Readers who recognize the term ‘Frassati Fridays’ are either members of the Catholic cognoscenti or students at Martin Saints Classical High School in East Norriton, Pennsylvania. Otherwise, how would they recognize the Frassati reference?
Born in 1901, Pier Giorgio Frassati belonged to a prosperous family in Turin, Italy. A young Catholic keen on mountain climbing and hiking with his friends, he was committed to a life of prayer and service to the poor. He died in 1925 after contracting a fatal illness. Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980, he was canonized one year ago by Pope Leo XIV. The term ‘Frassati’ has subsequently come to refer to group of young Catholics who gather for faith, fellowship, and service to the poor.
Some long-term readers of Advancing the Kingdom will remember previous coverage of Martin Saints High School. A member of the nationwide Chesterton Schools Network, MSC is named in honor of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, whose large family included Saint Therese of Lisieux. The school began ten years ago with a handful of students and now is celebrating its sixth graduating call and a student enrollment of seventy pupils.
As its website states (www.martinsaintsclassical.org): “Students read classic authors such as Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Virgil, Cante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, St. Francis Assisi, St. Thomas Aquinate, Sr. Theresa of Avila, Dostoevsky, and G.K. Chesterton. Martin Saints Classical High School students study the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Most importantly, faith and reason meet in every class… Equal emphasis is given to rhetoric and the fine arts, so that every student learns to draw and paint, sing in the choir, act on the stage, give speeches, and engage in debate. Each year builds on the previous year, so that by the end of the senior year, we have articulate, clear-thinking, well-rounded, and, very importantly, joyful human beings…. In addition to our work in the classroom, we also want our students to develop a sacramental imagination and a Catholic way of engaging the great wide world. The world is big and beautiful, and we want our students to drink deeply from all that is excellent, as well as to honestly confront the world’s challenges and pain in age-appropriate ways. We aim to accomplish these goals with our monthly Frassati Friday outings, where we invite our students to engage in culture, because nothing alien and good is alien to a Catholic.”
The NCCF community congratulates Deacon Chris Roberts, Chairman of the MSC Board, for the ongoing success of this promising example in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia of classical Catholic education. Imbued with Chestertonian irony, the example demonstrates how, by promoting the classics, Martin Saints promotes progress and, dare it be stated, is genuinely progressive. To the school we echo the words of St. Pier Giorgio Frassati: “Verso l’alto”.
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