His Eucharistic Devotion

Pier Giorgio received his first Holy Communion on June 19, 1911.  He was 10 years old.  At age 12, he began the practice of daily Communion. This "appointment with the Lord" was one he faithfully kept with few exceptions until he received his last Holy Communion on July 3, 1925, the day before his death at age 24.  His sister Luciana wrote, "The power of Christ working in him every morning is the only explanation we can give to particular heroic acts of self-sacrifice and of charity, to his enormous spirit of humility, and to the moral astuteness of his life."

Many witnesses have described the sight of Pier Giorgio receiving the Eucharist. His reverence led one priest to exclaim: “Behold a new young saint who cannot remain far from Heaven much longer.”

            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. -- Attilio Amedeo

Pier Giorgio nurtured his devotion to the Eucharist by spending frequent hours in Adoration, often during the night. On some occasions, he would spend the night in his mountain clothes before leaving early in the morning for an excursion.  He had a reputation for being "riotously funny" but in the chapel before the Lord he was intensely focused.

I remember Pier Giorgio well during adoration one night in the Turin cathedral:  he was kneeling on the floor trying to pray as other young people were brushing past him as they went to and from Communion.  Melted wax dripped from the candles onto his suitcoat, and he didn’t seem to notice it at all, so absorbed was he in his prayers.  Then I understood what Communion and a Eucharistic life meant to him. -- Father Tommaso Castagno

He attended Eucharistic Congresses when his studies allowed and made it a point to encourage others to receive the Eucharist as often as possible. The following excerpt is from a speech that he gave to young people in Pollone, Italy, when he was 22 years old.  A longer version is available on a holy card.

I urge you with all the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharistic Table as often as possible.  Feed on this Bread of the Angels from which you will draw the strength to fight inner struggles, the struggles against passions and against all adversities, because Jesus Christ has promised to those who feed themselves with the most Holy Eucharist, eternal life and the necessary graces to obtain it. - Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati