Catholics around the world are celebrating the canonization of two new saints: St. Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Carlo Acutis. On Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, Pope Leo XIV canonized these two young men as the first saints of his papacy.
Among tens of thousands of pilgrims attending the canonization ceremony in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Italy, University of St. Thomas-Houston’s very own Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak, OP, PhD., assistant professor of English and Fellow of the Core, stood jubilantly among the crowd. She was in awe to see St. Pier Giorgio Frassati, her namesake and who she has a distinct devotion to — celebrated with one of the highest honors in our Church. Sr. Frassati, along with a few friends and several UST alumni, witnessed the canonization and celebrated her patron saint.
In an exclusive Q&A, MAX Studios Bridget Richardson asked Sr. Frassati what this experience meant to her and how we can all think about this historic moment.
Bridget Richardson: Tell us your reaction in hearing the news of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati becoming St. Frassati?
Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak, OP, PhD.: It is the best! I always knew he would end up being a saint, but that it was at a time when I could go and see it happen was amazing. I was also delighted that there was a new miracle that I had not known about - a seminarian (now priest) whose Achilles heel was cured. He had hurt it playing basketball with his friends and felt inspired to pray a novena to Pier Giorgio. Part way through, he felt himself be cured! To me that is just so charming - Pier Giorgio cared about him having fun with his friends. Absolutely on brand.
BR: Can you share the reason why you chose him as your patron?
SMFJOP: Actually, Sr. Mary Margaret, who was my companion on this trip, introduced me to Frassati. There was a huge picture of Frassati outside the gym at one of our schools and I walked by it a lot thinking that it was a student or something. I finally asked who it was, and Sr. Mary Margaret knew. (This was when we were postulants in our first year before we had our new names.)
She said, "That is Pier Giorgio Frassati and he was a Lay Dominican!" And the absolute wall of syllables washed over me and I actually said, "Wow, I am never going to remember that name!"
I guess the joke is on me. But then I knew I ought to take a Dominican name. And I love a lot of our saints, but none jumped out at me and wanted to be my patron saint. And then I was looking at a little book called Faces of Holiness which was about saints we have photos of. And that same picture was in there with the caption explaining that Pier Giorgio was a Dominican. I was intrigued. I read the only two books about him I could find - the first a small book translated from the French, which I liked very much. And then “Man of the Beatitudes” by his sister Luciana, which I didn’t really like - maybe something lost in translation. Anyway, then I had a long argument with him about how weird his name is - I was reasonably sure I didn't know how to pronounce Pier Giorgio and taking a last name for a first name felt weird. But obviously eventually he won the fight!!! I was really drawn to the fact that his two pillars were Mary and the Eucharist - he often went to all-night adoration, prayed the rosary on the train, etc. He just made holiness seem like it was normal, and I loved that.
BR: You seem to have a deep love for young adults and call to help them understand God’s call in their lives. How do you see that as living out your vocational call and honoring St. Frassati?
SMFJOP: This is a cool question. I think one of the things that drew me to Frassati was that, at the time, he was a sort of big brother figure. But now he is basically the age of my students. Dominicans have the charism of teaching, and so I think working with college students is a lot like what Pier Giorgio did - he was their peer, which is different of course, but he had a lot of wisdom beyond his years. And he knew that heaven is the most important thing. So, I think that is something that I picked up from him that I can bring to my students. For instance, I’ll say, “This trouble you are having? This confusion you are in? It matters, but also it doesn't matter because God loves you and wants you to be with him forever in heaven. He has a plan to get you there. All you have to do is be faithful.”
BR: What was the experience of attending the canonization like?
SMFJOP: Wonderful and crazy and amazing. We got up super early and left the house at 5:30 a.m. We have Sisters who live in Rome, so we were much benefitted by their inside knowledge. They showed us which bus to take and where to line up. At one point we thought we were in the right line and were only next to it, but meanwhile we made friends with a group from Naples and prayed with them. The whole day was like this.
I loved hearing the summary of Frassati's life - even though it was in Italian, which I don't speak, I knew enough of his life that I could follow along. The same was true of the homily. But obviously just hearing Frassati "read in" to the canon was amazing. And I love Pope Leo so that made it more amazing.
We ended up being not in the seated section, but just behind it. We were OK with this because we had an epic view of St. Peter's and a great spot for when the pope drove by. Because, we had PLANS for when the pope drove by. I explain a bit in this open letter: An open letter to Pope Leo XIV — Dappled Things.
Basically, Sr. Mary Margaret's great uncle was the pope's vocations director. So, she really did make the "Father Dudley Day OSA is my Uncle" sign. And with our spot on the railing after Mass, he saw it! And read it! And was surprised and delighted and wanted to know which of us it was, and we pointed at Sister and he smiled and did prayer hands and a thumbs up. It felt like it took forever but looks like it was one second long. But to be SEEN by the Holy Father is no mean feat. It was hilarious to watch people read the sign ahead of time. You could see the confusion on their faces. But it was for Pope Leo, not them, and so he was the only one who needed to know. And he did know! So, that was an obvious highlight.
