The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is hosting special events and has created a site where LA Catholics and others can watch and engage in the canonizations of Pier Giorgio Frassati — who has a particularly special importance in LA — and Carlo Acutis in Rome by Pope Leo XIV on Sept. 7.
The site, friendswithfrassati.com, offers the faithful opportunities to reflect, pray, serve, and advocate for others, similar to Frassati, whose canonization was made possible thanks in large part to a verified miracle that happened in 2017 to LA priest Father Juan Gutierrez.
On Sept. 7, Leo will preside over the canonization Mass for Frassati and Acutis at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Mass will air live on EWTN and EWTN’s YouTube page and at EWTN.com at midnight PT/3 a.m., ET with an encore showing at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET.
As a complement to the canonizations, the Friends with Frassati site offers ways to get to know the soon-to-be-saint better, including his life story, photos, and access to resources such as the FrassatiUSA organization.
The site also asks LA Catholics to make a pledge to pray, serve, or advocate in the service of others.
For prayer, the site offers videos with Archbishop José H. Gomez to pray the rosary, praying the Litany of Pier Giorgio Frassati, or practicing the Lectio Divina by downloading a free digital journal.
Ways to serve are suggested on the site, including visiting the homebound, volunteering at a food kitchen, or writing heartfelt letters to friends, loved ones, or those who need spiritual guidance.
To advocate, the site explains why advocacy is an act of charity, lists the seven themes of Catholic social teaching, and links to “Rerum Novarum” (“Of New Things”), the 1891 encyclical written by Pope Leo XIII that inspired Frassati.
In Los Angeles, there will be special events celebrating the canonizations.
On Saturday, Sept. 6, young people are invited to an event from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at St. Agnes Church in Los Angeles for food, music, games, Eucharistic adoration, and a relic of Acutis that will be on-site for veneration.
On Sunday, Sept. 7, Acutis’ relic — along with the relics of other young saints such as St. Maria Goretti and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río — will be installed in a special “Chapel of Young Witnesses,” which will be blessed by Archbishop Gomez after the 10 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
“Our new young saints teach us that we can root our lives in a deep friendship with Jesus,” Archbishop Gomez wrote in his column about Acutis and Frassati on AngelusNews.com. “They teach us that holiness is possible in our ordinary, daily lives, and that by our love, we can bring our neighbors and loved ones to know the friendship with Jesus that we know.”
Learn more: friendswithfrassati.com/celebrate.
