Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was born 6 April 1901 in Turin, Italy. He was known for being the life and soul of the party, a keen mountain climber and hiker, who involved himself in Catholic social programmes and vigorously opposed the rise of Fascism. In private, he had an intense life of prayer and love for the Sacraments; what money he had he gave away among the poor of Turin, much to his parents’ chagrin. Helping the poor in the slums during a polio epidemic he contracted the disease, only disclosing the symptoms to his family when he was already dying. Pier Giorgio Frassati died on the 4 July 1925 and was beatified by St Pope John Paul II in 1990.