BR: If you can share something about St. Frassati that people may not know, what would it be?
SMFJOP: A priest I met reminded me of a story that is a good one. Once on seeing Frassati with a rosary walking into a daily Mass, a friend asked him if he had become a fanatic. "No," he said, "I have remained a Christian." Also, he loved Augustine's “Confessions,” which is cool because we have that in our Core and I get to teach it to students. So, that is really wonderful.
BR: Is there a particular prayer you go to often regarding St. Frassati?
SMFJOP: Well, come to think of it, no. I will say that he loves to send me on adventures. And obviously I think of him when I am hiking, but I don't usually do that in Houston! 🙂 But I also complain to him from time to time when I think there is something he should be doing and isn't (helping me meet his niece at WYD Sydney, helping me not have to camp out at his canonization, that kind of thing). He generally answers such prayers!!
BR: When you were in Rome, you also had a speaking engagement, correct? Can you give a few details?
SMFJOP: Well, I was originally asked to give a talk at Santa Sabina, the mother Church of the Dominican Order, during the Youth Jubilee. However, when the date of the canonization moved, I called Fr. Patrick Briscoe, who had invited me. He knew why I was calling before I spoke, "Sister - I only asked you to give the talk in order to get you to the canonization. You have a transferable flight? Then choose September if you are only choosing one thing." So, that was the sweetest. This way, I just got to go to Rome and be there! Also, our Sisters who have a house there were back by this time, so it was super fun to have them with us - we would not have in July/August.
That said, though, I gave a couple impromptu talks. When we went to Florence on Saturday, we made sure to go to Dante's house because of my teaching ENGL 1302. I was SO enjoying it and kept subjecting the Sisters to more fun Dante facts.
And then standing in front of three posters that showed the whole Divine Comedy, someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me, you seem to know things. Can you tell us all about this? We don't really know anything about Dante." It turns out they were a couple from Saudi Arabia. And because I just introduced my students to Dante again this semester, I was able to read them in on the overarching structure of the Divine Comedy in about 10 minutes. I was just being helpful and then noticed I was standing next to Dante's bedroom. Hilarious! But they were a good audience and kept remarking how beautiful the whole story was. And then telling this story the next day, at celebratory pizza along with a priest we know from Michigan (Fr. David Fons, who belongs to the priestly confraternity of St. Dominic - a sort of lay Dominicans for Diocesan priests) who also has Pier Giorgio as his patron, his friends also didn't know about Dante, so I basically gave them my Beatrice lecture. Whoops. I guess once a professor always a professor. :)
BR: Finally, what was it like to celebrate this with UST alumni and a few of your fellow sisters?
SMFJOP: DELIGHTFUL! It was just so great to see them there at all - much of the group had gone to WYD Lisbon together and we saw them then, too (they were not with our school group on that trip, but we met up with them). So, it was a delight that they reached out. It was great to have some familiar faces to celebrate with. They suggested meeting up at the oldest Gelato shop in Rome and it was quite the thing - I think there were four-five guys scooping in a kind of chaos that was more or less well-controlled. But I taught Dani, Margaret and Maria, and of course know Valaria and Vy, so it was just so good to see them having an adventure and being in their 20s in Rome - using their Courageous Hearts! They probably have some great stories. They were leaving at a similar time and so they also met us at our airport gate. Both times we saw them we prayed together, and it was a reminder of the beauty of our faith that draws people into communion with each other by drawing us into communion with God.
BR: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
SMFJOP: Just that God is good. Here he gave us two saints who were so normal, so like us. But by being faithful to God, they became saints in the course of their ordinary daily life. Amid family trouble – Pier Giorgio's family was kind of dysfunctional – and, for Carlo video games and iPhones, God's grace is still at work.
It is bigger than our problems. Jesus has his eyes on all of us and is waiting to show us how much he cares for us. For instance, on Friday before the canonization, I met up with a priest I had never met in person - we exchanged a few emails relative to his studies about 10 years ago. But he remembered me and reached out. Then he ended up being our personal tour guide through St. Peter's. That doesn't happen, but it did. And on Monday after the canonization, we ran into a man and his godson we had met the day before and he helped us buy some pictures of the pope, bought us gelato, and then prayed for us in the gelato shop. It was an amazing encounter we never could have planned or sought out - but just as the pope saw us for a moment and we knew we delighted him and were loved, so Jesus sees us all the time - with delight and joy and loving attention.
A pilgrimage is a good time to remember what really matters - just Jesus. It is easy not to complain on a pilgrimage because you know that it is all temporary discomfort endured for a higher cause - well, so too is life. This world and everything in it is passing, but heaven is forever and that is where Jesus is always working to get us! God is Good!