Just a little reminder -- if you want to start a novena in time for Pier Giorgio's birthday on April 6th, you should begin today! Here is a link to the novena online. (It is also printed in the little Book of Prayers in Honor of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.)

I always find it thrilling when the Pope mentions Blessed Pier Giorgio in one of his talks. He did it again just recently in his message to the youth for World Youth Day -- on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the institution of World Youth Day by Pope John Paul II. 

I promised to give my two cents on the books available about Pier Giorgio, so I will attempt it here. First, I should say that my favorite books have not yet been published in English.

I am often asked which book or DVD I would recommend. Just today, I emailed a reply to a seminarian with this very question but his server would not accept the email.

Today is a special day here at FrassatiUSA. It was just three years ago on this day that the website was launched and Pier Giorgio's message was sent forth into cyber world!

Today's feast is one that always inspires me. Paul, a great persecutor of the followers of Christ, becomes, in a moment of blindness, the greatest evangelist for Christ.

I attended a funeral today and found myself wondering about the deceased's last Christmas. In most cases, we never know what our last days will be like. It is highly unlikely that Pier Giorgio would have ever known that Christmas 1924 would be his last. 

If you are giving the gift of Pier Giorgio this Christmas, please note that our last date for shipping orders will be Saturday, December 19th. We do our best to ship within 24 hours of receiving orders but have no control over the delivery of items. Delays are to be expected this time of year, so please place your order early!

Today is First Friday and, in my parish, that means Eucharistic Adoration. Some of you are blessed to have Perpetual Adoration. What a gift! Perhaps it is the greatest mystery of our Catholic Faith -- our belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

How blessed I was last week to celebrate Thanksgiving and enter into the season of Advent with some of Pier Giorgio's good friends in Calgary, Alberta.

If I were a better blogger, I would be posting all of the wonderful news about people and places where Pier Giorgio is making an impact. It's hard to keep up with him!

This note speaks for itself: "I've changed my life because of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Now I know what true charity is. Now I know that the needy's necessities should be prioritized and not mine.

For those of you who understand Spanish, our Pier Giorgio friends in Argentina have posted a new song about Pier Giorgio on their website.

For the past several weeks, I've been in on a great Pier Giorgio secret. Yesterday, the news was made public. In the Chicago Archdiocese, a new middle school was announced for the 2010-11 school year.

It is hard to believe that two years have gone by since the death of Luciana Frassati. Unlike her brother Pier Giorgio who lived to be only 24 years old, she passed the centenary mark and died at the age of 105 on Sunday, October 7, 2007.

More good news of another Frassati Society that has recently formed! According to the group's website, the Marquette Frassati Society was founded by four Catholic churches in the Marquette, Michigan area.

Great news about a new Frassati club springing up at St. Francis Catholic High School in Gainesville, Florida. The club will be committed to fellowship, service, prayer, study and action.

Pier Giorgio's younger sister Luciana was born on August 18, 1902. They were 16 months apart and were raised like twins, she said. I met Luciana in 2006 on the occasion of her 104th birthday