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10/13/2004
Hi!
Maria,
Just
yesterday I finished reading your book, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati:
An Ordinary Christian.
Thanking
you so much for not giving into your hesitation in writing the book. (In
this book was a lot of new information for me.)
Here in
the US there aren't many books about Blessed Pier so when I spotted this
one I ordered it immediately (two more are on the way for friends) and it
has been my companion for the last week and a half.
I am
only sad to have it end. I cried on several occasions while reading the
book because of his holiness. (He was real.) I can't seem to get enough of
this saint so I thank you for giving me more through this awesome book.
God
Bless and if you write another one please let me know.
Ada
Connecticut
USA
08/17/2004
Dear
Miss Di Lorenzo,
I am a
lawyer in Washington, DC, USA. I was in Chicago yesterday, browsing through
the Pauline bookstore downtown, looking for something to read on my return
trip to Washington.
I saw a
display of your book on Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati and bought one. I was
vaguely aware of him and thought I might like to learn more about him.
I
started reading your book on the subway out to the airport in Chicago,
continued reading during my flight, and finished on the subway in
Washington as I headed home.
It is a
wonderful book that describes a wonderful life.
Although
I am quite a bit older than Bl. Frassati when he died (I'm 42), I very much
identified with him. I worked in the performing arts for many years (and
thereby moved in some of Washington's inner circles), love sports, and even
enjoy cigars like him.
But
only my closes friends know I say the rosary at least daily and go to Mass
just as frequently.
While I
do not presume to have one one-millionth of the charity and holiness he did,
I do identify with him and found his story--your book--an inspiration and
builder of faith.
Thank
you.
Edward
Washington,
DC
USA
09/27/2005
Hi
I first
met Pier Giorgio on July 4th of this year when watching EWTN (A Catholic TV
station).
Curious
about him, I went to the internet and shortly after read a book about his
life written by his sister. Reading book reviews on the net, I came across
your book as it was highly recommended.
I have
read it more than once. You have done a wonderful job, and how fortunate
you are to have traveled where he traveled, etc. Wouldn't this make a
wonderful Hollywood movie?
Thanks,
Virginia
02/28/2006
Dear Maria,
My name is Joseph and I got a hold
of the book that you wrote about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and I
thought that it was very nicely done. Great job!!
I would like to thank you for
writing this book because I picked him for my comfirmation name. He has
brought me closser to Jesus, and I thank him for that.
As I was reading this book, I noticed
that he had the same intrests as me, a 14 year old boy. He liked playing
jokes on other people, he loved the mountains, and most important, he loved
the poor and gave all he had to them.
Everyday I feel like a different
person, I start praying to Jesus, I have a greater respect for the poor,
and I start to work harder on my schoolwork. Before you start saying to
yourself, 'Who is this freak?'
I would like to tell you a little
bit about myself. I am fourteen years old, Homeschooled, love skiing, loves
extreme sports, and play soccer almost everyday. I also live near Detroit
in Northville. I am very active at my Catholic church as a server, and am
very involved in helping the poor in downtown Detroit.
I want to thank you once again for
writing this book.
Peace,
Joey
12/14/2006
Hi Maria,
Nice piece you wrote on
Blessed Giorgio Frassati, def moving.
Cheers,
Joshua
08/24/2004
Dear
Maria,
I just
wanted thank you for an excellent book on the life of Pier Giorgio
Frassati.
It was well
written, well documented but most importantly inspiring. I plan to share it
with others. As a member of the Pauline family I was especially happy to
see it published by the Daughters of St. Paul here in the U.S.
God
Bless and greetings from the other side of the Atlantic.
Greg
04/20/2004
Dear
Maria,
thank
you for your book, may God bless your writing skills.
I am
eclectic when it comes to finishing books, I love to read but read a little,
skim the book and move on to the next. I do not remember the last time I
finished an entire book. I read your book in three sittings and finished
it!
It
doesn't sound like a big accomplishment but consider I am the father of
nine children (one 6-year old is named is Maria!), a physician and deacon
of the Church, my minutes are precious!
It is a
tribute to your writing skills, my wife always kids about how many books I
start and leave for another.
Your
book has left me loving this young man and refreshed me with vigor and a
renewed desire for selflessness.
Once
again, thank you and may God always bless you and your penmanship.
In
Christ,
Angel
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BLESSED
PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI
Athletic, handsome,
and always good for a laugh, Pier Giorgio Frassati was the charismatic
leader of a band of rowdy friends.
He smoked, pulled
pranks, relished extreme sports, fiercely debated politics into the
night…
…and secretly gave
away his wealth to help the poor: a mother unexpectedly widowed, a
homeless invalid, a boy without warm clothes…
…and plunged eagerly into intense
experiences of Eucharistic prayer.
An inspiring biography
that captures Frassati's spirit
Blessed Pier Giorgio
Frassati: An Ordinary Christian
explores the
adventuresome personality and forthright love of a
man who succeeded in wresting holiness from everyday life.
