorgio – such as going to symphonies and cinema nights.
For about five years, the Frassati Society has held a book club that meets weekly.
Imitating St. Pier Giorgio, the group engages in services projects, typically monthly. Volunteer work has included babysitting foster youth, providing foster parents a break and quality time together through Alicia’s Closet, a central Ohio non-profit organization benefitting foster families.
Columbus Frassati Society attendees sometimes meet for brunch after Sunday Mass. Group members often attend Mass together at various parishes.
“If we see each other at church, we’ll sit together sometimes because it can be hard when you walk into church and you feel like it’s mostly families, like everybody who’s there is with somebody,” Spaulding said. “It’s been great to have that context for knowing more people and not feeling as alone.”
The group organizes events that draw many outside individuals, not only regular group members.
The society had a ballroom dancing crash course and social party at a local ballroom, attracting about 40 people, many of whom were not regulars. A Catholic speed dating event, organized by professional dating coach Monica Braun, drew 50 young adults from across Ohio.
The Columbus Frassati Society has ventured out of the diocese for a pilgrimage to the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky. The group also traveled to Pittsburgh to visit St. Anthony Chapel, which houses a vast collection of relics; St. Stanislaus Kostka, a historic Polish church; and St. Patrick, the first Catholic church established in Pittsburgh that includes “Holy Stairs,” a replica of the original at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome.
St. Pier Giorgio Frassati was originally set to be canonized on Aug. 3 during the Jubilee of Youth, part of the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year. His canonization was rescheduled to Sept. 7, taking place with St. Carlo Acutis, another young saint, who died at age 15.
“I hope it gets more people interested and attracted to what our mission is, too,” Spaulding said of the recent canonization.
St. Pier Giorgio is the patron saint of students, young Catholics and youth groups.
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