Saints, stamps, and sleepy cinema
I hadn’t realized that Pier Giorgio Frassati was finally canonized last September. A native of Turin, he was an early 1920s social activist and a Dominican tertiary. In the 1990s, Pope John Paul II named him the patron of World Youth Day, as well as of youth, young adults, students, mountaineers, and Catholic activists.
I’ve always admired him—he was strikingly handsome, the kind of figure who could easily have been a silent film actor. But given his firm opposition to Fascism, that path was never truly open to him. His life unfolded at a very different moment in Italian history: as the film industry struggled, the rising Fascist regime steered cinema toward control and propaganda, while Pier Giorgio stood resolutely against the Blackshirts.
I felt I had to have a souvenir from his canonization. It wasn’t easy to obtain directly from Poste Italiane, but I managed it in the end.
Here is the official philatelic folder, along with a postcard and a philatelic card:
Together with Saint Pier Giorgio, Carlo Acutis was also canonized. I don’t know much about him yet, but he is often described as the “first millennial saint” and a “cyber-apostle.” He died in 2006 at the age of 15, and his body is said to be incorrupt. I also managed to obtain the official Poste Italiane philatelic folder featuring him:
The canonizations were widely seen as a significant event for young Catholics, underscoring the importance of God and holiness in their lives.
Oh, by the way—before all this, the only memento I had of Saint Pier Giorgio was a postcard from the 2002 World Youth Day, which I had kept since before my ordination to the priesthood:
I’ve also kept this DVD from Ignatius Press, a film about Pier Giorgio from the early 90s:
Ignatius Press “movies” are, as a rule, admirably slow-paced, and this portrayal of Saint Pier Giorgio is no exception—it achieves that rare cinematic feat of making time feel even more spacious than it already is, while also edging piously into snore fest territory.
And then there is the casting choice: Antonio Sabato Jr.—former Calvin Klein underwear model and Melrose Place actor—steps into the role of the saint. One can only admire the edginess of the decision. He looks nothing like Pier Giorgio, and the performance never quite overcomes that small detail. Any attempt to convey Pier Giorgio’s purity and innocence ends up feeling, at best, aspirational.