KEY FEATURES
- Includes new photographs of Frassati, his
family and friends
- Features a foreword by Fr. Thomas Rosica,
C.S.B., National Director and Chief Executive Officer of World Youth Day
2002
- Provides appendices of excerpts from
Frassati's letters; testimonies of his worldwide impact
- and a listing of Pier Giorgio
Frassati websites
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Maria Di Lorenzo
BLESSED PIER GIORGIO
FRASSATI
An Ordinary Christian
[Translation by Robert Ventresca]
Pauline Books & Media, Boston 2004
$ 15,95
Order on line! 
Visitors in U.S.A. 
Visitors in Italy 
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Maria
Di Lorenzo wrote:
When my editor asked me to
write this biography, I wondered with some perplexity if there was much point
in writing a new book about Pier Giorgio Frassati.
This young man from Turin,
much beloved by people the world over, has had a great deal written about
him in recent years.
His fascinating and
ever-contemporary image is constantly turning up in catecheses, at
conferences, in sermons, in studies, and in journals – some 2,000
articles about Frassati have appeared in print in recent years. So why write more?
What I failed to realize, in my deliciously human logic, was the
imponderable meaning of “chance”, the sum total of seeming accidents
Divine Providence enjoys scattering along life’s path with a logic all
God’s own.
And along my own path, both personal and
professional, Pier Giorgio had been waiting for me from the start,
so to speak; perhaps he has been waiting for some time.
Just as one discovers a
hidden figure in a game of connect-the-dots, so day after day I went in
search of Pier Giorgio, tracing the footsteps of his life and character
in order to sketch a spiritual
biography
that would tell of his joy, and somehow to explain the “unexplainable”:
his clear and extraordinary friendship with God.
I would be grateful to readers who wish to share
their impressions with me in writing
madilorenzo @ yahoo.it
convinced that we benefit and
nurture our unique faith in Christ, in the light of the communion of
saints, through dialogue and an open, sincere sharing.
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THE AUTHOR
Maria Di Lorenzo (1964) is a writer and a journalist. She lives in Rome.
After the Classic High School, she studied Letters and Philosophy
at Urbino University, taking a degree in Italian Literature, with
a thesis about Giacomo Leopardi (July 5, 1989).
Therefore, she attended at Urbino’s Superior Institute of
Journalism and after a stage with Enrico Mascilli Migliorini and Sergio
Lepri (ANSA - Italian Associated Press Agency), she began to work in the
newspaper “The Time” (1990-1992); next she has worked also for the
Italian Broadcasting Corporation – RAI (1991) and for the Vatican Radio
(1993-1995).
After the Conference of Pechino (1995), she participated in the
collective volume Pope writes,
women answer (Edizioni Dehoniane-Bologna, 1996), by Giulia Paola
Di Nicola and Attilio Danese. She
made with C.I.O.F.S. team an important study on the feminine problems in
the Europe of the “after-Wall” across the cinema, in two collective
tests: Woman and cinema in the
Europe 2000
(1994), and Women and cinema
between imaginary and everyday life (1998), at present in use by
some Italian universities.
Journalist of the magazine “Mother of God” (1998-2001), she also
writes, as expert in spirituality, for other magazines, between whose
“Milizia Mariana”, “Jesus”, “Our time”, “Perspective Person”. Now she is
the director of In
Purissimo Azzurro, web-magazine of culture and
performing arts.
Maria
Di Lorenzo is also an author of poetry, drama and stories. She published
the books Voices from the moss
(Edizioni Tracce, 1992), Sicilian
Notebook (Firenze, PoesiArte, 1994). Her poetries
obtained
many awards and are published and reviewed on magazines and
anthologies, in Italy and foreign countries.
Winner
in 1992, with the story To south of
the heart, of the Prize of fiction “Giacomo Debenedetti” for the best
writer under 30; Award Selection “Mothers and Daughters” (“Christian
Family”/Mondadori Publisher) for the story The evening is done evening (Milan, 1995). For the
Vatican Radio she wrote the dramas: The room of sirocco
(1993); Old like the moon (1995).
Author of many web sites, she realized a web site dedicated to Elio Fiore, one of the biggest
Italian poets of the 20th century. Maria Di Lorenzo also writes fictions
for cinema and tv.
She published the volumes:
With the cross on the heart – Edith Stein (Edizioni dell’Immacolata, Bologna 2000-2006)
Rosario Livatino. Martyr of justice (Paoline, Milano
2000)
On Mary’s steps. Charismatic figures of the Christian history (Città Nuova –Roma 2002)
Mother Teresa. The splendour of charity (Paoline,
Milano 2003; 2° ed. 2004)
A shortcut for the sky. 17 life and faith ways with
Mary of Nazareth(Gribaudi, Milano 2004)
Evening is done evening (Edizioni Tracce, Pescara 2004).
Her new book is:
Teresina è uscita
dal gruppo
[Name in code “Teresina”]
(Paoline, Milano 2008)
dedicated to the “Little Flower”, St. Therese of
Lisieux, a book that explores the wonderful personality of a girl who
lived and died a century ago but
is again and always in the youth’s hearts of all over the world.
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