Frassati on Good Health

Earlier this week, Wanda Gawronska, the niece of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, emailed me with a testimony about his charity. There is a book of testimonies called Mio Fratello Pier Giorgio, la Carita, which unfortunately is only available in Italian currently but which hopefully one day will also be available in English. The testimony is by Teresa Vigna.

“Together we used to visit the lepers in the Hospital of Saint Lazaro in Turin. One day we found a young boy around 20 years old with his face marred by leprosy. Pier Giorgio remained impressed by the sight of this  young boy with an exuberant body, already totally defeated by sickness. “You see” he said “what an enormous gift it is to be in good health as we are”. A moment later he added. “Also, the deformation of this young boy will disappear when in a few years he will reach Heaven. Therefore, we have the duty of putting our health at the service of those who do not possess it. To act otherwise would be to betray this great gift of God and His benevolence.”